Chapter 108: Thousand Corpses on the De River
Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng walked along the river toward Bridge Bay Town. Before they reached the town, they spotted several boats drifting not far from the shore. People on the boats extended bamboo poles from afar, with hooks tied to the ends, slapping at the water's surface.
On the shore, others carried white banners and scattered paper money, calling for the departed souls to return.
There weren't many people—about a dozen, men and women, old and young, all with gaunt, malnourished faces.
This was the bay below Bridge Bay Town, where the river widened. On normal days, fishing boats dotted the water, sails billowing amid flocks of white gulls.
The De River's currents were swift upstream, but here they slowed, the mountains and clear waters creating an otherworldly paradise.
When Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng drew near, they saw a little old woman performing a ritual by the riverbank. She shook a King Wen drum in her hands, dancing wildly as she jumped the great shaman dance, invoking spells to summon souls and search for corpses. Waves of阴气 rose from the river.
That little old woman was none other than Granny Sha from Gangzi Village. Someone must have paid her to find a relative's body.
Granny Sha's Taoist arts were profound and unfathomable. Corpse-finding was a trivial matter for her. Once the ritual ended, she pointed at the water, and the river churned. A bloated, pallid corpse rose from the depths.
It surfaced in a bizarre manner—the head emerged first, hair like black waterweed shrouding it entirely, followed by most of the upper body, as if standing on the water.
After a moment, the corpse toppled over, floating face-up with a loud splash. The hair spread out, revealing a face that vaguely belonged to a woman.
The body had been swept down by the flood, stripped of all clothing, yet intact without bites from fish or shrimp.
The dozen or so people on the shore burst into wails.
The boats carried a salvage crew, experienced in fishing bodies from the river. Seeing this, several speedy boats rushed forward, eager to claim the job.
From afar, they raised their bamboo poles, ready to hook the corpse and drag it to their side.
River custom dictated that the body be pulled to the boat but not immediately ashore. The bereaved would then pay—the amount up to their generosity.
If they paid too little, some unscrupulous salvagers would slash the corpse open. Thus, payments were rarely stingy.
Suddenly, the river roiled again, and another naked body rose from the bottom, swept down by the flood.
It surfaced standing on the water before splashing down.
Then a third corpse burst from the depths, standing briefly on the surface before falling.
Then a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...
The stretch of river boiled like a pot, bubbling furiously as corpse after corpse rose from below, standing on the surface like water ghosts—utterly eerie.
In mere moments, over a thousand corpses stood on the river, long hair draped over shoulders, bodies naked and bloated white.
Their heads were wrapped in hair, impossible to tell front from back.
"Plop!"
"Plop!"
"Plop!"
Heavy thuds echoed as the thousand-plus bodies toppled one by one, floating belly-up in a vast white expanse.
Even with Chen Shi's Golden Core and Fu Leisheng's Nascent Soul, chills crawled up their spines, gooseflesh rising. The scene was indescribably诡异.
Had these corpses been standing underwater?
Chen Shi felt his blood run cold.
The salvagers on the small boats upstream stared dumbfounded. A thousand pale bodies surrounded their boats like dead fish—what kind of sight was this?
On the shore, the dozen villagers froze too, unsure which was their kin.
Granny Sha reacted at once, summoning her Four Great Ghost Kings to haul the bodies from the river.
Chen Shi stepped forward.
"Granny, where did all these dead come from?"
"From the flood upstream."
Granny Sha jerked her chin upstream.
"A jiaolong stirred up there—a flood dragon trying to molt, so it unleashed the waters and drowned people. This isn't the first time; it's happened many times, which is why so many bodies piled up.
There's likely a dragon's lair below. The beast lives there.
It drowned these folks, swept them here, and uses their souls to refine its inner core. Little Ten, I need to deal with these bodies fast before the moon rises and they turn into zombies!
She was quite tense. Over a thousand corpses turning—that would be a spectacular plague of corpse qi.
These were wrongful deaths, some entire families wiped out. Heavy怨气 meant zombie spirits would be ferocious."
"This flood dragon's already been slain—no more stirring."
Fu Leisheng gazed at the floating corpses and shook his head.
"We are just livestock raised by the nobles."
"Mr. Fu, we're not livestock."
Chen Shi looked at him earnestly.
"We're human.
Our ancestors fought heaven, earth, and evil spirits—not to live like beasts.
I think they wanted us to live like humans."
Fu Leisheng was deeply moved, but he shook his head and tossed out the question he'd once asked.
"Chen Shi, that's the way of the world! Can you change it?"
Chen Shi halted without realizing.
Fu Leisheng walked ahead. Seeing him stop, he knew inner conflict raged—no need to劝.
Back then, he'd been like Chen Shi, believing he held a scale in his heart to judge right and wrong, straight and crooked in the human world.
Until the world taught him a brutal lesson, leaving him battered and broken. Only then did he see clear.
Once he did, he became slicker, smoother, principles tucked beneath. He thrived, living freely.
Now, Chen Shi faced the world earlier than he had, glimpsing its truth—perhaps a good thing.
"He'll figure it out."
Fu Leisheng headed toward Bridge Bay Town.
Chen Shi stood by the river for a long time, the water's murmur in his ears—now surging, now subdued.
"I can't figure it out!"
Chen Shi suddenly strode forward.
"Blackie Pot, I just can't! I can't change this world, but I'll change what I can! Doing nothing changes nothing! Right? I'll just do what I can!"
Blackie Pot nodded vigorously, puzzled.
"Woof?"
Chen Shi followed the De River upstream.
"I'm going upriver to check."
Blackie Pot hurried after him. Man and dog traced the river.
Past Bridge Bay Town lay Baisheng County under Xianzhou Province, but upstream along the De River stayed in Xinxiang Province—though beyond Xinxiang County, into Lei County territory.
Villages along Lei County's riverbank lay mostly flooded, homes washed away. Some were nine-tenths empty—victims of the jiaolong.
Chen Shi trudged through muddy hamlets. Some spots still held water, tiny fish in puddles floating on the muck, mouths gaping for air.
The villagers were much the same.
They stared blankly at the passerby.
Chen Shi passed through the village, pausing briefly before the Godmother shrine.
The village's Godmother looked as starved as the rest. Her temple had scant incense—villagers barely fed themselves, let alone her.
Chen Shi lit a few sticks for her and moved on.
Nearby lay Lei County's town, freshly breached by the flood past the Godmother's defenses. It had swept many away. Wreaths and paper money mingled with street mud—unpleasant underfoot.
Trumpets and suona wailed in town—dirges,凄凉, evoking lost kin.
Chen Shi crossed the town. A mile beyond lay the mass grave. Some flood victims not swept into the river were dumped here, shallowly buried, unceremoniously.
"These bodies, if dug up by beasts and moonlit, might sprout corpse essence."
As Chen Shi thought this, ghostfire flickered in the graveyard. His heart jolted.
"Corpse spirits are stirring!"
He signaled Blackie Pot to slow, creeping closer stealthily. Peering from afar, he saw a young Daoist in red sitting amid the graves. Head-sized ghostfires swirled around him, some diving into the Divine Shrine at his nape, others emerging from grave mounds.
Inside his shrine sat a Divine Embryo in meditation, eyes closed. Before it floated a round, finger-sized Golden Core—emerald, seventh turn.
"A cultivator! From his robes, a juren."
Chen Shi mused.
Though xiucai and juren were both scholars, status differed—robes too. Easy to tell.
The juren wore wine-red changshan, square scarf on head, jade at waist, golden crown with gold hairpin.
As Chen Shi turned to leave, a crack sounded from the juren's neck—his head slowly lifted off.
Chen Shi's eyes widened.
Blackie Pot crept up, saw it, eyes bulging, nearly barking.
Chen Shi clamped its muzzle, signaling silence.
The red-clad juren's head rose, trachea and vessels dangling, floating unsteadily.
Then, a new head grew from the stump.
Chen Shi nearly yelped. Blackie Pot pawed to cover his mouth. Chen Shi swatted the paw away, staring as the new head cracked and rose too!
This repeated—twelve heads now floated, scanning all directions.
The body below sat cross-legged, cultivating on.
"What evil art is this?"
Chen Shi shuddered inwardly.
Whoosh—
A ghostfire streaked past him, pale green with human features—blurry, mouth agape in silent scream.
"He's refining his Golden Core with graveyard souls!"
As Chen Shi realized, one head spotted him and shrieked shrilly.
One head descended to the neck. The red juren activated his core—ghastly green blade-lights crisscrossed toward Chen Shi.
Chen Shi unleashed the Meridian Evil-Cleaving Sword. Sword qi shattered most blades, but three broke through to him and the dog.
Chen Shi's palm struck, blocked, smashed—the green blades to shards.
His hand burned where touched; skin began rotting.
Shocked, Chen Shi surged his vital blood, expelling the invading evil qi. The rot halted.
The eleven airborne heads swooped. One spewed a green flame-tongue. Chen Shi dodged with a flip.
The fire was extraordinary—even grave mounds melted where hit, oozing green pus. Unknown stuff.
"So sinister? Has this juren turned himself into an evil spirit?"
Other heads attacked from all sides, darting nimbly amid graves or diving from above. Chen Shi dodged with Blackie Pot. Trees sprayed by green flames snapped and toppled.
Chen Shi frowned, about to counter, when laughter boomed.
"Hold! Yan Fang, hold! This young brother isn't an outsider—he's Chen Shi, top of Xinxiang County's exams, Scholar Chen! Stand down!"
The red juren's flying heads halted, returning to him.
Chen Shi wary, eyed the woods' other side. Fast horses galloped on the post road—more red-clad juren astride, straight-backed, reining in with smiles.
Strangers, none familiar.
Yan Fang's neck heads retracted into his belly. As they vanished, others descended to merge similarly.
Finally one head remained. He smiled apologetically at Chen Shi.
"Scholar Chen! I thought an intruder spied my cultivation, meaning harm. Forgive my rash attack.
Please pardon me, young brother—no blame."
Polite, hard to anger.
Chen Shi scanned their faces, still guarded.
"Brothers, I don't know you."
From the road, the speaker laughed heartily.
"Normal, Brother Chen—we're disciples of Lei County's Black Tortoise Pavilion. I'm Yan Rong.
This is my third brother Yan Qing, and our seventh, Yan Shuo.
You rarely visit Lei County, but we've long heard of you."
Yan Fang reminded.
"My aunt is the Second Madam of Xinxiang Province's Governor Li's household."
Chen Shi got it—these were nephews of Li's Second Madam, Yan Jingshu!
"Your cousin Li Tianxiu—I killed him."
Chen Shi paused, then said,
"Don't do evil. Practice like this again and fall into my hands, I'll kill you like Li Tianxiu.
Blackie Pot, let's go."
Yan Fang, Yan Qing, and others bristled to strike. Yan Rong raised a hand, smiling as he watched Chen Shi leave.
"Li family hasn't touched him—why would Yan family first? Brothers, business first. Today, we must find Little Uncle's lost flood dragon no matter what!"