Chapter 112: The Compassionate Chu Qiguang
Keeping the living corpses alive proved to be a huge burden for the elderly villagers. The children were too young, and villagers' own bodies became weaker and weaker from prolonged starvation. As a result, the amount of land they could farm became increasingly limited.
Disease, exhaustion, starvation... More and more elderly villagers passed away. By the time they met Jin Ji, they had already turned their backs on the Profound Origin Dao Lord long ago, and they eagerly agreed to work with the fiend for their survival.
The body in the ancestral shrine belonged to a villager who had gotten too close to the living corpses while feeding them, and the injury to Zheng Sanshui's right leg had also been caused by a bite from his grandson.
"So where has all your food gone?" Chen Gang asked.
"We fed it all to the children," Zheng Sanshui replied with a blissful smile. "There was so much grain! We'd never seen them have such a filling meal. I'm sure they're going to ascend to immortality soon."
Chu Qiguang shook his head in dismay. Clearly, the villagers were no longer of a sound mind and were willing to do just about anything to feed these living corpses.
"What you're doing is completely pointless," Chen Gang sighed. "They were already dead from the moment they became living corpses, and even living corpses have their limits."
"What a load of utter nonsense!" an old woman snapped. "My grandson is clearly still moving, so how is he dead? Once he regains his senses, he'll become an immortal! That's what the masters of the Immortal Dao told us..."
As the old woman continued on her enraged rant, her voice grew increasingly shrill. At the same time, her face began to elongate, and rows of furry ears started sprouting all over her head.
"She's undergoing demonification!" Chen Gang exclaimed.
Chu Qiguang immediately sprang into action, smashing the old woman's head with his fist like an overripe watermelon. Her headless, semi-demonified body fell to the ground, spasmed a few times, then went still.
The other villagers barely even batted an eyelid. The old woman wasn't the first one among them to undergo demonification after they turned their backs on the Profound Origin Dao Lord.
The old woman's remains were completely ignored as the villagers turned to Chu Qiguang with fearful expressions and pleaded, "Please don't tell the Daoist temple. We just want to survive and be left alone!"
Looking at the desperate expressions on the faces of the elderly villagers, Chen Gang was at a loss for what to do.
However, Chu Qiguang remained as composed as ever, and he asked, "Do you still believe in the Profound Origin Dao Lord?"
The villagers shook their heads.
"Are you all willing to even resort to taking the Elixir of Undying just to survive?" he asked. The villagers nodded in response.
"What do you all think of fiends? I just so happen to need some people who can farm, weave fabric, and build houses. If you come with me, you'll be provided free meals and lodging."
Chu Qiguang saw an opportunity in these villagers. These people had lost their faith and were so desperate that they were even willing to turn to cults and fiends. They would be perfect laborers to work alongside fiends after undergoing the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique.
"What are you planning to do with these children?" Zheng Sanshui asked. "Are you going to burn them just like the Daoist temple would?"
"Of course not," Chu Qiguang reassured with a smile. "I've always been very interested in living corpses. I've just never had a chance to come into contact with any."
He strode over to one of the living corpse children as he spoke, then patted him on the head and greeted, "Hello there, little boy."
The living corpse immediately tried to bite down on Chu Qiguang's hand, but Chu Qiguang easily avoided his gnashing teeth before lifting him by the back of his collar.
"Look at how cute they are," Chu Qiguang crooned as he squeezed the boy's cheek, only for a piece of skin to tear straight off the boy's face.
He stared at the piece of skin with an awkward expression for a moment, then plastered it back onto the boy's face and continued, "In any case, I don't have anything against living corpses. As long as you keep them under control and don't let them cause any trouble, you can continue looking after them. Of course, it would be even better if you'd be willing to let them work for me. They can't just stay in this cellar all the time. If they don't get some sunlight and fresh air from time to time, their bodies are going to start growing mold."
Qiao Zhi couldn't help but shudder as he listened from the rooftop.
Has he finally begun taking an interest in living corpses? It's exactly like Chu Qiguang to exploit even the dead for everything they're worth!
All of the villagers were stunned into silence by Chu Qiguang's open-mindedness.
"You... You want to hire us as workers? But we're just a bunch of old farts with one foot in the grave! How could we possibly be of any help to you?"
"I can take care of that," Chu Qiguang said. "If you've already turned your backs on the Profound Origin Dao Lord, then why not try becoming fiends?"
Chu Qiguang took blood samples from the villagers for Qiao Zhi to examine, and the next day, Qiao Zhi brought some fiends from the rear mountain to Southern Ravine Village so he could use their blood to perform the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique on the villagers. Meanwhile, Chen Gang was sent to the county town to buy large quantities of steamed buns.
In this instance, there was no need for Chu Qiguang to divide the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique into ten treatments, so he completed the procedure in one go, and all the villagers instantly felt as if they had been rejuvenated, both physically and mentally. With this transformation came waves of unbearable hunger, and they immediately devoured all the steamed buns that Chen Gang had bought for them.
Not only had Chu Qiguang shown that he could easily subdue all the villagers by force, he had also rejuvenated and fed them. In this day and age, when food was something people were willing to die for, Chu Qiguang had earned the villagers' undying devotion and loyalty.
They became extremely obedient and cooperative, and after hearing about Chu Qiguang's plan to establish a village of fiends in the mountains, they eagerly began offering suggestions to help refine his plan.
All of these elderly villagers had a lifetime of experience working in various fields, including farming, carpentry, weaving, and construction. Now that they had been physically rejuvenated by the Heavenly Fiend Foundation Establishment Technique, they were ready to put their experience to good use.
None of them were particularly intelligent or well-educated, but they were an excellent source of labor and were perfectly suited to the task of building a village with the fiends of Azure Sun County.
