My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 714: Martial Lord?

"You struggled to break free from the ropes that bound you, and jumped off the corpse transporter. The corpse collectors and cremators thought you had encountered a resurrected corpse. In the past, people who were tied up with ropes and body bags, whether they were corpses or living people, would be strangled to death by the ropes. There has never been a case of sudden resurrection like this."

"So, when these corpse collectors saw you jumping off the corpse transporter, they were immediately frightened out of their wits. A few of them were quick-witted and alert enough to immediately turn around and run out of the crematorium. How do you plan to deal with these people?"

"Would you choose to let these corpse collectors go and let them go out to call more people, thereby increasing your extra income? Or would you choose to kill them directly in the crematorium and minimize their influence within a limited scope?"

The game gave these two options. Jiang Xinghuo thought about it carefully. He had already entered the funeral home, so he must maximize his benefits. The bigger the incident, the better it would be for him. Anyway, the worst result would be death, and he could be resurrected anytime and anywhere.

"You chose to let these corpse collectors go and let them go out to call for help. The other corpse collectors and cremators in the crematorium immediately picked up the corpse hooks next to them and hit you on the head and face."

"These corpse hooks are the tools cremators use to drag corpses. Because they come into contact with all kinds of dead bodies all year round, the sharp hooks are contaminated with a lot of corpse poison. Even if you have the ability to be immune to all poisons, it will still not be a good feeling if you are hit by these hooks. You will need to sleep for a few hours to recover."

When Jiang Xinghuo saw the description in the game text, he thought that now was not the time to sleep, so he immediately opened the skill panel and found that the Nine Deaths Cicada had made his body shape virtual.

"You used the Nine Deaths Cicada to make your body invisible, and narrowly avoided the attack of the corpse hooks. Those iron hooks, which contained strong corpse poison, pierced through your body and fell to the ground without causing you any harm."

"Then, you activated the innate ability of the Eight Diagrams."

"The force of the violent wind swept out, forming a small tornado, and all the corpse collectors and cremators present were sucked into the blazing crematorium. Only a sharp scream was heard, and the crematorium returned to its former tranquility."

"You have killed the corpse collector +3."

"You have killed, cremator +15."

"You gained incense +3050."

"Do you want to explore the cremation room now while no one is interrupting you?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation and controlled the character to search the crematorium.

"You have found some valuable things after a thorough search in the crematorium. It can be considered a gain."

"You have obtained: a corpse-pulling hook (excellent), a cremation robe (common), a pair of mandrill sleeves (common), a certificate of admission to the Guanglu Temple (common), a Nanyang little boy (excellent), and a corpse-beating whip (excellent)."

"Corpse hook (excellent item). This is the best quality hook among the dozen or so on the scene. It contains the highest concentration of corpse poison. It not only affects the living, but can also corrode the tendons and bones of the dead. Even if the corpse is pretending to be dead, after the tendons and bones are corroded, it can no longer cause any harm to the person."

"Be careful, the Yin Qi on the corpse hook is too strong and dense. If you use this iron hook to drag corpses for a long time, you may also be infected by the corpse Qi and turn into the so-called living dead."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the description of this prop. It was a prop specifically used against corpses, demons and monsters. It should not cause any harm if used in a short period of time, but if used for a long time, it would easily bring harm to oneself, so one must be careful when using it.

"Cremation robe (common item), a robe used exclusively by cremators in funeral homes. It can protect against high temperature damage when burning corpses, and can also slightly suppress and purify corpse poison."

"Mandrill Sleeves (Ordinary Item), a pair of sleeves made of mandrill skin that can completely cover one's arms and effectively resist the invasion of various toxins from the outside world. It is also an exclusive item for cremators in funeral homes."

These mandrill sleeves and cremation robe are a set, and can be considered work clothes for the funeral home. I'll keep them for now. When they are of no use to me, it won't be too late to dispose of these two items later.

"Guanglu Temple Entry Certificate (Ordinary Item), a symbol of entry into Guanglu Temple, one of the three great food organizations in the secular world. Not long ago, those corpse collectors kidnapped an official from Guanglu Temple in order to increase their performance, and threw him into the crematorium to burn him. This token was obtained from that official."

The game text mentions Guanglu Temple.

Jiang Xinghuo remembered that he still had a mission for Guanglu Temple on hand. Wu Gujun, who had defected from Guanglu Temple, was killed by him. The game text said that he could go to find Yun Fo, the God of Food in Guanglu Temple to hand in the mission. He could take this opportunity to go over and take a closer look.

"Nanyang Little Mantong (excellent item), originated from the Nanyang region. It is a kind of little ghost that can help its master achieve certain goals, but it can easily backfire on its master. It must be fed with the master's blood in order to control the little mantong as if it were an arm."

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo suddenly perked up. Could it be that the little Mantong from Nanyang was left behind by the voodoo elder?

So I found the right place?
"Do you want to equip it on yourself?"

New information popped up in the game text.

Jiang Xinghuo directly chose no.

He had no interest in raising a little ghost. Such an evil thing that required him to feed it with his own blood was tantamount to raising a tiger to harm himself. Who knows, it might attack him severely at any time.

I don’t know whether this thing was left behind by the voodoo elder.

After all, these corpse collectors are the kind who don't care about food or meat. In order to increase their performance, they dare to send anyone to the funeral home. It is not surprising that there are a few sorcerers or wizards from Southeast Asia.

Finally, there was only one corpse whip left.

"Corpse Whip (Excellent Item), an iron whip that has the power to suppress corpses and destroy evil spirits. One whip will sever the soul, and two whips will disperse the spirit. To deal with ordinary zombies, you only need to use this whip to whip their bodies, and the soul will be dispersed, turning them into an ordinary corpse that can be slaughtered at will."

At this point, everything has been accounted for.

Basically, they are all props used by cremators in funeral homes, but this is expected. After all, these things were found in the crematorium, so they are naturally special props for cremators.

After Jiang Xinghuo finished counting these things and was about to control the character to leave the crematorium, he suddenly triggered Tathagata's innate ability.

"You have triggered the talent of Tathagata." "You accidentally glanced at the burning crematoriums and found that the ashes in the furnaces seemed to have a mystery."

"You have discovered, Dead Man's Ashes."

"Dead ashes (high-quality materials). These crematoriums placed in the crematorium are all hand-made by the funeral home's owner, the undertaker. All the bodies burned to ashes by these crematoriums will become unique raw materials."

"The cosmetics used by undertakers to make up the dead are made from these ashes. In addition, these ashes are also the material for making some special elixirs. When mixed with rootless water and applied to the face, they can also change one's appearance."

"Would you like to collect some of the ashes from the crematorium?"

Jiang Xinghuo took a look and although he didn't know if this thing could be used, it was better to have it than not. In case it could be used in the future, it wouldn't hurt to put a copy away first.

"You have obtained, Dead Man's Ashes +5."

"What choice are you going to make next?"

"Will you choose to leave the funeral home in time before the people in the funeral home arrive to avoid being besieged? Or will you choose to stay here and continue to explore further to find out whether the South Sea wizard is here?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose the latter without much thought. The purpose of his trip was to find the South Asian wizard, and the other things were just incidental gains.

"You left the crematorium and came to the square outside the funeral home. The corpse collectors who had escaped earlier had already called a large number of cremators and corpse collectors, and they were running towards you aggressively."

"When these evil spirits saw you, they swung their weapons at you without saying a word. However, these inferior evil spirits were no match for you and were quickly beaten away by you."

"At this moment, several apprentice undertakers came over from a distance. They didn't do anything to you, but politely invited you to the mortuary, saying that the undertaker, the owner of the funeral home, was waiting for you there."

"Do you want to accept their invitation to go to the mortuary?"

Jiang Xinghuo narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking that the real culprit had finally arrived.

Since the undertaker had invited him, he had no reason to refuse. There was no harm in going over to meet him and see what he meant.

"You accepted the undertaker's invitation."

"You followed these apprentice undertakers into the depths of the funeral home under the watchful eyes of other cremators and corpse collectors."

"In a funeral home, the person with the highest status is naturally the undertaker. He is the head of the entire funeral home. Below him are the undertaker apprentices. Although they are only apprentices, they are only for undertakers. If they were placed in other places, they would all be well-known masters in the industry."

"Below are the ordinary corpse collectors and cremators, so these apprentice undertakers came to take you to the depths of the funeral home. Although others have opinions in their hearts, they dare not express them at all."

"You followed the apprentice undertaker and soon arrived at the coffin room deep inside the funeral home. The air was filled with a sweet smell that could cover up the odor of the rotting corpse and also prevent the corpse from suddenly coming back to life."

"You walked into the mortuary and saw the undertaker at work. You unexpectedly discovered that he looked very familiar, as if you had seen him somewhere before. In particular, the power fluctuations emanating from his body were extremely similar to your Nine Deaths Cicada's aura."

"You suddenly came to your senses, and you found that the appearance of this undertaker was very similar to the body of the Nine-Death Cicada shed by the Martial Master! Or in other words, this undertaker is a Nine-Death Cicada shed!!"

After Jiang Xinghuo saw the text, he was also shocked. The Nine Deaths of the Martial Lord? Could it be that this undertaker was related to the Martial Lord?
He hurriedly continued to advance the plot.

"After finishing the work at hand, the undertaker seemed to see your doubts and frankly said that your guess was correct. He was the clone left by the Martial Lord!"

"Many years ago, the Martial Lord left behind a nine-dead cicada shell and severed its connection with the original body. That is why he has been living in the human skin alley in Jiangnan as an undertaker for so many years."

"The only person who knows his true identity is Tai Sui, who is also the master of the Dao. Not only are they close friends, they are also survivors of the previous civilization. He also sensed the aura of the Nine Deaths Cicada on you and knew that you were chosen by the original body, so he invited you to come and told you the truth."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at this text message and caught a key point: Tai Sui God was also a survivor of the previous secular civilization!
That is to say, Fengdu, Lord Wu, and Tai Sui Shen, these three are all humans who have survived from the previous secular civilization to the current secular civilization, and have achieved the status of masters in this civilization.

"However, the undertaker recently noticed something amiss. He discovered that Tai Sui had undergone some inexplicable changes. Although his appearance and the authority he held remained exactly the same as before, he felt that Tai Sui was no longer the same person."

"For this reason, the undertaker conducted some tests late at night a few days ago and confirmed that the Tai Sui God currently sitting in the Tai Sui Temple is definitely not his best friend, but an imposter with the same appearance and authority."

"He can't leave Jiangnan City or here now, so I hope you can tell this news to me."

"Back then, the original body left a nine-death cicada shell in Jiangnan and deliberately severed the connection between the two. Now he can be said to be an independent life form, but the abilities and interpersonal relationships of the martial master have not changed."

"He needs to continue to observe the movements of Tai Sui God here, so the subsequent investigation of the truth can only be left to the main body. You can go to the National Martial Arts Museum in Lingnan to track down the main body's whereabouts. You should be able to find some clues there."

"Do you want to accept the undertaker's commission?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation. This was obviously a chain task, one link after another, with many secrets hidden in the follow-up. He absolutely could not give up.

He wanted to tell the undertaker in front of him about his discovery in the small prison, but due to the curse of the Lord of the Earthly World to keep secrets, he could only keep this secret in his heart and tell it all at the right time in the future.

However, Jiang Xinghuo did not forget the purpose of his visit. After communicating with the undertaker for a while, he finally triggered the relevant interactive plot.

(End of this chapter)