Corpse Retriever

“I don’t know. It wasn’t until I was set on the carrying pole that I saw it was Brother Bin carrying me. Then Brother Bin told me to jump down here. He said they still had to keep bringing in more passengers.”

Li Zhuiyuan frowned slightly. That meant Yin Meng had been picked up by Xiong Shan and his wife?

But then why hadn’t Yin Meng come down with Lin Shuyou?

He did not believe Xiong Shan had deliberately refused to cooperate, since the man’s son was still in his hands.

What followed was a long wait.

Li Zhuiyuan took out paper and a pen from his bag. As he wrote and sketched, thinking through how to deal with that “mine,” he listened to Lin Shuyou recount what had happened.

In broad terms, it matched Li Zhuiyuan’s earlier guess.

Yin Meng had suddenly learned how to walk the shade.

But not because, as he had imagined, she had been bored on the train or while watching over Brother Huzi and the other two.

It was because of that staged act. Lin Shuyou and Yin Meng had played a quarreling couple while laying bait in front of Brother Huzi and the others, and they had thrown themselves into it too completely.The quarrel had been fake, yes, but everything they argued about had been real.

Mengmeng had been hurt.

Along the way, whenever she got a break after сменing shifts with Lin Shuyou, she desperately practiced walking the shade.

Driven by an intense sense of humiliation, she had actually succeeded.

One had to remember that Yin Meng had once been judged by Granny Liu as “naturally dull-sensed.”

That alone showed just how badly this incident had shaken her.

As for Brother Huzi and the other two, although their karmic thread had been created by Li Zhuiyuan, once they got here, it had truly connected to the current.

There was no way they could find Shazi Village in Baichi Town on their own, but after asking around over and over, they found a place with a similar-sounding name and headed there to search. In the end, the three idiots took the wrong road, failed to find even that similar-sounding place, and got lost in the mountains.

Lin Shuyou and Yin Meng naturally followed them the whole way. When they saw the three get lost, they had no intention of interfering. In fact, they were happy to let it happen, since it would help pass the time.

After the three exhausted themselves and bedded down in the mountains to sleep, planning to wait until daylight before looking for a way out, Lin Shuyou stayed on watch while Yin Meng rested first.

But Yin Meng could not sleep, so she started practicing walking the shade.

And with that one attempt, she succeeded.

The first thing she saw after succeeding was a corpse-driving procession passing in the distance.

They were drawn by her “gaze”...

And then everything connected.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that the place where Brother Huzi and the others had camped was either not far from the old residences of those three families, or happened to lie right along the corpse drivers’ necessary route when they went to hook people from those households.

Still, Brother Huzi and the other two had been dragged into it because of Yin Meng. They had been sleeping peacefully, only to be mistaken for part of the same group and taken into the procession.

But the three of them had done every kind of filth imaginable—bullying, extortion, molestation, humiliation, robbery. Human trash like that belonged in a ghost den. That was the right place for them.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that against beings whose feet did not touch the ground, resistance was nearly impossible. Even he had to avoid them. Still, there was one thing he was curious about.

“Did you try spirit medium ritual?”

The moment he asked, Li Zhuiyuan already knew the answer.

Lin Shuyou said, “I tried, but I couldn’t make it happen.”

As expected. With such overwhelming curse power, even White Crane Child dared not look directly at it. If this thing really burst open, it would probably wipe out his divine seat on the spot. He would not even get to remain a ghost.

But things could not go on like this forever. White Crane Child would come down when the problem looked manageable, but the moment things seemed dangerous, he simply would not show up.

Everyone else was risking their lives, so why did he get to pick and choose?

Li Zhuiyuan turned to a fresh page in his notebook and paused.

Looks like it was time to design a compulsory summoning method for the Child.

“Little Yuanhou, this baby is so good. He doesn’t cry or fuss at all. He’s so adorable.”

Lin Shuyou teased the child, and the baby reached out on his own, smiling sweetly as he grabbed for Lin Shuyou’s finger.

“Then hurry up and have one yourself.”

“Hehe. My grandpa really does want me to get married and have kids early.”

Li Zhuiyuan tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

How exactly was that thing supposed to be handled?

It could not be discharged, and it could not be transferred. Once it leaked outside, it would become a catastrophe.

But even if it erupted inside here, the ancestors of Old Tianmen would all suffer the backlash, turn into monsters, rush out, and trigger an even more horrifying disaster.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes again, lowered his head, picked up his pen, and began listing every possible option and consequence.

With how fast his mind worked, he did not really need to do this.

But he needed to weigh them carefully.

After making a series of marks, Li Zhuiyuan selected what seemed to be the best solution for the moment.

Yet even he almost wanted to laugh at the line of thinking behind this so-called optimal answer.

But gradually, the boy’s expression turned serious.

It actually might work.

Because at the very least, it counted as a method.

Just then, Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, and Xiong Shan and his wife all slid down from above.

Yin Meng was still nowhere to be seen.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Where’s Mengmeng?”

Tan Wenbin said, “Damn it, Mengmeng’s an honored guest. Some high-ranking eunuch personally came to escort her to her quarters. The eunuch I bribed wasn’t at his level.”

“Do you know where she was taken?”

“She went into the palace.”

Lihua took her son from Lin Shuyou’s arms and kissed him on the forehead.

Xiong Shan said, “Since your subordinate was treated as an honored guest by the general, she should not be in any mortal danger. At worst, she’ll stay as a guest for a few days, then be released.”

Li Zhuiyuan understood what Xiong Shan meant and asked,

“You’re leaving?”

Xiong Shan nodded. “What else?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “What’s happening here is not quite what you originally thought. I saw some things in the banquet hall. I can tell you about them.”

A conflicted look appeared on Xiong Shan’s face.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “What, you’re not even willing to listen?”

Xiong Shan replied, “I’m afraid that once I hear it, I won’t be able to leave anymore. I have a feeling you all really want me to stay.”

Li Zhuiyuan answered frankly, “I want to solve what’s happening here, so I need help.”

Lihua said, “This has nothing to do with us anymore. Once we leave, he’ll go light the lamp. Then for the rest of our lives, all we’ll do is raise our son and avenge the second and third brothers.”

Xiong Shan said, “That’s right. I’ve already decided. Little brother, my advice is that you meddle less in other people’s affairs. Every sip and every peck follows heaven’s will. Not every matter you encounter needs to be handled. Some things are fated to happen.”

With that, Xiong Shan and Lihua prepared to climb back up with the child.

The maidservants and eunuchs had already returned to the palace, and the banquet hall was now empty. They only had to go back in, jump down from the waterfall, and they would return to the lake’s surface.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at their backs and said, “If every sip and every peck follows heaven’s will, then aren’t you curious how the second and third brothers actually died?”

Xiong Shan stopped dead in his tracks and turned to stare at Li Zhuiyuan.

“What do you mean by that?”

Lihua was even more direct.

“You know how the second and third brothers were captured?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. “I don’t.”

Xiong Shan pointed a finger at him. “Little brother, you shouldn’t be using the second and third brothers to talk to me like this.”

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou immediately stood up.

Tan Wenbin shoved Xiong Shan’s hand aside and said, “Three favors, remember? Three favors can’t even buy you a decent attitude?”

Xiong Shan took a deep breath, withdrew his finger, and clenched his fist.

Li Zhuiyuan was neither angry nor offended, because he wanted them to stay and risk their lives for this.

And what he was about to say next was not a deliberate lie. It was his genuine suspicion.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Xiong Shan, since you walk the martial world, let me ask you something. Once you light the lamp a second time, you can admit defeat and withdraw from the martial world, right?”

Xiong Shan replied, “Of course. That’s a rule everyone in the martial world knows.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “So the martial world is that easygoing? If the waves are small, you wade through them. But once a big wave comes—even if it’s right in front of you, even if you’re already standing in it—all danger disappears as long as you hurry up and light the lamp a second time?”

Xiong Shan fell silent.

He was self-taught, and much of what he knew he had pieced together by himself. He did not actually understand this part clearly. But the boy’s words did make sense. River water had never been tenderhearted.

Li Zhuiyuan continued, “If everyone played it that way, wouldn’t everything fall apart? Sure, each person only gets one chance in a lifetime to walk the martial world, but then wouldn’t everyone be able to pick and choose?”

Just like White Crane Child.

Even Li Zhuiyuan could not stand that ghostly habit of choosing his battles based on convenience, and he was already planning to deal with it. Would heaven’s law really just let it slide?

Lihua tugged at her husband’s arm, signaling for him to speak.

Xiong Shan soothed his wife, then looked at Li Zhuiyuan. His tone softened.

“Are you sure about what you’re saying?”

“No. That’s why I’m asking you—how did the second and third brothers die?”

“How would I know?”

“If it was really just as you said, that they were only assigned to keep watch, would they really have flipped the cart so easily?”

“That’s the part I don’t understand either. I don’t believe those two families could have taken down the second and third brothers that easily, let alone both of them.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “That’s what I think too.”

From his contact with Lihua, Li Zhuiyuan could tell the quality of Xiong Shan’s team. Even while carrying a child, Lihua had been nearly flawless in disguise, setup, and response.

Which meant the second and third brothers were probably even better than she was.

Xiong Shan said, “You mean that because I wanted to light the lamp and admit defeat, the river started punishing me? But when the second and third brothers were captured, I was here trying to seal the general. I almost succeeded!”

“Then can you listen now while I finish telling you what I discovered here?”

“Go on.” Xiong Shan sat down. “I’m listening.”

Seeing this, Lihua had no choice but to sit down with the child in her arms.

Li Zhuiyuan then told them the truth he had pieced together.

The more they listened, the more shocked everyone looked.

Tan Wenbin said, “The ancestors of Old Tianmen actually managed to go that far.”

Runsheng said, “Heroes.”

Xiong Shan’s face turned ugly. In disbelief, he said, “So if I had succeeded in sealing the general, I would actually have triggered this disaster ahead of time?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “When I sat there holding the straw dummy, the general saw through my disguise. So when you almost succeeded, that was probably deliberate on the general’s part too.”

Xiong Shan’s breathing quickened, and cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

“I... I misunderstood what the river meant?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “It’s worse than that.”

Xiong Shan’s body began to tremble. This outstanding man from the grasslands of the common world was truly frightened now.

Only those who had lit the lamp and experienced the river firsthand could understand the terror of being guided and dominated by that current.

“I nearly ruined everything... and I even planned to pull out immediately...”

No one knew better than Xiong Shan how rich the rewards of walking the martial world could be. Otherwise, he would never have risked bringing his own son along.

But if the river could reward so generously, then when you defied its will, the punishment it dealt out would only be more terrifying.

Li Zhuiyuan continued, “And if your withdrawal caused this disaster to erupt in the end, whose head do you think it would be charged to?”

“I... I...”

The scene the boy had described was too horrifying. If that heavenly calamity really ended up being laid at his feet, then “terrifying” was no longer enough to describe it.

Li Zhuiyuan softened his tone.

“To be safe, get through this wave first. Then light the lamp.”

After saying that, Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head.

By his usual habits, after saying those words, he should have looked toward the child, because he knew full well that the child was this couple’s weak point.

Using every available condition to achieve one’s purpose had always seemed perfectly normal to him.

But this time, he did not want to do it.

Perhaps because he had not been away from Ah Li long enough yet.

Or perhaps because he deliberately wanted to leave himself this detail, so that when he later told Ah Li about this ordeal, she would feel his illness had improved another step.

But even if Li Zhuiyuan did not look, the others did.

Runsheng and Lin Shuyou immediately turned their eyes toward the child.

Tan Wenbin had not been looking at first, but seeing those two already staring, he reluctantly joined them.

There was no helping it. Everyone found the idea of bringing a child along to walk the river strange. They understood the couple had done it to accumulate merit for the child. But if they failed to gain merit and instead ended up with it deducted...

Then what would become of the child?

Lihua began to cry as she held her son, but she quickly wiped away her tears. Her gaze hardened, and she nodded to her husband.

Xiong Shan looked at Li Zhuiyuan and said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m doing this for my own purposes too. I want your help risking your lives. If either you or your wife dies in what comes next, that would be perfectly normal.”

Xiong Shan immediately said, “If we die, that doesn’t matter. I only hope you can help us take care of the child—”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I don’t like children.”

Tan Wenbin stood up and smoothed things over.

“Right. And who says anyone has to die? You two just stay alive. None of us here is even married yet. Who has the time to drag along some little burden in daily life?”

Lihua laughed.

Xiong Shan stroked his wife’s hair and said, “I have a request.”

Tan Wenbin raised three fingers. “Three favors! Three favors!”

Xiong Shan looked embarrassed. “No, what I mean is... if I survive this time, I hope I can go to Nantong and pay a formal visit to the Li Family of Nantong to offer my thanks.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “You may.”

…

All through the palace, ruins lay everywhere, and few buildings remained intact.

Jie Shunan walked through the wreckage and arrived before what had once been the main hall.

This place had once been the heart of the underground palace, the burial site of the general’s coffin.

Now the palace had vanished completely, and all that remained was a giant pit.

Inside the pit sat a black coffin.

Even amid this palace, now little more than a field of ruins, the coffin looked so ordinary that it felt strangely out of place.

Jie Shunan set the general’s armor beside it, then grabbed the edge of the pit with both hands, leaned down, and called inside:

“Great-Grandfather, I’ve come to visit you again.”

Creak...

The coffin lid slowly slid open, revealing what lay within.

Inside the coffin, the corpse wore a spotless yellow Daoist robe, with a set of corpse-driver tools buried beside it as grave goods.

Only the Daoist’s face was completely covered by hair.

“Great-Grandfather, open your eyes and look at me...”

The hair over the Daoist’s face slowly parted.

What was revealed was, astonishingly, the general’s withered, monkey-like face.

This was where the general’s true body lay.

Back then, that member of the Xie family had used his own blood relative as the sacrifice, turning it into a life-and-death seal. Then the Dragon King of the Qin Clan had used that seal to suppress him completely.

From that time onward, he and that member of the Xie family had shared one body and one soul, all the way down to the present.

Jie Shunan smiled and said:

“Great-Grandfather, the general has long since grown tired. There’s no need for you to keep forcing yourself to endure it.

Letting the general perish sooner was your long-cherished wish back then.

Besides, wouldn’t it also let you find release sooner?”

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