"": 200,
"": "",
"": "Fourth Master Gray and Little Gray Spirit returned, the two rats pressed tightly side by side, with a vast swarm of rats following behind them.
Pointed rat heads and black-gray fur filled the space, interspersed with a few mangy, gray-white shapes. There were so many that a single glance made one's scalp prickle.
"Squeak, squeak." Fourth Master Gray darted to Luo Bin's side.
By now, Luo Bin and the others were no longer on the platform, but standing below it.
"Squeak, squeak!" Fourth Master Gray cried again, sweeping his tail over the severed arm of the Ascended Corpse on the ground.
"Mm." Luo Bin nodded.
That was the understanding between them. Though they did not speak the same language, they had spent so long together that Luo Bin knew Fourth Master Gray wanted the arm.
Fourth Master Gray seized the arm in his jaws and whipped his head around, tossing it into the swarm!
The rats erupted into a frenzy.
In moments, nothing remained of the arm but bare bone.
Soon, even the bones were chewed to pieces.
Yet none of the mountain rats dared covet any of the other corpses there.
Luo Bin spoke quietly to Fourth Master Gray, explaining what he needed.
Fourth Master Gray squeaked again, and the mountain rats swarmed up the steps, quickly reaching the platform.
At first, the coffin did not budge. As more and more rats gathered, almost completely covering it, it finally moved. Slowly tilting, it was carried by the swarm toward the steps.
They moved very slowly. Whenever one rat exhausted itself, another took its place.
Slow as they were, they would get there eventually.
At last, the coffin was set down on the hexagram position of the Great Stellar Convergence.
The rats then withdrew.
Luo