Chapter 43: Third Gate

Caw, several crows flew off from the branches; Zhou Shuo stood in the old forest, looking bewildered, because not far from him, on the open ground beyond the forest, irregular mounds of various sizes were rising, with steles standing beside them, the steles inscribed with familiar script and bearing portrait photos—this was the initial realm beyond the third gate, though it looked a bit desolate.

Zhou Shuo lowered his head to look at his feet, and after confirming he hadn't stepped on anything dirty, he walked through the fallen old forest, glanced at two tombstones in the graveyard—the stones were marble, their script still the familiar simplified characters with portrait photos—and based on what he saw, Zhou Shuo preliminarily concluded that he had not gone to a feudal era this time.

"If it were modern, this outfit wouldn't do." Zhou Shuo, after confirming the era, immediately recalled the spatial gate and returned to modern times, because he was still wearing black-and-white robes, boots on his feet, and even his hair was tied in a knot—such attire in modern times was really too conspicuous, and as a transmigrator, he couldn't stand out too much.

In order not to stand out, Zhou Shuo thought left and right, changed into a clean, simple outfit—a T-shirt with jeans and flat shoes—and as for the long hair on his head, he cut it all off at once, anyway, even if he were walking in a feudal era, he could cover his hairstyle with a hat or headscarf, so he wouldn't attract attention.

"This will do." Zhou Shuo looked at his modern-attired self in the mirror and couldn't help feeling especially relieved; even though wearing Hanfu at first had felt remarkably novel, after a while he inevitably felt a bit uncomfortable.

After spending nearly two hours grooming himself, Zhou Shuo felt fresh enough to re-enter the space, pushed open the half-black, half-white door, and returned to the dark, lonely graveyard—yet he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Several iron shovels kept digging into the earth, scooping up handfuls of soil and throwing them aside; the person wielding the shovels showed no sign of breathlessness, a foul stench wafting around, Zhou Shuo stiffly turned his neck, glanced at a few undisturbed graves nearby, then looked at those who had stopped shoveling, turned their heads, and stared at him with gray, decayed, lifeless eyes.

"Hey, you guys, hello!" Zhou Shuo saw several figures simultaneously giving him a salute, stiffly raised his hand to greet them, and wondered, "What kind of world is this? Moving corpses!"

"Ah!" Facing Zhou Shuo's greeting, the several brothers carrying shovels to dig graves showed no other expression, merely grinning to reveal rotten yellow teeth, lunging at him like mad beasts, and raising their shovels high.

"They can even use weapons." Zhou Shuo looked at the corpses charging forward with raised shovels, couldn't help raising his eyebrows; moving corpses weren't actually that strange—Tian Ze had a corpse-controlling adept under him who specialized in this, but the problem was that the corpses they controlled lacked the ability to wield weapons; they were basically beast-like aggressive zombies, whereas these—what are they? Walking corpses?

Three or four surging iron shovels rose and fell; the shovel heads struck empty air and hit the ground, the handles snapping with a crack. Zhou Shuo stepped aside and stood firm, his eyes scanning the surroundings—six figures stood in the graveyard, but besides his own, there were seven breathing sounds. Interesting: the corpses could still breathe, yet the extra breath came from hiding in the dark, urgent and strong, accompanied by a heartbeat—it was a living person; these corpses must be his puppets, corpse-driving?

Opening the Heavenly Perception and Heavenly Brightness apertures, Zhou Shuo's awareness became immensely powerful; instantly he discerned the situation, dodged an attack from a walking corpse, left leg planted, right leg sprang up like lightning—pointing, sweeping, shoveling, chopping—using the fastest and most violent method, he broke the waists, spines, and lower legs of the six walking corpses, rendering these swift, beast-like creatures deprived of their most basic mobility.

"Oh no." The person hiding in the dark who was controlling the walking corpses saw that, within just a few blinks, all the corpses had collapsed beneath Zhou Shuo's feet; he involuntarily exclaimed, then sprang up, leaping out from behind a tombstone in Zhou Shuo's blind spot, and fled the graveyard at high speed.

"Interesting." Zhou Shuo looked at the green fluid bursting from the wounds and the corpses still struggling; his figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

"Ah!" The figure escaping from under the tombstone felt himself slam into a solid wall, toppled backward, and let out a clear, girlish cry.

"A girl?" Zhou Shuo's vision unaffected by darkness watched the falling figure unconsciously knock off its headscarf, revealing the face; he raised his eyebrows—it was a petite girl with seemingly undyed orange hair, her appearance quite fresh and cute; altogether it was hard to associate her with a corpse.

"What are you?" Zhou Shuo looked at the fallen girl, not reaching out to help, knowing that where there are people there is the jianghu, and nowadays not just anyone can be helped; even with a transmigrator's halo, he had to guard against slipping in a gutter.

"You, you don't, don't hit me—I swear I won't dare again next time." The girl gazed at the dark silhouette whose face she couldn't see in the moonlight, her expression frightened, she spoke with a hint of remorse.

"Not hitting you—name, native place, what are you doing here?" Zhou Shuo looked at the remorseful girl, couldn't help raising his eyebrows; having the guts to control corpses to dig graves but lacking the courage to face a living person—this person, huh, is interesting.

"Also don't kill me, and certainly don't 'huangdian' me." The girl, while propping herself up with her arms and stepping back two steps, used the dim light to make out the figure blocking her, instinctively spoke: "Not hitting me—could it be you want to kill me?"

"You're overthinking it." Zhou Shuo suddenly found the girl amusing, her thoughts and alertness quite strong, though she was a bit silly—even the term "huangdian" came out.

"However, if you keep haggling with me, I might feel embarrassed..." Zhou Shuo looked at the flustered girl, amused inside but showing no expression on his face, his tone carrying a veiled threat; he spread his right hand's five fingers, a flame rising in his palm—yet the girl's pretty eyes flashed, and a noun blurted out.

"Fire Virtue Sect!"

"Spill it!" Zhou Shuo looked at the girl who had blurted out "Fire Virtue Sect," gave no further reaction—this world was obviously one of cultivators, similar to the Yang Spirit and Qin Era he'd experienced before, though the system might differ; Fire Virtue Sect, at a glance, was clearly all about fire.

"I, I'm Liu Yanran." The girl, by the firelight, saw Zhou Shuo's expressionless face and felt a surge of fear.

"Surname Liu?" Zhou Shuo asked follow-up; although it seemed a minor confirmation, it actually carried a psychological hint—both that he knew what the surname Liu signified behind it, and that he was asking what the surname Liu meant to her; someone with strong "huangdian" mentality couldn't do this, but this girl clearly wasn't strong in that regard.

"Right, right, I'm from the Western Hunan Liu family." The girl, hearing the suggestive confirmation, had no ulterior motives, though she was a bit irritable.

"What are you doing here then?" Zhou Shuo slightly raised his right eyebrow; the Western Hunan Liu family—tut tut, in novels such clans are usually powerful and well-connected; linking "Western Hunan" and "corpse" suggests the legendary corpse-driving, huh, corpse-driving, cultivation—this world seems more interesting than imagined; Zhou Shuo instantly imagined many things to be verified.

"I..." The girl looked at Zhou Shuo's face, eyebrows raised by the firelight, her gaze unconsciously drifting with the flames, a bit hesitant.

"Hehe." Zhou Shuo looked at the girl's wandering eyes, extinguished the flame in his hand, then leaned down; in the girl's unfocused gaze, he activated Fire Charm Technique, two flames rising at the base of her pupils—though the girl wasn't mentally strong, her thoughts were wandering; if he kept questioning, he might really be "huangdian"-ed by her, so he'd better use a somewhat drastic measure.

Under the effect of the Fire Charm Technique, the girl's gaze gradually dulled, and Zhou Shuo asked again.

"Tell me your name!"

"Liu Yanran."

"From the Western Hunan corpse-driving Liu family?" Zhou Shuo added his own speculation.

"Yes!" The girl didn't object, nodding to confirm Zhou Shuo's guess.

"Whose grave are you digging here?"

"Zhang Xilin."

"Who is Zhang Xilin?"

"I don't know."

"Why dig his grave?"

"Because I want to join Complete Nature!"

"What is Complete Nature?"

"A place where adepts can freely exercise their abilities, unrestricted."

"How did you join Complete Nature?"

"By completing a task."

"Digging Zhang Xilin's grave?"

"Yes!"

"Who gave you the task?"

"Lü Liang."

Question and answer, Zhou Shuo quickly pried much useful information from the girl's mouth: in this world, practitioners call themselves 'adepts,' but these adepts are likely socially restrained, unable to freely use their abilities before people; yet there is an organization called 'Complete Nature' that is an exception—this Liu Yanran is probably a mildly chuunibyou girl who cannot accept societal constraints, so she wishes to join that 'unrestricted, unbound' Complete Nature, thus accepting the organization's trial and coming at midnight to dig up a corpse.

"What did you just see?" After Zhou Shuo finished asking about the understood situation, he suddenly thought of something: when he transmigrated over, it was right under this girl's gaze—did she see his transmigration scene?

"A door, and a formidable person came out of it." Liu Yanran's gaze was dull, two flames burning deep in her pupils; she answered whatever was asked.

"You're mistaken; let me tell you: tonight you were caught digging up corpses, the discoverer being Zhou Shuo—that's me—and I smashed all the corpses you controlled." Zhou Shuo gazed at Liu Yanran's eyes, using Fire Charm Technique to alter her memory.

"Hmm, tonight when I was digging up Zhang Xilin's grave, I was discovered by a man named Zhou Shuo..." Liu Yanran's eyes flickered with flame, mechanically repeating Zhou Shuo's words; according to these, her memory automatically revised, burying the original memory.

"Alright, correct; now that you've awakened, I still have a few more questions." After Liu Yanran finished speaking, Zhou Shuo dispelled the Fire Charm Technique's confusion.

"Ah!" As soon as the illusion was lifted, the girl left that dreamlike feeling, let out a faint hum, held her head feeling a bit dizzy—this was the aftereffect of the Fire Charm Technique.

"What did you do to me?" The girl covered her dizzy head, gazed at Zhou Shuo with undulating eyes; as an adept, she likewise knew there are many things in this world hard to comprehend, and that deeply touch the soul.

"I've confirmed some things." Zhou Shuo looked at the dizzy girl, a slight smile on his face.