"Are you sure you can open it?" Master Huo asked me.
Open the coffin? Are you kidding me?
I am not an idiot.
If I really open it, will I still have any value to use?
They might not hesitate to kill me to tie up loose ends.
"I don't have absolute certainty. Although I know the structure, this is my first time encountering something like this!" I shook my head at Master Huo and replied.
While giving a negative answer, I also emphasized my own value.
I was telling him that besides me, no one on his side knew the internal structure of the coffin.
"Don't play any tricks. Open it smoothly, and the reward will be doubled. If you ruin Caishen's business, I'll leave not even a bone of yours intact!" Master Huo was a smart man, and naturally he caught the implication behind my words. Staring with eyes as big as ox eggs, he threatened me.
I ignored him, stepped forward, and carefully observed this Seven-Absolute Coffin.
The diagrams and internal structure of the Seven-Absolute Coffin had long been deeply rooted in my mind.
The exterior of this Seven-Absolute Coffin was identical to the diagrams in my memory. The whole thing was pieced together from seven wooden boards using mortise and tenon joints, entirely without nails.
Looking closely at the grain of the wood, each board had only seven growth rings, all taken from fully grown centuries-old trees.
At the head and foot of the coffin were exquisite bas-relief patterns: a Vermilion Bird in the front and a Black Tortoise in the rear, with the left and right sides bearing reliefs of the Azure Dragon and White Tiger respectively.
This secretly corresponded to the Four Symbols.
It seemed to have no abnormalities.
I reached out and gently stroked the coffin board. When I touched the front-left position, I secretly shook my head in my heart.
This Seven-Absolute Coffin is fake.
A genuine Seven-Absolute Coffin should have seven hidden compartments, corresponding to the positions of the human body's seven facial orifices, and inside each hidden compartment, there should be an object with a special meaning.
According to the burial customs of the Zhou Rites, after a person dies, their seven orifices are sealed with jade, and some people say nine orifices are sealed.
This meant inserting jade articles into the nine apertures of the deceased—the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, anus, and genitalia—which was called "sealing the nine orifices with jade."
The *Baopuzi: Debating Vulgarity* records: "When gold and jade are in the nine orifices, the deceased will not decay."
In the Seven-Absolute Coffin, however, only the seven orifices are sealed, and they are not stuffed directly into the corpse's body; instead, seven hidden compartments are opened at the corresponding positions on the coffin boards.
The locations of the seven hidden compartments must correspond to the seven orifices of the corpse.
The place where I touched the coffin board corresponded precisely to the position of the corpse's ears, and it was smooth as glass.
There were no hidden compartments at all.
This Seven-Absolute Coffin was definitely a fake.
There are two ways to open a Seven-Absolute Coffin. One of them is to open the seven hidden compartments, which will inevitably make the Seven-Absolute Coffin open.
The second method is to reverse the sequence of the coffin's mortise and tenon structure.
But no matter which method is used, opening this fake Seven-Absolute Coffin carries unknown dangers.
Simply put, the tomb owner created this fake Seven-Absolute Coffin specifically to prevent grave robbing.
It was by no means as simple as just wasting a grave robber's time.
Rather, it was designed to put grave robbers through absolute hell.
Now that I already knew the danger, why should I play the fool and take the fall?
I still need to keep this life of mine to avenge Old Bachelor Grandpa!
"The structure of the Seven-Absolute Coffin is too complicated. I'm not sure for now, so I'll give up my first chance! You guys go ahead!" I said to Morgan the Foreigner and Mecheng, and then stepped back.
Seeing that I had merely touched the coffin and given up my first chance to open it, Master Huo's face instantly sank.
The glare he gave me was filled with rage.
"Three chances also represent your life!" Master Huo said with a gloomy face, using a soft yet threatening tone right beside my ear.
Yet I didn't care about his threats at all.
Wanting to open this fake Seven-Absolute Coffin was not difficult for me.
I chose to give up the first chance, firstly because I didn't want to be cannon fodder, and secondly, because I wanted to test Mecheng's true capability.
As Mecheng walked toward the coffin, he glanced at me with a very strange look, which seemed to carry a hint of provocation.
Arriving beside the coffin, Mecheng gently stroked it with the hand wearing the Rooster-spur Gloves.
The moment I saw the spot he touched, I knew that this fellow actually understood the mysteries of the Seven-Absolute Coffin as well.
Moreover, I was certain that besides the sharp claws made of rooster spurs on the front, his Rooster-spur Gloves must also have very delicate mechanisms designed inside them.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to perceive the tiny gaps on the wooden boards.
This man was indeed no simple character.
Since he knew the mystery of the Seven-Absolute Coffin, he must have also seen that this Seven-Absolute Coffin was fake.
I wanted to see how he would open the coffin.
Mecheng smiled at me again with a provocative gaze.
Then, he beckoned to one of Morgan the Foreigner's subordinates.
After the man walked over, Mecheng pointed at the coffin lid and told him to push it open.
Damn it!
This fellow is too sinister.
Clearly knowing that the Seven-Absolute Coffin was fake and that there was a deadly trap inside, he refused to open it himself and instead made someone else do it.
This guy is quite vicious.
I need to be careful.
Morgan the Foreigner's subordinate wasn't an idiot either; he walked up to the coffin lid and hesitated.
But under Morgan the Foreigner's threat, he still placed both hands on the coffin lid.
"Spread your legs apart, arch your front leg as a pivot, and push diagonally upward with force!" Mecheng instructed him.
He was using the method of reversing the mortise and tenon structure to open the coffin.
Under his command, Morgan's subordinate formed a bow with his front leg and pushed hard, diagonally upward.
Creak!
The sound of wood rubbing together rang out.
With the sound of this creak, my heart leaped into my throat.
As the coffin was about to open, the fatal danger would inevitably follow.
A moment later, Morgan's subordinate's body leaned forward without warning, and his hands reached straight into the coffin by inertia.
There seemed to be something inside the coffin pulling him inward.
His entire upper body was dragged inside.
"Ah!"
A heart-rending scream rang out.
Mecheng's first reaction was not to save the man, but to immediately take out a broken brick he had picked up from somewhere and jam it into the gap of the coffin lid.
A crack also appeared in the Seven-Absolute Coffin.
Someone beside Morgan the Foreigner immediately rushed over to pull the man out.
When the man was dragged out of the coffin, both of his hands were gone from the forearms down, and blood was gushing out in bubbles.
The wounds were identical to the scars on Old Bachelor Grandpa's arms—jagged and uneven, as if they had been sawed off.
The man passed out cold from the sheer agony.
Morgan gave a sideways glance to the two subordinates who were carrying the body.
Those two immediately carried the injured man away.
In less than two minutes, the two men returned.
Clearly, that injured man had probably already been dealt with.
Watching the whole process made my blood boil.
In my eyes, that injured man seemed to have turned into Old Bachelor Grandpa.
He must have suffered the exact same fate back then.
I wished I could instantly kill these grave-robbing, inhuman bastards.
Yet I temporarily lacked the ability to do so.
The coffin lid was jammed with a brick by Mecheng, leaving a crack open.
"I've used up my first chance, so the rest is up to you guys!" Mecheng didn't continue opening the coffin; instead, he stepped back and sneered as he glanced at me.
This fellow seemed to abide by the rules, but I knew the truth clearly in my heart.
He was worried that there were still lethal mechanisms inside, and he wanted to use me as cannon fodder.
In your dreams!
"Jiang Feng, it's up to you now. Mecheng has already opened a crack, so you must open it completely in one go. Otherwise, I will skin you alive!" Master Huo threatened me as he wiped a gleaming dagger.