Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 411

"Uncle Sanjiang, I heard you bought a house in the city for your son, Xiao Yuanhou."

"What? Who said that?"

"I just heard about it from someone. It's located in the city center, very close to South Street. You're really good to your little Yuanhou."

"Hey, it's just a house, no big deal."

"Isn't it cheap?"

"It's alright. The money for one set is enough to build two small houses in our village."

"It's ridiculously expensive."

"Of course! Let me tell you, I wouldn't be comfortable living in those tiny, cage-like houses. They're nothing compared to the comfort of living in our village. If it weren't for saving them for our child's future wedding, we wouldn't waste that money."

"Isn't Xiao Yuanhou still too young? Isn't it a bit too early to have a wedding house?"

"Just buy it and leave it there. Someone will rent it out the same day you buy it, so it's not a loss. When the child grows up, he may not stay in Nantong. Anyway, wherever the child goes to work in the future, we'll just buy him another place there."

"Oh my god, that costs a lot of money!"

"What does money matter? We elders are just born to toil for our children."

In the past, if Li Weihan said such things in front of Li Sanjiang, Li Sanjiang would spit in his face.

Li Sanjiang himself never imagined that one day he could say such words so fluently and enjoyably.

Just then, another villager passed by, overheard the conversation, and came over to ask:

"Uncle Sanjiang, I heard you bought a house?"

"Jinling? Who told you that? I haven't even bought a house in Jinling yet!"

After taking a stroll in the village, Li Sanjiang walked along the path with his right hand behind his back and a cigarette between his fingers in his left, like a town mayor on an incognito inspection tour.

"Uncle Li."

Two shouts came from behind him. Li Sanjiang turned around and saw Zhou Yunyun and Chen Lin.

Schools are closed for the National Day holiday.

The two women were carrying things, all of which were gifts for Li Sanjiang.

"Oh dear, you're here, why bring anything? You have everything at home, why go out to buy things? It's just letting outsiders make money for nothing."

Despite his words, Li Sanjiang happily accepted the two bags of things. On top were some everyday foods, and below were cigarettes and alcohol. He glanced at them, made a rough estimate, and thought he would make up for it in a red envelope when the two girls left.

On the dam, Liu Yumei is playing cards.

Upon seeing Zhou Yunyun, Liu Yumei nodded. Upon seeing Chen Lin, Liu Yumei smiled and beckoned Chen Lin over.
"Grandma is tired. Have some tea and rest. Can you help her play a few rounds?"

“Okay, Grandma Liu.”

Liu Yumei left her seat, and Chen Lin sat down and began to draw long tiles.

Aunt Liu came out of the kitchen carrying some snacks, handed them to Zhou Yunyun, and then went to the back room, calling out:

"Yunyun and Linlin are here!"

A ground squirrel emerged from the ground and bumped headfirst into a rice stubble.

A short while later, Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou came out.

Both of them were shirtless and sweating profusely.

Liu Jinxia reached out and nudged Chen Lin, signaling her to turn around and look.

Chen Lin glanced back, then immediately turned back, pursing her lips and blushing.

Lin Shuyou scratched his head awkwardly. He thought he hadn't gotten home yet and would have time to take a shower and change clothes.

Zhou Yunyun picked up a piece of pastry, put it in Tan Wenbin's mouth, and asked:

"To farm in the back?"

"Well, I'm just lazing around at home anyway. Come on, honey, want to touch my abs?"

"Pah, you're so unprofessional. Come take a bath by the well, I'll wipe you down."

Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou have been practicing at the temple for the past few days. Brother Xiaoyuan is not there, but he has opened the "Book Without Words" to the first page and placed it face down on the platform in the center of the temple.

It's like letting the "evil book" control the mechanisms within the dojo and act as their sparring partner.

In terms of intensity and variety, it is indeed much weaker than the crash course that Brother Xiaoyuan taught them back then, but as they practiced, they were able to have a completely different experience.

It emphasizes decisiveness and ruthlessness, simplifying everything and making it very satisfying.

In other words, they only went out because they had found their significant other; otherwise, they really wouldn't have wanted to go out.

Sure enough, Runsheng, whose partner isn't there, is still inside, huffing and puffing as he "kills" with a Yellow River shovel.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't home. Today, he brought A Li to the fishpond that his great-grandfather had contracted, which had always been managed by Xiong Shan.

The fishpond is so big that you can put a boat on it.

Li Zhuiyuan lay on the boat, looking at the azure sky above.

Ah Li sat next to me, peeling sunflower seeds.

The fish are too densely packed now, making it unsuitable for fishing. Catching them every time would be pointless.

Below the boat, three ripples flowed continuously, as if a large creature was swimming beneath them.

Li Zhuiyuan, lying on the boat, kept listening to their movements underwater.

After a while, the boy sat up and shook his head.

Three heads peeked out from the side of the boat; they were the two generals, Zeng and Sun.

Li Zhuiyuan is conducting experiments, aiming to make the Zengsun II generals achieve the same flexibility and agility as the spirits beneath the Goguryeo tombs.

Li Zhuiyuan had A Li carefully examine the fragments of the undead's armor.

Even Ah Li couldn't see anything special about the fragment.

Therefore, in theory, using blood porcelain as raw material, Feng Lushan's tendons as connectors, talisman armor personally crafted by A Li, and finally combining the divine souls of the two generals of Zengsun and Sun, it should not be inferior to the undead attached to ordinary armor materials.

Li Zhuiyuan spread his hands, and the underwater increase and loss cards, which had been dispersed into metallic colors, flew back into the boy's palm.

The boy's eyes narrowed, and he forcefully flung his hands towards the water's surface.

The talisman armor was released once again.

This time, however, Li Zhuiyuan did not simply summon the two generals and then ignore them as before, treating them only as his personal bodyguards. Instead, he manipulated them with his fingertips, using Nuo opera puppetry as a guide and feng shui and weather as a supplement. The former enhanced the control details, while the latter eliminated environmental obstacles.

The images of the two generals, Zeng and Sun, reappeared in mid-air before falling into the water.

There was no splash, no sound; it seeped straight down as if melting.

The boy continued to manipulate them to swim underwater, and there was not a ripple on the surface of the water.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded, "Then that's the only way."

Ye Dui explained to himself that he found Xue Liangliang through Luo Gong in order to seek the protection of a benefactor by taking advantage of Xue Liangliang's destiny and help him escape danger.

But this danger was actually created by Ye Dui himself.

The undead that Ye Dui had been chasing but could never catch was actually being controlled by himself; he was hunting himself.

As for the masked man, he took out a token to indicate his willingness to surrender, but the token turned against him and killed him...

This contradiction, following the example of the later works in "The Evil Book," can be explained as "it" making minor adjustments to the script after seeing itself and based on its observations of itself.

The screenwriter, in order to achieve their own plot objectives, had to distort the rationality of the supporting characters' behavior.

Therefore, the masked man was originally supposed to surrender and become a more direct bait.

But suddenly it felt that the hook was too simple and might arouse its suspicion, so it simply took the bait itself.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his hand again, and the two generals of increase and loss underwater returned to the card, falling back into the boy's palm.

Ah Li handed the peeled melon seeds to the boy. Because the boy's hands were wet and the water in the fishpond smelled fishy, ​​Ah Li fed the seeds to him.

The sunflower seeds were fragrant and crunchy, still warm from the girl's hand; they smelled wonderful.

Li Zhuiyuan lay down again and looked at his side.

Ah Li also lay down.

The boy took the girl's hand, and the girl understood, closing her eyes with him.

Deep within Ah Li's consciousness.

On the altar inside the bungalow, there are rows of cracked memorial tablets.

Outside, the weather was fine and sunny, a beautiful pastoral scene.

The two sat down by the threshold, and Li Zhuiyuan began to tell A Li about Ye Dui, as well as his suspicions and deductions.

The "evil book" should have already been suppressed or even replaced by "it".

The prison of "The Book Without Words" is unlikely to confine "it".

By having "The Evil Book" serve as sparring partners for Tan Wenbin and his group, he was actually testing "its" bottom line, or rather, its sensitivity level.

Judging from the feedback from Tan Wenbin and others, "it" is still proud at heart, still regards itself as the screenwriter, and sees everyone, including itself, as a pawn on its chessboard.

This mindset is really good; it means that as long as the "script" is reasonable, it won't be easily torn up.

However, the boy himself overturned Li Zhuiyuan's original concept of the first, second, and third rounds.

After careful consideration, rather than taking risks and seizing profits piecemeal one by one, it would be better to go all out and make a big splash in the first round.

It may have doubts, questions, and speculations, but since there is no next round, it has no way to verify them and is unlikely to turn against them.

After she finished speaking, Ah Li nodded.

The two opened their eyes again.

The boy raised his hand, and the spirit of the black dragon flew out, swirling around the boy's right hand.

Now, as Uncle Qin opens his Qi Gate, he is surrounded by ferocious dragons.

In terms of level, the evil dragon is far superior to the dragon spirit he has, but in terms of development potential, his own dragon spirit is much stronger.

"I'll give you a chance to elevate your status and transform you into a wicked dragon. Are you willing?"

Upon hearing this, the dragon spirit wrapped its lower body around the boy's wrist, stood up, opened its mouth, and let out a silent roar.

It's willing!
The Refining Dragon technique is considered an extremely high-level evil art.

There needs to be an existence with a higher status than the evil dragon to be suitable for it.

To put it bluntly, it means supplementing existing structures by taking their positions, or robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The operation itself isn't difficult; the challenge lies in persuading that high-ranking individual to make selfless contributions to your dragon-refining endeavor.

Fortunately, I have one by my side now.

Li Zhuiyuan got up and rowed the boat back to the shore.

When I got home, it was just in time for lunch.

The morning session at Liu Yumei's place has also ended; the old ladies are going home for lunch and will come back in the afternoon.

As is customary, before the event ends, one counts their wins and losses.

Liu Yumei glanced at it and saw that Chen Lin had lost on her behalf. Wang Lian lost the most, followed by Granny Hua, and Liu Jinxia lost the least.

After lunch, Tan Wenbin drove his pickup truck, taking Ayou, Zhou Yunyun, and Chen Lin to the city to visit Brother Liang and Sister-in-law Liang.

After finishing his meal, Runsheng intended to return to the dojo to continue chopping wooden figures, but then A-Li came up to him and looked at him.

Runsheng pointed to his face.

Ah Li nodded and turned to walk out.

Although he didn't understand, Runsheng still got up and followed Ali down the dam.

When they passed a wall with hoes and other farm tools hanging on it, Ah Li stopped.

Runsheng understood and picked up a hoe.

Li Zhuiyuan took the "Book Without Words" from the temple, went up to the second floor, and sat on a rattan chair. The "Book Without Words" was like a camera, and the boy was now filming.

However, as a photographer, he was quite lazy and actually closed his eyes and took a nap.

Anyway, this wasn't filmed for people to see, it was just for the camera to see.

A-Li and Run-Sheng didn't go too far. They were in the woods by the river, where Run-Sheng often burned paper money for Yin-Meng.

The girl pointed to the ground.

Runsheng remembers that two days ago, a baby in a family in the village was scratched on the face by the family's pet cat. The parents anxiously took the child to the town's health center, where the child's grandfather beat the cat to death and dumped the body here.

Almost every household in the village keeps cats and dogs, but those that attack people always meet the same fate.

Runsheng didn't want the environment where he wrote letters to Yinmeng to deteriorate, so he buried the cat's body with a shovel.

Although he didn't know what Ah Li was going to do, Runsheng still picked up a hoe and dug out the cat's corpse.

The corpse was already rotting, and maggots were crawling on it.

Runsheng: "Are you taking it away?"

Ah Li nodded.

Runsheng ran home, grabbed a fertilizer bag, and put the rotting cat carcass inside.

Carrying the bag back to the dam area, A-Li reached out and took the fertilizer bag from Run-Sheng.

The girl carried it upstairs by herself.

Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes after "hearing" footsteps and stretched.

Ah Li placed the fertilizer bag in front of the boy.

The boy reached out and pushed it aside, somewhat surprised, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Ah Li looked at the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan: "The materials are too poor, so we can't achieve the desired effect."

Ah Li continued to look at the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "Alright, if you want to play, then I'll play with you."

The boy picked up the fertilizer bag and went downstairs with the girl, entering the dojo.

This dojo has been used for several evil rituals, but this is the first time such ordinary materials have been used.

With the cat's corpse laid out before him, Li Zhuiyuan set up an array around it and lit candles one by one.

Ah Li sat on the steps beside her, her eyes filled with anticipation.

Li Zhuiyuan opened the "Book Without Words," turned to the first page, and gestured for the "Evil Book" to capture the remnant soul inside the cat's corpse.

He did as instructed in the "Evil Book".

Soon, a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of black mist emanated from the cat's corpse and seeped into the book.

On the third page of the wordless book, a cat with a sharp expression and fierce eyes appeared.

This cat was indeed insane before it died.

It attacks anything weaker than itself indiscriminately, and its death is not unjust.

However, although the image is there, there is no cage on this page.

Because the cat in the drawing is very light, as light as a sketch, even without a cage, it can only stay in the core area of ​​the paper. If it moves even a little to the side, it's as if an invisible eraser will wipe it away.

Following the pre-arranged ritual, Li Zhuiyuan began to use the cat as a vessel to perform his evil magic.

This is the "Spirit Summoning Technique," which transforms vengeful spirits into evil spirits.

It is considered the foundation of evil cultivation. In stereotypes, every evil cultivator carries many evil spirits.

Li Zhuiyuan chose such a simple evil technique as his entry point because its initial process was almost identical to that of the Dragon Refining Technique.

Only in this way can we make arrangements for any unexpected events that may occur.

At first, everything was normal.

Because this evil technique was too low-level, and the materials were even lower-level, the fluctuations from this use of the evil technique did not even spread beyond the dojo.

But when Li Zhuiyuan gathered the evil spirit of the cat, the evil spirit suddenly turned black.

Every technique has a success rate, especially those that are more focused on production, where the success rate and the rate of producing high-quality items must also be considered.

If Li Zhuiyuan had taken it seriously and focused intently, he could have indeed improved the rate of producing high-quality works. The problem is that the young man just gave it a cursory rub, or even deliberately went easy on the job.

Surprisingly, the cat's evil spirit had a very high conversion rate.

This is the literal meaning of "one who is near ink gets stained black".

It would be strange if someone who possesses something extremely evil, or even uses it as a testing ground, didn't produce some masterpieces.

Normally, Li Zhuiyuan would have felt very slight alarm about such a simple, childish evil technique.

Now, the warning signs have clearly appeared, indicating that my actions have violated a taboo. However, they came quickly and disappeared just as fast; they should have been deducted from my merit account.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't worried about this at all. Not to mention how much he had saved up before, the giant turtle in the last wave alone had definitely added a huge sum to his inaccessible merit account.

Without this backing, even with a powerful evil spirit by his side, Li Zhuiyuan wouldn't dare to go so far, because as a spellcaster, he would truly be struck by lightning.

However, the creature in the "Wordless Book" probably doesn't know about this.

This is a little surprise in the plot that I gave it myself.

As Li Zhuiyuan continued his evil magic, preparing to transfer the cat's evil spirit into the origami he had prepared beforehand, the origami, unable to bear the weight, burst into flames, along with the cat's evil spirit.

Then, a ball of black flame suddenly shot up and then dispersed, and everything returned to calm.

The magic spell failed because the craftsmanship was too good and the vessel was too poor.

And this final commotion finally spilled out of the temple.

On the dam, Liu Yumei was inviting her old friends to sit down and start the afternoon card game when her fingertips paused slightly, and she exchanged a glance with Aunt Liu, who was pouring tea beside her.

In the past, Xiao Yuan would choose to do this kind of thing at night, but now he does it in broad daylight. Does he have no scruples at all?

Uncle Qin, who was loading paper offerings onto the truck, stopped what he was doing.

He didn't care what unorthodox things Xiao Yuan was going to do; he was just surprised that... Xiao Yuan seemed to have failed this time.

In the dojo.

Ah Li looked at the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Ah Li, it's my fault for not being well prepared. I didn't expect it to go so well."

Ah Li pouted and lowered her head.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned closer and grabbed the girl's hand: "Let's try again. You'll definitely succeed next time, okay?"

Ah Li didn't speak, but just looked at the mad cat's corpse that had been burned to ashes.

"Yes, yes, Zhao Yi gave me so much essence of demonic beasts last time. I used some, but there's still a lot left. Just wait."

Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand, and the steps in front of him caved in, while the stored materials rose up.

"Use this."

Li Zhuiyuan bent down and took out a silver python from inside.

This snake demon was much larger in its original form when it was alive. When the Yu family was attacked, it deliberately split itself into smaller pieces and curled up inside its own corpse, trying to leave itself a way out.

As a result, when Chen Jing was absorbing the python's blood and qi, he felt something was wrong; the taste was not pure.

Zhao Yi immediately searched the python's body and found the small silver python inside. Chen Jing had drunk its blood, but the body was preserved and given to Li Zhuiyuan as one of the gifts.

Li Zhuiyuan chose this python because it was more suitable for being possessed by the dragon spirit.

Ah Li looked at the silver python the boy was carrying, nodded, and her eyes shone with anticipation once again.

The ceremony setup was all ready-made; with a little repair, it could be reused. Li Zhuiyuan placed the silver python's body in the center.

The boy sat back down in his original spot, pointed to the first page of the "Wordless Book," and commanded "woman" to draw out the remnant soul from the python's body.

A black mist, many times denser than the previous mad cat's, was drawn from the python's body and entered the "Book Without Words".

On the third page, a silver snake is coiled up, its tongue flicking.

“Ah Li, this time we will put the evil spirit we created back into its body. This python body should be able to withstand it. It’s like putting the original soup into the original food.”

Ah Li pursed her lips slightly, and her eyes lit up.

They are acting, but they are not acting.

In the past, sorcery rituals were simply a game between Li Zhuiyuan and the girls.

Today, the boy and girl are simply replicating their previous daily routine.

Li Zhuiyuan reactivated his evil magic and began to conjure the evil spirit of the silver python.

A normal sense of unease arose in my mind, and the aura of evil magic once again spread out of the dojo.

On the dam.

Liu Yumei was distracted because Xiao Yuan's evil magic had just failed and he was starting it again. Without paying attention, she won big.

Aunt Liu looked at Uncle Qin and urged him while cracking sunflower seeds, "Go deliver the goods."

Uncle Qin: "Let's wait and see."

When the "patriarch" used evil magic, they didn't take it seriously; but when the "patriarch's" evil magic failed, they all began to worry.

Aunt Liu: "This time it should work out."

Uncle Qin: "Yes, this time it's a sure thing."

Inside the dojo.

The sorcery proceeded methodically, and a silver python-like evil spirit could be seen gradually coalescing, its quality still exceeding expectations.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but fantasize about how wonderful it would be if this great evil could remain in the "Book Without Words" and be completely suppressed and controlled by him.

Unfortunately, these are just thoughts, not reality; at least for now, the conditions for such a thing do not exist.

If you can take advantage of the other party's immersion in the script and make a hefty profit from them, you've already made a huge profit.

Okay, it's your turn.

Suddenly, the spirit of the dragon burst forth from the palm of the boy's right hand and rushed directly into the "Book Without Words".

On the third page, above the silver python, a black dragon of even greater size was drawn.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You beast, how dare you!"

The scene on the third page changes rapidly twice in a row. The first time, the black dragon opens its mouth wide at the silver python. The second time, the black dragon's belly bulges slightly. On the third page, only the black dragon is visible, and the silver python is nowhere to be seen.

Above the ceremony, the silver python evil spirit, which was already nearly complete, transformed directly into the black dragon spirit.

In an instant, Li Zhuiyuan felt a surge of alarm, a sense of impending divine retribution washing over him.

At the same time, this terrifying evil aura immediately began to emanate.

Above, the once azure sky was now dotted with clouds that blocked out the sunlight.

At the card table, Liu Yumei slammed her cards down with a "smack".

Aunt Liu swallowed the sunflower seed shells.

Uncle Qin then realized that the nine evil dragons that had been dormant within him had all awakened at this moment.

Inside the peach grove.

Qing'an, who was drinking tea, paused for a moment, then smashed the teacup in his hand and pointed to the northwest with his other hand, which was the location of Li Sanjiang's house.

"No wonder you blamed me for getting your book dirty; it turns out you wanted to use it properly."

Su Luo, standing nearby, was completely bewildered.

Qing An burst into loud laughter:
"Kid, he wasn't as wild or as good at having fun as you back in the day! Hahahaha, let's get some wine!"

(End of this chapter)