There is a common saying that humans fear ghosts three parts, and ghosts fear humans seven parts. This world ultimately belongs to the living, and those who have passed away, even if they become ghosts, are just greedy for the red dust of the mortal world.

  A Fa's legs trembled slightly as he asked: "What does this mean, Master Cha?"

  Cha Wenbin said in a serious tone: "Why is it that only the women in your family have gone missing, while the men who caused this trouble haven't been implicated in the slightest? Your family line may not be prosperous, but even if you were to fall, there would still be one son and one daughter left. Although you are crippled, that too is a retribution for the sins of your ancestors."

  "That's the punishment for our family, so it has to be a woman who suffers." Ah Fa himself felt that this explanation was a bit far-fetched. If someone wanted to cause trouble, they would naturally go after the person responsible, why would they go after an unrelated person?

  "It's just a soul-summoning array, after all. When a husband and wife live together, their yin and yang energies harmonize, and over time, their souls also become attuned to each other. This array requires a female soul for cultivation; firstly, females are inherently yin, and secondly, it's almost impossible to lure a woman here. So they use men with spouses instead. Previously, we've seen some male corpses here too - most of them were probably single men without spouses, so they had no utility value and could only die."

  And your ancestors happened to meet the needs of this situation. So, the people who disappeared were all women in the family. In China, there are many evil ways that use the refining of female souls as a means to achieve their cultivation goals. I think it's probably the same here too. If you didn't have that Lingzhu on your body, your wife would have been gone long ago." After hearing this, Ah Fa's lips began to turn white. It turned out that his family had always been wandering around the Ghost Gate, and he himself going there was no big deal, but implicating his family was beyond his tolerance.

  "Please help me, Daoist." As he spoke, Ah Fa knelt down on both knees and grasped the hem of Zha Wenbin's pants.

  Zha Wenbin sighed and said, "You get up first. You've been wearing the Soul-Subduing Bead for years now, and your body has accumulated too much yin energy. It's hard to tell whether you're human or ghost anymore. I won't be able to help you with this; you can only help yourself." He helped A Fa get up and had Chao Zi come over to support him, then continued, "This place is a den of man-eaters anyway. No need for you to say anything; since I've come here, I'll naturally take care of it."

  Everyone's attention began to focus on another coffin, which had never been opened before, and no one knew what was inside.

  The coffin was painted with a thick layer of black lacquer, and a thick layer of dust had settled on it. It was two meters five long, with a wide head and narrow tail, belonging to the more traditional type of coffin. The specific material of the coffin could not be seen, but a faint scent of incense wafted out, which covered up the foul smell in the cave caused by the fermentation of bat dung, making people feel dizzy and disoriented. This scent was noticeable as soon as they entered.

  "Wow, this is no ordinary rich guy. The coffin is made of agarwood, and it's so massive! Not even a city would be enough to exchange for it. We usually deal with small items, like that agarwood Buddha statue we sold last time, which was only 20cm tall but fetched a sky-high price. If we can get our hands on the wood from this coffin, Wenbin, we'll be set for life!"

  Looking at Chaoran was like discovering a huge treasure, but Zha Wenbin poured a basin of cold water: "This thing, you can't move it, and I can't move it either. I dare say that if you make this wooden board into an agarwood bead and sell it to someone to wear, within three years, the whole family will be extinct."

  Without looking at the slightly greenish expression in Chaozi's eyes, Cha Wenbin continued: "This was originally a pair of yin-yang coffins. The yang coffin was made of golden nanmu wood, but unfortunately it was dismantled by you using the Soul-Subduing Pearl. You've already broken half of the formation. However, the other coffin is one that you can't break open, because it's a yin coffin. If you were to open it, who knows what you might find inside - perhaps even yourself."

  He continued: "The two coffins of yin and yang are placed here, you see, the original placement of these two coffins, one is east-west direction, the other is south-north direction. In the study of the mysterious, there is a name for this, called yin-yang giving birth to four images. These two coffins, one yin and one yang, in the four directions of east, south, west, and north, intersecting and overlapping, exactly pointing to the four positions of yin-yang changes. Lesser Yang belongs to the East, symbolized by the Green Dragon, with a wood nature; Greater Yang belongs to the South, symbolized by the Vermilion Bird, with a fire nature; Lesser Yin belongs to the West, symbolized by the White Tiger, with a metal nature; Greater Yin belongs to the North, symbolized by the Black Turtle, with a water nature.

  The originally intact yang coffin was broken, and the four symbols also lost Zhuque and Xuanwu. Now only Qinglong and Baihu are left.

  "This place was originally dark and cold, exactly where the yin energy is more concentrated. To break that coffin of yin, a living person cannot get close. Originally, I had already summoned a female ghost from here, but it was disrupted by someone, and trying to summon again might be a bit difficult."

  "What should we do then?" Ah Fa asked somewhat nervously.

  "There is a way, but it will take some time. I need to get out quickly, or else your wife might be in trouble." Zhang Wenbin told Ah Fa everything about how he got in. After listening, Ah Fa only said one sentence: "It's all self-inflicted, Mr. Zhang. Whatever you say, I'll do."

  "You have that bead on you, which is a gathering of yin energy. I'll speak plainly to you. If you continue living normally, you won't last half a year and will die suddenly because this bead has absorbed too much yang energy from you. Originally, reciting the Tao Te Ching daily could ward it off for a while, but unfortunately, it's already too late for you. Among all of us here, you're the closest to being in a coffin state. I need you to open the coffin with your bare hands, and after opening it, you must close your eyes, hold your breath, and help me hang this thing above the coffin. There is a corpse inside, and you must aim for its eyes."

  A Fa took the mirror and only felt a slight suffocation in his heart, turned around to leave, but still couldn't help asking: "Will I not be able to come back once I leave?"

  "Can return, but there is only one month of life left. After that, listen to my command."

  A Fa didn't say anything else and went over with the mirror, shaking it back and forth. The way to open coffins is all the same, find the hinge, then use a crowbar.

  "With a creak, the coffin cracked open its first gap. Ah Fa held his breath, then with one swift motion, he lifted the lid and threw it to the ground. A fragrance instantly filled the cave."

  "Close your eyes!" Zhang Wenbin shouted loudly, "No matter what your body senses, don't pay attention to it, just do as I say."

  A Fa quickly closed his eyes, and according to Wen Bin's previous instructions, he took out the mirror from his pocket and carefully hung it at the head of the coffin, following his previous memory.

  The mirror has been hung, and Zha Wenbin shouted again: "Bite your middle finger hard, bite it hard, it's okay to bleed, drip all the blood in, I won't stop until you stop."

  A Fa stuffed his finger into his mouth, took a fierce bite, and the person in pain was trembling all over. A bloody finger pointed towards the coffin, and fresh blood began to drip into the coffin with a "drip-drip" sound.

  "This little guy's mouth is quite ruthless, I'm afraid he almost bit off his own fingers."

  "Cut the crap."

  A burst of "squeaky" cries began to emerge from the moment the first drop of blood entered, and the sound made people's scalp feel numb, as if it were the cry of a mouse.

  A Fa's face had already started to turn a deep purple color, which was caused by the prolonged lack of oxygen from holding his breath. Cha Wenbin saw that the time was almost up and shouted loudly: "Stick your fingers directly into its mouth, quickly, I'm coming right away!"

  He suddenly reached into the coffin and felt a cold face, he could feel the skin shrinking due to rapid loss of moisture. After locating the mouth, his fingers jabbed inward, causing him immense pain, he let out a loud cry: "Ah!"

  A pair of bony hands in the coffin suddenly stretched upwards, heading straight for Ah Fa's throat.

  Before he could finish speaking, Wen Bin had already rushed over on horseback...

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