The corpse retrievers

West Market, Livestock Market.

The drainage ditch, scattered with animal dung and entrails, stank to high heaven. In the surrounding streets, the cries of cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs rose one after another:

"Moo-"

"Woof, woof, woof..."

Linghu Qingmo stood beside the filthy ditch, where there was scarcely anywhere to put a foot. A cloth covered his coldly beautiful face as he searched the sewage with a long pole for any trace of a clue.

As a real man, Yang Dabiao felt that poking around with a pole was too slow. He volunteered to take several constables, roll up their trouser legs, and jump straight into the stinking ditch.

After half a day, however, he had nearly thrown up everything he had eaten the day before yesterday. He cursed nonstop:

"Those bastards at the Street Administration Office scrub even the latrines on Wencheng Street spotless, but they don't come to the Livestock Market once in six months! Now a bunch of constables have to unclog their filthy ditch. When we get back, I'm making my father file a complaint..."

The bailiffs behind him had vomited until their faces were white. One answered weakly:

"Lord Yang, why don't you send me to escort exiled prisoners? Right now, I'd rather walk a thousand miles to the Southern Border than stay here."

"In your dreams. The expert from the Dan King Pavilion said the bodies might be hidden in the livestock market. Nobody eats until we find them."

"Urgh-"

Linghu Qingmo had not jumped into the ditch, but the stench had still left him dazed. He stopped midway to gaze down the seemingly endless channel, his eyes devoid of any desire to go on living.

Danyang was not as extravagant as Luojing, but it still had at least seven hundred thousand permanent residents. The pigs, sheep, chickens, and dogs consumed every day were beyond counting. Its livestock markets were enormous, and they were not all concentrated in one place.

Even if they searched only the slaughtering grounds, covering Danyang City would take several days. Whether they would find the Gu Flower was still unknown.

At the thought of spending the next few days dealing with filthy ditches, Linghu Qingmo suddenly stopped envying his master's freedom to go out slaying demons and vanquishing evil.

After all, his master went to places like the Southern Border Wasteland, Dragonbone Shoal, and Ghost-Cry Marsh. He did not dare imagine how disgusting the lairs of the evil creatures there must look.

While these thoughts occupied him, they found no clues to the Mad Corpse Flower. Instead, one of the Prince's Manor Guards came galloping down the street and stopped beside the ditch:

"Lord Linghu, stop searching. Young Master Xie Jinhuan just found the Corpse Pit at Cockscomb Ridge outside the city. Liu Qingzhi asks that you come at once."

"Huh?"

Before Linghu Qingmo could answer, Yang Dabiao shot out of the ditch first, disbelief written all over his face:

"He already found it? Then haven't we spent half the day wading around here for nothing?"

Freed at last, the bailiffs behind him scrambled out of the ditch:

"As long as it's found, as long as it's found. Let's hurry over. I don't want to spend another moment here."

His eyes full of surprise and uncertainty, Linghu Qingmo tossed away his pole and swung onto his horse:

"How did he find it? The senior from the Dan King Pavilion said it might be near a slaughterhouse..."

"No idea. Anyway, Liu Qingzhi sent word from Peony Pond that Young Master Xie had found the place and killed several Demon Bandits. He also beat Bao Fei from Essence Splendor Manor until he coughed up three pints of blood."

"Huh?"

Yang Dabiao had just mounted his horse. The news baffled him:

"What did he beat Bao Fei for? Was Bao Xiaolin the Demon Bandit behind all this?!"

"No. Apparently, Bao Fei stopped him from pursuing the Demon Bandits and mouthed off at him too. With Young Master Xie's explosive temper, would he put up with that? He beat him something awful."

"Then he deserved it. My Jinhuan was already showing mercy by not splattering him across a wall..."

Cockscomb Ridge lay over thirty li from Danyang City. The group talked along the way, and by the time they arrived, the sun was sinking in the west and the entire ridge had darkened.

Linghu Qingmo dismounted off the main road, followed a winding grassy path to a stream, then headed upstream. Before he even reached the pool that was their destination, a familiar smell drifted into his nose.

And this time, it packed an even greater punch!

Yang Dabiao had been jogging with his saber in hand, but his pace gradually slowed, his brows drawing tight:

"Lord Linghu, this doesn't smell right."

"It's a Demon Bandit hideout. What did you expect it to smell like? Hurry up!"

Linghu Qingmo already realized what they would be facing, but when he actually crossed the stream and reached the hollow, the sight still exceeded his expectations.

The pool, once surrounded by green hills and clear waters, had become a foul, reeking cesspool. The first thing he saw was blood and mangled remains staining several yards of ground red, with two legs lying on the ground.

Two unidentifiable, pitch-black corpses riddled with holes lay nearby. The relatively level ground beside the pool was piled with indescribable rotting chunks of flesh, impossible even to distinguish as human or animal.

Liu Qingzhi, who should have been guarding the Commandery Princess, sat resting on a rock, propped against a fork, his face pale.

The Military Soldiers accompanying him could barely keep their eyes open against the stench. Squinting, they fished things out of a cave beside the pool.

Seeing reinforcements arrive, Liu Qingzhi looked as though he had spotted his saviors. He practically stumbled over and tossed the manure fork in his hand to Yang Dabiao:

"Damn you, you're finally here! Quick, quick, quick, change shifts!"

As though struck by lightning, Yang Dabiao jumped aside to dodge the manure fork:

"What fucking shift am I changing? I just climbed out of a filthy ditch in the city..."

"Could a filthy ditch be as disgusting as this? I'd rather stay in one..."

Linghu Qingmo's little head was beginning to ache too, but as their commander, he gritted his teeth, took the fork, and asked:

"Where's Xie Jinhuan?"

"Here."

Unwilling to ruin his clothes, Xie Jinhuan had taken off his robe. Bare-chested, he stood beside the trough inside the Corpse Pit, forking corpses out. Despite his extraordinary perseverance, half an hour of work had nearly made him vomit too. Two wads of cotton plugged his nostrils.

"Gooji~"

Coal Ball loved being clean and had flown up into the treetops to supervise. He offered a greeting as well.

Linghu Qingmo hurried to the cave entrance, where the stench immediately stung his eyes. He forced himself to hold his breath, then finally took out a cloth to cover his mouth and nose before leaping down beside Xie Jinhuan:

"Heavens... You don't even belong to the Yamen. You could have waited outside. Why put yourself through this?"

Naturally, Xie Jinhuan had stayed to help because he feared the evidence he had painstakingly fabricated would be ruined!

He stirred the bubbling Corpse Pit with his wooden fork, his expression calm:

"I'm already here. What would it look like if I stood around playing the grand lord? Let's get to work. Once everything's out, we still have to identify and count the human bodies. Let's not end up staying until tomorrow morning."

A guard still working at the cave entrance did not even know Xie Jinhuan, yet he praised him:

"Young Master Xie truly is righteous. He was wounded exterminating Demon Bandits here, but he still came over to do the filthy, backbreaking work. We couldn't persuade him otherwise. Before this, Lord Linghu was the only outstanding person I'd ever met who took slaying demons and vanquishing evil as his own duty."

Smooth talk-praising two people at once.

Even Linghu Qingmo, a workaholic who had never harbored worldly desires, could not help seeing Xie Jinhuan in a new light. He was about to speak when his brow suddenly furrowed:

"You're injured?"

"It's nothing. I just overexerted myself and depleted some blood and qi. How could those Demon Bandits hurt me?"

Seeing his younger brother so "devoted to public duty and the people, never shrinking from hardship," Yang Dabiao felt too ashamed to complain. He took a tool from a guard:

"Jinhuan and I were both trained by Lord Xie. You think we can't take a little hardship? After a contribution this big, your older brother won't waste words praising you. Tomorrow night, Welcome Inn, Lord Linghu's treat. We'll give Jinhuan a proper reward and take turns toasting him!"

"Huh?"

Linghu Qingmo had thought that the henpecked Yang Dabiao was about to offer to pay-a case of the sun rising in the west. His words left Linghu Qingmo rather speechless, but he nodded anyway:

"All right. Welcome Inn tomorrow night."

"Whoa...!"

The bailiffs and Military Soldiers, nearly unconscious from the stench, instantly perked up and got back to work in earnest.

After speaking, Linghu Qingmo reached for the fork in Xie Jinhuan's hand:

"Go outside and rest properly. Leave this to us."

Naturally, Xie Jinhuan did not hand it over. He glanced toward the Evil God Statue inside the Corpse Pit:

"Leave the dirty work to Martial Artists. You're still injured, so don't go meddling. Examine that Evil God Statue first. I couldn't make anything of it."

Linghu Qingmo turned his gaze toward the ferocious image above and the patterns around it. Although he could not decipher them, he could tell that this thing was indeed unusual. He ordered:

"Liu Qingzhi, hurry and fetch Lord Tie and the others. There may be clues to a great demon here."

"Right away!"

As though granted a pardon, Liu Qingzhi ran off joyfully.

Linghu Qingmo carefully examined the traces, then looked around the trough. Among the miscellaneous objects beside it, he spotted a finely bound book.

Thinking it was a clue, he picked it up and leafed through it, only to be greeted by the "train bento" position...

Hiss~?!

Linghu Qingmo had strictly observed the rules and precepts since childhood. Never having seen such explicit images, he almost flung the book away:

"These degenerate practitioners of the Demon Path are utterly beyond reason!"

"Heh heh..."

--

Half an hour later.

As the sky darkened, torchlight illuminated the hollow.

The Military Soldiers and bailiffs were still moving the rotting chunks of corpses, but the jokes and banter had stopped. Only the sounds of footsteps going back and forth remained.

Xie Jinhuan sat on a rock beside the pool, eating boxed meals and chicken legs delivered by the Yamen with Coal Ball.

None of the Military Soldiers and bailiffs resting nearby touched their food; they were too sickened.

At the stone cave's entrance, a tall military officer in Ink-Colored Armor half-crouched on the ground, a saber hanging at his waist. He looked up at the Evil God Statue, his features rugged and even somewhat fierce.

From that utterly unsmiling expression, Xie Jinhuan could guess that this was the Prince's Manor Military Commander, "Big Fool Zhang."

His nickname might be rather funny, but as the Military Commander of an imperial prince's manor, he commanded the military officers and soldiers of all Dan Prefecture. His strength was certainly not to be underestimated. He and Zhu Wenyuan, one military and one civil, were known as the two great gate guardians under the Pill King.

Yet despite his exceptional strength and extensive experience, Tie Fengzhang had now encountered a gap in his knowledge. After examining the scene for a long time, he said:

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a site where practitioners of the Demon Path performed a Blood Sacrifice."

?

Linghu Qingmo felt there was no way to be mistaken about that! He stood nearby with his sword in hand, somewhat puzzled:

"My master said that when practitioners of the Demon Path perform a Blood Sacrifice, the image merely symbolizes their school, or serves to mystify people. Even a drawing of a bowl of noodles would still let them refine living beings. The key lies in the 'blood marks'-these patterns around it.

"When practitioners of the Demon Path refine living beings with evil arts, differences in their techniques and attainments change the direction in which the blood baleful qi flows, naturally leaving different traces. Usually, the greater their attainments, the more complex and mysterious their blood marks become. These patterns don't look like the work of an ordinary practitioner."

Tie Fengzhang understood that principle, but in over fifty years of life, having personally slain countless humans and demons, he had never seen blood marks this complex. They had practically become lightning-strike patterns.

This was enough to show that the demonic practitioner's control over blood and qi had reached the finest detail!

The methods of the Demon Path were also passed down through generations. Though they hid deep underground, most powerful practitioners who appeared in Great Qian were remnants of the Immortal Transformation Sect, the Nether God Sect, and other such groups that had clung to survival through chaotic times. Their methods differed from the traces here.

As for an expert who had independently entered the Demon Path, logically, a technique developed by feeling for stones to cross the river could not surpass the Demon Path's thousand years of accumulated knowledge.

Thus, the Demon Bandit here should be an Old Devil of the Demon Path who had never appeared before but whose attainments reached the Transcendent Immortal level-or a true demon favored by Heaven that had cultivated into a sentient being on its own!

Only days earlier, blood baleful qi had shot into the sky from Purple Emblem Mountain. Surely two such formidable great demons could not have appeared at the same time...

At this thought, Tie Fengzhang realized the importance of this place. He stood and said:

"The Demon Bandit cultivating here should be the source of the blood baleful qi at Purple Emblem Mountain! Recall everyone from the outlying counties. Investigate the Dongcang Ward and Three Harmony Tower cases with everything we have. Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must root out these Demon Bandits!"

"Yes, sir!"

The accompanying Military Soldiers immediately accepted the order.

Hearing this while eating, Xie Jinhuan felt as though a great weight had been lifted!

Had he not worried that it would seem too abrupt, he would have run over and declared:

"What insight, Lord Tie! This junior's admiration flows like a mighty river, surging without end..."

He just wondered how bewildered that unknown fellow cultivator would be when he discovered the imperial court swinging an iron fist at him!

At that thought, Xie Jinhuan genuinely grew a little curious.

Tie Fengzhang had nearly worried his hair white over the great demon these past few days. Having found a crucial clue, he wanted to return without a moment's delay. But when he saw Xie Jinhuan eating bare-chested, he still stopped to praise him:

"Thank you for your efforts. I will remember what you've done. Once this matter is over, I will personally submit a memorial requesting a reward for you, Young Master Xie."

Xie Jinhuan replied modestly, "I was merely lucky. The ones truly working hard are our brothers from the Yamen running around outside."

Seeing that Xie Jinhuan was not only exceptionally capable but also modest, uncontentious, and well versed in the ways of the world, Tie Fengzhang displayed a rare sliver of a smile!

With the whereabouts of the great demon from Purple Emblem Mountain discovered, the situation was urgent. Tie Fengzhang said little more. He cupped his hands, then swiftly departed with his men.

Linghu Qingmo wanted to follow them to investigate. He had intended to invite Xie Jinhuan, but remembering that Xie Jinhuan had spent the entire day scrambling about, he instead instructed:

"Go back and rest. Let the bailiffs handle this place. I'll tell you as soon as we have any clues."

"All right. You're injured too, so don't push yourself so hard."

"Could I possibly push myself harder than you?"

"Heh heh..."