Corpse Retriever.

Chapter 487

Following the sound, Liu Yumei seemed to see a young figure running around happily in the living room.

As they ran, another figure appeared beside the first one, the two small figures laughing and joking together.

The crisp, melodious laughter, like piercing ice crystals, penetrated the softest depths of Liu Yumei's heart.

Memories that had been deliberately sealed away finally broke free of their shackles and overflowed at this moment. She covered her chest with her left hand and slowly squatted down.

Holding it in, suppressing it, enduring it, and persevering, this heart-wrenching cry finally came decades late.

For a mother, the greatest pain is the loss of her child.

But just as hell has more than eighteen levels, beneath the same pain lies even greater cruelty.

That is to watch helplessly as your child, in the healthiest and most active age, is prematurely drained and overdrawn, leaving little for the rest of their life, and tormented by endless illness and suffering.

She had given him life, yet he had withered away completely before her very eyes.

Compared to the long, cold, and damp period, the sudden and unexpected withering is a kind of mercy.

"We, the descendants of the Qin family, heed my command! Our land is shattered, and evil spirits run rampant. Only those with courage and integrity can uphold the heavens..."

"We, the descendants of the Liu clan, heed this command! Heaven and earth bear witness, the ancestral temple stands as our witness, we shall transform our bodies into blades to shatter this chaos of heaven and earth..."

As the Qin family's Dragon King led his descendants in a bloody battle and oath-taking ceremony against the Liu family, countless spirits of the Dragon King flew out from the ancestral halls of the Qin and Liu families, heading towards the battlefield.

The entire clan faced death, yet they left behind a legacy of love and care. It wasn't that they hadn't made arrangements; for example, they deliberately kept it from Liu Yumei and left her behind... In fact, what was left behind was not just Liu Yumei alone, but also the seed representing the future of both families.

A girl surnamed Liu, from a collateral branch of the Liu family, was born with the ability to attract moonlight. She was regarded as a treasure by the elders of the Liu family, and her birth comforted the wounded heart of the previous eldest daughter of the Liu family who had been taken advantage of by the Qin family.

The boy's surname is Qin, and he is the son of the eldest daughter of the Liu family and the young master of the Qin family.

These two children represent the selfish desires of two powerful families.

However, no matter how much we planned, we couldn't outsmart fate, or perhaps we were just playing a cruel joke on the heavens.

They kept these two most outstanding children, but because these two children were so outstanding, their plans completely fell through.

When Liu Yumei awoke from her deep sleep, she found that her courtyard was covered by the Qin and Liu clan's grand formation. Realizing that she had been kept in the dark and that something extremely serious had happened, she pushed open the door to her room and saw two children in the courtyard, just like herself, who had been deliberately left behind.

They were only concerned with "settling" themselves, leaving themselves behind, but giving the two children freedom, believing that everything would be fine as long as they were left with them.

To everyone's surprise, the two children were incredibly talented.

They heard the oath-taking ceremony; they also felt the spirits of the Dragon Kings rushing off with the accumulated fortune of the two Dragon King clans.

The boy cuts open his palm, using his blood as a guide; the girl makes hand seals, guiding the flow of feng shui.

The two children, working together, successfully set up a grand ceremony in this small courtyard they couldn't leave.

As Liu Yumei pushed open the door to face the courtyard, she witnessed the start of the grand ceremony, with the two children raising their hands high to offer sacrifices to the clansmen who were going to war.

They might not have understood why they were left behind, or perhaps they did, but given the atmosphere and sense of mission at the time, the two children were thinking of doing their part for their people.

Liu Yumei watched helplessly as two children who should have been full of energy had most of their talent and vitality drained away, their tender bodies turning ashen, while they smiled proudly at her when they saw her.

When Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu stayed at Li Sanjiang's house with Liu Yumei, they played the role of A Li's parents.

Uncle Qin is Liu Yumei's "son". Liu Ting, who plays the "daughter-in-law", changed her name to Liu Manting to avoid having the same surname as her "mother-in-law".

Li Zhuiyuan had long suspected that Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu were not a real couple, and that A Li was not their daughter. Everyone had also noticed the clues from the two beds in the west room.

The only ones who didn't see it were the rare moment of ignorance of Li Sanjiang and the perpetually oblivious Lin Shuyou.

Despite knowing that their identities had been exposed, Uncle Qin and Aunt Liu never mentioned A-Li's parents.

Because they knew that they themselves had taken the place of the "young master" and the "young lady".

If the young master and young lady hadn't gotten into trouble, the mistress wouldn't have needed to choose them from among the children born at home.

Deep in their memories, there was a secluded courtyard in their ancestral home. The matriarch never explicitly said who lived there, but in their hearts, they gradually came to the truth.

Aunt Liu dared not approach that courtyard, because every time she returned from there, for many days, she felt that if a smile appeared on her face, it would be a sin, and even more so, a cruelty to the mistress of the house.

Qin Li often sat outside that courtyard for half the night after practicing his martial arts.

The night before he was chosen by the mistress to light the lamp and travel across the river, Qin Li brought over an ever-burning lamp and lit it outside the courtyard.

After failing to cross the river and admitting defeat by lighting the lamp a second time, Qin Li, dragging his heavily injured body, crawled outside the courtyard and extinguished the lamp with his fingers.

At home, Li Zhuiyuan had heard Grandma Liu speak rudely to the ancestral tablets more than once, and even when A-Li used the ancestral tablets to carve wooden flower rolls, Liu Yumei did not mind.

Grandma Liu has repeatedly complained to the ancestral tablets about A-Li's situation, and now she's also starting to question the ancestral tablets about Xiao Yuan's situation.

But she never mentioned those two children, because she couldn't. On that day, countless children from collateral branches died in battle. Were your sons, Liu Yumei's sons, so special?

Unspeakable, untouchable, this memory, though not sealed by magic, is firmly sealed within myself.

Today, Liu Yumei has come to personally reopen this old wound, because new flesh has already grown back.

"You can rest in peace now."

……

Outside the Qin family ancestral home.

Uncle Qin stood on the corner platform at the entrance of his ancestral home. It was a long, protruding section. Looking down, he saw a sea of ​​clouds, and he could also see the vast Qinling Mountains in the distance, as if riding a dragon.

In fact, the platform under Qin Shu's feet was made from the single horn of a dragon.

Zhao Wuyang was a rough-and-tumble dragon king. Although he lived up to the name of the dragon king in his generation, when his lifespan was about to end, he had to make long-term plans to completely eliminate the evil dragon after defeating it.

This is the limitation of being a dragon king from humble beginnings.

The situation was much simpler for Dragon King Qin. After killing the evil dragon that had caused trouble in his generation, the Qin family Dragon King simply took the dragon's corpse home.

In any case, for the family, one more or one less makes no difference.

A dragon might cause chaos outside, but here it's not even worth mentioning.

There was no need to go through any trouble to make arrangements behind their home. The Qin family even had the leisure to turn the dragon horn into a viewing platform at their doorstep.

This also fulfills the original intention of the Qin family's dragon-observing method: when family members enter or leave the ancestral home, standing here truly makes them appear as if they are standing on the dragon's head to observe it.

Aunt Liu slowly walked up behind Uncle Qin and said:

"I've always had a question: have you ever spoken to anyone in that courtyard?"

Uncle Qin: "I didn't say it, but it seems like I said a lot."

Aunt Liu put her hand on Uncle Qin's shoulder: "Ali, the mistress came this time because she has come to terms with things. You should come to terms with things too."

Uncle Qin reached out and grabbed the hand on Aunt Liu's shoulder, looking into Aunt Liu's eyes: "Wait until Xiao Yuan becomes the Dragon King."

Uncle Qin had said something similar before.

Aunt Liu seemed to see the same hand that Qin Li held when he first set out to walk across the river as he did back then:

"Ah Ting, wait until I become the Dragon King."

Just like back then, Aunt Liu smiled and nodded to Uncle Qin.

In a family, the reason why someone can choose to escape is because someone else takes the initiative to shoulder the burden.

Just like Tan Wenbin, who went to his parents-in-law's house for meals more often than he went back to his own home, he still insisted on waiting until he graduated from university to get married.

His high-sounding reason was that he was prioritizing his studies, but in reality, he was waiting to accompany Xiao Yuan to the end of the journey across the river, because he might suddenly die before that.

There were no formations set up in Xiao Yuan's room. With Tan Wenbin's current sharp senses, could he really not have noticed the painting that had been in Xiao Yuan's room all along?

They are already carrying a heavy load, so they are neither able nor dare to carry anything else. This is a kind of selfishness, but also a kind of responsibility.

Aunt Liu opened her palm, and several Gu worms that had eaten their fill outside Tingfeng Gorge were circling around. Watching them frolic, Aunt Liu seemed to see herself and Ali in the past, and she, watching the Gu worms frolic, was just like Liu Yumei watching them back then.

"The mistress's life has been so difficult."

Uncle Qin's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he looked at the "little girl" beside him, who, just like when she was a child, loved playing with insects.

It is precisely because she has witnessed how difficult it is to be a mistress since she was a child that she does not want the people around her to become another mistress.

At this moment, Aunt Liu turned around and looked at the ancestral home behind her that stretched almost endlessly. Above, dark clouds began to gather.

Aunt Liu said coldly:
"They've started acting recklessly again."

Uncle Qin turned around and saw that the clouds above the ancestral home had thickened slightly.

Aunt Liu: "The mistress's defenses were breached, and they thought they had finally gotten their chance."

Uncle Qin: "Yes, it's nothing."

Aunt Liu's face lit up with anticipation: "Yes, we can only mend and patch them, but the people who can actually fix them will be here soon."

……

Liu Yumei pushed open the door, and in the courtyard, she saw the figures of two children. Blood was flowing from the boy's body, and the girl was using hand seals to guide the blood.

Madam Liu did not get caught up in it, but instead raised her head.

Above their heads was a huge, writhing black shadow, its tentacles stretching out and encompassing everything in sight.

Liu Yumei: "Is it fun?"

The image of the two children in the courtyard has faded away.

A wisp of soul descended.

“I didn’t mean to break down your defenses; you brought it up yourself. I just thought you might want to see these things right now.”

Liu Yumei: "Heh."

“I didn’t tell them you were coming.”

"Should I thank you, then?"

"up to you."

"Actually, it wouldn't hurt to tell."

“We’ve been waiting for you to die of old age, but we didn’t expect you to let go so soon.”

"Yes, I've let it go."

"Is this ancestral home destined to fall apart in the end?"

In his voice, Hun Nian revealed a hint of nostalgia and reluctance.

This is very different from the evil spirits within other families who hysterically yearn to escape.

It seemed that in the eyes of the enormous creature overhead, it was also part of the Qin family's ancestral home.

"I let go because I no longer need to hold on."

"Are they changing the player?"

"Ah."

"He can't."

When he accompanied you last time, I could tell he was different from before. I don't know how he managed to do all this, but he definitely had the aura of a true member of the Qin family.

Admittedly, he is very strong now, but he is ultimately not the Dragon King.

No matter how rich the Qin family's aura is, it's not the aura of the Dragon King.

"You should know very well what has allowed this ancestral home to be suppressed for so many generations. The same thing has happened to your Liu family's ancestral home."

Liu Yumei: "I know."

In the ancestral homes of the Qin and Liu families, the suppression of evil spirits is not achieved through sealing, but through a form of intimidation.

This enormous ancient demon can freely enter the Qin family's outer residence, not because the Qin family is currently deserted; in the past, even when the Qin family was at its peak, it could come out for a stroll whenever it felt like it.

The Qin family in history had long been accustomed to this and were not surprised by it.

The evil spirits in the two ancestral homes form a pyramid structure, with the larger evil spirits suppressing the smaller ones, layer by layer.

This seems like a very dangerous and unreliable approach, and any reasonable person's understanding can lead to the following conclusion:
Once the two families decline in power, the evil spirits they suppressed may very well rebel.

Interestingly, the "betrayal" of retainers in places like Mu Family Village in Tingfeng Gorge is considered a relatively minor offense within the outer sect. There are countless other outer sects that have secretly and completely changed their masters.

However, the evil spirits suppressed in the ancestral homes of the Qin and Liu families, though occasionally restless, have not yet truly overflowed.

In the past, Liu Yumei didn't even have to live in the ancestral home; she only needed to occasionally send Qin Li and Liu Ting home to visit.

These evil spirits, suppressed by the dragon king ancestors of the Qin and Liu families, have shown a loyalty and inertia that lasts longer than that of the living people of this world.

The Qin and Liu families are not raising bandits for their own benefit, nor are they making peace with evil spirits, much less controlling or utilizing them.

In their system of mutual suppression, all evil spirits are in the process of self-destruction.

Once the minor evil spirits are eliminated, they're gone; once the major evil spirits are eliminated, the next level of evil spirits will take their place.

The concept of heritage is not simply about the treasures, wealth, and secrets in a government treasury. No matter how much of these things there are, they will be severely diluted over the long course of history.

True strength lies in self-confidence, and then in an intangible system built upon that self-confidence.

The evil spirits in the ancestral home were all defeated and brought home by successive Dragon Kings. Many powerful evil spirits still remain here, which were once a great headache for the Dragon Kings.

Suppressing them requires an even longer period of time, so when they are here, they often see the dragon king who is suppressing them die after his lifespan has ended.

Then, we will see the rise of new members of the family, who will once again claim the throne of the Dragon King.

Perhaps it was a mischievous child whom you watched grow up from birth. When he was young, he would run into your "nest" and cause trouble. When he grew up, he would light a lamp and travel across the river. When he returned, he became the Dragon King and began to bring new evil spirits into your home.

So, those evil spirits that were brought back by the old Dragon King and suppressed by the old evil spirits, later silently took on new responsibilities and helped the new Dragon King suppress the evil spirits that came after.

The Qin family was a cage that suppressed them, but it also gave them a certain degree of freedom and a sense of participation. Over time, they gradually became willing to integrate themselves into the Qin family's historical narrative.

To a certain extent, these evil spirits shared the same stance as Liu Yumei for a long time, and they also hoped that the Qin family, which they had suppressed, could be restored as soon as possible.

However, the lack of absolute strength will inevitably cause problems over time.

Previously, Qin Li and Liu Ting could have easily come over, but now Liu Yumei has to come in person to intimidate them. This is the best example of that.

Humans need to see hope while they are alive; even evil spirits need to see hope while they are dead.

Their hope is not that the Qin family must produce a Dragon King in the next generation, but at least that they can see a seed that has the potential to become a Dragon King.

Otherwise, this narrative logic, which both sides have accepted for thousands of years, would no longer be able to continue.

Uncle Qin has never been favored, not only because he doesn't have the blood of the Qin family, but also because he lacked the essence of the Qin family from the very beginning.

If Uncle Qin could achieve the position of Dragon King, everyone would accept it. But Uncle Qin failed. Even if he could rise again and become stronger, he still wouldn't be the kind of solace the evil spirits in the ancestral home desired.

Liu Yumei: "It wasn't him."

"Not him? Could it be your granddaughter? We all acknowledge her talent, but she's not old enough yet, and besides..."

I remember you questioned us back then, suspecting that we had tampered with your granddaughter.

The truth is, the Dragon Kings of your Qin and Liu families throughout history have suppressed and killed far more evil spirits outside than they brought home.

The evil spirits outside wish for the Qin and Liu families to be extinct; they would never allow such a rare seed to take root and sprout. We, the members of the family, hold the opposite view.”

"It's not Ah Li, Ah Li, it's Bai Ta Zou Jiang."

"Boom!"

The ancient demon above roared, its countless tentacles flailing wildly, expressing its fury.

A roar echoed in my soul:

"You... how dare you give the Qin family's inheritance to an outsider!"

A smile appeared on Liu Yumei's lips.

It's really funny that the evil spirits suppressed in the house are more conservative and value the family lineage more than she, the matriarch of the household.

Liu Yumei: "Not only the Qin family's legacy, but also the Liu family's legacy, I have given it to them as well."

"You...you're insane!"

Liu Yumei: "He'll be here soon. You can all see for yourselves whether he's qualified."

"If he's not good enough, we'll...eat him!"

……

As night fell, a large white rat tended several pots on the dam, its ladle casting afterimages as it moved.

One hot dish after another was cooked and placed on a long table pieced together on the dam, with a grill next to it where skewers sizzled and dripped oil.

Lin Shuyou stood downstairs, head up, cleared his throat, and mimicked Aunt Liu's old tone, calling out:

"Brother Yuan, dinner's ready!"

(End of this chapter)