Chapter 61: Corpse Rising

Why did I suddenly feel a creeping sense of horror?

Because there are only two kinds of people who live in a corpse-driver's inn: one is a corpse driver, and the other is a dead person.

In other words, either Xu Ling is a corpse driver, or he is a dead person. If Xu Ling is a dead person, and my mission this time is to suppress a corpse—

Could the corpse I am supposed to suppress be Xu Ling himself?

Xu Ling seemed startled by my words, standing frozen in place. The moment that thought crossed my mind, every hair on my body stood on end. To verify my suspicion while he was still in a daze, I rushed toward him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck from behind.

Xu Ling immediately began to struggle, though his strength was not great. As he thrashed, I pressed my hand against his carotid artery. It was faintly warm and throbbing violently.

The old method remains the most reliable way to tell whether someone is alive or dead: check their body temperature and heartbeat.

Feeling the strong pulse at Xu Ling's neck, I let out a long sigh of relief. Xu Ling was a living human being.

I loosened my grip, let him go, and quickly hid the peach-wood spike in my hand behind my back.

This peach-wood spike was the very tool I brought to suppress the corpse. According to ghost arts records, corpses undergo a malignant transformation and rise from the dead because the deceased swallowed a breath of unreleased grievance before passing away. This grievance gathers in the throat; once it is dissipated, the corpse naturally returns to normal.

Peach wood has possessed the power to ward off evil since ancient times. Legend has it that when Kuafu chased the sun and finally fell, his body transformed into a mountain, and the walking stick in his hand turned into the Deng Forest—which is a peach grove. Because Kuafu died of thirst while chasing the sun, the sun naturally represents the ultimate yang energy, endowing peach trees with an abundance of yang energy. This made them essential magical instruments for those who walk between the realms of yin and yang to capture ghosts and subdue demons.

The peach-wood spike in my hand was one I had carved myself with a knife back at school. I cut a thumb-length piece of peach wood, sharpened one end into a point, and thus fashioned a peach-wood spike.

When using a peach-wood spike, driving it into the legs of a transformed corpse prevents it from walking. Nailing its hands stops it from growing long fingernails. Hammering the spike directly into the crown of its head causes its soul to instantly scatter in terror. Driving it into its spine neutralizes the corpse transformation entirely.

As soon as I let go of him, Xu Ling instantly flew into a rage. However, instead of lashing out, he turned around and stared at me with a face full of terror.

"M-Master, what do you want?"

I instantly flushed red with embarrassment. Feeling somewhat sheepish, I muttered to Xu Ling, "It's nothing."

Still deeply distrustful, Xu Ling watched me warily and stayed rooted to the spot. Because I had groundlessly suspected him and caused such a scene, awkwardness overwhelmed me. To be honest, I wished I could find a crack in the ground and crawl right into it.

I whispered to him again, "Really, it's truly nothing."

Xu Ling still looked at me with hesitation. Facing his wretched expression, I felt a strong urge to rush forward and beat him up. Growing irritated, I barked angrily, "Just lead the way for crying out loud, what are you gawking at?"

Xu Ling blinked in surprise, then hesitantly turned back around. Staring at his back as he walked ahead, I finally let out another sigh of relief.

Yet, my doubts were far from dispelled. I was certain my judgment was not wrong—the building before me was unmistakably a corpse-driver's inn.

The profession of corpse drivers first emerged in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, years of continuous warfare had left countless dead. Many people who died far from their hometowns wished for their remains to be transported back for burial. Due to difficult transportation, coupled with roads and relay stations being occupied by soldiers and bandits during the chaos, people in folk society who understood the arts of yin and yang began teaching the techniques of corpse-raising and corpse-driving to transport the dead.

Once the wars ended and peace was restored, the profession of corpse drivers gradually vanished from the world. However, the art of corpse-driving did not disappear; instead, it was passed down from generation to generation.

As corpse drivers faded into obscurity, corpse-driver's inns also gradually ceased to exist. Yet the building before me, even if it were not a corpse-driver's inn, was undoubtedly a house used to store corpses. How could I possibly believe Xu Ling when he claimed this house belonged to him?

The architectural layout of this place was simply not something an ordinary person could build.

At this moment, as Xu Ling walked ahead of me, the knot of suspicion in my heart grew heavier. If this fellow were a descendant of corpse drivers, why on earth would he hire me to suppress a corpse? It simply made no sense. Could the descendant of a corpse driver truly be completely ignorant of yin and yang arts?

Although I was certain Xu Ling was a living human, I still found it hard to trust him.

Following Xu Ling, we soon reached the front door of the house. Just as I had imagined, there were no windows flanking the main entrance—only a single, heavily reinforced door. It was built with such density that it felt as though once closed, not a breath of air could escape from within.

As I followed Xu Ling to the threshold and he reached out to push the door open, I grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Didn't you tell me earlier that this house belongs to you?"

Xu Ling turned his head back, looking utterly baffled. "It does belong to me. I bought it from an old woman for tens of thousands of yuan."

"An old woman?" Hearing those words instantly filled me with unease.

Standing beside me, Xu Ling began to recount the story. A while ago, someone had suddenly come to his shop demanding to buy the corpses he kept, but Xu Ling stubbornly refused to sell. To his surprise, the old woman changed her tune, saying she wouldn't buy his corpses after all, but instead offered to sell him a house perfectly suited for storing them.

"She even said..." Xu Ling hesitated as he looked at me.

I glared at her and snapped, "Said what?"

"She said as long as I bought this house, she would continue supplying me with corpses on a regular basis. Didn't you ask me where I got so many bodies? Most of them were provided by her."

Beginning to understand the situation, I asked Xu Ling, "What did that old woman look like?"

Xu Ling paused to reflect, then began describing the old woman based on the image in his mind. As he spoke, the likeness of an acquaintance slowly materialized in my mind.

Somewhat thin, short of stature, with a hunchback, and a face resembling withered tree bark.

I thought of a person—someone I had worried about for a very long time. Could it be the Imp Mother?

My heart instantly turned ice-cold. I told Xu Ling, "Say no more. Take me inside to take a look."

Looking at me with hesitation, Xu Ling finally pushed the heavy door open. The moment it swung wide, a wave of nauseating corpse stench hit me.

Peering into the dim interior, I faintly made out rows upon rows of wooden boards lined up in the half-darkness. Atop every single board lay a corpse, numbering no less than twenty.

On one particular board, however, there was no body. Instead, standing rigidly upright right beside it was a corpse.