Wait for Me to Rise from the Coffin - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the day I was sent into Abyss Suppression, Wen Changsheng stroked my head.

He said, “Jianqing, stand guard for three years, and then you can come home.”

I believed him.

Because thirteen years ago, he was the one who pulled me out of the fire in Burning River Village.

Since then, I became the youngest personal disciple under Wen Changsheng, the Sect Leader of the Tai Xuan Sect.

Everyone in the sect called me “Little Junior Sister,” and everyone knew I was a rootless orphan girl.

Shuo Qingheng was my Senior Sister.

She was six years older than me-a sword cultivator with a sharp tongue, but she never wavered when it came to protecting me.

As for the one inside Abyss Suppression…

When the people of the world spoke of him, they used only one name: Demon Lord Mo Tingyuan.

The forbidden grounds were located in the deepest part of the Tai Xuan Sect’s back mountain.

A stone bridge, a shroud of black mist, and a coffin.

That coffin was pitch black, its body bound by nine layers of profound iron chains.

When the wind blew beneath the bridge, the chains would clink softly, as if something inside was turning over.

I didn’t come here for tempering or punishment.

I was here on Wen Changsheng’s orders to serve as this generation’s Seal Keeper.

I didn’t dare sleep at all the first night.

The wooden hut was cold and cramped. Once the lamp went out, the wind outside sounded like the wailing of ghosts.

I huddled there, clutching my sword until dawn.

The next day, when I went to replace the formation stones, I found a finger mark on the coffin lid. It looked as if it had been slowly scraped from the inside.

My legs went weak with terror.

I ran to report it to the Elder patrolling the formation, but he only gave me a cold look.

“Guard your formation.”

“If you make a fuss over nothing again, get yourself to the Punishment Hall for your sentence.”

After that, I stopped speaking up.

No one would believe me if I said anything, and even if they did, no one cared.

Slowly, I began to talk to myself.

At first, it was to bolster my courage; later, it was because I was simply too lonely.

“The kitchen burnt the vegetables again today.”

“Shuo Qingheng came to see me. She brought me two pieces of candy.”

“She’s still the same as ever.”

“She called me useless, but before she left, she secretly tucked a fire starter under my pillow because she was afraid I’d be scared at night.”

“The wind on the bridge is so strong.”

“The skin on my hands has cracked again.”

I talked about everything.

I talked about who fought whom on the main peak, about the apricot blossoms blooming at the foot of the mountain, and about how I dreamed of someone weaving a grass grasshopper for me when I was little.

Eventually, I even started to laugh at myself.

“If you can actually hear me, please don’t find me annoying.”

There was no sound from the coffin.

But whenever I spoke, the wind beneath the bridge didn’t seem quite as terrifying.

Once, Shuo Qingheng watched me from across the barrier and asked with a frown, “Do you really talk to it every day?”

I was squatting by the brazier warming my hands, not even looking up.

“What else am I supposed to do? Talk to ghosts?”

She was silent for a moment.

“Jianqing, have you ever considered that it might actually be listening?”

I shivered at her words.

“Senior Sister, don’t scare me.”

“I’m not trying to scare you.”

She looked at the coffin, her gaze darkening. “I just think… it’s too quiet.”

“When you first arrived, the people from the Punishment Hall watched this place every day.”

“They all said the Sect Leader sent you here because you were the most reliable.”

“Isn’t quiet a good thing?”

“It’s better than it actually crawling out.”

Shuo Qingheng didn’t respond to that.

Before leaving, she suddenly turned back.

“Jianqing.”

“In the future, if someone inside the coffin actually answers you, do not reply.”

“Why?”

“Because most Seal Keepers end up dying at that very step.”

I didn’t understand it then.

It wasn’t until the night before my three years were up that Wen Changsheng came to Abyss Suppression in person.

He was dressed in white, without a speck of dust on him.

Even as he stepped onto the stone bridge, his footsteps seemed to carry a faint light.

From childhood to adulthood, everyone in the sect respected and feared him.

And I, in the past, had always been the one who trusted him the most.

“Jianqing.”

“Tomorrow night at the hour of the Rat, the seal will loosen for the final time.”

My eyes lit up.

“Does that mean I can leave after tomorrow night?”

“Naturally.”

He smiled gently. “When has your Master ever lied to you?”

I couldn’t help but smile too.

“Then I want to go back to Burning River Village first.”

“I’ve almost forgotten what the apricot tree at the village entrance looks like.”

Wen Changsheng’s hand paused as he stroked my hair.

Then, he said softly, “Alright.”

After he left, I sat by the coffin with my lantern as usual.

The paper money in the brazier crackled as it burned, and ash covered my sleeve.

“Tomorrow is the last night.”

I stared at the coffin lid, suddenly feeling a bit reluctant. “Even though everyone is afraid of you, you’ve been quite well-behaved these past three years.”

“Don’t worry.”

“When I leave, I’ll burn a bit more for you.”

“So you won’t be poor down there.”

“Also, I’ve actually always been quite curious.”

“Are you really as cold-blooded a killer as they say?”

The wind suddenly stopped.

The black mist beneath the bridge went deathly silent.

I slowly looked up.

The nine profound iron chains shuddered simultaneously.

It was as if something inside had woken up.

I didn’t know it then.

During those three years, every piece of nonsense I spoke, every grievance I felt, and every time I missed home-there was someone inside the coffin listening quietly.

The only one who remembered every single word I said…

Was the very demon everyone said was most likely to kill me.