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

The bone needles are the keys. The Shadow Sect wants to open the door and take something from the forbidden area, and the Guardian of the Cauldron also wants to open the door and take something from inside.

And I was the unlucky guy holding the key, standing between two wolves.

"Chen Yang, you are in a very dangerous situation right now."

Lu Yan's tone was filled with undisguised worry.

"Although the Shadow Sect lost three elders this time, it is not a serious blow to their vast resources."

More importantly, the guardian of the cauldron has not yet made a real move.

The expert from the underground palace last time was just the tip of the iceberg. Now that they've surfaced, it shows they're determined to take Jiangcheng.

"I know."

I looked at my left hand.

Beneath the cuff, the hand stitched with malevolent energy faintly emanated a chill that only I could sense.

"But I have no way out, do I?" I said calmly.

"I'm not stupid enough to think that handing over the stuff will allow me to survive in their hands."

They want my life, they want my needles, then let them take them.

I want to see whether their bones are harder or my knife is harder.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"I will apply to my superiors to strengthen surveillance around the funeral home and your rental apartment."

In addition, regarding the deceased elder, we found a strange token on his body with the map coordinates of this area engraved on it.

The technical team is working on it; I'll contact you again once I have a result.

"Alright, be careful yourself. The Shadow Sect people are very vengeful. They won't let it go after you destroyed their hideout."

"Don't worry, in Jiangcheng, this little corner of the world, it's not their place to run wild."

Lu Yan resumed her decisive tone, "I'm hanging up now. I need to go meet with the other two elders."

The phone hangs up.

Listening to the busy tone on the receiver, I stood in the corridor, motionless for a long time.

The sky was overcast, and it looked like it was going to snow again.

Guardian of the Cauldron... Shadow Sect...

I used to think that as long as I didn't cause trouble, trouble wouldn't come knocking.

But now it seems that from the moment my grandfather handed me that willow-leaf dagger when I was fifteen, I was already in the martial arts world.

"call……"

I exhaled a puff of white breath and put my phone back in my pocket.

Since we can't avoid it, we can only face it.

Condensing the evil energy into liquid is only the first step. To survive the impending storm, I must become stronger.

The art of controlling qi still needs practice, the use of the Ghost Needle is not yet fully mastered, and there are still the forbidden techniques in that book, "The Heavenly Garment Strategy"...

I turned and walked towards the cafeteria.

The food shouldn't be cold yet. No matter what monsters and demons we face next, we still have to eat.

After all, only when you're well-fed do you have the strength to kill.

……

It started snowing lightly in Jiangcheng that night.

The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow, and snowflakes twirled and fell in the halo of light, instantly turning into a puddle of black water on the asphalt road.

I drove my old, worn-out Santana back to my rented room and hung the chilly coat on the coat rack by the door.

In the south, there is no central heating in winter, and the house is as cold as an icebox.

But my current physical condition is no longer affected by heat or cold; on the contrary, this cool atmosphere makes me feel more clear-headed.

I simply cooked a bowl of noodles, poached two eggs, and ate it all, soup and all, before I finally felt a little warm.

After clearing away the dishes, I pulled out the dulled blade from the bottom of the bedside table.

Holding the scalpel, the familiar touch came over me, and I tried to gently rub the notch on the blade with my fingertips.

"hiss--"

A sharp pain shot through my fingertips.

It wasn't the pain of being cut open, but the pain of being pricked by a hot needle.

That was the residual corpse energy left by General Zuo, and it even carried a trace of drought demon fire poison.

During this time, I tried to cleanse myself with my own evil energy, and I also tried to polish myself with that guillotine base stone.

But that black aura was like a persistent, intractable disease; it just wouldn't go away.

A blade can be sharpened even if it's chipped, but if this stubbornness isn't removed, the knife is essentially useless.

If I were to use it to sew up corpses or fight enemies, it would not only be too dull, but would also hurt me due to the conflict of energy.

"We need to find an expert to fix it."

I muttered to myself.

This wouldn't work for a regular knife sharpener. If you took this to a knife sharpening stall at the entrance of a vegetable market, the grinding wheel would probably explode after the sharpener had only sharpened it a couple of times.

I thought for a moment, then took out my phone and dialed Jin Wanliang's number.

The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

The background noise was very loud, like it was in a karaoke bar or nightclub, and you could vaguely hear women playing drinking games.

"Feed? Oh, my dear Uncle Chen, what instructions do you have this so late at night?"

Jin Wanliang's voice sounded somewhat muffled, as if he had drunk quite a bit.

"I've only had two days of peace and quiet, don't tell me those bastards from the Shadow Sect are coming again."

"It's not a matter for the Shadow Sect."

I cut to the chase, "Old Jin, you're a bit of a maverick, do you know any skilled blacksmiths?"

"blacksmith?"

Jin Wanliang was stunned for a moment, then shouted, "Turn off the music!" The surroundings immediately became much quieter.

"You want to forge iron? No... you want to fix your knife, right?"

This fat guy is indeed shrewd; he understands things immediately.

"Yeah, I made a few cuts in the underground palace last time, and there's some dirt on it that I can't get rid of using the usual methods."

I need to find a skilled craftsman, preferably someone who can handle weapons with malevolent energy.

"Tsk, that's a curse left behind by General Zuo. Even ordinary blacksmiths wouldn't dare touch it."

Jin Wanliang clicked his tongue on the other end of the line, remained silent for a few seconds, as if going through the list in his mind.

"I've got it. There's a strange old man near the old steel mill in the north of the city, named Huo Sanchui."

This old man used to be a specialist in finding out about the Yin Claw technique for a certain tomb raiding family. His skills were unparalleled, but he had a terrible temper.

"As long as you pay the right amount, let alone repairing knives, you could even ask him to build a Gundam for you, and he'll do it."

"Can we go now?" I asked.

"Now?" Jin Wanliang wailed, "Brother, it's nine o'clock at night, and things are in full swing here..."

"Both the Shadow Sect and the Guardian of the Cauldron are looking for me. I'm not at ease without any weapons," I said calmly.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Alright, alright, you're the boss. You wait at home, I'll be downstairs in twenty minutes."

After hanging up the phone, I wrapped the lancet in red cloth and put it in my pocket.

After checking my bone needles and spare knives again to make sure everything was in order, I put on my coat and went downstairs.

Twenty minutes, not a second off.

A black, older model Santana was parked at the entrance of the residential area.

The car window rolled down, revealing Jin Wanliang's round, large face.

However, this time he didn't wear that flamboyant Tang suit. Instead, he changed into a drab gray down jacket and put a baseball cap on his head, looking like a driver of an unlicensed taxi.

"Get in the car."

He beckoned.