From Paper Craftsman to World-Suppressing Immortal

"Oh no! There's someone floating in the river!"

The boy stood at the entrance of the teahouse, panting heavily, his face pale with fright, and he shouted in panic.

These words immediately caused an uproar in the previously quiet teahouse.

The boatmen, who had been sitting dejectedly in their chairs, suddenly stood up.

"Let's go! Let's go take a look."

Someone shouted something, and everyone rushed towards the door in a frenzy.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhixuan also stood up and quickly followed the crowd out of the teahouse.

"There it is! There it is!"

The group stood by the river and looked in the direction the boy was pointing. Sure enough, ten meters away, there was a dark, white thing floating on the surface of the river.

The thing bobbed up and down with the waves, and you could vaguely see what looked like a small human head floating on the water. It looked young, like a five or six-year-old child.

"What a tragedy! Whose child fell into the river?" Someone in the crowd with sharp eyes saw from afar that it was indeed a young child.

"I'll go down and save the child!" A young boatman took off his coat and was about to jump into the water.

"Stop! You're not allowed to go!"

A sharp shout suddenly came from behind the crowd. An elderly boatman pushed his way through the throng, grabbed the young boatman's arm, and yelled, "Are you out of your mind! This is a floating object! What are you going to do? Go down and become its scapegoat?"

The moment those words were spoken, the people around fell silent.

Zhang Zhixuan's heart tightened upon hearing this. If it weren't for the old boatman's rich experience, most people wouldn't have been able to tell that the child was actually a pontoon floater.

Tianjin is located at the confluence of nine rivers, with complex waterways. Every year, there are countless people who die in the rivers for various reasons.

For people in Tianjin who make their living from the river, the thing they fear most is a drifter on the river.

Most ordinary river floats are horizontal, but this "standing float" is different. The body is not floating horizontally, but rather head up and feet down, suspended upright in the water.

The floating corpse's shoulders and head are exposed on the water's surface, swaying slightly with the waves, making it appear as if a living person is standing underwater with only their upper body showing. Those who don't know any better might mistake it for a living person and rush forward to rescue it, only to be terrified by the corpse standing upright in the water.

Hearing the old boatman's cursing, the young boatman broke out in a cold sweat and immediately retreated to the side, no longer daring to be defiant.

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, looking at the man floating in the river with pity, but no one dared to mention going into the water again.

At this moment, the old boatman shouted again, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and go fetch Master Sun!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Quickly, invite Grandpa Sun!"

"I'll go! I'll run there!" Xu Er, who was standing in the crowd, responded and turned to run towards the west end of the town, disappearing from sight in no time.

Everyone stood guard at the ferry crossing, their eyes fixed on the floating object in the river, and no one dared to speak loudly.

Zhang Zhixuan followed the crowd from a distance, glancing every now and then to see if Xu Er had returned.

Not long after, Xu Er led a gaunt old man over.

The old man was not tall and his appearance was unremarkable, but he was full of energy. Behind him were two young men carrying various tools, probably his apprentices.

When the crowd saw the old man approaching, they all made way for him.

"Grandpa Sun, look! There's a dead child over there, it's floating on the river!" The old boatman quickly went up to him, pointed to the floating object in the river, and explained the situation.

Grandpa Sun gave a nonchalant reply, took a few steps towards the riverbank, squinted at the water, and murmured, "Hmm, it really is..."

"Master, is it safe to fish this out?" his apprentice asked in a low voice.

"Our livelihood is retrieving corpses. If we can't even do this, what's the point of doing this job?"

"Push the boat over here, you guys hold the rope on the shore, I'll go down and take a look."

After Grandpa Sun finished speaking, he untied the hook hanging from his waist, boarded a small boat, picked up the long pole on the boat, and gently pushed it towards the shore. The small boat slowly rowed towards the floating object in the river.

"This old man is a professional corpse retriever." Zhang Zhixuan stood on the shore, watching the old man's every move, and immediately understood.

It is said that since the time of the previous dynasty, there has been a professional team in Tianjin that specializes in retrieving corpses from the river.

After the fall of the previous dynasty, the body retrieval team was incorporated into the patrol and arrest department of the government and was called the "water patrol team".

These body retrieval team members deal with the dead in the water year-round. They not only need to be good swimmers, but also be brave and resilient. Otherwise, they won't last long in this line of work and will become scapegoats for the dead.

This old man Sun has spent most of his life retrieving corpses from the water. He must not only be very experienced, but his birth chart must also be very strong, otherwise he wouldn't have lived to this age.

Soon, Old Sun rowed his small boat to the side of the floating platform. He steadied the boat, gripped the hook in his hand, and with a gentle flick, the hook fell into the water next to the platform. As he gently pulled it up, it immediately snagged the platform's clothes.

When the crowd on the shore saw that Grandpa Sun had effortlessly hooked the floating boat with his two hands, they immediately cheered.

Just as Old Sun was about to pull the float back, an unexpected incident occurred!

The once calm waters suddenly became turbulent, and the small boat that Old Sun was riding in was violently rocked by the waves.

With a scream, Old Sun lost his balance and fell forward, landing directly in the river.

Old Sun had spent most of his life retrieving corpses from the water, so he was naturally an excellent swimmer. With a few splashes, he emerged from the river and desperately clung to the side of the small boat with both hands.

"What's going on?"

Seeing this sudden turn of events, everyone's hearts tightened. Those who reacted quickly shouted to Master Sun's two apprentices, "Quick! Pull Master Sun up!"

Without anyone shouting, Grandpa Sun's two young apprentices had already reacted. At this moment, they used every ounce of strength they had, but Grandpa Sun and the small boat seemed to be fixed on the water, not moving an inch.

Old Sun was in even more danger. Half of his body was dragged into the water, and no matter how hard he tried to climb out of the small boat, he couldn't get out. His face was turning purple from holding his breath. Every now and then, he would be pulled into the water by something, choke on some water, struggle and then surface again, kicking and splashing.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! These floating rocks in the water are really fierce; even Grandpa Sun is going to get caught!"

The people on the shore were jumping up and down in panic, but no one dared to go into the water. Everyone knew that if they went in now, they would not only fail to save anyone, but they would also lose their own lives.

The two apprentices pulled the rope with all their might, the rope almost digging into their flesh, but it still wouldn't budge. It looked like Old Sun's hand was about to loosen and he was about to sink into the river.

Just then, Zhang Zhixuan made a move. He summoned four paper puppet soldiers to help him on the shore, and then jumped into the water on the Xuanwu puppet.

The moment the Xuanwu puppet entered the water, a faint protective aura shielded itself and Zhang Zhixuan. The massive Xuanwu body broke through the water's flow and swam rapidly toward Old Sun.

As Zhang Zhixuan got closer, he could see clearly that Old Sun's ankles were covered with black hair. The hair seemed to be alive and was climbing upwards, quickly wrapping around half of Old Sun's body and pulling him down.

"Don't panic!" Zhang Zhixuan swam to Old Sun's side to comfort him, while at the same time urging the Xuanwu puppet to swing its front claws and slash hard at the tangling hair!

With a flash of golden light, the smooth and tough long hair was instantly severed by the Xuanwu puppet. Just then, a piercing shriek suddenly rang out from the water.

Zhang Zhixuan looked down and what he saw sent chills down his spine.