Chapter 166: Buried in the Serpent's Belly

The cat's cry was very cute.

If this were the real world, Du E, seeing this cat, might have pounced on it and started petting it.

But this place was a blessed land.

After everyone saw this cat, they all felt their body hair stand on end, and a sense of helplessness and terror welled up in their hearts.

One of the rules of keeping vigil was that the cat must not be allowed to touch the coffin.

But now the cat had already touched it!

They actually hadn't let down their guard; they had been on watch the whole time against this black cat sneaking in and jumping onto the coffin, but there had indeed been a stretch when they slackened off.

To survive, to kill that hidden evil entity, they had to extinguish every lamp and flame in the room.

But doing so would lead to—

During that stretch of pitch darkness, none of them could intercept the black cat.

What would happen if the black cat touched the coffin?

Seven people stared at the coffin.

Thud! Thud thud!

Meow!

The black cat's eyes suddenly turned a ghostly green.

The coffin also began to shake violently; wave after wave of tremendous force hammered at the coffin lid from inside — if not for the chains Liu Baoyu had left wrapped around it earlier, the coffin would already have been forced open!

Every time the Liu family's great-grandmother struck the coffin, everyone's heart would tremble along with it.

Wu Xian's pupils shook violently.

"The Liu family's great-grandmother isn't dead yet — she's about to transform into a dragon. How could she turn into a corpse just because of a black cat?"

Cats belong to yin; when a body is laid out for burial, if a black cat leaps onto the coffin, the corpse will rise. Those who turn into a corpse because of a black cat will have a terrifying cat-face appear on their face, and like a wild beast they will bite wildly at every living thing around them.

This was the story of the cat-faced old woman that Auntie He had told earlier.

But the premise for all of this was that there really was a corpse inside the coffin.

"Transform into a dragon…"

Du E said rapidly from the side.

"Maybe, precisely because she's transforming into a dragon, her body is in some kind of unfixed state, so she can also be regarded as a corpse — that's why the black cat's influence can affect her…"

"But none of that matters. What matters is how to stop the Liu family's great-grandmother from rising as a corpse."

"If a great demon about to transform into a dragon rises as a corpse, at the very least one or two of us will have to die before the incident can be quelled!"

Wu Xian licked his lips.

Suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him — to stop a corpse from rising, wasn't that exactly soothing the soul?

He had a way!

Wu Xian immediately took a wooden fish from the table where the incense burner sat, sat cross-legged before the coffin, and struck it ceaselessly.

Hadn't he originally chosen the Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish and brought it to the mourning hall precisely for this purpose?

Tong, tong, tong…

Along with the striking of the Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish, the Liu family's immortal maiden inside the coffin gradually calmed down.

Everyone's state of mind also became inexplicably calm; the various psychological pressures that had built up before were rapidly dissipating — the sound of the wooden fish was purifying everyone's hearts.

Although there was no merit for Wu Xian to grind.

The soul-soothing function of the wooden fish itself had already produced an effect that ordinary magical instruments could not achieve.

While the wooden fish soothed the Liu family's immortal maiden, the remaining six people set out together to catch the cat. After a scene of utter chaos, the black cat was finally caught in Du E's arms.

The black cat tried to scratch Du E's face, but Du E seized it by the throat.

She should have strangled the black cat to death now.

But looking at the black cat's appearance, she suddenly felt a little soft-hearted.

Although she was rather scheming, she was still a girl after all — it was hard for her to steel herself to kill a cat with her own hands — so Du E stuffed the cat into Guan Daorong's hands.

"You handle it!"

Guan Daorong let out a vicious laugh, took the black cat by the throat with one hand and walked to a corner. Everyone averted their eyes; accompanied by a shrill, agonized death-scream, this eerie black cat finally met its end at the hands of the killer.

Judging by the sound, it didn't die a very easy death.

For Guan Daorong, once a cat was in his hands, whether to spare its life was no harder a choice than deciding whether to pee standing or sitting.

After the black cat died.

The disturbance inside the coffin gradually subsided; relying on the Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish, they had tonight once again weathered a calamity.

The Soul-Soothing Wooden Fish had lost its use.

Wu Xian used it as a stool, put the meditation cushion on top of the wooden fish — it was soft and comfortable to sit on, and this comfort made the remaining seven people very envious.

They waited quietly.

They still had one last hurdle to get through tonight.

During the wait, Du E, who had been sitting pressed against Wu Xian, suddenly changed expression slightly, a hint of delight appearing in her eyes.

Then, with a look of utter disgust, she moved a little farther from Wu Xian — it seemed the purpose of her staying pressed against him had been achieved.

But this left Wu Xian a little speechless.

Does she have to make it this obvious? Would sitting with me cost her a piece of flesh?

Hu Yun leaned over.

"Do the bugs you released earlier still have uses left?"

Wu Xian nodded.

"Then before you release them next time, give me a heads-up — I'll be able to help you."

Apart from these small movements, the next stretch of time was very quiet. Nothing monstrous suddenly appeared outside the mourning hall; they only needed to replace the incense and candles at regular intervals.

Finally.

A familiar sound rang out.

"Fourth watch!"

"The fourth watch of the hour of the ox — bitter cold, frozen earth, yin fate, yang lifespan, the serpent and python become dragon!"

Along with the night watchman's voice, the coffin began to move again.

Wu Xian immediately climbed down from the wooden fish, struck it with the small mallet, and tried to make Lady Liu settle down, but this time the wooden fish had no effect at all.

Now that Lady Liu was about to emerge from the coffin, it had nothing to do with a corpse rising anymore.

The fourth watch — the serpent sheds its skin!

The Liu family's great-grandmother was about to shed her serpent skin and begin transforming into a dragon!

Crack, crack-crack…

The chains wrapped around the coffin burst apart one by one. Lady Liu's voluptuous body floated up stiffly from within the coffin, her joints twisting in uncanny ways, and unsettling currents of air surged through the room.

Slowly.

The Liu family's great-grandmother was no longer in human form, but a massive white serpent as thick as a water bucket. The white serpent's body was covered in cracks — especially on its skull, and at four points on its body — where something was bulging outward, the skin nearly splitting open.

"Ah… it hurts so much…"

The great serpent groaned in agony. Still hanging on its body were several items — the very birthday gifts Wu Xian and the others had offered earlier. These gifts were now emanating a ghastly ghostly Qi, causing the great serpent to shift in a certain direction.

The serpent's body churned and slammed the ground over and over. Just from its writhing alone, it reduced the mourning hall to utter ruin; only by the greatest caution did Wu Xian and the other six avoid being caught up in it.

"I don't want to become a ghost dragon, I don't want to…"

"Ah!"

After a single piercing shriek.

Lady Liu suddenly fixed her gaze on Wu Xian and the others.

"It's all your fault! My birthday rites never invited you — why did you come to harm me!"

"That driver too, and all of you — all my bitter cultivation has been ruined at the hands of you humans!"

The two red lanterns suddenly became the great serpent's eyes, the great red-lacquered coffin in the middle stretched out into a massive forked serpent tongue, and the two strips of Bai Bu hanging down became the great white serpent's fangs!

The ground suddenly began to soften and turn red; the entire mourning hall was filled with red flesh and blood, and they could not even stand steady within it.

When the transformation ended.

Wu Xian discovered in horror that the entire mourning hall had become a serpent's mouth — they were now unmistakably inside the maw of a terrifying great serpent!

Snap!

Giving them no time to think, the great serpent's mouth closed shut.

Immense terror rose in everyone's heart. Facing this awakened Liu family great-grandmother, they had not yet used a single technique before they were already swallowed into her belly.

At once.

Boundless darkness descended!

(End of chapter)