Chapter 86: Subordinate, Coffin Tomb

The coffins in the mortuary were one red and one black.

The black one was the coffin passed down from Liu Youdao's sect, made by Yang Qiying's own hands; there was no telling what was hidden inside.

The red one was the mysterious large coffin Liu Youdao dug up from the Ghost King's tomb on the Ancient Road of the Yinhe. Judging by the specifications, it was likely the coffin of a prominent ghost general or a Ghost King's concubine.

At this moment, Xu Qing was like a buyer gambling on jade; however, he wasn't opening jade raw stones, but coffins.

Xu Qing had no experience in opening boxes in the past, let alone this kind of large blind box before him.

If he opened a fierce ghost or an old corpse, how scary would that be!

To prevent being scared, Xu Qing cajoled and deceived, finding this group of immortals from the Yin-gate trade to escort him.

With more people, the courage is greater; with more strange things, the courage is even greater!

One zombie, along with several small animals that had become demons, surrounded the two coffins.

At this moment, the horse-riding disciple Hou Yuan stood before the coffin, his heart trembling.

These two coffins, which looked evil at a glance, didn't seem very welcoming.

"Fellow Daoist, the dead are the greatest; shouldn't we just forget it?"

Xu Qing glanced at the old man who wanted to retreat before the battle, thinking to himself, am I not great too?

"Fellow Daoist, what are you afraid of? Could it be that there's something inside that can lift the coffin and rise?"

"Fellow Daoist, please stop talking. When you say that, this old man has even less bottom in his heart!"

Xuanyu, who was beside him, seemed even more anxious than Xu Qing, urging: "Hurry, hurry! Old man, don't dawdle; quickly see what treasures are inside!"

Hou Yuan saw that even the immortal had spoken, so he calculated in his heart, thinking that with two old ancestors, Huang Laoxu and Lady Qingqing, sitting in town, what was there to fear from two broken coffins?

"Which one does Fellow Daoist want to verify first?"

"Verify the black coffin first, to warm up." Xu Qing put on the finger-knuckles with one hand and took out the silver snake sword confiscated from Qing Luo with the other.

The emerald-green sword edge was quenched with deadly poison, faintly glowing with fluorescence.

Hou Yuan saw this scene, and the courage he had finally mustered suddenly lost its foundation.

"Xiaoyun, retreat further. If Grandfather has any mishap, you take Grandfather back to the Northern Prefecture..." At this moment, in Hou Yuan's eyes, the Northern Prefecture, which was suffering from war, might be safer than Jinmen.

On this side, after Hou Yuan finished explaining his affairs, he knocked on the waist drum and sang the Helper-Soldier Formula. When the yin wind rolled up in the room and the lamp flames went out, Xu Qing, who was proficient in the lamp-lighting method, snapped his fingers, and the room lit up again.

"What kind of magic is this?" Xuanyu was full of wonder.

Xu Qing looked at Hou Yuan, whose face was full of gray fur and had grown rodent-like gnawing teeth, and said without looking back: "The Undying Brightness Method; it cannot be performed by anyone whose soul is not pure and clean."

"Only people with kind hearts can learn it."

"What about kind cats?"

"Then are you kind?"

"Hmm..."

Hou Yuan listened to the conversation between the man and the cat behind him, his eyelids twitching wildly.

He didn't know if it was because of the perspective-seeing method he was performing, or because of the nonsense the young man behind him was spouting.

The funeral banners on the black lacquer coffin rattled, and the blood-red red lines popped out by the ink fountain grew gray velvet, like moldy white steamed buns.

As the coffin seal was weakened by the Gray Immortal's yin energy, Hou Yuan, who was possessed, finally saw the blurry scene inside through the coffin lid.

Blood-red pupils the size of beans were rolling back and forth in the eye sockets. Hou Yuan made a thin, ear-piercing sound and said:

"There seems to be a person inside, but this old man can't see clearly. I need to peel off some of the talismans to see clearly!"

Xu Qing frowned slightly and pinched the Purple Micro-Dou Calculation. His fingers moved like flying shadows, as if they could pinch sparks.

Finally, he obtained the hexagram: the main hexagram is Zhen, the Mourning Star moves, indicating filial piety and crying; the changing hexagram is Li, the five elements are prosperous, indicating the movement of a commander leading troops.

This hexagram is half auspicious and half ominous.

The great ominousness is in the coffin, while the auspicious sign is on himself.

Xu Qing pondered for a moment and then made up his mind.

Peel the talismans!

It's just the Mourning Star moving; if you really want to talk about it, is there any day he isn't carrying mourning?

Besides, he had already come, and there were so many immortals here; what was there to be afraid of!

Xu Qing immediately calmed his heart and peeled off the cinnabar yellow talismans on the coffin one by one.

When more than half of the talismans were removed, Hou Yuan suddenly said:

"Stop! This old man can already see clearly what's inside!"

"What is it?"

"It's a person, a person wearing red clothes."

"What do they look like? Is it a man or a woman?"

At this moment, not only was Xu Qing staring tightly at the black lacquer coffin, but the small animal immortals like Xuanyu and Huang Laoxu were also waiting for the next sentence with full attention.

"It's a woman, her appearance..." Hou Yuan leaned close to the coffin, almost pressing against the lid.

"What is her appearance?"

"Heh—!"

Just as everyone was waiting for the answer with bated breath, Hou Yuan suddenly exclaimed and took three steps back.

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts, and even Xuanyu was scared into fluffing its fur by this exclamation.

"Ugly, too ugly! Scared this old man to death..." Hou Yuan stroked his chest, unable to calm down for a while.

"It's a female yaksha inside!"

Xu Qing's heart skipped a beat.

The *Corpse-Raising Scripture* states that zombies are divided into five realms: Wandering Corpse, Prostrate Corpse, Unchanging Bone, Flying Zombie, and Corpse Immortal.

Among them, the Flying Zombie is also known as the Flying Yaksha, or Black Fierce.

If it were a Flying Yaksha, let alone him coming, even if Grandmaster Yang were alive again, he might not be able to deal with it, let alone subdue it.

Xu Qing frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

Yang Qiying was only a registered disciple of the Yin Corpse Sect; how could he possibly possess a Flying Zombie? Furthermore, if it were truly a Flying Zombie, how could this black coffin alone suppress it?

"Fellow Daoist, did you see clearly? Is it truly a Flying Yaksha?"

Hou Yuan said in bewilderment: "What Flying Yaksha? This old man is saying that the woman inside is incredibly ugly, looking just like a yaksha."

"..."

Xu Qing's eyebrows twitched. If it weren't for his respect for the old and love for the young, seeing the other party was old, he would have given Hou Yuan a few punches for this panting, teaching the old man how to speak properly.

"Even if the woman is ugly, there must be a limit. Tell me exactly how ugly she is?"

Hou Yuan came to the coffin again. Just as he was about to speak, a "creak-creak" sound of bowstrings tightening suddenly rang out in the silent mortuary.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound at the same time, only to see the black lacquer coffin, which had been tossed about, trembling on its own.

The three-horizontal and two-vertical leather strips, like bowstrings exceeding their load-bearing limit, burst one by one.

Xu Qing was about to step forward to check when the nine coffin nails sealing the black lacquer coffin suddenly shot out.

The mysterious cat reacted quickly, turning into a black light afterimage, intercepting half of the iron nails.

The remaining iron nails were all knocked down by Huang Laoxu and Xu Qing.

After the few finished doing all this, when they turned their heads back, they heard a "creak."

The coffin lid opened!

Heavy yin energy poured into the shop, and the black lacquer coffin was like a flood beast breaking through a gate, with poisonous gas and yin evil accumulated over who knows how many years rushing out from inside.

If an ordinary person were hit by this, they would lose half their life if they didn't die.

But were there any ordinary people in the mortuary at this time?

Xu Qing, as a zombie, naturally liked yin evil. After being hit by this, he felt refreshed instead.

The immortals beside him didn't need to be mentioned; everyone was from the Yin-gate trade. If you took pure yang and fierce energy to hit them, it might have some effect, but if you took this little bit of yin energy to treat them, what difference did it have from a toothpick stirring a large vat?

Hou Yuan was possessed by an immortal and was not affected at all. His gray-white beard and hair danced in the yin wind. When the fog dissipated, he squinted and looked—

Inside the coffin, a female zombie with red clothes and a green face and fangs walked out.

The green face was because the female zombie's face was covered with green corpse hair, unadorned, and the fangs were the four white corpse fangs, an inch long and sharp.

Xu Qing, who was guarding the center of the shop, also saw this scene.

He raised his eyebrows slightly, and the feeling the zombie before him gave him...

Was a bit strange. He actually had an intense, instinctive urge to establish a subordinate relationship with her.

Judging by the aura, Xu Qing realized that the other party was also a Silver-Armored Corpse.

However, it was clear that this female zombie didn't have the slightest consciousness that a living person should have.

The green-faced female zombie stepped out of the coffin. When she saw the circle of yin evil creatures blocking her door, the female zombie was silent for a moment, then turned around decisively and returned to her own black lacquer coffin.

The yin wind blew, and the coffin lid lying on the ground made a "clatter" and covered it back up exactly as it was.

This made Xu Qing laugh.

You want to run after scaring us?

There is no such cheap thing in the world!

Prying open the coffin lid, Xu Qing was like a bandit breaking into a boudoir at night. After a scramble between the two zombies in the coffin, the disheveled female zombie was thrown out of the coffin.

Most ordinary zombies have not opened their spiritual wisdom. Although the female zombie before him had the cultivation of a Silver-Armored Corpse, she was also a wandering corpse refined by someone. Apart from having some instincts similar to wild beasts, she had not produced much spiritual wisdom.

Now that the female zombie had been bullied, she hissed at Xu Qing in a low voice, showing a posture of willingness to be a subordinate.

Xu Qing looked at this Silver-Armored Corpse, feeling puzzled, wondering why Yang Qiying, having refined such a thing, didn't let Liu Youdao drive it.

If Liu Youdao had had such a Silver-Armored Corpse to protect him when he was driving corpses, how could he have let Bai Luo succeed in a sneak attack?

Xu Qing smacked his lips, already having a plan in his heart.

Although this Silver-Armored Corpse had a strong physical body, she didn't have much spiritual wisdom, so she wasn't of much use keeping.

It would be better to just transcend her. This way, not only could he collect more information about Liu Youdao's sect, but he could also get rewards from the *Scripture of Transcending People*.

A Silver-Armored Corpse would surely have a generous reward.

Besides these, the female zombie's corpse after transcendence wouldn't be wasted.

Xuanyu was currently lacking a horse-riding disciple to possess and walk around. With this Silver-Armored Corpse, it would surely be much easier to use than an ordinary mortal body.

Xu Qing reached out and rubbed his chin, scrutinizing the zombie who was humble before him, and finally determined the treatment plan.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, this coffin has been verified. In this old man's opinion, it's better to verify the next coffin another day..."

Hou Yuan, seeing the female zombie, wanted to retreat.

This was only the first coffin, and it had opened such an evil thing. If he hadn't seen that Xu Qing still had some ability, he would have long since fled the shop and taken his granddaughter back to his hometown.

"Fellow Daoist, don't worry. I am roughly proficient in the art of divination and astrology. Let me calculate it first. If it's not feasible, I will definitely not make things difficult for you."

After Xu Qing locked the red-clothed female zombie back into the coffin, he said again: "I heard that Gray Immortals are always good at calculating. Why don't you let the immortal calculate it too? This way, with two proofs, you can also be at ease."

Hou Yuan was still waiting to say something, but then he saw Xu Qing reach into his collar and fumble around. When the other party took his hand out, there were two familiar pills.

Hou Yuan fell silent.

At White Horse Temple, he had taken this kind of pill. Since then, his body had become better and better, as strong as a young man, and he never wet his shoes again.

At the entrance of the shop, Hou Xiaoyun suddenly poked half her body in and said angrily: "Grandfather, we don't want his things. We've already done our best by opening a coffin for him."

Hou Yuan silently put the two pills into his bosom, then turned to his granddaughter and said: "Good Yun'er, it's rare for your grandfather to still be able to run around. If we don't make more friends now, when you encounter difficult things in the future, where will you find familiar people to help?"

"We who walk the Jianghu must make more good connections; convenience for others is convenience for ourselves." Hou Yuan said, turning to look at Xu Qing, as if implying something: "Does Fellow Daoist Xu think what this old man said is right or wrong?"

Xu Qing was a head taller than Hou Yuan. At this moment, he looked down at the old man who was as cunning as a ghost, and how could he not know that the other party wanted to ask for pills while also owing him a favor.

After all, regardless of whether opening the coffin would be dangerous, Hou Yuan wouldn't live long. Those pills could only slow down aging, but they weren't any immortality medicine.

But if he could get a favor from him, perhaps when Hou Xiaoyun encountered something she couldn't solve in the future, she could get a senior's care because of today's action.

When an immortal sets up a hall, the most important thing is connections.

Regardless of whether it's a horse-riding disciple or an immortal, in the end, it's all about inviting an immortal or asking someone for help.

Disciples rely on immortals, and immortals rely on disciples.

This also created the habit of horse-riding immortals liking to make friends.

Facing Hou Yuan's request, Xu Qing pondered for a moment and nodded: "If it is within my power, I will take care of Fellow Daoist."

Hou Yuan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. He smiled and said: "You have great ability; I will verify this coffin for you."

In Hou Yuan's eyes, although the young man before him didn't follow etiquette, he was a reasonable person, at most having some small problems, but these weren't problems.

After all, in the horse-riding immortal industry, there are many people with strange personalities.

Like Xu Qing, he could actually be considered to have a bottom line, although it didn't look like much.

Hou Yuan didn't twist anymore this time. He came to the coffin, stretched out his gray-white, withered, and wrinkled palm, and his sharp nails made a sour sound that only occurs when porcelain collides.

The old Gray Immortal who possessed him muttered endlessly. It controlled Hou Yuan, and his two feet were like two rope ends thrown out by a rattle-drum, jumping back and forth in an "eight" shape.

Hou Yuan, who had invited the immortal to possess him, had a thin and sharp voice. When he spoke in a low voice, it was like a mouse stealing, and when he spoke in a high voice, it was sharp and ear-piercing.

Coupled with that limping appearance, it really had the flavor of a fake immortal jumping and dancing.

It's just that he was a real immortal!

After calculating the good and bad luck of verifying the coffin, Hou Yuan shivered, the immortal temporarily hid, and the old man regained control of his body.

Xu Qing also stepped on the Seven Stars and calculated the good and bad luck.

"Verify the coffin!"

The two looked at each other and spoke almost at the same time.

Their calculation results were surprisingly consistent: both were calm and waveless, with no good or bad luck.

Xu Qing was also puzzled. This coffin dug out from the Ghost King's tomb should have been more fierce than the black coffin next to it. How did it become the most ordinary coffin instead?

Removing the coffin funeral banner, the blood-red coffin, which was slightly raised at both ends and stood about as tall as a person, was completely revealed.

Hou Yuan's crab-eye-sized eyeballs wandered, like tangled balls of thread, shaking out threads that were hard to see with the naked eye, sinking into the red-lacquered coffin.

After a long while, Hou Yuan said in confusion: "Why is this coffin empty inside?"

"Empty coffin?"

Even Xu Qing, who had made all preparations, couldn't control his emotions.

If there were only an ordinary corpse in the coffin, it would be fine, or even if he opened a fierce evil object, Xu Qing could accept it.

But how could it be an empty coffin?

Liu Youdao spent so much effort and took so much risk to get such a coffin from the Ancient Road of the Yinhe, and you tell me it's an empty coffin?

Xu Qing had high hopes for this ancestral coffin. If it were in a gambling stone field, this would be the top-grade jade raw material.

As a result, he spent all his efforts to invite a coffin-verifying master, and after one cut, he didn't even see a star of green?

Where is the justice in this!

"Fellow Daoist Hou, look carefully. This is the coffin passed down from my sect, the object my master cherished most before he died..."

Hou Yuan hesitated for a moment, then invited the immortal to perform the method again, but this time he saw it more clearly.

"Fellow Daoist, this is indeed an empty coffin, but the emptiness inside is quite large. It doesn't look like a coffin at all, but rather like an empty grave."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 87 =====