The tolling of the bell not only made the corpse open its scarlet eyes and bare its teeth at me but, even more horrifyingly, after sitting up, it tried to leap out of the coffin.
I don't know where I found the courage, but I instinctively pressed down on the corpse. If it managed to jump out, the Dai family's ancestral tomb would be doomed, and all my efforts would be wasted.
At the same time, I had to shout for help—this corpse was incredibly strong, and I couldn't hold it down for long. Worse still, if it bit me, I'd be done for.
But no matter how much I yelled, no one came to my aid. It was as if no one was there at all.
Was this another hallucination? I pinched myself, and the pain was so intense it nearly brought tears to my eyes. This was no illusion—someone must be playing tricks.
"Who the hell is it? Who's sabotaging this?" I shouted toward the edge of the coffin pit.
Just then, the ringing of the bell stopped, and a head poked over the edge. "Kid," the man said slyly, "I didn't want to kill indiscriminately, but you brought this on yourself. Greedy for money, you had to meddle in this affair. Tonight, you die!"
Just as Master Raul had predicted, the speaker was none other than the butler—and the bell had been in his hands all along.
"You again?" I demanded. "Were you behind the last two incidents as well?"
The butler nodded. "Seems you've already figured me out."
"Of course! When the Vermilion Bird was tattooed, you were the only one who entered the coffin pit. And who else could've thrown in that cat's claw? Who the hell are you? What do you want? What's happening out there?" I fired off question after question.
The butler told me not to worry—he "didn't kill indiscriminately." I was the only obstacle, so eliminating me would suffice. As for my other questions, I could "go ask Yama in the underworld."
With that, the butler shook the bell violently again. The corpse immediately grew more frenzied—no longer just trying to escape but now attacking me directly.
Its icy hands clamped around my throat with terrifying strength. I quickly began suffocating, unable to break free.
"Gah—!"
Suddenly, the corpse let out a horrible, otherworldly shriek. It tilted its head and exhaled a puff of foul, corpse-tainted breath, then bared its fangs, ready to sink them into my neck.
Just then, a dark figure flashed through the coffin pit—and the corpse froze. No matter how frantically the butler rang the bell, the corpse no longer reacted.
Damn it! I cursed inwardly and hurriedly shoved the corpse away. Only when it lay back in the coffin did I notice a yellow Taoist talisman plastered on its forehead.
No wonder the corpse stopped its zombified movements—it had been suppressed by the talisman.
Besides this, there was now another person in the coffin pit. Master Raul stood beside me, smiling up at the butler.
"You really couldn't resist, could you? Finally showed your true colors." Master Raul spoke as if he had expected this all along.
Seizing the opportunity, I scrambled out of the coffin pit and found Stein and Daphne unconscious. The lingering scent of some drug hung in the air—they must have been drugged by the butler.
Along with Master Raul, a group of people emerged from the darkness: Mr. Dai and the rest of the Dai family, who immediately surrounded the butler.
It seemed Master Raul and the Dai family had been working together all along, waiting for the butler to reveal himself.
"Butler, my family has treated you well. Why would you harm us?" Mr. Dai demanded.
As he spoke, Master Raul lightly leaped out of the coffin pit with effortless grace.
"Be careful, everyone," he warned. "This isn't the real butler. The true butler died long ago. This is nothing but a malevolent spirit."
"A ghost?!"
The moment that word left his lips, everyone gasped in shock. Their faces paled, and they scrambled back at least three meters—even Mr. Dai.
This group was terrified of ghosts! Well, as the saying goes, "If you've done nothing wrong in life, you won't fear a ghost knocking at midnight." But me? I backed up a full four meters.
"Using the corpse of a dead butler to commit atrocities—feng shui curses, dark witchcraft, all of it. Even as a ghost, you move freely among the living, indistinguishable from a normal person. If I'm not mistaken, you were a ghost cultivator in life!" Master Raul declared boldly.
The butler bowed mockingly. "Master Raul is as sharp as ever. The art I practiced in life was indeed the Ghost-Raising Arts."
My grandfather once said that corpse refinement and ghost nurturing are both vile branches of dark witchcraft. For this man to have raised ghosts to the point of becoming one himself—he was a rare kind of monster.
"With your level of cultivation, why resort to haunting the Dai family as a vengeful spirit after death?" Master Raul pressed.
The butler sneered. "Master Raul, evil begets retribution. Shouldn't the Dai family pay for their sins? This matter is beyond your control. You can't kill me—at worst, I'll abandon this body and possess another. Until the Dai family is wiped out, my grudge will never fade. No one can destroy me."
Mr. Dai immediately demanded, "What grudge does my family have with you that makes you hate us so bitterly?"
At these words, the butler's face twisted with rage. "That bastard David was an animal!" he spat viciously. "My young mistress saved his life and even gave him food so he wouldn't starve on his way to the imperial examinations. And how did he repay her? With betrayal! He led mountain bandits to defile her and take her life! Heaven must be blind to let such a man prosper and rise to high position! I, Kittel, refuse to accept this! I'll see your Dai family ruined - your lineage severed!"
David was the ancestor Mr. Dai had mentioned earlier - truly a despicable character. Having fainted from hunger on his way to the examinations, he would have died if not for that noble lady's mercy. Yet to survive, he later brought bandits to ravage his benefactor's household. The lady was violated and murdered - an unbearable crime by any measure.
What puzzled me was Kittel's reference to "young mistress." Could he be a ghost from centuries past?
Hearing Kittel's words, Master Raul's expression darkened. Since ancient times, debts must be repaid - a life for a life. This was karma. The Dai family owed blood debt, and now their creditor had come. Even as an evil spirit, Kittel's claim made it difficult for Master Raul to intervene.
"Young mistress? You are...?" Mr. Dai frowned in disbelief. If Kittel was a ghost who died centuries ago, why hadn't he reincarnated? Had he truly suffered in the mortal world for hundreds of years just for revenge?
Kittel explained his young mistress was named Roos, only daughter of Merchant Lee. Though wealthy, the Lees were famously charitable, and Roos inherited this kindness. She was the one who saved David that day. Kittel himself had been an orphan adopted into the Lee household as a servant to save him from starvation. Both Merchant Lee and Roos treated him with great kindness, which Kittel never forgot.
Yet after meeting that beast David, Roos - and the entire Lee family - met tragic fates!