What do you mean by saying that the corpses I sew are all ominous creatures?

I shook my head, looked into his eyes, my smile gradually fading, and my tone became serious:

"Thanks this time."

If he hadn't arrived in time and held off the guard for a while until reinforcements arrived, Lu Yan and I would probably be queuing at the funeral home waiting to be made up by our colleagues.

Li Qing paused for a moment, then waved his hand, looking impatient:

"Alright, alright, stop with this sentimental stuff."

We're practically family, aren't we? Besides, if you die, who will you ask for the favor you owe me?

I'm doing this to protect my creditors.

Although he said that, I still caught a glimpse of warmth in his eyes.

"Let's get down to business."

I adjusted my posture to make myself as comfortable as possible.

"After we parted ways at Huilong Village, weren't you taken back to seclusion by your elusive master?"

What a coincidence, appearing right in the underground palace!

This is something I've never been able to understand.

The underground palace is in a secret location, and it is also surrounded by a corpse domain. How did Li Qing know about it?

Moreover, the timing of their appearance was so precise, it was as if they had been lying in ambush all along.

Upon hearing this question, Li Qing put down the braised pig's trotter, and the playful smile on his face slowly disappeared.

He sighed, leaned back on the pillow, and his eyes became somewhat deep:

"Coincidence? There aren't that many coincidences in this world."

He pointed to the dark night sky outside the window:

"Do you know where I've been in seclusion for the past few months?"

"where?"

"Qinling Mountains," Li Qing uttered.

"The old man threw me into an ancient tomb deep in the Qinling Mountains, euphemistically calling it special training."

There was no internet or electricity there, only rice dumplings and poisonous insects.

The old man told me I could only leave when I had straightened out the feng shui of that tomb.

It gave me goosebumps.

The Qinling Mountains are the ancestral home of the Chinese dragon vein, and the ancient tombs within are no less dangerous than General Zuo's underground palace. This old Taoist priest is truly ruthless towards his disciple.

"I was still outsmarting those ancient zombies."

Li Qing pursed his lips.

"Then, just three nights ago, the old man suddenly appeared."

His face was grim. He dragged me out of the tomb, threw me a compass, pointed southeast, and said something.

"What did you say?"

He said: "The dragon vein of Jiangcheng is mourning. There is a demon cutting off the earth's energy. Go and settle this matter. This will count as your graduation test."

My heart skipped a beat.

Is the dragon vein mourning?

"I didn't believe it at the time, thinking to myself, how could a plain like Jiangcheng have a dragon vein?"

Li Qing pulled the cracked compass from under her pillow and stroked it tenderly.

"When I looked at the compass, good heavens! The magnetic needle in the Heavenly Pool was dripping blood! That's a sign that the earth's energy has been forcibly extracted and the earth's veins have been damaged!"

"Although feng shui masters earn a meager living by looking after graves, there is one ironclad rule that must never be broken—that is, the foundation of the dragon vein must not be disturbed."

Li Qing raised his head, his eyes becoming sharp as knives.

"Those bastards who guard the cauldron are not just raising corpses; they are using the underground palace as the core of the formation to forcibly extract the earth's energy from the entire northern suburbs of Jiangcheng to nourish that so-called General Zuo."

This is an absolutely despicable move that could lead to the extinction of one's lineage!

"Once the earth's energy is severed, the area within a hundred miles will become a barren wasteland for the next fifty years, plagued by constant natural and man-made disasters."

I gasped.

So the guardian of the tripod had such a grand scheme?

No wonder the bronze fragment in the guardian's hand could absorb the earth's energy, and no wonder a master like Li Qing's master couldn't sit still.

"So I followed the fluctuations of the ley lines all the way here."

Li Qing sneered.

"When I arrived, I just saw those bastards activating the great formation."

I originally intended to break through the formation from the outside, but I found you all fighting fiercely inside.

I followed the direction of the earth's veins and went straight down to the underground palace.

I originally planned to bury that elder alive with a sudden, dramatic earthquake, but...

He gave a wry smile and pointed to his chest, which was wrapped in bandages: "As you can see, that old bastard had a real weapon."

That bronze fragment… if I'm not mistaken, should be a piece of the legendary Nine Tripod Cauldrons of King Yu.

The Nine Tripods of King Yu also have another name: the Nine Provinces Tripods!

The weight of this word was completely different when it came from Li Qing's mouth.

I originally thought the guardians of the cauldrons just wanted to use this power to recast their so-called Nine Cauldrons, but I never expected that they actually had fragments of the Nine Cauldrons!

Yu the Great cast nine tripods to suppress the fortunes of the nine provinces. These things were originally items from myths and legends, but unexpectedly they have actually appeared now.

It's still in the hands of the guardian of the cauldron!

"Are you sure?" My voice was a little tense.

"pretty close."

Li Qing nodded.

"Aside from that kind of divine artifact that suppresses the entire land, there's nothing that can so domineeringly and forcibly plunder the earth's energy."

Although the guardian of the cauldron escaped, he took away the malevolent energy and earth energy accumulated in the underground palace over hundreds of years, plus that fragment… Chen Yang, this matter is not over.”

The atmosphere in the ward suddenly became heavy.

"The people in the Folklore Bureau unanimously speculate that what they want is to recast the Nine Tripods..."

I broke the silence and patted Li Qing on the shoulder. "Forget it, if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. What we need to do now is to recover from our injuries."

"But this time, we owe it all to you! If your master hadn't kicked you out, the rest of us probably would have been done for."

"That's right, don't you even know who I am?"

Li Qing instantly reverted to his smug demeanor.

"But speaking of which, Chen Yang, you owe me a huge favor this time."

You have to treat me to a nice meal at the best restaurant in Jiangcheng later, it has to include seafood, and it has to be Australian lobster!

"Okay, okay, plenty of Australian lobsters."

I smiled and agreed.

"Oh, right."

Li Qing seemed to suddenly remember something, and pulled a crumpled yellow paper talisman from under his pillow, handing it to me.

"This is what my master asked me to bring to you."

"For me?" I was taken aback and took the talisman.

The talisman paper was ordinary, with a strange rune drawn on it in cinnabar, which looked like a mountain or a dragon.

But when I held it in my hand, I couldn't feel any spiritual energy fluctuations.

"The old man said this is called a mountain-suppressing talisman."

Li Qing scratched his head, clearly not quite understanding either.

"He said you are a corpse stitcher, dealing with the evil energy of corpses all day long, and that your yin energy is too heavy, making you prone to attracting unclean things."

This talisman can help suppress the evil energy on your body and can even save your life in critical moments.

He also said…

Li Qing glanced at me, her expression somewhat strange:

He said your fate is very tough, so tough that it brings misfortune to relatives and friends, which is the legendary "lone star of heaven".

"Let me stay away from you, or you'll kill me sooner or later."

My hand holding the talisman trembled slightly.

A cursed lone star?