CHAPTER 336: CHAPTER 216: WANGCHUAN FERRY, VILLAINOUS ARTIFICIAL BEASTS

Sacramento River, a small wooden boat made entirely of branches of varying thickness drifted on the river, carried by the waves.

On the boat, Sun Yan wore a sun hat, holding a fishing rod, and occasionally took a handful of bait from the plastic bucket at his feet, throwing it into the river.

"So many days now, not to mention retrieving a corpse, I haven’t even seen a single fish. Didn’t they say newbies get a fishing buff? How come I only get a no-catch buff."

Sun Yan stared at the river and couldn’t help but sigh.

The work of a Corpse Collector is particularly dull and uninteresting, drifting on the Sacramento River all day with nothing to do, retrieving a body if encountered to complete the task, that’s all.

But Sun Yan’s luck is truly bad. Ever since resolving the Mother and Child Evil Spirits, many days have passed, yet he hasn’t encountered a single drowned corpse, let alone Evil Spirits in the water, there’s not even a trace of fur.

Just as the frustrated Sun Yan was considering rowing the Wangchuan Ferry to another area for luck, a ripple suddenly appeared where the bait was, spreading outwards.

"Got a bite!"

Sun Yan was overjoyed and immediately yanked hard, feeling that something heavy was hooked, making him slightly struggle.

Could it be a big catch?

With the Assistance Divine Power of the Three Altar Sea Assembly Great God, Sun Yan’s strength is no longer comparable to an ordinary person.

Seeing that he couldn’t pull up what was underwater, Sun Yan immediately stood up and exerted force with both arms.

His muscles instantly tensed, veins bulging, and at that moment the underwater object couldn’t withstand Sun Yan’s strength, forcibly being lifted out from beneath the water.

A dark shadow immediately broke through the water, falling along the fishing rod onto the boat.

Sun Yan looked closely, and it was actually a wild boar.

"Huh."

But with his Celestial Eye, Sun Yan quickly noticed something amiss with this wild boar.

On this already waterlogged and bloated wild boar corpse, there was unexpectedly a trace of human aura.

Sun Yan grabbed with one hand, and the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade appeared instantly, cutting a long incision on the boar’s belly with the tip of the blade.

The entire boar skin immediately slid off the corpse loosely, the boar shape gradually changing, transforming into a pale-skinned little girl.

Sun Yan was greatly astonished, using the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade to lift the boar skin, examining it carefully.

He finally confirmed that this boar skin was not naturally grown with this corpse, but rather tanned posthumously, and put on by someone else.

"Hmm? This is... Beast Creation?!" Sun Yan exclaimed.

In the Mountain Chasing Manual, he had seen similar records, saying that in ancient East, there was an Evil Art called Beast Creation Technique.

This technique has various explanations, one being using dog’s blood as paint to draw a talisman on yellow paper, then sticking it on a person’s back and calling their name, turning them into a dog.

Another is draping specially refined animal skins on a person, transforming them into livestock.

If needed, the caster could also cover themselves with refined tiger skin, becoming a tiger to escape danger, but must be cautious of time, for if worn too long, they might not be able to revert to human form.

Pu Songling also mentioned Beast Creation in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

The Beast Creation Technique is diverse, not just one kind, some use delicacies as bait, causing one to lose their senses and follow the caster helplessly, known as ’Delirious Delight’, in Jiangnan called ’Pull Delight’, children being naive often fall for it, suffering greatly.

Those who cast such spells are often human traffickers or Tooth Witches, tricking children to dismember and cripple them for begging, making money for themselves.

As for the Beast Creation considered Witchcraft, Pu Songling told a story of a person who once came to an inn in Yangzhou.

He tied five donkeys in the stable, telling the innkeeper, "I’ll be back soon, don’t let them drink water."

After speaking, he left. The five donkeys, restless under the sun, kicked and brayed, so the innkeeper moved them to a shady spot to drink. As soon as the donkeys saw water, they began to drink vigorously.

The innkeeper ignored the donkey owner’s instructions and let them drink their fill. Soon after, the donkeys rolled on the ground, their skins falling off, turning into five women.

Shocked, the innkeeper quickly asked the women what happened, but they were tongue-tied and couldn’t speak, so he had them hidden inside.

Soon the donkey owner returned, this time leading five sheep.

When he found the donkeys missing, he asked the innkeeper, who sat him down, ordered food, assured him, "Eat first, the donkeys will be back soon."

The donkey owner suspected nothing, enjoying his meal, while the innkeeper also took the sheep to drink, all transforming into children, realizing something was amiss.

He secretly reported it to the authorities, who immediately sent people to capture this demon, beating him to death with sticks.

Such spells like Beast Creation are indeed sinister arts, always disapproved of, becoming the target of collective outcry.

Just because in the eyes of these demons, everything tradeable is livestock, humans and beasts have no difference, as long as it brings them profit.

Thus, the Beast Creation technique didn’t widely spread, and most of those skilled in it either went to the South Seas or Fusang during the Republic of China era, becoming rare within the country.