Chapter 16: Holy Spirit Water

Outside Linhe Ward, a city wall was being built to isolate the refugees, preventing the fleeing people from entering, while at the same time, porridge stalls were opened outside the ward to help the victims.

Xu Qing couldn't understand the profound methods of those officials. Perhaps he had some guesses in his heart, but he was too lazy to dig deep.

Whether it was to divert the "disaster" or to prevent the refugees from impacting the order inside the ward, these had nothing to do with his mortuary shop.

Today the weather was not good, and snowflakes began to fall again toward the end of the first month.

The son of his neighbor Wu Yaoxing was reciting poetry, "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye," thinking about preparing for the county exam in early spring.

To take the Licentiate exam, one must first pass the county exam to become a child student, then go to the prefectural city to participate in the prefectural exam. Only after passing can one be called a Licentiate.

The Great Yong Licentiate exam was not easy to pass, but once passed, not only were various taxes and levies reduced, but one was also exempt from corvée labor. Even when seeing the magistrate, one could hold their head high and not have to suffer the humiliation of kneeling in the hall.

Speaking of earning a title, Xu Qing had a "Book of Classics" hidden in his mind, which covered various classic articles of the Great Yong Dynasty. It was obtained when he transcended a lovesick scholar.

Although that scholar was just an insignificant little fish in Su Hongxiu's fish pond, he was a real Licentiate who had participated in the county and prefectural exams.

Xu Qing thought to himself that perhaps when early spring came this year, he could find time to team up with Wu Yaoxing's son to take the exam.

His requirements weren't high; he only needed to exert two or three percent of his strength to pass the Licentiate exam. This way, he could enjoy some privileges without being too conspicuous...

Just as Xu Qing was pondering this, a commotion suddenly came from the shop entrance.

He looked up and saw the agency clerk he had met once before directing people to move corpses into his shop.

"What's going on?"

Xu Qing stepped forward to ask.

The agency clerk had a bitter face, as if his wife had run off with someone, full of resentment, "Don't mention it. It's all because of the Jinmen Gang from the prefectural city..."

Listening to the clerk's account, Xu Qing finally understood what was going on.

It turned out that a "dragon crossing the river" had recently come to Linhe Ward, named the Jinmen Gang. It was an advance army from Jinmen Prefecture, aiming to take a bite of fat at the Linhe pier and expand their influence.

To put it bluntly, they had their eyes on the prosperity of the pier and wanted a share of the pie.

The freight and fishing rights at the pier were originally managed by Fifth Master Chang, the best fighter in the agency.

Seeing the Jinmen Gang attacking, how could this local snake sit idly by?

So, at the fifth watch this morning, Fifth Master Chang took his best gold-medal fighters and a group of younger brothers, intending to give them a warning and force the Jinmen Gang to retreat.

But what Fifth Master Chang didn't expect was that there was a traitor among his own people. As soon as he arrived at the territory occupied by the Jinmen Gang, he was surrounded by a group of people holding knives and sticks.

At first, Fifth Master Chang wasn't panicked, as he had brought his gold-medal fighter this time. That was a disciple of Zhang Longhu from the Luojing Dragon-Tiger Boxing Hall. Although he had only studied for seven or eight years, his hard-training kung fu, combined with his fierce boxing style like a dragon and tiger, meant that even if two or three internal-training martial artists came, they couldn't get close!

But what Fifth Master Chang never expected was that the Jinmen Gang had not only invited five or six masked internal-training martial artists but also had a martial arts expert at the pulse-connecting realm sitting in command.

How the hell could they fight this!

Fifth Master Chang had the intention to retreat, but the manager of the Jinmen Gang didn't think so. They were just worrying about how to establish their power in Linhe, and he had stretched his neck out!

Based on the principle of not letting a good thing go to waste, the Jinmen Gang leader struck a fatal blow.

If it weren't for Fifth Master Chang's own internal-training strength, plus the desperate cover of his subordinates, he would have lost his life!

It was just a pity for the two internal-training martial artists and seven or eight brothers under his command.

The agency clerk, while directing the movement of the corpses, vividly recounted what happened at the pier this morning.

"Weren't you there? Otherwise, how would you know so many details, even remembering the oath Fifth Master Chang made to avenge his brothers so clearly?"

The agency clerk denied it, "I'm just an errand boy. How could I be material for licking blood on the blade? Fifth Master told me these things himself."

"Enough! I won't talk to you about this. Look at these brothers; they all died covering for our Fifth Master. They are true heroes! You must handle them well and don't make it look ugly during the funeral."

As he spoke, the clerk took five taels of silver from his money bag and continued, "This is the money for hosting the funeral. It must be grand. Buy the best coffins, perform the most impressive rituals, and don't make our Fifth Master lose face."

Five taels of silver for seven or eight corpses, and Xu Qing still had to buy the coffins himself. When calculated, there probably wasn't much left for him.

But it could drive the business of the whole street and make the neighbors lively.

Thinking this, Xu Qing sent the clerk away, closed the shop door, and prepared to start encoffining and transcending the new guests.

"Tsk, they say that if you drift in the world, you'll inevitably get stabbed, but this stabbing is too ruthless."

Xu Qing looked at the corpse that was broad-shouldered and sturdy like a tiger, but covered in wounds and blood, and was still shocked.

How much must that hurt!

Stripping off the other party's clothes and cleaning them, Xu Qing looked carefully and discovered something incredible.

Good heavens! Why were there two holes in the buttocks?

It seems the Jinmen Gang was not only ruthless but also sinister!

After lighting a stick of spiritual incense and calming his mood, Xu Qing began to encoffin and transcend the clients step by step.

Stitching wounds, applying makeup and powder, scraping white where it should be scraped, and filling in the gaps with dough.

When the body was almost ready, Xu Qing put on donkey-skin gloves, took cowhide strips, and wrapped the corpse that had died the most miserably from head to toe on the coffin.

As the saying goes, a fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. Ever since he was scared by the freeloader's corpse-raising after the last soul-summoning transcendence, Xu Qing had learned his lesson.

For corpses that died so violently, it was a one-way opening!

Eight or nine times out of ten, they would raise the corpse to find someone to vent their anger on after summoning the soul!

He didn't want to be the punching bag for these dead people.

After wrapping the corpse tightly in three layers, Xu Qing shook the soul-summoning bell and chanted the Soul-Returning Curse.

When the familiar yin wind poured in from the windows outside, Xu Qing frowned.

Something wasn't right! He remembered that it was clearly broad daylight outside the shop, but at this moment, it was as if dark clouds were covering the moon inside, and there was not a bit of light.

If he couldn't see as clearly at night as during the day, he wouldn't even be able to tell north from south!

The six door panels of the shop rattled, and the windows not far away seemed to be constantly opened and closed by a naughty child, making a constant sound.

Xu Qing gently put down the corpse-driving bell, but his other hand had already pulled out the corpse-driving whip.

"Ugh, huh, gen..."

Just then, a vague sound suddenly came from beside him. Xu Qing lowered his head to look for the source of the sound and saw the corpse, wrapped tightly in cowhide strips, struggling and wriggling with all its might.

He listened carefully and finally heard what the other party was saying.

"I hate it so much..."

Of course, having two extra holes in his buttocks for no reason, any man would hate it!

If he went to the underworld, the ghost officials would verify his identity, pull down his pants, and look. If they crossed him out in the reincarnation book, judging an eight- or nine-foot-tall man as a woman, who could he reason with?

"Be open-minded, big man. You're already dead, so don't keep hating. I've filled those two holes for you. Even if you are reincarnated, you'll still be a hero in your next life!"

Xu Qing felt that when transcending corpses, you couldn't just do physical transcendence. For those with heavy resentment and post-death stress disorder, you might have to open them up a bit.

Sure enough, no sooner had he finished speaking than the corpse on the coffin lid struggled much less.

Seeing that the other party had no intention of breaking free, Xu Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he had been prepared in advance and had controlled the other party with special cowhide strips soaked in Holy Spirit Water.

The so-called Holy Spirit Water was actually made by mixing several turbid substances that specifically countered yin evil.

Such as moon-gazing sand, five-spirit fat, human yellow, left-coiling dragon, poria water, and heavenly sunflower water. These were all good things that could be used to restrain yin evil.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 17 =====