Zombie Bodyguard

Chapter 1859 - 1856: The Jade Coffin Returns

"One, two, three, go!" Xu Feibai shouted softly, trying to ease the awkward atmosphere.

Lin Tian felt a faint aura sweep past him, and silver starlight suddenly emerged from his palm, precisely illuminating the position of the stars on the stone wall.

The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper all lit up, including Xiao Manxuan’s position. The three of them stepped back simultaneously, watching as the seven stars extended rays and connected to form the Big Dipper.

Once the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper illuminated, a flash danced across, followed by crunching sounds, like heavy mechanisms turning. The stone wall shook violently, and dust fell down in drifts.

A stone door slowly opened, revealing the passage behind it, which was enveloped in darkness. Even Lin Tian couldn’t see through it, as a familiar aura swept towards him.

This aura was something Lin Tian had sensed many times before; whenever the blood moon descended with Yin Sha’s red light, this aura would erupt. What made it clearer to him were the fragments from his dreams: dark passages, jade coffins, blood...

Without hesitation, Xu Feibai moved to enter, but Lin Tian called out to him, "Xu Feibai, if the passage ahead contains part of Jiang Chen’s body, you’d better take it and leave immediately. It’s not safe to leave it here; I can’t watch my friend fall into danger again."

"Once I’ve gathered everything, I’ll leave. Do you expect me to stay here and play hide-and-seek with the Zhang Family?" Xu Feibai replied ambiguously, then walked into the passage.

Lin Tian did not ponder his words deeply, pulling Xiao Manxuan in with him. Inside, the passage was enveloped in darkness, making Lin Tian feel as if his night vision had failed. He could only rely on his phone’s flashlight function to illuminate the way.

However, the phone’s flashlight, powered by its flash, provided dispersed light that did not reach far, so the distant parts of the passage remained cloaked in darkness.

Xu Feibai didn’t light his phone as he walked along the boundary of light and shadow; sometimes appearing in the light, sometimes fading into darkness, as if traversing another world.

"Is it endless? We’ve been walking so long and haven’t reached the end," Xiao Manxuan asked, puzzled, after a while.

Just after she spoke, Xu Feibai halted ahead, saying, "We’ve reached the end; it’s a dead end."

Lin Tian and Xiao Manxuan exchanged glances and quickly moved forward. The illumination of the phone revealed that indeed, the way was barred by a stone wall.

This stone wall was clearly different from the one outside, smooth and orderly, obviously manually carved.

"Is there any kind of formation or something?" Xiao Manxuan asked again.

"There doesn’t seem to be any. It looks like we’ll have to open it by force." After examining it thoroughly up and down, Lin Tian found no markings or anything else. He clenched his hand, and the Heavenly Tribulation Sword appeared.

Xu Feibai, showing mutual understanding, also took out the Tang Blade Flowing Light, and the two nearly simultaneously thrust their weapons into the stone wall.

Even with the power of the Heavenly Tribulation Sword, piercing the stone wall met considerable resistance, demonstrating its toughness. As the blade penetrated deeper, Lin Tian felt a sudden lightness as the resistance greatly diminished.

Xu Feibai looked over, clearly encountering the same situation as Lin Tian. They nodded to each other, simultaneously vibrating their weapons, combining their forces with the weapon’s tremor unleashing great power, resulting in a buzzing sound.

The stone wall cracked with crunching sounds, multiple fissures appeared, and then it collapsed with a crash. After the dust settled, behind the wall lay darkness, which Lin Tian still couldn’t penetrate, with his night vision still failing.

He was about to light up his phone again when a pinpoint of light suddenly brightened, resembling invisible hands igniting lamps, as fiery lights came to life, illuminating the space within.

Peering through the stone wall gap, he faintly saw a white shadow, revealing only a portion, unclear in its entirety. The flickering firelight made the white shadow seem to sway, akin to a ghostly apparition.

Since the firelight automatically lit up, Xiao Manxuan had been clinging tightly to Lin Tian; he could even hear the rapid beating of her heart.

In horror movies, it’s not the ghost itself that’s terrifying, but rather the impending appearance of the ghost, which creates atmosphere. If the ghost were to appear right at the start, it wouldn’t be so frightening.

Xiao Manxuan found herself in a similar situation; she might have seen a Ghost Messenger before, yet felt tense in front of this danger. Despite being daring, she was still a girl.

Xu Feibai inexorably leapt over the gap, entering inside. Lin Tian originally intended to leave the little girl outside, but she held his arm firmly, so he had no choice but to bring her along.

Upon entering, they found themselves in a spacious area, the bright light originated from oil lamps on the walls, which were not made of bronze or iron, but gray stone lamps.

Every stone lamp was shaped like a mythical beast, with its front paws raised holding the lamp tray, the fire burning within. The carving of these beasts was incredibly coarse, lacking modern craftsmanship’s refinement. Yet it’s precisely this coarseness that exudes an ancient and rustic feel.

Continuing forward, Lin Tian finally saw the full view of the "white shadow," which was a white jade coffin at the center of the stone room; what they had seen from outside was just a corner of the jade coffin.

Given the white jade coffin along with the eerie lamplight, it should have been spooky, but unsurprisingly, all three individuals were exceptionally fearless.

So far, it’s exactly like in my dreams! Fragments from Lin Tian’s dreams flashed in his mind, the only difference being there was no Blood Sea.

"Lin Tian, why do I feel that this jade coffin resembles the one the archaeology team discovered?" Xiao Manxuan suddenly said.

"Which archaeology team?" Lin Tian asked curiously.

"The ancient tomb on Lu Mountain in Xikou City. The news described the jade coffin, but it’s said that the jade coffin disappeared. Perhaps it ended up here?" Xiao Manxuan’s eyes widened, her imagination running wild.

Hearing this speculation, Xu Feibai glanced at Lin Tian, with a strange smile in his eyes. Lin Tian obviously knew what he meant, because Xu Feibai knew the jade coffin was taken by the Nu Ba Ancestor.

Back when Lin Tian met Houqing in a hidden space beneath the England Sea, that ancestor was also lying in a jade coffin. It seemed the zombie ancestors all liked to sleep in jade coffins, though the reason why is probably known only to them.

"Ahem..." Lin Tian could only feign a cough and vaguely replied, "Coffins all look similar, how could it be the same one."

"But the patterns on it really resemble..." Xiao Manxuan still felt odd and persistently speculated.

Lin Tian, meanwhile, along with Xu Feibai grasped a corner of the coffin lid each, with a creaking sound, forcefully moved the lid, opening a gap. Xiao Manxuan instantly tensed up, leaving her sentence unfinished.

Thump, thump...

As the coffin lid opened, Lin Tian felt his heart pounding wildly as if about to leap out of his throat; never before had he experienced such a sensation since becoming a zombie.

Xu Feibai also held his chest tightly, his expression changing drastically, clearly experiencing the same heart-pounding sensation as Lin Tian.

The view ahead turned red abruptly, as Lin Tian saw crimson blood begin to flow out from the gap in the coffin lid.