Chapter 650: Side Story 1: Earth Embryo

I kept calling "grandfather" several times before he slowly opened his eyes, sat up from the recliner, and turned to look at me: "Shi Rou, you've come."

Our eyes met, and I noticed that grandfather's entire appearance had changed.

Especially his eyes.

His eyes seemed covered with a layer of ash, cloudy and dim, with dark energy surging between his brows.

At this moment, I really panicked: "Grandfather, you… what's wrong with you? You were fine this morning, how did you suddenly…"

Suddenly you became feeble and aged.

Grandfather chuckled and said: "That brat Jin Wuya certainly didn't disappoint me—he has already entered the underground tomb, the tomb has reappeared in daylight, the main line of the Shi family suffers a backlash, and I won't survive tonight."

I shook my head: "No, that's not it—look at me, I'm also a descendant of the Shi family's main line, and I'm still fine, aren't I?"

"Silly girl," grandfather said, "because you're a girl."

I was stunned.

Grandfather continued: "Shi Rou, when you were born, everyone was disappointed, including your parents, because the Shi family's offspring are scarce, with several generations of single inheritance and only male heirs; to them, your birth meant the family line was broken, but I know you are the Shi family's blessing, you are the key to the Shi family's continuation, because you are a girl and you are not within the range of the curse's backlash."

The backlash from that great evil thing in the underground tomb should have struck me first, then your father, but I turned out to be tough—it was actually your parents who went first, and I've managed to scrape by all these years; that's enough.

"Jin Wuya has been inside the underground tomb for a while; whether he can walk out depends on his fortune."

"His fortune is also the fortune of our Shi family…"

Actually, at this moment I really wanted to say that I don't care about status or reputation anymore—I just want to help Jin Wuya.

I want him to stay alive.

But grandfather obviously trusts heaven's will more; too much interference might backfire.

"Shi Rou, come with me."

Grandfather took my hand and walked to his coffin, then began to explain his funeral arrangements one by one, as well as how to deal with the uncertain factors that might arise later.

Although the biggest variable—Uncle—has already been taken care of, it's still inevitable that other messy things will pop up.

"A formation array has been set up beneath the ancestral tomb; I haven't lied to your uncle about this—this array supports the whole tomb, and when that great evil thing reappears in the world, the array can only hold for another half day."

"Shi Rou, you must bury me in the ancestral tomb before it collapses; after that, no matter what happens there, do not interfere any further—as for that great evil thing…"

Grandfather said this, then abruptly stopped, his gaze sweeping past me toward the door.

I instinctively turned back and saw Jin Wuya, looking disheveled, standing at the door.

In his right hand he carried a small coffin made of golden-thread nanmu wood.

That small coffin is only about fifty to sixty centimeters long, wider in front and narrower at the back; its surface is covered with dense ink lines, above which cinnabar has been used to write countless runes, and a soul‑securing talisman is pasted on each end of the coffin.

At this moment, the lower‑right corners of both talismans have been folded over.

At the folded diagonal corner, another rune has been drawn in fresh blood.

It's obvious that this rune was drawn not long ago.

It is Jin Wuya's masterpiece.

In Jin Wuya's hand is also a rope for binding corpses that has been soaked in black dog blood, which he brought down with him when he left.

He stayed in the underground tomb for three days and two nights, and finally emerged from it.

I lifted my foot, wanting to rush over and hug him tightly to vent the anxiety and helplessness I've felt these past days.

But grandfather softly said: "Shi Rou, don't act rashly."

Jin Wuya carried the small coffin step by step toward the main hall.

Each step was firm yet heavy.

Not long after, he stood before grandfather, his gaze sharp as he fixed it on him.

He brought the small coffin before grandfather and demanded: "Is this the reason Shi Rou kills husbands and cannot bear children?"

"Yes." Grandfather remained calm, saying: "Jin Wuya, ask whatever you want—from this moment on you are my Shi family's rightful son‑in‑law; I will entrust Shi Rou to you, so treat her well."

Jin Wuya glanced at me, his eyes complex.

I don't know what psychological ordeal he went through being trapped beneath the ancestral tomb for those three days and two nights.

Perhaps… perhaps he will hate me.

After all, he's such a smooth‑talking person—how could he not realize this is a setup?

He knows he was schemed against, and it was a nine‑deaths‑one‑life situation.

Now that he has emerged from below, he ought to bear a grudge against every member of the Shi family equally.

The ones who schemed against him are grandfather and uncle, as well as my own inaction.

Jin Wuya quickly withdrew his gaze, locked eyes with grandfather again, and asked: "Is what's sealed inside this small coffin the thing you brought out of the tomb back then? What exactly is sealed within?"

Grandfather kept his promise, answering any question: "It is the earth embryo."

Both Jin Wuya and I were startled.

When I saw the small coffin, I naturally assumed it contained an infant corpse.

Evidently, Jin Wuya thought the same.

No one would have guessed it was actually an earth embryo.

"The lineage of the Mountain‑Removing Strongmen is itself a tomb‑digging unit in the army; although it later flowed into the civilian world, it still answers the call when summoned." Grandfather recalled, "Shi Rou's great‑grandfather back then, acting on imperial orders, led the core strength of the Red Armor Army down into that great tomb, only because the reigning superior had fallen gravely ill, he believed a sorcerer's slander and wanted to use the earth embryo as a guide to concoct an elixir that would grant him immortality."

I never expected the cause to be like this.

I couldn't help but ask: "And then? Did the tomb actually contain an earth embryo?"

Grandfather shook his head: "I don't know—not even I, nor your great‑grandfather, has ever seen with his own eyes what's inside this small coffin; on his deathbed he merely told me that what's sealed in the coffin is the earth embryo taken from that tomb."

"The earth embryo was dug out of the belly of a thousand‑year‑undecayed female corpse in the tomb; at the time they were frenziedly attacked by that corpse and nearly wiped out."

I frowned: "Dug from the belly of a thousand‑year‑undecayed female corpse? Isn't that just an infant corpse?"

"No, it should be different." Grandfather analyzed: "According to your great‑grandfather, after the female corpse was buried in the great tomb, it should have absorbed the tomb's auspicious spiritual qi, remaining undecayed for a thousand years; the spiritual qi continually condensed within her body, eventually forming the earth embryo in her abdomen."

If it were an infant corpse, the situation would be reversed—the female corpse would have already been pregnant before death, one body with two lives.

After he settled south of the mountains, he had examined a large number of ancient texts, and had also found some information about that big tomb, and there was no record saying that the female corpse had been pregnant before death...