parentshiftbook Chapter 245: Smuggling into the Mortuary
Chapter 245: Smuggling into the Mortuary
As Zhang Ping walked out of the Divine Weapon Pavilion, he stood on the street, looking at the crowds of people coming and going, and tugged at the black robe on his head.
My gaze pierced through the endless rooftops, looking eastward beyond the city.
"They left Penglai Immortal City? It seems they weren't stopped by those people. They're quite capable."
Zhang Ping hadn't forgotten that his most important purpose in coming to Penglai was to obtain the Sect Token and establish a sect. He had secretly placed a mark on Li Shu in the arena, a mark derived from the power of beast patterns, which was difficult for ordinary cultivators to detect.
Although the mark allowed them to track Li Shu's location, Zhang Ping did not act rashly last night. Instead, he planned to wait for the others in the shadows to make the first move and then seize the sect token in one fell swoop.
Otherwise, if they seize the sect token too early, they will face endless scrutiny.
Zhang Ping was slightly surprised when he sensed that the other party had left Penglai Immortal City.
He then composed himself and followed the crowd discreetly out of the city.
Outside the city, fallen leaves rustle in the desolate air.
A boy disguised himself as an old man and huddled inside a box.
The box was black and smelled foul. It was filled with a sticky mixture of liquid and solid, making passersby avoid it.
Even with a lid on it, it's still hard to accept.
"Ugh—you're right, the head butler is right, why did you send the two of us to deliver this?"
The cart was pulled by two large horses, and the person driving it looked very young and not very skilled.
He pinched his nose as he spoke to his companions.
The person accompanying them wasn't much better, rolling their eyes and saying, "Stop talking so much, every extra word I say means inhaling two mouthfuls of stench. Hurry up and get these things to the mortuary, the old craftsmen there are waiting for them."
The mortuary outside the city, about fifty miles from Penglai Immortal City, is the largest place in the vicinity for disposing of corpses.
Customs vary from place to place. In some areas, people are simply thrown into mass graves after death, leaving the bodies to be eaten by wild animals. Except for people of high status, few people know how to properly dispose of corpses.
However, Penglai gathers cultivators from all over the Taihu Lake region. Some of them are bound by the customs of their hometowns and like to properly send their relatives who are about to die to the mortuary. Through the special skills of the master craftsmen at the mortuary, the corpses can be kept immortal for hundreds of years.
If a special burial site is chosen, the corpse can even be resurrected as a zombie, retaining some of the body's memories. It's not the person being resurrected, but they can still handle some matters for the family.
It's like recycling the dead!
However, it might take a while to utilize it, until the soul trapped within the corpse dissipates, at which point the zombie will lose its power. At that time, another demonic beast can be captured, its soul extracted and placed inside, thus extending its lifespan by another hundred years.
Of course, few people would do this for their own relatives, but it's different for their dearest friends and family.
The boxes on the cart contained special materials for preserving corpses, made from a mixture of human excrement and special sludge; the smell was truly pungent.
The two stopped chatting, lowered their breathing, and were thinking about getting to the mortuary as soon as possible.
At that moment, the carriage wheel rolled over a small rut, and with a loud crash, a large box on the cart shook violently, more so than the other boxes around it.
One of them turned around and glanced back, a look of doubt flashing in his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
It was just a costume, and it was filled with too much hard excrement. It was also quite noisy.
The viewpoint was focused on the large box that was vibrating. Li Shu's pupils were dilated, and a hand barely reached out from under his armpit to pry open a long, thin object from his mouth.
The stench assaulted my nostrils, and my pupils, which had been dilated, tilted slightly upwards, as if about to roll over.
Fortunately, this wasn't the first time he'd done something like this, and he stubbornly endured it.
Last time he was being chased, he accidentally discovered that this special liquid used to preserve corpses could be used in conjunction with his own concealment techniques to greatly cover up the marks on his body.
This is largely thanks to the fact that we were able to escape the pursuit of the cultivators in the city this time.
"After this departure, I will enter the secret realm and will not emerge until I have cultivated to the Divine Integration Realm!"
......
The horse pulled the cart along the uneven road, slowly making its way to the mortuary as darkness fell.
The two men quickly handed over the cart, said no more, and each rode back on a horse.
"Damn it, I absolutely have to wash off this smell when I get home today!"
"Haha, Brother Feng, if you don't wash yourself properly, your wife probably won't let you into bed. I'm different. Your sister-in-law went home to visit relatives recently and hasn't returned yet. I can bully all the concubines at home. Tonight, I'm not going to bathe; I'll let those little wench taste something special..."
"You are not human..."
The person who took over the mortuary was a teenager who was used to this kind of thing. Helpless, he lifted the pole in front of the cart and pulled it in with great effort.
"Phew, it smells really strong. Let's leave it here overnight and deal with it when Master comes back tomorrow."
The boy placed the cart in a side room, clapped his hands, closed the door, and left.
huh-huh-
The howling night wind rustled through the branches and leaves, making a swishing sound.
Inside the side room, coffins were neatly arranged, and in the middle was a cart that had just been brought in.
Late at night, a strong wind blew through the cracks in the window, causing the two candles that were the only ones emitting light in the room to flicker. The light fell on the mottled walls, making it look somewhat eerie.
In the silent room, a cracking sound of wood breaking apart rang out.
But then they saw the lid of a coffin being slowly pushed open, and pale, damp air seeped out along the gaps, creating a chilling atmosphere.
"harsh....."
A hoarse voice rang out, but before it was even halfway through, a "pui!" was heard!
The large box on the cart exploded with a bang. Li Shu, reeking of stench and covered in black slime, leaped into the air and then stomped the open coffin lid back down.
"Pah! Damn mortuary! Why does this stuff smell so bad? And there's so much hard stuff in it! Pah! Once I've mastered my cultivation, I'll raze this place to the ground one day!"
Li Shu looked around but didn't see a rag. He reached out, flipped open the coffin lid, took off the clothes the zombie was wearing, and wiped its body clean.
They changed the coffin again and found some clothes.
Only then did he swagger off, preparing to leave the mortuary.
"My little sister is still waiting for me outside, I have to hurry over."
As soon as he finished speaking, he hurriedly left.
The shadow under the window stirred, revealing a deathly pale face.
"Let's wait and see, to prevent future trouble..."
Ten miles away from the mortuary is Yegang Mountain.
Yegang Mountain was once a notorious mass grave. Later, with the establishment of a mortuary, all the corpses there were collected and cremated. Now, it has grown into a dense forest; whether due to abundant fertility or other reasons is unknown.
The forests of Yegang Mountain are noticeably higher than the surrounding area.
"Little sister, I'm back!"