Corpse Seamstress, Life's Flashback: Witnessing the Mortal World, Obtaining a Supreme Treasure

After a hearty meal, especially with the taste of meat still lingering on his lips and teeth, Wen Qingkong felt deeply satisfied.

The sun slanted toward the horizon as dusk approached. The room was gloomy and the cool wind chilled him to the bone, yet Wen Qingkong felt a sense of tranquil peace.

After exercising a little, the sky had completely darkened by the time he finished. It was already the Hour of the Dog.

A knock sounded at the door. Wen Qingkong knew work had arrived.

He opened the door and saw two Yamen Runners in black uniforms and black boots pushing a cart into the room. There were no fewer than ten corpses on it!

Some of them were even missing arms.

"These are yours."

The Yamen Runner on the left spoke coldly, then left.

As he went out, he even shut the front door for Wen Qingkong.

Wen Qingkong's expression darkened slightly. Ten corpses, some incomplete, and he was expected to finish them all in a single night. That was practically impossible.

Nor could he stitch bodies during the day. As for leaving unfinished work until the next night—

That was not even worth thinking about.

The workplace never gave anyone room to bargain.

In the original owner's memories, there had never been so many corpses in one night.

Thinking of Zhang Quan's faintly smiling expression during the day, Wen Qingkong vaguely sensed that this matter might have something to do with Zhang Quan.

Wen Qingkong unloaded all ten corpses from the cart and laid them out one by one, setting the six intact bodies to one side first.

He placed the four incomplete bodies on the other side and inspected them carefully. Fortunately, they were all missing arms. Better still, they had all lost their arms entirely, rather than having severed arms mixed together. Otherwise, he would have needed to identify them one by one to avoid sewing on the wrong arm.

After finishing his inspection, Wen Qingkong went to the left side room on the first floor and dragged out a large sack of clay, which he would need shortly to restore the arms.

A Corpse Seamstress could not call it sewing corpses. It had to be called stitching.

Stitching was not simply a matter of sewing separated parts back together.

When a corpse was missing an arm or leg, it had to be restored and made whole.

Ordinary people generally used clay to restore a body. Those of higher status used precious wood. For example, when General Guan Yu's head was sent by Sun Quan to Cao Cao, Cao Cao used fragrant wood to make a body and restore Guan Yu's corpse. Above that, princes, nobles, and emperors used jade.

Wen Qingkong remembered hearing in his previous life that dough could also be used, and it was easier to work with than clay. But in this chaotic era, where people could not even afford food, no one would give him flour. Having clay was already quite good.

Wen Qingkong mixed the clay with water, then shaped arms according to the size of each corpse.

He then fitted those arms onto the incomplete bodies that lacked them.

After fitting them together, he still needed to clean the corpses thoroughly and tidy them up. Some even required makeup.

All of this was meticulous work. Though there were only ten corpses, it was in fact exceedingly time-consuming.

Cleaning, arranging, stitching, shaping—those were the full duties of a Corpse Seamstress.

After finishing that, he lifted one of the bodies onto the cold bier.

The corpse was bald and rough-featured, with a thick beard standing stiffly like steel needles. There were also burn marks on his scalp, indicating that he had been a genuine monk.

The man's muscles were knotted, and every finger was covered in calluses. With Wen Qingkong's eye, he could tell this monk had practiced martial arts.

He just did not know whether the monk actually knew martial arts.

Even monks were joining the rebel army now. The Great Xia Dynasty truly had fallen into chaos.

Once the body was positioned properly—

Wen Qingkong took out Three Incense Sticks, lit them, and inserted them into the incense burner before the corpse's head.

This was one of the rules of stitching. If the Three Incense Sticks burned through smoothly, everything would be safe.

If they went out for no reason, they could be relit, but no more than three times. If they went out again after the third relighting, the stitching could not continue.

But the greatest taboo was for the Three Incense Sticks not to go out, yet burn into two short sticks and one long stick. That meant disaster was coming.

People feared three longs and two shorts most of all, while incense feared two shorts and one long. That was what the saying meant.

Wen Qingkong waited around ten breaths and found that all Three Incense Sticks were burning normally. He then began stitching.

As he stitched, he kept watching the Three Incense Sticks.

Although the original owner had not held an official post for long, perhaps due to natural talent, his craftsmanship had already become exceptionally good.

His right hand moved the needle like lightning, his stitches fine and neat, nearly invisible to the naked eye. An ordinary person could not do such work without ten years of clinical experience.

Very soon, he finished this corpse.

Wen Qingkong nodded with satisfaction. As someone with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, he did not want even the slightest curve in his stitching.

Judging from this pace, so long as nothing unexpected happened, he should be able to finish before dawn.

Suddenly, Wen Qingkong froze. He widened his eyes in disbelief.

Corpse Seamstress, Life's Flashback: Witnessing the Mortal World, Obtaining a Supreme Treasure

The host has stitched one corpse. A Life's Flashback has appeared.

As a mechanical voice sounded in his mind, a dilapidated farmhouse courtyard abruptly appeared before his eyes.

Beyond the farmhouse courtyard stretched rolling mountains beneath a pitch-black night sky, with a bright moon hanging high above.

Within the farmhouse courtyard, dim candlelight flickered, revealing the silhouette of a woman. She wailed in agony for a full four hours before the cry of a newborn finally rang out.

Soon came noisy voices: a man's concern and worry, the woman's soft moans, the baby's cries...

Under his parents' careful care, the infant slowly grew up.

When he first learned to walk, he staggered crookedly along. The man and woman followed closely behind him, both with their arms spread open like hens protecting their chicks, watching him carefully for fear that he would fall.

Yet he still fell, because he wanted to run.

The man and woman hurried forward to help him up, but he let out a sweet, childish laugh, making them both laugh as well.

The years flowed by, swift as an arrow.

The child gradually grew up. The man's back slowly bent, while the woman's skin grew increasingly slack and became covered in wrinkles.

As the saying went, a half-grown boy could eat his father into poverty.

The child was sturdily built, which made the man and woman very happy, but it also meant that he ate a great deal.

Coupled with the Great Xia Dynasty's ever-increasing corvée labor and taxes, the family gradually became poorer and poorer, until their home was truly bare within four walls.

They no longer had anything to eat.

They could only eat bark and leaves...

In the end, even the bark and leaves had been snatched clean by everyone.

With no other choice, the man could only send the child to Shaolin Temple.

He might not be able to marry if he became a monk, but at least he could survive.

At the gates of Shaolin Temple, the child became bald and bore burn marks on his head. As he watched his father leave in tears, his own eyes reddened despite his young age.

He asked, "Why do I have to be separated from Father?"

Elder Kong Hui sighed. "Because we can no longer survive."

The child asked again, "Why can't we survive?"

Kong Hui hesitated, unable to speak. Only after a long while did he sigh deeply. "You will understand when you grow up."

And so the child began to look forward to growing up.

The naturally sturdy child was greatly favored by Elder Kong Hui of Shaolin Temple. Kong Hui kept him by his side and taught him with great care, gradually passing down the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield.

The child did not disappoint him either. He progressed rapidly along the martial path, entering the Innate Realm at the age of twenty and becoming a renowned expert of the martial world.

At last, he could descend the mountain.