Chapter 400: Seventy-Seven Jade Coffins

Zhang Xiaohua climbed onto the roof, bent down, pressed his ear against the tiles, and listened intently. He heard a respectful voice from within the main hall say: “Order Master, to be so highly regarded by you, and to be allowed to see such a confidential matter—this humble one is truly grateful beyond words.”

Another slightly aged voice responded: “Banner Leader Gao, you were able to gather the required number of girls within the designated time. This alone is a great accomplishment. Not to mention, you should be rewarded, but just from the perspective of this task, it was originally meant as a test for several of the Banner Leaders. We all have important matters to attend to and cannot stay here long-term. This manor is the foundation of our Roaring Heaven Order. If there isn’t someone truly reliable to oversee it, we would not be at ease.”

Banner Leader Gao’s voice trembled slightly as he said, “Could it be… Order Master… This, my abilities are shallow. I fear I may lack the strength to live up to your expectations.”

The Order Master said: “It’s no matter, Banner Leader Gao. Oh, I should address you in advance as Steward Gao. Our intention is to establish a council of stewards above the current stewards, to select several more to jointly manage the affairs within the Order. What do you think?”

Banner Leader Gao was somewhat disappointed, yet also a bit excited, and said: “It should be so. Thank you, Order Master, for your promotion and care.”

After that, the two exchanged endless pleasantries—one flattering, the other accepting—talking on and on about trivial matters. As night had fully fallen, Zhang Xiaohua was quite helpless. He was just about to flip off the roof to find someone or two to capture and interrogate for details, when he heard Banner Leader Gao in the hall say again: “Order Master, you truly possess great talent and vision. If you hadn’t shown me, I would never have imagined, not even in my dreams, that beneath this seemingly ordinary main hall of just a few zhang, there would be such a vast underground chamber.”

The Order Master chuckled softly and said: “Steward Gao, you flatter me. The matter of the underground chamber is not our accomplishment. It existed long before we took over this manor.”

Steward Gao seemed a bit embarrassed and forced a laugh: “Even so, it is due to your great fortune, Order Master. Otherwise, such a good thing would never have come to us.”

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred. He thought to himself: “These two have spoken so much nonsense. I don’t know how much cold wind I’ve endured on this rooftop, but only this sentence is truly useful. I just wonder, is the entrance to this underground hall really within the main hall?”

Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but let out a silent laugh. Did he even need to look for the entrance now?

Immediately after, Zhang Xiaohua flipped over and landed lightly, as if he were the wind itself, without drawing the slightest attention from the Order Master inside the main hall. Before his body even touched the ground, Zhang Xiaohua had already formed a hand seal, and the moment he landed, he instantly burrowed into the earth. At that moment, far off in the distance, a man carrying a tray was rubbing his eyes vigorously and asked the person beside him: “Brother, did you just see a shadow drop down from above the main hall? How did it disappear the moment it touched the ground?”

The person next to him chuckled and said: “Seventh Brother, could it be you’ve been cooped up for so long you’re going crazy? Who could vanish into thin air upon landing? Even if someone’s lightness skill was supreme, there would still be a shadow left behind, right?”

“I’m serious, I really saw it just now, I’m sure of it.”

“Forget it, Seventh Brother. It’s so dark out, how could you see anything? It must have been an illusion.”

“No, I saw it just now by the light from the main hall. How could it be an illusion?”

“Well then, Seventh Brother, why don’t you go into the main hall now and report your merit to the Deputy Order Master Dan? What do you think?”

“Uh… better not. Maybe I really did see it wrong?”

As they spoke, the group walked off, but Seventh Brother kept glancing back, truly unable to believe his eyes had deceived him.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaohua had no idea he’d been seen by anyone. He was currently using the Earth Escape technique, feeling quite pleased as he moved downward. Sure enough, after a short while, his eyes suddenly brightened. Beneath the main hall, there was actually a spacious chamber several times larger than the hall above ground. And within this space, there were countless jade coffins!

“What… why are there so many coffins here? And they’re made of jade!”

Zhang Xiaohua was utterly puzzled.

These jade coffins were arranged in a most mysterious pattern, scattered across the ground, and right in the center was placed a verdant grass meditation mat.

Looking at how these coffins were arranged around the meditation mat at the center, Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred—this seemed to be some kind of formation. If each coffin were replaced by a talisman, it would be an extremely peculiar formation.

Zhang Xiaohua didn’t dare use his divine sense, so he only observed with his eyes, carefully counting. There were actually seventy-seven jade coffins in total. Most of the coffins had their lids open, but near the center, a few remained tightly closed.

Zhang Xiaohua stroked his chin and pondered: “Could these coffins be used to hold the girls? Could it be that the Order Master is using this formation to harvest the girls’ vital yin?”

“But that doesn’t seem likely. In Elder Fire Dragon’s jade slip, there wasn’t any mention of a formation that could harvest a girl’s vital yin.”

Still, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t dwell on it further. The most important thing was to see if Little Orange was here.

Sure enough, starting from the outer ring, inside each open coffin lay a girl, in different clothes, different styles, but all under twenty years old. Some even looked just a few years old. Among them, the little girl Zhang Xiaohua had rescued in Lu Town, was also present.

When Zhang Xiaohua reached the center, he indeed saw Little Orange lying quietly in one of the coffins. Her face was a bit pale, but her expression was peaceful and her breathing long and steady, as if in a deep sleep.

Standing before Little Orange’s coffin, Zhang Xiaohua finally felt relieved. As long as he could find Little Orange, and seeing that she didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, he could give an account to Nie Qianyu, who was anxiously waiting in Pingyang City.

But what exactly was Little Orange’s condition now?

Zhang Xiaohua himself was unsure.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Xiaohua carefully examined the jade coffin containing Little Orange. The quality of the jade was excellent, with a greenish tint shining through the white stone. The surface was engraved with many mysterious patterns, and even the lid, set aside, was covered in complex designs. Zhang Xiaohua understood—this coffin was actually a massive talisman. The ones he used or made in daily life were just small jade pieces, but this formation used these enormous jade coffins as its components.

Suddenly, a light flashed in Zhang Xiaohua’s mind, and he suddenly understood. This formation was not one that harvested vital yin at all. In the jade slip of True Person Fire Dragon, there was mention of a particularly evil kind of formation—one that used a person’s essence or life force as the foundation for its talismanic array. The purpose of such formations was not attack or defense, but rather to employ a heaven-defying method to grant the caster extraordinary benefits, such as extending lifespan or raising one’s cultivation realm.

It seemed that the Order Master above must also have knowledge of some immortal Dao formations. That was why he had sought out seventy-seven girls born on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, using the lives of these seventy-seven innocent girls to achieve his heaven-defying goal.

In that instant, a cold gleam flashed in Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes, and he had already made up his mind.

“What is chivalry? To draw one’s sword in aid when witnessing injustice—that is chivalry. Now that I have seen such disregard for human life, how can I stand by and do nothing? Merely saving Little Orange would be a matter of personal duty, but only by killing that Order Master, rescuing these dozens of girls, and destroying the root of this formation can I truly be called chivalrous.”

“Moreover, I don’t have many jade pieces left on me. Last time, I used them all up making jade talismans for my mother, father, and the others. If I don’t take advantage of this top-quality jade material delivered right to my door, wouldn’t I be a fool? Better to let someone else be the fool.”

However, Zhang Xiaohua immediately ran into a problem. The seventy-seven jade coffins were spread throughout the entire hall, and there was no way the space in his money pouch could hold them all. Besides, weren’t there still girls lying inside the coffins? He couldn’t just leave them on the ground, could he?

Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes turned, and he quickly had an idea. He couldn’t take the coffins, but he could take the coffin lids, right? There was plenty of space left in his money pouch, and the lids wouldn’t take up much room. They were perfect for collecting as loot. Besides, if he only used a bit of his divine sense, the Order Master with the bronze mask above probably wouldn’t notice.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Xiaohua took out his money pouch from his chest and put away the lid of the coffin next to Little Orange. After that, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t hold back—along the way, by the time he reached the verdant meditation mat in the center, he had already collected all seventy-seven jade coffin lids into his money pouch. Using his divine sense to sense the neatly stacked jade lids inside the pouch, Zhang Xiaohua felt delighted—this trip had definitely not been in vain.

Looking at the verdant meditation mat before him, Zhang Xiaohua casually swept it with his divine sense and couldn’t help but exclaim softly: “What is this? There’s actually a faint fluctuation of Yuan Qi coming from the mat. Could it be woven from medicinal herbs? Heh, whatever it is, as long as it’s a good thing, this young master won’t let it slip by.”

With that thought, Zhang Xiaohua put the meditation mat into his money pouch as well.

Sigh, better to take something by mistake than to leave a treasure behind—this was always Zhang Xiaohua’s style!

Seeing that there was still some space left in the money pouch, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but hatch another plan. The formation in this hall was clearly evil—how could he let it continue to exist in the world? He didn’t know if simply taking the coffin lids would be enough to destroy it. If the formation could still operate, wouldn’t all his efforts be for nothing?

However, he couldn’t bear to smash all that fine jade. It would be much better to take a few of the empty jade coffins that didn’t contain anyone. Later, he could cut them into jade slips for his own use—wouldn’t that be wonderful? Killing two birds with one stone!

With this perfect reasoning, Zhang Xiaohua proceeded to put nearly ten of the remaining empty jade coffins into his money pouch, filling up the space completely.

Finally, Zhang Xiaohua dusted off his hands and walked over to Little Orange, reaching out to pull her out.

At that moment, a startled cry rang out: “You… who are you?”