The Dried Corpse Beneath the Sofa

In front of the mirror.

Xu Yuan pulled open his eyelids and slowly rolled his eyes.

The whites were perfectly clear.

There were no black shadows.

If the call log had not corroborated it, he would have suspected that everything just now had been an illusion.

Besides—

There was one more thing that could prove it had really happened.

That technique.

A heavy weight settled in Xu Yuan's heart.

—He had no idea whether it was friend or foe.

Yet that black shadow had shown him a technique.

Should he learn it?

Xu Yuan thought back for a moment.

The image of wind blowing across the bronze figure, its twenty-seven holes making a mournful "woo-woo" sound, immediately rose in his mind, startlingly clear.

He could not forget it even if he tried.

...I can't learn it.

I don't even know what it is.

Ring, ring, ring—

His phone rang.

"Hello, Uncle Yang. Were you looking for me?"

"...Okay. I'm at the hospital. We can meet at the entrance in a little while."

Xu Yuan hung up.

The caller had been Yang Mingfu.

He was Yang Xiaobing's father and worked with Xu Yuan's father at the archaeological research institute.

Xu Yuan found it a little strange, but when he searched his predecessor's memories, he found that Yang Mingfu had called at this time before, too.

—It looked like he still needed to meet him.

A few minutes later.

Xu Yuan met him at the hospital entrance.

"Here. Your dad asked me to bring this back. It's a gift for you."

Travel-worn, Yang Mingfu handed him a box.

Xu Yuan did not need to guess.

There was bound to be a letter of recommendation inside.

His father was an expert in ancient artifacts, moderately well-known in the field and widely connected.

Whenever groups went to explore ruins, they hoped he would join them.

As a cultivator who worked on the front lines, he rarely had time to deal with family matters, so he could only arrange cultivation guidance for his son from afar.

In Earth terms, he had found him a tutor.

But there was a problem—

"Thank you, Uncle Yang."

Xu Yuan accepted the box and nodded his thanks.

"No need to stand on ceremony. Come by our place sometime."

"I will."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries. Yang Mingfu patted him on the shoulder, then turned and left.

After Yang Mingfu had gone.

Xu Yuan stood where he was, opened the box, and took out the letter.

—A certificate entitling him to guidance from a Jade Balance University professor, along with contact details.

Jade Balance could not compare with the Nine Luminaries or Luofu, but it was still a prestigious university.

With guidance from an advanced cultivator like that, a student would generally make remarkable progress.

Xu Yuan gave a cold laugh, tore up the certificate, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

According to his predecessor's memories—

Tomorrow.

During an observation of the monthly exam, that Jade Balance University professor would make things difficult for him in public.

Something about it did not add up.

Logically speaking.

This world was not like Earth.

Universities might be called universities, but they were far more cohesive and organized than their counterparts on Earth.

For cultivators, attending a university was a kind of "lineage."

A university was a highly structured organization with traditions it passed down.

Xu Yuan even thought—

—They could easily replace the word "university" with "sect."

His father, Xu Chengan, was a disciple of Jade Balance University. He had made a name for himself in his field and had asked his "sect" to guide his son's cultivation, hoping the next generation would return to serve it too.

It should have been a heartwarming story.

Why would the professor make things difficult for him?

Was it because his predecessor had not officially become a qi refiner?

But it was only autumn.

There were still more than six months until the university entrance exam!

Given his predecessor's grades in the nine subjects, he still had a good chance if he pushed himself a little harder.

None of that mattered now, though.

As long as Xu Yuan did not want to attend Jade Balance University, no one there could make things difficult for him.

Xu Yuan put the matter out of his mind, walked to the bus stop, and took a bus home.

The archaeological research institute's residential compound was in the south of the city.

By the time he got home, it was nine at night.

Xu Yuan turned on the light, set down his schoolbag, and changed into slippers.

He was ravenous.

He turned on the gas stove and extractor fan, tore open a packet of noodles, and deftly boiled water, dropped in the noodles, and cracked in an egg.

—Where on earth did that bronze figure come from?

Xu Yuan watched bubbles rise through the boiling water, lost in thought.

It could plant a technique inside his eyeball.

That was simply inconceivable.

Yet Xu Yuan was just an utterly ordinary high school student.

Why go to so much trouble, using a technique of that caliber to guide an ordinary high school student into learning a spell?

...It wouldn't be worth it at all.

But the black shadow had done exactly that after discovering he had become a qi refiner.

He could not make sense of it.

Xu Yuan shook his head.

He turned off the heat, served the noodles, sprinkled on seasoning, and carried the bowl to the table.

The noodles held a faint trace of spiritual energy. Eaten regularly, they could help regulate the body's qi and blood.

—They were specially made by spirit-plant cultivators.

Xu Yuan soon finished eating, washed his bowl, then returned to his bedroom, turned on the light, sat down at his desk, and started his homework.

A spirit portrait glowing faintly hung on the wall.

In it, peach blossoms filled the air.

A woman in a feathered rainbow gown held a jade-green flute and smiled toward the viewer.

—It was a spirit portrait of Tang Yunyu, a top-tier celebrity cultivator.

She was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator who followed the exceptionally rare path of music, and she was hugely popular with young people.

His predecessor had moved mountains to get hold of this authentic portrait, finally buying it online at several times the original price.

Only 9,999 copies had been released, and they had sold out as soon as they went on sale.

Rumor had it that one copy concealed a special voice-transmission array.

Before her next livestreamed ruins expedition began, the array would quietly activate, and Tang Yunyu would personally teach a cultivation art through it.

That was Tang Yunyu's signature art!

—Who would not go wild?

Xu Yuan looked at it for a while, then shook his head.

It was incredible.

If celebrities on Earth all had signature cultivation arts, their fans would probably be even more fanatical than the ones in this world.

Enough.

He did not need to think about any of that now.

It was time to study.

No matter what frightening, dangerous things he encountered, or what happened tomorrow—

His homework would still be there.

Xu Yuan started working through the problems.

A few minutes later.

He suddenly heard a commotion downstairs.

Xu Yuan thought for a moment and remembered.

That night.

The Investigation Bureau and the police were conducting a joint surprise inspection of old, unsafe buildings.

They said winter was approaching and they needed to check for unauthorized use of array plates to generate electricity and heat, lest spiritual energy run wild, trigger a magical backlash, and set a building on fire.

Xu Yuan kept working.

Before long.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.

They knocked on a neighbor's door first.

Several gentle, approachable voices patiently explained why the inspection was necessary.

The neighbor did not object and let them in.

Xu Yuan turned a page and continued writing.

In a few more minutes.

The police officers and investigators would come over and knock on his door.

It was only a routine inspection.

That was how he remembered it.

Suddenly—

Xu Yuan dropped his pen, sprang from his chair, and rushed to the window like a gust of wind. He looked down.

One, two, three...

There were seventeen vehicles altogether, police cars and Investigation Bureau cars.

Far too many.

And it was already nearly ten at night!

Inspections like this usually happened during the day, or before seven in the evening.

They were not working during the day, but had chosen to work overtime at night?

This was a closed residential compound for institute employees and their families.

Nor was there any illicit sex trade here.

—The demonesses of the Hehuan Sect had not visited North River in a long time.

So.

The police had no reason to disturb residents this late.

Something was wrong...

Xu Yuan fell silent for a beat, then turned and hurried into his parents' bedroom.

The bedroom was sparse, with nothing unnecessary in it—just two meditation cushions.

When she was not ill, his mother meditated and cultivated there.

His father carried a storage bag with him.

Whenever he wanted to sleep, he took out a bed himself.

Xu Yuan snatched up a meditation cushion.

—There was nothing underneath it.

Safe!

He rushed out, turned, and entered his own room.

Perhaps because of his mother's influence.

"Xu Yuan" did not own much either, and everything was arranged neatly.

He rummaged through the things with both hands, checking them one by one until he had gone through everything.

Nothing wrong there, either!

Had he been overthinking it?

He returned to the living room and checked everything once more.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside again.

Xu Yuan had checked every room. He had just breathed a sigh of relief and was lowering himself onto the sofa, hands braced against the coffee table.

I was overthinking it.

It should be fine.

Knock, knock, knock—

Someone knocked on the door.

Come in.

Xu Yuan was about to speak, but suddenly closed his mouth.

There was one place he had forgotten to check.

The sofa.

He dropped to the floor, lay flat, and turned his head to peer into the gap beneath it.

There, on the floor under the sofa, lay a person.

No—

Not a person.

From the look of it, it was a desiccated corpse.

Its eyes had been sewn shut with red thread. Incantations written in blood covered its body, and shackles bound its hands and feet.

Knock, knock, knock—

The knocking came again.

Xu Yuan stared at the corpse. Time seemed to stretch without end.

The police are knocking outside.

And I've found a corpse in here that's clearly not right.

What am I supposed to do?

A thought flashed through Xu Yuan's mind like lightning.

That's it.

If "Xu Yuan" is deemed a dangerous heretical cultivator, then it makes sense that he'll take that sword strike three days from now.

So this corpse was planted here to target me?

"Is anyone there?"

"Open the door."

"Routine inspection."

The police officers called from outside.

Xu Yuan slowly lifted the sofa, dragged the corpse out, and laid it on the living room floor.

He stared at it in dismay.

How am I supposed to hide it?

I can't!

Those officers were professionals. There was bound to be someone at Foundation Establishment among them.

If his mother had not set up an array plate in the living room to prevent spying, resist interference, counterattack instantly, and raise an alarm, they would probably have sensed someone inside already!

What do I do?

Cold sweat beaded on Xu Yuan's forehead, but he could not think of a solution.

Burn the corpse?

They'd detect the fluctuation from a pill-fire technique at once.

Eat it?

Xu Yuan sized up the corpse.

There's too much of it.

Besides, I'm not European.

The voices outside stopped.

Then a more forceful voice rang out:

"We can't let this hold up our work."

"Here's what we'll do. You lot break the array on the door and go in for a look. Afterward, repair the array for the homeowner."

"Yes!" several people answered.

They're definitely coming in!

They were breaking through the door!