Chapter 42: The Dual-Material Zombie

The third month of spring, peach and plum blossoms in the spring breeze.

The new buds had already sprouted on the scholar tree in Xu Qing's courtyard. The beast-skull-styled wind chimes under the eaves tinkled softly, and the traps he had dug and camouflaged deep at the base of the walls and behind the house were waiting quietly for a fated visitor to patronize them.

Xu Qing cultivated for an entire night; the yin qi within his body grew increasingly thick and dense. Under his inner perception, there was a faint, internal scene of churning clouds and mist.

However, the pity was that while he now possessed a wealth of cultivation, he lacked the means to transform his power into technique. To put it plainly, he was currently in a "red state"—a zombie who only knew how to use brute force against enemies.

With such a massive accumulation of Yin energy, he should have been a master of evil arts, yet he spent his days wearing brass knuckles and using street-brawler tricks. What kind of look was that?

Xu Qing reflected on his own shortcomings and decided to make more poison powder and lime powder to carry on his person, thereby strengthening his weakness in magic attacks.

As for going out to seek the Dao, that was impossible. His funeral shop's business was excellent, the surrounding neighbors spoke kindly, and the customers who came never left bad reviews.

With such a stable life to live, had he gone insane to want to go outside and seek the Dao?

Spending his days transcending corpses and eating melons for free, while occasionally gaining some self-defense and body-strengthening skills—wasn't this safer than running around in a chaotic world?

Moreover, zombies had no lifespan. He could easily guard his shop and courtyard, transcend the dead, cultivate his skills, and be an outsider passing through the bustle, watching the white clouds and blue dogs, observing the seas dry up and the rocks crumble.

As for Daoist arts or demonic arts, if there was fate, they would come; if not, he would not specifically pursue them.

After all, only those who endure to the end are the winners.

Dawn broke outside the residence at Shuimen Bridge.

Xu Qing wore a black-collared gown with a blue cloth bag hanging off one side of his body. If he were holding a cloth banner, he would be the spitting image of a wild fortune-teller wandering the world.

Unfortunately, he hadn't yet learned the skills of fortune-telling or physiognomy, otherwise, he could go to Cuiyun Pavilion to read the palms and calculate the pregnancy luck of those poor girls who couldn't even afford clothes.

Leaving the residence, Xu Qing walked through the streets and alleys in this attire. Occasionally, passersby would ask him if he had any secret medicine for virility, as his outfit looked too much like a traveling peddler of "Tiao Men" medicine.

"Tiao Men" was one of the eight sects of the underworld, referring to wild physicians who treated venereal diseases and sold folk remedies.

Xu Qing touched his chin, wondering why, apart from his pale complexion and the faint scent of rouge on his body, there was nothing else special about him—so why did he look like a doctor for venereal diseases?

Did he look like that kind of indecent person!

Xu Qing couldn't be bothered to argue with them, but he felt strange in his heart: why did the foot traffic in Linhe suddenly seem so much heavier these days? At first, he thought it was an illusion, until he encountered scholar after scholar carrying book boxes and baskets, and he suddenly remembered: it was the time for the spring examinations.

Linhe District was already lively, and now with this group of scholars, it was even noisier than before.

The poorer scholars set up book stalls on the street, doing work like reading and writing letters for others, which counted as working their way through school.

Xu Qing watched two or three poor scholars gathered there, arguing over naming a neighbor's newborn baby, and felt a sense of emotion.

But when the scholars collected the red envelopes for the naming, he heard the leader say: "I've inquired, even the worst flower house in Linhe costs several silver taels a night. We're still short, we need to work harder."

Xu Qing silently retracted his evaluation. So these poor scholars weren't working their way through school; they were working their way through prostitution!

Looking at the wealthy scholars with slicked hair and powdered faces, most were followed by long-term servants, book boys, or maids. Those who knew thought they were here for the exams; those who didn't thought they were young masters out for a spring outing!

Xu Qing was not of the same path as these scholars. He first went to a breakfast stall for a bowl of duck blood soup, then went to the vegetable market to order a few old hens, and then wandered back to the mortuary shop.

About an hour later, the poultry vendor from the market delivered a dozen hens. Xu Qing put them in the backyard to roam, feeding them wheat and millet, saving him the trouble of going out to buy eggs later.

Xu Qing truly had the heart to live a proper life.

As for why he didn't raise chickens at the new residence near Shuimen Bridge, it was because that house was too ominous; it was difficult to keep poultry alive there.

After settling the hens, Xu Qing returned to the front shop and heard a commotion outside. Stepping out, he saw Wu Yaoxing encouraging two young men at the door.

The two young men: one was Wu Yaoxing's own son, and the other was his distant nephew. This distant nephew had come from the countryside to borrow a room, also to earn the status of a "child scholar" (entry-level scholar).

"Zhiyuan, you've taken the entry-level scholar exam before, you must teach Wencai well. After all, we are one family, written on the same genealogy!"

Wu Wencai was the child of Wu Yaoxing's distant relative. Seeing his elder signaling, he greeted Wu Zhiyuan with some restraint.

"I'll be troubling you, Brother Zhiyuan, from now on."

Xu Qing listened to the names of the two brothers and muttered to himself.

Wu Zhiyuan, Wu Wencai—the naming standards of the Wu family were truly something else.

"Brother Xu—you two, come over here quickly. This is your Uncle Xu, a neighbor of ours, a very good man!"

Seeing Xu Qing standing at the shop door, Wu Yaoxing called out for the two young men to come and pay their respects.

"Uncle Xu (Uncle)."

Hearing this, Xu Qing nearly fainted. He was in the prime of his life; how did he become an uncle?

Wu Yaoxing laughed, "Speaking of which, my boy has been cooped up at home reading all day and hasn't met you yet. Now he finally has."

What was that supposed to mean? Did he have to give the boy a red envelope?

Facing the fact that he had been pushed up a generation for no reason, Xu Qing was helpless.

Who told him to become a shopkeeper at such a young age?

After chatting for a while, Xu Qing learned that these two "good nephews" were preparing to go to the government office for identity verification before the spring exams.

The so-called verification was actually taking their travel permits and identity tags to the government office to report in advance. Once they confirmed their background was clean and they had no criminal record, the office would issue a written receipt, which was like an admission ticket.

Xu Qing heard this and thought it was a good thing!

Go together, go together!

The current situation was turbulent, with chaos erupting in border areas. Not to mention the mutiny of the Beizhao garrison, the Nancuo were repeatedly invading the Great Yong. If not for the divine soldiers and brave generals of the Shu region and the natural barrier of Mount Taodou, the enemy might have already reached the heart of Great Yong.

Not to mention that the Heavenly Heart Sect already had the momentum to rise in rebellion. When that time came, the imperial court would inevitably conscript men into the army. Xu Qing didn't want his funeral business to be going well, only to be suddenly conscripted and forced to close his shop.

But if he earned the status of a Licentiate (Licentiate), he wouldn't have these troubles.

After all, according to Great Yong law, anyone with Licentiate status was exempt from corvée labor, and also enjoyed privileges like not having to kneel before officials and being exempt from certain taxes.

"The end of the world is indeed taking the civil service exam."

Xu Qing thought that if his previous life's Korea had this regulation, the number of people taking the Licentiate exam every year would stretch from the south of the city to the north!

You ask where he got the confidence to take the Licentiate exam? This had to be attributed to the classics he obtained when he transcended that "simp" scholar at the corpse-grinding mill.

The classics were full of essays for the exams. Now that the opportunity to earn the status of entry-level scholar and licentiate had arrived, Xu Qing had to seize it!

Once he had the status of a Licentiate, he could be called a dual-material zombie, proficient in both literature and martial arts!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 43 =====