BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 70 The Sacred Relic

No one had noticed when the stone gate had closed.

At that moment, the third coffin once again emitted the sound:

Flap… flap…

The sound alone was enough to make everyone’s hearts leap into their throats.

If it had only been the noise from inside the coffin, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But the faceless corpse had begun wandering around, and that was truly terrifying.

After rising to its feet, the corpse first walked to the first coffin and lingered there briefly. It then moved to the second coffin.

Though it no longer had eyes, its movements made it seem as though it were actually looking inside the coffins.

After failing to find what it wanted, the faceless corpse arrived before the coffin that had been making the “flap, flap” sounds and did something that left everyone dumbfounded.

Grabbing the crowbar with both hands, it exerted a little force and, in one motion, pried the coffin lid open.

The instant the lid opened, a rope-like black shadow shot out and headed straight for the corpse’s face.

Since the corpse no longer had a face, the shadow plunged directly into its skull and began twisting and writhing inside, shredding what little remained of its brain.

By then, the foreigners’ legs and throats were trembling.

Under the flashlight beams, they finally saw what had entered their dead companion’s head.

It was a poisonous snake glowing with green light.

Originally, the snake’s scales were emerald green, but after thrashing about inside the corpse’s skull for a while, they had transformed into a bizarre pink color.

The corpse seemed incapable of feeling pain.

After allowing the snake to writhe inside its head for a time, it suddenly reached up and firmly grabbed the snake. Its other hand seized the serpent’s head.

With a violent pull—

Rip!

The snake was torn into two halves.

The corpse casually threw the pieces to the ground.

The severed body writhed for a moment before finally becoming still.

Seeing how formidable the snake had appeared, everyone had assumed it would be as hard to kill as the centipede.

Who would have imagined that the corpse would simply tear it apart?

Fortunately, the snake had not been interested in attacking the living. Otherwise, at least half the people present would have been dead.

After destroying the snake, the corpse walked to the third coffin.

It leaned in and appeared to “look” inside. Failing to find what it sought, it swayed slightly before shuffling toward the next coffin.

This one was still wrapped in chains.

The corpse reached out and twisted the iron chains apart. With a loud clatter, the thumb-thick chains snapped into several pieces.

It then grasped the coffin lid and, with a violent heave, sent the heavy cover flying.

Nothing emerged from inside.

Like a machine carrying out a fixed routine, the corpse leaned into the coffin, searched briefly, and upon finding nothing, staggered toward the next one.

Watching this, Sun Desheng suddenly said to Huang Ran:

“Old Huang, do you see it? This looks just like Old Yang’s ghost-manipulating tricks. Either Yang Xiao couldn’t bear the guilt and came back, or there’s another expert hiding here who’s just as good at playing with spirits.”

As he spoke, Fatty Sun swept his gaze over the foreigners, hoping to spot some flaw.

Unfortunately, every one of them wore the same expression of shock. Nothing suspicious could be seen.

Huang Ran also glanced at his people before saying:

“It can’t be one of my men. None of them have any foundation in the arts. I chose them all personally. They’re absolutely trustworthy.”

He paused before continuing:

“There’s a third possibility. Someone else is hiding here and manipulating things from the shadows. But that’s fine. At least it saves us some trouble.”

By then, the corpse had already reached another coffin and was preparing to open it the same way.

Suddenly, Huang Ran seemed to remember something.

He shouted to Aiden:

“Forget about it! Find a way to open the stone door! Once we get the relic, we’ll leave and lock that walking corpse inside. Someone’s controlling it. This kind of technique can only last three days. Once the corpse decays, it can no longer be manipulated.”

Aiden acknowledged the order and ran toward the stone gate.

After he left, Huang Ran turned to the others and said:

“We’ll work backward. Start opening the coffins from the last one. Let’s see who finds the relic first. Only after obtaining the relic will you have a chance to divide the gold.”

The last sentence proved effective.

The foreigners immediately grabbed their tools and rushed toward the final coffin.

Besides, sharing a room with that walking corpse made everyone extremely uneasy.

With many hands working together, they carefully opened the last coffin.

Nothing abnormal appeared.

Nor was there any sign of the relic.

They prepared to pry open the second-to-last coffin.

At that very moment, the corpse had already opened the sixth coffin.

No Five Poisons emerged.

After taking a look inside, it turned and prepared to leave.

Suddenly—

The corpse froze.

It retreated to the coffin and leaned its head inside once more.

A moment later, it seized the entire coffin and violently overturned it.

The body of a former sect master, together with all the burial objects, scattered across the floor.

Seeing this, Huang Ran shouted urgently:

“Forget the coffins! The relic has been found! Weisen—the corpse—has found it! Bring it back! No matter what, bring it back!”

Even as he shouted, the corpse had already knelt on the ground.

Among the scattered burial objects, it began searching frantically.

Seeing their former companion acting like this, the foreigners were all horrified.

None of them dared approach.

Then the corpse seemed to find something.

It suddenly thrust its hand into the abdomen of the sect master’s corpse.

After rummaging around inside for a while, it withdrew its hand.

Mixed among the organs was a strange golden creature.

It was slightly larger than a human palm and covered from head to toe in tentacles.

It was exactly the same creature depicted in the drawing Huang Ran had shown them earlier—

The sacred relic.

No one had expected that the relic would be hidden inside the stomach of one of the Hehuan Sect masters.

Seeing that his foreign subordinates were too frightened to seize it, Huang Ran gritted his teeth and personally charged toward the corpse.

No matter what, he had to obtain the relic.

But just as Huang Ran rushed forward, Aiden had already found the mechanism and reopened the hidden stone gate.

The instant the door opened—

A figure appeared in the entrance.

It was none other than Wan Changluo, who should have been dealing with chaos aboveground.

Expressionless, he glanced at Huang Ran and said:

“Thanks to you, I’ve finally found the sacred relic. Who would’ve thought it was hidden inside Senior Lu’s corpse?”