Chapter 135: Chapter 84: Splitting Mountains and Rivers Along the Incense and Candle Path, Waiting for the Hare to Save the Rose
The outskirts of Lingbo Mansion, at the intersection.
The dust-covered Martial Artist hurriedly pulled up a wooden bench and sat down, tossing some copper coins, and urgently shouted: "Madam, a pot of tea, half a catty of cold sliced lamb, quickly, quickly!!"
A woman in her forties, with a plump figure, smiled brightly as she took the money and said, "Customer, right away."
Then she went inside to fetch the tea and sliced lamb and brought it out.
The Martial Artist glanced at the lamb, weighed the portion, and remarked, "Not bad, worthy of doing business outside this mansion, really honest!"
The woman chuckled and said, "As long as the guest is satisfied."
Just as she was speaking, a few more people sat down on the other side, waving their hands: "A pot of tea, and some snacks, anything will do!"
Saying that, the person tossed a piece of broken silver and said, "Three qian of silver, make it good!"
The woman hastily began pouring tea, slicing more lamb, and picked some boiled eggs and jerky from the pot, placing them on a plate to be sent over.
In this manner, until night fell, this middle-aged couple finally stopped their day-long hustle and began to pack up their stall.
In the faint moonlight, the two pushed a small cart towards the town, appearing quite cozy and full of life.
But when there was no one around, the two suddenly turned sharply into the mountain forest on the other side.
The woman disappeared, the boss also disappeared, and only a person with a changed appearance stood in their place.
"Playing the role of two people alone," Li Xuan was getting increasingly skilled at this act.
He came to the mountain forest outside Lingbo Mansion, where at some point, a pit had appeared.
The pit was filled with numerous white bones.
These white bones were all collected by the evil spirits that Li Xuan had dispatched during this period.
In a country plagued by disasters, in the wilds, there was never a shortage of corpses thinly buried and reduced to bones.
As someone who could manipulate bones and raise spirits, Li Xuan would never care about "respecting the dead" when he needed bones.
He collected them because it was part of his plan.
Now, he sat alone by the pile of bones, taking the lamb and tea he had purposely left during the day from the small cart, eating and drinking.
As he ate, Li Xuan felt a strange sensation in his heart.
Two years ago, sitting by the graves to eat was out of the question for him; even smelling this scent would make him want to vomit.
But now, he found the air here unexpectedly refreshing, his appetite good, and his digestion great.
’The changes are really significant...’
Li Xuan couldn’t help but sigh.
It’s just that while his changes were significant, the world’s changes were even greater.
If he couldn’t keep up with the changes of the world, he might be shattered, and his family would have to rely on luck to survive.
Good luck, living a couple more years; bad luck, possibly dying immediately.
’What a world full of demons and ghosts.’
Li Xuan sighed, his legs turned into tendrils, rustling into the soil, planting deeply into the grave mound, then controlling the scattered bones piled in the pit to rise up, fitting their respective bones properly, some lying down neatly; others, still with decaying flesh attached, went to the nearby grave mounds, put on some clothes prepared by Li Xuan, and just lay there.
The former was to ensure that when action was truly needed, they wouldn’t be unable to find where their own bones were.
The latter was to conceal the disappearance of the bodies from the grave mounds.
...
At that moment, a thin smell of corpses diffused, mixed with some corpse poison that makes one feel weak at the scent.
But Li Xuan was entirely unaffected, the air was still sweet.
All this, naturally, was due to physiological factors.
Having done all this, he dispatched evil spirits to monitor the surrounding grave mounds.
Recently, more and more people in the city were dying.
The information Li Xuan acquired also increased.
At midnight, as expected, another cartload of bodies was quietly transported out from a side gate of Lingbo Mansion City and then dumped in the wilds.
Suddenly, one of the body dumpers asked, "What happened to the bodies from two days ago?"
The person next to him replied, "In this barren mountain wilderness, they were probably eaten by wild beasts, right? Never mind, let’s hurry back."
The person said, "Even if eaten, there should be bones, let’s look around..."
Immediately, the two searched around, finding some scattered bones, rotting clothes, and traces of tearing by wild animals, matching perfectly.
The two no longer suspected anything and quickly left.
Ever since they learned there were demons in the world, they had developed a vague reverence for places like grave mounds, staying as briefly as they could.
After the two left, a demonic shadow dragging two large tentacles cast ominously on those bodies.
A thick ghostly mist wafted over...
The bright moon was obscured by dark clouds, and the night was moonless and windy.
Moments later...
The newly dead twenty-one corpses rose from the ground.
Then, following the waiting evil spirits, they headed into the depths of the forest.
On the small cart, Li Xuan lay comfortably.
The corpses surrounded him and bowed one by one.
"Master."
"Greetings, Master."
Li Xuan glanced at these evil spirits and said, "Tell me, how did you die, and any news related to the Bright Temple."
The evil spirits began to speak, one after another.
As expected by Li Xuan, these dead were indeed believers of the Bright Temple, and quite fanatical ones at that.
They believed in Buddha because they had all, more or less, witnessed Buddha’s miracles.
Be it repelling evil spirits, recovering from severe illness, praying for children successfully, making a fortune in business, feeling comfort in the incense-laden air, or seeing the Buddha’s scriptures promising "good karma leading to a better next life."
Lately, many people from the martial world had been gathering because the Buddha could actually enhance martial power. Just by sitting cross-legged under the Buddha, praying with a sincere heart, they could gain inspiration and break through previous barriers.
