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

Once inside, I discovered that this little shop was a hidden gem.

The shelves were filled with a dazzling array of items, including rusty bronzes, eerie-looking wood carvings, and even some strange bones soaking in medicinal wine.

Wang Daya led us to the back room and brewed a pot of strong tea.

"Master Jin told me on the phone that you two are looking for Star Fiend Meteorite Iron and Dragon Vein Breath Soil?"

Wang Daya took a puff of his pipe and exhaled a smoke ring.

"That's right." I got straight to the point.

"Boss Wang, name your price."

Wang Daya chuckled and shook a finger: "Sir, you look like a distinguished person from the south."

In Northeast China, money alone isn't enough to get these two things.

Especially the Dragon Vein Soil, which is the foundation of Changbai Mountain. Anyone who dares to trade it privately will be hunted down to the ends of the earth by the five major families.

Li Qing panicked: "So you're out of stock? Didn't Lao Jin say you had the most unconventional connections?"

"Don't rush, Mr. Li."

Wang Daya calmly took another drag of his cigarette.

"I don't actually have any in stock, but I know who does."

Moreover, in three days, the Fengtian Ghost Market will open its grand market, which is a warm-up for the All-Spirits Assembly.

There will be a private auction.

As far as I know, the grand finale item is a fist-sized piece of Star Fiend Meteorite Iron.

"An auction?" I frowned.

What qualifications are required?

I am qualified.

Wang Daya patted his chest.

"But I can't take you there for nothing. Besides, I need to see how you perform at the auction before I decide whether to give you the information about the Dragon Vein Soil."

Looking at this shrewd old man, I knew very well that he was waiting for the right price to go up.

Name your terms.

My tone remained gentle, but my eyes had become sharp.

Wang Daya shrank back when I stared at him, and chuckled dryly twice: "Actually, it's nothing. I recently took on a hot potato."

An old customer brought me a demonic corpse, saying he wanted me to help him deal with it.

But with my skills, I can't control that thing.

"If you two can help me dispose of that corpse, I'll take you to the auction, and I won't charge you a single penny for the information about the Dragon Vein Soil; consider it making friends."

I turned to look at Li Qing, and Li Qing nodded at me.

Stitching and repairing corpses is my old profession.

"Deal." I stood up.

"Where is the body?"

Wang Daya was taken aback for a moment when he saw how readily I agreed, but then he was overjoyed:

"Good! That's efficient! The body is pressed down in the ice cellar in my backyard. Gentlemen, please follow me!"

We followed Wang Daya through the narrow back door of the antique shop and arrived at a somewhat desolate courtyard.

The yard was piled with all sorts of miscellaneous items covered with plastic sheets. In addition to the dry, cold air typical of the north, there was also a very faint fishy smell.

The smell was very faint, undetectable to the average person, but to someone like me who deals with corpses year-round, it was as clear as a light in the dark.

Wang Daya stopped in front of a small brick house in the corner of the courtyard.

I looked up and saw that the little house didn't even have a window, and there were three brass locks, each the size of a baby's fist, hanging on the door.

"Master Chen, Master Li, let me be clear from the start, this thing is extremely evil."

Wang Daya shakily pulled out his keys while constantly looking back.

"The deliveryman said that the body was dug out from a ditch in Changbai Mountain."

Two skilled workers have already died on the way back.

This ice cellar is usually used for storing goods, but now it's used entirely to keep them cool.

"Open the door."

I spoke calmly, my hands hanging naturally at my sides.

With a slight twitch of the fingertips, the mercury-like malevolent energy within the body began to flow slowly along the meridians.

With a few crisp "clicks," the copper locks were removed one by one.

Wang Daya suddenly pushed open the heavy wooden door, and a thick, almost tangible white frost gushed out from the crack in the door.

Li Qing couldn't help but sneeze, clutching the compass tightly in his hand.

The compass needle was now erratically jumping between the "Li" and "Kan" positions, emitting a faint vibration.

"Old Chen, be careful, the magnetic field down here is completely messed up."

Li Qing lowered her voice to remind me.

I nodded and stepped inside first.

This is a downward staircase, with a thick layer of ice on the steps that makes a crunching sound when you step on them.

The further down you go, the stronger the fishy, ​​foul smell becomes.

After descending about five or six meters, the view suddenly opened up before us.

What comes into view is an underground ice cellar of about fifty square meters, with the walls all made of huge ice bricks, and a huge basalt coffin placed in the middle.

The stone coffin had no lid and was covered with yellow talismans, but those talismans were now black and brittle, as if they had been scorched by fire.

Inside the stone coffin lay a corpse.

It was a male corpse about two meters tall, with skin that was an eerie bluish-purple color and covered with dense white spots.

What's most chilling is that his chest was rising and falling slightly, as if he were still breathing.

"This is the evil corpse you were talking about?"

I walked to the stone coffin and looked down to examine it.

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the white spots were not lividity at all, but rather tiny white worms.

As if they were conscious, they kept going in and out of the corpse's pores.

"Oh my god, please don't touch it!"

Wang Daya hid at the corner of the stairs, only daring to peek out with his head.

"This thing is invulnerable to swords and spears. A couple of days ago, I was thinking of changing its talisman, but this thing suddenly opened its eyes and almost killed me."

I ignored Wang Daya's shouts and instead held my breath, activating all five senses.

The cool aura between my brows instantly spread out, and in my vision, the corpse was no longer flesh-colored, but a thick, dark yin energy wrapped around countless tiny blood-red light spots.

Those bright spots are the white insects.

"It's not a zombie transformation, it's parasitism."

I turned to Li Qing and said, "These insects are sucking the life force left in the corpse and using it as a medium to manipulate the corpse's nerves."

"Gu techniques?" Li Qing leaned closer, examining the object from a distance.

"It doesn't seem like it. I didn't sense any of the sinister aura of the Miao region. It's more like some kind of wild evil creature."

"It's the Ice Silkworm Gu from Changbai Mountain."

Wang Daya added quietly from behind.

"I've heard from the older generation that this kind of thing grows specifically in ancient tombs with extremely heavy yin energy, and can keep a corpse from decaying for thousands of years, but it is also the most troublesome to deal with."

Upon hearing this, I nodded and suddenly raised my right hand.

"Royal!"

The black bone needle slipped silently from the sleeve, drawing an almost invisible black line in the air before instantly disappearing into the brow of the evil corpse.

"Pfft!"

With a muffled thud, the corpse's body suddenly shuddered violently.

The white worms under the skin seemed to be startled and swarmed frantically toward the spot where the bone needle had pierced.

Just then, the evil corpse's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.