The more he asked, the more Xu Feng abandoned the possibility of borrowing some greater power. From the sound of it, the other great powers he had originally sought might well exist.
But the paths they followed seemed rather different.
Once they met,
friction might even be inevitable.
Would they help him? Two words: "Hard to say."
So even now, Xu Feng found himself thinking that perhaps it was better not to meet them. The vehicles jolted along the road.
But Xu Feng remained placid as an ancient well, his [Unruffled Mind] undisturbed.
Everything he had seen and heard came down to one maxim for him.
Meet soldiers with generals, and stem floods with earth.
Nothing bad happened along the way, either. Both vehicles returned smoothly to the Forest Ranger's Courtyard. Xu Feng carried the "corpse" down, then offered incense to the Youdu Lord and Ren Bo.
Finally, while daylight was still plentiful,
he erected an exceptionally tall pole in the northwest corner of the Forest Ranger's Courtyard ahead of time.
It would make the work easier that night.
There was no flag on the pole. It stood bare.
That made it convenient to use as a ladder.
A means for the soul to leave its dwelling.
Chen Ye helped Xu Feng with the work. Once they finished, he clapped the dust off his hands and asked, "Mr. Xu, what's this for?"
Xu Feng stood beneath the pole and squinted up at it. Seeing how straight it was, he grew even more satisfied. "This is for sending off the soul.
"Tonight, we'll burn a fire basin underneath it and say a few kind words, letting the smoke rise straight up to build a ladder into the clouds for the corpse.
"Once we've sent it off, we'll see how things stand."