Soulbound Destiny

Chapter 5: The Corpse at Midnight

Gene traveled alone, his stubborn donkey clip-clopping along the deserted road. He had hoped to catch up with the others before nightfall, but darkness descended faster than he expected. When the moon rose pale above the trees, he found himself on a narrow path that wound through the hills, far away from the safety of the main road.

The night was too quiet. Not a cricket chirped, not a leaf stirred. The silence pressed against him like a suffocating weight, seeping into his bones until unease became dread.

At last, a flicker of light broke the darkness ahead. Relief surged through him, and he urged the donkey onward. But as he drew closer, his relief turned brittle—the glow came not from a campfire, but from a ruined temple perched on the hillside. Its walls leaned, broken and moss-covered, yet within, a faint fire burned.

Across the grass leading up to the temple, Gene noticed fresh hoofprints. His heart leapt. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted,

“Uncle Lan! Is that you?”

From somewhere far away, a faint voice seemed to answer. It sounded like Haolan’s, but strangely muffled, drifting from the opposite direction of the temple.

Gene turned his donkey to follow the voice, yet the world twisted around him. No matter how he walked, the path bent back upon itself, and the temple loomed again before him—always ten paces away, always waiting.

Then, without warning, he saw them. Haolan, Lin Feng, and Xiaowei stood outside the temple gate, pale-faced, clutching horsewhips with no horses in sight.

“Gene! Why did you come inside?” Haolan’s voice shook. “This place is cursed!”

Xiaowei whispered, her lips trembling, “There are coffins inside… we heard scratching… and the sound of blood dripping.”

Curiosity warred with fear, but Gene’s stubborn nature pushed him forward. He strode into the courtyard. Their missing mounts were tethered by the trees, stamping nervously, eyes rolling white. A dying fire crackled low, casting twisted shadows.

In the main hall stood five coffins, lined in grim silence.

The others hung back, but Gene inhaled deeply, stepped forward, and with a sudden heave, flung one lid open.

Inside lay a young woman, her face eerily familiar. His blood froze. It was Rona—the very girl they had rescued only days before.

“Ghost!” Gene shrieked, stumbling backward, tumbling across the floor until Lin Feng dragged him out by the collar.

Haolan and the others, forcing themselves to look, recoiled in terror.

“She—she’s here?!” Haolan’s voice cracked. “But we brought her safely to Yunyang City!”

Lin Feng bent over the corpse, his face hardening. “She’s stiff… mottled. Dead at least two days.”

The words struck like a hammer blow. If Rona had been dead for days, then the one they had escorted back to the city—the one sleeping under the same roof as Haolan’s household—what was she?

A chill like ice water spread through them.

Determined to know, Gene relit the fire, forcing light into the shadows. One by one, he pried open the other coffins. In the second lay Rona’s sister, Zilan. In the third and fourth, the kindly old couple they had also saved on the roadside.

But these bodies bore no trace of burial dirt. Their skin was clean, clothes neat, as though they had never lain in graves at all.

“What… what did we bring back into the city?” Haolan’s voice wavered, close to breaking.

Then Xiaowei pointed with a trembling hand. “Why… why is there one more coffin?”

At the far end of the hall stood the largest coffin of all, still sealed.

Suddenly—it trembled.

A faint shudder, as though something inside stirred.

Gene’s hair bristled, his scalp prickling with cold. Snatching a burning brand from the fire, he raised it high and barked,

“Who’s there?!”

The ruined temple held its breath. The only sound was the steady, deliberate shivering of the coffin, louder with each passing moment, echoing in the suffocating silence.