Chapter 220: Spirit Guarding (2)
Cui Xiaocan's husband, Zeng You, was momentarily stunned before hurrying to his feet and rushing over.
By this time it was nearly midnight, and the outside temperature had indeed dropped sharply. The child had been squatting next to the door of the Funeral Hall, shivering silently.
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Zeng You approached the child and crouched down next to him, "Kid, why are you here alone? Where are your parents?"
To be honest, in this environment, suddenly seeing a naked child appear, it was impossible not to feel a flutter of panic.
If it weren't for the fact that the child in front of him was shivering from the cold, Zeng You would have thought him a strangeness.
The child was none other than Yan Junze, who had been counter-projected into the Butterfly Effect Stabilization; the body he had been projected into was that of the slightly larger strange baby.
Zeng You took off his own coat, draped it over him, and then said, "You come inside first, I'll notify the funeral home's office, and they will find your parents very soon."
Cui Xiaocan, holding Yuanyuan, had already walked over, Yuanyuan's eyes wide with curiosity as she stared at Yan Junze.
After listening to Zeng You's words, Yan Junze nodded, then stood up with difficulty and followed them into the hall of the Funeral Hall, sitting down on a chair against the wall.
Cui Xiaocan had planned to stay here for Spirit Guarding, so she had intentionally brought a slightly thicker coat from home, and now she took it out and draped it over Yan Junze's legs.
"What's going on?"
Cui Zhiyong and Sun Guodong from the other side of the hall came over, one after the other.
"The kid was just squatting at the door, shivering from the cold; didn't see his parents anywhere," Cui Xiaocan said a few words before reaching out to touch Yan Junze's arm. Although it was a bit icy, there was still warmth coming from it, which slightly eased her worries.
Sun Guodong glanced at Cui Zhiyong and whispered, "Could it be... those things?"
In this era, especially in a place like a funeral home, such a situation would naturally make them think of strangenesses.
Cui Zhiyong reached out to touch Yan Junze's forehead, shaking his head, "No, he's warm."
Then he lowered his head and asked Yan Junze, "Kid, how did you get here? Where are your mom and dad?"
"I asked him just now," Zeng You said. "He seems unable to speak; there was no reaction to my questions."
As he spoke, Zeng You headed outside, calling out as he went, "I'm going to the funeral home office."
Sun Guodong hesitated for a moment, then hurried after him, lowering his voice, "Next to the funeral home office is the Exorcist's resident office. If possible, it's best to call them together."
Zeng You paused, looked back in the direction of Yan Junze, and nodded.
He hadn't been gone long when Cui Xiaocan stood up and said, "Brother, watch the kid for me, I'm going to the restroom."
"Auntie, I want to go too," Yuanyuan said.
The two left the hall together.
The restroom was conveniently located next to the hall of the Funeral Hall. Since it was within the funeral home, the lights inside were always on during the day, so it was still well-lit at night.
At this time, Cui Zhiyong asked Yan Junze a few more questions, to which Yan Junze did not respond.
Sun Guodong said, "Maybe it's just like what Zeng You said; the child may have communication barriers."
Cui Zhiyong sat by, watching the child, while Sun Guodong turned his back to the hall, also watching Yan Junze.
Neither of them noticed the noise in the hall at this moment.
Just as they were talking, the ice coffin placed in the middle of the hall towards the inside quietly opened its lid without making a sound, and only a large amount of cooling gas from inside spilled out, filled with an indescribable strange smell.
Neither of them saw that the coffin lid was slowly opening, and with Sun Guodong being closer to the direction of the ice coffin, the smell from the body and the coffin became stronger as the cooling gas escaped, causing him to suddenly frown and sniff, turning around.
What he saw in front of him was like a scene from a dream: the coffin lid, akin to a cabinet door, was not only open, but a terrifyingly pale hand had stretched out from the inside to the edge of the coffin. Pressing down on the edge, the shadows of a shroud could be seen fluttering.
Apparently, the person inside the coffin was crawling out.
Because Sun Guodong was positioned in the same direction that the coffin lid had opened, most of his view was blocked by the lid. To see the full scene, he would have to move forwards a bit and walk around the edge of the lid.
But he no longer had the courage, his face white as a sheet, eyes fixed in horror at the scene before him.
After a moment, Sun Guodong came to his senses and reached out to touch Cui Zhiyong, who was looking down.
"Bro... Brother, your wife... she's... she's getting up."
Cui Zhiyong initially didn't understand but after about two seconds, he stiffened, stood up, looked over, and with a gasp, he trembled all over, frozen in place.
Although the view was mostly obscured by the opened coffin lid, from their angle, they could still see that the shroud originally worn by Ren Susu was moving and then completely vanished.
Then, the back of a head with a hair band came into stillness behind the coffin lid, clearly indicating that the person from inside the coffin had stood up, but was facing away from them.
Cui Zhiyong and Sun Guodong stood there motionless, covered in cold sweat, their hands and feet chilled, feeling as though even breathing became difficult.
Yan Junze simply stared silently at the direction in which the coffin lid was opening. He wasn't tall enough to see the body which was completely blocked by the coffin lid.
However, he also remembered the Atlas's warning not to interact with these people, so up to now, he stayed like a dummy, without any interaction with them.
It wasn't until the coffin lid opened that Yan Junze realized that Cheng Jingting's soul might have emerged.
It was indeed Possessing a Corpse to Resurrect!
After the third Butterfly Effect had stabilized, this guy became wary of his teacher Yan Long, or perhaps became very irrational due to the loss of his soul, so he didn't rely on Yan Long's means to accomplish Resurrection.
It now seemed that he subconsciously wanted to accomplish it himself.
At this time, Yan Junze remembered the words Cheng Jingting said in his last moments before death, "Spirit Guarding, Spirit Guarding, ferry me into spirit, spirit returns at the beginning, those who killed me shall die."
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Initially, he didn't know what those words meant, but now it seemed they were part of some sinister spell Cheng Jingting was using for resurrecting by possessing a corpse after his death.
Moreover, if this fourth Butterfly Effect was allowed to continue unchecked, it would pose a mortal threat to Yan Junze. That meant that if not stopped, Cheng Jingting would definitely have succeeded later on.
So this time, Yan Junze couldn't afford to be careless.
The entire Funeral Hall was eerily quiet at this moment. After the ice coffin was opened, the already spacious hall seemed to have been filled with even more chilling air, making one's heart turn cold.
Most importantly, this chilly air was intermingled with a strange odor emanating from the ice coffin, which was very uncomfortable after taking a whiff.
Cui Zhiyong and Sun Guodong both remained motionless, simply standing there stiffly.
In Yan Junze's view, these two were completely petrified with fear. It was already good that they hadn't fainted, and surely no one would dare to go over to take a look.
About two to three minutes later, the corpse, which was mostly obscured by the coffin lid, suddenly moved, slowly turning its body and stepping out from the cover of the lid toward the direction of the offering table.
"It moved!" Sun Guodong's voice trembled from his throat, his body then starting to shake violently.
Cui Zhiyong was also abruptly startled, his gaze following the moving hairband intently. Soon, the entire side of his wife's body appeared, rigidly walking out from behind the hindrance of the coffin lid and coming to a stop next to the offering table at the end of the ice coffin.
Ren Susu was slender and had delicate features. Now, donning funeral attire with her eyes shut, she moved.
The atmosphere within the Funeral Hall seemed to instantly plummet to freezing point. Neither Cui Zhiyong nor Sun Guodong had any more capacity to pay Yan Junze any mind, staring wide-eyed and terrified at Ren Susu, who moved with her eyes closed, not daring to make a sound.
Ren Susu looked perfectly fitted in her funeral clothes; with the hairband adorned with floral patterns, she resembled someone from ancient times, giving off a very unreal sensation.
She stopped next to the offering table, and after a few seconds, reached out with her stiff, un-bendable hand and grasped the candle closest to her on the right.
These candles were white, long, and thick. The flames they bore were also quite large—one could burn for about 40 minutes.
After grabbing the candle, Ren Susu pulled on it and then withdrew her hand.
Due to the extended period in the ice coffin, her limbs were so stiff that she couldn't manage to put the candle into her mouth.
So after a brief pause, Ren Susu leaned in closer, her body making crackling noises, finally bringing herself near enough to the candle before opening her mouth wide and biting down.
The candle was still burning. The wax near the flame had melted, and her bite extinguished the flame instantly, a gush of the melted wax flowing into Ren Susu's mouth. Some also dribbled down her lips to her chin, solidifying swiftly.
This sight utterly stunned Cui Zhiyong and Sun Guodong, causing them to tremble violently.
But Ren Susu didn't stop; she continued to devour the candle ravenously, as if a person starved for days had finally found food.
Yan Junze watched this scene and realized the truth.
Cheng Jingting was no ordinary man; as a Spirit Cultivator, he surely knew what was most needed after resurrecting through corpse possession and before achieving stabilization.
Now it seemed that what was needed was to consume some ceremonial candles to stabilize the current state.
Quickly consuming the first candle, the woman moved on to the one in the middle, repeating the process before the eyes of the three men, voraciously eating the second candle.
Now her chin was completely smeared with candle wax, covered with a thin layer of wax that had solidified.
She then turned and began her stiff walk towards the entrance of the Funeral Hall.
Seeing her about to leave, Cui Zhiyong, who hadn't dared to take any actions, began to panic. Although he didn't understand why his wife's corpse was "reviving," this departure was clearly beyond his expectations.
His lips quivered, and a hoarse sound emerged from his throat as Cui Zhiyong was about to call out his wife's name.
Sun Guodong, already aware that something was off, preempted him, pressing his voice low and sternly said, "Don't shout. Your sister-in-law... she's no longer human. Don't be foolish!"
The words had barely left his lips, uttered quietly as they were, but the rigidly walking Ren Susu still came to a halt.
With her eyes closed, she turned her body toward the direction of the voice. Her pallid face was fully exposed to everyone's view.
Most disturbingly, her mouth was smudged with red wax, resembling dry blood.
It wasn't clear who she was "watching," but after a frozen moment, she turned and continued her walk out of the Funeral Hall.
This time, neither Sun Guodong nor Cui Zhiyong spoke again. Once Ren Susu's corpse had completely left, they carefully made their way over to take a look.
Right then, the lid of the opened ice coffin slammed shut with a loud bang that resonated in the quiet night, causing both of them to shudder violently, Cui Zhiyong even jumping in fright.
They quickly turned to look.
Seizing the moment, Yan Junze left his chair and quickened his pace as he ran out of the Funeral Hall.
The upper garment he was wearing could cover his entire body if he zipped it up.
Once outside the Funeral Hall, he glanced left and right. Eerily, Ren Susu, who had just left through the main door, was nowhere to be seen.
At the same time.
Outside the bathroom stall, Cui Xiaocan said to Cui Yuanyuan, "Are you done yet? Hurry up, dad is waiting for us."
From inside came Cui Yuanyuan's voice, "I'm ready, I can do it myself."
After that remark, there was the rustling sound of clothes being adjusted.
Cui Xiaocan pushed open the stall door, which hadn't been locked, and said, "Let me help you tidy up, you never fasten your clothes properly."
The truth was, she wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible.
To be honest, using the bathroom in a funeral home made almost everyone's hair stand on end, unless it was crowded.
And at this moment, nearly midnight with just the two of them, feeling nervous and scared was inevitable.
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