Chapter 62: Corpse Transformation

Although Wang Qiao's son was young, his mind was meticulous.

Having experienced the blow of his parents' death, he didn't collapse, but quickly regained his senses. The son succeeds the father; as the only male in the Wang family, he should take on the burden of life.

Assigning his grandmother and sister to the side, the young Wang Liang already had a hint of old age.

"There are no outsiders here, so I will sincerely ask again. May I ask, Sir, did my father really die in an accident?"

Xu Qing was a bit surprised. He had thought Wang Qiao's old mother might come to ask about this, but he didn't expect it to be Wang Qiao's young son.

"Your father waited at the pier day and night to find a miracle-working physician who could cure consumption. To earn money for the medical treatment, he would work as a laborer to move goods whenever he had free time..."

"Your father's death was due to bad luck and could not be prevented by human effort."

Xu Qing took out the autopsy results issued by the government mortuary and the eyewitness testimony recorded by the constables at the pier, erasing that trace of doubt for Wang Liang.

"I understand. Thank you, Sir, for moving my father's remains. I will definitely keep this kindness in my heart and never forget it." As Wang Liang spoke, he took out a money pouch containing the money the Wang family had scraped together. Although it wasn't much, for an ordinary rural household, it wasn't a small sum.

Xu Qing waved his hand to refuse.

"I was willing to move your father's coffin because I am going to the prefectural city to take the exams, so it was just on the way, which doesn't count for anything."

"As for this money... if you want to be the head of the household, you can't do it without money in your pocket."

As soon as Xu Qing finished speaking, the young man's face changed, and he knelt in front of him with a thud.

"Sir, I would like to use this money as tuition. I beg you to accept me as your disciple and teach me your skills."

Looking at the young man kneeling on the ground, presenting the tuition with both hands, Xu Qing was amazed, thinking, what is this about?

"Don't bow to me. What skills do I have to teach you? In the end, I'm just an ordinary scholar..."

"Sir, don't be humble. Just now, when you moved the coffin and buried my parents, no one in the village was willing to step forward to support the coffin. I saw with my own eyes that you lifted the coffin with your own strength, and you did it with ease. I dare to guess that you must be a martial arts master with astonishing strength..."

"I have been studying for a few years and know I am dull and cannot achieve fame. Now that my parents are dead, if I don't have skills to rely on, I'm afraid I will be bullied by others. If that happens, it's a small matter that I let my parents down, but I'm afraid of making my grandmother and my little sister suffer..."

Seeing Wang Liang's clear speech and bright mind, Xu Qing couldn't help but mutter.

Both parents dead, a little sister at home, and the young man is unusually mature and decisive. This configuration...

It looks like a protagonist template no matter how you look at it.

What's even more commendable is that Wang Liang, at such a young age, is willing to swallow his pride and kneel to learn, and it's not for himself, but for the sake of the old and young in his family. If there are no accidents, this kind of character will definitely achieve something in the future.

Xu Qing thought for a long time, letting Wang Liang kneel there. After a while, he said: "I'm used to being alone and don't like taking disciples. If you really want to learn skills, I can teach you some self-defense techniques. As for how far you can go in the future, it all depends on your own fortune."

After speaking, he let Wang Liang come to his front and began to measure the other party's bones with his palm as a ruler.

Xu Qing had transcended many internal martial artists. Although he didn't understand the martial arts path as thoroughly as a martial arts master running a school, he was more than enough to lead someone into the martial arts path.

"Turn around and relax your body."

Measuring bones requires looking at the waist, shoulders, neck, hips, and the spine and fascia.

Xu Qing took one look and saw that Wang Liang had a thick neck and broad shoulders, and his arms were full and long, which was suitable for practicing bow, sword, or fist and palm techniques.

While thinking, he placed one hand on Wang Liang's shoulder and reached the other toward the spine on his body.

"Bear with it."

With Xu Qing's movements, Wang Liang let out a muffled groan, his teeth clenched, and before long, a layer of fine sweat appeared on his forehead.

Xu Qing was surprised in his heart. If it were an ordinary person, let alone a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, even a strong man couldn't withstand the pain of bone-touching and tendon-stretching.

This kid really has some backbone.

After finishing the bone-touching, Xu Qing took paper and pen and used the painting skills he had just acquired a few days ago to draw the practice methods of the Dragon Seal Tiger Image Fist and the key points of the Light Body Technique, with some textual annotations attached.

Besides the Dragon Seal Tiger Image, he spent another hour explaining the precautions for martial artists from external training to internal training for Wang Liang.

The young man had high comprehension for martial arts; Xu Qing explained it once, and the other party had already remembered it in his heart.

"The disciple still doesn't know Master's name..."

"I have already said that I don't take disciples. As for my name, it's not worth mentioning."

Hearing this, Wang Liang's expression was momentarily lonely, but it was replaced by determination in the next instant.

"The kindness of your teaching is like a second birth to my parents. I will never forget it. Even if you don't want to leave your name, I will remember your kindness."

After speaking, Wang Liang bowed deeply to him.

Xu Qing didn't care at all. These were just small episodes in his journey; he was at most a passerby and would never stop his steps because of this.

Later in the evening, dark clouds gathered, and a spring thunderclap startled countless raindrops.

Wang Liang's eyes were full of hope, wanting to persuade Xu Qing to stay for another night.

Xu Qing didn't stay. He took the straw raincoat handed over by Wang Liang's little sister and smiled, patting the little girl's head.

The seven or eight-year-old girl had swollen eyes and bubbles coming out of her nose, but she had already begun to accept the life of relying on her brother and grandmother.

Xu Qing put on the straw raincoat. Before leaving, he took out a few strength-enhancing pills and some blood-enhancing pills from the Mountain and River Map and threw them to Wang Liang, hoping he could really protect his family in the future.

In the misty rain, Xu Qing, wearing a brown straw raincoat, sat in the front compartment of the carriage, letting the horse travel along the official road.

The sky gradually darkened, and the rain curtain in front of him seemed to be getting heavier, and the thunder above his head became more and more terrifying.

Travelers on the official road turned into a side path one after another. Xu Qing poked his head out to ask and learned that there was a small temple on the side path that could be used to shelter from the rain and rest.

Seeing those scholars and traveling merchants turning into the side path, Xu Qing hadn't made a choice yet when he heard a thunderclap explode in the sky, startling him.

In the secular nature, most common thunder is extremely rigid and yang, which is very unfriendly to evil spirits and yin objects. Xu Qing, as a zombie, didn't want to leave the crowd and face the power of thunder alone.

In the wilderness small temple, a bonfire rose.

Xu Qing took off his straw raincoat and put it aside to dry. The scholars and various people from the martial arts world gathered in one place, chatting and gossiping.

They were nothing more than talking about the spring exams and some martial arts world news.

Halfway through, a storyteller who had traveled north and south took advantage of the bonfire to tell stories about strange ghosts.

Some scholars who considered themselves high-minded would occasionally comment, saying things like the words didn't express the meaning and were slightly crude, but once the story really started, they were all breathless and had completely forgotten about picking faults.

The bonfire crackled. After the storyteller finished a story, the crowd booed and asked him to tell another one, but he refused no matter what.

"I want to save my voice and tell it again when I get to the prefectural city. If you are free then, you can find me at the teahouse."

Here the storyteller stopped talking, but a white-faced young man among the crowd acted as a substitute and told another strange legend.

This story was called "Corpse Transformation."

"It is said that there was an old man in Yangxin County who lived in Caidian Village..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 63 =====