The front courtyard remained bustling all afternoon.
Chang Di had brought back several burly men, who cleared out the items piled against the courtyard wall.
It was a pitch-black escort cart, made of a material resembling copper but not quite copper, its surface carved with intricate patterns. Hitched to the front was a copper coin horse, standing a full two meters tall.
The copper coin horse, as its name suggests, was a hollow dummy horse woven from strings of copper coins. It wore a copper mask on its head, with a tuft of red tassel embedded on its forehead, looking quite imposing.
After dinner, Chang Di brought over a set of black-and-red soft armor and told me to put it on.
The soft armor was extremely flexible, not heavy to wear, yet it gave a strong sense of security.
He led the men in offering incense and performing rituals in the main hall. Then, he instructed me to carry the escort lantern to the front courtyard. Behind me, sixteen burly men chanted in unison as they lifted the large golden nanmu coffin.
The coffin was mounted onto the cart and secured with three layers of red rope soaked in black dog’s blood. After carefully inspecting everything, Chang Di walked up to me and said, “Miss Huai, please mount the horse.”
As he spoke, he bent down, kneeling on one knee beside the copper coin horse.
He wanted me to step on his back to climb onto the copper coin horse.
This felt somewhat unbelievable, but I knew that at a time like this, Chang Di wouldn’t joke with me.
“Chang Di, please stand up. I can get on by myself.”
Chang Di rose, looking at me with some doubt. I took two steps back, gathered momentum, and smoothly swung myself onto the horse.
Chang Di gave me a thumbs-up, then handed me the escort lantern, instructing me to place it in front of the horse’s head.
The moment the escort lantern lit up, the copper coin horse suddenly let out a long neigh, raised its front hooves high, and landed steadily—it had truly come to life.
At nine o’clock, we set off from the courtyard. Chang Di, carrying a white Soul-Summoning Banner, walked at the very front. I followed closely behind on horseback, holding the lantern, and behind me was the cart carrying the coffin.
On either side of the cart were two teams of men, carrying dark blue escort flags embroidered with a striking red character.
At the rear of the procession were two rows of red-dressed men and green-dressed women. With painted eyebrows and rouged cheeks, they walked on tiptoe, floating eerily as they moved.
We took a suburban path, shrouded in darkness everywhere, with only the sounds of hooves and wheels audible.
And Chang Di’s occasional chants: “Fifth Master Chang of Cangshan escorts this mission! Spirits make way, living souls retreat! He Wu!”
As he chanted, he scattered paper money into the wind, which swirled and danced in the air.
We walked like this for over an hour, with no incidents along the way. Just a quarter of an hour remained before we would reach the Gu family’s old estate.
Just as I silently breathed a sigh of relief, thinking nothing unexpected would happen tonight, a pure white fox suddenly appeared in the middle of the road ahead.
The white fox was large, about the size of a small wolf, its crimson pupils glowing with an eerie light in the darkness.
Chang Di put away the white banner, palm facing upward. In a flash of white light, a sharp mountain-splitting axe appeared in his hand.
Chang Di tapped the ground with one foot, his body soaring into the air. The axe swung upward and then slashed down, his inner energy surging toward the white fox.
The white fox dodged with a backflip, and suddenly, five fluffy tails extended from its back. The tails instantly lengthened, wrapping around the axe and swinging it back toward Chang Di.
At the same moment, a chorus of ghostly wails erupted from behind. I turned to look and saw dozens of yellow weasels emerging from the darkness, tearing into the red-dressed men and green-dressed women at the rear.
The paper figures were no match at all. The two rows of escort soldiers guarding the coffin and carrying the flags rushed to confront the yellow weasels, and a fierce battle ensued.
I rode atop the two-meter-tall copper coin horse, my view wide and clear. Suddenly, a talisman ignited in the thicket to my right, and I immediately sensed danger.
I tightened my grip on the horse’s belly, about to charge over to investigate, when Chang Di roared, “Miss Huai, protect the escort lantern!”
No sooner had his words fallen than a crack of thunder struck down from the sky, landing squarely on the golden nanmu coffin. The red ropes snapped instantly, the ink lines burned, and copper coins cascaded down the coffin’s sides.
Someone had used a lightning-summoning talisman to call down heavenly thunder, aiming to open the coffin.
Though I hadn’t seen the corpse inside with my own eyes, I knew it had to be a ferocious corpse, trapped in the coffin for over a century. What it had become by now was anyone’s guess.
To steal a ferocious corpse in the dead of night—the perpetrator’s intentions were vile.
Just then, a chorus of copper bells rang out from the thicket. Almost simultaneously, the coffin trembled, and the sound of nails scraping against wood pierced my ears.
This was bad—the corpse was rising.
I glanced at the escort lantern, hesitating for a moment. With a loud crash, the coffin lid flew open, and the corpse inside sprang upright.
The corpse wore a deep blue official robe, a court necklace hanging from its neck. Fangs protruded from its mouth, and its nails were long, black, and covered in dark fur.
What horrified me most was the network of black veins bulging across its body, each sprouting white hairs, faintly taking on the form of a hou.
Such a ferocious corpse was inherently aggressive. If it fell into the hands of someone with ill intentions and was refined, the consequences would be unthinkable.
The troublemaker in the thicket was likely one such practitioner.
The copper bells rang out urgently. The ferocious corpse leaped high, vaulting out of the coffin and bounding toward the thicket.
Chang Di finally broke free from White Fox, gripping his mountain-splitting axe as he charged forward and struck the corpse squarely in the back.
The corpse roared, thrashing violently. The axe was embedded deep, and Chang Di, still gripping it, was flung into the air.
He was already bleeding from White Fox’s earlier attacks, and as he was tossed, his blood dripped onto the corpse, instantly amplifying its ferocity severalfold.
From the side, White Fox lunged again, all four paws off the ground as it clawed toward Chang Di.
I kicked the horse’s belly hard. The copper coin horse neighed, and I tightened the reins, urging it to leap over the coffin. With one hand, I reached for my neck, tore off the red rope, and, harnessing the horse’s momentum, precisely shoved the Five Emperors copper coin hanging from the rope into the corpse’s mouth…