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

Inside the private room, Li Qing's hands moved like a blur as he ate, his mouth greasy with food.

This guy is dressed so flashy today.

Wearing a bright silver suit with a floral shirt underneath, and with his hair slicked back and shiny, he looked nothing like a patient who had just been discharged from the hospital.

"Mmm...delicious! It smells so good!"

While chewing on lobster meat, Li Qing mumbled, "Chen Yang, you've got a conscience! I've been drinking porridge every day in the hospital these past few days, my mouth is so bland."

Looking at his starving look, I felt both amused and sorry for my wallet.

This meal is probably going to eat up the budget for several large yellow croakers.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

I poured him a cup of tea. "The doctor said that since you've just recovered, overeating is bad for your health."

"To hell with the doctor."

Li Qing swallowed the meat in his mouth and waved his hand.

"I'm a feng shui master, I know my own body best. What's a little seafood? I could eat ten more pounds!"

Lu Yan sat beside us, gracefully peeling a mantis shrimp, watching us bicker with a rare relaxed smile on her face.

After several rounds of drinks and five courses of food,

The atmosphere in the private room gradually changed.

"Seriously."

Lu Yan put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth, and her expression became slightly serious.

"The provincial bureau lost track of that high-ranking official who guarded the cauldron."

After leaving Jiangcheng, he vanished without a trace, as if he had evaporated into thin air.

"normal."

Li Qing picked his teeth, looking completely unconvinced.

"That old man was holding a fragment of the Nine Cauldrons, a divine object that could suppress destiny."

"If he wants to hide, not even the Heavenly King himself could find him, let alone your Bureau of Folklore."

"What exactly do the Nine Cauldrons signify?"

I couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering me.

Although Li Qing had mentioned it before, I still lack a concrete understanding of this legendary thing.

Li Qing dropped his playful grin, sat up straight, and tapped his fingers lightly on the table:

"Yu the Great cast nine tripods to suppress the spirits and monsters of the mountains and rivers of the nine provinces and to divide the destiny of the world."

This is not just a legend, but a stabilizing force in the world of Feng Shui.

"With the Nine Tripods intact, the land is at peace. With the Nine Tripods lost, the world is in chaos."

Li Qing's voice lowered, "Although what that elder was holding was just a fragment, it contained the essence of mountains and rivers."

If these madmen who guard the cauldrons gather enough fragments, or find other cauldrons... they might even be able to reshape the course of China's dragon veins.

Even... to resurrect some of the most malevolent beings that were suppressed in ancient times.

Lu Yan and I exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Resurrecting an ancient monstrous beast?

General Zuo, who is only at the level of "half-step drought demon", has already exhausted us. If he really brings out some ancient demon, what will happen?

"and……"

Li Qing turned to look at me, her gaze intense.

"Chen Yang, your identity as the corpse stitcher may become very crucial in the future."

"Why?" I was taken aback.

"Because the Nine Cauldrons mostly suppress things that are 'dead but not stiff'," Li Qing said in a deep voice.

"Once those things come out, ordinary Taoist methods may not be effective."

But your lineage of corpse sculptors cultivates malevolent energy, sculpts the physical body, and fixes the soul.

"For those malevolent entities with physical forms, your methods are often more direct and effective than those of Taoist priests."

I was silent.

I remembered the scalpel my grandfather left behind, the ghost needle the masked man gave me, and that obscure and difficult-to-understand book, "The Strategy of Heavenly Garments".

Was all of this predetermined?

"No matter what the future holds."

I raised my glass, looked at the two sworn brothers before me, and spoke calmly but firmly.

"At least for now, we're still alive and can sit here eating lobster. As long as we're together, there's no obstacle we can't overcome."

"That's right." Lu Yan raised her wine glass, her eyes sparkling.

"Cheers!" Li Qing exclaimed boldly, lifting the teapot directly.

The three cups collided in the air, making a crisp sound.

At this moment, the night outside the window no longer seemed so cold.

The meal lasted until 9:30 p.m.

After seeing Lu Yan and Li Qing off, I walked alone back to my rented room.

The night view of Wuhan is still bustling, with neon lights flashing and cars and people moving about.

But I know that beneath this glamorous facade, undercurrents are surging.

Guardian of the tripod, the Nine Tripods...

Storm is coming.

But I'm ready.

Two days later, the Mysterious Yin Fiend Crystal and the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl will be delivered.

At that time, I will go into seclusion to improve my inner strength and take my power to the next level.

Next time I encounter that high-ranking guardian of the cauldron, I will never let him escape so easily again.

……

Two days later, in the evening, a man in black with a cold expression stood at the door of my rented room, carrying a package.

He didn't say anything, just handed me the package and left in a hurry.

I know, this is something from the Folklore Bureau that has arrived.

I took the package inside and locked the security door.

After unpacking the package, two exquisite wooden boxes were revealed.

The one on the left is made of sandalwood. When you open it, you'll find a milky-white bead inside, with a faint glow on its surface. It is the Soul-Stabilizing Bead.

I reached out and picked it up; it was warm to the touch.

In that instant, the restless emotions that had been stirred by the existence of the Guardians of the Cauldron miraculously calmed down.

"nice one."

I exclaimed in admiration, then strung it on a red string and hung it around my neck.

Next, I opened the black iron and wood box on the right.

"Click".

The moment the lid was opened, the temperature in the room seemed to drop by five or six degrees.

A fist-sized, jet-black crystal lay quietly inside.

Mysterious Yin Sha Crystal.

Just looking at it, I could feel the dormant malevolent energy within me beginning to stir.

"call……"

I took a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the mattress.

Since the last battle in the underground palace, my meridians have inexplicably more than doubled in size.

While this has raised my potential, it has also left me feeling like an empty bucket with only a shallow layer of water at the bottom.

That feeling of emptiness made me desperately want to fill it.

I stretched out my hands and gripped the cold, malevolent crystal tightly.

"bring it on."

With a thought, the internal energy cultivation method of the Corpse-Sewing lineage suddenly began to operate.

"boom!"

If absorbing corpse energy is like drinking water normally, then at this moment, I feel like I'm swallowing mercury whole.

A thick, cold, and violently raging black energy surged wildly into my palm.

pain.

It felt like my meridians were being scraped repeatedly by countless tiny ice blades.

But this power is too pure, so pure that I don't need to refine it; it is itself a highly condensed liquid evil energy.

I gritted my teeth, and the veins on my forehead bulged out one by one.

The internal energy within his body began to swirl wildly, greedily devouring this foreign power.

The previously dried-up riverbeds began to rise at a visible rate.