Chapter 32: The Escapee

Escape.

Escape this living hell called the Border City.

On the frontiers of the Immortal Sect, the bottom-tier cultivators who are heavily exploited have, to a greater or lesser extent, all had such thoughts.

However, this is not an easy thing to accomplish.

It is not that they cannot do it, but that they do not want to or dare not to.

The stewards usually never come to the site in person; they only reside in the Elegant Garden, as if they were clouds atop a high mountain.

Then, it is the usual burial of corpses.

However, it appears somewhat different from other escapees.

Zhang Song is here feigning death and lying like a corpse, positioned toward the back, and since the section being buried today is far from where the bodies are laid out, naturally, no one is coming near him right now.

Then, carrying the strange owl, he returns under the cover of night.

This is indeed a rare occurrence.

In other words, although this Southern End Border City has a tall and long city wall to the north that makes one sigh at the sight of it, as long as one wants to escape and dares to escape, one can completely find an opportunity to flee into the mountain forests to the south!

The vast, primitive mountain forests of the Southern Frontier are actually close at hand.

He carefully applied magic power and boldly proceeded to pick it up.

He also quickly noticed this point, so he silently endured and suppressed it.

"So that's how it is; it's not a desperate, reckless escape, but a desire to take a risk and seek a way out."

The sun gradually rose, and Zhang Song waited silently.

It is just that many dangers are hidden within.

Silently reciting to himself, Du En quickly finished reading.

"This person looks like they encountered a demonic beast and wanted to run back, but didn't succeed, and was finally bitten to death here."

Du En remained calm and composed, speaking in a natural, steady tone: "There isn't much work today, and there are no strange corpses, so everyone just needs to maintain normal vigilance."

Right now, this person might have truly found some spiritual object, and then encountered the demonic beast that guards it as a treasure, only to be chased and killed by it.

"But, it's still lacking, still missing; like this, it's not enough, it won't work!"

Not until the screeching of the strange owl and gray jackal rang out did he know that the corpse-buriers, his targets, had arrived.

"Blood! Sacrifice! Only by using living lives to pave the way for me can I reach the land bestowed by the Great Lord!"

As for why the demonic beast is not here now and did not eat the person, perhaps it was only after biting the person to death that it realized this place was already somewhat close to the Border City, so it chose to leave, leaving this corpse behind?

After confirming there was absolutely no risk in the surroundings, Du En used his shovel to rake through and examine the items that had just been pecked out by the strange owls.

In this region near the Border City, the frequency of demonic beasts appearing is not high, and various miasmas and poisons have been eradicated by the Immortal Sect for production needs; apart from the climate being truly unsuitable for people to stay in, there are not many natural dangers.

Hm?

The moment he was seen by Zhang Song's gaze, Du En faintly sensed it and immediately became vigilant; on the surface, he remained calm and quickly scanned the surroundings.

Then, the demonic beast, thinking of its own treasure, did not linger and went back to continue guarding it.

And the facts are basically just like that; the corpse-buriers, with an average cultivation duration of barely half a year, are indeed a very weak group, which is also the direct reason why they are looked down upon by others.

Zhang Song's tilted head and slightly open eyes saw the six corpse-buriers walking out from the gradually brightening forest.

Evaluating the corpse-buriers with contempt, the fangs of his killing intent were slowly baring.

From the fragments of clothing, the corpse before Du En was, like him, a bottom-tier cultivator living in the shanty area outside the Border City.

Going to such great lengths to pretend to be a corpse, hiding in a pile of bodies, being transported like this to this desolate burial ground on the outskirts... it is very clear that he is an escapee.

It is just that the current situation is a bit beyond the basics.

Like a dead body, he deceived the corpse collectors, deceived the corpse transporters, and was placed quite ordinarily on the wasteland.

"All that have spirit must leave their traces..."

Because they are just too easy to bully, and there is no fear of retaliation if they are bullied.

Recorded on this bamboo slip is an explanation of the key points for finding spiritual objects.

"Ah! Ah! Great Lord, do not worry, it is soon, it is almost time!"

Various thoughts, like viscous bubbles, kept emerging from the bottom of his heart.

And the overseers actually do not care at all about what the bottom-tier workers do after their shift; they only watch and urge them on regarding their work performance during the shift.

Finally, a glimmer of remaining light drifted toward the corpse.

If that is truly the case, then for this person to appear in this place in the form of a corpse, generally speaking, there is only the answer of an escapee.

The cart wheels turned on the corpse-transporting path.

He found five low-grade spirit stones in the putrid blood and filth, as well as a small bamboo slip the length of a palm.

Quickly and hurriedly, the next day arrived.

At the break of dawn.

Zhang Song, however, had some doubts.

The night road is long, and there are no lights at the end.

His mood was very excited and expectant.

"What is wrong with this bunch of guys? Why is no one coming near me?"

"Weak! Truly weak! As weak as the rumors say!"

Du En had a special need, which was why he chased after the strange owls; he had never traveled south to this dense, pathless forest area before.

Du En pondered to himself, feeling that this possibility was closer to reality.

The content is not overly obscure or complex; if one can get started and find things by following the examples, one can mostly find first-tier low-to-mid-grade spiritual objects in these vast mountain forests.

"Is someone feigning death?"

In the small courtyard, everyone saw Du En returning late, but since he had returned after all, they could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

"Sss-sss-sss~"

However, if one has the method but lacks the strength, then acting recklessly is very likely to get oneself killed.

The inscriptions on it, due to the passage of time, had become mottled and blurred, filled with the heavy sense of history.

But going deep into the mountains and forests, that would be different.

The unremarkable Zhang Song was, at this very moment, buried in a pile of corpses, enduring the stench of decay close at hand, as well as the soft, cold touch of the bodies.

Heading north would certainly offer no path to survival and would definitely lead to being caught, but heading south would not; as long as he could escape into the miasmic, sweltering forests of the Southern Border, he would surely be able to be reborn!

"That's right! I heard it! This is the grace of the Great Lord; in the deepest part of those mountains and forests lies the promised land for those of us who have been summoned!"

"Mm, thank you."

A total of forty-eight corpses, with varying causes of death, emitted a foul odor and left a trail along the way, becoming a feast for carrion-eating beasts.

Because today was a relatively clear day, the burial workers adopted a burial plan of digging one pit, burying one corpse, then digging another pit, and burying another corpse.

He wiped the spirit stone, put it in his pocket, and looked at the bamboo slip, which appeared very old with a grayish-black base color; after untying the binding cord and taking a look, it had not been stained by blood and could still be read.

Because the low-level cultivators of the border city would not venture deep into this place.

The others did not notice anything unusual; hearing these ordinary words, they nodded one after another, their eyes very serious, not wanting the unlucky incident that happened to Ning Caize a short while ago to happen to themselves.

Then, thinking no more of it, he dug a fairly deep pit right there and buried both the corpse and the bamboo slip together.

On this night, it was as plain and uneventful as always, without a ripple or a wave.

Scanning the traces in the surroundings, it was not difficult to arrive at this deduction.

Du En said this, and although it was as plain as always, it made them feel flattered, excited, and thrilled.

The corpse transporters were likewise as usual, loading the corpses gathered yesterday and last night onto carts to transport them to this wasteland for burial.

They did not ask anything more, simply laying out the medicinal herbs they had collected.

He could not help but cackle in his heart.

Only in his heart, he had gained another reason to kill the burial workers.

How dare they slight me?!

(End of this chapter)