Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 335

Li Zhuiyuan sat on the stone bench for a long time.

So long that even Runsheng, who never liked to use his brain, couldn't help but lower his head and ask in a low voice:
"Xiao Yuan, shall we go back?"

There doesn't seem to be anything interesting here, and Ah Li is still waiting upstairs. Most importantly, Run Sheng feels that Xiao Yuan's current state is a bit abnormal.

Being in a daze or feeling confused is nothing unusual for other people, like Ayou, who often does it.

But Xiao Yuan has always been very clear-headed; he has always known what he is doing and what he should do.

Li Zhuiyuan regained his senses slightly and nodded.

Runsheng waited a while longer.

Seeing that Xiao Yuan was still sitting on the stone bench, Run Sheng had no choice but to reach out, pick up the boy, and move him onto his back.

Stepping out of the main seat and looking up, the quicksand above continues to fall, and by daybreak, this small space underground may be completely filled.

Runsheng held onto Xiaoyuan's back with one hand and gripped the wall with the other. With his feet dangling in the air, he grabbed, released, and stopped, as if he were jumping, and soon he arrived at the top.

After putting the boy back on the tricycle, Ah Li looked at him carefully.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze first fell on A Li's face, then quickly drifted away.

Runsheng got on the tricycle.

The starry sky was still brilliant tonight, but the two people in the back of the car did not play chess as they had on the way there.

Li Zhuiyuan's gaze was directed upwards, but he could not see a single reflected star.

Ah Li's hands continued to gently knead the boy's head. She didn't expect this method to help him get out of this state quickly; she just hoped it would make him feel better.

The boy found a way for Wei Zhengdao to eliminate the evil spirits once and for all.

A very simple method.

Eat the evil spirit.

This is different from Runsheng's preference for eating dirty food.

Because of Runsheng's special nature, he can absorb negative attributes such as resentment, corpse energy, and evil energy. In essence, he is no different from an ordinary person who needs to absorb various nutrients from food.

Runsheng picked up a zombie leg and gnawed on it, just like a normal person gnawing on a roasted lamb leg.

However, Wei Zhengdao's concept of eating is different.

Even though Li Zhuiyuan had read many books and had a wealth of experience and knowledge due to his travels along the river, this was the first time he had encountered this concept.

Before that, the boy had never even imagined that there could be such a solution.

Many of the evil spirits and adversaries who died by their own hand would cry out in disbelief before their deaths:

"Impossible!" "Why?" "On what grounds!"

Because some of the traits that the teenagers exhibited were beyond the scope of their previous understanding.

Now, when Li Zhuiyuan looks at Wei Zhengdao again, he has a similar feeling, or even... many times stronger.

The main position of the formation was so clean.

Cleanliness is the most terrifying thing.

Qing'an, living under the peach grove, was gradually losing himself due to the backlash of a secret technique. He chose to seal himself off, actually to prevent himself from becoming a great evil that would poison living beings after he lost his way.

The Great Emperor of Fengdu opened the Underworld and established the Yin Division to capture and imprison countless ghosts. He even regarded himself as the most terrifying ghost in Hell and suppressed him as well.

In this way, one can exchange merits for the will of Heaven.

Qing'an acted spontaneously; he was like a wandering knight-errant with a conscience who locked himself up.

In this regard, Heaven often turns a blind eye.

The emperor was raising bandits to enhance his own power; he himself was the most powerful bandit, like a vassal state that only nominally bowed down.

Wei Zhengdao's eating is a form of acceptance.

It has nothing to do with self-sacrifice or dedication, nothing to do with harboring bandits for personal gain... and most importantly, it has nothing to do with the Way of Heaven.

This is a terrifying method, beyond reason, and utterly insane.

If you keep eating, how big will your stomach get?

How big will your appetite grow?
This isn't about how much you can eat until you're stuffed; it's about how, if you keep eating, you'll eventually put those chopsticks down...

To whom is it being extended?
Upon arriving in Shinan Town, the boy's eyes finally regained some of their sparkle.

Ah Li's massage continued.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I'm sorry to have worried you."

Following Li Zhuiyuan's previous actions, A Li lowered her head, her forehead touching the boy's, and they could feel each other's body temperature.

After a long while, when the tricycle drove from the road into the village road of Siyuan Village, the boy sat up.

"Runsheng, let's go to Big Beard's house."

"it is good."

The tricycle drove to Big Beard's house.

Li Zhuiyuan gestured for A Li to remain in the car, while he got out alone and walked back into the peach grove.

When Li Zhuiyuan was talking with Qing'an in the peach grove earlier, he had a strange feeling that Qing'an was not very enthusiastic about this matter, even though he could benefit from the outcome.

Therefore, Qing'an should have known the truth long ago.

Wei Zhengdao could teach Qing'an the "Black Book Secret Technique," but he certainly couldn't teach him the "Suppression and Killing Method," unless Wei Zhengdao was willing to...eat Qing'an.

This time, the peach grove was unusually free of the smell of alcohol.

Qing'an sat in front of a small tea table, on which sat peach blossom tea, a dish of boiled peanuts, and a dish of dried tea leaves.

Besides tea, peanuts and dried tea leaves should be the offerings that Xiao Yingying placed for Qing'an today.

Su Luo sat to the side, grinding ink.

The space opposite Qing'an was left empty, with a futon placed underneath.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that this was specially reserved for him.

Qing An knew that after her trip to Langshan, she would come back to see him.

Li Zhuiyuan didn't stand on ceremony and sat down directly on the futon.

A cup of tea sits on the coffee table in front of me.

The boy picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Qing'an: "How is it?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "It tastes awful."

Qing An nodded: "Indeed."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Are you short of tea leaves?"

Qing An shook his head: "I usually drink wine and rarely drink tea. Today it was a sudden idea. I tried a sip and found it very hard to drink, so I deliberately left it so that you could experience it too."

Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head. Beside the teacup was a pair of chopsticks. He didn't reach for them to pick up food, but calmly said:
"I experienced it."

Qing'an: "I've said you're a lot like him, but you're ultimately not him."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Yeah, I don't want to be the second him either."

Qing'an reached out, picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and began writing on the white paper in front of him.

"He once said that we had big appetites, and when we were crossing the river, he was most concerned about how to feed us, fearing that we would starve to death."

But he never told us that, actually, his stomach was the biggest.

Qing'an put down his brush and wrote the character "stomach" on the white paper.

Li Zhuiyuan: "The right way to eat a stomach?"

Qing'an: "You've already seen it, so are you scared?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "On the way back, I was lost in thought until just now."

Qing An: "Me, until now."

There was no music, no song, no wine, and no wind today. When Su Luo stopped grinding ink, the depths of the peach grove were eerily quiet.

Qing'an spoke again: "He is him, and you are you."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You just said that."

“I know your path is difficult, but it’s not without opportunities. You’ve already figured out how to keep going.” Qing’an picked up his pen again and wrote the character “为” on the paper.

He paused, intending to stop writing, but then continued writing the words "the right path".

Qing An: "This is the way you can survive."

Li Zhuiyuan: "All for the sake of the righteous path?"

Qing An nodded.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Yes, I do know how to do that."

Qing'an: "Just learn it, don't overdo it."

Li Zhuiyuan: "You're concerned about me?"

Qing An: "I'm already very lost. I've long since developed a deep sense of alienation from myself. There are some things that I would have forgotten long ago if you hadn't brought them up."

Li Zhuiyuan: "It's still a business transaction."

Qing An: "Well, business. This time, although I can't drink alcohol, I'm in the mood for tea, which is even more difficult."

Qing'an's saying "too much is as bad as too little" refers to pronouncing the character "为" with a specific tone.

Therefore, the meaning of "following the right path" will be derived from:
Everything is for the sake of the righteous path.

become,

Everything is for the purpose of becoming the right path.

Li Zhuiyuan: "I don't have that idea."

Qing An: "Hehe, it doesn't depend on your thoughts. You are not him after all."

"Okay." After responding, Li Zhuiyuan stood up. "It's late, I'm going back to sleep."

Qing An waved his hand.

Li Zhuiyuan turned around and walked out of the peach grove.

Watching the boy's departing figure, Qing An lightly tapped her fingertips on the coffee table, then asked Su Luo beside her:
"He was much calmer than I expected."

Su Luo: "He's always been like this."

"No. I specially brewed tea and waited for him because I thought he would come. Now I have a feeling that he will come because he knows I think he will come and is afraid that I will be disappointed."

Su Luo: "Out of politeness?"

"They're afraid I'll feel humiliated and then it'll be harder for them to do business with me in the future, or they're afraid I'll raise the price."

I'm increasingly convinced of this. He's very similar to me; both of them could easily and simply figure me out. He once said that I was so naive that it wouldn't be surprising if I were tricked into going to see a mansion someday.

Su Luo: "But you said that this is not him after all." Qing An raised her hand, and the tea table shattered instantly. The teacups, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones on it all decayed at a visible speed and were absorbed by the surrounding peach trees.

"But in this world, people who are like him are already quite remarkable!"

Su Luo is part of Qing An.

Therefore, Su Luo's conversation with Qing An can be understood as talking to himself.

Su Luo: "But what if he can even figure this out and learn it?"

"This is impossible!"

Su Luo: "I mean, if."

"In this world, throughout history, there has only been one Wei Zhengdao!"

Su Luo: "What if..."

"Nothing unexpected."

Su Luo: "Why not treat it as a false dream? Couldn't the liberation you desire be quickly realized within this dream?"

"In this dream, I must immediately begin to make proper plans."

Su Luo: "What are you planning?"

"Planning to become... one of his waves."

...

"Alright, Runsheng, we can go home now."

The boy breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if the necessary formalities were finally over.

"it is good."

Li Zhuiyuan rode the tricycle up to the courtyard of his great-grandfather's house and escorted A-Li to the door of the east room.

The door was pushed open, and Ah Li went inside.

As the door closed, the boy and girl looked at each other through the door frame.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You don't need to get up so early tomorrow, sleep in a little longer."

The girl shook her head.

If she doesn't see the boy when it gets light, then to her, the sky is still dark.

She liked to arrive at the boy's room early, drawing or doing crafts, and occasionally glancing up at the boy who was still fast asleep.

"OK then."

Li Zhuiyuan knew he couldn't persuade her, and there was no need to force it.

The door was closed.

Ah Li walked towards the bedroom.

Liu Yumei, dressed in a white nightgown, sat on the edge of the bed, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan, and asked:
"Is something on Xiao Yuan's mind?"

Knowing full well that the child wouldn't have spoken up before if they couldn't be persuaded, I realized that they wouldn't have.

Ah Li nodded, a hint of worry in her eyes as she looked at her grandmother.

Liu Yumei felt sorry for them. The two children were too deeply involved. Tinghou was not old enough to be considered a perfect couple.

Liu Yumei had long noticed that the way these two children got along even surpassed that of many old married couples.

It's absurd, isn't it? But that's reality.

Liu Yumei grasped her granddaughter's hand and said earnestly:
“As for Xiao Yuan’s matter, unless he brings it up himself, there’s nothing I, as his grandmother, can do to get involved. It’s not a matter of whether I’m willing to vomit blood or not.”

Ah Li's eyes dimmed.

Seeing her granddaughter like this, Liu Yumei felt genuine heartache. At that moment, she disregarded all notions of hierarchy and propriety, wanting only to amuse her granddaughter.

"My skill level is only good enough to teach a blockhead like Ali."

Ah Li winked at Liu Yumei.

Liu Yumei smiled as she hugged her granddaughter and gently patted her back.

In the past, Ah Li would have rejected these intimate gestures, but now she can control herself.

"Throughout history, no one has ever been able to shoulder the burden of two powerful families. The path he is about to take is destined to be special, and he will surely be able to walk it."

...

Runsheng was taking a shower by the well on the dam when Li Zhuiyuan passed by him.

Runsheng scratched his head, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.

If you can't think of anything, then pour a new bucket of water over your head.

Xiao Yuan is so smart, she doesn't need someone as brainless as me to enlighten her.

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou were both asleep. Li Zhuiyuan went upstairs, took a plastic basin and clean clothes, and went to the shower to wash up as well.

Back in my room, as I placed the basin on the shelf, my gaze fell upon the tall stack of books on my desk.

I initially read "Tales of the Strange and Unusual in the Martial World" as an introductory popular science book.

Every dead or evil spirit met its end by being "destroyed by the righteous path".

Two years ago, I never imagined that it would be this kind of destruction.

Back then, I would sit on the terrace for a whole day, engrossed in reading. It turned out that I was actually reading Wei Zhengdao's cookbook.

It was already very late, but Li Zhuiyuan, after taking a shower, did not go to bed. Instead, he left the room and went downstairs.

Runsheng was about to lie down in his coffin when he saw Xiaoyuan come down and stopped.

"Go to sleep, Runsheng."

"okay."

Runsheng lay down, closed his eyes, and prepared to join Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou in their duet.

Li Zhuiyuan arrived at the rice paddy behind the house, raised his hand and waved, opening the restrictions on the Taoist temple.

As soon as it was opened, a crackling sound came from inside.

But the commotion stopped instantly when the boy came in.

On the offering table, the wooden carvings of the two generals, Zeng and Sun, and the White Crane Boy all fell to the ground.

The White Crane Boy can now descend upon the Lin family members, but he actually managed to sneak in and attach himself here, and the two generals, Zeng and Sun, also came down.

These three were just fighting here.

Li Zhuiyuan's arrival was like an adult entering a room. The three children, who were originally making a ruckus on the bed late at night, were immediately frightened into not daring to move and began to pretend to be asleep.

The boy waved his hand and said, "Get out, all of you."

"Buzz!" "Buzz!" "Buzz!"

All three wooden carvings stood up, then floated back to the altar, where they were rearranged. Immediately afterward, three beams of light flew out; two went to the sky, heading south, and one went towards the patriarch's house, returning to the coffin.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the steps of the altar and sat down.

Wei Zhengdao's faceless portrait hangs directly opposite him.

For the boy, understanding Wei Zhengdao's past deeds was not just for experience and learning, but because only by understanding Wei Zhengdao well could he make a reasonable prediction about how Heaven would treat him in the future.

Tonight, the little bit of hope that remained in the boy's heart was completely eradicated.

Back then, Wei Zhengdao truly broke a taboo, a "huge taboo" in the literal sense, without any exaggeration.

In other words, even if one can cooperate with the Heavenly Dao now and become a tool in its hands, one's future is already locked in and predetermined.

Because if one tries to adopt the perspective of the Heavenly Dao, there is absolutely no way one can have the opportunity to become the second Wei Zhengdao.

Li Zhuiyuan stretched out his right hand and covered his face.

In comparison, this "method of eating" has long transcended the level of secret arts; it is a true forbidden art created by Wei Zhengdao.

The Black Book Secret Techniques, on the other hand, are like its preface, or even a preface.

The boy's gaze pierced through the gaps between his fingers, looking at the portrait of Wei Zhengdao in the distance.

Qing'an said several times tonight that he was not him, and he even asked himself if he was afraid.

It's terrifying.

But there's something even more terrifying than this, which is why Li Zhuiyuan was so lost in thought for so long on his way back.

Throughout the entire conversation, the "fear" that Qing'an mentioned and the answer Li Zhuiyuan gave were not the same thing.

When Li Zhuiyuan sat down in front of the stone bench in the main position of the formation, learning about Wei Zhengdao's method of suppression was like getting the correct answer to a question.

Almost instinctively, Li Zhuiyuan began to work backward from the answer.

The boy was astonished to discover that he had actually succeeded in reverse reasoning.

Although he was still a long way from mastering this taboo, he found himself standing on the path to the answer; he had actually completed the basic groundwork!

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes.

He went into the depths of his own consciousness.

Here, it's also dark, but the darkness overhead is somewhat haphazard, with the scattered stars looking like they've been splashed on with paint by a brush.

Li Zhuiyuan stood in front of the fishpond.

Having experienced the previous incident at the Zhao family ancestral home, Li Zhuiyuan extracted them to punish the Zhao family members.

Nowadays, the fish in the fishpond have become very scarce; large fish are almost nowhere to be seen, and only small fry remain.

To keep the fishpond active, it needs to get more feed from the outside world, and by raising more fish, it can extract more energy.

Isn't this just another form of eating?

The real body appeared behind Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at him.

The main body also looked at Li Zhuiyuan.

Two identical-looking boys locked eyes.

The original body said, "Don't look at me like that. It's true that I built the fishpond, but it was you who came up with the method to send all the fish flying into the sky."

Li Zhuiyuan remained silent.

The main body took a few steps forward, squatted down, put its hand into the water, gently stirred it, and said:

"If one day, divine punishment truly descends upon us, causing us to vanish into nothingness, we really have no right to blame the will of Heaven."

us,

He deserves it.”

---

Today is Long's birthday, so I'll only write half a chapter. I'm taking a little break on Rong Long's birthday. Hugs to everyone!

(End of this chapter)