CHAPTER 9: BETRAYAL AND THE SECRET OF THE SIX-CHEST ART
The message from Master Vu appeared on Lam An's phone screen like a bucket of ice water dumped over the relief that had just begun to bloom in his chest. His hand trembled as he immediately dialed the master back.
*Ring... ring... ring...*
Only the endless ringing answered him. No one picked up.
An turned to look back at the ancestral shrine's courtyard. The mouth of the pit had closed, the three rusted nails were still driven deep into the brick floor, and his left eye had returned to its normal black color. Yet the ominous feeling brought on by the message kept An from standing still. He hurriedly swallowed the last mouthful of cold water in the bottle, snatched up the storm lantern, and raced out of Co Bai Village toward Master Vu's house.
It was late at night. The village road, shrouded in the shadows of bamboo, was dark and desolate. The relentless pursuit of the grudge spirits had stopped, but the air was now thick with a terrifying calm.
More than half an hour later, An stood before the ironwood gate of Master Vu's house.
The gate, once sturdy, had been torn in two and hung limply from rusted hinges. The warm scent of incense from the afternoon had been completely replaced by the pungent smell of fresh blood and the charred stink of half-burned talismans.
"Master Vu!" An shouted as he pushed the gate open and stepped inside.
The traditional clay-tile courtyard, once flat and orderly, was now devastated as if it had just been swept by a violent storm. The stone incense burner in the middle of the yard had been smashed in half, its ashes scattered everywhere. The two ancient frangipani trees had shed every leaf, their dry branches thrusting toward the sky like demonic hands.
An rushed into the main house. Master Vu sat cross-legged on the wooden daybed, his back against a pillar. His brown traditional clothes were soaked in dried blood, and his face was deathly pale. Behind him, every ancestral tablet on the altar had been turned facedown, and the persimmon-wood sword had snapped into three pieces.
"Master Vu!" An hurried over and knelt beside him, trembling as he supported the old man's shoulders.
Master Vu slowly opened his eyes. His breathing was faint and labored, and fresh blood kept seeping from the corners of his mouth.
"An... You're... you're back? Your eyes... your eyes..."
"I finished sealing it, Master! My eyes are back to normal! What happened?" An choked out, wiping the blood from his master's face with a cloth.
Master Vu gave a bitter smile. His bony hand clamped tightly around An's wrist.
"We've... fallen into a trap, kid. Your grandfather, Lam Van Hung... he didn't just open one bronze chest..."
An froze in shock. "What do you mean?"
"The ash-gray eyeballs you just sealed... were only one of the **Six Grudge Objects**!" Master Vu coughed violently, his voice growing weaker by the second. "In 1954, the Oan lineage was wiped out. They curse-sealed the **Six Bronze Chests**, representing the Six Roots: *Eyes, Ears, Nose, Tongue, Body, and Mind*. The chest your grandfather dug up at the ancestral shrine was only the first chest—the **Eye Chest**!"
A chill once again ran down An's spine.
"The one who led the Oan cult back then..." Master Vu tightened his grip on An's hand until his nails dug into the flesh. "...used the Betrayal Technique to destroy my altar of peace. When you sealed the Eye Chest, the power of the other five chests was activated. The one behind this... doesn't want to kill you. It wants to turn you into an **Inner Vessel** to contain the complete power of all Six Grudge Objects!"
"Who? Who's behind this, Master?" An demanded, tears welling in his eyes.
Master Vu hastily wiped the blood from his lips, then reached inside his shirt and pulled out a goatskin-bound book with rotted edges, along with a bronze ring shaped like a snake's head.
"Take this... This is the *Six-Chest Curse-Sealing Art*, passed down to me by my grandmaster. It contains the locations of the other five chests and how to neutralize them. Go to... Tiem Do Co Am Duong in the pho co... Find a woman named **Moc Tra**... She'll..."
Before he could finish, Master Vu's entire body jerked violently. His eyes rolled back as he stared at the ceiling. The hand gripping An's suddenly released him, recoiling before dropping limply onto the wooden floor.
"Master Vu! Master Vu!" An screamed in anguish, shaking the old man's body, but there was no response. Master Vu had breathed his last.
At that exact moment, slow applause rang out from the dark corner of the room. *Clap... clap... clap...*
A figure stepped out of the darkness. The man wore an elegant black suit and held a silver cane, but the upper half of his face was covered by a wooden mask carved in the shape of a snake with no eyes.
"What a touching teacher-student bond." The masked man's deep, hoarse voice dripped with mockery. "Thank you, grandson of the Lam family. If you hadn't used your own blood to unlock the first layer of the Eye Chest's seal, how could I have activated the other five chests?"
An rose to his feet, seething with fury, and gripped Master Vu's broken wooden sword. "Who the hell are you?!"
The masked man chuckled softly and tapped one finger against his silver cane.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is... the Ear Chest has already been opened. Have a good night's sleep with your new whispers, Lam An..."
The moment he finished speaking, he swept out one hand. A dense cloud of black smoke erupted, engulfing the entire room. By the time it cleared, the masked man had vanished completely, leaving An standing alone beside Master Vu's icy corpse.
And right then, deep inside An's eardrum, a mind-searing whisper rang out—one no one else could hear:
"Hello, Lam An... We've met again..."