Ink Marker Line

Watching Wencai charge forward with his head down, Qiusheng frowned. As Wencai reached him, he reached out and shoved him to a halt.

"Wencai, what are you doing? Why are you in such a panic?"

"Senior Brother, look! Master told me to burn incense, but it ended up like this."

Qiusheng looked at the three incense sticks in Wencai's hand, feigning a look of shock on his face.

"How could this happen? Come on, hurry back with me to find Master."

As Qiusheng finished speaking, the two fellow disciples ran toward the Public Mortuary.

Just as they entered the gate of the Public Mortuary, Wencai, still clutching the incense, began to shout.

"Master! Master! Come out and look at this!"

While shouting, Wencai rushed headlong into the Public Mortuary, colliding squarely with Four Eyes, who was poking his head out to see what the commotion was about.

"Ouch! My poor back! Wencai, what the hell are you doing?"

"Junior Martial Uncle, I'm sorry! Look, how did the incense burn like this?"

Four Eyes rubbed his back while taking the incense from Wencai's hand. He stood up, took one look, and let out a startled cry.

"Damn it, Senior Brother, come take a look at this!"

Uncle Nine, having heard the commotion from the inner room, walked out. He reached out and snatched the three incense sticks from Four Eyes, held them up to his eyes, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Sigh, people fear 'three longs and two shorts,' and incense fears 'two shorts and one long,' yet it has burned exactly like this."

Hearing his master say this, Wencai immediately asked.

"Master, what happens if the incense burns into two shorts and one long?"

As he spoke, he swiped a piece of flatbread from the altar in front of him.

Uncle Nine glanced sideways at his disciple, who couldn't keep his hands to himself, shook his head, and continued.

"When this incense appears in a home, it means someone is going to die."

"Is it Master Ren's family?"

Wencai had clearly asked a very foolish question.

Sure enough, Uncle Nine replied immediately after hearing his question.

"Do you think it's here?"

After saying this, Uncle Nine walked toward the coffin placed before the incense table, which contained Old Master Ren.

"If it doesn't concern you, don't worry about it, right, Senior Brother?"

"Heh, you don't need to worry, since no one surnamed Ren has anything to do with you anyway."

After a casual reply, Qiusheng ran over to his master and asked.

"Master, is there something wrong with the corpse in this coffin?"

"I've noticed that ever since this coffin arrived at the Public Mortuary, you and Junior Martial Uncle have been circling it constantly."

"Indeed, Nephew. The master inside this one is a formidable thing."

"Come, Nephew, give me a hand. I want to take a closer look at what this master looks like."

Four Eyes said this while beckoning to Qiusheng.

Qiusheng, having no intention to refuse, placed his hand on the coffin. Together with his Junior Martial Uncle, they exerted their strength and pried the lid open.

As the coffin opened, a plume of black mist rose up, and the corpse inside was revealed to Four Eyes and Qiusheng.

"Damn, Senior Brother, come look! This corpse has bloated; it really looks like it's about to undergo a corpse transformation."

"What!"

Uncle Nine's expression changed instantly upon hearing this. He stepped forward, examined the current state of Ren Weiyong, and shouted immediately.

"Quick, put the lid back on!"

Following Uncle Nine's instructions, Four Eyes and Qiusheng immediately covered the coffin.

Uncle Nine then continued to command.

"Wencai, Qiusheng, go help me prepare paper, pen, ink, knife, and sword."

"No need, Master. Look, what is this?"

Hearing his master's instructions, Qiusheng didn't rush to prepare those items. Instead, he went under the statue of the founder and took out an Ink Marker.

Uncle Nine was slightly stunned as he looked at the object in Qiusheng's hand. He took it, channeled a trace of his internal energy into it, and looked at Qiusheng in surprise.

"When did you get this, you brat? How come I didn't know?"

"Just two days ago. After hearing you and Master Ren discuss the specific time for opening the grave, my Junior Brother and I pondered it. We were afraid of any accidents, so we prepared this for you early."

"Hmm, not bad. You two did very well this time."

Uncle Nine looked at the Ink Marker in his hand and praised Qiusheng with a satisfied expression.

While praising Qiusheng, Uncle Nine cast a look of disdain toward his junior fellow apprentice.

The meaning was clear: even if you offered to trade yourself for a disciple like this, I wouldn't do it.

"Tch."

Seeing the expression in his senior brother's eyes, Taoist Priest Four Eyes let out a scoff.

"Master, why did Old Master Ren, Ren Weiyong, suddenly become bloated in the coffin?"

At this moment, Wencai, still unaware of what had truly happened, suddenly asked.

"You and your senior brother must cover the coffin with Ink Marker lines. Remember, it must be completely covered; do not miss a single spot."

After saying this, Uncle Nine handed the Ink Marker to Qiusheng.

Qiusheng immediately began the task with his junior fellow apprentice.

"People are divided into good and bad, and corpses are divided into dead bodies and zombies. Old Master Ren in the coffin is a corpse on the verge of becoming a zombie."

"That's right. A so-called zombie is someone who, before death, didn't fully exhale their final breath, leaving it stuck in their throat. This is what we call 'dying without exhaling the final breath'."

Seeing his senior brother beginning to show off his knowledge, Taoist Priest Four Eyes naturally wouldn't be outdone and spoke up as well.

"Oh, then Uncle-Master, does that mean every corpse that has a breath stuck in its chest after death will turn into a zombie?"

Hearing the explanation from Taoist Priest Four Eyes, Qiusheng immediately asked.

"Not necessarily. It's not that easy to become a zombie."

"First, there must be a breath inside the corpse. Second, the corpse must absorb a large amount of yin energy, which combines with the breath inside to generate corpse energy."

"By that point, the corpse is basically considered a Walking Corpse, the weakest form of zombie."

The explanation from Taoist Priest Four Eyes was easy to understand, and Qiusheng grasped it immediately, speaking up right away.

"Uncle-Master, you really know so much."

"That's right. The secrets I, your Uncle-Master, know are too numerous to count. When there's time, I'll be sure to tell you all about them."

Taoist Priest Four Eyes was very pleased by Qiusheng's flattery and nodded.

With that, he turned and left the area with Uncle Nine, leaving everything else to Wencai and Qiusheng.

By this time, Qiusheng and Wencai had already covered all five surfaces of the coffin with lines, including both ends.

"Senior brother, we're done. Let's call it a day."

"Done my foot. Did you forget the bottom of the coffin?"

Following Qiusheng's reminder, Wencai scratched his head and said with a smile.

"Oh, right. Senior brother, thanks to your reminder, otherwise I really would have forgotten."

While scratching his head, Wencai worked with Qiusheng to cover the entire bottom of the coffin with Ink Marker lines.

After finishing all of this, Wencai ran off immediately, leaving Qiusheng alone to face the coffin, muttering to himself.

"I've done everything I could. Tingting, if this zombie still manages to break out of the coffin and kill your father, don't blame me."

After saying this, Qiusheng put away the Ink Marker and turned to leave.