"Spare my life, hero!"
"Let me go, and all these treasures are yours!"
The sight of Wen Qingkong terrified Jia San. Trembling with fear, he dropped to his knees and clasped his hands in plea, even offering Wen Qingkong the entire chest of gold, silver, and jewels.
Outside, flames raged as blades and swords clashed.
Two blazing fires seemed to ignite in Wen Qingkong's eyes, surging fiercely.
"Jia San, you have committed countless evils. Today, your end has come!"
"No!"
Jia San's face twisted in panic, but a flash of blade light swept past, and a head rolled to the ground.
Wen Qingkong casually tucked the banknotes from the chest into his robes, then strode out of the room.
"Fellow martial artists, Jia San said the fragmentary map has already been taken by the Black Cloaks. We arrived a step too late!"
"There's still gold and silver inside. Let's split it together."
"Fuck! I told you I saw Jia Jin's lackey when we came. I was afraid we were too late, and it turns out we really were!"
"I'm furious!"
"Let's divide the gold and silver first!"
The crowd rushed inside, never noticing that Wen Qingkong, who had spoken amid the chaos, had already vanished.
Along the way, Wen Qingkong discarded the long saber he had picked up, along with his disguise mask and beard. Finally, he disguised himself once more as a short, sturdy man with a pockmarked face before entering Yujing City.
After entering the city, he turned back to look at the city wall, thirty-six zhang high, and could not help sighing. If his martial arts had been stronger, perhaps he would not have needed to go through so much trouble. Scaling the wall directly would not have been a problem.
With that thought, his desire for greater martial skill grew even stronger.
On his way back to Corpse Seamstress House Number Nine, Wen Qingkong carefully reviewed everything. Only after confirming that no one would notice a Corpse Seamstress like him amid the muddy waters did the weight in his heart finally ease.
In this matter, the old madam of the Dongan Escort Agency had acted ruthlessly. Once she discovered the matter of the Jingchan Palace fragmentary map, she had immediately gone with the flow and added fuel to the flames, using the power of the martial world to kill Jia San and avenge Zhao Xuan.
Only after Wen Qingkong returned to the Corpse Seamstress Workshop did Li Lan'er and her daughter dare show themselves.
"It's over. There won't be any danger from now on. You can go wherever you want and do whatever you want."
Li Lan'er covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.
Little Sun Shuang'er suddenly ran toward Wen Qingkong, who bent down and scooped up her tiny body.
"Uncle, thank you."
Little Shuang'er wrapped her arms tightly around Wen Qingkong's neck.
Though she was still young and did not understand what all this truly meant, she remembered what her mother had told her: Uncle was their great benefactor, the kind of benefactor they could never repay in a lifetime.
With Jia San's death, word spread like wildfire that the complete Jingchan Palace fragmentary map had been taken by Jia Jin, the Ninth Chief of the Black Cloaks.
Just as Jia Jin had said, once yellow mud got into your pants, even if it was not shit, it looked like shit.
No matter how he explained himself, no one would believe that the fragmentary map was not with him. They would only think he was deliberately trying to conceal it.
Fortunately, the Black Cloaks carried immense authority. No martial artist dared attack them as they had attacked the imperial estate.
The matter of the Jingchan Palace fragmentary map was considered settled.
The imperial estate had suffered devastating losses. Many servants and guards had died.
The court could only send another eunuch to serve as steward and take over management of the imperial estate.
After Jia San's death, many matters at the imperial estate were exposed as well. It was said that the emperor had sent officials to conduct a thorough cleanup. The newly appointed eunuch no longer dared act as recklessly as Jia San had, and the tenant farmers of the imperial estate could finally live decent lives.
This time, Wen Qingkong had done a good deed.
The chaos in Yujing City continued for many days, causing many people to fight and die, including quite a few martial arts experts.
One day, as dawn had only just broken and the sky was not yet fully bright, Wen Qingkong heard loud pounding on the front gate.
Wen Qingkong went downstairs. Every night these past few days, he had been digging a tunnel leading to Sewing Corpse Chamber Number Eight. Though Li Lan'er and her daughter's troubles were over, having an escape tunnel ready for emergencies was still an excellent idea.
When he opened the gate, he saw eight richly dressed martial artists astride fine horses. Standard-issue swords hung at their waists, and their eyes shone brightly.
In the middle of the eight men, servants carried a corpse. Its face was deathly pale, both arms were missing, and six toes had been cut from its feet.
The young man at the front spoke in a clear voice, carrying an arrogant air as if no one else mattered. He looked down at Wen Qingkong.
"Tomorrow, we'll come collect the body. Do a good job, and you'll get fifty taels of silver!"
Fifty taels of silver...
The old madam of the Dongan Escort Agency had offered a hundred taels at a stroke, yet she had not spoken with such an attitude.
"Thank you, young master. Thank you, young master!"
"Tomorrow at this hour, I'll certainly satisfy you."
Wen Qingkong wore an eager smile. As a Corpse Seamstress, he had to show enthusiasm when business came calling.
Seeing Wen Qingkong's excited appearance, the young master gave a cold, disdainful snort, then gestured for the servants to carry the corpse inside.
"Let's go."
Before his words had faded, he had already turned his reins and galloped away with the other seven.
As for the servants, they clearly had no choice but to walk back slowly on their own.
Wen Qingkong carried the corpse onto the cold bed.
It was morning now. He could not sew during the day and had to wait until nightfall.
In the courtyard, he practiced the Taizu Long Fist, Ground-Lying Fist, Hundred Step Divine Fist, and Great Subduing Demon Fist once each. Then he circulated his blood and qi, cultivated his internal force, and trained the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield and Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training. Only then did Wen Qingkong get up to eat breakfast before going to catch up on sleep.
Li Lan'er cleaned the place and used newly bought cloth to sew clothes for Little Shuang'er and Wen Qingkong.
After sleeping his fill, Wen Qingkong got up to find dinner already prepared.
Li Lan'er's cooking needed no praise. Wen Qingkong ate with great relish.
Afterward, he instructed Li Lan'er to lock the second-floor door, then went down to the first floor himself.
As usual, he first lit Three Incense Sticks before the corpse, then began washing, arranging, and applying makeup.
Since the corpse lacked both arms and six toes, he would have to mold replacement arms and toes from clay that night.
Compared with Zhao Xuan's corpse, Wen Qingkong suddenly felt he had gotten the short end of the stick.
This corpse was far too troublesome.
He measured the diameter of the severed arms, then molded arms according to the corpse's muscular build. Next came the toes, which he then attached.
After finishing all this, Wen Qingkong rested for a while and waited for the clay to dry somewhat. He checked the Three Incense Sticks and saw no change, so he began sewing.
Sewing was already an effortless task for him. Needle shadows danced, and after half an incense stick's time, the sewing was complete.
Corpse Seamstress, life's flashback, witness the mortal world, obtain a supreme treasure The host has sewn one corpse. A life's flashback appears.
The corpse before him had originally been named Sima Xiong. He was the senior disciple of the Wuding Gang, one of Yujing City's three major gangs. His Wuding Flying Sword was exceptionally formidable, and among the younger generation, he had few rivals.
Thus, Sima Xiong was deeply valued by Tong Haochu, the Wuding Gang's leader. Tong Haochu's only daughter, Tong Ling'er, was also deeply in love with him.
Had things continued according to this script, Sima Xiong should have smoothly married Tong Ling'er and inherited the position of gang leader after Tong Haochu passed away.
Who could have expected that Wen Qingkong's incident involving the Jingchan Palace Mechanism Map would draw the Wuding Gang into it as well, thereby changing Sima Xiong's fate.
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