Chapter 20: Open the Most Ferocious Coffin of Them All!

Zhang Xuan took a deep breath. "Yang represents good fortune; Yin represents misfortune!"

"The divination perfectly matches the seven coffins!"

"It seems this hexagram has already foreseen the secrets."

Zhou Zeyu narrowed his eyes and stared at the screen. "Yang is good fortune, and Yin is misfortune!"

"The seven copper coins correspond to the seven coffins respectively!"

"As long as we look at the fortune indicated by each coin, we can find the genuine coffin, right?"

Zhang Xuan nodded. "Exactly!"

Hearing this, Zhou Zeyu's tone immediately filled with a hint of joy. "That makes things much simpler!"

"Huh?"

"Why are all six copper coins showing patterns?"

"Could they all be the Yin side?"

Zhang Xuan nodded. "That's right!"

"The side with characters is Yang, and the side with patterns is Yin!"

"The coffins corresponding to the coins with patterns facing upward are the ominous coffins!"

Inside the ancient tomb!

After a brief moment of surprise, Zhou Zeyu suddenly looked overjoyed!

He shone his flashlight toward the seven coffins and gestured around them. "According to the hexagram, these six coffins are all ominous!"

"That means the last one must be the real one!"

Upon hearing this, the other three immediately grew excited as well.

"Let's go!"

"Go take a look!"

The camera shook.

An ancient wooden coffin, remarkably well-preserved and dark red all over, appeared in the frame.

Unlike the other six coffins,

this wooden coffin showed no signs of decay whatsoever.

The white light from the flashlight reflected off its surface, giving it a polished, ink-like luster.

Third Uncle’s excited voice also came through from the other end. "It's so humid here, and all the other coffins have rotted away, yet this one shows no signs of decay at all."

"If I'm not mistaken, this coffin must have been soaked in pine resin before it was made!"

"Once sealed with lacquer, the outer casket is not only impervious to water and fire, but it can also keep out snakes, insects, rats, and ants."

"Now this is a proper coffin for burying the dead!"

"It really must be this one!"

Hearing this, Zhou Cheng excitedly asked, "Brother Xuan!"

"Can we open this coffin directly?"

Just as he finished speaking, he noticed Zhang Xuan frowning, his gaze seemingly locked onto the spinning copper coin.

Zhou Cheng only then realized that the last copper coin was still spinning, though he didn't understand what it meant.

He just scratched his head. "Why hasn't it stopped yet?"

Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly. "Blessings are not avoided, and misfortunes cannot be outrun!"

With that, he took a deep breath. "Come on!"

"Reach out and touch that last coffin!"

Zhou Cheng: "Huh?"

"Is that really appropriate?"

With a solemn expression, Zhang Xuan said, "The spinning copper coin means the fortune of the last coffin is still undetermined!"

Hearing this, Zhou Cheng became even more confused.

Not just Zhou Cheng, even Zhou Zeyu frowned. "The Seven-Star Coffin formation has one real and six fake coffins. The six ominous coffins have already appeared; how could the last one still have an undetermined fortune?"

Zhang Xuan didn't explain, simply continuing, "Its fortune is undetermined, but the decree of heaven was settled long ago. It's just waiting for a catalyst!"

"Among the four of you, you are down here for the first time, you're the youngest, and your primordial Yang energy is the strongest!"

"Let this catalyst be you!"

Zhou Cheng looked at Zhou Zeyu, only to see the latter nod at him.

The tall, thin man beside them also patted Zhou Cheng on the shoulder and smiled. "Just go touch it since he asked you to."

"Anyway, the real coffin has got to be this one."

Tally also smiled. "Big nephew, later on, we'll let you have a go at opening the coffin too."

Resigned, Zhou Cheng nodded and slowly reached out his hand toward the burial coffin.

Inside the live broadcast room,

Zhang Xuan stared unblinkingly at Zhou Cheng's hand. The moment Zhou Cheng's hand brushed against the wooden coffin, Zhang Xuan immediately shifted his gaze to the still-spinning copper coin!

Sure enough, the copper coin began to slow down.

Zhou Cheng and the others also curiously looked at the phone screen. "Huh?"

The viewers in the livestream widened their eyes in shock!

The spinning of the copper coin was actually connected to the tomb raiders outside the camera touching the coffin!

This was simply incredible!

Although they didn't understand why,

it was clear there was some sort of connection at work!

After slowly spinning around a couple more times, the copper coin didn't fall over; instead, it stood bolt upright on its edge!

Looking as if he had just discovered something extraordinary, Zhang Xuan sharply sucked in a breath. "The ultimate ominous omen!"

At these words, the expressions of the four men changed drastically!

Zhou Zeyu looked utterly shocked. "The ultimate ominous omen?"

"Could it still be fake?"

Zhou Cheng reacted as if he had misheard, saying in disbelief, "Huh?"

"But this is clearly the last one!"

"How could it be an ominous coffin too?"

Not only Zhou Cheng, but the viewers of the livestream were also dumbfounded!

At the very beginning, Zhang Xuan had clearly stated that out of the Seven-Star Coffins, only one was real!

How did it end up with all seven turning out to be ominous?

"..."

"All seven are ominous coffins? Is it really that thrilling?"

"Tomb raider: Guess I'm destined to die here today, huh?"

"Is Brother Xuan's divination really that accurate?"

Inside the ancient tomb!

Tally stared at Zhou Cheng's phone with a peculiar expression. "Wait... none of them are real?"

"Does that mean we're dead for sure?"

Zhou Cheng shook his head, looking thoroughly baffled.

The tall, thin man blinked. "All seven coffins are fake?"

"We shouldn't be that unlucky, right?"

"What do you think, Third Master?"

They all looked at Zhou Zeyu, but he seemed to have fallen into deep contemplation as well.

From his perspective, among the seven coffins, only this one could possibly be real.

Yet for some reason, Zhang Xuan insisted that this coffin was also ominous!

And not just ominous—it was extremely ominous!

Though he was reluctant to put faith in divination, the process of the divination just now had been filled with wondrous and unfathomable omens!

He couldn't afford not to believe it!

Drawing a sharp breath, Zhou Cheng looked deeply depressed. "Brother Xuan... why are all seven coffins..."

Before he could finish,

Zhou Zeyu, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly looked back at the final coffin. "No!"

"This coffin!"

"There is definitely something wrong with it!"

The three of them looked at Zhou Zeyu in astonishment.

"Third Master, why are you saying that too?"

"Did you discover something?"

Tally asked, completely perplexed.

Pointing at the coffin, Zhou Zeyu said, "Since the Seven-Star Coffin formation is meant to confuse people,"

"then the features of the real coffin couldn't possibly be as obvious as this last one!"

"Otherwise, it would defeat the purpose!"

"This one looks the most like the real deal."

"Precisely because of that, it is the least likely to be real!"

The tall, thin man exclaimed in surprise, "Third Master makes a lot of sense!"

"The person who designed the Seven-Star Coffins couldn't possibly be that foolish!"

He looked back at the other six coffins, then furrowed his brow again. "But the problem is..."

"If this coffin is fake, the real one should be among the remaining six!"

"But just now, Brother Zhang said those six are all ominous coffins too!"

"Where is the real one then?"

"Did it walk away?"

These words left Zhou Zeyu utterly speechless once again.

He looked at Tally, only to see Tally shaking his head. "Don't look at me, I don't understand a word you guys are saying."

Zhou Cheng also shook his head, indicating he had no clue either.

The tall, thin man was rendered speechless. He dug a stick of dynamite out of his backpack and declared, "In my opinion, we should just blow it up!"

The other three looked at him in shock!

At the same time, Zhang Xuan's voice rang out. "Ahem!"

"Brother, why are you so impulsive?"

"I only said all seven coffins were ominous, I didn't say all seven were fake!"

"Don't go blowing things up at every turn!"

"That's not a good habit!"

The tall, thin man: "..."

Tally scratched his head and looked at the astonished Zhou Cheng. "What does he mean by that?"

"Which one is actually real?"

Zhou Cheng: "..."

"I'm a bit confused myself, but I have a bad feeling about this."

Zhou Zeyu frowned. "If they're all ominous coffins, how can they not be fake?"

Tally chimed in, "Yeah!"

On the screen, Zhang Xuan nodded with a serious expression. "Of course!"

"Ominous is ominous, and fake is fake!"

"Ominous means danger; fake means it doesn't contain the mechanism to help you leave this place!"

"Those are two different things!"

Zhou Cheng turned to the tall, thin man. "Did you understand that?"

The tall, thin man nodded. "I half-understand."

Speechless, he looked at Zhou Zeyu. "What about you, Third Uncle?"

Seeing Zhou Zeyu shake his head, he turned to Tally, only to hear Tally say, "My brain hurts."

Resigned, Zhou Cheng said, "Brother Xuan, they don't understand."

"I don't get it either."

"Can you speak more plainly?"

Zhang Xuan: "OK!"

"Then let me break it down simply for you!"

"When the ancient tomb was first built, these seven coffins were indeed arranged just as you imagined: one real, six fake!"

"The real one would contain the tomb owner's corpse or the mechanism to leave this place!"

"The other six would be rigged with lethal traps!"

"But don't forget, this is a Warring States tomb from over two thousand years ago!"

"What does two thousand years mean?"

"Wood can rot into dust, and metal can rust into iron flakes!"

"Cargos shift into mulberry fields, and the stars revolve!"

"Two thousand years is enough time to change many things!"

"Including these Seven-Star Coffins!"

As if a sudden realization hit him, Zhou Zeyu said in deep shock, "You mean the real coffin has turned into an ominous coffin?"

With these words,

Zhou Cheng and the tall, thin man also understood in an instant.

Both of them drew in sharp breaths!

After all that!

It wasn't that the real coffin was gone; it was just that the real coffin had undergone an ominous transformation!

Even Tally, who had been dazed the entire time, widened his eyes. "We're in deep trouble now!"

Inside the livestream,

the viewers watching the broadcast also flooded the chat with astonished barrage messages.

"Brother Xuan is a true badass. I dare say even the experts and professors from the archaeology academy couldn't figure out the secret of the Seven-Star Coffins in such a short time!"

"Seriously gotta give a thumbs-up to the streamer here. Not only do you need to understand the principle of the Seven-Star Coffins, but you also have to factor in changes over two thousand years. Without enough experience, it's utterly impossible to figure out... but how does young Brother Xuan have so much experience?"

"These tomb raiders are truly doomed. Even with Brother Xuan's help, they're probably going to bite the dust here."

Zhang Xuan blinked. To be honest, when he first saw the prompt for the seventh coffin was 'extreme ominous,' he had been quite surprised.

But upon second thought, he realized the hidden mystery behind it!

And the crucial variable of time!

He sighed. "You guys really are quite unlucky."

"Even if I help you find the real coffin that hides the mechanism to leave this place, unpredictable dangers might still happen!"

Seeing the silence from the other side,

Zhang Xuan could sense the fear in their hearts through the screen.

Even though they were seasoned tomb raiders with nerves of steel,

being trapped for over twenty hours and pushed to the absolute brink, only to face yet another task that could cost them their lives—

anyone would find it unbearable!

"Sigh..."

After a brief silence, Zhang Xuan sighed. "Why don't you guys just surrender?"

"As for how you'll be sentenced later, I can't say for sure, but there should be a way to save your lives!"

"It might be a bit late by then, but hopefully it'll still be in time!"

Zhou Cheng: "..."

"Brother Xuan, stop talking, otherwise Third Uncle is going to blow up the ancient tomb again in a minute!"

"Since they're not saying anything, I'll make the decision this time!"

"Open the coffin!"

Hearing this, Zhang Xuan's eyebrows twitched, and he sat bolt upright. "As you wish!"

Zhou Cheng raised his phone and swept the camera around. "The flashlight battery is running low."

"Brother Xuan, tell us which coffin to open, and we'll open that one!"

"We'll listen to you."

Zhang Xuan narrowed his eyes. "OK!"

"Right, which coffin did you say was the most ominous just now?"

Zhou Cheng shone the light toward the upper-left corner, where the large red coffin came into view. "Brother Xuan, you just said this one was extremely ominous!"

Zhang Xuan nodded. "That's the one!"

"Open this very one!"

Zhou Cheng: "Huh?"