The White Lake Ling Clan?

Everyone's expression changed, and they turned to Tang Changsheng. His face looked grim too, but his eyes gleamed as he said, "I told you, these people were infected with Corpse Poison. When a person dies with a breath of resentment lodged in his chest and refuses to let it out... he's on his way to becoming a Zombie..."

Perhaps many people in the big cities had forgotten such beliefs. But Lower River was hardly a bustling modern metropolis. Many here had heard these stories since childhood, and their faces drained of color as they looked at Tang Changsheng.

One nurse lowered her voice and asked hoarsely, "Master, you... you mean he's going to become a ghost?"

Gulp! People all around them swallowed without thinking.

"Not a ghost. A Zombie. But there's no need to be afraid. The soul returns on the seventh day after death. Before seven days have passed, he can't become one of those things. You can rest easy," Tang Changsheng said gravely.

"And after seven days?" The person who asked was almost in tears.

"Didn't I tell you to cremate the body at once?" Tang Changsheng said, a fierce glint flashing through his eyes.

"Oh, right..." Everyone in the room came to their senses as if waking from a dream. Family members, doctors, and nurses alike immediately set about having the body cremated.

"Maybe we should keep a tissue sample for analysis and research," Chen Xin said faintly.

Everyone simply ignored her.

Ordinarily, getting a body cremated this quickly would have been impossible!

What was more, burial was still customary in Lower River. People believed the dead found peace only once they were laid to rest in the earth...

But with the Chen Household's influence and underworld bosses like Zhang Dacheng and Zuo Xingfa involved, the matter became simple. A few arrangements were all it took.

In two hours at most, the man who had just died would be reduced to gray-white ashes...

"What's this?" Tang Changsheng suddenly noticed something clutched tightly in the corpse's hand.

"It looks like a chain. My brother had been gripping it ever since he came back. He wouldn't let go no matter what... I'd never seen it before."

The dead man's younger brother spoke uneasily as Tang Changsheng strode over.

The corpse did indeed grip the chain fiercely, its hand showing no sign of letting go.

But Tang Changsheng stepped up and, with a movement no one could make out, took the chain from its hand.

It was a gold chain. Hanging from it, however, was neither a pendant nor anything like a jade ornament.

Instead, it held a purple bead the size of a little finger, clear as amethyst.

His expression shifted slightly. "Could that legend be true?" he murmured.

"Master, shouldn't we check on Brother Song Da first?" Zuo Xingfa hurriedly reminded him.

Tang Changsheng nodded and put the chain away.

Song Da was in much better condition. He too had been infected with Corpse Poison, and many parts of his body had turned black, but a bluish bruise marked his forehead.

One glance was enough for Tang Changsheng. "He can still be saved. Prepare some glutinous rice first..."

He then rattled off a long list of medicinal ingredients for them to gather!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Song Da could be saved. Even those who had never gotten along well with him, such as Zuo Xingfa, felt the same.

Perhaps it was the fox grieving when the hare died. Or perhaps it was simply a way to comfort themselves.

They seemed to feel that if Tang Changsheng could cure Corpse Poison, he could not be any weaker than the one on Gourd Islet...

That would mean they had not chosen the wrong man to follow!

At least seven or eight people could be saved. Treating them all would be no easy task. It looked as though he would not make it back to the General's Temple tonight!

But if someone attacked the General's Temple while he was away...

A faint smile touched Tang Changsheng's lips. He hoped that girl Ling Xiaoyu could be relied on—and that she would give him a pleasant surprise.

He suddenly asked Zhang Dacheng, "Dacheng, I heard Ling Xiaoyu is related to the Chen Household?"

Zhang Dacheng was baffled, but he had been the one who sent Ling Xiaoyu to the General's Temple for treatment last time.

At Tang Changsheng's question, he replied at once, "Yes. Miss Ling is a cousin of the Chen Household. She came to Lower River for the holidays."

Then he remembered that he seemed to have seen Ling Xiaoyu on the mountain again last time. Zhang Dacheng paused before adding, "That Doctor Chen Xin just now should be Miss Ling's older cousin..."

Tang Changsheng nodded and asked nothing more. Zhang Dacheng lowered his voice. "Her father seems to come from a distant branch of the White Lake Ling Clan. I think he holds a minor post in the central government on the mainland now!"

The White Lake Ling Clan? It was a family of scholars, a distinguished house. But if he came from only a distant branch, that counted for little.

At that moment, Ling Xiaoyu sat in the study of the General's Temple. The sky was gradually darkening.

Strange sounds she had never imagined rang out from time to time. Fortunately, although the General's Temple stood in the mountains, it had been built with great care. There were certainly no rats scurrying about in the rafters...

But the occasional cries of night owls outside were enough to make anyone's skin crawl!

Ling Xiaoyu was not particularly timid, yet sitting in an ancient temple deep in the mountains, facing a Deity Statue with a blue face and bared fangs, left her thoroughly frightened.

Earlier, she had still been able to sit and read through the materials and documents Tang Changsheng had collected with keen interest.

Now her nerves were too frayed for her to read any longer. All she could do was silently pray that Tang Changsheng would come back soon!

Under such circumstances, time crawled by. Every day seemed to last a year.

Whenever she checked the time, only a few minutes had passed.

The torment was almost unbearable...

Meanwhile, Tang Changsheng was still at the hospital, treating the injured.

After all, Song Da and the others had ended up like this because they had been working for the General's Temple.

If Tang Changsheng refused to save them, or failed to do so, it would chill everyone's hearts!

Seven or eight large wooden tubs stood filled with boiling water. All manner of medicinal ingredients had been poured into them, turning their contents into herbal baths.

A peculiar medicinal fragrance spread far and wide. It could be smelled clearly even around the hospital.

Fortunately, this was a hospital, and medicinal supplies were plentiful. Although Western medicine had gained ground over the years and now dominated hospitals everywhere, the imperial court was encouraging the development of traditional medicine. Every hospital still retained a considerable corps of traditional physicians.

Seven or eight living people were lowered into the wooden tubs. Before long, a faint fishy smell rose from the simmering baths and mingled with the medicinal fragrance, creating a most peculiar odor.