I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 113: Three Evils Eliminated, Corpses Arrive from Thousands of Miles Away

"It is going to rain."

After seeing Huang Laoxu off, Xu Qing stood at the door of the coroner's shop and looked up at the sky.

At this time, frogs were croaking and cicadas were chirping, and the air outside the street was extremely hot and stuffy.

Only the shop with the Ice Soul Talisman was still as fresh as February.

Xuan Yu took small steps to the threshold and, imitating Xu Qing, raised his head to look up at the sky.

In a short while, the sky was covered with dark clouds and the sounds of lightning and thunder were heard.

Xu Qing shrank his neck, fearing that the lightning would strike the door of his shop.

Xuan Yu opened his eyes wide and looked at Xu Qing in surprise.

"It's really going to rain. Does the Xu Xian family know how to tell fortunes?"

Xu Qing smiled and said, "The earth's air is rising, frogs are croaking, clouds are mingling, and swallows are flying low. I don't need to calculate these things; these clever birds and beasts will tell me."

Xuan Yu seemed to have realized something: "I understand. From now on, I don't need to calculate when it will rain. The wise Xu Xianjia will tell me."

"."

Xu Qing glanced at the black cat that was staring at the street in a trance. He didn't know whether the cat was praising him or scolding him indirectly.

Outside the shop, wind and rain came in, and raindrops fell on the doorstep, wetting Xuanyu's front paws.

It shook its front legs, took two steps back, stretched out its tongue and began to lick the rain water on its paws.

Seeing this, Xu Qing suddenly had an idea.

"Xuanyu, I brought you a gift. Do you want to see it?"

The black cat stopped its claws and remained suspended in the air.

It looked up at Xu Qing and asked curiously, "What gift?"

The latter smiled mysteriously, and like a magic trick, he turned his palm over, and a white bead with a faint glow appeared in the palm of his hand.

"so beautiful."

"These are water-repellent beads. As long as you carry the Xuanyu with you, you won't be afraid of rain. Even if you jump into a river, you can walk on land without getting soaked."

Xuan Yu stood up, half squatting and half standing, took the water-repellent bead, and held it in the soft cushion in his paw.

It opened its mouth and held the round bead in its mouth as if it were holding a cicada.

When he reached the threshold, Xuan Yu carefully extended his cat paws under the eaves.

The moment before the raindrops, which were like beads, hit its fur, a thin halo appeared around it, blocking the rain out.

"Uh huh huh."

Xuan Yu, who was holding the water-repellent beads, made meaningless syllables.

But seeing its joyful look when it turned back, Xu Qing could probably guess what it was saying.

"As long as you like it, I've been relying on Xuanyu to run my shop these days. Consider these white beads as a reward for Xuanyu's service."

Looking at the playful cat running out for a stroll in the rain, Xu Qing smiled slightly.

The rain was pouring down like a waterfall. In a short while, not a single person could be seen on the street.

Xuan Yu was still playing in the rain, while Xu Qing came to the coffin shop on the street holding a bamboo umbrella without an umbrella.

"There's something special about your umbrella."

There was a raging storm outside the shop, while Hu Baosong was nestling comfortably in a rattan chair inside.

Xu Qing, who had just folded up his bamboo umbrella, smiled and said, "How can there be any secrets with just a broken bamboo umbrella?"

"How come you're all alone again? Where's Senior Sister Yizhen?"

"Are you here to see me, or her?"

Xu Qing looked at Hu Baosong's vigilant expression and couldn't help but feel amused. "What you said is strange. Could it be that I ran here in the rain just to see your old bones?"

"Xu boy, don't mess around!"

The two were arguing when Taoist Master Yizhen came out from the inner room with a knife.

Xu Qing turned his head and his heart tightened immediately, but when he saw the pear in Yizhen's other hand, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sister, I was just joking with Lao Hu. I came here to borrow the coffin shop's cart so I can go to the port and bring back some goods."

What Xu Qing said was true. Zheng Deli, who was disguised as a wealthy businessman, died at the hands of the boatman and Yuan Hu. His body is still stored at the port.

Although he had simply preserved Zheng Deli's body before he left, the weather was hot and humid at the moment. After two days, no one could say whether the body would have any strange smell.

Therefore, it is necessary to send the body to the yamen as soon as possible.

Yizhen couldn't help but glance sideways at Xu Qing, thinking, why are you explaining so much?

Hu Baosong's expression relaxed a little after hearing this, and he looked like he had successfully defended the tower.

"The rain is coming down really hard. Please sit down for a while and wait for two cups of tea before going to the port."

Xu Qing understood Hu Baosong's implication and asked curiously, "How can you tell when the rain will stop just by looking at it from your seat?"

Hu Baosong raised his eyebrows and said, "When you reach my age, you won't have any trouble calculating whether the weather will clear up or not, or even how many drops of rain will fall and how long it will last."

"How can you say that? Why do people become more deaf and blind as they age?"

"Not really." Hu Baosong shook his head and said, "Clear ears and clear eyes are only superficial. You must know that a polished mirror can only illuminate one room, but a polished mirror of the heart can illuminate the whole universe."

“The secrets of heaven may seem mysterious and difficult for mortals to foresee, but most of the time this is because they lack a clear mind.”

"To understand one's mind, one must first experience the affairs of the world and endure countless trials before one can illuminate one's true nature and see the will of Heaven."

When Xu Qing heard this, a scene suddenly emerged in his mind: a monkey holding an unpolished stone and grinding it in the stream.

He said with a sense of enlightenment: "Most people spend their lives pursuing external methods, but few seriously polish the mirror of their hearts and see their true selves."

Xu Qing clapped his hands and sighed, "Old Hu, you are obeying the will of heaven. Today I finally know who I am!"

Hu Baosong laughed and scolded, "At your age, how can you have so many strange theories?"

Xu Qing chuckled and said casually, "They say that if you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening. Old Hu, please tell us what truths you have realized these days so that my senior sister and I can understand them sooner and pass them on to the world in the future."

"I don't have the ability to preach to the world, but if you ask me what I saw, I do have some ideas."

At this time, a cup of tea had passed, and the rain outside the shop had reached its peak, but there was no sign of it abating.

Hu Baosong said quietly, "This year is a year of troubles, with dragons and snakes rising from the land. I have calculated that there are three disasters in Linhe, which will make people feel uneasy.

But a few days ago, when Yizhen and I were out for a walk, we saw a snake and a mad dog blocking the road.

What do you think happened afterwards?"

Hu Baosong laughed and said, "There was a drunk madman driving a carriage, which hit the mad dog to death on the roadside, and the wheels crushed the snake's head to pieces."

"The madman was awakened by this and stopped driving."

"When I saw this, I took out my magic coin and divined, and I got the hexagram that said 'Three evils have been eliminated, and the three talents are at peace.'" "I originally thought that Linhe would be in turmoil in the future, but now it seems I was worrying too much."

Xu Qing's heart moved slightly, and he asked, "Have you figured out what dog, snake, and human represent?"

Hu Baosong's eyes fell on him and he said thoughtfully, "There's a monster in the water, a person in the temple, and a demonic entity that's neither human nor ghost and whose origins are unknown."

"."

Xu Qing pondered carefully for a moment, the monster in the water could be a water tiger or a water monkey; the person in the temple could be the Taoist water worker of Tianwu Temple; as for the evil spirit.
Xu Qing thought, this evil spirit wouldn't tell anyone about him, right?
Of course not!
Even if a living person does good deeds to accumulate Yin De, they can only redeem it after they die. A zombie like him, who does good deeds all day, is already half-dead, so his Yin De can be used as he wishes. With so much virtue on his side, these three evils will never happen to him.
But Xu Qing thought again, what's the point of Zhou Chu eliminating three evils, but the last evil he eliminated was Zhou Chu himself!

Now even he himself began to doubt it. Could it be considered as getting rid of harm to the people if zombies turned good?

"You seem to be becoming more insightful as you grow older. You can figure out so many things even from the little things you encounter on the road." Xu Qing marveled.

"You're still young, and you don't understand the principles here." Hu Baosong took the peeled pear from Yizhen and said, "When a person is about to die, they are closest to the heart of heaven, and they can often see mysteries that they cannot see at other times. However, these mysteries are like a fleeting flower, and they cannot last long."

"Why do those fortune tellers who are so flawed and incomplete in nature tell such accurate divinations?"

Hu Baosong pointed to the sky and said, "God is right up there watching us!"

Xu Qing came to the door, looked up at the sky, and felt confused.

Just two cups of tea had passed by this time, and more and more people were walking on the street. It turned out that the wind had stopped and the rain had stopped.

Xu Qing looked up at the sky, trying to feel the energy.

Since a dying person is closest to the heart of heaven.

Then wouldn't he be able to touch Tianxin with just a stretch of his hand?
Xu Qing stretched out a hand, but Tianxin didn't touch it. Instead, there was a peeled pear in his hand.

He turned his head and saw Yizhen standing beside him, also looking up at the sky.

A breeze blew by, blowing a strand of black hair hanging from the woman's temple.

Xu Qing blinked, but before he could open his mouth to thank him, he heard the angry voice of Old Man Hu behind him.

"Xu boy, don't you want to borrow a cart to go to the port to do some business? Now that the weather has cleared up, why don't you hurry up? Don't blame me for not warning you. In half an hour, the weather will change again!"

At Linhe Port, when Xu Qing came here again, he happened to meet Manager Cai who was registering new corpse lifters.

"You must remember what I just said. The waters around Baisha Ferry are forbidden areas. Water ghosts are lurking there, so you must not set foot there. If anyone disobeys my advice and something goes wrong, no one will even come to retrieve your body, let alone rescue you."

Several new corpse lifters and several old people transferred from other places nodded in agreement.

"Old Cai, I'm busy!"

A familiar voice sounded, and Manager Cai turned his head to look. The first thing he saw was Xu Qing's cheerful smiling face.

"!"

"Don't come over here!" Manager Cai reacted quickly. He subconsciously picked up the water sickle used to cut aquatic plants and began to stumble back.

"Lao Cai, what are you doing? I have something to talk to you about."

"Don't come over here! Tell me clearly first, are you a human or a ghost?"

"Nonsense, look at my shadow on the ground, can a ghost have a shadow?"

Seeing that there was indeed a shadow on the ground, Old Cai moved towards Xu Qing doubtfully.

But he was still a little unsure, so he leaned forward, stretched out his finger and was about to probe Xu Qing's breath like lighting a firecracker.

"Snapped!"

Xu Qing slapped the nosy hand away in annoyance.

Zombies can smell the breath of living people and can spit out cold and negative energy, but they cannot spit out the warm breath of living people.

But if he really breathed in some evil energy, Manager Cai's arm would probably be paralyzed on the spot, and he wouldn't be able to explain himself even if he opened a hundred mouths.

"Don't bother with all this nonsense. Don't I know whether I'm alive or not? Take me to where the corpse retrievers keep the bodies. I have something urgent to do!"

After hearing this, Manager Cai finally believed the 'fact' that Xu Qing was still alive. He couldn't help asking while leading the way.

"Brother Xu, how did you survive the water ghost?"

"Oh, you don't understand this. I know some secret recipes. These ghosts are most afraid of filthy things. After the water ghost pulled me into the water, I got nervous and my back door started to deflate. I fume it so much that it let go."

Xu Qing spoke nonsense seriously.

However, what he said was not entirely false. Dirty things do have an inhibitory effect on some low-level ghosts and monsters. Even some extremely powerful talismans will lose their effectiveness or their power will be greatly reduced after being contaminated by Tiankui Water and Renzhonghuang.

Manager Cai did not suspect anything, but instead kept these words in mind.

In addition to registration, his duties in the corpse recovery team also include purchasing the travel equipment needed by the corpse recoverers.

Things like pig bladders, water sickles, nets and ropes are essential for corpse lifters when they go into the water.

Now he has a new purchasing plan, which is to get some dirty things for the corpse lifters to take with them in case of any accidents.

After passing through several fish pens and several water plank roads, the two finally stopped in front of a ship.

"Is this where the morgue is?"

Manager Cai nodded and said, "This building ship has been docked here for some time. It's said that it was built as a viewing vessel when the Prince of Changting was training his navy. Later, due to financial constraints, the court ordered a halt to the construction of naval warships, and this ship has been abandoned since then."

Xu Qing followed Manager Cai to the ship. The bodies retrieved by the corpse lifters were just lying on the deck, covered with a straw mat for people to identify.

On the deck, there is a sunshade made of wooden boards. This place is close to the river and there is a breeze blowing from time to time, so the body will not be damaged within a day or two.

However, if no one claims the bodies within the specified time, they will be sent to the charity cemetery for disposal.

When Xu Qing saw this source of corpses, he started to make plans in his mind.

He had earlier finalized a long-term business cooperation with Mr. Li Siye of the pawnshop, in which unclaimed corpses became one of his main sources of goods.

Logically, these bodies should have been sent to the coroner's shop, but unfortunately, Mr. Li Si was not up to the task and the Jinmen Gang seized the area of ​​Bukou.

Due to the obstruction of the Jinmen Gang, the bodies were finally sent to the charity cemetery outside the city, and none of them were collected by him.

"Tianjin Gang"

Xu Qing thought for a moment, then said, "Manager Cai is busy with official business. I will carry Zheng Deli's body by myself. I won't bother you."

The two exchanged a few more polite words before Manager Cai turned around and got off the boat.

Looking at the corpses placed on the boat, Xu Qing happily began to pray for their souls to be reborn.

These bodies were all ordinary people, including fishermen and boat passengers, as well as adults or children who were accidentally swept away by the current and drowned while playing in the water.

Xu Qing performed salvation along the way. In addition to receiving some insignificant rewards, he also discovered the body of a Rong warrior who had drifted all the way from the Xichui Quanqiu tribe across a thousand miles.

What's even more bizarre is that the body had only been dead for five days.

Excluding the time it took to keep the body, it only took two or three days for the body to drift a thousand miles.

Looking at the corpse again, it was still lifelike, and there was no corpse smell at all. Instead, it emitted a faint strange fragrance.

As the saying goes, there is a reason why drums sound in the mountains.

Xu Qing, who had read the other party's memories, was not surprised by this. As for how this Rong warrior's body had been able to remain intact and drift for such a long time without being eaten by river fish, the specific reason had to start from five days ago.
(End of this chapter)