Ten minutes prior, when Invincible Champion was still alive, Feng Bujue was inside the cellar. Feng Bujue knocked on the coffin lid and said teasingly, "Hey, Miss Madeline, are you there?"
He did not expect a reply to come from inside the coffin because he knew that the coffin was supposed to be empty.
After finding the first stanza of The Haunted Palace, Feng Bujue had begun to suspect that the house was inspired by the House of Usher in the short story. When he arrived at the cellar and saw the coffin and the fifth stanza on the wall, his suspicion was confirmed.