Funeral Arrangements
Zhao An Lu Li, then left wearing his water shoes. Lu Li patted his head, all his memories flashed by, and then a powerful will connected with him, instantly activating the overwritten memories.
Lu Li blinked and extended his right hand. In the villagers' memories, his right hand was normal, but now there was a symbol in his palm that was a circle and a triangle connected together. As Lu Li looked at it, a blue flame flashed across the symbol.
Everything around seemed to slow down. An insect flew by, and Lu Li could even see its wings flapping. He flicked his hand, and the insect didn't even have time to react before it flew away.
"Did the bugs slow down? Or did I speed up?" The symbol on Lu Li's right hand stopped reacting, and the surrounding world instantly returned to normal. Then, his true form, far away in the world, writhed for a moment and provided the answer.
"My personal Time Acceleration?" Lu Li raised his right hand, wanting to activate it, but found that the symbols in his palm had no effect. The previous time was just an accidental activation. It wasn't until Lu Li focused all his attention on the symbols in his palm that the symbols restarted after about a minute, and blue flames ignited.
"It seems I need more practice, otherwise the startup will be too slow and it will be easy for others to take advantage of me." Lu Li nodded, the flame in his hand slowly went out, and his main body directly shared the measurement results.
After activating the symbol in his hand, Lu Li's time will accelerate by about 100%, so to outsiders, his speed will appear to have doubled out of thin air. Moreover, the power of this thing may not be limited to this; the Time Acceleration may be even greater, and it may also develop other abilities.
Of course, Lu Li is currently just a mortal with a physical body. Even the energy to activate the symbols is supplied by that bead. He can't even adapt to the ability of acceleration yet, let alone any other abilities.
Furthermore, since Lu Li is not a traditional self-cultivator, but relies on tools and other means to activate his abilities, there will inevitably be side effects. The first one is the issue of lifespan. Since Lu Li's body is just an ordinary physical body, whenever he activates Time Acceleration, his lifespan will also decrease at a faster rate, much faster than twice as fast, almost reaching ten times the normal rate.
In other words, for every minute Lu Li uses Time Acceleration, his lifespan will decrease by ten minutes; for every year he uses it, it will decrease by ten years. Furthermore, according to his own calculations, this loss will increase proportionally with the multiple of Time Acceleration.
On the other hand, if Lu Li stays in a fast-paced state for too long, his body will experience adverse reactions. Therefore, it is recommended that he not use his Time Acceleration ability too often or for too long each day, about five times a day, for one minute each time, so that Lu Li's body will not be put too much of a burden.
After getting a general idea of the place, Lu Li, relying on the memories of the villager Lu Li, headed towards the house of the so-called uncle Lu Zhengling, with related memories flashing through his mind.
In his original memory, Lu Li and Lu Zhengling didn't have a good relationship. Lu Zhengling was just a thief who cheated people out of their money. When he had money, he would go out and have fun, and when he ran out of money, he would come to the small mountain village to hide from his debts.
The two families had severed ties long ago. This time, Lu Zhengling broke his neck in a town outside the village. It was Zhao An worked in the town, who thought they were from the same village and sent the body back. He also called Lu Li because Lu Li was Lu Zhengling's last remaining relative, and it would be better for relatives to handle the funeral arrangements.
In fact, funerals in mountain villages are not complicated. After all, there isn't much money involved. Usually, the relatives observe three days of mourning, then they invite people to have a meal, hire a burial master to help find a place on another side of the cemetery, and then when the time comes, a few villagers help with the burial.
For those who died without relatives, even the three-day mourning period could be omitted. They could die in the morning and be buried in the afternoon, or die in the afternoon and be buried the next day. Some even didn't have a coffin and were simply buried with a straw mat.
Lu Li followed the muddy path through the mountain village and soon arrived at Lu Zhengling's so-called home, a dilapidated mud house. There were already some people outside the door, who nodded when they saw Lu Li arrive, but didn't say much.
Lu Li glanced over and saw Wang Wencheng, Lin Tong, and the others. Their expressions were no different from those of ordinary villagers, but they still had an air of incongruity, making them look unlike villagers from a mountain village.
"Has his memory not returned yet?" Lu Li instantly understood. At the same time, his gaze continued to sweep around, but he did not see Chen Qiao and Brother Long. According to his previous memories, the two of them had gone out to work.
"Those two girls are dressing up your uncle, let's wait a bit," Zhao Li said with a sigh, standing not far from the door.
Lu Li skipped a beat, and he realized that it must be Jiang Xuanmo and Gu Lin. In his previous memories, the two girls seemed to be from out of town. A few years ago, they gave some money to the village chief Zhao Li to move here. Usually, the two of them lived on the other side, and later they would help the deceased with their burial when there was a funeral.
However, there were quite a few rumors circulating in the village about the two girls. Everyone could see that something was wrong with them. If one of the girls were replaced by a boy, it would be a classic elopement story.
A moment later, the dilapidated door opened, and Jiang Xuanmo and Gu Lin came out. They filled the water vat by the door with water to wash their hands, saying, "Let's go in and take a look."
Lu Li squinted as he entered and found Lu Zhengling lying on the bed, with only his head remaining. A shroud was draped over his head to serve as his body. His neck and face had been cleaned, so he didn't look particularly ferocious.
After Lu Li came out, Zhao Li from the village pulled Lu Li aside and asked what should be done about the funeral. Lu Li thought for a moment and said, "After all, we are relatives. Let's not bury him today. I will keep vigil for him tonight, and tomorrow I will ask Uncle Feng to find a place and bury him in a wooden box."
"That works too. It's convenient now that I'm all gone." Zhao Li nodded and said. Soon, all the villagers who had been watching left. Lu Li glanced at them, his gaze shifting.
Things are a bit strange now. Lu Zhengling died unexpectedly. Of course, it's also possible that Zhao An lied, since he was the one who brought back the only remaining body. But this doesn't quite fit the original plot.
In the original storyline, Zhao An returned from the town where he worked and was surprised to find that his wife, Ma Yaoyao, was not there. When he went to ask the village chief, Zhao Li, he was surprised to find Ma Yaoyao lying on Zhao Li's bed, along with Zhao Li and Zhao Guang.
In a fit of rage, Zhao An went into Zhao Li's kitchen, grabbed a cleaver, and killed Zhao Li. So Zhao Li was the first to die, followed by Zhao Guang, and then it was Ma Yaoyao's turn.
Zhao An, brandishing a knife, interrogated Ma Yaoyao about who her lover was. He learned that most of the villagers were involved, and even those who weren't involved knew about it. And so, the bloodshed occurred.
The fact that Lu Zhengling died first means that Zhao An didn't discover Ma Yaoyao's situation, which makes the plot a bit off.