Chapter 29 : Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Open the Coffin

Did Old Master Liu really die? No one knew.

Now, apart from the Liu family, no one had seen his body.

The Inner Prison was oppressively silent. Yunyang waved, and all the spies quietly withdrew.

He stood abruptly, pacing: “Old Master Liu’s not dead. We must’ve hit a nerve, and the Liu family panicked, using this to force us to back off.”

I, Chen Ji, feigned surprise: “Old Master Liu’s not dead? No way—would the Liu family fake something this big? Liu Mingxian looked genuinely grief-stricken.”

Yunyang sneered: “Court officials do far worse for power. A ninety-year-old faking death to protect his heirs? Nothing strange. As for Liu Mingxian, those scholars love posturing.”

He turned to me: “What should I do?”

I lowered my eyes, then said: “Open the coffin, examine the body.”

Yunyang jumped: “Old Master Liu’s the Empress Dowager’s father. Investigating the Liu family’s fine, but opening his coffin is suicide! I just realized your guts are bigger than mine. What if he’s really dead?”

I held the Bagua lamp, meeting Yunyang’s gaze: “Lord Yunyang, even if he’s dead, can you rest without checking?”

Yunyang paced rapidly, weighing all outcomes of opening the coffin, then stopped, declaring firmly: “Open the coffin, examine the body!”

A chilling breeze swept through the prison’s depths, making my Bagua lamp flicker.

I’d only taken icy currents from Cells A and B, avoiding the others.

But this breeze stirred currents from Cells C, D, E, F, and beyond, surging toward me!

The icy flow in me threatened to overwhelm control!

This place wasn’t safe to linger.

I stood to leave: “Lord Yunyang, I’ve been out long. Master must be worried. Please take me back.”

Yunyang grinned darkly: “Your idea, and now you want to leave? Come along. We can’t bring other coroners, but you’ve got a knack for this. If Old Master Liu’s in the coffin, you can check his cause of death. If things go wrong, no one escapes.”

I hesitated: “Lord Yunyang, the merit’s yours and Jiaotu’s. I’m just advising.”

“If we don’t bring you, what if your advice screws us?” Yunyang sneered. “Hurry up. We’ll grab Jiaotu and reach the Liu family graveyard before night.”

Yunyang and Jiaotu weren’t skilled at catching spies but excelled at self-preservation, deflecting blame, and claiming credit.

He blindfolded me again, puzzled: “Why keep holding that Bagua lamp?”

He snatched it, putting it back.

I let Yunyang tug my clothes, stumbling out of the prison.

In the swaying carriage, I sat clenching my teeth. Without the lamp, the icy current raged unchecked.

The window’s gray curtain fluttered, but the sunset on my face felt cold.

After a while, someone lifted the curtain, a sharp fragrance hitting me. Jiaotu slipped in: “Yunyang, why bring this kid?”

Yunyang, driving, said: “His idea, so he’s coming.”

Jiaotu removed my blindfold and earplugs, asking curiously: “Yunyang, heard you exiled all Luocheng’s jailers to Lingnan? Won’t Prisoner Rat be mad you acted on her turf?”

Yunyang scoffed: “She should worry about the Inner Minister’s wrath. The prison’s a sieve, leaking intelligence. I’ll report her.”

Jiaotu mused: “Lingnan’s harsh—long journey, malaria rampant, days of agony before death.”

Yunyang paused: “Oh… what then?”

“Kill them in Luocheng. Why send them so far?” Jiaotu said earnestly.

“Makes sense.”

Jiaotu looked at me, serious: “You won’t screw us, right? Betray us, and you die.”

I smiled: “Lord Jiaotu, if I betray you and Lord Yunyang, who’ll I earn money from?”

“Good to know!” Jiaotu grinned, holding her wrist to my nose: “Smell this—I bought incense at Daughter Pavilion. Nice, huh? Costly.”

Yunyang frowned: “Why let him smell it!?”

Jiaotu glanced at him: “Drive your carriage. Mind your business.”

Yunyang shut up, fuming.

Along the way, I saw white paper money scattered on both sides, tossed skyward during the Liu family’s funeral procession.

Yunyang sneered: “They live in luxury, then scatter paper money to stay rich in the afterlife, while poor scholars can’t afford paper.”

Jiaotu chuckled: “You hate injustice so much, the Inner Minister should send you to the Chief Punishment Division. They investigate corrupt officials daily.”

“No way. The Chief Punishment Division’s full of stiff old fogies—boring as hell.”

…

…

At night, Yunyang and Jiaotu switched drivers. He climbed in, guarding me.

“By the way,” Yunyang stared into my eyes: “A Liu family member under interrogation said Liu Shiyu was close to someone big in Prince Jing’s Mansion. I suspect the mansion’s involved, maybe with a Jing Dynasty spy… Found any clues there?”

My heart tightened: “Lord Yunyang, are you sure there’s a spy in the mansion?”

The carriage’s air froze, as if an invisible hand tugged between us.

Yunyang mused: “Think Physician Yao could be a Jing Dynasty spy? In the capital’s Imperial Clinic, he was renowned, sought by nobles, even the Emperor wanted him in the palace. But three years ago, he came to Luocheng to serve Prince Jing’s Mansion… Suspicious?”

“Suspicious,” I said curiously. “Any changes in Master over the years?”

“Yao was famously harsh in the capital, but the Inner Minister said he wasn’t always. Early on, he was kind, treating people for free.”

I pondered: “I don’t think Master’s a spy. When the mansion called him for a visit, he refused. A spy wouldn’t miss a chance to meet big figures.”

“Makes sense,” Yunyang rubbed his chin. “What about your two senior brothers? I checked—Liu Quxing’s from a Liu family branch. Could it be him?”

I took a deep breath, feigning confusion: “Lord Yunyang, are you indirectly suspecting me?”

He laughed: “You? I trust you completely. Just warning you to watch those around you.”

Jiaotu said: “Park the carriage in that grove. We’re near the Liu family graveyard. We climb Scholar Mountain and walk.”

We dismounted, trekking up the official road’s mountain path to Scholar Mountain’s peak.

Yunyang and Jiaotu moved fast. I expected to be gasping, but reaching the top, I barely sweated.

Panting, I lay down, exhausted: “Can we see the Liu graveyard from here?”

Yunyang pointed: “There, Beimang’s highest point.”

I propped up, gazing. At Beimang’s peak, stone tablets and mausoleums sprawled over dozens of acres—grand Liu family graves.

Stone figures, sheep, tigers, and pillars stood before tombs, some over ten feet tall!

The Ning Dynasty’s hierarchy was strict: commoners couldn’t ride sedans, wear boots, or don conical hats—laws enforced rank and ritual.

Tombs ten feet tall required third-rank status or higher.

Yunyang, eyeing the graveyard, sighed: “Ning Dynasty’s scholar-official families, nobles for a thousand years, bleeding the people dry to build such splendor.”

I sensed something off. The Ning Dynasty lasting a thousand years was unthinkable—historical patterns made it impossible.

Unless an external force intervened.

Jiaotu said: “Old Master Liu’s death is fishy. Look—hundreds of private soldiers guard the graveyard, maybe Enforcers too. Last time spies scouted, only a dozen guarded it.”

“We can’t storm in,” Yunyang frowned at Jiaotu. “You go? I shouldn’t open the coffin.”

Jiaotu glanced at me: “Have him blindfold and turn away. You guard me.”

I turned, blindfolding myself, knowing Enforcers’ cultivation paths must stay secret.

Jiaotu sat cross-legged, slicing her brow with her short knife.

Yunyang cut his finger, dotting blood on a dozen paper shadow puppets, guarding her closely.

A shadow emerged from Jiaotu’s brow, like a crab shedding its shell, detaching from her body.

The shadow, identical to Jiaotu, wore black light armor, wielding a towering Green Dragon Crescent Blade!

Jiaotu’s body stayed still, but her shadow spirit spoke to Yunyang: “I’m going.”

It leapt off the cliff, landing weightlessly on treetops, bounding over dozens of trees toward the Liu graveyard!

As night deepened, the shadow spirit blended into the dark.

Reaching Old Master Liu’s tomb, it slipped unnoticed through the stone walls!

The walls seemed nonexistent!

After a while, the shadow spirit sped back, re-entering Jiaotu’s brow. She opened her eyes, stunned: “The coffin’s empty!”