Chapter 1 The Tomb of General Guo

"It really is General Guo's tomb…" The shock in Li Bai's eyes was gradually replaced by a hint of fear. "Didn't they say he died in battle on Spring God Lake? How… how was his body buried here?"

To enshroud and bury a general of the previous dynasty in one's own mansion was a major taboo. If other officials of the current dynasty found out and reported it, the Emperor would be furious. The Zhennan Marquis would have no way to explain himself. Everyone could clearly sense that a great secret was hidden within.

Jiang Cheng looked up and around. Hidden by layers of wild grass, there were hundreds of graves nearby. These people were clearly from the previous dynasty, most likely the generals and personal guards who supposedly died in battle with General Guo on Spring God Lake. Who would have thought that these people's bodies would be buried in the Marquis's mansion?

"What do we do now? We've been gone long enough. If we don't go back soon…"

Seeing the sky gradually turning gloomy, Li Bai became worried about the situation here. Moreover, only Old Man Zhang was left in the room. If the situation changed, he might not be able to handle it alone.

"Not yet. We need to find some useful tools. I want to open the coffin."

As soon as Jiang Cheng said this, Yao Shunyu, Li Bai, and Fatty were all shocked. "Open the coffin?" Fatty's face turned pale with fright. They had just pulled up someone's tombstone, and now they wanted to open the coffin? Did they really think that General Guo of the previous dynasty had no temper?

Yao Shunyu frowned, as if realizing something. "Do you suspect that there's an empty coffin buried below?"

"Whether it's an empty coffin or not, we need to open it and take a look. If there's a corpse inside, then we'll examine it to see if the corpse died from frontal sword and spear wounds, or from a villain's secret plot."

Jiang Cheng's words were easy to understand. The fact that the Zhennan Marquis would go to such lengths to use a Jing Lei Wood death tablet to suppress these wronged souls was not something that could be explained by a simple night battle. Moreover, it was said that General Guo was incomparably brave, and his personal guards were like gods of slaughter descended upon the world. How could such a group of brave and skilled warriors, who had the dynasty at a loss, be completely annihilated in a naval battle? There must be more to it than meets the eye.

Jiang Cheng's first suspicion was the Zhennan Marquis. General Guo and his men might have been victims of a villain's scheme.

Although worried, everyone understood that Jiang Cheng's words made sense, so the group found some thick branches nearby, which were quite handy, and returned to General Guo's tomb to start digging.

To everyone's surprise, they didn't dig for long before they unearthed a coffin. The coffin was buried surprisingly shallow, and this coffin… was actually buried upside down, meaning the back of the coffin was facing up and the lid was facing down.

"What's going on?" Fatty, who had just worked up a sweat, felt a chill run down his spine. This was getting more and more bizarre. "We… should we retreat first and come back after choosing a good day…"

Yao Shunyu and Li Bai had the same concerns. It would be fine if this coffin was empty, but if… if there really was a corpse inside, judging from the situation, who knew what would happen once the coffin was opened.

"We can't dig anymore. An upside-down coffin means the corpse inside has a lot of resentment. Let's go back and discuss it at length," Li Bai also advised. She had an inexplicable fear of this coffin.

But this time, Jiang Cheng's attitude was very firm. "Everyone, I know what you're worried about, and I'm worried too, but this coffin must be opened. Even if we don't open it this time, we'll open it next time. We must determine how General Guo died. This is crucial."

Fatty gritted his teeth and jumped into the dug-out pit, grabbing one end of the coffin with both hands. "Then stop talking nonsense. Come on, give me a hand and flip the coffin over!"

The coffin felt quite heavy in his hands, and there was a slight shaking sensation inside. When the coffin lid was opened, a corpse wearing a general's armor was exposed to everyone.

General Guo's corpse wore a ferocious mask on its face, and with the armor, it exuded a hint of strangeness in its majesty.

But after the coffin was opened, there was no stench of decay from the corpse, because this was not a real corpse at all, but a wooden figure wearing armor.

"It's a cenotaph," Li Bai said softly.

When Jiang Cheng reached out and lifted the mask from the wooden figure's face, the face underneath was truly terrifying. The wooden figure's facial features were distorted, and half of its face was almost sunken in, with terrifying scars on it.

This was not caused by the decay of the wood, but was carved by the sculptor from the beginning. The exquisite carving gave this wooden figure an unspeakable strangeness.

"What's going on? Is this a curse on General Guo, so that he won't be at peace even after death, or… or did General Guo really look like this?" Fatty was getting more and more confused.

On the contrary, Jiang Cheng, Li Bai, and Yao Shunyu all gasped, as if they had thought of something at the same time. Li Bai pursed her lips and was the first to walk outside, where there was another tombstone.

"Where are you going?" Fatty asked anxiously.

Li Bai directly pulled up the tombstone and began to dig. Jiang Cheng and Yao Shunyu also went over to help. Soon, another coffin was dug out. After opening the coffin, there was also no corpse inside, only a wooden figure wearing armor. But to Fatty's surprise, this wooden figure's face was also covered with a mask.

Lifting the mask, the wooden figure's face was even more terrifying. The entire face was strangely concave, the nose had disappeared, and only two holes remained in its place. The mouth was wide open, as if screaming helplessly.

Seeing this, Jiang Cheng put down the mask and took a deep breath. "So that's it. No wonder… no wonder General Guo's troops were so powerful, fighting a hundred enemies on the battlefield, tearing apart armor with their bare hands, and shattering men and horses with a single punch. Ordinary people can't do that, but disciples can."

Fatty also reacted at this moment, his mouth wider than the wooden figure's. "Holy shit! So General Guo and his men… they were all disciples!" Staring at the wooden figure's twisted face, Fatty finally understood the problem. "No wonder they looked like this, they were all corroded by the Door."

General Guo leading a personal army composed entirely of disciples… just thinking about it was frightening. Fatty was even a little grateful that they were all dead.

But then, another more important question arose. "That's not right. Looking at the graves nearby, there are at least a hundred people here. Where did General Guo get so many disciples?"

Fatty had only encountered more disciples after being exposed to high-end missions. Each disciple was unique. The Door was a gift, but also a curse, and there weren't many of them. But the way General Guo did it, it was as if they were cabbages. Could this thing be mass-produced?

"You should be more concerned about how the Zhennan Marquis managed to kill all of these monsters in one battle," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the ghost face in the coffin.