Uncle Nine: Scattering beans to create soldiers? I'm using plants and trees to create soldiers.

After walking through the streets of Renjia Town, Uncle Jiu arrived at the entrance of the mortuary.

Looking at the slightly mottled plaque above his head, his previously tense shoulders and neck relaxed a little.

Amidst the ebb and flow of emotions, a sudden surge of excitement, like that of an elderly father returning home, welled up within me.

But there was also a hint of unease mixed in.

"It's been over half a month since I left, I wonder what those three boys have become of the house..."

Uncle Nine stood at the door, peering inside, his brows furrowing slightly involuntarily.

Something's not right—

Isn't this mortuary a bit too quiet?

In the past, as long as those two clowns, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai, were around, the mortuary would be in complete chaos and there would never be a moment of peace!

During the day, they would either knock over the ancestral master's incense burner or mess up the drawn yellow talismans!

At night, the two idiots' snoring echoed each other, almost shaking the roof beams down!

But what about now?!

Apart from the rustling of leaves in the breeze, there wasn't a single noisy sound inside!

It was so quiet it was almost unsettling!

"Could it be that Ah Xuan took them out to perform a religious ceremony?"

Thinking of this, Uncle Jiu's originally gentle gaze suddenly turned cold and stern.

He was naturally completely at ease with his eldest disciple Lin Xuan's strength and character.

His eldest disciple was calm and experienced by nature, and acted with great discretion. Sometimes he was even more considerate of the overall situation than his master!

As long as they don't encounter ferocious creatures that are far beyond their capabilities, they can usually handle the situation perfectly!

The problem lies with Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai!

With these two good-for-nothings who are more likely to ruin things by your side, even the most secure job might end up causing a huge mess.

Uncle Jiu's heart tightened immediately. He stepped into the courtyard and walked quickly inside.

However, he had only walked a short distance from the morgue when he heard a familiar voice.

"Wencai, stop! Let's move this body to that coffin."

The speaker was Qiu Sheng.

Uncle Nine paused slightly.

Immediately afterwards, Wen Cai's voice, tinged with complaint, also rang out.

"There are too many corpses. Including Boss Wang and his group, there are nearly twenty more corpses in the mortuary. We're almost out of coffins."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Nine's expression changed drastically.

What?! More than twenty corpses?!

What exactly happened in Renjia Town?

How could there suddenly be so many dead people?

Could it be—

Is there a great evil spirit lurking here?

If it could kill so many people at once, that thing must be incredibly powerful!

and,

Since the bodies have been sent to the mortuary, most of the people in the town have probably already asked Ah Xuan to handle them.

If Ah Xuan were to face this ferocious creature alone...

Thinking of this, Uncle Nine's expression became even more solemn, and he quickened his pace, striding towards the morgue.

boom--

A muffled thud came from inside the morgue as something heavy fell into a coffin.

Immediately afterwards, the coffin lid was closed.

Qiu Sheng's voice rang out again.

"Wencai! Let's hurry up and finish dealing with these corpses. We still need to finish the other work at the mortuary."

"Once you're done, hurry up and start chanting sutras with your senior brother. That's the most important thing."

Wen Cai immediately replied,

"That's right. That matter this morning took up a lot of time. We need to finish the work quickly, otherwise we won't have enough time for chanting!"

At this moment, Uncle Nine had already reached the entrance of the morgue.

But after hearing those two sentences, his foot, which had been about to step out, abruptly stopped in mid-air.

A look of bewilderment appeared on his face.

What?

Hurry up and get to work!

Then, chanting scriptures with the senior disciple? That's the most important part!

Uncle Nine's eyelids twitched slightly, and he even couldn't help but raise his hand to pick at his ear.

Did he mishear?

Are these still his two apprentices?

These two people usually prefer to sit rather than stand, and lie down rather than sit.

When working, he either has a stomachache or a backache, and when chanting scriptures or practicing meditation, he tries to avoid it if possible, and if he can't avoid it, he pretends to be dead.

How come the whole atmosphere has changed so much in just half a month since I left?

One person is urging the other to get the work done quickly?

They even consciously prioritized chanting scriptures as their top priority?

The sun rose in the west?!

Before that thought could even settle, another, even worse idea suddenly popped into Uncle Nine's mind.

etc--

Could it be... that his two disciples are possessed by some kind of evil spirit?

Uncle Nine's face darkened.

How dare you!

Not only did they harm more than twenty people in Renjia Town, but in the end, they even harmed the disciples of Master Yimei!

Damn it!!

If he doesn't skin that thing alive and throw it into the deepest hell today, he's not Lin!

Uncle Nine's face was so cold and stern it could drip water. He raised his hand to grasp the money sword at his waist and stepped into the morgue.

Inside the morgue, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai had just closed the coffin lid and were brushing the dust off their hands as they walked toward the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, Qiu Sheng suddenly noticed a figure standing in front of the door.

Before he could even see who it was, he instinctively waved his hand and said, "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you knock before entering the mortuary—"

He had only spoken halfway when Qiu Sheng froze on the spot as if he had been struck by a pressure point.

"Master...Master?"

His eyes widened suddenly, then his face lit up with surprise and joy. "Master! You're back!"

Before the surprise could fully surface, Qiu Sheng saw Uncle Jiu's face, which was so ashen it looked like frost could be scraped off.

His body shuddered violently involuntarily.

The fear of being dominated by a feather duster surged up from the depths of my bones in an instant.

"Master, we haven't caused any trouble these past two days!" Qiu Sheng explained quickly. "Just now, Wen Cai and I were discussing how to finish our work quickly so we could start cultivating with our senior brother! Really! I swear to God!!!"

Upon hearing this, Wencai immediately realized what was going on.

When Uncle Nine came back before, he saw that they weren't doing their jobs properly and would always put on a show of "bamboo shoots stir-fried with meat" at the mortuary.

It's almost become a routine!

When his master entered with a dark expression, Wen Cai was so frightened that his liver trembled, and even his buttocks tightened involuntarily.

"Yes, yes, Qiu Sheng is right—no, Second Senior Brother is right!"

"Master, we have truly been practicing diligently these past two days!"

"Second Senior Brother has even advanced a minor realm!"

The two men's words reached Uncle Nine's ears.

Uncle Nine's brow twitched slightly.

The next moment, the Dao Qi within his body surged and flowed, and Uncle Nine's perception spread outward like a tide, instantly scanning Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai from head to toe in detail.

Qi and blood are normal.

The soul is stable.

There was no trace of evil energy on his body.

Uncle Nine breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that his two disciples were not possessed by demons.

Although these two disciples were not very promising on a daily basis—or rather, quite disappointing—they were still his disciples after all.

No matter how much trouble my own child causes, it's not up to any Tom, Dick, or Harry to bully him!

But then, a feeling of shame and absurdity welled up inside me.

When he, as the master, returned from his trip and found his apprentice had become more sensible, his first reaction was to suspect that the apprentice was possessed by a ghost...

If people knew this, they'd probably laugh their heads off!

However, it seems that the reason they were able to change is thanks to Ah Xuan!

Ah Xuan is indeed a more effective senior brother than I am as his master!

Uncle Nine coughed lightly and subtly withdrew his right hand from beside the money sword.

With his hands behind his back, he deliberately adopted the air of a strict and wise teacher, stroked his beard with deep approval, and nodded slowly.

"Hmm...not bad."

"Your cultivation has indeed improved somewhat." Uncle Nine's voice was calm and authoritative as he praised with a stern face, "It seems that you two did not neglect your cultivation during my absence."

"But remember to avoid arrogance and impatience, and maintain this level in the future! Cultivation is like rowing against the current; if you only work sporadically, you'll eventually fall back to your previous level!"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai felt as if they had been granted a pardon.

The two quickly lowered their heads, looked at each other, and their eyes were filled with relief at surviving the ordeal.

"Master's teachings are correct; I will remember them forever and never forget them!"

Qiu Sheng clasped his hands in a very serious manner, his posture as upright as could be.

Wencai nodded frantically, like he was pounding garlic: "I'll remember, I'll remember, I won't fish anymore..."

They said it like that, but both of them knew exactly what was going on.

In the past two weeks, they were only unusually diligent this morning because they were stimulated.

At other times, she still eats and sleeps as usual.

Uncle Nine's later statement, "working hard for three days and drying nets for two," is a true reflection of their daily lives.

However, what the two said was true.

Ever since they witnessed firsthand the unpredictable abilities of their senior brother Lin Xuan, and truly benefited from the "enlightenment" of listening to the sutras, their motivation has skyrocketed!

From this day forward, they are completely devoted to their senior brother and are ready to cling to him and cultivate diligently!

Uncle Nine looked around the morgue.

Several newly placed coffins were neatly arranged in the corner, with temporary corpse-suppressing talismans pasted on their bodies, clearly newly painted on.

The air was filled with a faint smell of corpses and a strong odor of raw glutinous rice.

Uncle Nine frowned slightly, turned his gaze away, and asked, "I overheard you saying at the door that more than twenty people have died in Renjia Town recently?"

Qiu Sheng quickly explained, "Master, the number of dead people is not more than twenty, but there are more than twenty corpses."

"The ones who died in Renjia Town were Boss Wang and his group, a total of eight or nine people. The rest were walking corpses that somehow emerged from some ancient tomb."

Uncle Nine's expression remained grave: "Explain clearly, what exactly happened?"

Qiu Sheng dared not hide anything and quickly recounted what had happened in the past two days.

A water corpse suddenly rose from the morgue at night. In the moment of crisis, Lin Xuan descended like a god and subdued the water corpse with a handful of glutinous rice. Later, he went to Beiqing River to investigate.

The story goes on until later when a water ghost appeared in the river, and Boss Wang's entire crew tragically died while transporting funerary objects at night.

And today, Lin Xuan set up an altar at the dock, summoned the Water Palace troops, and manipulated the straw man into the water to display his divine power, fighting against the white bone water ghosts, the giant corpse king, and even the strange corpse soul vines.

When talking about Lin Xuan's amazing straw man skills, Qiu Sheng got so excited that he danced around and his eyes shone like two little light bulbs.

"Master, you weren't there to see it!"

"That straw man of my senior brother's is absolutely amazing!"

"Although it looks like a human-shaped rice dumpling... uh, I mean, it's very ordinary... but! With a single hand seal and the burning of the yellow talisman, the straw figure instantly transformed into a ten-foot-tall water armored soldier the moment it entered the water!"

"And those water-armored soldiers! They can capture zombies with their bare hands, and even suppress the burly men controlled by Little Jin! They're amazing!!"

Qiu Sheng kept gesturing with his hands.

"Little Gold? What's that?"

Uncle Nine frowned and asked, puzzled.

"It was a toad that the eldest brother tamed. It was pitch black, but the eldest brother named it Little Gold, meaning he wanted it to grow into a golden toad."

Wen Cai then added.

Upon hearing their words, Uncle Nine involuntarily clenched his fists behind his back.

In his calm eyes, a sharp light surged and flickered like waves.

He really didn't expect it.

His eldest disciple had grown so much in the short half-month he was away!

Glutinous rice can be used to suppress corpses, command the troops of the Water Palace, subdue spirits and monsters, and even create such exquisite straw figures!

And that glutinous rice with grass leaves... it can actually strengthen the Water Palace's troops?

Even he had never seen such a production method and effect.

"These... must be related to Ah Xuan's peculiar constitution..."

Uncle Nine's mind was racing.

He subconsciously touched the Qiankun bag he carried with him, his eyes flickering slightly.

Then, Uncle Nine asked, "Where is your eldest brother?"

Qiu Sheng immediately pointed to the backyard, "He should be tending to his crops in the backyard."

"Hmm~~" Uncle Nine withdrew his gaze and nodded: "You guys clean up here first, I'll go check on Ah Xuan."

"Yes, Master!"

Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai quickly nodded.

Uncle Nine didn't say anything more and turned to walk towards the backyard.

Once his figure had completely disappeared through the doorway, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai both let out a long sigh of relief, as if they had just escaped from the brink of death.

Qiu Sheng patted his chest, still shaken, and said, "Thank goodness, thank goodness."

"Luckily, after that incident this morning, neither of us thought about going back to slack off."

"Otherwise, if Master comes back and sees us still lying there, we'll definitely get a beating."

As he spoke, he turned around to face the backyard, put his hands together, and bowed respectfully.

"Thank you, Senior Brother, for saving my life."

Seeing this, Wencai quickly followed Qiusheng's example, put his hands together, and bowed deeply towards the backyard.

He was muttering to himself:

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

"I hope my senior brother becomes more and more handsome, stronger and stronger, and the fruits he grows become bigger and bigger."

"Once my senior brother becomes a Celestial Master, I can just be a Geomancer, no big deal..."