"Returning to Fengdu, the walk to the afterlife, entering bliss."
Li Zhiyuan tilted his head back, finishing the underworld journey, then said to Yin ng beside him, "Bow."
Yin ng imdiately kowtowed to the river.
The ceremony ended.
Wind rose on the riverbank, and even ordinary people could sense the eerie chill of it.
The next mont, the coffin that seed reluctant to leave the world of the living finally drifted away from the shore, heading into the depths of the river.
Tan Wenbin watched carefully, and it seed he discovered sothing. He covered his mouth with one hand to stifle a scream while hitting Run Sheng’s arm with the other hand.
Run Sheng understood Wen Bin’s intention. He also saw it, the four shadows erging under the water beneath the coffin.
The shadows grew more substantial, and as the coffin gradually lifted off the water, they transford into four ghostly entities, solid as they were sinister, lifting the coffin and moving further down the river.
Run Sheng sniffed, sensing the thick stench of Water Corpse.
Those carrying the coffin seed to be Corpses.
Li Zhiyuan also observed the scene. What he discerned was more than what Run Sheng could see—for instance, the four coffin-bearers were likely drowned bodies from so unknown year in this river, buried under the riverbed’s mud rather than washed away by the current.
Now they had all "resurrected," as if temporarily drafted for labor, playing the role of coffin-bearers.
This further confird Li Zhiyuan’s earlier hypothesis—the Fengdu Ghost City indeed had its unique peculiarities.
At the sa ti, it indirectly validated another speculation, that Yin Changsheng swallowing the Corpse Swallowing Pill to "beco immortal," that this "immortality" should be the opposite of its literal aning.
And as Yin Changsheng had ntioned, the dozens of secluded hermits he only encountered after becoming immortal were likely not ethereal beings but terrifying Corpses.
*One could only wonder whether they had interacted privately... and whether he himself might have the chance to et them in the future.*
"Coo, coo, coo!~~~"
Though it was still early before dawn, a loud rooster crowing ca from sowhere nearby.
The sun had not been called out, but strange red clouds appeared overhead, casting an eerie and oppressive light on the riverbank and the river.
This phenonon vanished in an instant, so quickly one might dismiss it as a fleeting illusion.
Then, the coffin that was drifting yet still within view suddenly vanished.
Tan Wenbin, leaning on Run Sheng’s shoulder, jumped up several tis:
"Huh, how did it disappear suddenly? Did it sink?"
Run Sheng said, "It was taken."
Li Zhiyuan held onto the offering table, his forehead covered in sweat, taking deep breaths constantly.
Yin ng got up from the ground and asked concernedly, "Xiao Yuan... Brother, are you okay?"
She felt quite guilty, assuming the boy was exhausted from helping with the funeral.
But in reality, after mastering the Yin Family’s Twelve Techniques and compensating for the most basic shortcomings, Li Zhiyuan no longer had frequent nosebleeds like in the past.
His condition now was extre trepidation.
*Because just now, even though it was brief, he thought of instantly entering the underworld to "see" up ahead.*
*The mont the thought arose, he sensed a massive feeling of crisis.*
*It was as if doing so would expose him to true terror.*
*After all these years, even with the death of Yin Family mbers, the "four ghosts carrying the coffin" to escort still occurred, proving that its operation logic hadn’t collapsed.*
*Does this also an that Yin Changsheng, Emperor Fengdu... is he still there?*
Closing his eyes, he swallowed with difficulty. Upon opening them again, Li Zhiyuan’s breathing steadied.
He turned to face the direction of Fengdu Ghost Street, and the horror in his eyes was replaced by a faint excitent:
*How wonderful, you’re still here.*
*This world is getting more and more interesting.*
The boy felt reassured because he believed that even growing up, he wouldn’t find life tedious.
After packing up, the four returned to the coffin shop on Ghost Street.
Following the clearance sale, the shop was quite empty, forcing them to make do with ground bedding for the night. In the absence of coffins, they surprisingly missed it.
The next morning, the four of them boarded a boat at the Ghost Street pier with their luggage.
They didn’t need to head to Wanzhou anymore; their next destination was to go straight to Mountain City.
Yin ng stood at the bow, watching the river split under the boat.
Standing at the stern with so reluctance was Li Zhiyuan.
*Like a gourt dish, taking a small bite left endless aftertaste while still holding vast anticipation.*
*Despite knowing it was courting death, he believed when he grew up and the timing was right, he would return to this Ghost City to try unearthing its core secrets.*
The dock faded away, the streets faded away, the mountains were fading away, but the future was steadily approaching.
After returning to Mountain City, Li Zhiyuan called Xue Liangliang.
Xue Liangliang told the boy that the restoration work on the bamboo slip would take quite a while longer. When he finished his current project and returned to Jinling, he would bring the restored bamboo slip back and deliver it to the boy in Nantong personally.
Not lingering much in the Mountain City, the four headed to the train station to buy return tickets.
However, without Xue Liangliang’s connections this ti, they only managed to get hard sleeper tickets, with six people in a compartnt, and none being lower berths.
Though Li Zhiyuan was still young, he felt cramped lying on the hard sleeper.
The other three had it worse, as the berth allowed only lying down, not sitting, creating an awkward and trying situation.
Thus, except for sleeping at night, the three of them preferred to spend ti in the corridor outside.
Tan Wenbin repeatedly cautioned Yin ng not to accept food or drinks on the train and to avoid too much contact with strangers.
*The last encounter with the red-dressed little girl had left a deep shadow, not wanting to be duped by a fox again.*
It was already late at night when they reached Nantong station. Few taxis and black cabs outside the station refused to take them, hearing they were heading to the countryside.
With no other option, Tan Wenbin headed to a phone booth to call Tan Yunlong.
The four waited by the roadside for so ti until a pickup truck with a strong seafood odor pulled up in front of them.
Tan Yunlong tossed his cigarette butt out the window and urged, "Get in the car quickly. I need to return it on ti; soone needs it in the morning to pick up goods."
The pickup reached Si Yuan Village by daybreak.
Once the car stopped, Tan Yunlong looked at his son and asked, "Co ho with ; your mother misses you."
"No worries, I’ll go back tomorrow, let my mom enjoy the anticipation of our reunion for one more day."
Before his father could start scolding, Tan Wenbin had already gotten out of the car first.
While the others were still gathering their luggage, he was waving his arms excitedly, running toward ho and shouting along the way:
"Mr. Li, Mr. Li!"
"Whose voice is this, so early in the morning?" ca Li Sanjiang’s knowingly teasing response from the yard.
"It’s Zhuangzhuang, Zhuangzhuang is back!"
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