Corpse Transformation

The child wanted to see his father and mother.

He had specially brought back a sack of millet from Shaolin Temple, hoping his father and mother would no longer have to eat bark and leaves.

He hurried along the whole way, too excited to feel the slightest bit of fatigue.

Following his memories, he arrived at his home.

The familiar house and courtyard were unchanged, except they had become even more dilapidated.

He eagerly pushed open the door and went inside, only to find his father and mother's bodies already cold.

That day, the millet fell from his hands and scattered across the floor.

Food as precious as gold seemed utterly worthless at that moment.

The child did not know how his father and mother had died. It was only when he was burying them and a neighbor saw him and recognized him that he learned the truth: the County Magistrate had come to collect grain, and his father and mother had nothing left to give.

So the County Magistrate ordered their house torn down as punishment.

His father, who had been honest all his life, finally rose up in resistance, only to be beaten to death.

The neighbor said that as his father and mother lay dying, they had still cried out, "Don't tear down the house! Don't tear down the house! If you do, the child won't be able to find his home when he comes back!"

At this point, the neighbor wiped away his tears and sighed.

The monk picked up the millet scattered inside the house and gave it to the neighbor. His father and mother were already gone; what use was the millet to him now?

The neighbor left with endless thanks.

The monk kowtowed before his father and mother's new graves, then went alone to the county town.

Under Kong Hui's guidance, coupled with his innate divine strength and extraordinary talent, he had already mastered the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield and possessed exceptional power.

He stormed into the county office and personally slaughtered the County Magistrate's entire family, young and old alike.

From then on, he had broken the Buddhist precept against killing. He could no longer return to Shaolin, nor could he ever see his master Kong Hui again.

The monk simply joined the rebel army. He could not forget his dead parents, could not forget how the neighbor had looked ready to kneel before him over a sack of millet, could not forget the taste of bark and leaves from his childhood...

He could not understand why people like his father and mother, already so humble and asking for nothing more than a full meal, still had to suffer such calamity and hand over grain every year.

He wanted to overthrow Great Xia, march on Yujing City, and ask that dog of an emperor why!

The rebel army advanced with unstoppable force. Thanks to his Shaolin Golden Bell Shield, the monk gradually became one of its leaders.

Yet as the rebel army won more and more victories and occupied ever greater territory, it slowly changed as well.

It became no different from the imperial court.

The monk was furious and questioned them, eventually angering King Wang. When the imperial army attacked, he was deliberately sent to hold back the enemy.

This time, the monk faced Marquis Lingwu of Great Xia. His Shaolin Golden Bell Shield was broken in a single move, and Marquis Lingwu severed his arm with one slash of his sword.

The monk's final memory froze on Marquis Lingwu's cold, indifferent face.

Even when the monk demanded to know why the court disregarded the lives of the common people—

Marquis Lingwu gave him only one answer: "Lowborn trash!"

After the monk died, his corpse was brought back because of his high standing in the rebel army, to report the victory. After that, it was sent here to Wen Qingkong to be stitched up and buried.

Host has obtained Shaolin Golden Bell Shield

Life's Flashback ended. Along with the system's mechanical voice, Wen Qingkong felt a surge of power suddenly flood into his body, every cell becoming extraordinarily active.

This was the monk's entire cultivation, now transferred in full to Wen Qingkong.

Wen Qingkong flexed his hand a few times, feeling the power within his body, then let out a long breath. He had never expected the martial arts he had yearned for to come so easily.

Was this the cheat ability from the novels of his previous life?

Wen Qingkong looked at the monk with mixed emotions. His life had been filled with misery, and the answer he had sought so desperately had amounted to no more than the words "lowborn trash."

If not for the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield that had allowed him to stand on his own within the rebel army, his body likely would not even have been brought back to report victory. It would have been burned to ashes.

"There was never any answer."

"Class divisions endure forever."

Wen Qingkong carefully tidied up the monk once more, taking it as repayment for the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield.

He carried the monk's stitched body down from the cold slab and set it aside.

Then he continued attaching arms, cleaning them, applying makeup, and stitching them into place.

Having acquired the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield, Wen Qingkong was surprised to find that his ten fingers had become more than ten times as nimble as before, while his thoughts had grown increasingly clear.

This was how martial arts altered the body.

It reduced the time he needed to stitch a corpse to one-third of what it had been, so he no longer needed to worry about failing to finish the task of stitching ten bodies before dawn.

Time passed quietly. The four bodies missing arms were finally finished, and it was now midnight.

Aside from the monk, the other three bodies each had their own identities.

One had belonged to an imperial physician. In his Life's Flashback, he had gone to take the pulse of an unwell imperial consort, only to unexpectedly discover that she was pregnant. So he congratulated her on carrying the emperor's child, whereupon Director Wei of the black-clad factory guards had him killed. Only before his death did the imperial physician remember that the emperor had not visited the consort's palace for a very, very long time.

One had belonged to an elderly craftsman from the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories. Because he was old and his hands shook, the bows and crossbows he made failed to meet the standards, so he was beaten to death on the spot.

The last had been this year's Third-Ranked Scholar. He could not stand watching the treacherous chancellor dominate the court with one hand, so he submitted a memorial impeaching him. The result was obvious.

From the three of them, Wen Qingkong gained an imperial physician's level of medical skill, the techniques for crafting bows and crossbows, and the Third-Ranked Scholar's learning.

Wen Qingkong cleaned every one of their bodies thoroughly, taking it as his thanks to them.

Yet every Life's Flashback before their deaths had allowed Wen Qingkong to see their lives, making him increasingly aware of this world's cruelty.

This was not his previous life, but an imperial world where class barriers were rigid and absolute.

Fortunately, martial arts could still help him disregard this imperial authority.

Having gained the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield, his stitching was now swift and flawless. Thus, he was in no hurry. After resting briefly, Wen Qingkong began arranging the six intact corpses.

For no reason at all, Wen Qingkong felt a chill rise from his tailbone and burrow into his heart, making him shudder.

He frowned and looked around. The candlelight flickered, but there was nothing strange in sight.

He had inherited all of the monk's martial arts and feared neither cold nor heat. How could he feel chilled?

Wen Qingkong took a drink of water and raised his guard.

He moved the first of the six intact corpses onto the cold slab.

It was a burly middle-aged man with his eyes tightly shut, his face covered in fleshy lumps that made him look utterly ferocious.

As usual, Wen Qingkong lit Three Incense Sticks and placed them in the incense burner.

The monk's head had been cut off by an executioner, making things relatively simple. The executioner's wound was neat and smooth, so it was easier to stitch.

With Wen Qingkong's hands now enhanced by the Shaolin Golden Bell Shield, it would take less than half an incense stick's time to finish.

Wen Qingkong still observed the burning of the Three Incense Sticks first. After more than ten breaths, nothing had changed.

He was about to begin stitching when his hand suddenly froze. Wen Qingkong blinked. The Three Incense Sticks that had been perfectly normal moments ago were now clearly burning abnormally fast on both sides. Compared with the middle stick, they had already burned down by a large portion.

At the same time, strands of white fur rapidly began growing across the cold slab corpse's fleshy face.