Chapter 330: Chapter 284: Seeking Revenge
Yang Xiao desperately smacked the coffin lid, but it was like it was nailed shut, completely immovable no matter how much he begged and cried for help; no one paid him any attention.
Soon after, the funeral procession stopped, and following a violent shake, the coffin was completely lowered down, thudding onto the ground and jolting Yang Xiao. Then, a loud rustling sound came from above his head.
Yang Xiao despaired; he knew that the paper attendants had now placed the coffin into the grave and were filling it with dirt. Once the ceremony was completed, he would be buried underground forever with the coffin. Just thinking of dying a death that was both suffocating and painful was enough to make Yang Xiao feel on the verge of collapse.
"I was wrong, sister! Please let me go, sister—I’ll do whatever you tell me to do from now on! I won’t dare to talk back to you again!"
"I have an 8-year-old mother to support and an 80-year-old child who’s waiting to be fed. If I die, it’s a minor matter, but who will take care of them!" Yang Xiao, no longer caring about his dignity, cried out loudly for mercy, swearing to mend his ways.
A moment later, as if moved by his pleading, the sound of dirt being shoveled onto the coffin slowly petered out. The once cheerful music also disappeared; Yang Xiao pressed his ear against the coffin wall, listening carefully. There was not a single sound outside.
Uncertain of what to do, Yang Xiao tentatively pushed against the coffin lid above his head. To his surprise, the lid that hadn’t budged before now opened easily, flipping over to one side.
Yang Xiao couldn’t wait to climb out of the coffin. The outside was still shrouded in mist, and he found himself in an unfamiliar place, the ground nearby covered with broken stones, and beneath his feet, a dug-out grave. Not far away stood a simple stone tombstone which also had a painting hanging on it.
What surprised Yang Xiao was that the person in the painting was not himself, but a middle-aged man with a face full of flesh, bald, with a low nose bridge and a pair of small eyes gleaming fiercely—looking like someone not to be trifled with. He wore a coarse black fur coat and had a short blade slung at his waist, a wooden stick in his right hand. Judging by his attire, he didn’t seem like a modern person but rather a hunter from the mountains a hundred years ago.
What truly drew Yang Xiao’s attention wasn’t the man’s strange attire or the exquisitely crafted short blade embedded with gems, but the wooden stick in the man’s hand.
The stick was about a meter long, not very straight, and painted with strange patterns in colored pigment. Most importantly, Yang Xiao noticed a peculiar mark on the stick. On the handle of the stick, there was a strange, triangle-like pattern.
The moment he saw it, Yang Xiao felt an inexplicable familiarity. After a moment, his dormant memories awakened, and he immediately thought of the identity card in the nightmare script box.
On the back of the card he possessed was the exact same mark.
The next second, before he could contemplate further, a sudden gust of wind blew so fiercely that Yang Xiao couldn’t open his eyes, and countless round, square-holed paper money rained down from above. What was creepy was that the paper money was blood red, and at first glance, it looked like a blood rain had fallen.
Extending his hand, a piece of paper money floated down into his palm. One side of the paper money was written with a twisted font spelling out a "yellow" character, and the other side was more direct, with a "death" character.
Yang Xiao suddenly lifted his head and looked at the bald man in the tombstone painting, roughly guessing in his heart: This man was a Huang, the enemy of the original owner of the Drama Robe, and now the original owner of the Drama Robe needed him to kill this man and take back the wooden stick, the Resentful Eye.
It was evident that the stick was also a Magic Artifact of the Resentful Eye, with the strange mark indicating that it originally belonged to the owner of the Drama Robe, but was now seized by this man.
"Boom!"
Just as Yang Xiao was pondering, a loud noise suddenly came from behind him. He spun around, only to see the coffin lid that had previously flipped to one side was now inexplicably standing up straight, slamming heavily onto the coffin.
Yang Xiao understood in a second; this was a threat from the owner of the Drama Robe. He must either kill the Huang in the tombstone or grab back the wooden stick, or this coffin would be reserved for him, and the previous scene would happen again. Next time, he would be thrown into the coffin, to be buried forever.
After what had happened earlier, Yang Xiao dared not haggle with the sister in the Drama Robe. He immediately promised that as long as he was allowed to return, he would take care of the matter right away.
His body became stiff, and his legs once again moved beyond his control. Yang Xiao was controlled by a strange force and walked towards the coffin before plunging headfirst into it.
"Whoosh—"
"Huff—"
Yang Xiao awoke with a start from his bed, sitting up abruptly, his face pale, sweat drenching his back, and his hands trembling uncontrollably. A chill was radiating from his bones outward through his limbs.
A dream.
Another dream similar to ones he had before!
Raising his head, Yang Xiao looked towards the black backpack on a table not far away; the backpack appeared unchanged from before he had slept, but he knew this was no ordinary dream—if he failed to meet the Drama Robe owner’s demands, he would die.
Was this the price for borrowing the power of the Drama Robe’s owner?
Last time, during the battle with Granny Hong, had it not been for his last-minute use of the Drama Robe’s power to control the White-robed Ghost Bodhisattva, Granny Hong would have slaughtered him then and there.
It seemed that now the Drama Robe’s owner had come to collect his debt—a life for a life; he truly had no justification to offer.
Once he had calmed down a bit, Yang Xiao got out of bed, opened the backpack, and took out the Drama Robe; with a light grasp of his fingers, the Ghost Lantern appeared in his hand.
With another grab, the Soul-Capturing Mirror came out as well.
"Huff—"
Just when Yang Xiao let out a sigh of relief, all of a sudden, with the dim light of the Ghost Lantern, he saw a very fine red line appear on his left wrist.
He rubbed it with his finger but couldn’t rub it off at all; the red line seemed to be buried deep under his skin. A chilling sensation followed the line, spreading all the way to his heart. Yang Xiao shivered violently—he understood this was a method used by the Drama Robe’s owner to restrict him, as well as a peculiar way of keeping time. When the red line truly extended to his heart, the recent nightmare would recur.
"Seems like I should avoid using the Drama Robe’s power if I can manage without it. There really is no such thing as a free lunch." To tell the truth, Yang Xiao had no regrets; even if given another chance, he would make the same choice. After all, he really was no match for Granny Hong. The power had to be borrowed or else he couldn’t just watch Granny Hong kill him.
Talking more about it was fruitless. After confirming the Drama Robe was back to normal, Yang Xiao began to think about finding that middle-aged man quickly—kill him, take his Resentful Eye staff, and settle the matter.
Finding the person couldn’t be done through the Patrol Defense Office since Nalan Shuo had already started to suspect him. He would have to ask Fu Qingzhu to find a way.
Finding him should be feasible, given the man’s face and the Resentful Eye. It shouldn’t be too difficult. What Yang Xiao was most worried about now was the man’s strength. He had a rough guess about the original Drama Robe owner’s strength—it was at least one or two levels higher than the likes of Granny Hong and Elder Yang and possibly on par with the Southeast Division head of the Black Buddha Mother Sect in her prime.
The enemy of such a formidable figure couldn’t be weak; probably just lifting a finger would be enough to squash the current Yang Xiao several times over.
However, Yang Xiao thought differently; the original Drama Robe owner was not foolish enough to send him on a suicide mission. Since she dared to send him, there must be some confidence in success.
At this point, he could only adapt to circumstances.
Yang Xiao decided to stick to the old rules—sneak attack, use his kill-move from the start, and disable the man immediately, giving the bald enemy no chance to counterattack. Being obsessively remembered by the original owner of the Drama Robe was proof enough of how tricky the Resentful Eye staff was.
But... heh, soon it would be his.
