Volume One: The Eight Coffin Corpse Field Chapter 65: The Withered Lilac Tree

I waved my hand dismissively. "Don't try that with me. What are you looking for anyway?"

Third Uncle shook his head. "How would I know?"

I was baffled. "If you don't know, then what are you looking for?"

He shot me a glare. "You kid, I just praised you for your talent. It's precisely because we don't know that we're searching. Think about it—when Fei Yao went back, didn't she rummage through everything? I doubt that was her own will."

I nodded. "So, you're saying she was controlled by something else. Actually, that 'something' wanted to find something. Could it be the cat spirit?"

"Hard to say. It could be something else entirely. That attic is too old, and there are too many things hidden inside. So just judging by appearances is difficult. Until we figure out the truth, we're not going there at night again."

Thinking back on everything we went through that night, I still felt my scalp tingling. Hearing Third Uncle say that was the best news I could hope for.

I also understood his next plan: to search the attic during the day. Whether we’d find anything was still unknown.

That night, I slept fairly well. Third Uncle regained much of his energy, and by the next morning, we were practically revived. Since we’d be going during daylight, we only prepared some essentials and got ready to head for the old street.

On the way, I asked Third Uncle if we should bring Xu Ruoxi.

He glared at me. "You’re not comfortable unless you’ve got that burden dragging you down, are you? I’m telling you, bringing her into the attic made me regret it so much I could spit green."

I replied, "Come on, Third Uncle, that's a bit harsh. If she hadn't warned us, we wouldn't have thought to dash out through the net, right?"

He waved impatiently. "Still not bringing her."

I shrugged. "Alright, alright, it's all up to you whether we bring her or not."

I secretly chuckled—this time Third Uncle tried to trick someone, but ended up giving himself a rough time.

We drove back to the old street. This time, we knew the way well, and headed straight to the attic door.

Passing through the old street, everything seemed normal. The sun rose as usual, and every brick, tile, blade of grass, and tree stood unchanged, as if nothing had happened the night before.

I even felt there were more visitors today than before.

We arrived at the door of number 14 Old Street. The door was ajar, and I could still recall the chaotic scene of us fleeing that night.

Thankfully, it was daytime now. Otherwise, even with several doses of courage, I wouldn’t dare step inside again.

Even so, before entering, Third Uncle had me tie the Black Tiger knot around my waist, carry the Earth Net, and hold the peach wood sword. With all that, my nerves tightened again.

Once I was ready, Third Uncle stepped forward and gently pushed open the gate, walking inside.

I followed. Though sunlight was faint, and the courtyard walls blocked most of it, the place felt bleak and deserted. On the ground, messy cat paw prints remained, so many they blurred together.

Third Uncle stood in the middle of the yard, glancing around, then strode over to the two lilac trees.

He’d noticed something odd about these trees the previous night, but in the darkness, we hadn’t lingered to inspect them. Now, he renewed his focus there.

Approaching, he suddenly stopped, as if he’d discovered something.

I caught up and noticed something strange as well.

The ground was covered with dense cat paw prints, except for a one-meter radius around one of the lilac trees—the earth there was perfectly smooth, with no marks at all.

It wasn’t hard to imagine: a swarm of cats gathering in the courtyard, but none dared approach that lilac tree.

Even more bizarre, in just two days, the tree had withered.

When we came two nights ago, the tree had lost many leaves, but it was still alive—some leaves remained green. Now, all the leaves were yellow, and the branches and trunk had turned dry and brittle, like a dead tree.

Naturally, a tree's death is inevitable, but to wither so completely in just two days was clearly abnormal.

Third Uncle frowned and stepped forward, holding the peach wood sword. He probed beneath the tree.

He pushed the sword half a foot into the earth, then pulled it out, leaving a hole.

Next, he took a box of matches from his bag, struck one, and held the flame over the hole.

Unexpectedly, the flame flickered a few times and then snuffed out.

"Third Uncle, what’s going on?"

He put away the matches and said gravely, "Under this tree, there’s nothing but dead energy. The soil has no life, no earth force. Without earth force, no wonder the tree withered. There’s definitely something down there. There are tools in the car trunk, fetch them so we can dig."

I responded and went outside to get the digging tools from the car—a set of foldable army shovels and picks, portable and always kept in the trunk. I never thought they'd come in handy now.

I took a pick, Third Uncle took a shovel, and we began digging together. The soil beneath the tree was dry and loose, so it wasn’t hard work. Soon, we had dug more than a foot deep.

Only then did I notice all the roots had rotted away.

After clearing the roots, I grabbed the dead tree and pulled it out, roots and all.

We dug another two feet, about a meter deep in total, when Third Uncle suddenly called out, "Found something! Careful now."

We carefully cleared the surrounding earth, and a box gradually emerged.

Seeing it, I exclaimed, "Third Uncle, could this be treasure buried here by some wealthy family?"

He snorted. "The dead energy is coming from this box. Even if it’s treasure, would you dare use it? Stop talking, put on the leather gloves, and dig the box out."

I nodded, scraped away more earth around the box, and gently lifted it out.

There was still loose dirt on top. Third Uncle glanced at me and asked, "Yangzi, let’s test you—what do you think this box is made of?"

"It should be copper, right? You said before, copper locks souls. Usually, things like this are kept in copper boxes," I replied.

He nodded. "You’re making progress. Not bad for someone taught by Li Dongbin. My efforts in training you weren’t in vain."

(End of this chapter)