Free Web NovelChapter 1258: Chapter 834: The Unexpected (Part 2)
The owner of the carpenter shop was indeed trustworthy, and delivered the coffin on time as promised.
Pato Abbot first clasped his hands in prayer, performed a Buddhist ritual behind the Buddha Statue, and then took out the ancient book wrapped in human skin from his chest.
According to Pato, he had studied this book for a long time and found some clues.
He warned everyone that later they must seal the ghost coffin as he instructed, and once the sealing ritual was completed, they could destroy the ghost coffin and ghost statue to release the "Painted Woman" imprisoned inside.
Upon hearing this, Yang Xiao and the others were instantly shocked, and Sopa was dumbfounded, thinking Pato Monk had gone crazy, "Release the ghost?! Do you know what you’re saying?"
"I know, the book says so," Pato Monk replied calmly. "As long as we complete the ritual as described, it’ll fall into a deep sleep and if we send it back quickly, nothing will happen."
Though it seemed a bit outrageous, there was no other way now, as none of them could understand the book, and Yang Xiao felt that the monk wouldn’t want to perish together.
After giving instructions, Pato Monk left, casually, without any lingering.
With the temple doors closed and shrouded in darkness, only the five of them remained in the vast Buddhist Hall.
And the imprisoned ghost.
"Everyone, light up the candles you have and spread out around us," Yang Xiao pulled out a candle from his pocket.
"Why don’t we save them? There are candles in front of the Buddha Statue," suggested Adila.
Looking in the direction he pointed, a dozen candles flickered in various sizes in front of the Buddha Statue, but Yang Xiao and the others didn’t accept the suggestion, considering the task was at a crucial stage, doing less was better than more trouble.
Furthermore, the candles they held were white, while the ones in front of the Buddha were red as if mixed with blood.
As each candle was lit, the darkness behind the Buddha Statue was dispelled, and they distributed the candles, trying not to leave any blind spots.
"Let’s get moving," Musa surveyed the surroundings and issued the order after confirming there were no issues. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Yang Xiao had a shoulder injury, Musa had a leg injury, so the task of excavating the ghost coffin from the Buddha Statue was handed over to Adila and Sopa.
The two worked together and quickly dug out the materials previously filled in, carefully moving the ghost statue out of the Buddha Statue.
The ghost statue was cold to the touch and heavier than expected; originally, lifting and placing the ghost statue into the coffin was very difficult, but everything changed when Musa lit thirty minutes incense and blew the incense mist into the ghost statue’s crevice.
In the horrified eyes of everyone, this incense burned at an extremely fast speed, with all the incense mist absorbed into the crevice.
Once the incense completely burned out, Musa immediately signaled, and Adila and Sopa simultaneously exerted force; this time, they easily lifted the statue and smoothly placed it into the coffin, the whole process was seamless.
"Boom."
Only when the coffin lid was smoothly placed on did everyone, holding their breath, finally exhale, with Hafeez’s face turning red from holding his breath.
Then Yang Xiao carefully took out the porcelain bottle from a cloth bag, as they were reaching the crucial moment.
Sopa fetched a copper basin of clean water from beneath the Buddha Statue and placed it next to the coffin, then each of the five present participants lit incense and held it with their lips.
In the upcoming process, speaking was strictly prohibited; using incense was meant to seal the breath of living humanity, to prevent alerting the ghost.
With Musa’s signal, Sopa opened the porcelain bottle, pouring the thick liquid inside into the copper basin filled with water, the next moment, the water in the copper basin visibly turned black, thickening with consistency, this bizarre scene resembling assimilation.
As required, the five needed to paint the coffin with the black lacquer, leaving no space or gaps—once done, if the coffin could be lifted easily, it meant the ritual was successful, and they could proceed to open the coffin and remove the corpse.
The first to start painting the lacquer was Musa, the most experienced among them, and having him set an example couldn’t be better. freёwebnovel.com
While Musa painted, the others turned their backs per instructions to avoid observing.
Musa worked earnestly, grabbing the brush left behind by Pato Monk, and fully dipping it into the black lacquer, painting tricky spots that were hard for the others to notice, leaving easier front and side surfaces for others.
This involved significant risk, but Musa understood that tonight everyone must work together, or they might all fail.
Before the true mission began, they couldn’t afford any losses.
Once a fifth of the incense burned out, Musa stopped, stood up, and looked for the next person to continue.
Next was Adila; after Musa finished the edges, their remaining work was to paint the exposed areas of the coffin.
After Adila, it was Sopa’s turn, followed by Hafeez, and Yang Xiao was chosen last, responsible for wrapping things up, which everyone accepted readily.
Everything went smoothly, until Hafeez began; he was responsible for painting one side of the coffin.
The black side of the coffin was mottled, quite worn but still fairly intact, posing nearly no difficulty.
Hafeez held the incense with his lips, and now it had burned more than halfway.
Squatting on the ground, he carefully painted bit by bit, maintaining a distance from the coffin, as the rules required that during painting, no living human body parts should touch the coffin, lest it trigger unforeseeable consequences.
All started smoothly until he painted more than two-thirds; suddenly his brush met some resistance.
This caught Hafeez’s attention; looking closer, he saw something seemed stuck to the pitch-black coffin board.
Remembering not to grab it with his hands, he turned the brush around, using the tail-end to nudge and dislodge the item.
After several attempts, the object finally loosened, Hafeez quickened his movements, a moment later, it fell to the ground with a "ding" sound.
It was an iron object, partially painted black, but still identifiable as an arrowhead.
"Arrowhead..."
The next moment, Hafeez looked up at the side of the coffin, where the arrowhead had embedded was now exposed; a small patch of off-white mixed with ocher, resembling rotting wood inside the coffin.
Hafeez breathed a sigh of relief—his biggest concern was the coffin being pierced by the arrowhead.
Steadying himself, he dismissed random thoughts, grabbed the brush and dipped more black lacquer, continuing to paint, but soon realized something was amiss; no matter how hard he tried, the yellow-white part of exposed wood wouldn’t turn black.
It started to turn black but reverted to off-white in seconds.
Hafeez grew suspicious; he instinctively picked up a nearby candle, cautiously moved it close to the coffin, and next moment, that off-white flickered, and at this point Hafeez finally realized—it wasn’t the color of rotting wood but an eye stuck inside the coffin, looking and blinking at him!
That damned arrowhead had penetrated the coffin, and the ghost inside the ghost statue was staring at him through the hole!
It’s alive...
The ghost was watching, targeting him!
Startled, Hafeez’s mind went blank; at this moment, his heart and courage shattered. He instinctively opened his mouth, but before he could shout, the incense fell from his lips, breaking into pieces upon hitting the ground.
The next moment, everyone facing away from the coffin shut their eyes felt a chilly gust of wind, and nearby candle flames shuddered intensely; the flames lowered as if about to extinguish in the next moment.
Simultaneously, Hafeez dared not move a muscle, wide-eyed, desperately staring at the coffin before him, his shadow cast upon it.
Behind him, another twisted shadow slowly wriggled, rising to completely engulf and devour his shadow.
