Unwelcome Guests at the Door (Thanks to Up and Down Are Stars and Moon)

Xu Feng returned to the cart, his strength nearly spent. Master wasted no time. He gathered everything they had left beside the woods, tossed it onto the cart, and immediately set off back with Xu Feng.

Even on the road, Xu Feng still had the presence of mind to think about the words he had seen in the woods.

Land God. Day and Night Wandering Gods.

He had never imagined that the foundation Master spoke of building would bear fruit so quickly.

But if he had to do it all over again—

Xu Feng would still make the trip.

After all, danger and opportunity truly went hand in hand in those woods.

For Xu Feng, rescuing people there was a matter of high risk and high reward. Whatever it meant for him now, it would benefit him greatly in the future. Protected by hidden virtue and acknowledged by the gods, he felt that after this trip to sew corpses, giving Zhao San a perfect life...

Might no longer be out of reach.

With the gods' help, he finally had the means to protect himself against the Yellow River Demon Corpse, or even the Ancient Sorcery Corpse.

Besides, Xu Feng remembered the blessing from the Land God that had appeared on him the first time he sewed a corpse.

Perhaps the Day and Night Wandering Gods could grant him a blessing too.

What a lovely thought. What a delightful thought.

As his thoughts wandered, Xu Feng found time to touch the Protective Talisman around his neck. In the woods, it had blocked several unseen attacks.

Those woods were dangerous indeed.

The first things visible from outside were the trees, growing in all manner of strange shapes. Deeper within lurked things unseen: the Yin Wraiths born from the changes to the Earth Vein caused by those who had died there.

The trees...

And the Yin Wraiths...

Were all hostile to a living person like Xu Feng.

They had entered the woods without going deep, digging up remains around the outskirts.

The remains there had not been buried deeply.

A few light strokes of the shovel were enough to uncover them.

Some even had a hand sticking out, with half their body aboveground. Those corpses could be pulled free of the earth by hand.

But the farther down they dug, the less intact the remains became. Beyond a certain depth, they could see tree roots wrapped tightly around the bones. To rescue anyone there, they would need a keen, formidable weapon to cut through the roots.

The shovel in his hands was not up to it.

The Corpse Sewer would not let Xu Feng dig any deeper either. As he put it, going farther down would be "a thankless struggle."

Even so, despite all their protections—the Baleful Blade, daylight, Master standing guard, incense ash, the brazier, and the incense trail—Xu Feng had faced danger again and again! The branches lashing down alone were more than an ordinary person could bear.

One stroke of a branch tore through skin and flesh, leaving a bloody welt! A single branch might have been manageable, but several striking together would have been too much for even a man of iron!

And that was to say nothing of the roots.

The roots deliberately tripped people.

Once inside, enemies waited above and below! Xu Feng had been uneasy at first, but after seeing those words, he became fearless.

He did not hesitate. He knew he could not sever a thick root with one stroke of his shovel, but he swung anyway.

He put all his strength into the shovel and drove it down hard. Even if he only broke the root's skin and made it bleed, that was enough!

By the end, Xu Feng had lost count of how many sets of remains he had dug up. He only remembered that his movements had become almost instinctive.

He had nearly struck Master with the shovel.

Something else had opened Xu Feng's eyes. Whether the bodies lay buried or half exposed, they looked whole, almost lifelike.

Yet the moment he and Master pulled them free, their flesh rotted and their bones crumbled.

They immediately lost all human form, the very likeness their bodies had held.

Each time this happened, Master clapped and said, "Good, good, good!"

That was release!

And so, the master and disciple's work that day could be called complete, and they made their way home.

While Xu Feng had been exerting himself, his blood and energy had kept him going.

But once the danger was behind him and that last surge faded, pain swept over his whole body like a rising tide.

Unable to bear it, and with no intention of suffering for suffering's sake, Xu Feng asked, "Master, do you have any Dragon-Tiger Plaster left? It hurts badly. Could you put on another dose?"

Master chuckled, stepped forward, and applied several patches of Dragon-Tiger Plaster where Xu Feng's meridians met his sinews and bones. Then the two of them continued home in good spirits.

Master seemed to be talking. Judging by his tone, he sounded cheerful. Xu Feng wanted to listen carefully and answer him.

But he grew too dazed as they walked.

Dragon-Tiger Plaster treated injuries to the muscles and bones. It was not some miracle pill that restored all his strength.

Xu Feng might have been fierce in the woods, with his ears open to every direction and his eyes scanning all around.

But once he was out of danger, exhaustion hit harder than the tide, wave after wave crashing over him. In the end, Xu Feng fell asleep while walking.

He rested one hand on the cart, head bowed, fast asleep!

Even in the last hazy moments before sleep, Xu Feng's mind had wandered wildly.

At times, he marveled that Master's body must be made of iron.

At others, he thought Zhao San's body was truly hopeless.

It could not even withstand that much exertion.

Xu Feng drifted along in a daze until he pitched forward. His Master, who had already noticed, caught him at once.

Then his Master carefully laid Xu Feng on the wheelbarrow and looked at him, slowly shaking his head.

There was not a trace of disappointment in his eyes, only a hint of amusement.

He knew what had happened.

It seemed that once they got back, he would have to build his disciple's strength up properly.

As the tall, thin Master pulled the cart with his disciple aboard, he thought again of his recent conversation with Liu Dahu, the Executioner.

"Why has the Earth-Fire Cult come back?"

If not for that, he would not have sent his disciple to accumulate Yin Virtue so soon.

After all, clever as his disciple was, he had not even mastered the Needle Method.

Bringing him here had been something of a risk.

This was truly seeking fortune in the jaws of danger.

"The Earth-Fire Cult. The Earth-Fire Cult."

The tall, thin Master leaned forward and pulled the cart on.

He was no less wary of the Earth-Fire Cult than Qian Dayou was.

Now they had emerged into the world once more.

"The world's falling into chaos."

A thousand thoughts were compressed into those few words.

After that, his master fell silent, once again the taciturn Corpse Sewer, and brought his disciple back to the Earth God Shrine.

Xu Feng vaguely felt himself fall asleep, vaguely felt someone lift him off the cart, and vaguely felt himself laid on the ground—or perhaps on a bed. Then, still in a haze, he heard someone knocking on the door.

Finally, he dimly sensed that someone had returned.

Everything remained a blur. But then Xu Feng felt people pushing him. There were men and women, old voices and young.

"Benefactor, benefactor! Wake up, benefactor."

With that push, Xu Feng's eyes flew open. He saw firelight not far away. His Master sat beside the fire, the flames casting shifting light and shadow across his face.

Seeing Xu Feng awake, his master turned to him and said, "You're awake."

"Mm," Xu Feng replied, then looked around.

He was inside the Earth God Shrine, and his Master was several paces away.

In that case...

Who was pushing me just now?