The ultimate master in the city

Zhou Fengchen looked at the proprietress, "Corpse transport?"

The proprietress frowned. "They must be a procession of corpses."

"Let's go take a look." Zhou Fengchen tightened his shoelaces, slung his handbag over his shoulder, grabbed his knife, and rushed out the door, with the landlady quickly following behind.

The two men crept through the snow from the woods toward the sound of bells and shouts. Soon they were nearby, and they lay down behind a raised snowdrift and looked up.

Two figures appeared in the distance. The one in the lead wore a long blue robe and a small blue hat, carried a cloth bag, held a bell in his left hand and a copper gong in his right. After taking a few steps, he shook the bell and shouted, "The spirits are on their way; the living must stay away!"

Behind him followed a gaunt man dressed in a black robe and a tall, thick blanket hat. Several yellow paper talismans were faintly visible under the hat, making it difficult to see his face. He walked like a normal person.

Zhou Fengchen was taken aback and asked in a low voice, "These corpses you're driving walk like normal people? Don't they hop and jump?"

The proprietress also lowered her voice, "That's how they walk. I heard from Asi Palace that only when their souls explode, because their bodies are stiff and cannot bend, can they jump and pounce on people."

Zhou Fengchen nodded and remained silent.

"Ring ring—"

"A spirit is on its way; living people, stay away!"

As the man and the corpse gradually came into view, the leading corpse driver suddenly stopped, patted the snowflakes off his head, glanced in the direction of the small temple, shook his head, banged his small gong, and continued on his way.

The dead body behind him was covered in snowflakes, its face obscured by a tall, black blanket hat, and its deathly aura gave it an eerie and terrifying feel.

Zhou Fengchen was engrossed in watching, wondering how the corpse had moved on its own. Could it have a corpse box inside its stomach? Just then, the proprietress suddenly let out a strange "Ah."

Zhou Fengchen quickly covered her mouth.

The corpse-driver was startled and looked over in surprise. He drew a short knife with a "whoosh" and asked, "Who?"

His voice carried a hint of malice and ruthlessness.

Zhou Fengchen covered the landlady's mouth, quietly lowered his head, and remained silent.

After a while, the corpse-driver's mutterings came from outside: "Damn it, where did this stray cat come from?"

Then they started chanting slogans and set off.

Once they were out of sight, Zhou Fengchen released the proprietress and asked, "What did you shout?"

The proprietress took a deep breath, her voice trembling, and said, "This corpse-driver is A-Kui!"

"Who is A-Kui? Do you know him?" Zhou Fengchen asked in confusion.

The proprietress said, "Didn't I tell you? He was Asi Palace's senior apprentice; I saw him die with my own eyes!"

Zhou Fengchen remembered this person—the old man who went to Donghai City to inform the boss's wife, Axigong, that she was dead. He frowned and said, "You mean, he was already dead back then, but now he's come back to life and is driving corpses?"

"Yes!" It's the strange things that happen to people close to you that are even more terrifying. The proprietress turned pale and trembled all over.

Zhou Fengchen considered several possibilities but was still a bit confused. There was no need to be so insistent. He asked, "Could it be that you've made a mistake, or..."

The proprietress immediately shook her head, "No way! There's absolutely no mistake. I learned some things from Asi Palace too. He was poisoned by corpse poison back then! The corpse poison attacked his heart, and his face turned purple!"

Seeing that her expression was strange, Zhou Fengchen waved his hand and said, "Why don't you go back to the temple first, and I'll go and test him."

The proprietress nodded and turned to go back.

With a light step, Zhou Fengchen chased after the corpse driver like a ghost.

Before long, he arrived not far behind the man and the corpse. Intending to test them, he crouched behind a large tree, took out a set of five-emperor coins, made hand seals, chanted an incantation, and whispered, "Go!"

The five copper coins rolled over, leaving a narrow trail in the snow. When they reached the corpse, they flicked and stuck to its back.

Zhou Fengchen formed hand seals and remotely commanded, "Lie down!"

Strangely, the corpses were completely unresponsive, and the corpse-driver was oblivious to the situation.

That's strange. What kind of method is used to transport corpses?

Zhou Fengchen thought for a moment, sneered, and leaped up. In a few bounds, he arrived in front of the corpse driver, blocking his way. He swung his knife with one hand, making a "whoosh" sound as it cut through the air.

"The dead..." The corpse-driver's chant abruptly stopped. He stopped the corpse, squinted at it, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Friend, what can I do for you?"

The corpse driver looked to be in his fifties, with a small mustache and a thin, wiry build, but his eyes were quite bright.

Zhou Fengchen said in a low voice, "Robbery!"

The corpse-driver chuckled, "My friend, you must be joking. I'm just a corpse-driver, I have no extra money. What could you possibly rob me of?"

Zhou Fengchen said, "I'm not here to rob you of your money, I'm here to demand an explanation!"

The corpse-transporter asked curiously, "There's such a way to abduct someone? What kind of explanation do you want?"

Zhou Fengchen asked, "Is your name A-Kui?"

The corpse-driver was taken aback, his face darkening. "Who are you?"

"Who I am is unimportant," Zhou Fengchen said. "I heard you died three years ago, so how come you've reappeared alive and well now?"

A-Kui's expression changed drastically. He involuntarily took two steps back, pulled out a knife, and asked, "Are you... one of Crane Dragon's men, or one of Atu Po's men?"

Crane Dragon? Old Woman Atu? It seems there are two groups of people. Zhou Fengchen really wanted to impersonate one, but then thought it was unnecessary, so he said, "Neither of them. Relax, I have no hostility towards you. I'm just curious and asking for a friend."

Upon hearing this, A-Kuei looked him up and down, then breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "And who is your friend?"

"You don't need to know," Zhou Fengchen said.

A-Kui glanced at the knife in his hand. "Since you ask, I won't hide it from you. All my fellow disciples were killed. I had no choice but to fake my death to avoid disaster. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make a living lately, so I had to go back to my old ways and do some more work."

Zhou Fengchen asked curiously, "Who killed your junior brothers? And who were you hiding from? Was it Atu Po and... Old Crane Dragon and the others?"

A-Kui smiled and said, "There's no need to tell you that. Please don't make things difficult for me, brother."

"Alright!" Zhou Fengchen stepped aside. "You can go now!"

"Farewell!" A-Kui nodded, and as he led the corpse past, his body tensed instantly, and he stopped breathing. Only after walking more than ten meters and seeing that Zhou Fengchen really had no intention of making a move did he visibly relax, ring the bell again, and start chanting.

Zhou Fengchen watched him leave. He had intended to take the copper coins off the corpse, but then he thought that if the landlady came to some realization and wanted to find him again, it would be good to use it as a pretext.

……

It was midnight, all was quiet, snowflakes fell silently, and the forest was eerily still. Zhou Fengchen crunched through the snow as he returned to the small temple, pondering how to discuss things with the landlady. But when he reached the door, he looked up and froze.

The torches in the temple had gone out sometime ago, and Monk Yuanzhi's snoring had stopped. It was pitch black inside, and there were many messy footprints in front of the door. He was quite certain that these were not left by him and the landlady.

He had a bad feeling, so he drew his knife and quietly approached the door, listening intently. There was no breathing in the temple, so he rushed in.

The place was completely empty; the proprietress and Monk Yuanzhi were nowhere to be seen!

He felt a buzzing in his head. What happened? How could everyone have disappeared in such a short time?

Suspecting they might have gone to the toilet together, he ran outside and called out twice, but apart from a few night birds flapping their wings and flying away, there was no response.

Oh no! Something really bad has happened!

He rushed back into the temple, making hand seals, and vaguely sensed a sinister aura. He didn't know what it was. Looking around, he saw that everyone's luggage, including the umbrella containing Chu Xiaoling, was gone. The fire looked a bit messy, with three pieces of charcoal scattered to one side.

This was obviously too sudden. Monk Yuanzhi resisted, but he was no match for the other party. After being subdued, the other party took his luggage and umbrella with him.

But...didn't Chu Xiaoling and Xiaobao resist? Could there be a master of metaphysics inside?

Thinking of this, his gaze sharpened, and he noticed the rattle drum that had been used to carry Xiaobao, which was lying in a corner. He quickly picked it up.

I like the novel "The Strongest Master in the City".