Many Skills Never Weigh You Down

Through the curiosity-driven chatter of the group, Qin He obtained another crucial piece of information.

The Flying Fish Guard's Second Corpse Burning Hall was actually called the Corpse Suppressing Hall.

Behind the Corpse Burning Hall's heavy iron doors lay, supposedly, the corpses that the Corpse Burning Hall could not reduce to ash. No one knew how many years they had accumulated there, much less how many there were.

The Corpse Burners sucked in cold breaths as they listened, while Qin He's heart began to race.

If he got the chance, he ought to investigate it himself.

Afterward, the Corpse Burners chatted idly for a while longer. As their meal-induced energy faded, they began yawning one after another, their eyelids drooping.

No one knew who started snoring first, but within the span of a dozen breaths, they had all sprawled down. Before long, their snores shook the heavens.

Qin He rose to his feet and kicked them one by one. Every last one of them lay there like a dead pig.

Seeing that, he picked up a straw from the ground, walked to the cell door, and poked and twisted it in the keyhole. With a click, the lock opened.

Lockpicking Art: One noodle can pick every lock in the world.

The skills he had accumulated finally came in handy here. This was what it meant to have many skills and never be burdened by them.

Qin He stepped out of the cell, pressed the lock back into place, and headed toward the stone doors of the Corpse Burning Hall.

During their earlier conversation, the three Corpse Burning Officials left behind on watch had also departed.

At this moment, the Corpse Burning Room was completely empty.

When he reached the entrance, Qin He examined the stone doors and was overjoyed.

There was actually a gap underneath. They had not sealed shut properly!

It appeared that the mechanism had gone too long without maintenance and could no longer settle into place.

Qin He tried lifting the stone doors with all his strength, only to find that they would not budge. This sort of gate was not something one person could easily shake, even though Qin He now possessed nearly eighty years of inner strength.

But that could not stump Qin He.

Shrinking Skill: Whenever you need it, your muscles, bones, skin, and flesh will become as soft as cotton.

Cotton could slip through any crack. If the gap was smaller, it would merely take a little more effort.

A bizarre scene unfolded. Starting with his hands, Qin He turned into a sheet of dough and slowly "flowed" through the gap beneath the massive stone doors.

Once he reentered the Corpse Burning Hall, Qin He nearly burst out laughing three times.

Every Corpse Burning Room was empty. The corpses lay in the middle, and more importantly, he was the only one there.

Qin He felt like an emperor stepping into his harem, free to favor whichever one he pleased.

"Three thousand beauties," waiting for his picking.

Without the slightest hesitation, Qin He began from the middle. Aside from the two coffins at the very center, he lifted each corpse onto a furnace one by one. Every corpse received five Corpse Suppressing Nails, and once he opened the fire cover, he began burning them.

One corpse, two corpses... five corpses... ten corpses... twenty corpses... twenty-eight corpses!!

Of the thirty Corpse Burning Rooms, two had been reserved for those two coffins, while every other one was filled.

The sight was spectacular.

One man burning twenty-eight corpses was an unprecedented feat.

But there were drawbacks as well. Since Qin He could not watch over each corpse individually, some of them began acting up. Even with Corpse Suppressing Talismans burning on them, they still twitched. Some were just short of sitting up.

It was most unseemly, and utterly disrespectful.

Qin He took one look. Playing hard to get? Not enough Corpse Suppressing Nails bestowed upon you?

Fine, then he would bestow another five. If that was not enough, then more. If still not enough, then more... until they were too embarrassed to do anything but lie down obediently.

An "emperor" was just this lavish.

He had no fewer than five hundred Corpse Suppressing Nails in his pocket. He could afford to bestow them.

Only after using over a hundred Corpse Suppressing Nails did Qin He finally suppress that bunch of twitching corpses into complete obedience, and everything proceeded in orderly fashion.

After that, Qin He turned his gaze toward the two coffins.

The main event had arrived.

One coffin was covered in Corpse Suppressing Talismans. The other was bound in thick black iron chains, its surface densely inscribed with tiny runes. Staring at them too closely made one's head spin, as though one's center of gravity were shifting backward, giving one the urge to topple toward the coffin.

The more Qin He looked, the more satisfied he became. The more he looked, the more he liked them.

After giving it some thought, he decided to deal with the coffin covered only in Corpse Suppressing Talismans first.

He would tackle the hard one before the easy one and get some practice in first.

He found a crowbar, wedged it forcefully into the crack, pried off the Coffin Nails, then slowly pushed open the coffin lid.

The moment he shifted it aside by a corner, a clump of long white hair curled out. It was as dense as the mold filaments on fermented tofu, carrying a thick wave of Corpse Qi straight at Qin He's face.

"Insolence!"

Qin He barked in a low voice. His inner strength and magic power surged together, blocking the Corpse Qi. With a flick of his finger, he sent the coffin lid flying, then casually swept his hand out. Fifty Corpse Suppressing Nails shot into the coffin with a sharp whoosh.

Shadowless Hand: When you are fully focused, your hand speed will become unimaginably fast.

Flying Needle Technique: Needles pierce willow leaves; every shot hits its mark.

Combined with nearly eighty years of inner strength, the two skills became Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles—swift and fierce in an instant, subduing the enemy in a single move.

"Zzzzz..."

The sound of meat sizzling on a red-hot iron plate rang out. Black qi immediately billowed from inside the coffin, while the long corpse hair tangled and writhed chaotically. A beast-like roar came from within.

It was actually a Hairy Zombie.

A genuine type of zombie, one that could only form when a corpse steeped in Resentful Energy and Malevolent Energy encountered the right coincidence.

Qin He made it look easy only because he had the Soul-Capturing Lamp and was essentially cheating. If this Hairy Zombie had been outside, it would certainly have caused a storm of blood and gore.

Zombies were impervious to blades and spears, untouched by water and fire. Even experts with profound inner strength could gain no advantage against them; they had to possess powerful corpse-suppressing items.

Seeing this, Qin He flicked his hand again, sending another twenty Corpse Suppressing Nails inside.

The Hairy Zombie's roars gradually weakened. Before long, it fell silent, its long zombie hair drooping down to reveal its true face. It was an old man. No one knew what he had suffered to harbor such immense Resentful Energy and Malevolent Energy.

Qin He did not dare let down his guard. Rather than carrying the corpse in his arms, he fetched a throat-lock clamp, clamped the Hairy Zombie out of the coffin in one motion, and threw it into the Corpse Burning Furnace.

Better safe than sorry; a cautious sailor sailed for ten thousand years.

Once he opened the fire cover, the flames of utmost yang quickly singed the zombie hair into green smoke, allowing Qin He to see the corpse in its entirety.

It was unquestionably a zombie. Its two long Zombie Teeth nearly hung level with its chin.

The old man was very short, looking like a dwarf at first glance. He wore a meticulous purple burial robe and must have come from a wealthy household.

The blazing flames roared. Though the zombie did not move, its resistance never ceased.

The seven Corpse Suppressing Talismans inside and outside the Corpse Burning Room ignited one after another, turning to ash.

Qin He bestowed another Corpse Suppressing Nail upon its brow before he managed to preserve the last talisman.

The corpse was difficult to burn. It took nearly half an incense stick's time just to barely char its skin.

Qin He did not wait any longer. Once he confirmed that the corpse was at peace, he immediately went to the second coffin.

This one was the true grand finale.