Corpse Retriever

“You’re unwilling.”

Yuxuzi had clearly not expected his request to be refused, especially before he had even said what the request was.

Li Zhuiyuan answered again with blunt honesty, “That’s right. I’m unwilling.”

Yuxuzi revealed a puzzled expression and asked, “Why? For young friends like yourselves, it would be no more than a small effort. Perhaps, young friend, you could at least let me finish first.”

Li Zhuiyuan pointed at the six college students and asked, “Daoist priest, did they also listen to you finish speaking back then?”

Yuxuzi gave a slight shake of the head, a smile appearing on his face. “Haha, young friend, it seems you’ve misunderstood.”

“Hm?”

“The formation has now been reconnected, yes, but you do not know how dangerous and complicated this village was before that happened.

“I can tell you plainly: this demon creature once rampaged here, killing many villagers. Their resentment accumulated in this place, and ghostly wails filled the air day and night.

“These six young people barged in here. If I had not intervened to protect them, they would already be dead.“You see,

“all six of them are still alive.”

Yuxuzi clapped his hands.

“Blech!”

“Urgh.”

All six college students dropped to their knees and began vomiting. Mouthful after mouthful of foul-smelling black liquid poured from their mouths, mixed with tiny fish.

At that moment, although they were still dazed and unclear-headed, there was noticeably more life in them than before.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “If that’s the case, Daoist priest, why not see the deed through? Since you preserved their lives, why not send them out as well?”

“Because they can’t get out.” Yuxuzi let out a sigh. “In fact, young friend, the same is true for you. You can’t get out either.”

“Oh?”

Li Zhuiyuan showed a startled expression.

“You may not know this, young friend, but this formation allows entry and forbids exit.”

“Daoist priest, what kind of joke is that? How could that be possible?” Li Zhuiyuan put on a show of forced composure.

Tan Wenbin shouted at the top of his lungs, “Yeah, how is that possible!”

Yin Meng sneered. “What alarmist nonsense.”

Runsheng snorted. “Hmph.”

Normally, aside from necessary social situations, Li Zhuiyuan rarely showed much emotion, especially when he was alone with his companions. He would deliberately avoid performing.

From the perspective of Tan Wenbin and the other two, though, this was sometimes an advantage: the moment their Little Yuanhou suddenly started acting and showing a lot of emotion, they immediately picked up on it and began to cooperate.

Their acting was a bit exaggerated, but it had no flaws.

Because acting is meant to conceal certain truths, and they didn’t know what the truth was in the first place, so they simply acted.

Yuxuzi extended both hands and pressed them downward. “Please, all of you, calm yourselves. As the saying goes, hearing is false, seeing is believing. Whether I am lying to you or not, wouldn’t you know if you went and looked for yourselves?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “All right.”

Yuxuzi said, “Please.”

Li Zhuiyuan turned and left. Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Yin Meng followed closely behind. But after they had gone only a short distance, Yuxuzi’s voice came again from behind them:

“Young friends, are you not taking them with you as well?”

The four turned back and saw Yuxuzi pointing at the college students still sprawled on the ground.

Li Zhuiyuan replied with a question. “Didn’t you just say we can’t get out? Then why ask whether we want to take them with us?”

Yuxuzi countered with one of his own. “Didn’t you seem certain that you could get out? If so, why not bring these six young people along while you’re at it? That way you wouldn’t need to come back for them later. Wouldn’t that save trouble?”

“If we can get out, then coming back in again would only cost us a bit of walking. That hardly counts as trouble.”

Yuxuzi lightly slapped his forehead. “Then I misunderstood. I thought you young friends had come specifically to rescue them.”

That really was a good excuse, perfect for taking the offered way out.

But in truth, it was a trap.

Li Zhuiyuan had known for a long time that the fish outside were not fully controlled by this village. Their memories and perspectives were not shared.

The fish on Yin Meng’s side, for instance, had still been busy eating mice to satisfy its own appetite. Only after all the nearby mice were gone had it gone after Yin Meng and Zheng Jiayi.

The fish on Binbin’s side had been even more absurd. Even when it had already turned hostile, it had had a chance to kill Zeng Yinyin first, but it had actually been afraid of making the ghost husband angry and driving him completely onto Binbin’s side, so it had missed the opportunity just like that. That fish... it had actually wanted independence.

But now Li Zhuiyuan had gained a new understanding: the monster could draw information from the fish.

His gaze swept quickly over the little fish that had just been vomited out by the college students and were still flopping about on the ground.

In his mind, he rapidly reviewed every conversation he and his companions had had since entering the village, especially after getting close to these college students.

“Daoist priest, you really did misunderstand. We did not come here for them.”

“Yes, indeed.” Yuxuzi made a gesture of invitation toward the end of the village. “Young friend, please go on. I shall wait here for your return.”

After Li Zhuiyuan and the other three left, Yuxuzi walked over to the six college students, bent down, picked up one of the little fish from the ground, opened his mouth, and put it inside.

As he chewed, strands of sound drifted from his mouth.

If someone had put their ear right beside the old man’s head, they would have heard snatches of conversation.

Yuxuzi nodded thoughtfully, turned to look at the large fish floating in the river, and smiled.

“So they really didn’t come for them. Nor purely for the righteous path. They came because they wanted excitement.”

After a pause, Yuxuzi opened his mouth, revealing two rows of sharp teeth hidden deep behind his lips.

“It seems the world outside really is an age of peace and prosperity. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many young people with nothing better to do.”

Yuxuzi picked up the rest of the little fish from the ground one by one, but this time he could not be bothered to savor them slowly. He tossed them into his mouth and swallowed directly. Before long, he had eaten them all.

He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips with lingering relish, then walked back to the riverbank, scooped up some river water, and began washing his face.

When he finished and raised his head to look at his reflection in the water, his face had returned to normal.

“Four people, yet they all take their lead from the youngest one. That boy must be extraordinary. He’s been hiding his abilities. I’m afraid he won’t be easy to fool.”

…

Runsheng walked in front, Yin Meng at the rear, and Tan Wenbin stayed beside Li Zhuiyuan.

As he walked, the boy kept thinking.

He had come in aiming for full marks, only to discover after entering that there was actually an extra question as well.

The extra question greatly increased the difficulty, but at the same time, it also provided more known conditions.

All the doubts that had been weighing on his mind were now resolved with those conditions.

Once a difficult problem had its “veil of mystery” stripped away, it lost its mystique, because from that point on, all that remained was to follow the steps one by one.

As long as he could make sure those steps proceeded steadily, then he would be able to obtain every point at the smallest possible cost.

This was a card table. He sat on one side, the monster on the other.

The cards in his hand might not be as good as the monster’s, but he had already seen through the monster’s true hole card.

Come on, then. Let’s play this slowly.

The four passed through the village, went by the Spirit Hall again, and finally arrived at the end of the village, where they had entered earlier.

What Yuxuzi had said was actually true. Under normal conditions, this formation really did allow entry and forbid exit.

But since Li Zhuiyuan had dared to bring his companions in, that meant he had a way to take them back out.

Earlier, while outside and making a preliminary observation of the formation, he had already judged it in his heart to be crude and incomplete.

Getting out would not be difficult. He only needed to set up a targeted little deception formation. Unless something was the formation’s intended target, anyone or anything else could use that method to slip out.

Of course, that sort of “not difficult” only applied to Li Zhuiyuan himself.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Everyone, give it a try. See whether you can get out.”

The boy gave the order, then sat down, took several flag markers out of his backpack, and also pulled out a sheet of paper and started arranging and sketching.

Runsheng, Yin Meng, and Tan Wenbin exchanged looks. In the past, no matter what they encountered, Little Yuanhou would always provide a plan first, and everyone would follow it.

When had he ever just sat down somewhere and let everyone improvise?

The three took it as a new script and began trying to leave the place.

They tried many methods, but all failed. They could clearly see the stone table and stone stele ahead, yet no matter what they did, they could not reach them.

They began to look more and more “anxious,” and their expressions gradually became more and more “grave.” They even quarreled several times.

At the end, Li Zhuiyuan finished setting up the formation and signaled for everyone to pass through it, but they still failed.

Silently, Li Zhuiyuan packed away the formation flags and the diagram, put them back into his bag, and then turned around and started walking back.

The other three naturally followed. Along the way, stirred up by Tan Wenbin, the three of them even mocked one another and bickered.

Even though there were no visible cameras, they all continued to act seriously. After all, who knew whether there might be hidden filming?

They followed the original route back and arrived once more at the river at the head of the village.

The six college students were lying side by side under the old locust tree in the distance. They were probably still unconscious.

Yuxuzi stood on the stone slab. Even though half his body was covered in fish scales, his distant silhouette still carried a certain poetic air.

The large fish had disappeared from sight, but from time to time thick ripples spread across the center of the river, proving that it was still swimming below.

As if hearing the footsteps, Yuxuzi turned around and looked at the four of them with a kindly smile on his face.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Daoist priest, I was presumptuous earlier.”

Yuxuzi replied, “Young friend, please do not say that. One must of course be cautious when traveling the jianghu. Outside, you helped the descendants of my three disciples reconnect the formation, and then you dared to walk in here of your own accord. That courage and sense of responsibility are already rare and admirable.”

“Please teach me how to leave this place, Daoist priest.”

Yuxuzi reached beneath the river’s surface and drew out a stone slab carved with intricate patterns.

“I wonder, young friend, have you ever studied formations?”

“I know a little.”

At this, delight appeared on Yuxuzi’s face, and he immediately asked another question.

“And do you know how to walk the shade?”

“I’ve barely mastered it.”

Yuxuzi clapped lightly and exclaimed with feeling, “Heaven’s will. This truly is heaven’s will.”

Among Corpse Retrievers, the good and the bad were all mixed together, and the range between the upper and lower limits was enormous. Some retained skills that let them range freely across the rivers, while others, like his own Taigong, had become little more than part of folk culture.

“What do you mean by that, Daoist priest?”

“Heaven’s will is letting you escape this predicament, young friend. Heaven’s will is letting this demon creature be annihilated once and for all!”

“Please explain in detail.”

“Look at this first.” Yuxuzi tossed the stone slab toward Li Zhuiyuan. Runsheng stepped forward first, caught it, and handed it to the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan swept his eyes over it. What was carved there resembled the mnemonic formulas he had once designed for Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng.

As long as one memorized it by rote and had a bit of basic knowledge about formations, one could move through a formation in foolproof fashion and perform a few controls.

“What do you think, young friend?”

“It’s a little difficult, but manageable.”

“No matter. You need only hold it in your hands and look at it as you walk.”

“And then?”

Yuxuzi raised an arm and waved lightly. A stream of water shot up from the surface of the river and extended along the village road all the way toward the end of the village.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed his lips together. Earlier, he truly had not detected the existence of this stream in advance, because it did not lie in reality.

It was more like a guiding line drawn with special pigment, visible only when illuminated. Normally, there would be no trace of it at all.

Following the line, Li Zhuiyuan began examining the nearby ground. The village road was dirt and relatively soft. Along the route, he quickly found several fish-tail marks.

Fish had probably once followed this “stream”—or rather, followed the guidance of this line—flopping along the ground all the way out.

Presumably, the fish that had gone after the Xue, Zheng, and Zeng families in Min’an Town had been sent out from here in just this way.

Although the monster was in Siyuan Village, it still had a means of affecting Min’an Town.

“Young friend, follow the guidance of this stream all the way to the end of the village, and you will enter the mist. Then continue with walking the shade. Within the mist, seek out a stone table. Place the stone slab upon it according to the method written on it, and the mist will open wide, allowing you to leave this place and regain your freedom.”

The fox’s tail was not merely showing now; it had grown all the way out.

At a glance, Li Zhuiyuan could tell that simply by following the directions of this “stream,” one could leave the formation.

As for the mist afterward and everything that was supposedly to be done within it, that had all been tacked on afterward—entirely Yuxuzi’s private agenda.

In truth, he would already be outside the village, yet Yuxuzi would still keep him confused, making him think he had not gotten out, and then continue getting him to act according to his instructions.

And the stone table inside the mist—wasn’t that the offering table outside?

He wanted Li Zhuiyuan to help him destroy that offering table and thereby ruin the formation.

But if it were that simple, why had he not arranged for one of the fish he had already sent out to do it?

Those fish could not only kill people, they could even treat people as puppets and control them. Logically, they should have been able to carry out such a task.

Unless there was some reason why those fish could not do it.

Li Zhuiyuan tightened his grip slightly on the stone slab. It was hard—too hard to leave any mark by squeezing.

Something that could plainly have been written on paper or even on a wooden board had instead been carved into stone?

Li Zhuiyuan looked at Tan Wenbin and said, “Binbin, your attainments in formations are the deepest among us. Take a look at this stone slab.”

As he spoke, he held the slab in both hands and tossed it toward Tan Wenbin.

Tan Wenbin: My attainments in formations are the deepest?

Of course my attainments in formations are the deepest.

Tan Wenbin caught the slab with both hands, studied it carefully from top to bottom, and commented:

“Mhm. Concise, easy to understand, simplifying complexity into simplicity. Not bad, not bad.”

“Then let me have another look.” Li Zhuiyuan spread his hands and beckoned.

Tan Wenbin had originally intended to walk over and hand it back, but imitating what Li Zhuiyuan had done earlier, he simply tossed the slab back.

After catching it with both hands, Li Zhuiyuan pressed his palms and forearms against the slab and felt carefully. As expected, he detected faint layered vibrations.

There was something hidden inside this stone slab!

“Daoist priest, you’ve only told us how to get out so far. But I remember you said earlier that you wanted our help completely eradicating this demon creature?”

“In truth, it would only be a matter of convenience.” Yuxuzi took out a lamp from his robes. Its flame was pure white, and from it came the faint sound of something like a heartbeat. “Young friend, do you know what this is?”

It was a soul-banner.

“Daoist priest, what is it?”

“This is my soul-banner.

“In those years, I used my flesh body as the foundation of the formation, my soul as its controlling eye, and had my three disciples settle here generation after generation to continue its connection.

“With a burning heart, I sought to eliminate evil and defend the righteous path.

“But this demon creature is truly formidable.

“You have seen these fish scales on my body as well.

“All these years, I have been suppressing it, but in truth it has also been suppressing me. The two of us have long since become entangled.

“Inside this formation, a self-contained order has already formed. My soul has been steeped in it for so long that the two have become almost indistinguishable. Now it is already greatly weakened, its vitality nearly exhausted.

“So I ask that when you leave, you take my soul-banner with you. The lamp cannot be extinguished here, but once outside, extinguish it.

“I shall take it with me, and together we shall vanish from this world forever.”

“Your resolve to sacrifice yourself for the Dao, Daoist priest, fills us with admiration.”

“To be honest, there is also a bit of selfishness in this on my part.” Yuxuzi reached out and scratched at the fish scales on his body. “I, too, wish to be released as soon as possible.”

Then Yuxuzi bowed to Li Zhuiyuan.

“I ask you, young friend—please grant this.”

Li Zhuiyuan returned the bow. “I will certainly do all I can.”

The two met each other’s eyes and both smiled.

Yuxuzi picked up a lantern from the ground and pointed to the little stream before him. “In that case, I will personally guide you.”

“Many thanks, Daoist priest.”

“Roar!”

In the middle of the river, the large fish opened its bloody maw and let out a furious howl, its tail slamming desperately against the surface.

Yuxuzi smiled. “You evil beast, are you afraid now?”

The great fish kept roaring and writhing, its eyes blood-red.

“Do not worry, evil beast. You will soon cease to exist.”

Yuxuzi took the lantern and walked ahead, while Li Zhuiyuan and the other three followed behind him, stepping along the “stream.”

They had not gone very far before Yuxuzi stopped, turned, and pointed to the six unconscious college students beneath the tree, reminding them:

“Young friend, it seems you have forgotten them.”

Li Zhuiyuan glanced back and said, “Then let them be forgotten. When it comes time to continue walking the shade, my companions will need to support me into the mist. They can’t move now, so they cannot follow. Carrying them by force would only be a burden, and it might also ruin the matter.”

Yuxuzi sighed. “But Heaven cherishes all living things.”

Li Zhuiyuan replied at once, “When eliminating evil and defending the righteous path, sacrifices are to be expected.”

A look of reluctance appeared on Yuxuzi’s face, but in the end he still nodded. “In the end, it comes down to each person’s own fate. It cannot be forced.”

After that reflection, Yuxuzi continued onward.

As they passed the shut house Li Zhuiyuan had entered earlier, Yuxuzi asked, “Young friend, you already went inside and looked, didn’t you?”

“Wasn’t it you, Daoist priest, who arranged for them to take us in there to pay our respects?”

“The yellow-robed Daoist inside was my senior brother. I had heard that he and his disciples had come here to eliminate the demon and defend the righteous path, so I rushed over as well. But by the time I arrived, everything was already too late.

“All these years, I have often thought that if only my senior brother had waited for me to set out with him, then if we brothers had joined forces, would the outcome have been different?”

“In the end, it comes down to each person’s own fate. It cannot be forced.”

“Well said.”

The five of them continued on.

Yuxuzi spoke again. “Young friend, have you ever heard of the Dragon King’s clan on the river?”

“I’ve heard a little about them from the elders in my family.”

“Then have you heard of Liu, the Dragon King?”

“Liu, the Dragon King... seems to have declined.”

“Oh?” Yuxuzi sounded startled. “It hasn’t even been that many years. How could they have declined already?”

“I don’t know the details, but the Liu Clan has not sent anyone to walk the river in decades.”

“Oh...” Yuxuzi let out a long breath, as though some burden had fallen away.

“Daoist priest?”

“I merely find it moving. I never expected that even a force as mighty as the Dragon King’s clan could decline. Did you know, young friend, that this demon creature was originally suppressed by a Dragon King of the Liu Clan?”

“The woman in green robes in the painting was a Dragon King of the Liu Clan?”

“Precisely.”

“But since that Dragon King of the Liu Clan had already gravely wounded this demon creature, why was it not dealt with completely?”

“Young friend, there is something you do not know. Some demons and evil entities are simply very difficult to eradicate completely. One can only suppress and wear them down over time. That Dragon King of the Liu Clan must have come here later, but upon seeing that I had already set up the formation and opened the suppression, she assumed the matter was settled and left.”

“You truly did accomplish it, Daoist priest.”

“What a pity. My senior brother greatly admired the Liu Clan in those years, yet until his death he never got to meet that Dragon King even once. That was probably one of his greatest regrets.”

“Was it really that extreme?”

“Not at all.”

“But you are a Daoist, Daoist priest.”

“But when a Dragon King goes on the river, it’s not as though she spends every day living on a boat.”

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