Corpse Retriever

Tan Wenbin was holding a framed photo he had found under the bed. There were four people in it. The two old people seated in the middle had not been this old back then, and the twin sons on either side had not yet fully grown, but they were still recognizable. Those twins were the two young yellow-robed Daoist priests in the corpse-driving party, one in front and one behind.

The woman saw those things as well, and when she looked again at the two elders, her eyes turned thoughtful.

Then she planted a foot on the old man’s chest and demanded, “Talk. What’s your relationship with them?”

The old man stammered, his face twisted in pain, and gave no answer.

The woman pressed on, “What is the relationship between your sons and that thing?”

At the word “sons,” the old man’s expression froze. Then he shouted, “My two boys both went out to work! They’re making big money, striking it rich, and then they’ll come take us into the city so we can enjoy the good life!”

The woman drew a deep breath. It was obvious how furious she was.

Li Zhuiyuan stepped forward on his own initiative and said, “Let me ask.”

The woman withdrew her foot and stepped aside, making room for the boy.

“Binbin, find some chopsticks and a bowl.”“Got it.”

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to the old woman, took out a Calming Talisman, and slapped it onto her forehead.

The old woman’s panic and fear immediately calmed down.

The boy slowly swayed the bone ring on his fingertip from side to side in front of her eyes.

The old woman’s eyelids drooped slightly.

Li Zhuiyuan made a hand signal.

Tan Wenbin picked up the chopsticks and began tapping the bowl. “Ding... ding... ding...”

Light returned to the old woman’s eyes, as though she had become a different person.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned his face close and spoke to her in a low voice. The old woman replied in the same quiet volume.

As they spoke, Li Zhuiyuan raised a hand toward the woman and snapped his fingers several times in a row.

Don’t even think about eavesdropping.

The woman was so angry her chest heaved.

When the questioning was over, Li Zhuiyuan pressed his thumb down on the talisman on the old woman’s forehead. Her body shuddered, and she fell asleep.

Then the boy took out another Calming Talisman, pasted it onto the old man’s forehead, pressed it down, and the old man also fell asleep.

“Runsheng, carry them back onto the bed.”

“Sure thing.”

Runsheng carried the two elders into the house.

Li Zhuiyuan then looked at the woman without speaking.

Want to hear it?

Trade me information.

The woman said, “Do you know the four corpse-driving families of Old Heaven Gate?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I do.”

“Behind Peach Blossom Village in Meiling Town, there is a lake. Its ancient name was Lake Yinma.

Locals have always passed down the story that at the bottom of the lake there is a water burial, and buried there is an ancient general.

Later, a troop of Yuan soldiers came here and excavated the water burial, robbing the tomb for treasure. They awakened that general and caused chaos, nearly bringing disaster to all directions.

For the sake of the common people and the local homeland, the four great families of Old Heaven Gate joined forces and, with the help of an important figure, suppressed that general once more.

Do you know all this?”

Li Zhuiyuan replied a bit impatiently, “I know.”

“In that battle, that important figure suffered severe injuries and disappeared from the martial world from then on.

The four great families of Old Heaven Gate also suffered grievous losses. The worst hit was the Xie family of Oxblade. It is said that the head of the Xie family of that generation personally used his own body to suppress the corpse, and only then helped that important figure complete the seal and dissolve a great calamity.

Afterward, what remained of the Xie family of Oxblade moved their ancestral residence to Peach Blossom Village and guarded it generation after generation.

One reason was that the family had suffered too heavily in that battle. Another was that living in seclusion was bad for growth and development.

From then on, the Xie family of Oxblade gradually declined. Though it still retained the title of one of Old Heaven Gate’s four families, it had long since ceased to deserve the name.

Do you know this as well?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I do. Got anything fresher?”

“During the Ming and Qing periods, it should have been the golden age for corpse drivers. The Xie family of Oxblade also wanted to use that opportunity to revive itself, but several attempts failed.

In the late Qing, the heavens grew unstable, and the general suppressed in Lake Yinma began stirring again. The other three families of Old Heaven Gate sent people here once more and repressed the disturbance.

But this time, there are very few records, and all four families keep silent about it.

Only one thing is known: the battle was just as brutal as the one in the Yuan era. The Xie family of Oxblade was nearly wiped out and fell completely into ruin, left with nothing but a name.

Of the people sent by the other three families, very few returned alive, and those who did never spoke a word of it for the rest of their lives.”

Li Zhuiyuan sighed. “Sigh... if you know those old stories, then so do I. Can you talk about something contemporary instead? Don’t waste our time.”

“Ten years ago, it’s said that someone from the Xie family of Oxblade strayed onto an evil path, was beguiled by the suppressed general, and became his servant.”

Li Zhuiyuan’s expression turned serious, as if to say that she had finally reached something he did not know.

The woman said, “And then that was that.”

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “That was what?”

The woman said, “What you saw. The one you saw earlier should have been a corpse driver who died here in that battle. No one knows which of the four families he belonged to.

They died, yet they ‘lived’ again.

Over the past ten years, many incidents like this have happened around Peach Blossom Village.

I just didn’t expect it to spread this far this time. This isn’t even Meiling Town yet, and there’s still a long stretch before Peach Blossom Village, but they can already move all the way here.”

“Corpse drivers. People drive corpses, corpses drive people?” Li Zhuiyuan fell into thought, then asked, “That person from the Xie family, is he rebuilding the family in this way?”

The woman froze slightly at that.

Li Zhuiyuan pressed, “What, has someone else said to you what I just said?”

The woman did not answer. She only lowered her head and gently patted the baby in her swaddling clothes.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “The child’s father. Your husband?”

The woman lifted her head again, anger in her eyes.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Then I guessed right. Where is your man?”

The woman said, “You are not worthy to know his name, nor are you qualified to meet him.”

“Mhm, perhaps.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. Though he had not been in the martial world for long, his status was high enough that there were not many people in it he was unqualified to know.

Still, he had bluffed out another piece of information: the woman’s husband was not dead. She was not a widow.

A suspicion slowly rose in Li Zhuiyuan’s heart.

The woman said, “Hey, your turn.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “She said her two sons followed an immortal to seek the Dao and cultivate immortality. Once they succeed, they’ll come back and take the two old folks with them to the heavenly palace to enjoy blessings.”

“You’re messing with me?”

“I can swear it. That’s exactly what she said.”

“Then why did you talk to that old woman for so long just now?”

“I chatted with her about other things too. I asked if she was anxious that her two sons still weren’t married. She said no. She said how could mortal women possibly be worthy of her sons? Once they ascended, her sons could marry fairy maidens instead.”

“Heh heh heh...” The woman let out a grinding laugh through clenched teeth. “What exactly are you?”

“From the Jinling Audit Adventure Society. Our team captain’s family runs a shady restaurant, so he has a lot of spending money. After hearing there were supernatural incidents here, he sponsored us to come explore.”

Holding the baby, the woman turned and left.

Li Zhuiyuan stood in the courtyard and watched her back disappear into the distance. She was still heading toward Meiling Town.

Tan Wenbin asked, “Little Yuanhou, what exactly is she?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I suspect the same as you.”

Tan Wenbin’s eyes shifted. “Pays homage to the Dragon King?”

“Not necessarily that, but she should be doing River walk. They just may not call it that.”

River walk was a term unique to the Dragon King’s clan. The woman’s skills were indeed impressive, but her bearing really did not resemble someone from the Dragon King’s clan.

Aunt Liu had dressed like a rural woman at Taigong’s house before, but that was just to blend in. Once she came to the university and changed into ordinary clothes, she looked every bit the college woman professor.

The kind of bearing one developed from growing up at the old madam’s side could not be erased, and the old madam was already the most low-key one in the Dragon King’s clan.

Tan Wenbin said, “Then is that child really hers?”

“I read the child’s physiognomy. The mother-child signs are very clear. And if this were just disguise, going so far as to fake lactation would be paying too high a cost.”

“True. But taking a child along on River walk... would their ‘Dragon King’ allow that?”

“The child’s father may be that ‘Dragon King.’”

“Then I understand it even less. It’s way too dangerous...”

“Taking a child along on River walk means the merit falls on the child.”

“Damn. Compared to them, my parents’ hopes that I’d become a dragon were basically doting love.”

“She’s not one of the Wang family, but she should have been keeping an eye on them all along. Our arrival let the Wang family act with the tide, so she followed too and caught a free ride.

Binbin, doesn’t it feel familiar?”

Tan Wenbin said, “Yeah. Like how we used to split up and move separately.”

Runsheng asked in confusion, “Are they using the same method we do?”

In Runsheng’s eyes, his Little Yuan was the smartest person there was.

If another group used the same methods as theirs, didn’t that mean someone over there was just as smart as Little Yuan?

Li Zhuiyuan said, “If you soak in river water long enough, sooner or later you’ll get a feel for the temper of the currents. That’s nothing strange.”

Tan Wenbin said, “Little Yuanhou, I think that woman was in charge of watching the Wang family. As for the Xie family and the Bu family, they should also have their own people watching their movements. Her husband, that ‘Dragon King’... either he’s watching one of those two families, or he went straight to Peach Blossom Village from the start to find the Xie family of Oxblade.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “Mm.”

Tan Wenbin shrugged. “They’re clearly just moving along with the push of the current. Such a crude, primitive method.”

Runsheng smiled at that.

But then he immediately asked, “If we run into the others in her group, or her husband, would we be in danger?”

People walking the river competed with one another too.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Remember what Zhao Yi did back then? Shout the slogans, raise the tune. Even if they want to make a move on us, they’ll have to weigh the price.

But that isn’t what we should be worrying about right now, because we seem to be too far ahead.”

This time, he had deliberately gone looking for the waves.

Who would have thought that after finding the testing hall, the previous exam still had not ended, and there were still examinees inside writing their papers.

Right now, he was basically standing outside the classroom window, watching them answer the questions at close range.

No.

More precisely, that corpse-driving party they had just experienced had been aimed at the Wang family, but it should have belonged to that woman’s wave, and yet he had experienced it too.

So he was not standing outside the window watching.

He was already seated inside the examination hall.

He was sitting next to the woman, her desk mate. Even if he had no test paper of his own, he had still taken out scratch paper and followed her questions, doing whatever she was doing.

His reactions, movements, and arrangements had all been exactly the same.

“Heh...”

Li Zhuiyuan suddenly laughed. He found it deeply amusing.

“We’re inside someone else’s River walk event right now.”

…

Li Zhuiyuan did not hurry onward to Peach Blossom Village. Instead, he had everyone grab some sleep before dawn while there was still time, and he himself also took a short nap, recovering a bit of energy.

After daybreak, Li Zhuiyuan had Runsheng siphon the gasoline from the two vans together. Then Tan Wenbin drove, carrying the four of them onward.

The section of road that had collapsed the day before had already been cleared. When the workers learned they were headed to Peach Blossom Village, they told them that many years ago the village had already been evacuated by the government because of the risk of severe geological disaster. It was now an abandoned village.

Tan Wenbin thanked them with a pack of cigarettes, then started the van and kept going.

After passing through Meiling Town, they used the town phone to contact Lin Shuyou and the others from Yin Meng’s side, replenished some supplies, and continued on.

Once they turned toward Peach Blossom Village, the dirt road was clearly long neglected, and because the village had already been abandoned, there were no vehicles or pedestrians to be seen.

But as they drove, a tractor appeared parked by the roadside.

In the haystack beside it lay a scruffy man with a face full of stubble. Both his legs were twisted at ugly angles, clearly broken on purpose. When he saw people coming, he hurriedly began wailing in an attempt to call for help.

Tan Wenbin looked back at Li Zhuiyuan. “Little Yuanhou?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “She did it.”

Since Little Yuanhou had not said to stop, Tan Wenbin kept driving.

The reason for not stopping was simple. Peach Blossom Village had long been abandoned, and no one traveled this road. The woman had walked to Meiling Town last night, found a tractor, and gotten the driver to take her to Peach Blossom Village.

Before reaching her destination, there was no reason for her to break the driver’s legs in advance. Most likely, seeing a woman alone with a baby in the wilderness, the driver had gotten bad ideas.

Sure enough, before long, the woman appeared ahead of them.

She turned sideways and looked at the familiar van.

Li Zhuiyuan reached out and opened the door himself. “Get in.”

The woman hesitated for a moment, then finally climbed into the van with the baby in her arms.

The van kept moving, and the woman suddenly said, “He didn’t follow the rules.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded. “Learn to drive when you get the chance.”

It was clearly only noon, yet the sky had already begun turning dark and gloomy, and muddy rain started falling.

The road became hard to drive. The van rocked constantly.

The woman began nursing the child. This time, Li Zhuiyuan turned his head away.

The rain grew heavier and heavier. Ahead of them, lake water spilled outward and submerged the road. The way was cut off.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled a Black Umbrella of Rebirth from his backpack and handed it to the woman. She opened it and got out of the van.

“A Black Umbrella of Rebirth? You’re Corpse Retrievers.”

Li Zhuiyuan got out after her, while Tan Wenbin held an umbrella over Little Yuanhou.

Faced with the woman’s question, Li Zhuiyuan answered calmly, “Is that strange?”

“I didn’t expect to meet fellow travelers. Which dock do you claim?”

Li Zhuiyuan cupped his fists. “Nantong Hao River Dock — Li the Corpse Retriever.”

“Oh.”

The woman responded with only that, then held her umbrella, cradled the baby, and waded forward through the water.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Just ‘oh’?”

“Meeting him will already be your good fortune. He is a future Flood dragon.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

The water grew deeper and deeper.

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to climb onto Runsheng’s back.

By all rights, they should have arrived already, yet there was still no sign of any village ahead. The boy suspected Peach Blossom Village had already been swallowed by the lake.

The water level kept rising. Everyone began swimming.

The swaddling cloth bundle floated like a little boat.

The child was very well-behaved, still neither crying nor fussing. This was what it meant to have seen the world from infancy.

Li Zhuiyuan patted Runsheng on the shoulder and pointed ahead. Runsheng understood and moved in front of the woman, helping shield her from the waves so things would stay steadier behind him.

The woman noticed and asked, “Are you traveling the world?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I’m sightseeing.”

The woman suddenly asked with a stern expression, “Hey, Li the Corpse Retriever, you haven’t lit the lamp yet, have you?”

Li Zhuiyuan answered with equal seriousness, “Mm. I’ve never lit it myself.”

The woman seemed to let out a breath of relief. Since last night, she too had apparently been worried about something, but asked so solemnly, the other party definitely would not lie.

Her husband had once said that lying about this kind of thing would ruin one’s spirit.

The woman said, “Li the Corpse Retriever, I’ll give you a chance. Whether you can seize it depends on you.”

“What chance?”

“When you meet my husband, I can introduce you. Maybe you’ll get the chance to bow before the flood dragon and rise with it.”

“Thank you for the lift.”

“What I say doesn’t decide it. My husband has ideas of his own. But I can tell that although you’re young, you’re different. Very different.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Runsheng stopped.

The woman stopped too.

Runsheng raised a hand and pointed ahead.

Floating on the water before them was a person in a straw rain cape, face-down and motionless.

Runsheng said, “A Dead Sinker.”

The woman said, “That’s my husband!”

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