Who Is the Mantis and Who Is the Oriole?

Hearing this, perhaps because his brain blanked for a moment or perhaps for some other reason, Xu Feng suddenly asked, "Then, Master, could I have a substitute set first?"

Master paused his hand slightly, then said, "Alright. But it will still take some time, and this needle—you and I both must make it, yet neither of us can make it alone."

To make the needles, you and I, master and disciple, must go outside to have them custom-made. Our needles are not ordinary; the peddlers at the fair do not sell the needle and thread we want.

If we want our needles, we have to go to Dayuan Town; only there can we find needles that suit our wishes.

However, think carefully. If you do not want my needles, you will have to nurture your needle yourself."

Hearing this, Xu Feng said, "Nurture it myself then! I also want to lend Master a helping hand. Even if it doesn't amount to a great deal, I'll be glad as long as I can help Master a little."

Xu Feng was certainly not speaking falsely.

He truly wanted to assist his master.

No matter what, he had to protect his master's life! Therefore, these words of his came from the bottom of his heart.

As soon as these sincere words came out.

Visibly, Master became even more pleased!

As he spoke, he continued sewing: "You rascal are quite clever and sweet-tongued. Fine, if you can truly sew these six corpses up properly, I will forge a set of needles for you.

With this set of needles, you will also be a proper Corpse Sewer!"

Xu Feng: "Great, thank you, Master!"

Master laughed in spite of himself: "You really know how to climb up the pole! You're like a wild monkey."

Just as the atmosphere had eased up and they reached this point, the knocking on the door outside could finally no longer be drowned out by the sound of the wind, accompanied by cat meows that were exceptionally shrill. Furthermore, the cats were no longer outside the Earth God Shrine; they had already made it inside the Earth God Shrine!

Cats were pacing about on the roof, and Xu Feng wanted to raise his head to stare at the "ventilation opening".

That "ventilation opening" propped up by a bamboo pole.

For a cat to come down, it was more than enough.

Xu Feng had not forgotten what he had learned; if this cat were to fall down and land on the corpses, these corpses would definitely undergo Corpse Awakening! However, before he could raise his head, Master stopped his movement.

"Concentrate! I am still here, it is not your turn to worry about matters outside!"

After explaining the needle method, Master signaled for Xu Feng to take over. Xu Feng carefully sewed and asked, "Master, shouldn't we go outside and take a look?"

Master said, "There's no need to look. Given this state of affairs, there should be drowned ghosts outside looking for substitute victims.

There are also a few cats coming over as evil spirits.

The truly troublesome part, in fact, still lies with the male corpse beneath the straw mat!

Those drowned ghosts from the Yellow River are also somewhat troublesome; things from the Yellow River are beyond even the Land God's jurisdiction. As for those few cats, as long as the person behind the cats is still in Luoyin County, he will not dare to act presumptuously."

Master spoke with composure, and Xu Feng took it entirely as just hearing out the situation.

Yet after he finished speaking, Master also knew that if it were only this much, it would be fine. He only feared that other matters were entangled within it. This ability to drive corpses and summon ghosts reminded him of certain people.

The Earth-Fire Cult.

Moreover, the corpses from the Yellow River being sent here together with these few bodies always made his heart deeply uneasy. Logically speaking, people from the Earth-Fire Cult shouldn't use such methods to deal with a Corpse Sewer like him.

They could have just come with open blades and leveled spears.

It was hard to say for sure.

Holding a torch, Master stood to one side, signaling for Xu Feng to apply what he had learned into practice. As for himself, he was keeping watch over the surroundings!

When Xu Feng had gone outside to "serve the meal", he had actually already made preparations outside the West Room.

Tonight's peril—as long as they held out until dawn, there would be no need to worry.

Therefore, for tonight, his methods numbered three.

The first was the Earth God Shrine, but looking at it now, the Earth God Shrine was already open. Even so, those wandering souls and wild ghosts still did not dare to enter. In other words, those who dared to enter were no longer wandering souls or wild ghosts.

The second was the area illuminated by the lanterns. However, judging by the current state, those lanterns probably wouldn't last much longer.

Third were the stone carvings at the doorway of the West Room.

At this moment, at the entrance of the West Room, a faint scent of incense enveloped those fierce stone carvings. Two red lights lit up within the eyes of the stone carvings, while inside the courtyard of the Earth God Shrine, a pair of wet footprints appeared and vanished.

As soon as they appeared, the lanterns around them—which had been extinguished due to impacts from birds—unexpectedly and bizarrely lit up once again!

Even though the color was wrong—not a crimson red, but a desolate white—they still lit up.

As for the front of the Earth God shrine.

The door curtain in front of the Earth God shrine dropped down on its own, yet behind the door curtain, the incense smoke from the offerings Xu Feng had presented today stubbornly swirled around in this wind, heading straight toward the footprints.

Like chains, they shackled that pair of feet!

As for the cat meows.

Those cats only dared to come in and howl at the doorway, making no movement for a long time.

Just like that, matters seemed to be temporarily suppressed, and by the time this corpse sewing began, it was already the third watch of the Yin hour.

As long as he held out until the Hour of the Rabbit, when the sky grew pale, everything would be settled.

Yet right after the Hour of the Rabbit arrived.

Inside the West Room.

Outside, cats mewed and ghosts howled like wolves, to the point that water was nearly reaching the soles of Xu Feng's feet; someone was knocking on the door, and who knew what manner of things were crawling all over the roof tiles.

The entire West Room felt as though it had been surrounded!

Under such immense pressure, it was not that Xu Feng was immune to strain, but he had stubbornly forced himself to withstand it!

Hold on!

Just hold on for dear life!

Enduring in this desperate fashion, Xu Feng finally finished the task at hand.

This was the first time he had fully used two of the Four Corpse-Sewing Methods.

Filling and Sewing.

Carefully packing back the internal organs and stitching up the wounds.

Logically speaking, the rite was complete.

Xu Feng had no idea what he ought to do now that the rite was finished, nor what incantations he should recite, so he could only smooth down the corpse's eyelids with one hand—assuming it still had eyelids.

Silently chanting in his heart: Peace and joy, peace and joy!

Just as he was chanting thus, he suddenly heard a voice sound beside his ear once more.

"Benefactor!"

Not only that, Xu Feng felt someone give him a shove from behind, and immediately afterward, Xu Feng saw toward the upper right—

That was the location of the Baleful Exit.

Right now, in that very spot, a bloated and waterlogged ghostly face had appeared! The moment he saw the ghostly face, Xu Feng's body reacted even before his consciousness did!

The paper parcel, which this time did not even need to be opened, was hurled straight toward that place along with its wrapping.

Instantly, Xu Feng heard another cry of "Benefactor", and immediately, a sizzling sound came from his body!

It was the Land God's protection taking effect, but he had no time to figure out where he was being attacked, for he saw a black cat leap onto the folding screen and then lunge toward the corpse beside him!

Xu Feng stepped forward and lashed out sideways with his foot!

He kicked it flying!

He absolutely would not allow this cat to touch the corpse!

At that moment, a gust of Yin wind directly blew down the heavy folding screen! Darkness flooded in, and everywhere it passed, all the firelight was extinguished!

Xu Feng gritted his teeth, grabbed two more parcels of incense ash, and with a surge of fury and his life-blood opened up, roared, "Get lost!"

The two parcels of incense ash plunged into that darkness.

Then came a voice from behind.

Xu Feng retreated a step, turned his head, and witnessed a horrifying sight!

Master was standing before the male corpse, and the male corpse had abruptly sat up, yet Master was not the least bit surprised by this.

He even had time to say, "So you've finally woken up!"