Quantity Is King

Qin He carefully put away his carving knife, clapped his hands, and was quite satisfied with his speed.

The fastest man in the world!

Tell me, were you scared or not?

No Corpse Suppressing Nails? He could make them on the spot—specialized in treating all kinds of defiance.

Didn't want to go out with dignity? That wouldn't do. Everyone here was a respectable person; dignity was a must.

Qin He admired his handiwork for a moment, then bent down, grabbed the spear shaft, and hoisted up the Charm Corpse.

How should he describe it? A skewer?

There was no need to tidy up in a situation like this. Straight into the furnace, then light it up.

Time to burn the corpse.

Within the blazing flames, the Charm Corpse was finally unable to move.

The full array of eighteen weapons—forget a human's little frame, even an ox couldn't withstand it.

Qin He noticed that the Charm Corpse was burning even more slowly now—slow enough to make one's hair stand on end.

After burning for nearly half an incense stick's time, only its hair had been completely incinerated. Its skin had merely darkened slightly. Truly monstrous.

Shaking his head speechlessly, Qin He could only wait patiently.

He also replaced the Corpse Suppressing Talisman that had burned away. Before every cremation, Qin He would remove the talisman from the corpse's forehead. It was better than nothing; with the Corpse Suppressing Nails in place, the thing was useless anyway.

But Qin He did not choose to wait in the Corpse Burning Hall. Instead, he used the Shrinking Skill again, slipped out through the stone door, and returned to the cell.

The factory guards on duty could inspect the cell at any time, and the five Corpse Burners who had come with him could wake at any time. Besides, the earthfire burned on its own, and the corpse was pinned down obediently. There was no need for him to stand guard.

Inside the cell, the five Corpse Burners were sleeping like logs, not even having changed position. They were clearly exhausted to the extreme.

Everything Qin He had done after going in sounded lengthy when told, but in reality, it had taken less than half an hour.

Fortunately, he had come out quickly. Not long after Qin He lay down, a group of factory guards arrived outside the cell.

The man at their head had thick brows, large eyes, and a square face that looked cold and gloomy. He carefully inspected the six men sleeping soundly inside the cell, then looked around and checked the stone door. Only after finding nothing unusual did he leave.

Who was this man?

Chang Wen, Hundred-Household Officer Chang.

This man was indeed meticulous and cautious. After bringing Qin He and the other five Corpse Burners inside, he still thought to come back and take a look when he had nothing else to do.

In the vast Li Dynasty, not everyone was a wine sack and rice bag, nor was everyone occupying a post while accomplishing nothing.

The Great Li had never lacked capable ministers, diligent officials, loyal subjects, or fine generals.

What it lacked was the ability to discover them—and the ability to use them well.

Chang Wen led his men on a patrol through the Imperial Prison, then returned to the surface. Facing the noon sun, he suddenly felt that the sunlight had lost its warmth. He did not know whether the weather had turned colder, or whether his heart had grown cold.

The vast Great Li actually had to rely on commoners taking others' places to maintain its false dignity.

How much spirit remained in the iron bones of the Flying Fish Guard?

If that man were here, things surely would not have come to this.

Unfortunately, he had been demoted to the frontier, spending every day in the company of bitter cold.

After standing there for a long time, Chang Wen ordered his subordinates to guard the main gate. He changed into ordinary clothes, left the Imperial Prison, turned left and right through several streets, and arrived at a somewhat secluded pastry shop.

The pastry shopkeeper greeted him with a smile. "What would you like, sir?"

"Osmanthus cake." Chang Wen's face remained expressionless.

"Yes, we have some. It just arrived from Suzhou—especially crisp and sweet. Would you like to try some?"

"I don't want sweet ones. I want bitter ones."

"You must be joking, sir. How could osmanthus cake be made bitter?"

"If osmanthus spent all year hidden in the shadows, it would be bitter."

The smile on the shopkeeper's face slowly faded. He glanced around and asked, "What are your orders, sir?"

"A secret dispatch. Send it up."

Chang Wen turned his hand, and a note folded into the shape of a boat slid out from his sleeve.

With a sweep of his hand, the shopkeeper made the note disappear again. Smiling, he called out, "Certainly! Two packets of premium osmanthus cake—sweet and crisp. Please take them, sir. Come again if you enjoy them."

At the same time, in the imperial court, the horn of a sharp campaign had already sounded.

The slaughter by the Di Barbarians in a single night, bolstered by the forces of every side, surged like raging waves crashing against the reefs.

Memorials of impeachment flew toward the imperial desk like snowflakes.

Wang Chengzhang of the General Communications Office impeached Xu Xianchun, Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Commandery, for failing to suppress the barbarians and neglecting his watch.

Jia Chengning, Chief Censor of the Censorate, impeached Xu Xianchun, Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Commandery, for corruption, perverting the law, and secretly colluding with an enemy state.

The Left and Right Vice Ministers and the Left and Right Ministers of the Supreme Court jointly submitted a memorial impeaching Xu Xianchun, Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Commandery, for neglecting his duties and disgracing the nation's prestige.

Seven members of the Hanlin Academy impeached Xu Xianchun for occupying his post while accomplishing nothing and using his authority for private gain.

Thirteen members of the Imperial Academy jointly impeached Xu Xianchun for failing to suppress the barbarians.

Then there were the Ministry of War, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Revenue, and Ministry of Rites—twenty-seven people in all, submitting memorials either jointly or individually.

And this was only the central government. Memorials from the provinces were still racing in on horseback.

Yet what made for quite a spectacle was that not a single official above the third rank had submitted one of these memorials. Most were minor officials between the fifth and seventh ranks, and their target was unanimous: Xu Xianchun, Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Commandery.

Under Prince Wei, Nine Thousand Years Old, there were five tigers in civil office, five leopards in military command, as well as ten dogs, ten sons, and forty grandsons.

Xu Xianchun, Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Commandery, was the foremost of the five leopards and a key figure in Wei Zhongliang's command of the Flying Fish Guard.

When two armies faced each other, the vanguards tested the waters; kings did not meet kings.

A fine show had only just begun.

Back in the cell.

Qin He was utterly unaware of the turmoil outside. He was squinting his eyes and grinning with a soft heh-heh-heh.

Anyone who did not know better would have thought he was dreaming of marrying a beautiful bride.

Inside the Corpse Burning Hall, the twenty-eight vicious corpses were cremated one after another.

The Shadow Play Performances came too fast for the eye to follow, and rewards arrived one after another. Though their quality had been deliberately lowered, there were plenty of them.

Every so often, he would flip his hand and toss a Power Fruit into his mouth.

Chewing and swallowing it with loud smacks, he would then hear his body crackle and pop as his sinews, bones, skin, and flesh reshaped themselves, his strength steadily rising.

After a while, he flipped his hand and produced a Marrow Cleansing Pill. He looked at it, then tucked it into his robes.

After another while, he flipped his hand again, producing a Golden Wound Pill, then flipped it once more to reveal a second Power Fruit.

Those were the visible rewards. The unseen rewards—internal energy, Dao Xing, and skills—were even more numerous.

As expected of vicious corpses gathered from every province. They were either exceptionally vicious, mutated, or had possessed special identities in life.

Even though the rewards had been greatly suppressed, they still yielded many good things.

Water Play Technique: Learn this technique, and you will rival a dragon in water. Swimming through Dragon Gate and frolicking in pond tides will be effortless.

Rock Climbing Technique: Learn this technique, and climbing cliffs will be as easy as walking on level ground.

Breathing Technique: Learn this technique, and the pores across your entire body will breathe in your stead, allowing you to avoid wind, smoke, water, and poison.

Barbecue Technique: Learn this technique, and you will grasp the essence of barbecue, with skills unmatched under heaven.

Bird Taming Technique: Learn this technique, and taming rare birds in cages will be as easy as taking something from your pocket.

Backflip Technique: Learn this technique, and you will be able to perform eighteen consecutive back handsprings.

Thirty-Six Spirit Suppressing Forms: Learn this art, and you will master thirty-six great spirit-suppressing forms. Ghosts, specters, and demons may be seized with a mere outstretched hand.

Over the course of nearly four hours, the rewards gradually arrived.

How should he put it? The skill quality was still somewhat low, but quantity was king. One particularly good reward had appeared after all—the final Thirty-Six Spirit Suppressing Forms. It could suppress all spiritual entities, containing arts, techniques, and even formations. Its depths were unfathomable.

The Water Play Technique and Breathing Technique were ordinary when considered alone, but together they were incredible. The Grand Canal was close at hand; sooner or later, they would come in useful.

The Barbecue Technique could improve his quality of life, which was quite good for a glutton like Qin He.

Skills like the Rock Climbing Technique, Bird Taming Technique, and Backflip Technique were somewhat useless.

The Rock Climbing Technique was useless unless he encountered cliffs and precipices, but the Capital Region was flat as far as the eye could see. A few small earthen mounds already counted as mountains. Qin He had no interest in the Bird Taming Technique, and as for the Backflip Technique, it was purely there to make up the numbers.

Still, with all kinds of skills, anything he got was a gain. Who knew what might happen in the future?

As always, too many skills never weighed a person down.

Excluding arts and skills, he had gained a total of forty-six years of internal energy and thirty-eight years of Dao Xing.

Added to what he had already accumulated, Qin He now possessed more than one hundred and twenty years of internal energy—two full sixty-year cycles—and his Dao Xing had also surpassed a hundred years.

Even Qin He himself did not know what level his strength had reached. There were too many cultivation paths in this world; they did not align with one another, and each had its own strengths and weaknesses. It could not be explained in just a sentence or two.

The tangible items included three Power Fruits, two Golden Wound Pills, one Marrow Cleansing Pill, one Lucky Doll, and one Cursed Doll.

He had seen the first three before, so there was no need to say more. The latter two were rather interesting.

Cursed Doll: A doll from the abyss, created by a Fate Mage. Those struck by its curse will receive the curse of the gods of fate and suffer bad luck for seven days.

Lucky Doll: A doll from the abyss, created by a Fate Mage. Carry it close to your body, and you will receive the blessing of the gods of fate, allowing it to take your place in death once.

When Qin He saw these two items, he nearly laughed out loud. Items from the abyss truly never disappointed.

The Lucky Doll could take his place in death once, which was equivalent to gaining another life. The Cursed Doll was equally miraculous. He only needed to write someone's name and birth date on its back, and the curse could be cast.

Though it did not specify exactly how unlucky the victim would become, considering the abyss's style, it was bound to be exquisitely painful.

All in all, the Lucky Doll was the best of the twenty-eight rewards.

And this was not over yet.

Because there were still two corpses dragged out of coffins that had yet to be cremated.