After numerous twists and turns, the group finally reached the underground palace and beheld this enormous bronze coffin, shimmering with golden light.

A radiant bronze coffin!

The eyes of all the cultivators present gleamed with sharp light. The breathing of Old Gray Two and the others quickened somewhat; even Ink Painting’s eyes brightened.

Leaving aside other things, this massive third-grade radiant bronze coffin alone was probably worth quite a few spirit stones.

“Indeed a grand burial!” Old Gray Two’s gaze was excited.

At the same time, deep within his eyes, an azure-gray color flashed, as if some evil thought was gradually breeding like maggots.

And no one else detected it.

Except for Ink Painting.

Ink Painting’s brows furrowed slightly.

Old Gray Two had been bitten by the corpse plague, but along the way before, he showed no abnormalities. Only now, upon seeing the radiant bronze coffin, did the evil thought begin to breed.

This meant that the activation, breeding, and expansion of the evil thought required a person’s ‘desire’?

When people had desire, greed was born in their hearts, and the evil thought would take advantage of the weakness to enter and constantly breed?

The radiant bronze coffin stimulated Old Gray Two’s desire. Correspondingly, Old Gray Two’s dao heart also began to loosen, producing cracks, and being invaded by external evil?

Ink Painting silently noted this point in his heart.

Since the coffin had been found, the group no longer hesitated. They then followed the nearby stone path corridor towards the huge deep pit in the distance where the radiant bronze coffin lay.

Generally speaking, the deeper the tomb burial, the more crises; the further in, the more dangerous.

Therefore, along the way, the group became increasingly cautious, not even breathing out.

But unexpectedly, the depths of this underground palace were abnormally quiet, with no mechanisms or monsters like the corpse plague lurking.

Just like this, the group proceeded smoothly and arrived at the edge of the deep pit.

The enormous radiant bronze coffin was now right before them.

Looking at this luxurious, shining coffin.

Not to mention Old Gray Two, even Ink Painting himself felt a little excited in his heart.

He really wanted to know what exactly was hidden inside such a large, luxurious copper coffin, and exactly how many treasures—

Among the group, the black-robed old man then said:

“Old Gray Two, open the coffin.”

“Not urgent, I’ll take a look first.” Old Gray Two said.

Sharpening the knife does not delay chopping firewood; the closer to the end, the more caution was needed.

Old Gray Two circled around the deep pit, walking a large half circle. He looked at this copper coffin from various positions and angles, but the more he looked, the more grave his expression became, and towards the end, it was even very gloomy.

“The brass is ancient, bright on the outside, dark reddish-yellow on the inside. The coffin gaps are wet and damp, the outer patterns distorted—this is a manifestation of yin energy being too heavy, penetrating outwards.

Even the brass coffin couldn’t seal it, producing blood embroidery—.”

“There’s probably something big inside this coffin—.”

“Something big?” Ink Painting was startled.

“Evil things like corpse plague or ghost plague—.” Old Gray Two said.

Stone looked around at the surroundings, frowned and said: “No wonder the depths of this underground palace have no mechanisms or killing arrays. Originally, the most dangerous thing is the coffin itself.”

“What do we do now?” Stone asked. “What else to do? It’s impossible to turn back,” Rat said, “As I said before, riches and honor are sought in danger. Master Two, open the coffin.”

“Mm.” Old Gray Two nodded.

He had been in this line of work for so many years and was an old hand at tomb robbing, having seen quite a few great winds and waves.

At this point, even if there was truly something extraordinary hiding inside the coffin, he would fundamentally not give up without opening it to take a look.

Moreover, according to what these several guests said, the origin of this coffin might not be small.

“The matter of opening the coffin, just leave it to Old Gray Two.” The black-robed old man said in a hoarse voice.

“Naturally,” Old Gray Two nodded, “We eat this bowl of rice. It’s just that this coffin is too big, and we are short on manpower. We still need several noble guests to lend a hand.”

The black-robed old man nodded.

Thus, Old Gray Two then prepared to open the coffin.

Before opening the coffin, he first took out a two-foot-tall, pitch-black Ksitigarbha statue from his storage bag and placed it on the ground.

The face of the Ksitigarbha statue was strange and gloomy.

On the left and right sides were the eight characters “Life and death have fate, riches and honor are in heaven.”

Old Gray Two took out three incense sticks, inserted them in front of the statue, held a cup of yellow wine, bowed and said:

“Ksitigarbha Lord bless, open the coffin and get rich, with a hundred taboos avoided.”

After finishing, he poured the yellow wine on the ground.

Ink Painting saw this Ksitigarbha statue, his pupils trembled slightly. Before he could look closely, Old Gray Two had already finished bowing and then put the Ksitigarbha statue away again.

After putting it away, he formally moved to open the coffin.

But Ink Painting just couldn’t help with opening the coffin.

This copper coffin was a third-grade object, and the arrays and mechanisms on it were also third-grade. This was beyond the ability of a Foundation Building cultivator like him,

A second-grade array master.

He could learn second-grade earth arrays on the spot, even if he didn’t know them.

But third-grade arrays involved deeper array principles, which were truly not something he could learn at his current stage.

Therefore, while the group was busy, Ink Painting could only find a spot on the steps of the corridor at the edge of the deep pit and sit, watching Old Gray Two and the others open the coffin from a distance.

Old Gray Two took out a third-grade array disk and arranged it at the four corners of the copper coffin.

This array disk looked like an ancestral item. Ink Painting couldn’t temporarily see through the array on it, but he guessed it was for suppressing evil and binding corpses.

In addition, there were yellow talismans.

These yellow talismans were not paper talismans but jade talismans made of yellow jade, which Old Gray Two pressed onto the copper coffin.

There was chicken blood wine poured around.

This chicken blood, he didn’t know what spirit beast it was from, but its blood energy was strong and yang. Pouring it around the copper coffin seemed to be for dispelling yin and warding off evil.

And some ink lines, spirit rice water.

Anyway, there were many miscellaneous things, and the procedure was complicated.

Ink Painting watched, somewhat dazed, and at the same time sighed in his heart. In the hundred industries of cultivation, each was different. Old Gray Two and his group could make a living from this,

They truly had some family learning and ability.

No wonder those four black-robed cultivators would find Old Gray Two and these few people to rob tombs and open coffins.

Ink Painting noted all of Old Gray Two’s methods, one by one, in his heart.

Although he still couldn’t understand them now, it was always right to note them down first.

Having many skills was never a burden.

Later, if he could obtain related tomb burial inheritances and study more, it seemed not bad to occasionally go down into tombs, dig graves, open coffins, and find some treasures.

About half an hour later, Old Gray Two had everything properly arranged.

Some subsequent miscellaneous tasks were done by Stone and Rat.

Old Gray Two then came to find Ink Painting and instructed: “Little brother, opening the coffin in a while will be quite dangerous. You absolutely must not go down.”

“Mm mm.” Ink Painting nodded repeatedly.

He didn’t need to be told; he also knew it was dangerous.

Dangerous matters should definitely be done by others first.

Seeing that Ink Painting understood the pros and cons, Old Gray Two nodded, turned to leave, but suddenly thought of something again, hesitated for a moment, and asked Ink Painting:

“Little brother, before at the fork in the road, did Rat not make things difficult for you?”

Ink Painting’s divine sense moved, and he suddenly realized in his heart.

Old Gray Two had actually seen everything that happened at the fork in the road. He knew that the one called Rat was chasing him, but he hadn’t explicitly said anything before.

These people were indeed all human spirits.

Since that was the case—

Ink Painting’s thoughts turned slightly, and then his face showed some reluctance, “No—”

Old Gray Two said with a kind face: “It’s alright, you don’t need to be afraid. If anything happened, tell me.”

Ink Painting still had an appearance of wanting to speak but hesitating.

Old Gray Two saw this and had a guess in his heart, then said: “You rest assured, with me here, Rat wouldn’t dare to make things difficult for you.”

Ink Painting then had some confidence, and said with a sigh: “He

…wanted something from me.”

“Wanted something?” Old Gray Two was slightly surprised, “What thing?”

Ink Painting looked towards the distance, seeing that Rat was very far away, then whispered:

“Touch gold talisman—.”

Old Gray Two frowned, silent and not speaking.

Ink Painting’s gaze flashed slightly. From Old Gray Two’s expression, he could probably infer that Old Gray Two also knew that Skin Mister had such a touch gold talisman.

But he might not know exactly what this touch gold talisman meant, otherwise, his expression wouldn’t be so calm.

Even if his expression was calm, there would be some fluctuations in his divine soul,

And fluctuations in the divine souls of general cultivators could not escape Ink Painting’s perception.

Old Gray Two pondered for a moment, looked at Ink Painting, and asked: “Is this touch gold talisman in your hand?”

Ink Painting shook his head.

“You tell me the truth, I won’t blame you.” Old Gray Two said.

Ink Painting still shook his head, “I really don’t know what a touch gold talisman is.”

Old Gray Two frowned, “Not in your hand, why did Rat chase you?”

Ink Painting also had a ‘puzzled’ look, “I don’t know—I don’t even know what a touch gold talisman looks like—.”

“Master Two,” Ink Painting looked a little curious, and again asked in a low voice, “Do you know what this touch gold talisman looks like?”

Old Gray Two was silent for a moment, nodded, “This touch gold talisman is made from the claw of a mountain-piercing異 beast. The tip is transparent like jade, and the rear end is inlaid with gold and engraved with silver, looking ancient and simple—.”

Before Old Gray Two finished speaking, he saw Ink Painting’s face change, seeming startled, then forcibly calmed down, his gaze somewhat flickering.

With this appearance, how could it possibly deceive Old Gray Two’s eyes?

Old Gray Two then said: “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Ink Painting shook his head.

“You tell me.” Old Gray Two’s tone was gentle, but his expression was somewhat solemn.

“I—” Ink Painting hesitated for a long time, then sighed and said, “This touch gold talisman, I seem to have seen it—.”

Old Gray Two’s expression changed slightly, “You really saw it?”

“Mm.” Ink Painting nodded.

“Where?”

“Just—” Ink Painting lowered his voice, “Just on his body—.”

“On his body?” Old Gray Two frowned, “Rat’s body?”

“Mm,” Ink Painting lowered his voice, saying with some disbelief:

“That day, he took Skin Mister’s storage bag from my hand. I saw him, it seemed like a tooth-like thing,

Secretly clutched in his hand.”

“I don’t know what this thing is, and I didn’t dare to say it.”

“L Later, he just insisted that I stole some ‘touch gold talisman’—

“Just—”

Ink Painting’s brows furrowed tighter and tighter, his face full of puzzlement, “This ‘touch gold talisman’ was clearly in his hand, why did he insist that I took it?”

Old Gray Two’s face, however, became increasingly ugly.

Having been in this line of work for so long, how could he not understand?

Rat was the thief crying thief, framing and shifting blame, for the purpose of clearing his own suspicion and taking the touch gold talisman for himself.

He even wanted to kill Ink Painting to silence him.

This way, no one would ever know that the touch gold talisman was in his hand.

It was just that before, at the fork in the road, he took advantage of the scattered crowd to try and silence Ink Painting, but Old Gray Two bumped into him, forcing Rat to temporarily stop, while also threatening Ink Painting to keep silent.

Based on Ink Painting’s few words and his own years of experience in the cultivation world, Old Gray Two quickly reconstructed the cause and effect of this matter in his mind.

Touch gold talisman—

“Is this touch gold talisman really that important? Worth Rat exhausting all thoughts to hide it from me, wanting to swallow it alone—.”

Old Gray Two’s gaze became increasingly cold.

Ink Painting said in a low voice: “Master Two—”

Old Gray Two restrained his thoughts, looked at Ink Painting, and softly comforted: “Rest assured, with me here, he wouldn’t dare to do anything to you.”

Ink Painting let out a long breath, and said gratefully: “Thank you, Master Two.”

Old Gray Two smiled kindly at Ink Painting, then turned and left.

But after only a few steps, the smile on his face disappeared, replaced by gloominess, and his gaze gradually became greedy.

Ink Painting saw the azure-gray evil thought slowly breeding above Old Gray Two’s head, and the corners of his mouth curved into a shallow smile.

Afterwards, the group continued with the preparations for opening the coffin.

After the time it takes for one incense stick to burn, everything was ready.

In the deep pit, in front of the radiant bronze coffin.

Old Gray Two took a mouthful of fresh red chicken blood wine, bolstered his courage, drove away evil, and said in a deep voice: “Open the coffin.”

As the words fell, the surrounding yin energy became even heavier by a few points.

Old Gray Two activated the array, flicked the ink line, dotted his forehead with spirit rice water, and urged the yellow jade blood pattern talismans pressed on the copper coffin.

A layer of light cover vaguely rose, enveloping the group together with the copper coffin.

Above the light cover, there were characters similar to Daoist talismans, lighting up one by one.

These characters seemed like an array yet not an array, a talisman yet not a talisman, like a kind of precept, containing some mysterious power, suppressing the copper coffin.

“Remove the nails!” Old Gray Two said again.

Stone, and two other black-robed big men, as well as the black-robed old man, a total of four people, immediately leaped onto the copper coffin, occupied the four corners, used jade tools to pry open the locks, poured aqua regia, and then used their Golden Core power to forcefully pull out the four coffin nails at the four corners of the copper coffin.

Without the coffin nails, the radiant bronze coffin was unsealed.

The yin energy and death energy inside the coffin then began to seep out.

Everyone present felt uneasy; even Ink Painting, who was far away, felt slightly cold, and a layer of goosebumps rose on his body.

Old Gray Two’s palms were sweating, but he still mustered twelve points of spirit, and said in a deep voice:

“Open!”

Then the four people no longer hesitated and slowly lifted the lid of the copper coffin.

A strong stench of rot instantly came out, and the yin energy spread like cold frost. The entire deep pit seemed to become an ice cellar on the coldest nine days,

Bone-chilling.

Old Gray Two endured the palpitations in his heart, looked inside the coffin, then his pupils widened in shock, speechless.

The other few people looked inside the coffin and also fell silent one after another.

Ink Painting in the distance only felt the yin energy seeping out, and then it suddenly became unusually quiet. Curious in his heart, he then craned his neck to look.

Being far away, he couldn’t see clearly.

So he climbed onto the top of a nearby corridor, overlooked from above, and looked inside the coffin again. With this look, Ink Painting’s expression changed, and he felt a wave of nausea.

Inside the honorable, luxurious copper coffin was buried a pile of corpses.

These corpses were dirty, rotten, with mutilated limbs piled up, like abandoned rotten mud, piled in the outer luxurious radiant bronze coffin.

It was shocking to behold.

So that for a time, the group didn’t know what to say.

Old Gray Two’s face was extremely ugly for a moment. He turned his head, looked at the several black-robed cultivators, and said coldly:

“Gentlemen, is this what you called the great wilderness imperial clan’s tomb burial?”

In sight, there was no treasure inside the tomb burial, only a pile of deformed, rotten corpses.

The several black-robed cultivators had calm expressions but did not speak.

The atmosphere was somewhat strange for a while.

Just at this moment, Ink Painting’s pupils trembled.

He actually felt a trace of…dao sin’s aura from these corpses, from the dense death energy and yin energy.

“Be careful!” Ink Painting shouted.

Before the words fell, the radiant bronze coffin trembled.

Those rotten corpses, deformed limbs, and sludge-like flesh were slightly shaking, then gradually wriggling and twisting, converging towards the middle. The flesh weaved together, finally forming a huge ‘flesh corpse image’.

Along with a terrifying roar, a powerful, twisted aura oscillated outwards.

Everyone’s faces changed because of it.