Chapter 18 The Coffin Wood Bookshelf

Before Fatty could observe carefully, a hand pinched his hand, or rather, three fingers. Luo Tianhe seemingly casually moved Fatty's hand away from the bookshelf, without alarming anyone. But only Fatty knew how much strength was in those three fingers.

Fatty immediately realized that there was probably something wrong with the bookshelf, but he couldn't alert the enemy now.

Then, Fatty acted as if nothing had happened, obediently withdrew his hand, and continued to follow the others.

After surveying the area, Luo Tianhe gently shook his head, his tone slightly disappointed. "Second Master, let's go."

"Did the masters find anything?"

"Not yet."

After receiving the reply, the Second Master led them out of the storage room. As soon as they exited, they could see Old Master Wu's body pointing towards them, and a gust of yin wind suddenly appeared, causing the candles in the hall to flicker and extinguish simultaneously.

The hall was plunged into darkness, leaving only the dim candle in Lai Fu's hand.

Without needing a reminder, everyone instantly became alert, their eyes instinctively scanning the hall. The Eight Immortals table and the master chairs that had been placed in the hall had merged with the darkness, leaving only blurred, deep black outlines.

Suddenly, Fatty, who was trying hard to see his surroundings, shuddered. He had discovered something terrifying. The stiff figure in the distance... was gone!

Perhaps "gone" was an overstatement, but that was his subconscious thought. In any case, that position had merged with the surrounding darkness, making it impossible to tell whether the body was still there.

Judging from everyone's reactions, everyone had noticed this, but no one mentioned it.

In the end, the Second Master and Lai Fu led the way, and everyone dared to follow. As Old Master Wu's body gradually appeared in the dim light, Fatty couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, as if he had regained the ability to breathe.

The body remained in its previous pose, without moving.

But Fatty's eyes suddenly noticed that the doctor and the others didn't seem to be relaxing, especially Lin Qianqian, whose face had changed, turning pale.

Curiously following Lin Qianqian's gaze, Fatty's heart seemed to clench. A pair of bloody footprints had appeared on the ground!

The footprints were together, and their direction and size were the same as the body's.

It felt as if someone had moved Old Master Wu's body while they were searching the storage room, or that Old Master Wu had jumped to the side himself...

Fatty's imagination ran wild, successfully scaring himself. In short, this matter was definitely beyond the realm of what normal people could understand.

Everyone fled the hall as if escaping, and only felt a little better after closing the door. The Second Master had also seen the bloody footprints. He pleaded with everyone in a pale face not to make a fuss, and said that he hoped the masters could resolve this matter as soon as possible.

"When will Old Master Wu's body return to normal?"

"In about three shichen (a Chinese unit of time, approximately two hours)." The Second Master answered decisively.

Luo Tianhe nodded. "Then please have someone notify us when the time is near. We need to observe the body up close, otherwise it will be difficult to see the problem."

"Okay, then please rest first, masters. I will send someone to invite you when the time comes." The Second Master entrusted this matter to Lai Fu, and also ordered people to lock the hall door. No one was allowed to approach without his orders.

Back in their rooms, everyone was wide awake. Ding Zhenzong sat on a chair, leaning forward, somewhat agitated. "Did you see that? The body really moved. The location of the bloody footprints is where the body was standing before. I observed it. His shoes were soaked with blood, but because the clothes and shoes are black, it wasn't obvious."

"Also, the body's movements are very strange. It's like he's trying to tell us something." Lin Qianqian recalled the body's movements and mouth shape, feeling more and more strange. "What exactly is he trying to say?"

"Obviously, there's something wrong with that room." Li Bai interjected, then turned to look at Fatty, pausing before saying, "Wang Fugui, I saw you touch the bookshelf, and your expression wasn't very good."

"Yes, that bookshelf is very strange. It feels cold to the touch." Suddenly exposed, Fatty had no choice but to pretend to be confused and casually perfunctory, but he didn't mention Luo Tianhe's actions.

Luo Tianhe must have discovered something, but whether he was willing to say it was his business. Fatty wouldn't be nosy, but he would tell the doctor.

"That shelf is indeed strange. It feels cold to the touch because it's made of coffin wood, and it carries the resentment of the dead and the yin energy of the tomb." Luo Tianhe looked at Li Bai, ostensibly explaining it to her, but both of them understood that the reason Li Bai said that just now was to force Luo Tianhe to explain it himself. After all, if she could notice the subtle changes in Fatty's expression when he touched the bookshelf, there was no reason she couldn't see Luo Tianhe pulling Fatty's hand away.

"Coffin wood..." Yao Shunyu seemed to be intrigued.

"That's right, those shelves are all made of used coffin wood, and old coffins at that, otherwise the yin energy wouldn't be so heavy." Luo Tianhe explained.

"But what's the point of using coffin wood to make bookshelves?" Fatty couldn't figure out this point.

Luo Tianhe frowned, just as he was about to speak, he heard a chuckling voice. "Who says it must be a bookshelf? In my opinion, it's just a shelf for placing things." After a pause, Yuan Shanyuan continued, "I heard a saying a long time ago that after some rare treasures appear in the world, they cannot touch the ground. They can only be hung high with rootless wood, otherwise they will lose their spirituality."

"I think that whatever needs to be displayed on a shelf made of coffin wood must be some evil things." Yuan Shanyuan's voice was unhurried and gave people a sense of trust.

Luo Tianhe nodded, agreeing with Yuan Shanyuan's view.

There were only so many clues, and further discussion wouldn't lead to any substantial progress, so everyone simply rested.

There were a total of four rooms here, but the group didn't separate. They all stayed together, after all, Old Master Wu's strange corpse was also in this house, like a mountain, weighing on everyone's hearts.

In a daze, someone knocked on the door. It was Lai Fu, whom they had seen before.

The group hurried back to the hall. The hall door was already open, and a sedan chair was parked outside. The Second Master was giving instructions in the hall. Old Master Wu's body was lying on the ground, surrounded by several martial arts masters from the courtyard.

Jiang Cheng and the others stepped forward and seized the time to examine Old Master Wu's body. They wanted to move the body to a brighter location, but as soon as they used force to lift it, they noticed something was wrong.

Why was this body so light? It felt like it was only half a body.