Clang, clang, clang! Clang, clang, clang!

In the silence, the rattling of the coffin sounded especially horrifying. For a moment, everyone seemed to forget they were safely protected within the barrier, and fear surged through them all at once!

Jun Beiyue, Jun Buli, Situ Haonan, and Guxi moved to shield everyone in front; Ziqing, Situ Jing’er, and Meng Duo’er stood behind them, all watching the coffin lid with trembling apprehension.

As for the magnificent, extravagant main coffin beside them, it had, for the moment, been entirely forgotten.

Clang, clang, clang! Clang, clang, clang!

The sound grew louder and louder, and at the same time, the coffin lid began to shake up and down, clearly on the verge of opening!

Situ Jing’er couldn’t help but squeeze her eyes shut. Ziqing clenched both fists tight, with no idea what might emerge from within.

Suddenly, with a resounding boom, the entire coffin lid shot straight up into the air and landed off to the side—it had opened!

Everyone stood too far away to see clearly what was inside the coffin—but it was precisely because they couldn’t see that it felt all the more terrifying.

Meng Duo’er eventually squeezed her eyes shut too. Of all the women present, only Ziqing and Baili Xiaosheng kept watching.

Slowly, slowly, there seemed to be movement.

A dark shadow rose slowly from within the great coffin, as though something were about to emerge.

Ziqing and Jun Beiyue, like everyone else, watched with wide eyes, and before long, they finally saw it clearly.

There, an old man dressed entirely in black, his face utterly bloodless and pale, his lips a red so deep they seemed ready to drip blood, the corners of his mouth revealing two sharp, pointed fangs.

His expression was fierce and severe. He rose slowly from the coffin to a sitting position, and from a distance, he truly looked no different from a corpse.

“Must be one of the Four Great Guardians. Does this count as waking up?” Jun Buli murmured.

“Wait and see,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.

Ziqing said nothing, glancing over at Meng Duo’er beside her—only to find the girl standing with her eyes shut, head bowed low.

So excited a moment ago, and now clearly frightened too.

She silently thanked her lucky stars that Meng Duo’er was with them—otherwise, they wouldn’t even know which way to flee right now. Just imagining every coffin in this entire tomb springing open, every bloodline clan member chasing after them, sent a shiver down Ziqing’s spine!

Still, she couldn’t help wondering—why had most of the bloodline clan remained in dormancy, yet Li Qinqin had already woken? That woman’s abilities clearly weren’t ordinary; her standing within the clan must not be low either.

At the thought, Ziqing tugged at Meng Duo’er’s sleeve, teasing gently, “It’s all right now—that’s just a Guardian waking up, not some evil spirit.” At this, Meng Duo’er and Situ Jing’er finally opened their eyes and looked ahead. By now, the Wind Guardian had already left the coffin and stood off to one side.

Though he wasn’t quite as terrifying as they’d imagined, the Wind Guardian’s face—paler even than powder—was still enough to make both women gasp sharply.

Ziqing couldn’t help but laugh. “And who was it who wanted to open a coffin and take a look just now!”

Meng Duo’er blushed, while Situ Jing’er hurried to put as much distance as possible between herself and the main coffin—if a mere Guardian looked this unsettling, how much more terrifying must whoever lay within the main coffin be?

She truly didn’t dare imagine it!

The Wind Guardian made no further movement. The entire chamber remained silent, with only him awake, and he too seemed unable to stir up much of anything—he simply stood in place, hands clasped behind his back.

A gaunt frame, a hollow, sunken face—one glance was enough to tell he was the kind of old man with a sharp, bitter temperament.

Seeing no further movement, the group stayed still as well, waiting to see what would happen. A Guardian waking up surely had to mean something.

“Duo’er, if Li Qinqin comes back, does she live in a coffin too?” Ziqing asked in a low voice.

Meng Duo’er nodded. “For bloodline clan members, their dwelling really is their coffin. It’s extremely important to them—essentially a second body.”

At this, Ziqing’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s find Consort Li’s coffin and drag it away!”

The moment she said this, Jun Beiyue, Jun Buli, and Situ Haonan, all up ahead, turned back in unison, staring at Ziqing in utter shock.

So this woman was, in fact, the boldest and most ruthless one of them all!

Still, ruthless or not, it wasn’t a bad idea.

“Why didn’t we think of that before!” Meng Duo’er said, delighted. “That’s a great plan.”

“She dared to kidnap Yaotiao—we’ll kidnap her whole nest right back!” Situ Jing’er said, instantly fired up.

Ziqing glanced around at everyone and found their eyes all gleaming with excitement.

Ha—looks like they really were about to turn thief for a day!

“Look, that Guardian seems to be talking to someone!” Situ Haonan noticed something odd.

Everyone looked over and, sure enough, saw the Guardian’s mouth opening and closing, his face carrying some kind of emotion—though they couldn’t hear a word he was saying.

“It’s spiritual sense!” Meng Duo’er exclaimed.

“What’s that?” Jun Buli asked, curious.

Meng Duo’er didn’t answer right away, instead murmuring to herself, “So that’s how it is!”

“Are you going to tell us or not!” Baili Xiaosheng, who had stayed silent this whole time, finally spoke up.

A flicker of awkwardness crossed Meng Duo’er’s eyes, quickly brushed aside.

“This Guardian hasn’t fully woken up yet. All bloodline clan members go through a dormancy period, and everyone here is currently in dormancy—but the length of that dormancy varies from person to person. The dormancy period is directly proportional to one’s power, meaning the Blood Lord in the main coffin has the longest dormancy of all, while low-ranking soldiers typically have very short ones. But for those over a thousand years old, the dormancy period can be shortened through an increase in power. So any of the coffins here could, in theory, wake at any moment. Those with higher power, as they approach waking, will occasionally leave their coffins briefly to communicate with the outside world through spiritual sense,” Meng Duo’er explained.

“Could he be communicating with Consort Li right now?” Baili Xiaosheng said, startled.

Guxi couldn’t help but ask as well. “So does that mean Consort Li’s power exceeds his?”

“Not necessarily. It’s quite possible some of the lower-ranking soldiers have already woken up,” Meng Duo’er said.

“Could Consort Li be one of the Four Great Guardians herself?” Ziqing wondered aloud, her mind entirely fixed on Li Qinqin’s coffin at this point—that woman had dared to kidnap her precious Yaotiao, and this was a debt she intended to collect.

“Once that Guardian goes back to sleep, shall we go take a look?” Baili Xiaosheng said, immediately growing excited.

Meng Duo’er’s mouth twitched, but before she could speak, Guxi cut in. “What if we run into someone else waking up in there? Or what if Li Qinqin herself happens to be nearby?”

“Bloodline clan members are naturally drawn back to their coffins—as long as Li Qinqin comes back, she’ll return to hers. With the barrier protecting us, we shouldn’t be in any real danger. The only concern is alerting them prematurely,” Meng Duo’er explained.

Ziqing’s idea was a good one, but unfortunately not very practical—after all, Yaotiao was still in Li Qinqin’s hands.

The group had no choice but to let it go for now. Still, no matter how she looked at it, Ziqing couldn’t quite accept defeat. Narrowing her eyes, she absently touched a small charge of gunpowder tucked in her sleeve, thinking to herself that she wasn’t going to give up.

Before long, just as Meng Duo’er had predicted, the Guardian returned to his coffin and closed the lid to sleep once more.

At this point, everyone’s attention turned back to the main coffin.

Open it, or not?