Chapter 1205: Chapter 806: The Road of No Return (Part 2)
Logically, the person guarding this place should be a monk slave from the temple, but the person behind the door was wearing an upper garment, dressed similarly to the monks in the temple.
Upon seeing the golden Buddha in Yang Xiao’s hands, the strange man opened the door, said "follow me," and turned to walk inside by himself.
When Yang Xiao entered, he noticed the threshold of the door was very high, even higher than the threshold of the Buddhist Hall.
Once inside, there was a not very even dirt road, with two clear tracks left on it.
One on the left, one on the right, about a meter apart, looking very symmetrical.
Yang Xiao immediately realized these were wheel tracks; carriages often traveled here, but despite observing closely along the way, he saw no hoofprints or droppings.
Soon, the group followed the masked stranger to an old wooden house. Even before getting close, Yang Xiao could smell a stench of decay.
The companions, including Shari, Daviso Pa, and others, all wore expressions of unbearable discomfort.
"The women stay outside, a few men come in with me to carry the corpse." The masked stranger’s voice was deep and hoarse, making people very uncomfortable.
Finally, it was Yang Xiao, Musa Adila, and Juan who followed the stranger into the morgue. Once the door was opened, the sight inside was quite shocking; the not-so-large wooden house was filled with coffins, with two even stacked in a corner.
The coffins were both new and old. By the weak candlelight, Yang Xiao even noticed some coffins still had soil on them, as if they had just been dug up from graves.
At this moment, Juan’s face also turned apprehensive. If each coffin here contained a corpse, any corpse turning into a zombie would be unimaginable.
The masked man raised his left hand and pointed to a central coffin, "The corpse you want is inside there. You bring the coffin out; I’ll go and get the cart."
"Steady, don’t disturb the deceased."
After giving these instructions, the masked man left, walking out the door, his footsteps gradually fading away, as if heading in another direction.
Yang Xiao and the other three exchanged glances, calmed themselves, then walked forward, each standing at a corner, lifting the coffin up steadily under Musa’s command.
Carefully passing through the door, they finally placed it outside, and once the coffin was settled, Yang Xiao and the others slowly relaxed their shoulders; the coffin was unexpectedly heavy.
"The Burial Scripture" says the dead are heavier than the living; the heavier the dead, the deeper the resentment in their heart, or they have some unfulfilled wish or strong obsession. If not appeased well, the funeral procession will likely not be peaceful.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiao noticed an indentation on the top of the coffin, quite regular, possibly man-made. Staring at this indentation for a while, Yang Xiao suddenly thought of the small golden Buddha.
Sure enough, after comparing it with the golden Buddha, Yang Xiao confirmed the indentation was meant for placing the golden Buddha.
Not long after, a "creak, creak" sound came closer; it was the masked man pulling a two-wheeled cart.
It was one of those wooden carts often seen in period dramas, except the rear had been removed, leaving just a bare cart.
On the wooden cart’s plank, a few thick hemp ropes were tossed, presumably for tying the coffin.
The two oblique bars in front of the cart had ropes tied to them, and the masked monk had pulled the cart by binding the ropes around his shoulders.
After catching his breath, the stranger pulled out a piece of ragged cloth from his pocket and spread it out, revealing yet another map. His cold eyes swept over the group.
"We’re responsible for burying the corpse. You just tell me if there’s something you need," Yang Xiao took the initiative to speak up.
The masked stranger looked at him coldly, handing over the map with his left hand, "The route for tonight’s burial is on it; it’s not close. You’ll have to leave the town and take the mountain road."
"The road isn’t easy, but that’s not the most important part. Once you leave, suppress the coffin with the Buddha, then light the Corpse Incense."
"Remember, you must bury the corpse before the incense burns out. This is crucial."
"Corpse Incense?" Yang Xiao was a bit surprised by the stranger’s frankness.
"The incense has been soaked in the filthy blood of those things. Once lit, those things will see you as kin and keep you safe." The stranger’s explanation was concise and straightforward.
"What about us?" Juan asked, "Our task tonight is to deliver blessing scriptures to each household."
"You will accompany the coffin to the town’s entrance and then you can separate."
Juan felt a bit reassured by these words, as that was the answer he wanted. He certainly didn’t wish to risk going to the graveyard with Yang Xiao’s group, preferring to look out for himself first.
"You don’t have much time, so set off now," the masked stranger unceremoniously issued an eviction order.
By now, Yang Xiao was also certain that tonight’s biggest threat came from this coffin before them, which needed suppression by the golden Buddha.
Moreover, Patuo Monk had explicitly mentioned that corpses slain by those ghostly things would come back to life.
Time was ticking away, and Yang Xiao and his peers worked together, placing the coffin onto the two-wheeled cart. Due to the poor lighting, the women holding lanterns came closer to provide illumination.
Finally, Yang Xiao and the others tied the coffin tightly with hemp rope, rounding it more than a dozen times, ensuring there was no slack before stopping.
Using the light from the lantern, Yang Xiao turned and wiped the sweat from his forehead. But just in that casual glance, Yang Xiao noticed something unusual.
Previously, the light had been too dim for him to see, but now in the brighter light, he saw a black birthmark on the exposed part of the masked monk’s face.
On the right cheek.
This scene immediately awakened familiar memories in Yang Xiao. While chanting in the Buddhist Hall, there was a bloody scene in the scripture he held—a monk tasked with erasing the "Unclean Mark" with an iron brand was seduced by an evil spirit, losing the Buddha heart, and cruelly punished by having his left hand severed.
And this monk who had his hand severed was very distinctive, with a large birthmark on his right cheek and missing half of his left ear.
Once Yang Xiao got a clearer look at the cloth wrapped around the stranger’s face, his heart skipped a beat. The cloth was wrapped tightly, and the left ear section was clearly recessed compared to the right, matching the monk from the scripture perfectly.
Right cheek birthmark, half of a left ear... the odds of such a coincidence happening in the same temple were too small. Yang Xiao immediately deduced that the monk punished in the scripture was this masked stranger before him.
Simultaneously, a chill surged in Yang Xiao’s heart. The left hand of this masked stranger before him was perfectly intact, albeit a bit dirty, but with all five fingers clearly defined.
"Damn..." Yang Xiao’s face stayed calm, but his arms involuntarily broke out in goosebumps.
This guy isn’t human.
He’s a ghost...
No wonder he kept his face covered. Yang Xiao initially thought it was to block the smell, but clearly, he didn’t want Yang Xiao and the others to see his face clearly.
Yang Xiao was at least eighty percent sure now that the monk who was originally supposed to meet with them, who was more likely a monk slave, had already fallen prey to this ghost.
And now the body of the slain monk slave was stuffed inside the coffin they had to transport tonight.
No wonder the coffin was so heavy... Yang Xiao’s mind was in turmoil. The coffin didn’t just contain Ahmed’s body.
The mission hadn’t even started, and they had already been deceived by a ghost. No matter how they proceeded, the path ahead seemed like a one-way road to disaster.
Yang Xiao wanted to immediately inform his teammates about this revelation, but with the ghost behind him, it made him anxious.
So when he turned his head, he noticed a few pairs of eyes watching him—Adila, Musa, and Datou—staring at Yang Xiao as if they had detected something unusual about him.
No wonder the coffin was so heavy... Yang Xiao’s mind was in turmoil. The coffin didn’t just contain Ahmed’s body.
The mission hadn’t even started, and they had already been deceived by a ghost. No matter how they proceeded, the path ahead seemed like a one-way road to disaster.
Yang Xiao wanted to immediately inform his teammates about this revelation, but with the ghost behind him, it made him anxious.
So when he turned his head, he noticed a few pairs of eyes watching him—Adila, Musa, and Datou—staring at Yang Xiao as if they had detected something unusual about him.
