Chapter 247
Ma Cheng answered Ye Shaoyang’s question, “That is my great-grandfather . ”
Ye Shaoyang smiled, “It used to be, but not anymore . ”
Ma Cheng frowned, “What do you mean?”
Ye Shaoyang further questioned, “May I ask, in which year did he pass away?”
Ma Cheng hesitated .
Ye Shaoyang tried to persuade him, “Mister Ma, proving my identity is not the real issue here . Although this is your place, there are at least a hundred ways for me to escape if I wanted to, and you, you cannot stop me . I’m here to help, so please tell me the answer, and I will let you know the reason later . ”
Ma Cheng stared at him and finally relented, “My great grandfather died twelve years ago . He was buried elsewhere, and his coffin was moved to this place three years ago . ”
Ye Shaoyang asked, “Did you see the remains for yourself during the move?” Ma Cheng nodded, so Ye Shaoyang further asked, “Were there only bones left?”
This question obviously offended Ma Cheng, “Mister Ye, what games are you trying to play here? My great grandfather has passed away for more than a decade . What else would be left other than bones?”
“Flesh . ” Ye Shaoyang replied as he pointed at the grave, “The person buried here has become a flesh-corpse . ”
Ma Cheng yelled in surprise, “What… what is that?”
“An evil being . I can’t really tell what exactly it is yet, but you can safely assume that it is an undead . ”
Ma Cheng took a breath to calm himself down . He looked at the grave and noticed that the coffin had not been dug up yet . He asked, “You haven’t even opened the coffin yet . How do you know?”
Ye Shaoyang smiled, “If I had opened the coffin already, how would I prove my identity as a sorcerer? I made this conclusion based on my Maoshan knowledge . If you want to know whether I am right or wrong, open the coffin and you will find your answer . ”
Ma Cheng hesitated . It would be disrespectful to open an ancestor’s coffin, but he also wanted to know whether Ye Shaoyang was telling the truth . Seeing this, Liu Qin nervously shook his hands, “Boss, don’t believe in what he says . He is talking nonsense . We should not open an ancestor’s coffin like this, as it will damage our Feng Shui . I suggest that we send this person to the police station, and let the police interrogate him . ”
Before Liu Qin had finished his words, Ye Shaoyang grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled upward . A silhouette was pulled out from Liu Qin’s body . Liu Qin’s body immediately softened, as he collapsed onto the ground . With another move, Ye Shaoyang grabbed him to prevent him from falling .
Ye Shaoyang was holding the silhouette with one hand and Liu Qin’s body with the other . Ma Cheng’s jaw dropped, as he saw the two people that Ye Shaoyang was holding .
They were both Liu Qin! The only difference was that the silhouette version was translucent, and it stared up and down with a confused face . Meanwhile, Ye Shaoyang tightly grasped the unconscious body .
A man standing behind Ma Cheng mumbled, “What is happening here? How could there be two Liu Qins? Is it… . ”
Old Guo stepped to the front and announced, “That’s right . The one on the right is his soul . My junior brother has used the Maoshan Soul-Seizing Craft on Liu Qin . This move requires great power . Only a heavenly master can perform this . Do you still doubt him now?”
Ye Shaoyang grabbed Liu Qin’s soul and pulled it upward . Then, he smacked it back into Liu Qin’s body, and the body and soul instantly merged back together . Ye Shaoyang performed this stunt to prove his power and punish Liu Qin for acting disrespectfully toward him . Although Liu Qin’s soul had not stayed outside of his body for too long, it would still be enough to affect his luck for the next few days .
To a sorcerer, seizing a living human’s soul was not a good practice, so it would certainly cost Ye Shaoyang some of the virtue for his next life . However, to someone like Ye Shaoyang, his virtue for his next life matched Ma Cheng’s wealth, so he would not care about this minor punishment .
“Hey, what happened just now? Did something happen?” Liu Qin looked confused, as though he had just woken up from a deep sleep .
Everyone in the crowd was now staring at each other in amusement . Now, they looked at Ye Shaoyang differently .
A man whispered in Ma Cheng’s ear, “Mister Ma, this might be a trick, maybe some sort of street magic . Let’s not be too impressed by this . ”
Ma Cheng nodded, as he spoke to Ye Shaoyang, “Opening up my ancestor’s coffin is no small matter . What if it is not like what you just claimed?”
Ye Shaoyang shrugged, “Then you can do whatever you want with me . ”
“Alright, I’ll remember this . ” Ma Cheng smiled and made his decision, “Let’s open the coffin!”
Ye Shaoyang signaled for Xiao Ma and Old Guo to start their jobs . Xiao Ma had been waiting for this moment . He wanted to prove Ye Shaoyang’s worth, so he immediately got down to business . He kneeled down by the grave and started to dig up the coffin as quickly as possible .
Suddenly, Ma Cheng stopped the trio and asked the crowd of his people to leave the scene, except for Liu Qin .
“Whatever we dig up, I don’t want too many to witness it . ”
Ye Shaoyang nodded, as he understood Ma Cheng’s concern .
The soil was moist and loose, so it was an easy job . Before long, Xiao Ma and Old Guo had dug up a deep hole, revealing half of a black wooden coffin .
Old Guo had been in the undertaker business for a very long time . When he saw the coffin, he shook his hands in amusement, “Wow! This is made of ebony hardwood! And it is a complete piece of it! This must be very expensive!”
Ma Cheng’s face shone with pride, “My grandfather obtained this ebony hardwood by chance . We knew it was expensive, but we didn’t sell it because we didn’t need the money . As such, we built my great grandfather’s coffin out of it . ”
Before he finished his sentence, they heard a loud thump sound out from within the coffin . Liu Qin fell to the ground in fear, while Ma Cheng, who was sitting on the ground, jerked up upon hearing this . He took a few steps back . A few more loud knocks came from the coffin, scaring the two even more .
“Could this be him coming back to life?” Ma Cheng’s face turned pale as he looked at Ye Shaoyang .
“How could that be? He has been dead for more than a decade . ” Ye Shaoyang laughed a little as he jumped onto the coffin . He waved his hands, asking for Old Guo’s help . He sneaked his hand into a crevice in the coffin and found the tenon joint . With a smooth push, he removed the tenon .
A coffin like this would usually be designed with tenon joints to avoid the use of coffin nails, as nails could potentially damage the coffin wood . Tenon joints would usually be placed in alignment with the five elements .
Ye Shaoyang and Old Guo quickly removed all five tenons, unlocking the coffin cover . Ye Shaoyang grabbed the cover, pushed it, as he yelled, “Up!”
The cover was instantly lifted up and thrown aside .
Ma Cheng and Liu Qin stepped a little closer to peep into the coffin . However, they did not dare to get too close to the coffin, so they kept a little distance .
A pale meaty body laid inside the coffin . It looked like a giant white worm because its head and limbs were pressed against the middle by its swollen body .
“Oh God, that is disgusting…” Liu Qin said as he covered his mouth with his hand . However, he suddenly realized that these words would be offensive to his boss, so he turned to Ma Cheng and stuttered, “I… I’m not talking about your… your great-grandfather… And… and this might not be him . ”
Ma Cheng did not bother responding to Liu Qin . He walked up to the coffin and bent forward to take a closer look at the body . Suddenly, the body jerked up with a loud thump . Ma Cheng was caught unprepared, and the body suddenly choked him by his neck .