Heart Turned to Ash

Xu Feng followed behind Master.

Two large red lanterns hung high outside the West Room. Unlike the other places in the Earth God Shrine, this door was often kept shut.

A strand of Reed Grass was caught in the stone carving beside the door.

Xu Feng glanced at the carving. It looked unusually ferocious, but he could make nothing else of it.

He did not even need to go inside to smell the blood coming from the room.

Beneath the smell of blood lay another odor, one that stirred nausea and fear.

The whole room seemed steeped in it. Though water and herbs had been used to scrub the place, the stench had sunk deep into every brick and tile and would not disperse.

As Xu Feng stood at the doorway, his tall, thin Master stared at his back. "The door's unlocked. Open it!"

Xu Feng pushed the door open.

Master watched his hands closely. Seeing that they did not tremble, he nodded to himself. Once Xu Feng had opened the door, he glanced back, and Master motioned him inside.

With no light in hand, Xu Feng steeled himself and walked in.

The moment he entered, Xu Feng noticed something "strange" about the room.

It was even more bitterly cold than outside, yet his breath did not mist. His tall, thin Master took out a fire striker, blew it to life, and lit several candles, brightening the West Room.

By their light, Xu Feng could make out the furnishings of the West Room.

The room was all but empty.

Apart from a folding screen, Xu Feng saw no furniture.

There were no decorations on the walls, either.

"Come with me."

Master walked around the screen to the space behind it.

Xu Feng followed and saw several large beds—or rather, large tables—behind the screen!

They had been pushed together. Xu Feng hardly needed to think to know what this place was.

A morgue.

Under those straw mats lay today's "customers"!

Judging by the number, though, he had a lot of work ahead of him today!

Master counted them, checking that no bodies were missing or had been added. Then he said, "Choose! Let's see which one you pick for your first job!"

Xu Feng steeled himself again. The only thing holding him up was his determination to survive and leave this place afterward.

As long as that resolve held, he could charge straight through. If it broke, he was finished.

He lifted the nearest straw mat and saw the "corpse" beneath it.

The head had indeed been severed from the body.

It lay to one side, still slowly seeping fluid!

Before Xu Feng could examine the body closely, his Master came over. He gave Xu Feng's choice a casual glance and said, "Not a bad choice. This man didn't suffer when he died.

"Judging by the cut, it was probably your Uncle Liu's work.

"Your Uncle Liu is a kind man. Unless someone has given him special instructions, he kills with a single stroke, good man or bad. This one died quickly and was brought here promptly, so there shouldn't be much lingering resentment. You can do the Sewing straightaway."

Xu Feng stood beside his master, examining the corpse with him. His master held a candle and passed another to Xu Feng. "We corpse stitchers must learn to observe, smell, ask, and feel before we sew.

"In times like these, there's no telling what a person might become after death.

"I've lived this long because of two words: be careful.

"For example, as soon as you walk in, count how many corpses are here. One more or one less won't do.

"If even a single corpse has appeared or gone missing, stop at once and prepare to deal with the bodies. Understand?"

"I understand," Xu Feng said.

Master turned to look at Xu Feng again, and his heart softened.

The bodies here today had all been beheaded in daylight. They were unlikely to undergo Corpse Transformation, and the chance of any other strange change was almost nonexistent. That was why he had chosen them for his disciple's first job.

It was mainly to build his courage.

Even so, failure was possible.

At the thought of what would happen if Xu Feng failed, Master sighed inwardly.

He could not help adding a few words he had not planned to say.

Moving his candle slowly over the corpse, Master studied its appearance and said, "Though we also call our craft Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation, it isn't the same as a physician's.

"Observing, smelling, and feeling take years of painstaking practice. Even if I taught you now, you couldn't learn them at once. You have to take them slowly.

"But there is one skill I can teach you right now.

"That is how to ask.

"If you learn it, then even if you fail to sew this corpse today and never become my disciple, you'll still be able to find work with Yinmen and earn your keep.

"Consider it a reward for the years you've spent honoring me as your Master.

"You've treated me with filial devotion. I can hardly fail to show you kindness."

Xu Feng did not refuse. At this point, whatever his tall, thin Master said went.

"Thank you, Master!" he blurted out.

Master paid no mind to the hurried reply. When it came time to pass on a secret art, it was not for a third person to hear.

He checked each corpse in turn, then said to Xu Feng, "Bring me three sticks of incense."

Xu Feng brought the incense.

"Light them and set them in the Sewing between the bricks by this corpse's left foot."

Xu Feng did as instructed.

"Take the bamboo pole and push aside the roof tile above his right side."

Xu Feng took the pole and pushed the tile aside.

That caught him by surprise.

If his mind had not been occupied elsewhere, Xu Feng would have wanted to know what sort of house had roof tiles that could be pushed aside from within.

Weren't they afraid of rain leaking in?

Once that was done, Master said, "What I'm teaching you is the 'inquiry' part of Inspection, Auscultation, Inquiry, and Palpation.

"By watching how these three sticks burn, you're asking the local deity and this corpse for the answers you need.

"There were originally thirty-six ways to read three sticks of incense.

"By your grandmaster's generation, only nine had been passed down.

"By the time the art reached me, six remained. But right now, I'll teach you only one."

"The Minor Ominous Sign!"

"There are three ominous signs in the incense. If you see the Major Ominous Sign, you won't escape. Only with the Minor Ominous Sign do you have a slim chance of survival!"

"The Minor Ominous Sign means lighting the three sticks. Their flames burn low and dark without leaping, while the smoke coils stubbornly despite the still air. All three trails curl and disperse about two handspans above the incense tips. The ash does not fall, and of the three sticks, two burn short and one remains long. That is the Minor Ominous Sign!"

"If you encounter this Incense Divination, it means something baleful is nearby, or an evil presence has latched on to you. It bodes ill."

"When that happens, whatever else you do, find a way to break its Baleful Intent. Understand?"

Xu Feng committed every detail to memory. "I'll remember, Master."

"Good."

Master had no intention of testing him. He lifted another mat, took out his satchel, and unfolded it, motioning for Xu Feng to watch what he did.

"Now I'll teach you corpse stitching.

"This is the Large Needle, this is the Hooked Needle, this is the Small Needle, and this is the guiding Needle."

"This is plant ash, this is tree root, and these are the herbs—

"This is the position, this is the technique. Keep the head straight. Pack ash inside for Filling, to absorb the blood and grime. Set the neck in place and bring the limbs together so nothing ends up reversed—"

Xu Feng listened with utmost care and followed every step just as carefully.

He was exceptionally good with his hands. That was not because it was a game, or because Zhao San had steady hands. The credit belonged to Xu Feng himself.

Xu Feng's hands had always been steady.

And so the whole process seemed to pass without incident, though it had been perilous enough. There were parts near the end that Xu Feng did not want to remember. In any case, he sewed up the entire corpse and finished his first job.

The instant the task-completion notification sounded, he quit!

He did not even look at the evaluation!

But it was definitely far better than he had expected!

The moment he left the game, Xu Feng said nothing. He carried the console into another room and locked it up! If it had not been dark, he would have loaded the console and its cartridge onto a tricycle and dumped them in the mountains.

Lying in bed, he forced himself to focus and checked the time.

He had entered the game at 7:45. Now it was only 7:50.

Those five minutes even included the time he had spent carrying the console away and locking it in the other room.

Now that he lay in bed, everything that had happened felt like a dream beneath the southern bough.

But just as he forced himself to settle down and close his eyes to rest, a Character Panel abruptly appeared before him.

Xu Feng stared at the Character Panel and gave a smile as dead as ash.

The Character Panel read:

[Name: Xu Feng]

[Skills: Corpse Stitching (Novice), Reading Ill Fortune in Incense (Part One), Invoking the Gods' Protection (Novice)]

[Items: None]

[Game level: Layman]

[Reputation: Unknown]

[Privileges: None]

[Exchange access: Not yet unlocked]