Chapter 15: The Supreme Evil Artifact—The Ghost Gate Coffin
Upon hearing this, Ji Yun suddenly realized that “Shang Xiaoyu” was truly a corpse controlled by the corpse-driving technique. No wonder the old woman with the cat-like face was powerless against the “Corpse-Sealing Talisman” before.
Legend has it that zombies controlled by the Maoshan corpse-driving technique, especially those used in magical duels known as refined corpses, have a unique talisman sword embedded inside them by the corpse driver. Ordinary talismans are powerless against them, preventing others from easily seizing control. Those who wield such skills are no ordinary corpse drivers.
Yet Ji Yun was even more surprised that this forbidden woman could speak. Her tone was disdainful, revealing her formidable strength. Ji Yun felt strongly that the monsters in this desolate realm didn’t take these two seriously at all. The real danger lay in the secret battle between the two.
...
At that moment, the corpse known as Shang Xiaoyu outside suddenly erupted with a surge of deathly energy—a desperate attempt to disrupt the wedding ritual.
However, the forbidden woman’s attitude remained dismissive and indifferent. Ignoring Shang Xiaoyu and the legion of corpses outside, she turned around as if even during a magical duel, one could still find time to get married.
The ghostly officiant shouted again, “Couple, bow to each other!” His voice dragged out long and low, like the chilling summons of an underworld judge.
Ji Yun’s body was forcibly turned to face the forbidden woman, and he bowed despite the sweat beading on his forehead. Though he struggled against the eerie force compelling him to bow, he failed to resist.
Just then, Shang Xiaoyu outside could no longer stand by. Ignoring everything else, she charged in fiercely.
Ji Yun caught a glimpse of the figure from the corner of his eye and silently hoped that this expert arranged by his parents would save him.
But things did not go as hoped.
...
As they bowed, the red veil on the forbidden woman’s head lifted slightly. From Ji Yun’s angle, he saw her slender neck and fair, delicate jawline. A glance caught her alluring red lips, curved with a faint, wicked smile.
The bridegroom interloper had arrived.
She remained composed.
With parted lips, she calmly uttered a few words: “Desolation… Unfold.”
“Thousand Threads Bind the Cunning God!”
The spell was cast instantly.
In an instant, the large room was suffused with scarlet. Countless red threads surged like a tide, entangling everything within.
These threads seemed like strands of fate itself, controlling the cause and effect, the cycles of life and death within the space.
Ji Yun, already tightly bound, saw no immediate power in this spell.
But Shang Xiaoyu, blocked by the red threads, was aghast. She couldn’t help but hiss, “You… you have comprehended ‘Desolation’! Who are you, really?!”
The voice came from nowhere, deep and hoarse, impossible to tell male or female.
Ji Yun was somewhat surprised: that creature could speak too? Not just send messages via phone, but actually speak.
In a flash, the charging Shang Xiaoyu was pierced through by countless red threads, becoming a puppet controlled by strings. No matter how she struggled, the threads clung like a bone-deep sore—cutting them only caused them to regrow.
She was trapped seven paces inside the hall, immobilized.
Hidden from view, the clash of red and white murderous energies raged fiercely. The two masters of the mystical arts were truly locked in combat.
The forbidden woman, bowing in the wedding ritual, spoke without hurry: “This evil artifact of the Ji family, is it something one like you, who hides your true intentions, dares to covet? I thought you were one of the old officials, but it seems not…”
Pausing, she taunted herself aloud, “Tsk tsk, should I reveal my true form? Otherwise, you might not get the chance…”
Shang Xiaoyu, lurking in the shadows, said no more. She seemed to hesitate whether to reveal her true form.
But in that moment of hesitation, it was already too late.
The couple’s bow was complete.
The ghostly officiant shouted, “Ceremony complete!”
At that utterance, it felt as though certain threads of fate were irrevocably intertwined.
Ji Yun clearly sensed a warm current flooding into his body—mysterious beyond description.
But in the next moment, a dreadful deathly terror silently descended.
...
Ji Yun knew that after the wedding ritual, having lost his value, death was inevitable.
Yet what he never expected was that the threat of death would not come from the forbidden woman opposite him—but from Shang Xiaoyu herself!
A flash of light and shadow.
The figure opposite shifted from red to white.
A displacement and exchange of positions!
A stabbing pain in his chest blanked Ji Yun’s mind: “Why is she trying to kill me? Wasn’t she here to save me?”
In his vision, a slender white hand pierced his heart.
Blood sprayed wildly; life slipped away.
Only then did Ji Yun finally understand: she never cared whether he lived or died; her only purpose was this moment.
If he lived, it was only to seize “that thing”!
...
The change came too fast.
Ji Yun barely understood what had happened.
The forbidden woman in the bridal gown transformed into Shang Xiaoyu, now clad in a tattered leather coat.
Without hesitation, she plunged her hand into Ji Yun’s heart.
Her bloodied hand withdrew a triangular Yin Talisman Nail wrapped in a yellow talisman.
Blood fell drop by drop, pooling on the floor.
Life ebbed rapidly; his vision blurred swiftly.
Ji Yun’s wide eyes seemed to wonder when his heart had suddenly contained such a thing.
Death loomed ever clearer.
In contrast, Shang Xiaoyu’s expressionless face showed a trace of cold satisfaction.
Elsewhere, the forbidden woman, now displaced to the doorway, regarded this maneuver with a tone of gravity and surprise.
“Displacement and exchange? No, it’s the Yin-Yang school’s ‘Shikigami: Great Mirror.’ A fine technique…”
The “Great Mirror” reflects and instantly shifts the body’s shadow.
The situation turned on a dime.
Now, it was too late for the forbidden woman to intervene.
The person who wielded this spell was nearly as formidable as she was; she had no intention of wasting effort.
Beneath the red veil, her crimson lips parted softly as she murmured, “All that needed doing is done. Whether you live or die now depends on whether you can earn your Ji family’s special-grade evil artifact’s approval.”
...
“Pfft!”
Ji Yun spat a mouthful of blood.
As if guided by fate, when one approaches death, life’s memories flash before their eyes.
In his final moments, he heard whispered voices near his ear, awakening forgotten memories.
They were the incomprehensible incantations his father recited when sealing coffins—a lullaby from his childhood.
As if touched by a mysterious power, a faint, bitter smile curved his lips as he murmured the soothing spell and song.
“Celestial laws clear, earthly laws obscure,
Human laws command, coffin seals the spirits,
Heaven is Yang,
Earth is Yin,
The coffin locks Yin and Yang…”
The incantation seemed to lull, calming the soul departing the body.
That whisper was like a key, opening the gates of the underworld.
As Ji Yun chanted, a surging dark power flooded his body.
Guided by this mysterious force, he struggled to raise his right hand level.
Facing the chanting Shang Xiaoyu across from him, he grasped for a final glimmer of hope.
Instantly, a black mist formed the Chinese character “门” (gate) in his raised palm.
The character seemed to exert a strange suction, drawing in the surrounding yin energy into a swirling vortex.
Ji Yun was already losing consciousness, unclear of his actions—driven more by instinct than reason.
Opposite him, Shang Xiaoyu’s face showed horror as she uttered in shock from the shadows, “Damn it! How has he already successfully fused with the evil artifact?!”
Fusing with a special-grade evil artifact was notoriously difficult.
Even she had prepared multiple contingencies.
She could not comprehend how an ordinary man could achieve fusion with such an artifact in so short a time.
The scales of death suddenly tipped.
In a flash, Shang Xiaoyu saw the forbidden woman she had displaced by the door and suddenly realized something.
“No, it’s that forbidden woman! We’ve been tricked! She wasn’t trying to seize the Ji family’s artifact—she used the lifestealing technique to help that guy fuse!”
The truth dawned on her.
...
Shang Xiaoyu now understood everything.
From beginning to end, she had misjudged the forbidden woman’s motives.
That woman was not after the Ji family’s evil artifact for herself but was aiding that young man.
Yet Shang Xiaoyu could not fathom why a master of the “Desolation” mystical arts would be willing to pay such a steep price to help an ordinary person.
But realizing this was too late.
She tried to resist the black vortex that was draining her magical power.
Yet no matter what she did, she felt powerless and pale.
She knew her true opponent was not this man before her, but the forbidden woman.
Their destinies had long since intertwined as one.
Hidden in the shadows, Shang Xiaoyu gave a bitter smile.
Defeated.
Defeated utterly and without resistance.
...
Ji Yun’s lips still bled, but his murmuring continued.
He recited the unfinished incantation:
“One horizontal stroke severs life’s path, two vertical lines cut off death’s road,
Three strokes forbid the five senses, four combine to seal the soul,
Blood as medium, earth as prison,
Coffin closes,
Ten thousand evils return to silence,
Seal the soul, cut the qi—”
His hand held out before him, fingers like a brush tracing in the void.
As the incantation poured forth, words became spells.
Before his eyes, a “门” character appeared in the void, trapping Shang Xiaoyu within.
One horizontal, one vertical, three strokes, four unions.
The character’s strokes solidified rapidly.
In moments, the slender lines transformed into thick black iron coffin panels.
It was a massive black coffin carved with countless evil spirits.
Simultaneously, a terrifying spiritual pressure swept the entire hall.
Not far away, the forbidden woman under the red veil remained perfectly still, finally exhaling in relief and whispering like a faint mosquito’s hum: “The ‘Ghost Gate Coffin’… the Ji family’s special-grade evil artifact truly is as outrageous as the legends say.”
She could remain unharmed under such spiritual pressure.
The other party was not so calm.
Inside the coffin, upright like a prison, Shang Xiaoyu struggled violently but was trapped.
Heaven sealed, earth shut, spiritual energy confined.
She tried to escape but was too late.
At that moment, Ji Yun uttered the final syllable of the incantation: “Knock!”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Like metal striking ground, the sound echoed throughout the hall.
With a loud boom, the ghost-headed coffin lid appeared out of thin air and snapped shut tightly.
Shang Xiaoyu was sealed away.
Only a blood-stained talisman nail remained on the floor.
Having completed everything, Ji Yun completely lost strength.
The “门” character in his palm vanished.
The massive black iron coffin disappeared without a trace.
Ji Yun felt utterly exhausted; as darkness claimed his vision, his hands lowered, and he murmured, “Am I… going to die again?”
Huh?
Why did he say “again”?
In the next moment, his consciousness blurred.
Before Ji Yun could fall, several red threads already pulled him back up.