The air froze. Five coffins, four misplaced corpses, and one mysterious box.
A trembling Hao Lan gasped, "Ji En, what have we brought to the lord's manor?!"
"I… I don't know!" Ji En's back was drenched with sweat.
Lin Feng kept his composure. "This place is a trap. Forget the corpses. We must escape!"
But Xiao Wei stared at the sixth coffin. "Perhaps this is no trap at all. Perhaps someone is warning us—that an impostor hides within the manor!"
The coffin shuddered again.
Ji En steeled himself, raising his torch. "Come out, or I burn this place down!"
Only silence.
Then—"Heh."
A chuckle, low and cold, came from behind Ji En. He spun—nothing.
"Who's there?" he cried.
"I moved them only to deliver you something," the unseen voice drifted about, ever-shifting. "It lies within that coffin. Take it."
"What are you? What lies within?" Ji En demanded. No answer came.
The fire spread, dry thatch igniting above. The coffin stilled.
Trusting his instinct that the speaker meant no harm, Ji En plunged through the smoke, flung open the lid—and found no corpse, but a bronze disc the size of his palm, heavy and ancient.
It was carved in three rings, covered with symbols resembling distorted yin-yang and eight trigrams. Both sides bore the same design. Within, faint rattling hinted at hidden mechanisms. The surface was smooth, weathered by untold years.
"What is this?" Ji En called.
No reply—only crackling flames.
Clutching the disc, he fled as the temple collapsed in fire. His donkey brayed, carrying him safely to the path. The others had vanished—likely already on their way to report back.
Ji En waited through the night, swarmed by insects, until at dawn the three returned, relieved. The city had suffered no incident.
"They left without farewell," Hao Lan reported. "Strange." Then, noticing smoke to the east, he frowned. "The temple burned?"
"Accident," Ji En muttered, then pressed, "Did the sisters act strangely before leaving?"
"Not really," Hao Lan replied. "I doubt they were assassins."
But Lin Feng's eyes glinted. "Their target was not the city, but the three Daoists of the Soul-Suppressing Alliance! They must be Tianzhu's Blood-Defying agents."
Ji En shook his head slowly. "If so, why waste time sneaking into the manor? They stayed barely long enough to do anything. I believe their true aim was not the Daoists—but the three of you."
The words struck like lightning. All three paled.