Chapter 59 The Sleeping Curse (23) The coffin traveled unimpeded all the way...
The human-skin monster was very clever. It used the wind to its advantage, being flung from one place to another, attaching itself to the rocks, and then searching for the next landing spot, moving back and forth in the mountains like a starfish or an octopus.
The incantation emerged from the pores of the human skin, initially golden, then slowly turning black, like charred marks, until it covered the entire skin.
From a distance, it blends seamlessly with the darkened rocks.
It was fortunate that the mountains were sheltered from wind and rain and devoid of birds and beasts; if a bird were to unfortunately land on the rocks covered by the "camouflage," it would be swallowed up before it even realized what was happening.
There were too many coffins to climb them all. The human-skin monster was quick and decisive, selecting only the most crucial piece of each coffin.
After tracing almost the entire mountain, it seemed to receive some new instruction to move towards the summit, but it could not reach it no matter what it did.
No wind could blow it there. Climbing hard along the rocks, the closer you got, the more wary the other rocks became. Even those rocks that didn't usually change shape seemed to be "awakened," thinking someone was going to connect them to that coffin, and scattered in a panic, leaving no way out.
It fell down, and the one who had given it the order gave up on a whim.
The human-skin monster came to a coffin and fulfilled the boy's request. It opened the coffin and tapped the sleeping man's head with a corner of its skin, like hitting a melon.
He sounds a bit old. Is he still alive?
When Xue Hong woke up, he felt a headache, as if he had been beaten up.
Then he saw a figure leaning out, his pupils contracted, and he suddenly became clear-headed, only to realize that it was not a person, but a piece of black leather... sewn together with hair.
What kind of skin is this? The policeman had a bad feeling that started buzzing, but compared to a storm at sea suddenly creating a small mountain, it wasn't so strange anymore, and he calmed down.
I'm ashamed to admit that it's only now, at this age, that I've adapted to the pace of life in Fuyuki City.
Actually, after seeing it so many times, it's not that scary... He had just told himself this when the dark-skinned monster swallowed him whole.
"..."
He suppressed his soaring heartbeat. The knife hidden in his sleeve had barely emerged when the dark-skinned monster that had been dragging him all along spat him out, giving him a disgusted shake, like a blanket being dusted off.
He saw a small boat on the beach with a human skin umbrella on it, and he immediately thought of Xie Tan: "Xie Tan... that handsome young man with medium-length hair, did he ask you to save me?"
The dark-skinned monster was initially too lazy to pay him any attention, but when he heard him mention Xie Tan, he dutifully nodded and even pushed the policeman onto the boat, indicating that he was too old to push his limits and should get lost. The camera that was wrapped in the human skin corner then fell out.
Xue Hong's expression changed: "Wait, that camera...!"
He reacted as if he'd seen a bomb, about to rush back to shore, but the dark-skinned monster raised the camera high first, and a video suddenly popped up and started playing automatically.
A strange liquid oozed from the shattered area, like a screen malfunction being melted by the seawater that had been brought into the machine.
The video that Xue Hong had completely deleted was replayed; it was an old recording of one of Pan Ling's solo concerts.
The liquid flowed to the center of the human skin, splitting open a mouth that looked like it had been poisoned, and gave the same smile as the woman in the video.
As the melodious singing began, Xue Hong got goosebumps all over his body, felt dizzy, and slowly fell back into the boat.
The boat was pushed by a human skin horn and automatically sailed towards the town.
In Xue Hong's hazy consciousness, the singing grew farther and farther away, yet clearer and clearer.
...
wrong.
Not only did the singing grow louder, but the same singing came from behind him! Right beneath the sea between the hill and the town... and even further away in another town.
The three points of singing, like a bridge, propelled the songs of the entire town forward. The rain could no longer stop the songs from moving forward, and the gale rushed into the mountains, as if to blow them apart.
The outside wind swept across the valley floor, destroying everything in its path. The whole mountain was startled and, in the midst of the new changes, rushed upwards, crowding to the top, especially the coffin that had been "touched" by the human-skinned monster.
Su He was leaning against the cliff by the sea, smoking, when he suddenly opened his eyes, turned over the goat's footprints, and felt a pull, as if something was tugging at the coffins, preventing them from returning to their place.
He immediately grabbed a few talismans and ignited them with the goat print on his palm.
One by one, the coffins retracted into the cliff cave with a "thud," like screws tightened, preventing the air from escaping.
The coffin stopped changing position, and the small hill that undulated like waves got stuck for a moment.
But the coffins below were still missing, the key joints were empty, and the bottom of the mountain was falling apart one after another, with cracks and caves appearing.
Like when a person dies, the flesh rots and turns into mud, revealing the white bones, each one distinct and full of cracks.
At the bottom of a small hill in a valley close to the sea, the seawater is directly visible. It is dark and oppressive, like a black well that sprays "ink" upwards as soon as it sees the sky.
The scalding black seawater splashed outwards like strong acid, melting more rocks, burning the bottom even more, and stirring up sizzling smoke.
Something surged from beneath the sea, shaking the entire hill. It wasn't the spontaneous, trembling vibrations anymore, but rather an earthquake foreshadowing destruction.
Rocks rolled down, and the coffin, which had been held in place, became loose. The entire frame was about to collapse and was in imminent danger.
Su He had just cleared away the stone coffins crammed together on the mountain, but everything happened too fast.
A faint laugh drifted from the song, which Su He caught in his hand—he used the goat's mark to overcome the pulling force, instantly switching to a coffin, and with a wolf's claw-like hand, he tore it apart. The black-skinned monster disguised as it was stuck to the coffin was caught off guard and tore into pieces on the ground.
The lips were much faster than the human-skinned monster; they had already moved to a broken corner, slipped into a crevice between the rocks, and disappeared, leaving only a mocking remark:
"Has the wolf degenerated into a dog because it hasn't eaten meat in so long, Mr. Su? Hahaha—"
No wonder it's so arrogant. The power of the sun is inherently more inclined to destruction. It was fine when it was suppressed underwater and dormant, slowly digesting the damage. But now that a hole has been punched in the bottom of the mountain, this thing has been awakened by the same source power not far away, causing a strong resonance and turning against itself. If it causes a disaster, it won't care whether you're a believer or not. Destruction is the most equal thing for all things.
Any further changes or alterations would be futile.
Su He frowned, dodging the shaken rocks, and nimbly traversed the mountains, heading towards the "fountain".
The two were so busy fighting that neither noticed that the ebony coffin on the mountaintop had been pushed open.
The entire hill was trembling, but the coffin remained firmly embedded in the cliff cave, unmoved by wind and rain. Amidst the turmoil, it was eerily quiet, as if in eternal slumber.
Xie Tan encountered no obstacles along the way, except for exhaustion, because the closer he got to the mountain peak, the more excited he became.
The maze-like path was transparent to the vengeful ghost, who led him all the way to the coffin with his unyielding resentment.
Long-lasting resentment either becomes more chaotic, leaving no one unpunished, or it becomes clearer, devouring everything else and turning into a single obsession.
Xie Tan caught the weight, and filled half of his emptiness with this resentment. He took a deep breath and gently opened the coffin.
But it was empty inside.
Xie Tan was stunned. Long hair rushed in first, like enemies meeting with intense hatred. He didn't care if it was a person or a coffin; he would tear it apart even if the sky fell. He reached out but couldn't grab it back. Instead, he was pulled into the coffin.
The coffin, which had been dead beyond any doubt, suddenly "came to life," as if it had finally received the key to activate it. The coffin lid slammed shut, and the long hair grew wildly again, frantically weaving a web inside the coffin and burying Xie Tan.
He suddenly flipped the coffin, pried open the cliff cave, and accomplished something that no one else could do.
Unfortunately, this coffin was probably just as unpopular as it was. Its edges were too bad, and all the movable hanging coffins on the mountain avoided it. The cliff caves didn't intend to move over to receive it either, and the immovable coffins had long been swept away. They were all barely able to protect themselves and wished they could fly away.
The complex mountain terrain suddenly opened up as if it were dawn, allowing the coffin to fall straight down without any obstruction.
Directly below is that scalding black fountain.
Something flew out from the tip of the fountain, bounced high, and reflected the light; it was a black fragment.
A pitch-black "leaf" blew out from a crevice in the rocks. The leaf flipped open, revealing an open mouth, waiting for the fragments to trace a long parabola and fall into its mouth.
Just then, Su He suddenly leaped down from a rock, first catching the fragment in her mouth, then rolling up the talisman hidden in her tongue to temporarily suppress the increasingly restless energy of the fragment, and chewing it with a crunching sound.
He barely managed to flip over the surging seawater, and when he looked up, he laughed with his mouth full of blood: "I'm not that old. Anyway, the mountain can't eat anymore, why should I let you have it?"
The mirror shards were no ordinary shards; they were harder and sharper. His veins bulged, and he summoned the power of the sun within his body, determined to swallow them whole.
The lips that had been blown off floated on the ground, and the dog clicked its tongue. "That old dog, how annoying."
Since we've made him unhappy, let's all be unhappy too.
As soon as she uttered a word, the black runes covering the human skin fragments began to crawl like countless small snakes. When they rose with the wind again, they suddenly burst into flames and crashed into Su He.
Su He swallowed the blades with all his might, trying to forcibly store the sun's power. This slowed his movements. Although he dodged the burning fragments of human skin, he struggled to adjust his direction and was about to fall into the hole spouting seawater. His vision was even darkened by the black water...
No, it's not just water. Su He suddenly opened her eyes wide. That blackness was a projection falling from above!
He suddenly turned around and saw the falling ebony coffin was right in front of him in an instant, as if it were coming from a thousand miles away to take his life.
There was no time to dodge, so Su He could only draw back the energy gathered in her throat to strengthen her body and block the attack.
The coffin was hammering into his stomach, and as Su He opened his eyes, he was forced to vomit up the shards of the mirror.
The flying, burning "leaves" struck the coffin like striking a matchbox, and a ring of flames suddenly flowed across the coffin, activating the incantation.
The entire coffin landed horizontally across the cave, blocking the fountain.
Su He grabbed the edge of the cave, ignoring the blood in her mouth and the pain in her abdomen, and immediately climbed up. When she turned around, she saw the fountain like a stove fire, igniting the coffin.
Which dead ghost has come back to life? Not satisfied with euthanasia, is he trying to jump off a building again to find the real thrill of death?!
And these incantations...aren't they the incantations used to seal the coffin before the sacrifice? The mountain is full of offerings after the sacrifices, where would there be anything left...?
Su He suddenly looked up and saw that the mountain peak was empty, and his heart felt empty for a moment as well.
But soon, the overwhelming flames drew his attention—the fire from the incantation did not penetrate the coffin, but instead spread outwards, igniting the rocks along the way, threatening to burn the entire mountain as a burial offering!
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Author's Note: Red envelopes will still be randomly distributed in the comments section of this chapter.
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