The Corpse Bearers

"..."

A long while passed, yet the Patrol Army found that not a single person had stepped forward.

At that moment, the leader of the Patrol Army, a general wearing a pointed hat, stepped forward and said, "Rest assured, everyone! Our Patrol Army will send a hundred mounted soldiers to escort you to the Mass Burial Ground. If any corpses truly reanimate along the way, we military cultivators have our own ways of suppressing them!"

"I'll go!"

"With a hundred copper coins, I can move right up against the city wall. At least I won't have to spend every day living with my heart in my throat!"

"I'll go too. With military cultivators keeping them down, surely they wouldn't dare rise up!"

The work was dangerous.

But with military cultivators escorting them, that was another matter entirely!

"Me! Sign me up too!"

Ye Qianfan finally managed to squeeze to the front of the crowd and reach the registration table.

However, the Patrol Soldiers responsible for recording names and handing out wooden tags glanced at Ye Qianfan and said, "We don't take children. Go on, get lost!"

"Sir, I'm not a child. I'm already..."

Before Ye Qianfan could finish, the people behind him shoved him out of the way.

Although it was work that meant risking their lives, the pay was generous...

The Patrol Soldiers soon recruited some thirty people!

"Look at that!" Seeing that no one wanted Ye Qianfan even when he offered to risk his life, Auntie Fatty launched into another round of sneering mockery. "Some people live worse than dogs. Nobody wants them even when they offer their lives, and all they can do is wag their tails and beg, refusing to leave their master's home! Some dog-skin plasters just won't come off, no matter how hard you shake them!"

"..."

Ye Qianfan listened to Auntie Fatty's bitter, cutting words without arguing.

He merely looked with envy at the adults who had been chosen, each already holding their hundred copper coins in payment!

With that money, he would have the capital to start a small business!

He had to find a way!

"Seventeen more people."

The Patrol Soldiers counted their recruits and discovered that they were still short by almost half!

They did not want to carry those ill-omened corpses themselves either, so they immediately called out again, "We leave as soon as we have enough people! If we move quickly, we can be back before sunset this afternoon!"

Hearing that they could make the round trip within a day, those who had not dared to go began itching to join.

Soon...

Another dozen or so people joined the long line.

"Only two places left!"

Ye Qianfan watched as his chance threatened to vanish in the blink of an eye!

He simply gritted his teeth, picked up a palm-sized piece of stone from the ground, and walked toward the Patrol Soldiers handling registration.

Seeing Ye Qianfan holding a stone, the registrar looked puzzled, but his hand quietly settled on the sword hilt at his waist as he barked, "What are you doing?"

Crack!

Yet...

Ye Qianfan did not answer. He simply gripped the stone and smashed it against his own head!

The palm-sized slab of stone instantly broke into several pieces!

But Ye Qianfan also felt a warm trickle of liquid running down his forehead and over his brow. It hurt a little and itched a little too.

He did not wipe it away. Instead, he lifted his head and stared at the Patrol Soldiers handling registration. "Sir, I may be small, but I'm strong, and my life's tough to snuff out! I definitely won't cause you any trouble. Give me a chance!"

"Name!"

Perhaps the Patrol Soldier handling registration pitied Ye Qianfan, or perhaps he simply did not want to wait too long for the last two recruits.

He merely released his grip on his sword hilt, picked up his brush, and asked that single question.

"Ye as in leaf, Qian as in thousand, Fan as in sail."

Clatter!

The Patrol Soldier tossed the wooden tag bearing the three characters "Ye Qianfan" onto the ground, along with a string of copper coins. "You really are a lucky brat. There happens to be an infant's corpse. You'll carry that!"

The soldiers in the city had always looked down on lowly Corpse Bearers.

And yet...

They could not do without Corpse Bearers.

The city lord had forbidden burning or burying corpses within the city. Anyone wishing to bury their dead had to take the body outside!

Moreover, the route to the Mass Burial Ground consisted entirely of rugged mountain paths. The going was difficult, and neither carriages nor handcarts could pass!

Every corpse had to be carried on someone's back!

If the city wanted to avoid an outbreak of reanimated corpses, it had to hire Corpse Bearers like them whenever enough bodies had accumulated at the mortuary, and have them carry every corpse outside to be burned or buried!

"Ah! Little Fan, that's just how your Auntie Fatty talks. Don't mind her!" Elder Uncle sighed, the wrinkles on his face bunching together with a resentful frustration, as though lamenting iron that would never become steel. "I'll speak to her later. She won't really throw you out. Why put yourself through this?"

"Thank you for caring, Elder Uncle, but I want to earn money with my own two hands."

Just as Ye Qianfan finished speaking...

"Anyone else coming?" the Patrol Army soldier at the front of the line called again. "We need one more! We leave as soon as we have enough people. One more, hurry!"

"Ah! It's all that wife of mine's fault!"

Elder Uncle looked at Ye Qianfan again and shook his head helplessly. "Fine, fine! If your father hadn't protected me back then, this old life of mine would've been lost! You're also the only heir of the Ye Household. As your elder uncle, I certainly can't let anything happen to you. This time, I'll protect you!"

"Elder Uncle, haven't you already washed your hands in the golden basin and retired?"

Ye Qianfan was puzzled. Hadn't Elder Uncle stopped working as a Corpse Bearer long ago?

Why was he coming out of retirement today?

But Elder Uncle did not answer him. He merely raised a trembling hand and walked toward the Patrol Soldiers handling registration. "I'll join too!"

"Oh?!"

Seeing Elder Uncle sign up, the Patrol Soldiers' eyes immediately lit up. "Isn't this Fu Lao, the one they call 'the master's blessing'?"

Elder Uncle possessed a special ability: he could sense good fortune and ill.

Whenever he volunteered for a job, accidents rarely occurred, so everyone jokingly called him Master Fu.

It meant that he was everyone's protective talisman!

"Welcome, welcome! Here's your name tag." A Patrol Soldier hurried over to Elder Uncle with a wooden tag and a string of a hundred copper coins. "With you joining us, we can rest much easier!"

"Master Fu is joining too? That's wonderful!"

"Old Fu really does bring Master Fu's blessing! He's carried corpses for half his life and never once encountered one rising from the dead! Following him, we'll practically earn these hundred coins for nothing!"

Everyone who had signed up was delighted!

Meanwhile, those who had not signed up for fear that the corpses awaiting cremation might rise from the dead stamped their feet and beat their chests, as though they had missed out on a million-coin lottery prize!

"Sir, could you take one more?"

"I'll go too! I'll take half the pay, just fifty copper coins. How about it?"

"Sir, look how strong and sturdy I am. I'm good at hauling things too. Take me along! I'll charge half the price, and I'll definitely be much more useful than that little brat!"

After discovering that Elder Uncle was joining, some shameless people began scheming.

And most of them kept directing their gazes, deliberately or otherwise, toward Ye Qianfan...

After all, he was the only little brat in the group who stood less than 1.4 meters tall. Malnourished and thin as a bean sprout, he stood out glaringly among them!

Many wished they could drag him out of the line and take his place!

Damn it!

Ye Qianfan frowned.

He had not expected Elder Uncle's participation to introduce such a drastic change.

Especially when the Patrol Soldiers did not immediately answer those people, and even kept glancing toward Ye Qianfan. It left him feeling deeply threatened.

"Sir, count me in!"

Another burly man stepped forward to negotiate. "I only need a third of the pay. The rest can go to you, sir! What do you think?"

"Well..."

Hearing that the money could go into his own pocket, the Patrol Soldiers naturally couldn't help being tempted.

After all, it would only take a word from him!

"If he doesn't go, neither will I," Elder Uncle said lightly.

Hearing this, the Patrol Soldiers shoved away the burly man who had approached to negotiate. "We have enough people. Pick up your corpses in order. Move out!"

As the Patrol Soldiers led the sizable procession out of Fog City, two people stood atop its walls, watching the group depart.

"Strategist, there won't be any problems this time, will there?"

"Rest assured, my lord. I've already calculated everything!" Wearing a tall ceremonial crown, the strategist waved his feather fan and smiled. "Given that mountain god's appetite, a hundred people is the most it can devour. Once the Patrol Soldiers sacrifice these Corpse Bearers, whose yang energy is strongest, and these wronged spirits, whose yin energy is most abundant, seizing the Mirror of a Hundred Demons will be as easy as reaching out and taking it!"

"There must not be another mistake this time." The city lord nodded in satisfaction. "The Longevity Festival is almost here. If we fail to obtain the Mirror of a Hundred Demons, our Fog City may lose its sacred favor!"

"You can put your mind at ease, my lord. To secure the Mirror of a Hundred Demons this time, I not only sent General Bai of the Immortal Church to lead the way, but even gave him the Paradise Bird Demon's blood. Everything is ready now; all we lack is the east wind!"

"Good, good! Hahaha..."