Chapter 13: An Unexpected Presence in the Coffin

Just a wall apart.

Ji Yun and the cat-faced old woman had also followed the sound of gunshots, groping their way here.

The cat-faced old woman had become what she was today—a half-human, half-corpse figure—through merging with that sinister artifact from the countryside: the Corpse Cat Nuo Mask.

Because of this, she possessed the abilities of the corpse cat.

A nimble form, the power of illusion, and extraordinarily sharp hearing and smell!

She hadn’t rushed into the courtyard earlier because she overheard the conversation between the two inside the house.

Only then did she understand everything.

Sure enough, it was the second concubine, Madam He, who had cursed and killed the landlord Liu Yuancai!

And there was an accomplice.

But none of that was the main point.

When the cat-faced old woman heard about the “treasure brought out from the imperial tomb,” her eyes lit up.

Filled with joy, she speculated in her heart, “Could that mirror be some kind of high-level evil artifact?”

To create a ruined realm, there must be an evil object involved.

The vengeful spirit haunting this realm was terrifying beyond the ordinary; surely it was no common evil object.

She never expected to actually find it.

If she could obtain it, she could instantly change her fortunes and become rich!

Ji Yun didn’t know what the cat-faced old woman had heard, but the wild delight on her aged face was unmistakable.

For these supernaturals to be so excited, it must be some extraordinary treasure.

...

Without waiting for Ji Yun’s response, the cat-faced old woman said bluntly, “Wait here. I’ll go kill him.”

Ji Yun naturally dared not say a word.

In a flash, he saw the cold gleam of her fingernails, and with ease, she leapt over the wall and slipped inside.

Soon, the sounds of fighting and gunfire came from the second concubine’s room.

Having witnessed the cat-faced old woman’s terrifying killing methods, Ji Yun wasn’t sure if she could dodge bullets, but those ordinary NPCs were certainly no match for her.

Perhaps the second concubine, Madam He, was also a practitioner of some dark arts, and they would have a fierce battle?

He hoped they would both be badly wounded.

Ji Yun couldn’t see what was happening inside and imagined the scene in his mind.

But the fight ended even faster than he had expected.

The house quickly fell silent.

The oppressive aura of resentment that had suffocated the Liu mansion suddenly vanished into thin air.

Ji Yun had a strong feeling: the second concubine was dead!

Only then did the vengeful spirit of the ghost bride disappear!

It seemed to be true.

In the next moment, a hunched yet agile figure leapt onto the roof—it was the cat-faced old woman.

She held something resembling a mirror, radiating a strange, eerie glow under the light of the green moon.

“Did she really finish it off?”

Seeing this, Ji Yun’s first reaction wasn’t joy but disbelief—it seemed almost too smooth?

Compared to earlier fights between the cat-faced old woman and the zombie man, or the fierce battle with Shang Xiaoyu, this was nothing.

So, the second concubine was just a normal person?

If killing an ordinary person was all it took to escape, then this “ruined realm” didn’t seem so formidable.

At least, Ji Yun thought it shouldn’t have made a supernatural like Shang Xiaoyu so wary.

Moreover, with the grudges lifted, shouldn’t he be able to leave the ruined realm?

Why was he still stuck in the Liu estate?

Sometimes, Ji Yun felt like a jinx.

Whenever he thought something bad, it came true.

His phone suddenly vibrated, and a message appeared: “Get away from that cat-faced old woman and find a place to hide! Damn it, there’s a ‘top-grade evil artifact’ in this ruined realm!”

Few words, but between the lines, Ji Yun sensed the other’s shock and urgency.

It was as if the situation was spiraling out of control.

“Top-grade evil artifact?”

Ji Yun didn’t understand what that meant.

Was it the treasure that had excited the cat-faced old woman earlier?

Heeding the warning, although unclear about what was happening, his body obediently retreated.

He turned and ran, aiming for places with as few corpses as possible.

Then a strange scene unfolded quietly.

The red-eyed crows perched on the trees around the estate suddenly took flight, cawing wildly.

The green moon in the sky shone with overwhelming brilliance.

Even stranger, the entire sky above the estate seemed to undergo a bizarre optical refraction.

It was as if...

the whole estate was inside a mirror.

That hallucinatory light gave a dreamlike sensation, as if one could see their past and present lives.

Ji Yun watched in confusion, unaware that his gaze had already become unfocused.

At that moment, another text came through.

Ji Yun shivered awake and read: “Don’t look at that moon; it reveals the weaknesses of your soul and magnifies them infinitely! That’s the fatal trait of the top-grade evil artifact! Damn it, that ‘ghost bride’ isn’t the source of evil in this ruined realm; the second concubine He’s top-grade evil artifact is! The ghost bride was just a lure; the second concubine was a medium controlled by the artifact. Now that the medium is dead, the artifact is out of control! Find a place to hide; I’ll try to hold it off! Whether you live or die depends on fate...”

Ji Yun had collaborated with the cat-faced old woman partly because he guessed that if Shang Xiaoyu hadn’t died, she was probably following them secretly.

One thing was certain: Shang Xiaoyu was more formidable than the cat-faced old woman and the official zombie combined.

So she could control the cat-faced old woman’s actions.

For Ji Yun, that meant the risk was somewhat manageable.

Now it seemed Shang Xiaoyu indeed knew everything.

From the beginning until just now, it appeared everything had been under her control.

Only when the mirror overflowed did things exceed her expectations.

Seeing the exclamation in the message, Ji Yun realized the situation was truly dire.

The ghost bride wasn’t the most terrifying presence in this ruined realm?

What was this top-grade evil artifact?

A flood of questions swirled in Ji Yun’s mind.

Before he could ponder further, a rustling noise arose all around.

A horrifying scene unfolded.

In every room of the Liu estate and in the garden, shadows began to appear.

Those corpses that had clearly been hanged to death staggered forth.

Even the headless zombie whose head had been cut off by the cat-faced old woman tottered to its feet.

Not just corpses—

there were also pale green ghosts.

In an instant, the estate was teeming with spirits.

Their numbers kept growing.

It wasn’t only the few hundred people of the Liu estate.

It was more like an ancient sealed realm of ghosts and zombies had been opened, and they were erupting forth uncontrollably.

Soon, the estate was packed with “people.”

...

Seeing so many ghosts, Ji Yun was utterly stunned: “Where... am I supposed to run?”

No matter where he ran, there were ghosts everywhere.

He wasn’t sure if the ghosts hadn’t fully awakened or if Shang Xiaoyu was using some magic to delay them.

These ghosts stood blankly in place, seemingly unaware of Ji Yun’s presence as a living person.

Ji Yun fled desperately.

But no matter how he ran, he couldn’t avoid the courtyards packed with zombies and ghosts.

Before long,

those ghosts absorbed the green residual light and gradually came to life.

They smelled the living breath and turned their heads, all their ghastly faces staring in unison at Ji Yun.

Countless eyes fixed on him, making his heart race and his feet instinctively quicken.

Like trying to squeeze onto a subway during rush hour, Ji Yun darted through gaps toward areas with fewer “people.”

After running through two courtyards, just as he was about to be engulfed by the tide of undead, he realized he had stumbled into the estate’s warehouse.

Here, everything was still decorated in festive red.

Stacked high were all sorts of bridal dowries.

The very ten-mile bridal procession’s trousseau the bride had brought.

Outside the door, ghosts were already piled up, and Ji Yun felt he had reached a dead end.

Suddenly, he saw the bright red coffin from the bride’s dowry!

A flash of inspiration struck his mind.

Of course!

Hide inside!

Ji Yun gritted his teeth: “I’ll take my chances!”

His family made coffins; when he was a child, his parents had said coffins could ward off evil.

Inside a coffin, the realms of yin and yang are separated.

For yin creatures, those inside cannot get out, and those outside cannot get in.

Thinking this through, Ji Yun didn’t hesitate and rushed forward, lifting the coffin lid.

---

He had even slept in a coffin as a child, so he had no taboo about it.

He slipped inside, then quickly shut the lid.

Darkness instantly engulfed everything.

But compared to the greenish, eerie estate outside, the coffin’s darkness strangely brought a sense of peace.

...

“Phew...”

Ji Yun exhaled deeply.

Safe for the moment.

After running on edge for so long, he could finally catch his breath and prayed, “Hopefully those ghosts can’t find this place.”

No matter what happened outside, there was nothing he could do to help.

It seemed he could only wait... wait for death.

Whether he lived or died depended on whether Shang Xiaoyu outside could turn the tide.

Lying in the coffin, Ji Yun’s mind flickered through the day’s events like a slideshow.

It truly felt like a nightmare.

Terrifying, thrilling, and intensely vivid.

He clung to the hope that when he opened his eyes, it would all be a bad dream.

But alas, it was not.

His hand brushed the walls; the cold iron texture of the coffin made everything feel so real.

The tactile sensation sent a shock through him, and in the darkness his eyes widened in surprise: “Wait, this isn’t a cypress coffin—why is the interior iron?”

He touched again.

Confirming the coffin was definitely not wood.

That cold, hard texture was metal!

Moreover, between his fingers were raised markings resembling scriptures!

Densely covering the entire inner wall.

“How can it be metal?”

Ji Yun immediately sensed something was wrong.

The bridal dowry coffin should never be metal—it should be wooden.

Because in ancient folk customs, only the most sinister corpses were sealed in metal coffins.

An iron coffin forged to suppress evil spirits!

Once that thought crossed his mind, a chill surged to his forehead.

Why would the bride bring a metal coffin as part of her dowry?

Had she long known she would become a vengeful spirit?

Ji Yun also noticed the coffin’s interior was larger than the wooden one he had seen outside.

It was a bizarre feeling—he clearly saw a wooden coffin outside but inside was a different iron coffin.

Was he haunted?

Despite having witnessed so many strange things tonight, Ji Yun felt this was the most bizarre.

The slight relief he had felt upon hiding in the coffin vanished.

As if his soul was seized by fear, Ji Yun dared not move.

Breathing heavily—

heavy breaths—

heavy breaths—

In the pitch-black coffin, there was deathly silence.

Only his ragged breathing sounded clearly in his ears.

No!

It might not be just him.

A thought flashed in his mind, sending goosebumps all over.

Snapping out of his shock, Ji Yun shifted his body and felt something soft beneath him.

At first, he thought it was the mattress lining the coffin.

But upon closer inspection, the texture felt off.

It was delicate and soft, with great elasticity.

Not bedding.

More like...

a person.