Corpse

A spark of light appeared in Aunt Mei's eyes.

"Fa, really?"

Zhong Fa nodded.

"Aunt Mei, you'll be reunited with Uncle Dong very soon."

"That's wonderful. Wonderful."

Aunt Mei rubbed her hands together, pacing in circles.

"Fa, is there anything I can help with?"

Aunt Mei suddenly asked.

"Not yet. Rest for a while, Aunt Mei. I'll call you when I need you."

"All right, all right. I'll be in the living room. Call me if you need anything."

Aunt Mei cast a lingering glance at the coffin, then left the spare bedroom.

Watching her leave, Zhong Fa turned and took out his cigarettes, smoking three in a row.

Once the warmth inside him had suppressed the icy chill, Zhong Fa walked over and stood before the coffin.

Clack!

Zhong Fa slid the coffin lid open about forty centimeters, revealing Uncle Dong inside, dressed in black burial clothes.

He reached in and removed the copper-coin mask covering Uncle Dong's face.

As he removed the mask, Zhong Fa felt a chill seep into him, but the warmth in his body quickly dispelled it.

Setting the mask aside, Zhong Fa pressed Uncle Dong's face with his fingers. Feeling both its coldness and stiffness, he nodded.

His gaze shifted down. Zhong Fa took the Spirit-Sealing Talisman off Uncle Dong's chest and put it away.

The time had come. He no longer needed this Spirit-Sealing Talisman.

Bending down, he picked up the basin of crow blood from the floor and poured it into the coffin along its inner wall.

This crow blood had been squeezed from the last few crows in Aunt Mei's home. It would not do much, but it could gather a little more yin energy.

Once the crow blood covered the bottom of the coffin, Zhong Fa took out his only Corpse-Control Talisman.

"Master, if you truly acknowledge me as your disciple, bless me with success on the first try."

Zhong Fa murmured as he folded the Corpse-Control Talisman into a triangle.

Unbuttoning Uncle Dong's clothes, Zhong Fa picked up a small knife and plunged it into his chest over the heart.

A dull resistance traveled through the handle, but it did not stop Zhong Fa.

Slowly, a ten-centimeter incision appeared in Uncle Dong's chest.

Putting down the knife, Zhong Fa spread the incision with his fingers and pushed the Corpse-Control Talisman inside.

Once it was in place, Zhong Fa used both hands to pinch the inelastic flesh around the incision together, gradually narrowing and closing the wound.

"I don't have a corpse stitcher's skills, but once the yin energy gathers and the body hardens, the incision will be squeezed shut. It won't matter."

After dressing Uncle Dong again, Zhong Fa turned and lit the lotus oil lamp.

After death, a person's Three Souls dispersed, leaving only the Seven Po within the body.

If the Seven Po did not disperse, the corpse would neither rot nor decay.

But the Seven Po belonged to yin, while the Three Souls belonged to yang. Without nourishing yang energy, the corpse would stiffen and become unable to move.

To make a corpse move, yang energy had to be introduced.

That yang energy could not be too fierce, so corpse oil was used to fuel the lotus lamp.

Corpse oil was the essence of yin condensed by the Seven Po. Using a corpse's yin to generate that same corpse's yang was the key principle of the Zhong Clan's Secret Manual of Corpse Driving.

Zhong Fa had secretly memorized this behind his master's back.

The Zhong Clan's Secret Manual of Corpse Driving contained three sections: Corpse Nurturing, Corpse Refining, and Corpse Control. Zhong Fa had been too nervous when he sneaked a look at it and had only remembered the broad strokes.

It had taken Zhong Fa a full twenty years to fill the gaps in his memory!

If his master had passed the Zhong Clan's Secret Manual of Corpse Driving on to him, he would have made the name Corpse-Driving Zhong known throughout every sect and tradition in the mountains long ago during those twenty years.

But none of that mattered anymore.

Holding the lotus oil lamp, Zhong Fa placed it on the coffin lid.

Now he only needed to wait for Uncle Dong to absorb enough yin energy and develop a jiangshi's body before proceeding to the next step.

Zhong Fa took out his last Yin-Gathering Talisman and placed it on Uncle Dong's chest.

His fingernail sliced open the pad of his finger. Blood scattered, activating the Yin-Gathering Talisman!

Zhong Fa left the spare bedroom and sat beside Aunt Mei on the living room sofa.

Aunt Mei clasped her hands tightly. Zhong Fa smoked in silence.

They sat quietly, staring straight ahead at the television that had never been switched on. Neither spoke.

Time passed.

Every half hour, Zhong Fa went inside and used tweezers to pull the lotus lamp's wick up a little, making the flame burn brighter.

He repeated this process three times in all.

Each time he came back out, Zhong Fa had to smoke three cigarettes in succession to drive the yin energy from his body.

When only three cigarettes remained in Zhong Fa's pack, the chill in the room suddenly vanished completely.

Zhong Fa's expression shifted. Putting down the cigarette he had just taken out, he strode toward the spare bedroom.

"Aunt Mei, come along. I'll need you in a moment."

Aunt Mei, who had been sitting in a daze on the sofa, sprang to her feet and followed Zhong Fa, both excited and flustered.

When Aunt Mei approached the coffin and looked at Uncle Dong inside, her nervous hand-rubbing stopped.

"Fa, why is there so much white hair on your Uncle Dong? What's happened to him?"

"Don't worry, Aunt Mei. It'll go away soon."

Zhong Fa removed the lotus oil lamp from the coffin and placed it on a nearby table.

Turning, he dragged a drugged black Mountain Goat out of the cage in the corner of the room.

The knife sliced across the Mountain Goat's neck, and its blood flowed into the basin that had held the crow blood.

Once the blood had drained, Zhong Fa walked over to Uncle Dong and had Aunt Mei hold the basin.

Zhong Fa placed a transparent flexible tube in the basin and put the other end into his own mouth.

After sucking blood more than halfway up the tube, Zhong Fa pinched his end shut, then inserted it into Uncle Dong's mouth.

When he let go, the blood in the tube began flowing steadily into Uncle Dong's mouth. At first, it overflowed from the corners of his mouth, but gradually, that stopped.

Uncle Dong was sucking!

Standing beside him, Aunt Mei watched the liquid level in the basin drop rapidly, at a loss.

"Fa, why hasn't Dong woken up yet?"

"He'll wake up any moment. Don't worry, Aunt Mei."

As they spoke, the blood in the basin ran out.

Zhong Fa pulled out the tube and tossed everything aside.

Holding the lotus oil lamp in his left hand and a long-handled bronze bell in his right, he moved away from the coffin, leaving Aunt Mei leaning over its opening, gazing spellbound at the corpse inside.

"Aunt Mei, how is Uncle Dong now?"

Aunt Mei glanced at Zhong Fa, then lowered her head again.

"The white hair on him is turning black. Fa, that black hair is stuck to your Uncle Dong's face. Can I remove it?"

Zhong Fa replied, "No need. That's normal. Keep watching him, Aunt Mei. Call me when Uncle Dong wakes up."

"All right, all right."

Aunt Mei slowly rested one cheek against the coffin and stared blankly at Uncle Dong.

Gradually, a smile appeared on her face.

"Dong, you've been asleep for so long. Wake up. I bought you some new clothes."

"Dong, Meizi upstairs has put on weight again lately. He said it feels strange not seeing you for so long... Heh, you always said behind his back that he was as fat as a pig. You never thought he'd still be thinking of you, did you?"

"Dong, our daughter asked us to come live with her a while ago. I didn't agree. I don't want her to see you like this."

"Dong, the people across the hall keep saying we're noisy. Once you wake up, let's move out and go to our daughter."

"Dong... I miss you so much. If you're awake, look at me."

The sorrow and longing in her eyes left two glistening trails down her face. Aunt Mei slowly reached out and stroked Uncle Dong's cheek, now covered in black hair.

The instant her palm touched Uncle Dong, his eyelids, which had been shut for over a month, moved.

Aunt Mei saw it clearly. She hurriedly reached her other hand inside and cupped Uncle Dong's face in both hands.

"Dong, are you awake? Dong, if you're awake, open your eyes and look at me."

Uncle Dong's eyelids fluttered more frequently.

Aunt Mei stood on tiptoe and leaned against the coffin, reaching part of her upper body inside.

She cradled the back of Uncle Dong's head with both hands, trying to lift his upper body.

But Aunt Mei failed to notice that once her weight pressed down on the coffin, the four stools beneath it began to creak.

Just as Aunt Mei tried to bend Uncle Dong's neck, stiff as aged wood, the stools beneath finally gave way.

Bang!

The two stools at the front collapsed under the weight. The coffin tipped and crashed to the floor. Refusing to let go, Aunt Mei was dragged down with it.

The open coffin lid slid shut from the momentum, pinning Aunt Mei's arms inside.

Aunt Mei groaned in pain.

Watching from the side, Zhong Fa did not approach, and Aunt Mei did not call for help. Instead, she strained with her upper arms, slowly forcing the coffin lid upward.

"Dong, don't be afraid. I'll open it for you right now. Don't be afraid!"

As Aunt Mei struggled, the gap between the lid and coffin opened again, fully exposing Uncle Dong's open-eyed face to the light.

Catching sight of him, Aunt Mei's sweat-drenched face broke into a delighted smile.

"Dong..."

The moment she released her held breath, the weight of the lid pressed down again.

Aunt Mei no longer had the strength to push it back up. She could only watch as the lid closed again, hiding Uncle Dong's face in darkness.

"Dong!"

Bang!

A sudden soft thud cut off Aunt Mei's cries.

A hand with black fingernails and black hair reached through the gap where Aunt Mei's arms were trapped, bracing against the sliding coffin lid.

Aunt Mei froze, then her face filled with joy. "Dong!"

Bang!

The coffin lid was shoved away, flying off and crashing to the floor.

Ignoring the pain in her arms, Aunt Mei leaned forward to look inside.

When her gaze met Uncle Dong's eyes, clouded as though with cataracts.

Aunt Mei smiled.

She stretched out both hands to meet Uncle Dong's hands as he reached out from the coffin.

"Dong, you're awake."

Squelch!

Gulp! Gulp!

Only the sound of sucking remained in the dim room.