The Eighteenth Concubine

Four pallid pallbearers staggered in carrying a pitch-black coffin, panting heavily with every step.

The moment the coffin hit the floor, it landed with a dull thud that shook the entire Shroud Shop.

Li Xiang's eyelid twitched.

Something was wrong with this coffin...

It was black from end to end, and beads of blood seemed to seep through the grain of its wood. Before Li Xiang even approached, a bone-piercing chill rushed over him, raising every hair on his body.

Worse, the lid had not been nailed shut. It creaked in a teeth-grating rhythm with whatever was striking it from within.

Thud!

Thud! Thud!

It sounded as though something inside was desperately trying to break out.

"This..." Li Xiang's smile froze, and his Adam's apple bobbed. "Sir, the one inside... doesn't seem to have departed peacefully?"

"No shit. What would we need you for if she had?"

The officer gave a vicious grin and advanced on Li Xiang step by step. An oppressive stench of blood and animal musk rolled off him.

"Listen up, kid. That's the eighteenth concubine our marshal was going to take. The wretched woman was frail and short on luck. She died of illness before she even reached Tianjin.

"The marshal is kindhearted. When he heard, he ordered a grand funeral for her. But she's been... a little disobedient."

Li Xiang sneered inwardly.

Frail, my ass.

This was no eighteenth concubine. It was a barrel of explosives ready to go off.

"Sir, this job..." Li Xiang looked troubled and waved his hands repeatedly.

"I really can't do it. One look tells me this is a vicious corpse that's risen. I'm just a craftsman who stitches corpses, not a Celestial Master from Mount Longhu. You'll have to pay more..."

"What?"

Third Master Huang puffed out a mouthful of smoke and retreated behind the officer, gloating. "Little Li, have you lost track of the situation?

"You won't give the Yellow Dog Gang a discount on its business—fine, no one's arguing with you over that. But you won't give a Tianjin big shot a discount either, and you even dare ask for more?"

"Rules are rules." Li Xiang pointed to a wooden plaque on the wall. Eight characters were written on it: "Honor the dead; let them rest beneath the earth."

"This is a Shroud Shop, not the Yellow Dog Gang's back garden.

"If a corpse this full of Baleful Intent isn't handled properly and it erupts, I'll be the first to die.

"For the sake of my life, thirty Silver Dollars. Not a coin less."

"Thirty Silver Dollars?"

Third Master Huang looked as though he had heard the greatest joke in the world.

"Why the fuck don't you just rob us?!" a soldier beside him cursed.

Thirty Silver Dollars amounted to a small gold bar—enough to buy a respectable house in Tianjin.

Click!

A Mauser pistol pressed straight against Li Xiang's forehead, its cold muzzle damp with rain.

"Here in Tianjin, my gun makes the rules. I've never paid a bill, and no one's ever dared talk to me about risking their life."

The officer bared his teeth. "Will you do it or not? Say no, and I'll send you in there to keep her company right now. Let's see if you can cheer her up!"

The other soldiers worked their bolts, and a row of dark muzzles swung toward him.

The atmosphere froze in an instant.

The rain seemed to grow louder, clattering against the roof tiles and drowning out the ever-faster pounding inside the coffin.

With a gun to his head, the fear on Li Xiang's face gradually faded instead.

He slowly raised his eyes. His gaze passed over the officer's mutated beast claw and settled on the coffin that would not stop bleeding.

The lid could not hold much longer.

"If I were you, sir, I'd put the gun away and hold my breath," Li Xiang said softly.

"Quit that spooky bullshit!" The officer's finger curled around the trigger, and he sneered. "What, trying to scare me? I wasn't raised to be scared!"

Thud!

A muffled impact came from behind the officer.

It was the sound of a forehead striking the coffin lid.

The officer paused and turned back instinctively.

The soldiers who had been standing behind him now lay rigid on the floor, eyes wide with terror. Their throats made rattling sounds, as though an invisible hand had seized them by the neck.

And the coffin lid, which had been closed, was somehow half open.

A blood stench so thick it was almost suffocating burst through the cramped shop, mingled with a cloying, rotten sweetness.

It was not the stink of the dead. It was something more dangerous—Corpse Fragrance.

Only a corpse that had become a monster gave off that scent.

The woman lying in the coffin sat up.

She wore a brilliant red bridal gown and a phoenix crown with embroidered shawls. Her face was pale as paper, yet showed no trace of decay.

On the contrary, her skin was full and lustrous, even bearing an uncanny flush, as though she had just woken from sleep.

But this "sleeping beauty" was in a foul mood upon waking. Her clawed hands gripped the coffin's inner walls, all ten nails embedded in the wood.

And her eyes were open.

The whites had rolled up, leaving nothing but black. They stared straight at the ceiling, yet seemed to watch everyone peering at her.

"Mother of mercy!" Third Master Huang, who had been enjoying the show, dropped onto his backside in fright. His cigarette fell onto his crotch and burned a hole in his trousers without him noticing.

"She's... she's risen?!"

A younger soldier who had never seen anything like it went weak at the knees and trembled all over.

"Raaagh!"

An inhuman growl rose from the corpse beauty's throat. Her terrifying right arm swept toward the officer, who stood closest.

Bang! Bang!

The officer was a hard man himself, and his reactions were quick. He swung his pistol toward the red figure and fired twice.

Muzzle flashes lit the dim shop.

The bullets struck the corpse beauty's shoulder, scattering sparks with the clear ring of metal on metal. They left only two faint white marks without even breaking her skin.

"What... what kind of monster is this?!" The officer panicked completely. The intelligence from above was wrong. This was no ordinary corpse stirred by Baleful Intent. This fucking thing had iron skin.

Before he could change magazines, the corpse beauty lunged in front of him.

A deathly pale hand clamped around the officer's neck. The tremendous force turned his face the color of pig liver. His prized grafted beast claw raked desperately at her arm, but it might as well have been tickling her.

"Help... help me..."

The officer struggled with all his might, but before this monster's strength, he was a chick waiting for the knife.

The pallbearers had long since been scared out of their wits. They scrambled toward the door, with no thought for whether their employer lived or died.

Just as the officer thought he was finished, a lean figure moved.

Li Xiang sighed. The Tianjin Warlord's Black Tiger Army was notorious for protecting its own. These men could die, but not here. Otherwise, trouble would land on his doorstep.

Li Xiang did not rush in to hack at the corpse. He walked at an unhurried pace to the man and corpse locked together.

"I told you this thing would erupt if it wasn't handled properly. You wouldn't listen."

Li Xiang's voice rang remarkably clear through the rain.

He extended his right hand and spread his fingers. A dim glow, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, shimmered in his palm.

It was the Embalmer Lv10 Profession Ability he had just unlocked—Soul-Summoning Hand.

[Soul-Summoning Hand: An Embalmer's hands spend years dealing with the dead and have earned the recognition of their world. Upon touching a corpse, the Embalmer can forcibly suppress its restless remnant soul and Corpse Qi, compelling it to enter a "sleeping" state.]

"Settle down."

Li Xiang barked the words and slammed his right palm onto the crown of the corpse beauty's head.

Smack!

The blow looked featherlight, yet it cracked sharply.

In that instant, an invisible ripple spread outward from Li Xiang's palm.

The corpse beauty, so savage and impossibly strong a moment ago, went limp as though her backbone had been pulled out. The terrifying arm choking the officer lost its strength and dropped to her side.

The fierce red gleam in her ink-black eyes rapidly dimmed, and they turned murky and lifeless once more.

Thump.

The corpse fell stiffly back into the coffin and went silent. Only the coffin still twitched faintly, proof that what had just happened was no illusion.

The Shroud Shop fell deathly silent.

Only the officer's ragged breathing mingled with the rain outside the window.

Clutching his neck, the officer stared at the corpse beauty in the coffin, still shaken. Then he looked up at Li Xiang, who stood beside him as calm as a still lake, wiping his hands with a handkerchief.

"You... you've entered the Profession's path?!" The officer swallowed and tried to get up, but his legs had gone weak. He could not find the strength.

Li Xiang bent down and picked up the fallen Mauser pistol.

It was a rough imitation made by the Tianjin Warlord, but at this distance, it was deadly enough.

"Sir, you dropped your rules." Li Xiang toyed with the pistol, its muzzle drifting this way and that.

Out of the corner of his eye, Li Xiang glanced at the officer.

Clearly, they could not handle whatever was in the coffin either, and they did not dare let their superiors know they had botched the job.

Desperate men grasped at any cure. Passing through Blackwater Ancient Town, they had let Huang San, that porter from the mountain city, talk them into visiting his little out-of-the-way shop.

"Careful with that gun, young boss."

The officer's gaze had cleared considerably, and his voice had changed too. Gone was the swagger that put him second only to heaven. In its place was an ingratiating tone, suddenly open to reason.

Li Xiang smiled and walked straight to the coffin, which was beginning to shake again. He reached out and tapped it three times.

Tap, tap, tap.

A miracle happened. With those three taps, the coffin's shaking stopped for a moment.

This was the Corpse Sense an Embalmer developed from years of dealing with corpses. Though his was only at the beginner level, it was enough to cow the thing for a moment.

The soldiers stared, dumbfounded. Even the officer's pupils contracted; his fist clenched, then loosened.

One move from an expert was enough to show his skill.

This kid had the real thing. He was no charlatan putting on a show. He had definitely entered the Profession's path.

Li Xiang turned around with his back to the yellow lamplight, half his face hidden in shadow.

"Sir, let's open the skylight and speak plainly."

"Young boss, my name is Wang Shuo. I'm a squad leader in the Tianjin Clique's Black Tiger Army reconnaissance battalion. I offended you earlier." The officer immediately introduced himself, his tone now carrying a hint of camaraderie.

"So you're Lord Wang..."

"No, no, no. This is the Great Xin Dynasty now. You can't throw a title like that around."

Wang Shuo waved his hands and wiped the cold sweat from his brow. "Brother Wang is fine. Just call me Brother Wang."

Li Xiang looked up at Wang Shuo. "Brother Wang, what eighteenth concubine? This is clearly a vicious corpse clinging to a mouthful of undying resentment. You didn't even get a specialist to seal the coffin before hauling her around in plain sight."

Wang Shuo's expression shifted. He was about to speak, but Li Xiang cut him off.

"You're lucky to be alive. In another half hour, when the yin energy is strongest at midnight, that lid will fly open. Forget my little shop—even the hides on your backs won't be enough for her to tear apart."

Wang Shuo's expression changed again. "Don't try to scare me, young boss!"

"You know whether I'm trying to scare you, Brother Wang." Li Xiang pointed at the bloody seepage along the coffin's seam.

"The blood's already turning black. If you want her to go quietly, you need a Soul-Sealing Nail to lock her meridians..."

At that, Li Xiang paused, his face filling with an expression of profound pain.

"The Soul-Sealing Nail is a family treasure. Every bit I use is a bit gone forever."

"And you said it yourself: the marshal is kindhearted and wants to give her a grand funeral. But if this eighteenth concubine suddenly rises in the mourning hall and bites the marshal..."

Li Xiang clicked his tongue twice and shook his head, leaving the rest unsaid.

Wang Shuo's face twitched a few times.

He was a rough man, but he knew what was at stake.

If this transport mission truly went wrong, his whole family would be burned alive.

He had to spend the money.

A long while passed.

Wang Shuo pulled a heavy cloth pouch from his coat and slapped it onto the table, making the oil lamp jump.

"Young boss, here are ten Silver Dollars. You'll get the remaining twenty once our lady is asleep."

It was not that he did not want to welsh on the payment, nor that he was kindhearted.

Li Xiang's seemingly casual ability to suppress Baleful Intent had made Wang Shuo wary.

A Profession holder, even one of the common, ordinary Professions, stood above others once he had entered the path. Ordinary people had to show him a measure of reverence.

To respect the Profession was to respect heaven. Otherwise, Karmic Power would turn upon you.

Li Xiang picked up the pouch and weighed it in his hand. His smile instantly grew ten times more sincere.

"Gladly done, Brother Wang. You're generous."

He turned and yanked off his blue long gown, revealing a practical short outfit beneath, then headed straight for the coffin as it began to shake again.

"Shut the door! Light the lamps!"

Li Xiang's sharp command filled the shop with his presence.

"Tonight, we're going to sit with this grand lady and have ourselves a good long chat."