CHAPTER 553: CHAPTER 282:

Xu Qing watched Huang Xiaoliu bounce away from the shop with a gentle gaze, showing how much he cared for his own employees.

Xuan Yu saw Xu Qing’s face filled with ’kindness’ and felt that someone was going to be unlucky again.

In Xuan Yu’s eyes, only the smile of the Goddess of Fertility was truly kind and approachable, whereas the smile Xu Immortal showed was completely untrustworthy.

For instance, whenever someone brought in a corpse and left, Xu Immortal would have a contented smile on his face.

"What is that powder?" Xuan Yu seemed curious about everything.

"A health supplement, old people love it, it’s just for psychological comfort, really has no practical effect."

...

In the following days, Xu Qing went to Shuimen Bridge Villa, and from this trip, accumulated thirty-two more Fierce Generals.

Adding the Fierce Generals from previous years, the Fierce Flag in Xu Qing’s hand already raised nearly two hundred Fierce Generals. If these fierce shadow soldiers were released all at once, they’d be akin to an army of ten thousand mortals, and every one of them was an elite soldier.

"The mortal world has soldiers, and the Underworld has shadow soldiers, if I release these Fierce Generals into the Underworld, I wonder how many shadow soldiers they could attract..."

The rule of the strong applies not only to the human world but also to the Underworld.

In the Ghost King Mausoleum, the Ghost King can gather a group of Ghost Generals and Ghost Soldiers to his service, because his power is sufficiently strong.

If we follow the strict hierarchy of the Ancient Yin River Dao, a single Fierce General could at least dominate hundreds of Ghost Soldiers.

Nearly two hundred Fierce Generals, already equate to Xu Qing having the capacity to assemble an army of tens of thousands of shadow soldiers.

In the Ancient Yin River Dao, he’s already a dominant force capable of contending with the Ghost King.

Thinking of his old neighbor, the Misfortune Ghost King, Xu Qing prudently put away his Fierce Flag.

The Misfortune Ghost King has existed for at least a millennium, and Xu Qing, from Liu Youdao’s memories, had even seen the opponent’s massive ghostly figure avoiding Celestial Fire.

In Princess Yan Ning’s memories, although the Misfortune Ghost King suffered severe injuries, a supernatural being capable of surviving under Celestial Fire must have cultivation over a thousand years.

Even a battered ship has three thousand nails, Xu Qing still respects his old neighbor, after all, distant relatives aren’t as good as close neighbors; otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent Papermen to invite the neighbor to watch fireworks back then.

"The last time the iron cannon made such a ruckus, the Misfortune Ghost King didn’t show up, proving he was indeed severely injured. But now, with the Red Robe Cult supporting the Misfortune Ghost King, his injuries might soon heal..."

Xu Qing felt somewhat uneasy. Princess Yan Ning’s body, that pink-faced skeleton, was still in his Box Garden, and the treasure Twin Coffin from the Ghost King Mausoleum was also stolen by him. If his old neighbor were to discover the truth one day, he feared he’d never be able to set foot in the Ancient Yin River Dao again.

"Even with the Golden-armored Hidden Corpse, it’s not enough; only by achieving Flying Corpse status, with a thousand years of cultivation, can one have the power of self-preservation on the Outer Periphery of the Yin River."

Indeed, it is just the Outer Periphery of the Yin River.

The Ghost King Mausoleum isn’t situated deep within the Ancient Yin River Dao, yet even so, the Misfortune Ghost King retains millennia of cultivation but does not dare to easily venture into the mortal world.

Once ghosts leave the Ancient Yin River Dao, they become sensed by the Heavenly Dao and face cultivation tribulations directly.

Xu Qing guessed why the Misfortune Ghost King had been chased by Celestial Fire to the Yin River.

Most likely this Ghost King, through the Twin Coffin, crossed the boundary of life and death, entering Jindu.

For minor ghosts, it might not matter, but the opponent happened to be a Ghost King that escaped lightning calamities with millennia of cultivation.

The Misfortune Ghost King always hiding in the Ancient Yin River Dao had never faced the Celestial Fire calamity; entering the mortal world was no different than a snowman stepping into sunlight.

If Celestial Fire didn’t burn him, who else could it burn?

"Fortunately, the incense from the Red Robe Cult is not merit incense; besides using the wild temple incense to heal his injuries, the Misfortune Ghost King cannot resist the Celestial Fire calamity with it."

Xu Qing analyzed all potential threats from enemies, only then suppressing the sense of urgency in his heart a bit.

Nonetheless, even so, after the autumn recruitment, he still went to the banks of the Baisha River every few days as usual.

Unfortunately, he never met the pair of ’golden boys and jade girls’ who gifted him the Blazing Light Lamp again.

"Those two golden carps with their bulldog-like heads didn’t seem very smart, why haven’t they been caught by anyone?"

Xu Qing strolled back and forth along the banks of the Baisha River, and whenever he heard someone caught a golden carp, he rushed over, but alas, according to the Astral Treasure Mirror and the Heavenly Eye Yin Pupil, there was no unusual phenomenon.

On this day, with overcast skies and rain, Xu Qing went to the river as usual to absorb the aquatic energy and nurture his body.

When the sun broke through the clouds, the yin energy on the river’s surface receded, and Xu Qing prepared to head home.

However, just as he was about to leave, Xu Qing suddenly heard a commotion at the Baisha River Wharf.

He turned his head, seeing a mast-broken passenger ship, damaged by the wind, rushing to the shore, sliding nearly two miles before stopping.

Xu Qing furrowed his brows, using the Heavenly Eye Yin Pupil, seeing the riverside shrouded in yin energy, as if evil spirits were trying to emerge from the river.

But when the sun shone, the agitated yin energy retreated into the deep water as if it had never appeared.

Xu Qing quickly approached, and by then, most of the passengers from the boat were drowned and missing, only one or two-tenths remaining, clinging to masts or the helm, crying loudly.

The fishermen and people at the wharf were frightened, and no one dared to go forward for a while, until Xu Qing rolled up his sleeves and called for people to bring the Corpse Recovery Team for help, only then did someone react, beginning to rescue the trapped passengers.

About half an hour later, most of the people on board were rescued, during which Xu Qing found and saved more than twenty children in a hidden cabin.

Those children initially couldn’t stop crying, but upon seeing Xu Qing, they all quieted down, seeming braver than the adults.

The constables patrolling the wharf were just busy rescuing people, not noticing anything unusual, so Xu Qing had no choice but to grab one of them, saying, "These children were locked in a cabin without any adults, it’s likely they were trafficked..."

The other instantly reacted upon hearing this, and when seeing several unfamiliar men, along with two women trying to take advantage of the chaos to take some children away, the constable quickly drew his sword, calling his companions to capture them.

Xu Qing searched around the passenger ship and besides finding a strong residue of corpse energy, he also discovered some near-burnt fragments of talismans at the broken bow.

Looking at the familiar patterns on the talismans, Xu Qing vaguely understood the cause of this shipwreck.

"Celestial Master’s Mansion..."

What exactly had these people done in the Ancient Yin River Dao that directly affected the mundane world?

Xu Qing’s expression did not look pleasant.

Matters of the Ancient Yin River Dao are somewhat related to him, the Eight Banner Marshals obtaining secular incense, thereby regained their vitality, gaining the courage to contend with the Yin Eroding Dharma King and the Misfortune Ghost King.

Xu Qing feared that today’s incident at the wharf might be related to him.

However, when he conducted the last rites over the bodies on the ship and saw the scene of the passenger ship being attacked, he realized that today’s affair had nothing to do with him.

Indeed, the Eight Banner Marshals and the Yin Eroding Dharma King could not return to the mundane world, and even the Misfortune Ghost King must resort to the Twin Coffin, braving the risk of being burned to ashes by Celestial Fire before daring to show up. How could he, by collecting incense for the Eight Banner Marshals, affect the secular world?

In the moving images of those passengers’ memories, the attack on the passenger ship was not by Ancient Yin River ghosts, but by the Celestial Master’s Mansion’s Five Shadows Daoist.

The opponent utilized the water currents, arranged a spell formation in advance, opening a hidden whirlpool leading to the Yin River.

Then, five shadows emerged together, capturing most of the people on the ship, and to prevent others from noticing anything unusual, this daoist, when leaving, had another daoist, identical to him, perform an evil technique, breaking the mast to create the appearance of an evil spirit attack.

If it were other evil spirits, Xu Qing wouldn’t have looked so grim, the key was that the lingering aura of this evil manifestation was indistinguishable from a zombie.

In Dayong, zombies are practically the lowest existence among various evil spirits.

Zombies are found in the mines of Xijing Mountain, zombies are in the Corpse Worker Mill of Jin Sect, and the rest are either driven by Corpse Drivers or raised as ’exotic beasts’ by the Yin Corpse Sect.

Even the rumors of zombies plaguing the mundane world have diminished greatly.

Xu Qing felt he could use his identity as a funeral director or a Corpse Driver to mingle in secular society, practicing in secret.

But now the Five Shadows Daoist stepped in to break this balance.

If they came a few more times, Jin Sect feared there would be a surge in anti-zombie sentiment, and when Xu Qing went out, he’d encounter people everywhere carrying glutinous rice, jujube pits, mirrors, and nails.

This was purely to disgust people!

Looking at those still lingering by the passenger ship, Xu Qing turned around silently, and returned to the Funeral Shop.