A fierce will to survive surged within me, and I struggled with all my might. Though I remained conscious, I couldn't move a muscle—my body felt as if it were being crushed beneath an invisible weight.
The more I resisted, the stronger the scent of balloon flower grew inside the coffin. But when I ceased struggling, the fragrance gradually faded again.
I forced myself to calm down and reflect. From the beginning, the Apothecary on West Street had always felt off, especially the medicinal herbs it sold.
At first glance, these herbs seemed no different from the ones sold in the marketplace. But that was a deception. Each herb in the Apothecary bore a unique, mysterious property.
In the Compendium of Materia Medica, Gelsemium was recorded merely as a deadly poison. Yet in Xu Nuo's hands, it became "Soul Severing Grass," capable of transforming ghosts into smoke. The "Soul Luring Incense" he once gave me, capable of ensnaring the mind, only just now occurred to me to be the rare and prized agarwood. As for the "Cold Breath Herb," I had accidentally swallowed—though I'd never seen it before—it must be another Yin-attributed medicinal plant, somehow refined to halt one's breath. And then there was the ginseng root, eerily shaped into a human form...
All of this pointed to one thing: the balloon flower incense swirling around the coffin now must possess some strange effect as well. Judging from the situation, it was clearly meant to bind me.
Even though I had grasped the crux of the matter, I still couldn't find a way to break free from its hold. It seemed I would have to wait in this coffin until nightfall.
Call me absurd if you must, but lying there in the coffin, I started to yawn. If Xu Nuo were here to witness this, she'd likely scold me again, saying I didn't value my life, that I might as well just die and save everyone the trouble.
But I couldn't help it. After being tricked and having my herbs switched last night, I hadn't slept a wink. Now trapped inside a coffin, deprived of sunlight, who wouldn't start to nod off?
I didn't know how long I'd been out, but when I awoke, I could hear the howling wind outside. Still paralyzed, I had no way of knowing whether it was day or night.
The inability to speak or move was agonizing. Worse yet, I was certain that the chubby body beneath me was a corpse. After an entire day, I hadn't felt even a whisper of breath from him.
Something was wrong—where was my senior, and the two Taoists from Mount Mao? Why was there no sign of them?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, the scent of balloon flower once again filled the coffin. The faint fragrance drifted hauntingly through the air and even seemed to seep outside the coffin.
Zhang Xin had once told me that a strange aroma would fill Zhangjia Village around midnight. If my estimation was correct, it must be about nine or ten o'clock now.
Before I entered the coffin, Xu Nuo warned me: Zhang Kun would return around ten. I tensed, my mind racing to prepare for his arrival.
Then a terrible realization struck me. Xu Nuo had said that the moment the coffin opened, I must seize the brief period when Zhang Kun was trapped by the "Blood Coffin Lock Formation" to force the "Soul Severing Grass" into his mouth. If I failed, I'd be the one to die. But now, paralyzed as I was, how could I do that?
The wind outside grew louder, wailing like a chorus of spirits. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the body beneath me twitched.
Ice surged through my spine.
But... that was all. It moved once, then fell still.
Silence. A chilling, unnatural silence. And that strange scent hung in the air.
As a top student from the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I immediately recognized that there were now two distinct fragrances in the coffin. The rich scent of balloon flower was now mingled with the aroma of agarwood. The moment it reached my nose, my mind snapped awake.
I knew then—he had returned.
Creak... creak... That muffled sound outside the coffin—someone was opening it.
I clenched the "Soul Severing Grass" tightly in my hand. Suddenly, I realized—I could move again! Whether it was the effect of the Soul Luring Incense or something else, I didn't know. But the moment I regained control of my body, I let out a long breath of relief.
With a loud crash, the coffin lid flew open. Moonlight poured in. But when I saw the person standing outside, I was utterly stunned.
It wasn't Zhang Kun. It was the junior Taoist from earlier—the one accompanying Zhong Xuanliang.
"You… what are you doing here?" I asked, my voice trembling as I swallowed nervously. The Taoist stood motionless, eyes wide, face frozen in fear. He didn't utter a single word.
It took a moment before I noticed—his wooden sword was missing. Then I spotted it—lodged deep in his chest, right where the heart was. The blood had long dried.
He was dead.
When had he died? And why had I heard nothing?
As soon as the coffin lid was removed, I scrambled to my feet and looked into the coffin to see who had been lying with me all this time.
What I saw nearly made me cry out. It wasn't Zhang Kun. But it was someone I knew all too well—Er Pang.
In college, I shared a dorm with Chen Liang, Er Pang, and Zhang Kun for four straight years. Er Pang's chest was soaked in blood. Judging by his expression, he hadn't been dead long—probably since early this morning.
"Ye Cheng... fancy seeing you here," came a voice behind me, unfamiliar and yet chillingly familiar. My scalp tingled. I spun around instantly.
There he stood—Er Pang, silent and still, smiling faintly at me.
My heart nearly leapt from my chest. Luckily, after all I'd been through recently, I wasn't as easily frightened as before.
"E-Er Pang... what are you doing here?" I stammered.
He cocked his head and replied, "I came for Zhang Kun's funeral, of course. Isn't that why you're here, too?"
I swallowed hard. "Y-yeah, of course. But… It's getting late, I should get going."
"Going?" A wide grin split his face. "You're funny. Didn't you realize I'm already dead? Aren't you scared?"
Damn right I was scared! That's why I wanted to leave! I nearly cursed aloud—but when I saw his mouth begin to stretch unnaturally, the words caught in my throat.
"Er Pang, p-please don't! We had no quarrel in college. Don't hurt me!" I stumbled back, pressing against the crimson coffin.
"Hahaha!" he laughed, his voice hollow and twisted. "No reason? Zhang Kun and I had no quarrel either. So why did he get to kill me?" His hands lunged for my throat.
Despair filled my chest. But just as his fingers were about to close around my neck, he froze.
What's going on?
I looked past him and saw it.
A thin red thread, like a vein of blood, was wrapped tightly around his body. It led back to one of the twelve coffins behind him.
The Blood Coffin Lock Formation!
I understood now. Those threads had been activated. The formation Xu Nuo had taught me was working—binding any ghost who meant me harm.
"Ahhh!" I didn't hesitate. I pried Er Pang's mouth open and shoved the "Soul Severing Grass" inside.
He stared at me in shock, eyes filled with disbelief, his face contorting with rage. Then black smoke began to rise from his body as he slowly dissolved into the darkness.
"Cluck… cluck… Ye Cheng, oh Ye Cheng… I was wondering how you dared walk out of the Apothecary unscathed. So this is what you've been scheming!"
A cold voice echoed from the edge of the village. I turned toward it, and my heart plunged into an icy abyss.
It was over.
Zhang Kun… had returned.....