Chapter 108: Passing off the fake as genuine, turning stone into gold

The water transport at Linhe is bustling in all directions, with merchants coming and going like ants, so the profession of boatman is naturally indispensable.

The merchant before Xu Qing's eyes had fallen into the water and died while traveling on a boat with such a boatman.

However, the other party did not fall into the water by accident.

Xu Qing was not interested in how the merchant made his fortune, how he hoarded goods, or how he faked things for profit; he only wanted to end this tedious "revolving lantern" quickly and obtain the other party's reward.

The *Scripture of Saving the Dead* turned a page, and the scenes of the merchant's life before death seemed to have been pressed on fast-forward, reaching three days ago in the blink of an eye.

The merchant's name was Zheng Deli, a worldly person who started out by swindling and bluffing.

He had only one principle when going out to do business with others, and that was "packaging."

As the saying goes, people rely on clothes, and Buddhas rely on gold leaf.

If you want to do business with someone and buy their goods on credit, you have to dress up as a rich man!

And so, Zheng Deli put on the brocade robes he had treasured for a long time but never dared to wear, dressing himself up as a wealthy merchant.

Only in this way could he rely on his glib tongue to buy more goods on credit when he went to the wharf to resell fish.

In other words, if you dressed up as a fisherman, wind-beaten and wearing rags, who would bother to pick you out of the basket?

To make the disguise look convincing, Zheng Deli had picked up a heavy bag of pebbles from the riverbank before boarding the boat, using them as silver in his money pouch, with copper coins spread on top as a cover.

When the ferryman saw the brocade clothes, his eyes immediately lit up.

He had encountered a wealthy man!

It was also Zheng Deli's fated calamity; the ferryman he met was no ordinary boatman, but a water bandit and villain who used the name of ferrying to scout for lone travelers and commit murder for money!

There was more than one person on the boat; there was also an assistant named Yuan Hu.

Seeing Zheng Deli traveling alone, Yuan Hu couldn't help but feel suspicious.

Logically, a wealthy merchant traveling far to purchase goods would inevitably bring servants or companions to prevent accidents.

Although this Merchant Zheng looked like a rich man, how could he not even bring a guard when traveling?

Yuan Hu usually did business that involved licking blood off the edge of a knife; doing this kind of work tested one's eye for detail most of all!

One definitely couldn't touch those who were strong and wielded swords or staves, nor could one touch those with more than two attendants, as it was easy for things to go wrong.

Aside from these, the rest were mostly lone travelers going on long journeys.

But even if the passenger boarded the boat alone, you still had to guard against whether they had the skills of a wanderer.

Otherwise, if you happened to run into a jinx, you might end up being the side dish instead of eating the meal.

Facing such a situation, Yuan Hu had a way to distinguish them.

At this moment, the ferryman was poling at the bow, while Yuan Hu was in the cabin, chatting idly with Zheng Deli.

At one point, Yuan Hu, who was holding a wine cup, suddenly shook his hand, and the cup rolled onto the floor with a clatter.

It was also at this moment that the boat, which had been moving steadily, suddenly began to sway violently. Zheng Deli, not knowing what was happening, was tossed about in the cabin and could only shout questions repeatedly.

"Boatman! Why is this boat so bumpy?"

Seeing the other party's flustered appearance, Yuan Hu knew that this merchant was just an ordinary person who had never practiced martial arts.

"Don't be afraid, guest; the boat will steady itself immediately."

As he spoke, Yuan Hu stomped his feet, and the whole boat truly became calm.

Zheng Deli, having steadied himself, looked astonished.

"This boat is actually so obedient; you stomped your foot, and it really stopped swaying!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud laugh from the ferryman suddenly came from outside the cabin.

"The bamboo pole is in my hands; whether this boat sways or stays steady is up to your grandfather here, isn't it?"

Zheng Deli realized upon hearing this that the two were playing with him; Yuan Hu's stomping was to signal the ferryman, and upon hearing the sound, the ferryman stopped rocking the boat on purpose.

Yuan Hu gave a sinister laugh and took out a long rope from his waist, while the ferryman outside the cabin also rushed in, blocking Zheng Deli inside.

"What do you want to do?"

"What do you think! Haven't you heard the saying: 'Do not reveal your wealth, do not show your riches'?"

Yuan Hu laughed grimly: "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for boarding our brothers' boat."

"A misunderstanding, a huge misunderstanding! I don't have any money; what's in this bag is just copper coins and pebbles. The brocade clothes I'm wearing were also bought second-hand from a clothing shop; they are old clothes sold by others. I am truly not a rich man..."

"Do you think I'm blind? Who are you trying to fool? Who the hell would be bored enough to carry a bag of stones on their back!"

Yuan Hu turned a deaf ear; this lie might work on others, but to fool him, one would need a few more years of practice.

Without further ado, the two threw a rope and strangled Zheng Deli on the spot, despite his desperate truths.

However, the "revolving lantern" did not end here.

Xu Qing understood that there could only be one reason for this: Zheng Deli, strangled by the rope, had not died completely but had merely fainted.

In the cabin, Yuan Hu bent down, picked up the money pouch, and weighed it in his hand.

"Heh, this time we've really made a fortune! This weight—at the very least, it must be three or four hundred silver taels!"

The ferryman also showed joy. The two couldn't wait to open the pouch, but after pushing aside the layer of copper coins on top, there was no silver as expected; there were only river pebbles and gravel.

"It really is stones, damn it!"

Yuan Hu poured out all the stones and then couldn't stop cursing. The ferryman beside him offered comfort: "Although this silver is fake, there are still many copper coins and a few pieces of broken silver; we haven't worked in vain."

"I see the clothes on his body aren't bad either; if we strip them and sell them to rural peddlers, I imagine we can get two taels of silver."

Hearing the ferryman's consolation, the depressed mood in Yuan Hu's heart eased slightly.

The two stripped Zheng Deli of his clothes and hat, leaving only his inner lining and trousers.

Zheng Deli had already woken up by this time, but he didn't dare to make a sound.

"What about the corpse?" the ferryman asked.

"What else, the old rule: throw it in the river!" Yuan Hu kicked the "corpse" in annoyance.

Zheng Deli didn't make a single sound.

The ferryman frowned: "This time is different from before; quite a few people saw us bring him onto the boat. If someone discovers the corpse, I'm afraid it will be hard for us to explain."

Yuan Hu sneered: "What of it? When the boat docks at the wharf, you and I will go to the corpse-salvage team and notify them in advance, saying that this person was drunk and accidentally fell into the rapids."

"Don't forget, I have always been a passenger, and you are the ferryman. With me as a witness, it will be foolproof."

A smile appeared on the ferryman's dark face. "Brother Yuan is still the thoughtful one."

The two acted immediately, dragged Zheng Deli, and threw him into the river.

Zheng Deli didn't dare to struggle; he just held his breath and let his body float and sink. Only when he truly couldn't hold his breath any longer did he splash and swim toward the surface.

"Huff, huff—"

Zheng Deli surfaced and gasped for air.

When his breathing steadied, he looked up and saw the river surging; the boat that had ferried him was long gone.

And he was like a duckweed, drifting up and down in the turbulent river water.

Zheng Deli felt despair, but just at this moment, a piece of driftwood suddenly floated toward him from afar.

His heart leaped with joy; seizing the opportunity, he grabbed the driftwood in front of him.

"If you survive a great disaster, there will be later blessings. It's not that easy to kill your Master Zheng!"

Zheng Deli climbed onto the driftwood. The wood seemed to be there specifically to repay a debt of gratitude, leading him to avoid many reefs and undercurrents along the way, finally drifting into a reed marsh.

Seeing this, Xu Qing could already guess what Zheng Deli would experience next.

Sure enough, just as Zheng Deli was rejoicing, a three-year-old child's head suddenly emerged from the water in front of the wood!

The child held a waterweed in his hand, and the other end of the waterweed was tied to the driftwood Zheng Deli was on.

Surviving a great disaster, there must be a finishing blow.

Before Zheng Deli could enjoy the difficulty of being alive, his neck was wrapped by the waterweed again.

Using a human body as bait, the corpse planted upside down—this time, Zheng Deli was truly dead!

What is fate? The disasters and blessings that mortals cannot escape or avoid no matter how they struggle are called fate.

Afterward, the *Scripture of Saving the Dead* gave a reward: a profound gate technique that could pass off the fake as genuine and turn stone into gold.

Xu Qing sat cross-legged in the cabin, and after practicing for a while, he truly gained enlightenment.

"Borrowing earth to produce gold, transforming all things into gold."

Taking a few smooth pebbles from the reed beach, Xu Qing chanted the incantation, then joined his two fingers together and pointed at the stones. The stones in his palm suddenly shone brightly, and in the blink of an eye, they really turned into a pile of gold!

Seeing this, Xu Qing clicked his tongue in wonder.

However, others could not tell the fake from the real, but he knew it clearly.

The gold before his eyes looked like real gold and silver, but in reality, it was just an illusion evolved from the Dao of Illusion. Once the time for the Dao technique passed, this pile of gold would turn back into stones.

"Passing off the fake as genuine, turning stone into gold—if it weren't for the four-character qualifier at the front, perhaps it really could turn stone into gold."

Xu Qing did not doubt whether there were techniques in the world to turn stone into gold, simply because the five elements naturally generate and overcome each other in a cycle; if there were no methods of order and reversal, that would be the strange thing.

Perhaps one day he would truly comprehend the spell to turn stone into gold.

However, such techniques didn't seem to have much meaning for him.

"If only there were a spell to transform stones into corpses..."

On the outskirts of the reed marsh, five speedboats arrived quietly.

Lu Ping was experienced in poling boats; although he was the last to return, he overtook the others and arrived at the reed marsh one step ahead of everyone else.

Looking at the speedboats around him, Lu Ping frowned: "A fleet of twelve, how come only the five of us are left? Could the others have already entered the depths of the reeds?"

A corpse-salvager said nervously: "No one entered the reeds; this reed marsh is very evil. Before, brothers went in to salvage the upside-down corpses, but they never came back."

"What nonsense are you spouting? No one entered the reed marsh; could the others have vanished into thin air?"

Just as Lu Ping was speaking, the nervous corpse-salvager suddenly pointed at the reed marsh: "People! There are people inside!"

"..."

Lu Ping was startled by this sudden shout. He turned his head and looked, and sure enough, he saw a covered boat sailing out of the reed marsh.

The person poling at the bow looked somewhat unfamiliar; it seemed to be the young man who had just joined the corpse-salvage team today.

The young man smiled and poled the covered boat closer, saying: "Are you brothers busy? I just salvaged a corpse here; by the looks of it, it should be the person the ferryman mentioned who fell into the water."

Xu Qing did not choose to put Zheng Deli's corpse into the Box Court. This corpse died by murder, and there were signs of a struggle on the body. If it could be sent to the patrol office and let Wang Lingyuan perform an autopsy to verify it, perhaps the water bandits who roamed the riverbanks and treated human life like grass could be brought to justice.

Saving the dead is easy, saving the living is hard. For things like this that could be done along the way, Xu Qing was always happy to do them.

In this way, Senior Brother Wang could gain autopsy performance, and the people struggling to survive on both sides of the river could have one less threat...

And he would be equivalent to having done another good deed.

The world is broken and tattered, and the zombie is stitching and mending...

It's just that, right now, it seems someone wants to stop his stitching steps.

"New guy, you probably don't understand the rules of corpse-salvagers. The things on the corpse must be handed over to the deceased's family intact. You stripped the person's clothes and took all the silver and money; do you think this is appropriate?"

Xu Qing looked at the boats surrounding him and blocking his path, and said with some amusement: "When I salvaged this corpse, it was already in this state. I didn't take a single thing from him."

Xu Qing pointed to Zheng Deli, who was lying in the covered boat, and continued: "You all see it with your own eyes; my covered boat has no place to hide things. Are there any other clothes on this boat?"

Lu Ping narrowed his eyes and said, "You hid the looted wealth in the reed marsh; who would ever know?"

"Kid, I've heard that this merchant was carrying quite a lot of silver for purchasing goods—a heavy bag full. If you're sensible, you'll take us to where you hid the stuff."

"If you're not sensible—"

Lu Ping drew the short knife he kept for self-defense at his waist, his eyes revealing a murderous look.

Xu Qing smiled.

"There is more than just the merchant's corpse in my covered boat. You haven't asked or cared about the other remains, yet you specifically ask about the merchant's body."

"What, a corpse without money on it doesn't count as a corpse? Is this how you corpse-salvagers usually treat the dead?"

Xu Qing no longer had the slightest bit of goodwill toward these corpse-salvagers who lacked professional ethics.

Seeing Xu Qing speak up to challenge him, Lu Ping was thoroughly annoyed.

"How I do things is not for you to point fingers at. If you want to be a troublemaker, you'd better have the skills to back it up!"

As his voice fell, Lu Ping gave a wink to the corpse-salvager beside him.

The other man understood immediately.

That corpse-salvager coughed lightly and said, "In this trade, whoever has the skill calls the shots. Since you're not convinced, then have a contest with Boss Lu. If you win, no one will ever question the corpses you salvage again. But if you lose—"

"All the wealth on these corpses must be handed over to Boss Lu to handle. From now on, any corpses you salvage must first be inspected by Boss Lu, and only what he gives you will be yours."

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and said with great interest, "Compete in what?"

Lu Ping toyed with his dagger, his smile not reaching his eyes as he said, "The old three: underwater wrestling, holding breath underwater, and boat racing. You pick any one. As long as you can beat me in one, I'll call you 'Grandpa' from now on, and I will never touch a single corpse you salvage."

"."

Seeing Xu Qing remain silent, Lu Ping said impatiently, "Have you chosen? If you don't dare to compete, then take us to where you hid the goods!"

Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said indifferently, "You choose what we compete in. But let's be clear first: if I win, from now on, all the corpses you salvage must be shown to me first. How about that?"

"Fine!" Lu Ping sneered and said, "I won't bully you. We'll compete in holding our breath. Whoever stays underwater longer is the one with the real skill!"

"."

Xu Qing looked at Lu Ping with a strange expression, thinking to himself that he was really narrowing his own path.

The group surrounded the boat in a circle, and Lu Ping jumped into the water first.

Seeing that the other party really wanted to compete in breath-holding, Xu Qing chuckled and jumped in after him.

(End of chapter)