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

"Flick my chest again!"

Snapped!

A red line ran across his chest, sealing off the remaining malevolent energy in his heart meridian.

"Flick their limbs!"

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

Four red lines were drawn on Grandpa's wrist and ankle respectively.

With each bounce, the corpse trembled.

The moment after he finished playing, the stiffness in Grandpa's body subsided considerably.

Uncle was dumbfounded: "Yang...Yangzi, that's it?"

"The malevolent energy has dissipated, but the skeleton is still strong."

I put away the ink line, walked behind Grandpa, and put my hands on his shoulders.

Rigor mortis had fully formed, and coupled with the previous erosion by the evil energy, Grandpa's joints were now as stiff as if they had been welded shut, unable to bend at all.

To get him to lie in the coffin, brute force alone won't work; you have to use skill.

"Grandpa, it might hurt a little, please bear with it."

Before I finished speaking, my eyes instantly turned sharp. I exerted force with both hands, my thumbs gripping the gap between my shoulder blades, and the other four fingers locking onto my collarbone, then I pushed down and thrust.

Click!

With a sharp, teeth-grinding crack, Grandpa's stiff shoulders slumped instantly.

Next up is the elbow.

Click!

wrist.

Click!

I move extremely fast, and each strike is accompanied by a crisp cracking sound of bones dislocating.

In less than a minute, Grandpa's stiff sitting posture had been "dismantled" by me and made limp.

Finally, I stepped forward, placed my hands on the back of Grandpa's knees, lifted him up forcefully, and then pressed him down.

Click!

With the hip joints loosened, the dangling feet finally came down.

"Second Uncle, bring over the prepared funeral clothes and a basin of well water."

My second uncle did as I said, and when he came back, I had already laid my grandfather flat on the coffin lid.

Next came my main job.

Cleanse the body and change into burial clothes.

It was half an hour later when everything was finished.

"Second Uncle, lend a hand, help carry him."

"Why!"

I supported Grandpa's head and back, while my second uncle lifted his feet. Together, we lifted Grandpa into the dark cypress coffin.

The body was placed in the coffin, as heavy as a piece of lead.

I carefully straightened the wrinkles in Grandpa's burial clothes, placed his hands on his abdomen, and put the rattle back into his hands—it was his obsession, and forcibly taking it away would be unseemly.

After doing all this, I stepped back and looked at my grandfather lying quietly in the coffin.

Although his face was still ashen, at least he had closed his eyes and no longer had that ferocious look of someone who would devour others.

"call……"

I let out a long breath, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on my forehead.

This job looks simple, but it is actually extremely mentally and physically demanding.

Because it's a struggle against the dead, and also a struggle against that unseen, sinister force.

"Second Uncle, light the eternal lamp and invite everyone in to pay their respects."

As I took off my gloves, I said, "We'll take turns keeping watch tonight. I'm afraid... something might still happen."

"Hey!" Second Uncle was stunned for a moment, then responded in a deep voice and walked towards the door of the main room.

With a heavy creak, the door to the mourning hall was opened by the second uncle.

A cold wind, mixed with raindrops, rushed in, causing the white candles in front of the altar to sway wildly.

The aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives who had been waiting outside for a long time were originally huddled under the eaves, whispering to each other to avoid the rain. When the door opened, they all craned their necks to look inside.

When they saw that the armchair was empty and that a person was already lying in the coffin, whispers immediately broke out among the crowd.

"He's lying down? He's really lying down?"

"My goodness, wasn't he sitting perfectly upright just now? Even Second Uncle couldn't do anything about it..."

Amidst a murmur of discussion, the crowd filed in.

I stood beside the coffin, ignoring the murmurs, and politely greeted each relative who came to kowtow, offering incense and returning the greetings.

Once the chaotic worship subsided a bit, I pulled my second uncle to a corner of the mourning hall.

"Second Uncle," I lowered my voice, "the situation was so urgent that I didn't have time to ask in detail. You mentioned on the phone earlier that my cousin wanted to help Grandpa change his funeral clothes, but he injured himself as soon as he touched him?"

When I brought this up, my second uncle's face stiffened, and then he said, "That's right!"

Uncle gestured with lingering fear, "The old man had just passed away not long ago. Gangzi was thinking of helping the old man change his funeral clothes, but as soon as his hand touched the old man's shoulder, he heard a 'ripping' sound, like the cloth being torn."

Gangzi yelled "Aow!" and jumped away, his hands trembling. We went over to take a look, and good heavens, there was such a long gash on the web of his right hand!

My second uncle held up his index finger and gestured to a section that was about three inches long. "The key thing is... the edges of the wound are black, like it was burned."

After saying that, my second uncle grabbed my shoulders with both hands and said anxiously, "Yangzi, you're very capable, go and check on your brother. Don't let him develop any chronic illness!"

I squinted, my gaze passing through the crowd and landing on my cousin Chen Gang's right hand, which was wrapped in thick bandages.

He was kneeling on the prayer mat, his face pale and his expression listless, as if he had not yet recovered from the shock.

"The wound turned black, was it caused by the instant of contact...?"

I murmured softly, feeling reassured.

This is a blade formed from malevolent energy.

If a person dies and their body accumulates strong resentment or external evil energy, this energy cannot dissipate and will form an invisible aura on the surface of the corpse.

Living people have strong yang energy. Once touched, the yin and yang clash, and the evil energy retaliates against the approaching yang energy.

The Gu poison in Grandpa's body, combined with the pent-up resentment, made his corpse extremely dangerous.

Whenever a living person comes into contact with Grandpa's corpse, the yang energy is stimulated, which causes the evil energy on the surface of the corpse to rebound. This is how my cousin was injured.

Knowing what was going on, I comforted him, "It's alright, Uncle. Later, you can have your cousin soak his hands in glutinous rice water to remove the evil spirit from the wound, then disinfect and bandage it, and it will be fine in no time."

"Okay, okay, I've got it." My second uncle nodded quickly, released my shoulder, and turned to walk towards my cousin.

After the two talked for a while, the second uncle hurriedly left the mourning hall with his cousin, obviously to treat the wounds.

I stopped paying attention and focused on the fire pit that was burning in front of me, burning paper money into it one by one.

Grandpa's death was too suspicious; tonight... is destined to be anything but peaceful.

The firelight reflected on my face, flickering on and off.

Time slipped by quietly, and soon the night was deep.

The clock on the wall pointed to 11:45, the hour of midnight, which is also the time of day when the yin energy is heaviest.

My second uncle returned not long after he left, and he's now taking over my job, kneeling beside the copper basin in front of the coffin, burning paper money one sheet at a time.

Most of the relatives who were keeping watch were already exhausted, and many of the collateral relatives had already gone home.

My eldest cousin, Chen Gang, was curled up on a recliner in the corner, groaning as he fell asleep, clutching his injured hand; several aunts huddled together, dozing off, occasionally startled awake by thunder, before drifting back to sleep.

Only my second uncle was still forcing himself to keep his eyes open, adding paper money to the brazier half-heartedly, his face full of exhaustion.

I sat on a small stool at the entrance of the mourning hall, toying with a scalpel in my hand, my eyes clear and without the slightest hint of sleepiness.

Boom, boom, boom.

A sudden knocking sound rang out.