After the corpse's hand moved slightly, I dared not move. With the distance so close, what if it bit me?

I asked the others if they had seen the corpse move just now. Could it be turning into a zombie?

Everyone shook their heads, saying they hadn't seen the corpse move at all.

What? Could it be my imagination? But I clearly saw the corpse's hand twitch just a moment ago.

Xing, trying to comfort me, said there was nothing to worry about. Didn't the old master say that as long as the coffin isn't disturbed, the corpse wouldn't come to life?

That's true. If it really turned into a zombie, all the bodies on this mountain would have risen by now. Maybe I was just imagining things. The stench from the corpse and the eerie atmosphere of the graveyard made me a little nervous. Plus, this was the first time I had tattooed a corpse, and especially one close to becoming a zombie. It's only natural that I felt tense.

After adjusting my mindset, I carefully continued tattooing the Phoenix (朱雀) on the corpse's chest.

The Phoenix is one of the Four Sacred Beasts in ancient Chinese mythology. It originated from the worship of star constellations in the distant past and represents the Southern God of the Fire Element in Chinese cosmology. In Chinese divination, the Phoenix is a symbol of vitality, and it's often associated with summer and the Sun.

While the Phoenix design itself isn't overly complicated, tattooing it is quite challenging. The feathers, for example, require a lot of skill. However, since this was for a corpse, it didn't need to be as intricate; the focus was on the effect of the "Yang" tattoos.

As the sun began to set, the sky darkened quickly, and by around 7 p.m., I had completed most of the tattoo.

Then, a terrifying moment occurred. Suddenly, the corpse's eyes opened. They were bloodshot, resembling the color of blood, and it let out a muffled groan. A foul, putrid breath emitted from its mouth. The stench almost made me gag.

I jumped in fright. Wasn't the corpse supposed to stay still? Why did it suddenly open its eyes?

I couldn't stay any longer. Screaming, I tried to climb out of the coffin pit.

But as soon as I stood up, the corpse also sat up. Its eyes moved, almost like a living person. I was frozen in place, too scared to move, only crouching back into the coffin pit. Fortunately, the corpse didn't come after me.

The others heard the scream and rushed over. When they saw the corpse sitting up, they all screamed in fear and took several steps back.

I shouted for Xing to come help me, but I was too terrified to stay any longer. The corpse was about to turn into a zombie.

"Don't, little boss! You can't climb up! If you do, the corpse will follow you, and all the work will be for nothing," Xing said, then looked nervously around the graveyard.

The old master had said that once one corpse rises, all the others would follow. If that happened, we'd all be dead.

"So, what do we do now? You said this wouldn't happen!" I snapped at him. Now I couldn't run, but I couldn't stay still either. The Phoenix tattoo was nearly finished, and I only had about an hour left.

Xing said he didn't know either. According to the theory, as long as the coffin wasn't disturbed, the corpse shouldn't turn into a zombie. Something must have gone wrong while I was tattooing.

"What went wrong? I was focused on the tattooing, not moving the coffin or anything," I said, looking at the coffin.

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At that moment, I noticed something dark next to the corpse. I turned to Dai Jieying and asked, "Is there anything buried with your ancestor in the coffin?"

She replied, "There shouldn't be. The Dai family rarely puts anything valuable in the coffin. The expensive items are passed down to descendants, and the less valuable things are not kept."

So there shouldn't have been anything inside? Then what was that black thing?

I had a feeling it was the cause of the trouble. Out of curiosity, I mustered my courage and reached into the coffin to feel around.

The corpse was still motionless, though its eyes were fixed on me, which was extremely unsettling.

They say zombies' eyes never move, but this corpse hadn't fully turned yet. Its eyes were still active, and when I made eye contact with it, I dared not breathe.

After some effort, I managed to pull out the black object. Holding it up, I realized it was a severed black cat's leg.

Now I understood. It's said that cats, especially black ones, bring misfortune to the dead, and they can cause a corpse to come back to life. It seemed that the severed cat leg had been the trigger for the corpse almost turning into a zombie.

I quickly tossed the cat leg away and scolded, "Who put this cat leg in the coffin?"

No one spoke or admitted it. I thought about it for a moment. The only person who had handled the coffin and the body earlier was the steward. Could it have been him?

When I looked at the steward, he instinctively shrank his head and avoided eye contact with me.

This guy definitely had something to do with it. Fortunately, I noticed it early. If that cat leg had stayed in the coffin any longer, and with me standing there, the corpse would have surely climbed out.

I needed to stay alert around him and try to avoid letting him near the graves.

Since there was no direct evidence, I couldn't accuse him outright. But Dai Jieying promised to investigate and find out who was behind it.

After I threw the cat leg away, the corpse's eyes slowly closed, and with a thud, it lay back in the coffin, no longer moving.

Next, I finished the remaining Phoenix tattoo, and we had the grave sealed again.

By 8 p.m., I still had one more tattoo to do—the Black Tortoise (玄武), which was relatively simple. It resembled a turtle, but was actually a combination of a turtle and a snake. Compared to the Phoenix, the design was much simpler.

I went to the back mountain and found three graves: two male and one female.

The Black Tortoise is associated with the water element and the winter season in Chinese cosmology. It's best suited for a female body.

After checking the birth charts of the three graves, I found that the female grave was the most suitable for the Black Tortoise tattoo. So, I chose that one.

Before opening the coffin, I asked Xing to find a way to distract the steward, so he wouldn't come near. I didn't want him causing any more trouble.

Xing understood and pulled the steward aside, continuing to chat with him despite the steward's obvious disdain. I seized the opportunity and had the grave opened.

When the coffin was opened, I was shocked to find a beautiful corpse inside.

The woman appeared to be from the Republican era, based on her clothing and burial garments. Her body had not decayed, and she still had a beautiful appearance. If not for the long teeth and sharp nails, I would have thought she was a "Sleeping Beauty" in the coffin.

The Dai family was a prestigious family with wealth and status, so having a beautiful corpse was not unusual.

Since this was a female corpse, I decided to tattoo the Black Tortoise on her feet instead of her back. In traditional belief, a woman’s feet, like her waist, were considered an important part of her body, especially in earlier times.

As I prepared to remove the shoes, I asked Dai Jieying to do it since only a woman could touch the feet of another woman.

But when she went down to remove the shoes, she hurried back up, saying there was something very eerie about it. She couldn’t get the shoes off.

Ridiculous. It's just a dead person’s shoes, and she can’t take them off? She was either scared or making excuses.

Dai Jieying said if I didn’t believe her, I could come down and try for myself. So, I reluctantly went down with her.

When we reached the coffin, I was stunned to see another Dai Jieying, struggling to remove the corpse's shoes.

"Master, I can't get the shoes off!" the Dai Jieying who was in the pit said to me, thinking I was the only one there. But when she turned around, she screamed in shock, seeing me and another Dai Jieying standing on the other side of the coffin.

There were two Dai Jieyings in the coffin pit? How could that be?

An eerie gust of wind blew, and the air around us became cold and unsettling.

I could have sworn I heard the corpse in the coffin laugh, but when I glanced at it, there was no expression or movement.

Was it just my imagination? Or was there something else going on with these two Dai Jieyings?

The atmosphere froze for a few seconds before the two Dai Jieyings began to argue, each claiming to be the real one.

This situation was too strange, and since I wasn’t close enough to Dai Jieying to distinguish between them, I shouted for everyone outside to help, but curiously, no one came.