West Market Gate Execution Ground

"This Great Li Dynasty still had strength left in its fate," Qin He murmured, letting out a breath.

The Imperial Palace had gathered the Great Li Dynasty's thought power for centuries. Even though it was declining by the day, its might remained terrifying.

If anyone dared force their way into the Imperial Palace, they would likely be reduced to ashes in an instant.

This was the vast fortune of the dynasty, and the fortune of the entire Eastern Land. Only the sweeping tide of an era could change it; never the strength of one individual.

Qin He did not dare use the Qi Gazing Technique recklessly again. He simply wandered leisurely through the Capital City.

He had another lavish lunch, ordering nothing but meat and wine.

His inner strength was closing in on seventy years.

After a full day of eating and drinking, Qin He discovered that the Corpse Eating Immortal Skill was picky about what it consumed.

If he ate meat, his inner strength increased noticeably faster.

If he ate vegetarian food such as rice and flour, his inner strength increased more slowly.

Perhaps because the "newbie benefit period" had passed, eating vegetarian food seemed to produce increasingly less growth in his inner strength.

He even suspected that if he kept eating coarse-flour steamed buns, they might no longer increase his inner strength at all and would only fill his stomach.

After settling the bill and leaving the restaurant, he had only three taels of silver left in his pocket.

Qin He felt he had splurged enough.

Fifty taels of silver could bite, but he was confident he could still bear three taels.

Just as Qin He was preparing to leave the city and return to the Corpse Burning Facility, a gong sounded in the streets. Soldiers patrolled the roads, posting notices. "By imperial decree, seven Di invader spies will be lawfully executed at West Market at the third quarter of noon. Their heads will be displayed for ten days, to uphold the might of Great Li Kingdom!"

Once the soldiers had left, the commoners surged forward to read the notice.

After whispering among themselves, they swarmed toward West Market.

When Qin He squeezed in for a look, he nearly gave the Flying Fish Guard a thumbs-up—if not for having watched An Baogu's Shadow Play last night.

The performance had laid out the whole set: a story, a location, and characters.

And now, even the beheading scene had arrived.

The commoners once again displayed their age-old love of a spectacle.

At West Market Gate, a black sea of people packed the place to the brim, tight as an iron barrel. Even Qin He could not squeeze in and had no choice but to climb a tree again.

The seven Di invader spies had been trussed up like rice dumplings. Wearing cangues, they knelt on the execution platform with their mouths sealed tight. Their seven shaved foreheads and queue braids gleamed brightly beneath the sun.

Large numbers of city guards and official agents maintained order, keeping the crowd roughly forty paces away.

At the sight of those queue braids, many commoners gnashed their teeth in hatred, while others wept bitterly. Some thanked the Flying Fish Guard for avenging old wrongs; others loudly cursed the Di invaders to die horrible deaths.

Spittle, stones, rotten vegetables, shoes, and coarse-flour steamed buns rained down upon the execution platform. The scene barely held together at the brink of chaos.

Hatred had replaced everything else.

At the third quarter of noon, the execution official declared the sentence would be carried out.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The commoners waved their hands and shouted in unison.

Every time a blade rose and fell and a head rolled to the ground, thunderous cheers erupted.

At that moment, the crowd nearly descended into revelry, venting the fear they had accumulated for so long.

Almost no one stopped to consider why these "Di invaders" had such shiny heads, as if every last one of them had just had his scalp shaved.

Qin He naturally saw it clearly. He shook his head and turned away.

Was it absurd?

Absurd!

Was it useful?

Very useful.

Whether for the imperial court or for treacherous officials.

Where did popular support and morale come from?

Where did towering power come from?

They came from here.

As for the truth, it was perhaps the least important thing in this world.

The commoners only needed to "believe."

After all, even absurd excuses like silk letters cut from a fish's belly, words carved onto a stone man, and foxes howling at night could be used.

Borrowing a few heads from atop some shoulders was simply standard procedure.

Qin He suddenly recalled a saying, though he did not know who had said it.

Its meaning was that one should not dig through history.

If one did, the entire history book could be summed up in three words: people eat people.

As the sun slanted westward, Qin He returned to the Corpse Burning Facility.

After spending the day wandering and eating, his Five Viscera Temple was finally thoroughly satisfied. Qin He happily took a nap.

He had just awakened and was preparing to receive a corpse.

Yet before the corpse arrived, three living people did.

Who were they?

Flying Fish Guard Hundred-Household Chang Wen, along with two subordinates.

He was the official agent who had chased after Bai Qing'er in vain all night after falling victim to her Cicada Shell Art.

Xu Changshou was there as well.

"Are you Qin He?" Chang Wen stared at Qin He.

"I am," Qin He nodded.

"Pack up. Come with me." Chang Wen tossed out the words and turned to leave.

Xu Changshou hurriedly pulled Qin He inside and said, "Something happened over at the Corpse Burning Hall. They're desperately short on hands and are temporarily drafting people from every Corpse Burning Facility. Among ours, you're the most capable. Go with them. If it's short, you'll be back in a day or two. Even if it takes longer, it won't exceed five days."

Qin He secretly rejoiced.

There were four Corpse Burning Facilities and two Corpse Burning Halls in the Capital City.

The Corpse Burning Facilities fell under the Five City Marshal's Office and handled ordinary Mutated Corpses.

The Corpse Burning Halls belonged to the Flying Fish Guard and dealt with vicious corpses and uncanny corpses involved in Supernatural Incidents. Their methods and corpse-burning skills were far superior to those of the Corpse Burning Facilities.

Though they belonged to different departments, ever since the founding of Great Li, the Flying Fish Guard had been a powerful yamen. In practice, they could directly mobilize the Corpse Burning Facilities, needing only to notify the Five City Marshal's Office afterward.

The reason Qin He secretly rejoiced was that the lowest standard for corpses burned at the Corpse Burning Hall was vicious corpses, which were of much higher quality.

The higher the quality, the better the rewards.

As for why something had happened at the Corpse Burning Hall, Qin He knew even without Xu Changshou saying it.

What could it be?

Naturally, it was that beast An Baogu. Last night, he had charged into the Imperial Prison and slaughtered everyone he saw. Even three Flying Fish Guard Thousand-Households on duty joining forces could only protect themselves. The Flying Fish Guard's Corpse Burning Hall happened to be right beside the Imperial Prison.

They had nearly been wiped out in one wave like melons being chopped and vegetables being sliced.

"This is an extremely rare opportunity. If you can get through it safely, the Flying Fish Guard will reward you with an item for suppressing corpses. It can be used repeatedly. After that, your footing at the Corpse Burning Facility will be much steadier. Who knows, you might even be transferred to work at the Corpse Burning Hall someday. Are you willing to go?" Xu Changshou asked seriously.

Qin He was naturally willing. It was a free opportunity—there was no reason to refuse it.

"Actually, even if you didn't want to go, you couldn't refuse. The Flying Fish Guard doesn't discuss things with you when they draft someone."

Xu Changshou laid everything out for Qin He. His expression turned solemn as he instructed, "Remember this: at the Corpse Burning Hall, don't act like a fool. It's not like our Corpse Burning Facility. Keep your head down, do your work, and talk less. Don't look around, don't ask questions. Do whatever they tell you to do. Grit your teeth and endure these two or three days. You might just change your fate."

"I understand. Thank you, Brother Xu, for fighting for this opportunity for me," Qin He said sincerely.

Corpse Burners at the Corpse Burning Hall and Corpse Burning Officials at the Corpse Burning Facility did the same work, but their statuses were as far apart as clouds and mud.

Corpse Burning Officials were proper official agents, receiving the imperial stipend. Their status was a rank above people like Xu Changshou, who merely received official grain. And they wore Flying Fish Robes.

They were worlds apart.

Moreover, the Corpse Burning Hall was far wealthier and had more methods for suppressing corpses. Correspondingly, its death rate was much lower.

Unlike the Corpse Burning Facilities, which were full of refugee cannon fodder. Their greatest use was to risk their lives distinguishing which corpses were Mutated Corpses and which were vicious corpses, thereby reducing the Corpse Burning Hall's workload and lowering the cost of handling corpses.

Such an opportunity was already rare for a Corpse Burner. Rarer still, the Corpse Burning Hall had suffered severe losses. If he performed well, he might truly transform himself from a Corpse Burner into a Corpse Burning Official.

Because, like Corpse Burners, Corpse Burning Officials depended on fate and one's Eight Characters. They were the only "iron rice bowls" that could not be inherited generation after generation.

Although Qin He did not care about the status of an official post, Xu Changshou's intentions were deeply kind.

"Do well. Talk less. When you return, I'll treat you to celebratory wine." Xu Changshou punched Qin He lightly in the chest. After giving him a few more instructions, he told Qin He to pack his things.

Qin He took a change of clothes and concealed several Corpse Suppressing Nails on his person, then followed Hundred-Household Chang to the Corpse Burning Hall.