National Fate: Eight Yin Generals Guard China from Their Sleeping Coffins

The dark red single eye in the sky rotates.

The mechanical voice announced the guaranteed rewards for the remaining 130 countries.

[Basic survival conditions detected; national fortune increased by 10%.]

Tiny beams of light descended from the skies over various countries.

Manhattan, the United States of America.

A young white man's asthma miraculously disappeared. He threw away his inhaler and took deep breaths of fresh air.

Tokyo, Japan.

Office workers who spend long hours hunched over their desks experience automatic repositioning of their cervical vertebrae and a return to clear vision.

Seoul, South Korea.

The slow-moving elderly man quickened his pace, threw away his cane, and stood up straight.

The 10% increase in national fortune was actually distributed.

The physical fitness of people in various countries has improved.

But this improvement failed to make a splash on this night.

Half an hour ago, billions of people around the world witnessed China's leap forward.

Terminal illness wards are emptied, paraplegic patients run around, and ordinary people break security doors with their bare hands.

10% compared to 140%.

The difference is too great to overcome.

After a brief period of euphoria, foreign netizens completely lost their composure.

In the live stream room on the external network, the barrage of comments was refreshed wildly.

Captain Jackson saved America's day! That 10% boost cured my chronic gastritis! God is with us!

With its technological prowess combined with national destiny, America will soon catch up with China! Don't be discouraged!

Lord Yamamoto Itto's efforts have not been in vain; the physical condition of all citizens of our Great Japanese Empire has improved.

Park Ji-sung is the pride of Korea; he gave us his divine light and gave us healthy bodies!

The Germanic people's perseverance is invincible; the athletes held on to the very end!

[...]

The Japanese are unhappy.

[China has definitely used dirty tricks; their civilians are now frighteningly strong, which seriously threatens the territorial security of neighboring countries.]

[Protesting the system's unfairness! Why should China receive a 140% reward without shedding blood?]

[We strongly urge China to share its secrets to strengthening without using points. This concerns the future of all humanity in resisting monsters.]

If China doesn't hand it over, it will become an enemy of all humanity. We should unite to resist it.

Look at those eight Asians looking so smug; they'll be slaughtered by the monsters in the fifth wave sooner or later!

【..........】

South Korean netizens immediately followed suit.

Don't be fooled by China. That old man in the straw hat is using our Jeju Island's traditional knot-tying fishing technique!

The paper figures folded by that man named Ji Yuan are clearly ancient Korean paper offerings used for burying the dead.

The instrument that blind old man is playing is the haegeum, a traditional Korean instrument with a 2,000-year history.

[They stole our culture to gain fame on the battlefield of national destiny! These eight people actually have Korean ancestry!]

[Request the system to conduct a bloodline determination and attribute all of China's achievements to the Republic of Korea!]

【..........】

Faced with these remarks, the Chinese people did not tolerate them and directly fought back.

[The theft of national territory is acting up again. Your family even owns the universe (Korea's universe), why don't you say it's yours now?]

Your comments are laughable. A 10% reward won't cure your envy, will it?

[The elderly folks haven't even finished warming up. Your superheroes were just eating yellow sand.]

Typing won't help. If you're so capable, let your players solo 10,000 crocodiles!

Ignore these beggars, everyone. Go outside and run a couple of laps to get used to your newfound strength.

【..........】

The internet was in an uproar.

In reality, foreign executives sit in their respective conference rooms, staring at the meager data reports in their hands.

The president of the United States crumpled up the paper report and slammed it on his desk.

This war is unwinnable.

The military balance in the real world has been overturned.

An ordinary soldier in China can now dismantle the tracks of an armored vehicle with his bare hands.

The Prime Minister's residence in Japan.

The cabinet ministers looked grim.

Their cherished Bushido spirit is utterly worthless in the face of the nationwide evolution of the Chinese people.

South Korean officials were in a panic, repeatedly submitting appeals on international channels, demanding a joint investigation into the identities of the eight Chinese individuals.

The Chinese government has not issued a single written statement.

Ignore it completely.

Under absolute power, all clamor is just empty talk.

The space for national destiny.

Night falls.

The huge, dark red eye was closed.

The sky turned pure black.

The wind on the wasteland has stopped.

The temperature dropped sharply.

Beneath the walls of Huaxia City, a bonfire rises.

The dry willow branches crackled as they burned.

Chen Xiao sat beside the black wooden coffin.

He leaned against the bronze coffin lid covered in green rust, his arms crossed over his chest, and closed his eyes to rest.

The surroundings were quiet.

The remaining seven people were scattered in various corners of the city wall.

Chen Xiao could hear everyone's breathing.

Internal energy flows and resonates at the same frequency.

This is a manifestation of a set of exercises reaching perfection.

Light footsteps echoed on the sand.

It stopped beside Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao opened his eyes.

Guan Shan stood there.

He is nearly 1.9 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back.

He didn't look at Chen Xiao's face, but stared down at the four dark red bone-suppressing nails on the side of the black wooden coffin.

The firelight illuminated Guan Shan's rough face.

He stretched out his calloused fingers and gestured a few times in the air along the location of the bone-suppressing nail.

"The stitching technique used to nail these coffin nails."

Guan Shan's voice was deep, "One nail presses down on the heavens, two nails seal the earth's gates. Three or four nails connect to sever the yin and yang."

Chen Xiao stopped breathing.

My palms were sweaty.

Guan Shan turned his head and looked directly at Chen Xiao.

"This is what our master taught us."

Chen Xiao suddenly stood up.

His back hit the coffin with a dull thud.

Guan Shan looked into Chen Xiao's eyes, clasped his hands together, left hand over right, thumbs tucked in.

This leads to a standard Taoist formula for the noon-midnight cycle.

"The Qian position."

Guan Shan spoke in a deep voice, "Guan Shan."

Chen Xiao's eyes reddened.

My vision became blurry.

He raised his hand and formed the same Meridian Seal.

"Gen position".

Chen Xiao gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse, "Chen Xiao."

Just two short words.

Both bodies tensed up simultaneously.

Slow footsteps came from the side.

Ma Ling walked into the firelight.

He flicked his empty right sleeve with one hand, a gentle smile on his face.

"It was loaded with four strangers."

Ma Ling found a flat rock by the fire and sat down. "I've been wanting to call you guys for a while now. My throat hurts from holding it in."

Ji Yuan stepped out from the shadows.

The blue robe swayed gently in the night breeze.

He held the blood-stained handkerchief in his hand, without coughing.

"My master instructed me not to acknowledge him until the appointed time."

Ji Yuan spoke calmly as she stood beside Guan Shan.

Jiang Chen took off the bamboo hat from his head and fanned himself with it.

He walked to the other side of the coffin and patted the thick coffin wood.

"Now, it's about time."

Jiang Chen looked at everyone.

The blind old man, leaning on his erhu, slowly groped his way over.

The old beggar scratched his messy hair and followed behind the blind old man.

Chen Xiao looked at them.

Eight people.

Under the cover of night, they all gathered before the black wooden coffin.

Ma Ling looked at Chen Xiao, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Mount down. Horse bell."

Ji Yuan straightened the hem of her long robe and bowed slightly.

"Zhen position. Ji Yuan."

Jiang Chen pressed one hand to his chest.

"The Kan position. The river sinks."

The blind old man tapped the neck of the erhu.

"The Xun position. The blind man of the wind."

The old beggar grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"The Kun position. An old beggar."

Chen Xiao looked up at them.

"Dui position. Chen Xiao."

Eight directions.

Eight names.

In this otherworldly battlefield filled with carnage, they formed a closed circle.

Twenty years.

They were dismissed by their master and left alone to guard eight remote corners of China.

For the past twenty years, there have been no telephones or letters.

They didn't know if the other was alive or dead, or what their circumstances were.

The master said, "Go and guard it."

We will wait until the day the world changes color.

Chen Xiao looked at his senior brothers and sisters in front of him.

Guan Shan's hair had turned mostly white.

Ma Ling lost an arm.

Ji Yuan developed lung disease.

Jiang Chen's back was hunched over.

Everyone bears the scars of time.

Only he stayed with his master, remaining in that coffin shop.

He knew that over the past twenty years, everyone had suffered hardships that ordinary people could not comprehend.

No one complained.

No one complained.

They looked at each other, their faces calm and composed.

Ji Yuan squatted down.

Pick up a dry stick and stir the charcoal at the bottom of the campfire.

"The deserts in the Northwest are windy and sandy."

Ji Yuan glanced at Guan Shan, "Senior brother, this sword isn't dull."

Guan Shan laughed loudly and sat down cross-legged.

"Sharpening a knife with sand makes it faster and sharper."

Ma Ling looked at Jiang Chen.

"The southeast has a heavy yin energy. Does your joint still hurt?"

Jiang Chen rubbed his calloused hands.

"I'm so used to being underwater that I find it too hot on land."

There was no passionate embrace.

There was no emotional outburst of loud crying.

It was just a very ordinary, everyday greeting.

Chen Xiao reached out and stroked the wood grain of the coffin behind him.

Their common master lay in the coffin.

Before his master put him in his coffin, he said, "Go and protect China."

Today, eight people are sitting here.

The night wind stirred the flames.

Chen Xiao sat by the fire, hugging his knees.

He rested his chin on his hands, looking at the senior students around him.

Tears welled up in the little girl's eyes.

Water droplets fell and landed on the dry yellow sand.

"Master said."

Chen Xiao sobbed, "You are all the backbone of China."

Chen Xiao sat down next to him.

Eight people formed a circle.

The firelight danced on everyone's faces.

Guan Shan untied the wine flask from his waist.

He pulled out the cork, took a big gulp himself, and then handed it to Ji Yuan next to him.

"I've been storing this wine for twenty years. On this special day, let's all have a sip."

Ji Yuan took the wine pot, and without wiping the mouth of the bottle with a handkerchief, tilted her head back and drank it down.

The wine jug was passed from hand to hand among eight people.

On this night, the span of twenty years was brought closer together, almost within reach.

Ma Ling drank the last sip of wine.

He raised his hand to wipe the wine stains from the corner of his mouth.

"It's been twenty years since we last met."

Ma Ling looked at everyone and said, "We should talk about what everyone has been doing all these years."

Ji Yuan toyed with the half-used piece of chalk in her hand, her voice drifting away on the wind.

"Guard the village, offer sacrifices to the ghosts."