Mr. Yu, the respected elder, coughed a few times and slowly walked out of the crowd.

To everyone's surprise, at this moment, the highly esteemed Mr. Yu chose to stand on my side. He said, "I believe in Yang Cheng!"

Mr. Yu's words carried great weight, and the villagers immediately fell silent.

Mr. Yu said, "What do you think of Master Ku's abilities?"

The villagers were somewhat surprised and didn't understand why Mr. Yu suddenly mentioned Ku Qizi.

Someone replied, "Master Ku is unquestionably extraordinary. He is a truly capable person!"

Others chimed in, "Yes, Master Ku is amazing. Didn't he resolve the matter with Yin Hongyi before?"

Mr. Yu nodded, "As far as I know, Yang Cheng is Master Ku's disciple. If you believe in Master Ku, shouldn't you also believe in his disciple?"

Upon hearing Mr. Yu's words, the villagers were astonished, and many looked at me with admiration.

No one would have expected that an unremarkable kid like me could be Ku Qizi's disciple.

In truth, I was surprised too because I couldn't really consider myself Ku Qizi's disciple. Although Ku Qizi expressed his desire to take me as his disciple, I declined.

Mr. Yu probably heard about this matter, so he thought I was Ku Qizi's disciple.

But at this moment, facing those astonished and envious eyes, I actually felt quite pleased.

Suddenly, I realized that if I could become Ku Qizi's disciple, it wouldn't be a bad thing. Helping the villagers solve their worries and gaining their love and respect would be a wonderful thing.

"I didn't expect that Master Ku actually accepted Yang Cheng as his disciple!"

"Yes, I wonder why Master Ku took notice of that Yang kid from the Yang family?"

"I heard that there's something peculiar about that Yang kid's fate. Even Yin Hongyi couldn't let go of him!"

The crowd buzzed with discussions, and Mayor Yu walked up to Uncle Xie's wife and said, "Auntie Xie, let's listen to Yang Cheng's decision. What do you think?"

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Uncle Xie's wife had no objections and nodded, saying, "I'll follow the mayor's arrangement!"

Mr. Yu waved his hand and said, "Alright, this matter is settled. Get a few people to nail the coffin shut!"

Mr. Yu walked over and patted my shoulder. "Yang Cheng, don't mess up. I've vouched for you on behalf of everyone!"

I nodded nervously but believed that what I was doing was right.

The coffin lid was quickly nailed shut. After consulting with Uncle Xie's wife, it was decided to bury the coffin in their backyard.

With many hands, a deep pit over three meters high was dug in less than two hours.

The villagers brought two sturdy hemp ropes, tied them to the coffin, and then everyone worked together to lift the coffin slowly into the pit.

Mr. Yu kept shouting from the side, "Be careful! Slow down, yes, slower!"

Finally, the coffin was carefully placed in the deep pit, steady and secure.

At this moment, the body of Uncle Xie inside the coffin was in an inverted position, hence the term "upside-down corpse."

After the coffin was placed in the pit, everyone helped fill it with soil.

Mr. Yu asked me, "Is this enough?"

I nodded and said to Mayor Yu, "On the night of the seventh day at midnight hour, we must dig up the coffin and burn it to ensure peace and safety!"

The crowd dispersed, and I returned home.

For now, this matter came to an end. The seven days passed by in peace.

During this time, I accompanied my father to pay our respects at the Xie family's home. Uncle Xie's wife wore rough mourning clothes and had a haggard face.

Uncle Xie had a son studying in a high school in the city who took leave to handle the funeral affairs.

With the head of the family gone, only a lonely woman remained, burdened with taking care of a child. The future days would undoubtedly be difficult.

Since the incident, Lao San Luo had not shown up, but he wasn't a bad person. He sent a compensation of twenty thousand yuan.

Considering the living conditions at that time, twenty thousand yuan was a large sum of money.

Lao San Luo was also unfortunate. He didn't get to move into the new house and ended up facing a death in it. Although the collapse of the scaffolding wasn't directly his fault, logically speaking, since Uncle Xie's accident happened at Luo's place, Luo's family had to bear some responsibility.

On the night of the seventh day, the courtyard of the Xie family was crowded with people.

Villagers held torches, illuminating the yard as bright as day.

Mr. Yu and the others were present, directing a few villagers to start excavating the coffin.

The gloomy black coffin quickly emerged from the dark pit, but because of the crowd, no one felt scared.

Two brave villagers jumped into the pit, tied ropes around the coffin, and then signaled the people above to pull it up.

Although it was a wooden coffin, it was quite heavy. With the dead body inside, it weighed at least two to three hundred catties. It took several people to lift it.

To pull the coffin out, several strong young men stood on top, tightly gripping the ropes. Like playing tug-of-war, they exerted their strength to pull the coffin up.

"One, two, three, pull hard!"

The young men shouted loudly, and to everyone's surprise, the previously heavy coffin was easily lifted.

However, in their excessive force, the young men all fell to the ground.

Mr. Yu quickly asked what happened. One of them, with a puzzled face, replied, "The coffin seems much lighter!"

Others chimed in, "Yes, it's not heavy at all. It's strange!"

Does a buried coffin become lighter?

It didn't seem scientifically possible!

The coffin was new, and the black paint on the surface was fresh, reflecting a chilling light under the fire's glow.

No one spoke. The atmosphere suddenly became oppressive.

With confusion, I walked around the coffin. It was intact, with no changes, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

I reached out and tapped the coffin, and to my surprise, a plank fell down, narrowly missing my foot.

Everyone looked at each other. What was happening? How did a plank from the coffin fall?

A sense of foreboding passed through my heart. I instinctively grabbed a torch, held it up to the coffin, and everyone present gasped in astonishment.

It was empty!

The coffin was empty!

Uncle Xie's body was gone!

I reached in and felt around, but it was empty. There was nothing inside.

Cold sweat rolled down my forehead. This was bizarre! Could the body in the coffin vanish into thin air?

A gust of cold wind blew across the ground, and the crowd started to stir. Clearly, they were also frightened by the eerie sight before them.