Corpse Retriever

Only, if the grand eunuch realized he was getting the same treatment as Little Wang, he probably would not be too happy about it.

But now, it did not really matter anymore.

Once Little Yuanhou finished dealing with the curse power, and once the General died, everything here would return to dust.

“He’s over there.” The grand eunuch pointed.

“Ah, I know. He told me already.”

Tan Wenbin picked up a shovel and started digging. Little Wang did not have a coffin, but he had been buried fairly deep. That already counted as top-tier preferential treatment, second only to having a coffin.

He dug down to him and also found the identity jade pendant Little Wang had told him about. Tan Wenbin then began gathering his remains.

Not only was the grand eunuch not angry, he actually let out a sigh. “What a pity, Xiao Binzi. We’re already dead. If I’d met you while I was alive, I’d have been willing to throw everything away to pave the road for you.”

“Heh heh.”

“You brat, you were born to be a head eunuch!”Tan Wenbin: “...”

“You think it’s a pity too, don’t you? Back in our Great Han, being a eunuch was still quite imposing.”

…

The long procession kept moving forward.

The Mirage Sand had no effect on them, nor on Li Zhuiyuan.

And so the line arrived at the stone gate’s exit.

From here on, they could only go in one at a time.

Li Zhuiyuan was still being carried. He knew very well that he did not really deserve to be sitting in that place.

These people were like a mirror polished too clean, reflecting the dim and grim undertone inside him.

Before he had even opened his mouth to speak to them, he had already predicted the outcome in his heart: they would definitely agree. There would be no surprise.

And that was also why the boy had felt such pain earlier.

There had been no intricate calculation here, no manipulation, no exchange of benefits... only the purest hot-blooded impulse.

He had only just barely learned how to carry out the most basic emotional exchanges with a small handful of people around him. Then, all at once, he was thrust into a scene like this. It was no less than a form of torture.

Fortunately, he had made it through.

He had figured something out: they did not actually care whether his heart truly contained benevolence, concern, or compassion.

They did not even care about his real motives.

What they cared about was whether his actions protected the common people, whether they upheld the righteous path.

His condition could not possibly recover overnight, but his thoughts and his direction could still be adjusted.

The inheritances of the two Dragon Kings were an honor. They could grant him identity and status. But at the same time, they were also responsibilities he could not escape.

And while he had been so absorbed in his battle of wits against the river itself, it seemed he could spare a little more attention to look at the scenery within it as well.

He had once complained that Wei Zhengdao had not left behind any case records or prescriptions.

But now, Li Zhuiyuan had the vague feeling that Wei Zhengdao actually had.

In his books, the repeated phrase “destroyed by the righteous path” was perhaps not merely political correctness pasted over his private interests, nor simply playful mockery or sarcastic jabs.

As a fellow patient, Wei Zhengdao might have gone through similar things himself.

People like them needed a kind of internal logic that fit together perfectly. Once conflict arose within it, pain would follow.

Even if there was not enough feeling in your heart, as long as your actions aligned with the logic of the righteous path, there was no need to suffer.

Li Zhuiyuan lifted his right hand and held it before himself. All he could see now was a blurry shadow.

“Wei Zhengdao...”

The next moment, Li Zhuiyuan slid down from the bamboo poles. He walked to the stone gate, stood at the edge, faced the people before him, and said:

“For the righteous path, for the common people, please... go in peace.”

The first person stepped forward. As he passed Li Zhuiyuan, he paused briefly and called out, “Many thanks to the Dragon King for seeing us off!”

Then he entered through the stone gate. The Locking Dragon Gate array had already been activated by Li Zhuiyuan.

After he went in, blazing fire immediately burst beyond the gate. Black mist spread through the air, only to be swiftly consumed by the flames. From within, there seemed to come the cry of a dragon.

When the flames outside the gate died down, the second person stepped forward.

“Many thanks to the Dragon King for seeing us off!”

He went in, and the flames rose again.

Under those majestic dragon eyes, that strand of curse power was directly refined away.

The third, the fourth, the fifth...

Each time the fire beyond the stone gate died out, it signaled that the next person could enter.

Amid the repeated responses of “Many thanks to the Dragon King for seeing us off,” they stepped into it one by one.

Several hundred years ago, a Dragon King of the Qin Clan had arrived and helped them suppress the evil. Several hundred years later, another inheritor of the Qin Clan appeared and led them in dispelling a heavenly calamity.

That one had brought them in. This one was leading them out.

Not far away, Runsheng, Xiong Shan, and the others stood there, along with Xie Shun’an, who had been deliberately brought over.

At that moment, Xie Shun’an pressed his forehead to the ground and remained silent.

The number of people on this side of the stone gate grew fewer and fewer.

The flames on the other side also seemed to be weakening more and more.

But fortunately, when the last person entered, the fire still burned him away together with the curse power he carried inside him.

After a short pause, a sound of collapse and falling debris came from outside the stone gate.

Sometimes an array was like a machine. When it kept running nonstop, inertia could barely keep it functioning. But once it truly stopped, problems appeared everywhere.

This Qin Clan array, personally set down by Qin Kan and later repaired by Li Zhuiyuan, had finally completed its mission.

Li Zhuiyuan turned around, faced outside the stone gate, bowed once, and said softly:

“My thanks to you all.”

After straightening up, his body swayed, and he nearly failed to stay standing.

With the Unseeable One gone, everyone could finally breathe a little easier.

Runsheng hurried over, crouched down, and waved a hand in front of Little Yuanhou’s face.

“Brother Runsheng, I’m not completely blind yet.”

“Those eyes of yours are red all over.”

“It’s fine. I’ll be okay after I rest for a while. It’s nothing serious.”

Runsheng turned around and carried the boy on his back so he could rest properly.

At that moment, Xiong Shan walked over and said, “Dragon... Li...”

Li Zhuiyuan lay on Runsheng’s back, eyes closed, and said directly, “Talk.”

Xiong Shan said, “It’s like this. Before I came down here, I left two straw-man puppets by the lakeside. They’ve reacted now. A lot of people—many people capable of triggering spiritual perception—have arrived at the lake. Right above us.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “People from those three families have come.”

He had hurried and forced the pace precisely because he had worried that if the people of those three families arrived, they would disrupt the situation here.

But now, the matter had already been resolved.

Xiong Shan said, “My wife and I are planning to go up there and avenge Second Brother and Third Brother. As for the child, for now...”

Li Zhuiyuan understood clearly that ever since the couple had learned his identity, they had been full of thoughts of dying so they could entrust their child to him.

Their ideas about parenting really had remained absolutely extreme from beginning to end.

There were many people above. Those three families had probably all come out in full force.

Enough ants could bite an elephant to death. Second Brother and Third Brother had most likely been surrounded and captured, and on top of that, the couple’s current condition was not good. Going up now would let them kill some people, but they themselves would certainly die.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I promise you, if anything happens to you two, I’ll send your son to a good orphanage and donate some money too.”

Xiong Shan: “...”

Lihua, who had just been ready to cooperate with her husband and act as though rage had completely clouded her mind, felt her brain blank out. She could not help blurting out, “Such great kindness, in the next life... huh?”

“Shuyou.”

“Here!”

“Carry Xie Shun’an.” Li Zhuiyuan shifted into a new position against Runsheng’s back. “Go to that giant pit.”

The group returned to the edge of the giant pit.

The coffin lid was still open, and the Corpse Retriever was still standing in the same posture.

Tan Wenbin also came running back at that moment, carrying three bags, two large and one small.

Lin Shuyou came over and asked, “Brother Bin, what are you carrying?”

Tan Wenbin said, “Carrying relatives.”

Lin Shuyou said, “Brother Bin, your family’s really amazing. You’ve even got relatives here? Close relatives?”

At that moment, Xie Shun’an looked as though all vitality had been drained from him. He just knelt there blankly, lifeless and wooden.

Li Zhuiyuan said, “Untie him.”

Lin Shuyou happened to get kicked back by Tan Wenbin.

After scrambling to his feet, he immediately went to untie Xie Shun’an.

Then a pair of bamboo poles was thrown in front of Xie Shun’an.

Following the sound, Xie Shun’an reached out and took the poles into his hands. In confusion, he asked, “What do you mean by this?”

“I promised the General that before he dispersed, I’d let him be imposing one last time.

“I promised your great-grandfather that he could personally teach you how to take revenge when your family gets bullied by others.

“They don’t have much strength left. They could disperse at any moment. But dealing with the trash up there will still be easy for them.”

After all, a family that had lost its righteousness and sense of responsibility—no matter how it had been passed down to the present—was nothing more than a pack of rats.

Xie Shun’an rose to his feet. The bamboo poles in his hands extended downward.

The Corpse Retriever took the initiative to reach out and grab them. His figure rose into the air and arrived at the edge of the pit.

Seeing this, Runsheng and the others could not help but retreat several steps, their faces turning grave.

They had already experienced just how terrifying the Corpse Retriever had been before. Against it, the slightest carelessness could get one’s body blown apart.

What was more, at that moment, the Xie family ancestor who had originally maintained the seal had also released his restrictions on the General, allowing the General to once again take control of that body.

But this was only the very last bit of time. The aura of decay around him had already become extremely dense.

In truth, the General should have perished long ago. It had only been the Xie family ancestor forcing himself to hold on.

Li Zhuiyuan spoke weakly:

“The Xie, Wang, and Bu families above intend to do me harm. They wish to destroy the situation and trigger a heavenly calamity.

“In order to resolve this catastrophe, I have already overdrawn myself to the point of exhaustion.

“At present, I no longer have the strength to protect myself, and all those under me are spent as well. Alas...”

The moment these words came out, Tan Wenbin immediately began coughing violently, as though he were about to cough up blood.

Runsheng bent over, and Lin Shuyou clutched his chest.

Yin Meng hurriedly said with self-reproach, “Alas, I’m just a useless waste who only knows how to live off my ancestors.”

Xiong Shan and Lihua stared with wide eyes. Today had truly opened them up to a whole new world. Things could be played like this too!

“Left with no other choice, for the sake of self-preservation, to preserve a useful body so that I may continue to rid the jianghu of demons and defend the righteous path,

“I therefore temporarily lift the General’s seal and use wolves to devour wolves, letting the wicked slaughter one another and return peace to the human world.

“In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken.

“I only ask

“that Heaven has eyes,

“that the Heavenly Dao bears witness.”

Xie Shun’an and the Corpse Retriever rapidly shortened the bamboo poles, drawing close until the two of them were pressed together.

Only this time, Xie Shun’an was in front, and the Corpse Retriever was behind him.

Xie Shun’an turned his head, faced Li Zhuiyuan, and said, “Thank you.”

Li Zhuiyuan shifted again. He was ready to sleep. Before sleeping, he said one last thing:

“No need to thank me. I promised them so many things, and the two of them promised me one thing as well.

“Before they disperse,

“they’ll snap your neck first.”

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