Chapter 005: Opening the Coffin

“What on earth is going on? Xiaowei, can you please stop startling everyone like this? Mr. Zhang’s funeral arrangements were handled by your Uncle Li and me. How could anything be wrong with them?” Uncle Wang shouted at me.

“Uncle Wang, you lied to me!” I turned to him.

“I… What are you talking about? Where did I lie?” Uncle Wang was getting angry now, his voice rising.

It was true, both he and Uncle Li had worked tirelessly these past days, organizing Mr. Zhang’s funeral and taking care of me, the wounded one. I knew all this, and in my heart, I was grateful to him. But the moment I saw the grave, I knew he was lying.

“Didn’t you say Mr. Zhang had passed away?” I asked.

“Yes, I dressed him in his burial clothes, Uncle Li and I sent him to be cremated, and together we prepared the burial. What’s the problem?” Uncle Wang was clearly agitated now.

Hearing his words, I raised my hand and pointed at the grave beside me. “Are you certain he was buried here?”

“Isn’t that obvious? He picked this cemetery himself while he was alive! You know that!” Uncle Wang shot me a look.

“But why is this an empty grave?” I raised my voice.

“Empty… what? What do you mean, empty grave?” Uncle Wang looked stunned.

I exhaled deeply, then softened my tone. “Uncle Wang, there’s no body in this grave. It’s empty.”

“Nonsense, impossible! When Mr. Zhang was buried, so many people were watching. How could it be empty?” Uncle Wang pointed at me, his voice cold.

“Ah…” I sighed, steadying myself before continuing. “Uncle Wang, I studied with Mr. Zhang for over ten years. I know what I’m doing. I can guarantee this is an empty grave. Even if there’s a coffin inside, it’s an empty one.”

“This… this can’t be! Absolutely not! We watched his body get cremated, and we placed the ashes in the coffin ourselves. An empty grave? Impossible!” Uncle Wang shook his head, then spoke with conviction.

Hearing him, I turned again to scrutinize the mound. Over the years, I had learned geomancy and burial rites from Mr. Zhang. I knew both the feng shui of homes and graves. When it came to graves, a few glances were enough for me to tell if the person buried was male or female, old or young—even how they died. These were basic skills for a geomancer.

I trusted my own eyes: this grave was empty.

But seeing Uncle Wang’s reaction, I hesitated. He wouldn’t lie to me about something so easily verified.

I examined the mound repeatedly, grabbing a handful of soil from the top and sniffing it. To be absolutely certain, I plucked a blade of grass growing from the grave and checked its roots.

“Uncle Wang, there’s no mistake. This is an empty grave,” I said after confirming once more.

“This… this can’t be!” Uncle Wang’s confidence was shaken, his tone uncertain.

Judging a grave by the mountain and its vegetation wasn’t advanced—pulling up the grass and observing it was the simplest method.

When I was seven or eight, Mr. Zhang made me memorize: “The geomancer first seeks the corpse, the gender of the grave is not hard to know; male grave’s grass root bears white, female grave’s grass root bears only earth; male root runs straight, female root twists in mud; old death brings stiff grass, young death brings tender shoots…”

So, by Mr. Zhang’s teachings, it wasn’t hard for me to determine this was an empty grave.

I had checked several times, and now I was certain: there was neither body nor ashes inside.

“Xiaowei, look carefully. This is no small matter. Many people witnessed Mr. Zhang’s funeral. There shouldn’t be any mistake,” Uncle Wang said sternly.

“Uncle Wang, trust me—I cannot be wrong,” I replied seriously.

“Then… where did things go wrong? We watched Mr. Zhang’s cremation with our own eyes!” Uncle Wang folded his arms, clearly uneasy and shivering slightly.

Indeed, if everything he said was true, this was truly terrifying.

Mr. Zhang isn’t dead?

The person I met in the hospital—was it his spirit, or Mr. Zhang himself? I hoped so, but it seemed impossible.

If he wasn’t dead, his spirit wouldn’t have come to me to entrust his last wishes.

And his appearance that day was sudden—both arrival and departure. Thinking back, he was in spirit form.

But why was the grave empty? Were the ashes stolen?

That’s absurd—who would steal ashes?

“Open the coffin. Once the lid is lifted, everything will be clear,” I said solemnly to Uncle Wang.

“This…” Uncle Wang’s face grew serious. “Xiaowei, opening a coffin is no small matter. Think carefully.”

Mr. Zhang had no other relatives—I was his only disciple. Though he only allowed me to address him as ‘teacher,’ everyone knew I was his student and adopted son.

So, I had the authority to decide whether to open the coffin for inspection.

But Uncle Wang’s concerns were valid. If, by some special reason, I was mistaken and the remains were indeed inside, opening the coffin would disturb Mr. Zhang’s soul at rest, possibly causing its dissolution.

A person has three souls: the awareness soul, the living soul, and the spirit soul.

After death, the awareness soul attaches to the memorial tablet, the living soul accompanies the body into the grave, and the spirit soul enters the underworld for reincarnation.

Thus, opening the coffin was no trivial matter.

I studied the grave again, pondered for a long time, then gritted my teeth: “I believe I am not mistaken. Open the coffin. If I don’t check, I won’t be at peace.”

Mr. Zhang entrusted his geomancy skills to me. If I couldn’t trust myself in this, his spirit would never forgive me.

And I didn’t want to spend my life worshipping at an empty grave.

I had to find out the truth.

“Are you sure?” Uncle Wang’s expression was grave.

“I am sure,” I nodded solemnly.

Seeing my determination, Uncle Wang said, “Alright, I’ll call Uncle Li and have him come help.”

My wounds hadn’t fully healed, so I couldn’t stand for long. Uncle Wang helped me to a stone slab to sit, then began calling Uncle Li.

Without my prompting, Uncle Wang knew this was serious. When he notified Uncle Li, he repeatedly urged him to keep quiet and bring the tools.

Mr. Zhang was well-liked, and his reputation in the geomancy circles of the southwestern provinces was high. Until we were certain, we couldn’t let word spread.

We waited forty minutes, and Uncle Li arrived, carrying a pick and shovel.

Upon meeting, Uncle Li was worried I might be mistaken, but at my insistence, he agreed to help.

After a brief ritual to honor the mountain and break the earth, they began digging.

Removing the soil from the mound, the coffin quickly appeared.

“Xiaowei, though we've disturbed the earth, it's not too late before the coffin is opened. Are you sure you want to proceed?” Uncle Li paused with his shovel, asking again.

Seeing the coffin, I believed Uncle Wang was telling the truth—they wouldn’t bury an empty coffin here.

The only possibility now was that they didn’t know the coffin was empty when they buried it.

And with the coffin exposed, if it were simply reburied, I wouldn’t be satisfied. I trusted my judgment—the coffin was empty.

“I’m sure. Keep digging, expose the lid, then open it,” I said, nodding.

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Uncle Li sighed and continued.

Soon, the soil beside the coffin was cleared, and most of the coffin was exposed.

“Open it,” I said, leaning on my crutch and moving to the coffin.

The two looked at each other, then began prying the lid.

“Crack… crack…”

After all the nails were removed, they lifted the lid. I immediately craned my neck to peer inside…