Chapter 28: Opening the Coffin

  Next, Oil Barrel and others will definitely open the coffin. This coffin is too mysterious, even I can't help but wonder what's inside, but I don't understand this stuff at all. No one can guarantee that I won't mess things up, so it's better to leave this kind of skill to Oil Barrel and others. Turning to Oil Barrel, he said: "You guys have a lot of rules in your line of work, what good suggestions could I possibly have?"

  The oil and water belly laughed with a chuckle.

  "Brother, when it comes to Fat Brother's skills, you really can't find a second person. Well, Fat Brother will show off his skills and let you see the abilities of the Golden Armor General!" Oil Water Belly said.

  He then turned to Da Fu Da Gui and said, "Take out the stuff from the equipment bag and open the coffin!"

  Da Fu and Da Gui exchanged a glance, nodded at the oil-water bag, then put down their equipment package, opened it, and took out four anti-toxic masks, gloves, a very long black rubber rope, three incense sticks, and a yellow bronze mirror. The mirror was about the size of a ordinary ping-pong paddle, with the four divine beasts - Qinglong, Baihu, Zhuque, and Xuanwu - engraved on its top, bottom, left, and right sides. Strange fish-scale patterns covered the entire mirror, and upon closer inspection, these patterns seemed to form several lines of text, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't make out anything. In the center of the mirror was an eight-trigram five-element diagram, with all 81 trigrams clearly engraved on it. The mirror's surface was a dark greenish-black color, and nothing could be reflected in it - this thing must have been at least over a thousand years old.

  This yellow small mirror is not unfamiliar to me, I remember my uncle had one placed in the center of our house's main hall table, named "Magic Mirror", according to my uncle, this mirror was a god's incarnation that could drive away ghosts and demons. So every day I would see my uncle burning incense on it, year after year, this mirror was indeed magical, whenever he burned incense, the mirror would breathe in like a human, greedily inhaling the white smoke emitted by the burning incense, at this moment the mirror's surface would no longer be pitch black, but slowly turn yellow as it absorbed the smoke, emitting a dazzling golden light! Every time I wanted to touch it, but unfortunately, every time I was caught red-handed by my uncle, saying that was disrespect to the gods, and every time I ended up being scolded by my uncle.

  Oil-water belly saw me staring at the mirror in Da Fu's hand, and he snatched it from him, walked to my front, and grinned: "Brother, your eyes are really sharp. This 'Soul-Eating Mirror' of mine has a great origin. It was passed down from generation to generation by my ancestors, who were all high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Just its age is enough to scare people to death - it's priceless! The materials used to make this bronze mirror are not simple either. Over 3,000 soldiers who had killed countless people and were full of murderous energy contributed a drop of their blood each, which was then infused with the lost 'Blood Curse' secret technique of the Mó Jīn school that had been passed down for over a thousand years. This is why this mirror has an extremely heavy killing aura. If you place it on top of a stone coffin and light some incense, I guarantee that whatever unclean things are inside the coffin won't dare to move. And it's not just that - anyone who carries the energy of death on their body will have their soul devoured by this mirror, which is why it's called 'Soul-Eating'."

  "Are you saying this thing is something that only Mochin School Lieutenant has?" I asked in puzzlement.

  Oil and water nod together

  "This thing is our Mó Jīn Xiào Wèi's unpassed treasure, outsiders get it in hand, don't understand the usage method, it's just a piece of scrap copper and iron, completely useless, getting it doesn't have any use either". Oil Water Belly Way

  My mind is a complete mess, if what Oil Water Belly said is true, then Uncle might really be a Golden Armor General. Earlier, Oil Water Belly said that Uncle was someone who had made a name for himself in both the archaeological and tomb raiding worlds. How many more things is Uncle hiding from me? Why does he want to hide these things from me?!

  Driven by curiosity, I took the Soul-Devouring Mirror from Oil Water's hand. As soon as the mirror touched my palm, I felt a burning sensation in my hand, like it was on fire. My body felt like it was being burned, and my soul slowly began to separate from me. A pain unlike any I had ever experienced spread throughout every inch of my muscles. My face contorted in agony, and a scream tore through the silent tomb. I used all my strength to try and shake off the mirror, but it seemed to be stuck to my hand like 502 glue, no matter how hard I struggled.

  My consciousness slowly faded away, and just then, the mirror stuck to my hand fell to the ground with a "clatter". Along with the sound of the mirror hitting the ground, the feeling of my soul leaving my body gradually disappeared, and I was suddenly freed from the pain. All my strength seemed to have been sucked out by the Soul-Devouring Mirror, and my body went limp, causing me to collapse weakly onto the ground.

  The one who made the move was not someone else, but rather Yu Shui Zu. At this moment, he was staring at me with a strange and excited expression that couldn't be concealed. Even Da Fu's calm and composed eyes showed a hint of unexpected surprise.

  "How could this be?!" I weakly asked Yu Shui.

  You Shui Du retracted his gaze, slowly crouching down with his stout body, and the Soul-Devouring Mirror fell to the ground. He hesitated for a moment before seeming to think of an explanation.

  "Brother, you make a living by hunting, so the killing aura on your body is naturally very heavy. This mirror is also an ancient evil instrument, so it will absorb the soul from your body. Fortunately, Fat Brother was quick to react and saved you, otherwise this time you would have died with only one word 'wronged'!" Oil Water Belly said.

  It can't be that the killing aura on me is too heavy, so I was swallowed by this Soul-Devouring Mirror. No! Things aren't that simple. Come to think of it, when I was a kid, my uncle never let me touch this Soul-Devouring Mirror either. Maybe it's because of this reason!

  "Is there another side to the Soul-Devouring Mirror?" I asked weakly, turning to You Shui.

  Oil Water Belly nodded and said, "The Soul-Eating Mirror indeed has another side, but it's not called the Soul-Eating Mirror, it's called the Reincarnation Mirror. I don't know its specific function because it disappeared twenty years ago."

  "Is it gone?" I said.

  "Not bad, this mirror was originally one and the same, but for some reason it split into two a thousand years ago. Originally, these two mirrors were passed down from generation to generation by our Mò Jīn School, but they disappeared twenty years ago."

  It seems that the mirror in the house back home is indeed a reincarnation mirror, but why it ended up in my uncle's hands I think only he knows. My uncle has too many secrets!

  Oil and water belly don't know what I think, one sentence pulled me back to reality.

  "Brother, you rest first, I'll go and open the coffin with Da Fu and Da Gui!" said You Shui.

  Also, I nodded. I've wasted too much time already, Old Man Liu and the others arrived two days earlier than us, it seems they should be coming out soon, this ancient tomb of the demon king exudes an adventurous and eerie aura that has not been diminished by a thousand years, I dare not guarantee whether there will be other exits here or what variables will appear again, if so, I'll definitely be disappointed!

  After finishing, the oil-water belly threw two anti-toxic masks and two pairs of gloves to me. I thought about it, and it was indeed so. This strange and mysterious stone coffin has been placed here for thousands of years. I don't know if there will be any toxic gas inside. If that's true, without an anti-toxic mask at that time, I would have definitely died a wrongful death!

  I put on a gas mask and gloves, and also gave the female lunatic a gas mask and gloves. After everything was ready, I looked through the gas mask and saw Oil Water Belly sincerely placing the Soul-Eating Mirror on top of the stone coffin, and then lit three small incense sticks in front of the mirror. The white smoke rising from the incense sticks was all absorbed by the mirror, and the dark green surface of the mirror gradually turned into a pale golden light. Oil Water Belly bowed three times to the mirror with great respect, muttering some sort of spell under his breath. Then, he let out a loud shout, and suddenly the stone coffin started shaking violently, emitting a mournful cry that sounded like a woman's voice. The sound was so sorrowful that it made my skin crawl and I broke out in cold sweat. The coffin continued to shake for two minutes before finally stopping after the crying sounds ceased. Oil Water Belly then put the mirror away into his equipment pack on Big Fortune's back, and gave a hand signal to Big Fortune and Great Wealth. They nodded in understanding and stood beside Oil Water Belly in front of the stone coffin. After looking around cautiously, Oil Water Belly raised his sleeves, and all six hands were placed on top of the stone coffin lid. At the same time, I saw Oil Water Belly take a deep breath, suck in his belly, and then all three of them shouted loudly together. The heavy stone coffin lid was slowly moved, pushed aside, and a black gas poured out from the coffin. Suddenly, a foul smell that seemed to come from thousands of years' accumulation of dead bodies rushed into my nostrils, and even the gas mask couldn't filter it out completely. My stomach churned violently because I couldn't adapt to this smell, and since there was nothing in my stomach to throw up, I ended up dry-heaving on the ground.

  After a while, I felt the foul smell that had pierced my nostrils had dissipated a lot. Using my hands to support myself on the ground, I got up and stumbled towards the oil drum...