Chapter 97: Calling the Soul Grateful thanks to Wild Watermelon Fungi’s Great Sword

“Granny Wan, what did you say?” Hearing Granny Wan claim I was not yet dead, Bai Xiaoli turned back, her tear-filled eyes brimming with surprise and hope. She stared intensely at Granny Wan as she entered, asking her the question.

Granny Wan entered the room and calmly surveyed her surroundings, ensuring that the ancient evil spirit had truly departed. Only then did she approach my cupboard, extracting a bowl from within.

She covered the mouth of the bowl with a sheet of fire-tail paper, then lit a long incense stick before my body. As soon as the incense was lit, I felt an indescribable comfort in my soul.

Next, I saw Granny Wan scoop a bit of cold water and pour it onto the paper-covered bowl. She placed the bowl beside my ear, gently tapping its rim. A clear, melodious sound resonated deep within my spirit.

Then I heard Granny Wan calling my name: “Come back, Pi Yangxi.”

“Dang!” Another crisp sound echoed. Hearing it, I, hiding inside the paper man’s oil lamp, felt as though I were plummeting from a great height, a sensation of falling downward.

“Ah!” I couldn’t help but cry out in fright, suddenly sitting up from the floor, a wave of sharp pain rushing through my hand.

“Yangxi, you’ve woken up!” Bai Xiaoli, seeing me sit up, was so overcome with emotion she forgot to wipe away her tears and threw her arms around me.

Her body pressed right up against the wound on my arm, making me grimace with pain.

“Granny Wan, what is going on here?” Bai Xiaoli, after her joy at seeing me awake, turned to Granny Wan in confusion.

Granny Wan did not answer. Noticing the wound on my arm, she frowned slightly, gently pulling Bai Xiaoli aside. She lifted my arm, examining the injury under the candlelight, and asked, “Was it a wild cat’s bite?”

I nodded.

Granny Wan’s expression grew more serious. As she bandaged my wound, she explained, “Corpse-eating wild cats are only drawn in by the scent of Yin energy. Though your main soul was extracted, it doesn’t emit the Yin energy that attracts wild cats. Have you recently been to a place heavy with Yin energy?”

I was taken aback by her words. I had thought my encounter with the wild cat was mere misfortune, but it seemed there was a reason behind it.

I told Granny Wan all about the ominous coffin and the procession of ghost soldiers I had seen while on the boat.

Bai Xiaoli gasped, covering her mouth in shock.

Granny Wan, however, was not surprised. Instead, she fell into deep silence, as if everything had unfolded just as she had expected.

Worried, I asked her, “Did I cause trouble?”

Granny Wan shook her head. “You were only helping someone move their ancestral grave. The matter of the ominous coffin is not your concern.”

I knew she was trying to comfort me, but anxiety lingered. I pressed further, “The ominous coffin personally sealed by Zhang Tianzu has reappeared in the world—does this mean chaos will soon follow?”

Granny Wan looked at me, weighed down by worry, and suddenly smiled. Her smile only deepened my confusion.

“Granny Wan, why are you smiling? Master Lu Jiu of the Pure Bright Path said the coffin contains a corpse king, and every time it appears, calamity follows. Are you not concerned at all?” I asked, utterly bewildered.

No sign of worry appeared on Granny Wan’s face. She simply patted my shoulder and said, “You fret over things that are not yours to worry about. The coffin is still in the Yellow River, is it not? The mighty dragon vein of the river holds it in check. As long as the coffin has not been swept ashore by the river, nothing will happen.”

“But someone deliberately tied the coffin beneath the tower boat. Doesn’t that mean it can be hauled up at any time?” I countered.

Granny Wan shook her head. “It’s not as easy as you imagine. Unless the Yellow River changes course, the ancient coffin will not be swept out. If it were as easy as you say, and anyone could retrieve it, then over the millennia, it would have been dredged up countless times already.”

Her words struck me as sensible. My troubled heart finally settled, and I asked Granny Wan about the ghost soldiers.

As I expected, she explained that those ghost soldiers guarded the coffin in the Yellow River. Whenever someone tries to bring the coffin ashore, they will annihilate the intruders and drag the coffin back into the river.

The only way for the coffin to come ashore is if the river undergoes a major shift and the fierce waters sweep it out, leaving the ghost soldiers unable to stop it.

So, as long as the Yellow River does not change course, the coffin will not come ashore.

Understanding dawned on me. Relief washed over me, and my spirits lifted. Yet soon, another question arose: did the owner who built the tower boat not know what Granny Wan had said? If he knew, why did he secretly transport the coffin to Duheshi?

I asked Granny Wan about the reason behind this.