PCJ – Chapter 433 The Corpse King

Sun Lei took a dagger from his body, inserted the tip of the dagger into the crack of the coffin lid, and forcefully pried it open. With a series of “crack” sounds, the coffin lid was lifted just enough to create a gap wide enough for a finger to fit through.

Yang Jinlong quickly stepped forward to help, and several other men also moved forward. Together, they exerted their strength to lift the heavy coffin lid.

The coffin was made from high-quality wood and was extremely heavy. It took all their strength to lift the lid.

As the lid was about to open completely, He Shouye had a sudden thought: if the owner of the coffin was no longer inside, why was the lid still sealed so tightly?

“Swish!”

The coffin lid suddenly opened, but it was not empty. Inside was a corpse.

“Ah!”

“Not good!”

Both Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren’s faces turned pale. There was actually a body inside! This was a “corpse-rearing” ground.

The corpse appeared to be as if someone had just died, with extremely pale skin, like ice sculpture. The deceased appeared to be quite young, possibly only in their twenties or thirties when they died.

“Hurry! Seal the coffin!” Wang Zhenren’s voice was filled with panic.

However, Long Wuyi noticed something inside the coffin. It was large, filled with many valuable-looking ritual objects.

“Wait!” Long Wuyi stretched his hand into the coffin to grab something.

“Don’t!” Bai Daxian tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Long Wuyi quickly pulled out several ritual items, including exquisite blue-and-white porcelain and beautifully carved jade pieces. Any one of these items, if taken out, would be worth an immense fortune.

“You! This is trouble!” Wang Zhenren glared at Long Wuyi.

“Two Taoist priests, with such a big investment from me and the Fourth Master, if we don’t recover some of the costs, do you think we’re fools?” Long Wuyi said nonchalantly. In his opinion, this corpse was no more dangerous than the ghost-like creature they encountered earlier. It looked like someone who had just died—how dangerous could it be?

“Do you realize that if you hadn’t coveted the items inside, this corpse king might have remained dormant? Whether it wakes up later is not our concern. But when you greedily took its offerings, your yang energy became the bait that might awaken it!” Wang Zhenren said angrily.

As if to prove Wang Zhenren’s words, the corpse suddenly opened its eyes, which now appeared unnaturally bright and sharp.

“Hurry, seal the coffin!” He Shouye also realized things were going badly.

Long Wuyi’s face changed as well.

Sun Lei and Yang Jinlong, along with the others, quickly rushed to close the coffin lid, applying their strength to seal it.

Long Wuyi breathed a sigh of relief, and He Shouye exhaled deeply.

“Useless!” Wang Zhenren shook his head.

Bai Daxian’s face turned pale. “It’s over. This thing has evolved into a corpse king! Don’t be fooled by how it looks like a normal person without blood; in reality, it is a corpse king, a hundred times more dangerous than the iron corpse we barely managed to deal with!”

Boom!

A loud thudding sound came from the coffin.

“Hurry, hold the coffin down!” Sun Lei shouted loudly. He could feel a tremendous force coming from inside the coffin. The power of whatever was inside was immense, repeatedly striking the coffin lid, and he, Yang Jinlong, and the others were barely holding it down.

Several young and strong men rushed forward to help press the coffin lid.

“Boom!”

The sound of violent thumping from inside the coffin grew more rapid and forceful.

He Shouye and Long Wuyi also tried to help but saw Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren sneak toward the exit. At that moment, the two massive stone doors of the main tomb suddenly slammed shut with a loud noise!

“Ah!”

He Shouye and Long Wuyi shouted in unison, then quickly dashed toward the stone doors of the tomb.

The people who had been desperately holding down the coffin turned around to see that the stone doors were about to close. They also rushed toward the entrance.

The weight pressing on the coffin lid suddenly disappeared. The lid flew up with great force, smashing toward the door.

Faster than Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren, the two of them heard the wind rushing behind them and had to dodge to the side to avoid being struck by the flying coffin lid. By a stroke of luck, the lid hit the entrance of the main tomb just as the doors were about to close, wedging itself between them, leaving a narrow gap just large enough for one person to pass through.

Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren quickly scrambled to their feet and raced toward the door. But as the gap at the entrance shrank, only one person could pass through at a time. Both of them were incredibly fast and reached the entrance simultaneously, blocking the path.

“Let me go first!” Bai Daxian yelled.

“Why should you go first?” Wang Zhenren said coldly.

“Fine, let’s just die here together!” Bai Daxian growled.

“Who’s afraid of who?” Wang Zhenren snorted.

“Move aside! Let me through!” Long Wuyi dashed forward quickly, reaching the entrance.

“Hurry, let me go first! I can open the door once I’m out!” Bai Daxian pleaded anxiously.

“I’ll open it once I go out!” Wang Zhenren kept trying to push through. Long Wuyi, seeing this, charged toward them and started attacking both Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren.

“You dare!” Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren shouted in unison. Despite their differences, they teamed up to face Long Wuyi’s attack.

Boom! The two of them combined forces to block Long Wuyi’s attack.

He Shouye seized the opportunity, leaping high, stepping on Long Wuyi’s shoulder, and attempting to leap over him from above.

“Seeking death!” Bai Daxian and Wang Zhenren pulled He Shouye down. The crowd rushed forward, each vying to be the first to squeeze through the now narrow gap.

At that moment, the corpse king inside the coffin rose to its feet. It was wrapped in a fine chain, with one end attached to a bell on its wrist and the other to a waist belt made of a strange material that seemed like gold but wasn’t.

The corpse king wore a Han-style robe, which appeared to be in perfect condition despite the passing years.

“The corpse king is awake!”

Someone cried out in fear.

The people in the main tomb panicked, and everyone became crowded together. Not a single person was able to escape. In this kind of emergency, no one would sacrifice themselves to let someone else escape first. After all, they were all tomb robbers—who could expect any sense of honor from them?