The Stolen Corpses

Qin He was startled by the thought that had suddenly popped into his head.

No!

If this went on, he would turn into a "terrorist."

"Hold fast to your true heart, hold fast to your true heart!"

Qin He hurriedly flung those wicked thoughts from his mind.

He could not provoke consequences he might not be able to contain. If someone lost their life, that would cross his bottom line.

On the path of pursuing strength, holding fast to one's bottom line was crucial. Otherwise, one day, a person would become a demon or a devil.

After turning it over and over in his mind, Qin He realized he had only one path left.

He had to burn as many vicious corpses as possible to make up for the decline in rewards.

Especially those corpses at the very center. Even if they had been suppressed, their rewards surely would not be poor.

Just as Qin He was racking his brains over how to burn those corpses without attracting attention, the one-eyed Corpse Burning Official's booming voice rang out. "That's it for today's shift. Go back and rest. Return at the Hour of the Dog."

"Yes."

The Corpse Burning Officials responded one after another, then packed up and left.

Only three people remained behind to guard the corpses that had yet to be burned.

Wei Wu came over to Qin He and the others. "I'll take you to where you'll be staying. Work another day tomorrow, and you should be able to go back."

With that, he led Qin He and the others out of the Corpse Burning Hall. Pointing at a cell, he said, "Someone will bring food later. Once you've eaten, rest. No matter what you hear or see, ignore it. Just sleep."

The Corpse Burners hurriedly nodded like chickens pecking at grain.

Wei Wu had them enter, locked the door behind them, and left.

The Corpse Burners all looked exhausted. They leaned or lay down straight away. They had worked seven or eight hours straight through the night, without food or water, and they were all nearing their limit.

It should be nearing noon outside by now.

Though Qin He did not feel tired at all, he could hardly act too conspicuously. So he sat against the wall and examined his surroundings.

The cell was very simple, but it had everything necessary: utensils for eating, drinking, relieving oneself, and sleeping. Considering the Imperial Prison's fearsome reputation, this counted as a well-appointed cell.

The nearby cells were completely empty. It seemed the Imperial Prison did not often treat people so well.

From where Qin He sat, he could see one corner of the stone door to the Corpse Burning Hall.

Before long, an attendant indeed brought food over: a huge steamer basket packed full of buns and a bucket of water.

The moment the Corpse Burners saw it, their eyes went wide.

They were all refugees. Even after clawing their way into the Corpse Burning Facility to risk their lives, they had survived on coarse-flour steamed buns.

White flour?

They did not even dare dream of it.

The attendant had barely opened the door and set down the basket when the Corpse Burners pounced upon it impatiently. They grabbed buns and wolfed them down, stuffing themselves until their eyes rolled white from choking.

"Starving ghosts reincarnated!"

Seeing this, the attendant shook his head, locked the door, and left.

Qin He had not yet finished digesting and had little appetite, but he still ate more than a dozen.

He had to admit, the treatment for those who ate the Emperor's grain really was different.

If the attendant could bring it for the starving ghosts in their eyes, it certainly was not anything good by their standards. The good things would only be kept for themselves.

No matter the dynasty, the public rice bowl was indeed the most fragrant. Anyone could starve, but never them.

The enormous basket of buns was enough to fill them all. After five Corpse Burners had their fill, every one of them had a round, bulging belly.

"If we could get assigned here for duty, that'd be wonderful."

Full and refreshed, the short Corpse Burner spoke with a face full of longing.

"Afraid not!"

The square-faced Corpse Burner shook his head. "A rice bowl like this has to be saved for the sons of officials with connections. We shouldn't dream too much. That talk about getting into the Corpse Burning Hall was just something they said offhand—a carrot dangled before a donkey to make it work."

The other Corpse Burners found that reasonable as well, and no one refuted him.

"It's fate that us brothers ended up together. No matter how long we manage to keep going, let's get acquainted. Who knows, maybe one day we'll meet again at the head of Naihe Bridge," the square-faced Corpse Burner added.

Having eaten and drunk their fill, they had recovered some energy and began introducing themselves.

The square-faced Corpse Burner was Tao Dayong, from Liaodong. He had fled famine and come to the Capital City.

The short Corpse Burner was Li Ergou, from Lu Region.

The other two were refugees as well. The last one was not—the one whose corpse had ignited the Corpse Suppressing Talisman when it had not been properly suppressed. His name was Qian Mancang, and he was from Cen County in the Capital Region.

Tao Dayong was rather talkative. With a mysterious air, he whetted their appetites. "Do you know why the Corpse Burning Hall suddenly has so many corpses?"

The Corpse Burners all shook their heads. Only Qian Mancang seemed to want to say something, as though he had remembered something, but he forcibly held it back.

"Why?" Qin He asked.

He found it strange as well. The Corpse Burning Hall's Corpse Burning Officials worked in two shifts. Logically speaking, even if that beast An Baogu had chopped half of them down, only a little more than a day had passed. It was impossible for so many corpses to have piled up.

Something was wrong here. Something had happened.

After Tao Dayong had kept them in suspense long enough, he cautiously looked around and said, "I heard that over the past half year or so, corpses being sent to the Capital City from various places were often hijacked along the road. The Flying Fish Guard mobilized troops and investigated for a long time, and they finally found some of the stolen corpses in a temple."

As he spoke, he gestured with his mouth toward the stone door of the Corpse Burning Hall. "There. The ones inside."

"People even steal corpses? They're vicious and unlucky, so what... what's the point?" Li Ergou's eyes widened.

"You don't understand, then."

Tao Dayong spoke animatedly. "Those corpses are certainly useless to poor wretches like us, but to some Heretical Ways, they're enormously useful. Supposedly, they can use corpses in sacrificial refinement to make corpse puppets. They're incredibly powerful."

The Corpse Burners wore expressions of astonishment.

Qin He deliberately glanced at Qian Mancang and found that he showed neither surprise nor curiosity. He seemed to know about this.

"Where is that temple?"

Qin He's interest had been piqued. Whoever stole corpses was certainly up to no good. If he could find a nest of corpses, he would strike it rich.

"I heard it was Jing'an Temple on Plough Ox Mountain. The Flying Fish Guard surrounded and wiped it out, and quite a few people died there," Tao Dayong said softly.

Qin He silently committed it to memory. He thought that when he had time, he should make a trip there and see whether he could make a "windfall."

Plough Ox Mountain was not far from here, only a little over a day's journey away.

Stealing corpses was one thing, but doing it so close to the Capital City—he truly did not know who was bold enough to dare such a thing.

Afterward, Qin He asked a few more questions, but Tao Dayong clearly knew only this much, and the topic shifted.

As they chatted, the conversation returned to the Flying Fish Guard. Li Ergou asked, "Doesn't the Flying Fish Guard have two Corpse Burning Halls? Where is the other one?"

"The Flying Fish Guard actually has only one Corpse Burning Hall. The other one isn't called the Corpse Burning Hall. It's called the Corpse Suppressing Hall. The people outside got it wrong," Qian Mancang, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.

"Then where is the Corpse Suppressing Hall?" Li Ergou pressed on.

Though Corpse Burners lived from one day to the next, they were still deeply curious about information concerning their trade.

"Behind that large iron door inside," Qian Mancang said quietly.

"Ah?"

The Corpse Burners were startled.