The cries of the infants echoed through the narrow, hollow cave like a demonic melody, making Chen Ji’s head throb with pain. At that moment, a wave of spiritual energy enveloped him, and the headache-inducing wails instantly softened.
Once Chen Ji regained his composure, he was filled with fury. “Why are there infant cries here? What kind of monster would kidnap children right under the nose of Tianyun City!”
“We will know once we go inside,” Liu Jingyun replied.
Realizing that it was not a ghost but human infants, Chen Ji’s fear vanished. He had always loathed human traffickers, and the sound of so many crying babies suggested many had been stolen, leaving countless families in despair. He strode deeper into the cave with righteous indignation.
Crimson crystals embedded in the four corners of the cavern emitted a red glow, illuminating a coffin in the center of the room. Surrounding the coffin were many lumps of flesh that had yet to form distinct features or limbs. These masses appeared to be fused with the wood, looking hideous and terrifying as they emitted the sounds of crying babies.
Chen Ji had never expected to encounter something so horrifying. He immediately ducked behind Liu Jingyun, and seeing the coffin again nearly made him gag.
“What on earth is that?”
“I do not know,” Liu Jingyun replied.
Even Liu Jingyun was seeing such a coffin for the first time. His brow furrowed as he looked at the formed and unformed masses of flesh. “These are fetuses that were forcibly removed from their mothers’ wombs.”
Chen Ji shuddered violently. The words Thousand Infant Coffin flashed through his mind.
The Thousand Infant Coffin was the primary item that led to Qiu Lingzhou’s total descent into darkness. Unlike Liu Jingyun, whose misfortunes were caused by his father, Qiu Lingzhou’s suffering came from his mother.
Qiu Lingzhou’s mother was a woman of the brothel who had mistakenly believed a fickle man would redeem her. She gave birth to Qiu Lingzhou for him, only for the man to vanish the day the boy was born. Formerly a top-tier courtesan, Qiu’s mother suffered greatly after childbirth and lost her prestige. Consequently, she vented all her resentment on her son.
Qiu Lingzhou never knew a shred of maternal love and was beaten daily. He harbored a deep hatred for his mother. Later, because his father was an acquaintance of Haiyangzi, the master took Qiu Lingzhou as a disciple and brought him to Emerald Bamboo Peak.
While the current Qiu Lingzhou showed no obvious signs of his past, he secretly detested and resisted women, refusing to associate with any female.
As for the Thousand Infant Coffin, it was crafted from Thousand-Year Yin Wood. Fetuses from women who were forced to terminate their pregnancies for survival were then attached to it. The yin energy of the wood, combined with the infants’ resentment for never being allowed into the world, made it the most evil and inhumane object in the entire book.
In the original story, Qiu Lingzhou was not inherently evil until he accidentally stumbled into a cave and was trapped inside this coffin. By the time he emerged, his spiritual power had been corrupted by the coffin’s inherent malice and yin energy, turning him into a demon. Pursued by the sect for his demonic aura, he found no place in the world that would accept him. He ultimately embraced his demonic nature, took on a title of sovereign, and led a legion of monsters against the major sects.
Chen Ji had assumed he would never see such an important item before his own death. He had not expected that five years before Qiu Lingzhou was destined to turn, he and Liu Jingyun would discover an incomplete Thousand Infant Coffin.
Suppressing his discomfort, Chen Ji counted the infants on the coffin. There were six. The wails of just six were enough to make his head ache; he could not imagine how terrifying the completed coffin would be. He finally understood why the version of Qiu Lingzhou who had been trapped in the coffin for three years went completely insane. No one could endure that.
“Utterly heartless!”
Liu Jingyun’s stoic face finally showed emotion: anger. A ball of fire formed in his palm, and he burned the coffin to the ground. As the wood turned to ash, the crying slowly stopped. Chen Ji felt as if he could see the infants finding peace, turning into dust within the flames.
“Infants who never reached the world are already full of resentment. Thousand-Year Yin Wood locks their souls in and deepens that hatred. What kind of bastard would create such a vile thing!” Chen Ji cursed.
In the novel, the Thousand Infant Coffin was a major plot hole. It was never explained exactly where Qiu Lingzhou had been trapped, nor who had created the coffin. Chen Ji had cursed the author while reading it, and he felt like cursing again now.
Liu Jingyun’s eyes darkened, but he said nothing.
At that moment, a slightly more developed infant crawled out from a corner of the cave. He looked at Chen Ji and Liu Jingyun without malice; instead, there was a hint of joy in his eyes as he walked toward the burning coffin. In the firelight, his body slowly turned to ash.
The scene made Chen Ji’s heart ache. He had not felt much while reading the book, but seeing it in person, he could feel the raw emotions: resentment, regret, unwillingness, and finally, joy. A mix of emotions swirled in his chest, making it feel heavy. Everything here was real.
“A-Ji, do not be too sad,” Liu Jingyun said calmly. “We have saved them.”
“Liu Jingyun, if we destroy this one, will they make a second?” The thought of another coffin made Chen Ji’s skin crawl.
“Thousand-Year Yin Wood is difficult to find.”
“Good. It should be hard to find!” Chen Ji asked further, “Did that little fellow cause trouble outside on purpose to lead people here?”
“His resentment was not as deep as the others. The perpetrator did not nail him firmly to the coffin, so he broke free from the shackles.”
Chen Ji pursed his lips. They had stumbled upon and resolved one of the most critical plot devices in the book. By doing this, they had saved not only those infants but also Qiu Lingzhou.
Having destroyed such a significant item, Chen Ji did not know if the ending had changed, but he no longer had the courage to stay. Seeing that the coffin was nearly burnt out, he said, “Let us go back.”
“Should we take something to show that man so we can claim the silver?” Liu Jingyun asked.
Chen Ji shook his head. “No need. We will just say the chickens were eaten by a weasel.”
An object of great evil had appeared within the Tianyun Sect’s jurisdiction. What kind of demonic practitioner was bold enough to hide right under their noses? Either they were not afraid of being discovered, or there was someone on the inside helping them.
Chen Ji thought back to the massacre of the original owner’s village. That Ghost King had also rampaged through a village protected by the Tianyun Sect, yet no trace of the creature had ever been found. Based on his experience with countless melodramas and novels, Chen Ji suspected that the final boss might be hiding within the Tianyun Sect itself.