CHAPTER 916: CHAPTER 465

At dusk, the sky gradually darkened, and the sunlight was soft and not particularly strong.

The "corpse" lying in the coffin showed no signs of movement and did not spontaneously combust when exposed to sunlight like in the movies.

Yet, despite this, it exuded a disturbing, mysterious aura.

This coffin was entirely pitch-black, heavy, and archaic.

Both the interior and exterior walls of the coffin were engraved with intricate patterns,

upon closer inspection one would find that these patterns were actually tiny spells, the script ancient, twisted, and intertwined.

A few dark red traces lingered within the lines, like an invisible net sealing the contents of the coffin.

The deceased Family Head of the Chen Family, Chen Hongye, lay quietly in this coffin.

He was a man with a lean face and deep features.

His head full of white hair mixed with numerous black strands, shining with a bright gloss as if they had just grown from his scalp.

The wrinkles on his face were pitifully few, with only a few brown spots scattered on both sides of his cheekbones, indistinguishable from liver spots or age spots.

His skin appeared unnaturally rosy, starkly contrasting with a corpse that had not seen daylight for years.

It seemed as though Chen Hongye was merely asleep in his coffin.

To him, time was like an hourglass moving in reverse.

Most shocking of all were his hands, lying at his sides, with sharp, long nails glinting with a blue-black cold light.

The lively appearance suggested that, at any moment, his fingertips might curl up and grab the Chen Family servant standing nearby.

From outward appearance alone, Chen Hongye indeed looked far younger than the age recorded in the files, not like a man in his seventies.

Fang Cheng gazed at the corpse in the coffin, red light flickering in the depths of his pupils.

In the special perspective of the "Scavenger’s Eye," he did not capture any anomalies worth investigating.

But he could clearly feel an indescribable foulness emanating from this shell.

It mixed the decaying scent of a long-dead body with a bit of an uncharacteristic liveliness.

The two scents intertwined in an inexplicable eeriness.

Relying on his extraordinary perception with a Spirit Attribute of 70, Fang Cheng probed repeatedly.

He could never find even the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Energy within this "corpse."

There was neither the cold presence of an Evil Spirit nor the faint consciousness left by lingering souls.

Its interior was empty, appearing exceptionally "clean."

As if it were a hollow shell, or a black hole capable of devouring all Spiritual Energy.

However.

The shell itself presented obvious anomalies. The vitality suggested by the skin and muscles was visible even to an ordinary person’s naked eye.

This abnormal feeling made Fang Cheng frown slightly.

Could it be that the Evil Spirit had not fully possessed this shell?

Or had it long detected its tracks exposed and chosen to temporarily depart, hiding in advance?

Fang Cheng’s brows tightened once more.

Neither of these outcomes was what he expected.

After all, his true goal was to catch the Evil Spirit on the spot and force out the whereabouts of his uncle, or gain some valuable clues.

As thoughts spun rapidly in his mind, Fang Cheng turned his head to look at Pan Wendi, who was also staring at the coffin:

"Is this the corpse with no living aura you mentioned before?"

Pan Wendi showed a slightly embarrassed smile and, lowering his voice, explained:

"Brother, I truly didn’t feel the old man breathing back then."

"The basement was pitch-black at the time, so dark I could not see my fingers, you couldn’t expect me to open the coffin and perform an autopsy, reach in to feel, right?"

"Damn, that would have been too scary!"

Saying this, he seemed to have already visualized the scene in his vivid imagination, couldn’t help but rub his arms, getting goosebumps all over.

Bai Ling, listening on the side, chuckled and covered her mouth:

"Wendi, I think you’re pretty brave, why is your courage as small as mine?"

Lin Chuqiao showed an expression of helplessness, offering an explanation:

"My cousin just awakened his abilities recently; his spiritual perception is slightly weak and is deceived by the outward appearances of vitality and death, which is quite normal."

Fang Cheng laughed and shook his head, not delving deeper into the matter.

Beside them, the Chen Family servants were busy preparing offerings and incense candles for the Dharma Platform.

Not far away, monks were holding Magic Artifacts, chanting preparatory scriptures in low voices, and verifying the ritual procedures.

The preparations for the ritual continued to progress orderly.

The solemn atmosphere on site was slightly eased by the lighthearted banter of several people.

As they spoke, a clamor arose from the direction of the mansion.

Hearing this, Fang Cheng immediately turned his head to look.

He saw a large group of people hurriedly making their way toward the ritual site.

Leading at the front was the butler, Li Tiansheng, followed by more than a dozen people, male and female, apparently all members of the Chen Family.

Most of these family members were elderly, dressed in traditional attire, and at this moment each wore a grim expression, radiating anger as if they had witnessed something outrageous.

"Xu’an! What exactly do you intend to do?!"

An elderly man, with white hair and beard and a slender figure, strode forward, sternly questioning while pointing at the opened coffin in the center of the ground.

This person was none other than the highest-ranking elder in the Chen Family, Chen Dehai.

"To think you’d take Grandfather’s coffin out to expose it, even intending to burn it? This is outrageous, a desecration of our ancestors!"

Chen Dehai, furious, hurled his accusations at Chen Xu’an like a rapid-fire cannon.

"Indeed, Xu’an, stop at once! If we incite the ancestors’ spirits, the Chen Family will face retribution!"

"That’s your own grandfather’s remains, how can you commit such an unfilial act?"