Chapter Thirty-two: The Heavenly Master's Coffin, Begins to Move

  Under the streetlight, the figure jumping in an extremely eerie posture made my jaw drop uncontrollably, my mouth wide enough to stuff a ostrich egg, buzzing in my head, with a restless urge in my heart, I wanted to tear Yu Wu's mouth apart and make him stop talking nonsense.

  I've only seen zombies dance on TV, and it's about the same as what Old Tribal Uncle is doing now, with a slight difference being that he only has one leg.

  At first glance, it was just a very slender black shadow that rose and fell, I didn't even know what kind of monster it was until the yellow glow of the street lamp enveloped him, and then I saw the Qing dynasty official uniform made of azure blue fabric on his body.

  He wasn't wearing an official hat, because he couldn't wear it anymore. Half of his head was covered with sparse and dry yellow hair, which fell on the left side of his shoulder. His arms weren't stretched out flat, but were stuck straight to his sides. When he jumped, only his wrists exerted force, while his entire body remained still like a steel plate.

  He stopped under the streetlight and turned around slowly without moving his feet, and although he was tens of meters away, his appearance emerged in my mind.

  A half-wrinkled old face had rotted, lips curled up, revealing a small thumb-sized sharp fang, the left eye socket filled with dirt and mud overflowed with a turbid tear that was about to fall.

  I don't know if there were tears, but when I saw his face, it was as if I felt the same way, a very heavy sorrow surged in my heart, painful to the point of heartbreak, and all I could think of was crying.

  He is half a zombie, or he only has half of his body, just like being split in two by a dragon-slaying knife from the top of his head.

  The old man under the streetlight paused for a moment, then suddenly raised his only remaining arm and pointed at the glass beside my head. I subconsciously turned my head, and saw that the three blood-written "escape" characters were almost dry, with streaks of dusty bloodstains, like scratches left by fingernails on the glass.

  When he looked again, the old man had turned around and was hopping away on one leg, disappearing into the darkness.

  The zombie, however, was like an old man tottering along as if his oil lamp was about to go out, and it was heart-wrenching.

  As he left, my mood underwent a drastic change. The grief that had enveloped me suddenly vanished, just like the heavy weight pressing on my heart disappeared into thin air. My heart bounced back like a rubber ball, pounding violently with a loud thud-thud-thud. It was then that I felt my scalp tingling, legs trembling, and the clothes on my back drenched in sweat. Suddenly, I let out a chilling scream: "Save me! The zombie is coming!"

  I subconsciously took two steps back, my toes knocking against my heels, and I fell to the ground with a thud. My whole body felt soft and weak, unable to muster up any energy. From outside came the sound of footsteps, followed by someone bursting in through the door, who then lifted me up and shouted: "Where is it? Where's the zombie?"

  "I pointed outside the window and said: 'Run, quickly call Liu Weimin back, Lao Zu Gong has appeared.'"

  Don't run to the window and look out, saw bloodstains on the glass, leaned over and sniffed, asking me who wrote the words?

  I told him with a lingering fear that it should be Lao Zu Gong, he was chopped in half by someone and became a half-zombie.

  You Mou's face twitched and asked if I had been drinking, then called Liu Wei Min.

  At this critical moment, on the night when zombies appeared, Liu Weimin shut down!

  Third sister also ran in to ask what had just happened, I was so scared that I was confused, it was Yu Wu who spoke, he used his body to block the bloody words on the window and only said that I saw a zombie under the streetlight, which is why I shouted.

  Third sister-in-law is to inform the villagers, I let her go first to the ancestral hall to find Xu Qi.

  After San Shu left, You Mo asked me if I wanted to tell Xu Qi the truth. He advised me not to do so and wait for Liu Wei Min to return and make a decision.

  I directly scolded back: "Damn it, didn't you guys say there were no zombies? Didn't you say everything was just an illusion created by Old Man Huang? You're so good at analyzing things, aren't you? Then analyze this for me, what the hell just happened!"

  You're really shameless, aren't you? You're actually thinking to yourself: "Let me think about this... Hmm, it should be that the coffin thing didn't scare you off, so someone must have disguised themselves as a zombie and is determined to drive you away."

  I nodded vigorously: "That makes sense, zombies definitely don't exist, you damn well lick the blood on the glass for me, and from now on I'll believe whatever you say!"

  Youmu's face flashed with a struggle, but in the end he gave up and said to me with a worried expression: "If it was really Old Zhūgōng just now, then the one who should have put you in the coffin is also him. But why did he tell you to escape? And how did he know that Xǔ Qí would arrive on time and rescue you? Even if a zombie could calculate, why did he look for you instead of me? Are you two relatives?"

  Youmu's mouth not only spreads bad news like a crow, but also makes noise like a crow. I was so scared that my soul left my body, and he buzzed around my ear like a fly. I tossed and turned on the bed for a while, finally sat up and told him: "I want to leave, I want to get out of here!"

  "You Mouyi was taken aback: 'What about Wen Jing?'"

  I panted and told him: "Go home, sell the house and land, get the money and go to places like Longhu Mountain and Maoshan to find a master for help. If all else fails, I'll kneel in front of Tiananmen Gate and see if the country will take care of it!"

  Yu didn't cry or laugh, and tightly held me back. Just as we were at a stalemate, San Shu rushed back, panting while leaning against the door frame, and shouted: "Wang Zhen is in trouble, Xu Daochang has been possessed by a ghost!"

  Watching San Shu's flustered appearance, I couldn't find any words to express my feelings except for a sigh.

  I don't have much respect and admiration for Xu Qi, but out of friendship with people like him, I still hope that Xu Da will live a long, healthy and happy life.

  But he was possessed by a ghost on the Longhu Mountain Avenue?!!

  Why doesn't he just die and spare Dragon Tiger Mountain from being embarrassed by his presence?

  Even if he didn't want to, he was still nominally his master, so he had to go and take a look at the situation. He told Yu not to leave the reception hall until Liu Weimin returned, and then he ran quickly to the ancestral temple. There were many people surrounding it inside and out. As he approached, he heard the village chief shouting for everyone to disperse and search separately.

  The village chief stood on the table giving orders, saw me from afar and laughed so hard that his mouth couldn't close, saying that Permit Daochang's high disciple had arrived, and asked everyone to hurry up and make way.

  The village head jumped down from the table, grabbed my hand and took me to the ancestral hall, shouting loudly: "Brother Xiao Wang, something big has happened! Xu Daozhang was possessed by a ghost, injured two people, and ran away somewhere."

  I looked at his expression and asked in puzzlement: "Something like this happened, how can you still smile with a straight face?"

  The village chief was taken aback, turned his head to glance at the villagers behind him, and covered up by saying he had a smiling face, but the more anxious and painful he looked, the more it seemed like a smile.

  Entering the courtyard, the village chief blocked the door and shouted: "Alright, everyone is in groups of five, disperse to find Xu Daochang, supervise each other, no one is allowed to leave the village, if you encounter Laozu Gong it will be troublesome."

  A villager asked him, what if Xu Daoyi runs out of the village? Looking at his crazy appearance, it's very likely that he will go to the tomb of Laozu Gong.

  The village chief patted me on the shoulder and said with a big smile, "Isn't this the disciple of Master Xu Dao? Naturally, he went to the most dangerous place."

  I almost peed my pants, others didn't know the old patriarch appeared, but I saw it with my own eyes. It's just that the ancestral hall and the old patriarch left in opposite directions, so I dared to come out and take a look. Now leaving the village is no different from looking for death.

  I hastily told the village chief that I had only recently joined Master Xu's sect and it was difficult for me to take on this heavy responsibility, besides, I didn't even know what happened, so it's better to calm down and observe. It would be best for me to stay behind and guard the ancestral hall.

  The village chief burst out laughing and dragged me into the ancestral hall by the collar, walking and talking at the same time.

  Just over ten minutes ago, the person who stayed outside the village to guard the old ancestral tomb came back and said that the tomb was haunted by a ghost. From time to time, a woman's cold laughter could be heard, so please ask Master Xu to go and take a look.

  At that time, Xu Qi was discussing something with the village cadres. As soon as he heard this, he grabbed his treasured sword and wanted to go out.

  But who would have thought that he had only walked a few steps before fainting to the ground, foaming at the mouth. The villagers wanted to carry him to see a doctor, but Xu Daochang suddenly made a fish-like movement and jumped up, swiftly drawing his sword and making a circle with it, not allowing the villagers to get close to him. Afterwards, he pinched his fingers together in a lotus shape and sang an opera around the temple, yipping and yelling.

  It's said that he was possessed by a ghost rather than having a relapse of mental illness, because Xu Ji sang a song about Mu Guiying taking command, and the voice that came out of his mouth was surprisingly a sharp and shrill female voice.

  The villagers thought Xu Qi was possessed by a ghost and rushed up to try to subdue him, but he knocked out several of them with three punches and two kicks.

  Finally, Xu Qi pinched his fingers in a warning gesture, his eyes gleaming with a mischievous light as he cautioned the villagers never to approach that golden silk nanmu coffin again. Then he leapt over the wall and disappeared into the unknown.

  Judging from his tone, it's likely that he was possessed by the female ghost in the camphor wood coffin, so Xu Qi might have run to the tomb.

  After entering the ancestral hall, the village chief solemnly handed me the cloth bag that Xu Qi often carried with him and said: "Young Wang brother, Xu Daozhang has entrusted you!"

  I clutched the backpack with both hands behind my back, and with a bitter face told him that he should know what kind of person I am. I was an apprentice to Xu Qi for no more than two hours, and now he wants me to go save people, which is just sending me to death.

  In addition to us two in the ancestral hall, there were also two village cadres. After Jiu Ge's death, it was the village chief who brought them with Xu Qi to discuss and plan.

  Upon hearing my complaint, they both burst out laughing and said that the village head's previous words were just official talk, but in reality, Xu Qi was waiting for me outside the village.

  "Little brother, actually, Village Chief Xu has kept us here tonight to discuss his funeral arrangements. He thinks that Old Tribe's transformation into a zombie is definitely the result of someone's evil deeds behind the scenes. This person has already harmed Little Jiu and now wants to use the zombie meat to harm Village Chief Xu..." The village cadre looked at the somewhat sorrowful village chief, continuing: "So he planned to pretend to be bitten by a zombie, hide out and wait for the mastermind to reveal themselves, but didn't expect the grave to have an accident first. Therefore, Village Chief Xu has used a clever trick, pretending to be crazy."

  I asked them with mixed feelings of faith and doubt, "What does Xu Qi want me to do?"

  The village head said: "There was no message left, the original plan was that Xu Daochang would pretend to die tonight, be buried overnight, and then let you dig him up. Who would have thought that something unexpected would happen? Xu Daochang changed his plan halfway through, and it wasn't convenient for him to instruct us again in front of so many people!"

  I asked again, since they didn't say anything, what makes them think Xu Qi isn't possessed by a ghost but is just pretending to be crazy?

  The village head gave him a subtle wink when Xu Qi sang the opera.

  I laughed and asked the village chief how to prove that the gaze was not a flirtatious female ghost, but rather Xu Qi transmitting information?

  The village chief hesitated for a moment before saying: "Indeed, there's no way to prove it, but in any case, we must save him. You're his apprentice, if you don't take action, who will?"

  I sincerely said: "It's not that I don't want to save you, it's just that I'm not capable of doing so. You'd better contact Mount Longhu and ask them to send a few more Taoist priests."

  The village chief's face fell, and he sighed, saying, "Brother Xiao Wang, it's not that I don't want to, but I can't get in touch. This involves the secrets of our official village, but you're not an outsider, so I'll tell you..."