Trial

Xu Feng opened his eyes groggily and saw no one.

His whole body felt out of sorts, and his mind was still hazy.

But he soon came to his senses. He glanced around and found that no one was there. Only the fire beside him still burned without end.

Instinctively, he looked outside the side room.

The day was growing late. The golden crow was sinking westward; it was probably evening.

Xu Feng slowly climbed to his feet and walked out of the side room.

He was not sure how long he had slept.

Outside, he saw that the ground by the doorway had dried and hardened. That told him enough: he had probably slept for at least a day.

"You're awake."

Master was in the courtyard, doing something Xu Feng could not make out. When he saw Xu Feng come out, he spoke to him.

Xu Feng answered and walked over to Master.

But as he walked, he suddenly remembered that push. The same question returned: Master had been outside the door, and Xu Feng had been alone in the room.

So who had pushed him?

Xu Feng thought back on it. The sensation had been terribly familiar, but when he considered it carefully, it seemed impossible.

That push had felt a lot like the "Yin Virtue Assistance" that came with "Yin Virtue Protection."

But Xu Feng knew perfectly well that his Yin Virtue Protection had only lasted one day.

By rights, it should have faded long ago.

It should have been used up.

That was why he had given his [Status] a casual glance when he returned here.

He had barely looked, too busy checking the [Affinity Panel].

So Xu Feng took this chance to look at the [Status Bar] again.

What he saw startled him: his "Yin Virtue Protection" still had a whole day left!

However many days he had slept, he still had an entire day of Hidden Virtue Blessing remaining even now!

How could he have so much of it? How could it work this way?

Was it because he had helped Master stitch those corpses?

By then, Xu Feng had reached Master and saw him shoveling earth into a hole. Master looked up and said, "That flood nearly washed the Soul Bottle at your Uncle Liu's place right out.

"If your Uncle Liu's Soul Bottle had been washed out, that would've been a real disaster."

Hearing this, Xu Feng reached for a shovel to help, but Master stopped him. "Never mind that for now. You've slept so long, you must be hungry!

"I prepared food ages ago.

"Eat first. Come on, eat!"

Master planted the shovel in the ground and pulled Xu Feng away to eat. Xu Feng glanced down and noticed that besides their footprints, a pair of wheel ruts ran in and out through the soil.

Ordinarily, Xu Feng would not have noticed anything unusual.

But now he could make it out. His and Master's footprints differed in size and depth, so even in the mud, it was easy to tell which belonged to whom.

As for the ruts left by the Corpse Collection Cart—he knew what it was because they ran from outside the gate and ended at the door of the West Room.

They were shallow on the way in.

Deep on the way out.

Perhaps because the visitor had come so long ago, Xu Feng could no longer smell that strange odor in the courtyard.

But!

That was precisely the problem!

There were no footprints beside those ruts! It was as though the two-wheeled cart had come in and gone out on its own!

Seeing his apprentice stare at the ruts, Master was about to speak, but Xu Feng asked, "Master, how long did I sleep?"

Master said, "Two days. If you hadn't woken up today, I was going to shake you awake."

"Two days?"

Just then, Xu Feng's stomach gave a mighty growl. It was as if someone had broken his spell of "rotten axe handle" enchantment, and all the years had caught up with him at once.

Hunger surged through him!

He could hardly hold back his appetite!

Fortunately, Master was prepared. "When you're this hungry, don't rush to stuff yourself.

"That'll only upset your stomach. In your condition, you need to start with something soft.

"Fill your belly with water and food, but only halfway with food. If you don't get diarrhea, we'll see about the rest."

Xu Feng soaked some dry rations in water and ate them slowly.

Sure enough, he felt full yet still wanted to keep eating.

Fortunately, Master stopped him.

"Don't worry, there's more. You'll have to wait a bit, though. Have some meat broth."

Master handed Xu Feng an earthenware jar and motioned for him to drink.

As Xu Feng ate, Master tossed two pieces of firewood into the flames and said, "Well? Nothing you want to ask me?"

Xu Feng raised his head, glanced at Master, and blew on the broth. "I have my doubts, but nothing I need to ask you. If you want to tell me, I'll know soon enough.

"But Master, were all the corpses we stitched last night Demon Corpses?"

Master chuckled, though his smile was rather ugly.

He could not help it. That was what happened when a man rarely smiled.

The feeling was genuine, but no one looking at him would believe it.

Master said, "Only that man could be called a demon. The other six weren't Demon Corpses; they were products of Corpse Refinement. Incense was used to bore into their souls and talismans to guide the process. It's a kind of Witchcraft and Gu Poison Arts."

Xu Feng did not need to bring up the Daoist he had met that day. Master had plainly seen the man already, and the man had likely told Master about meeting Xu Feng.

So Master went on, "The Daoist you met that day was the local Mr. Zhou, a Householder Daoist. He came on behalf of his employer to deliver our final payment."

Xu Feng asked deliberately, "So Mr. Zhou made those corpses himself? Did he get us Corpse Sewers to clean up his mess?"

Master said, "No. Mr. Zhou has learned some Witchcraft Arts, but he doesn't know how to bore into souls with incense. At most, he knows a few Spirit Rice Divination tricks that Borrow Yin to Restore Yang.

"Those corpses came from Qian Dayou's household."

Xu Feng pressed deliberately, "Then Qian Dayou killed those people and planned to bury them after we stitched them up?"

Master sneered. "A wealthy man like Qian Dayou wouldn't pay us to stitch up a few people who died in his house.

"Judging by those corpses, I'd say he's made an enemy, and someone has their eye on his family fortune.

"Mr. Zhou didn't want anything to do with the corpses. He needs to perform rites and earn his Ritual Earnings. So he passed the corpses to us. Once their qi settles, we can burn them.

"He has other business."

Xu Feng asked, "Could stitching those corpses draw trouble down on us? Could the people behind this hold a grudge against us too?"

Master said, "One thing at a time. Besides, if my guess is right, anyone who could dig up a dead woman's body and leave it so intact is no good person.

"They might even have used some trick to kill her, then dug up her body right afterward.

"If those people come here, that'll be trouble.

"And trouble isn't something you can always dodge.

"Rest easy. Your master is still here. You don't need to worry about any of this."

At that, Master seemed to remember something. His expression turned serious as he said to Xu Feng, "Since you brought it up, there's something I ought to tell you.

"You must remember this.

"When disaster approaches, you must dodge it; when calamity falls, there's nowhere to run. Before it reaches your head, stay cautious. Leave if you can, avoid it if you can.

"But if fear makes you lose your head, you're walking the road to death!

"A man pretending to be drunk might kick a pebble, but he won't usually kick a stone monument.

"So remember: don't make trouble, and don't fear it."

When Master finished, Xu Feng nodded repeatedly. He had only been probing him indirectly. Now that Master was speaking in earnest, Xu Feng had no reason to interrupt.

Since Yin Virtue was still protecting him, waking at this moment had to be fortunate.

So Xu Feng decided to keep probing, this time about matters related to Fengxiong.