Heaven Official's Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 2(77)

Each night pearl and diamond was priceless; each jewel was worth an entire lifetime of riches. However, Xie Lian didn’t spare them a glance, just walked directly through the great hall, entering the crypt at the very back.

In comparison to the great hall, this tomb was exceedingly simple, as the chamber wasn’t fully completed. There was no resplendent decor, only two coffins. Between the coffins stood a person dressed in extravagant clothing. There was a golden mask on its face, and a sword extended, the blade sharp and dazzling, pointed at him.

However, this person remained frozen in that stance and didn’t make any movement. Xie Lian idly approached without a single care. This was because Xie Lian knew that behind the golden mask there was no face, and under the exquisite dress there was no person. The only thing standing there was an empty stack of dried hay, held together by bundles of sticks.

For so long, only this set of elegant dress robes and this mask had stood by the sides of those two solitary coffins in his stead. On top of each coffin was a small golden plate, but the things in those plates contrasted their elegance: fruits of some sort, dried and shriveled to the core, and some unknown hard blocks that were rotten and blackened. After Xie Lian entered the chamber, he cleared out those things and tossed them into a corner of the crypt. He felt around his sleeves and clothing folds. Originally, he’d had a half-eaten bun on him, but that bun was given to Hua Cheng, so now he had nothing.

Thus, he said, “Father, Mother, I apologize. I’ve forgotten to bring something for this visit.”

Naturally, no one answered him. Xie Lian slowly sat down and leaned against one of the coffins.

After zoning out for some time, he finally spoke again.

“Mother, I saw Qi Rong.

“Qi Rong didn’t die, he turned into a ghost. I really don’t know how he’s lived these past hundreds of years.”

Xie Lian shook his head.

“He…killed a lot of people, and now there are people trying to kill him. The Upper Court probably won’t forgive him either.” Xie Lian sighed. “I really don’t know what to do with him.”

He was going to say more when suddenly, from someplace extremely close, there came the sound of soft weeping.

Xie Lian froze, and his expression changed drastically.

He listened closely; it wasn’t a hallucination. It really was the sound of crying. The voice was very low, very small, and would’ve been easily missed if he didn’t hold his breath and pay close attention. The sound was also soft, and if it wasn’t a child, it had to be a woman.

The crying was very close; it was as if they were only separated by a thin wall, the sound clinging close to him. Xie Lian whipped his head around and at last confirmed—the sound came from the coffin he was leaning on!

Amidst his shock, the first words that came blurting out were unconsciously joyous.

“Mother, is that you?!”

However, Xie Lian snapped out of it immediately, knowing that what he had desperately hoped for would never come true. His mother had passed eight hundred years ago, relieved of her suffering, and she had never devolved into a grudging ghost. The emotion behind those cries was also not of sorrow but of fright.

In this time and place, who in the world would be hiding in his mother’s coffin and weeping?!

Xie Lian couldn’t wait for another second, and he threw open the cover of the coffin with his left hand, his right on Fangxin, ready to strike. But the moment he saw what was inside, the striking sword stopped abruptly in its path.

Lying inside the coffin, alone, was the form of a person covered in elegant, black attire, with their head wrapped in a face cover.

The only person who this should’ve been was his mother, but the one lying in the casket was most definitely not her. The form was small and short, the body type completely different, and most significantly, this person was trembling—it was a real, live person!

Xie Lian ripped off the face cover. Sure enough, beneath the fabric was the face of a young child! His heart froze at that moment. He grabbed the child and lifted him, his voice shocked and panicked.

“Where’s my mother? Where’s my mother?! What did you do to my mother’s body?!”

Although that elegant black dress didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, it was in fact woven from the silk of an extremely rare worm. The silk was a tribute from a small foreign nation, and weaving it into clothing took intricate craftsmanship. Interwoven with fragrant herbal satchels and sealed into the coffin, the cadaver would remain preserved for thousands of years, allowing the dead to look like she was still among the living. However, at that moment, the one wearing that black silk dress was this child, so where did the body of his mother go? What condition would it be in now?

Xie Lian didn’t dare to think deeply on it and could only demand answers from this unknown child in his hold.

He questioned once more, sternly, “Where’s my mother? Who are you? Why are you here? What did you do with my mother’s body?!”

But how could a child terrified to tears answer any of his questions? He was too scared to even speak. Xie Lian dragged him out of the coffin and realized suddenly that some ashen white powder had been shaken out of the black dress with that movement.

Face white as a sheet, he looked into the coffin and found that the bottom of the casket was also covered with a thin layer of powder. The world spun, and Xie Lian felt his heart stop. His grip loosened, letting the child go, and he fell to his knees before the coffin, his mind blank.