Chapter 503: The Missing Corpse! The Yin-Yang World! Corpse-Herding Technique! The Girl in the Green Dress and the Goldie Dog

At Wei City county office, blood-stained corpses lay quietly in the mortuary. The mortuary was eerie and grim. The bodies rested in open coffins without lids, and were not placed directly on the floor.

An elder had explained that the ground’s dampness could easily breed unclean spirits or attract powerful ghosts and evil entities from the mountains and wilderness. Therefore, coffins were usually not placed directly on the ground when storing corpses.

The county’s coroner, surnamed Liu, had come to inspect the bodies in the public mortuary. Suddenly, he let out a shout, “The coffin holding a recently deceased wanderer from the

jianghu

was completely empty!”

“Ah!” Coroner Liu cried out, his face pale.

Who would dare to steal a corpse from the county’s mortuary? And why? What could be valuable in a corpse?

His first thought was that the corpse had become possessed, perhaps turning into a

jiangshi

. He considered this possibility, though the person had only just died, the dead were often prone to sudden trouble.

A missing corpse in the county office was a grave matter. If it had been stolen, it would be a direct challenge to the authority of Wei City’s government.

“How did I end up running into something like this!” Coroner Liu scrambled out and informed the county officials of the incident.

Meanwhile, the Taiping Inn was bustling with people. In a corner, a middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and a black robe sat quietly, giving off a somewhat reclusive aura.

The innkeeper, who had not been busy with guests, went to the back courtyard where Li Yanchu was staying. She had been worried because he had run off without explanation, though she knew what he was doing was right. After all, with people killing and setting fires, could anyone just pretend they hadn’t seen anything?

She sat in a room in the back courtyard, a place where she and Li Yanchu often stayed. At this moment, she was alone in the entire courtyard.

Suddenly, she furrowed her brow and lifted her head slightly. The surroundings became unnaturally silent. While the back courtyard of the Taiping Inn was usually quiet, it had never been this still; there wasn’t even the slightest rustle of wind. The silence was unnerving.

The innkeeper rose, her full, mature figure swaying as she slowly walked toward the main gate.

But no matter how far she walked, she could not reach the gate. Normally, it should not take long to get there.

“In broad daylight... This place is being haunted?” she murmured in surprise.

Suddenly, cold, sinister winds swirled through the courtyard, as if some terrifying entity were about to appear.

To any outsider, the courtyard looked tidy and empty. The doors were closed, and there was no one inside. Yet the space the innkeeper occupied felt completely separate, like an independent yin-yang world.

Behind her, a man covered in blood stared straight at her, hair disheveled.

“Why didn’t you save me?” he said in a low, hoarse voice.

The innkeeper turned around and saw a stranger standing behind her. Squinting, she realized that this was the martial wanderer who had died earlier in the inn!

“Why didn’t you save me?!” the disheveled wanderer shouted sharply. Black lines crept across his face, a sign that he was on the verge of demonic possession.

The innkeeper furrowed her brow and suddenly stepped forward, delivering a swift kick.

Bang!

A loud crash echoed as her foot sent the dead wanderer flying. At this moment, the corpse was clearly being controlled by someone.

“Are you insane?!” the innkeeper shouted, eyes blazing.

The corpse twisted unnaturally and stood upright, staring at her with a grim, sinister gaze. In the next moment, it charged directly at her.

At this time, the innkeeper’s hand glowed with golden light, then a blurry-faced golden-armored deity appeared before her. It was the Daoist talismanic armor, a treasure worth a hundred-thousand merit points.

As soon as the talismanic armor appeared, it immediately pinned the strange corpse to the ground and restrained it. High-level treasures with sentience automatically protect their master.

The innkeeper’s beautiful brow furrowed as she surveyed the eerie surroundings, then her expression suddenly grew cold. She extended her hand and grabbed the air, and the surrounding environment twisted as if it were a canvas in her palm.

“Alright, you dare to cause trouble in my inn?” She was furious, like a lioness enraged.

She then commanded the talismanic armor to seize the dead wanderer. Then, her palm hovered lightly over his forehead, and a vague shadow was extracted from the corpse.

The wanderer’s body suddenly went limp.

“Corpse-Herding Technique?” the innkeeper murmured to herself.

White light shimmered in her hands. With a few manipulations, she pressed the shadow back into the wanderer’s body and said coldly,“Stand up.”

The fallen wanderer suddenly rose to his feet. The sinister, vengeful look in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a numb and calm expression.

“Find the person for me,” the innkeeper said in a deep voice.

At the same time, a surge of magical power hit the wanderer. The bloodstains covering his body vanished completely, and even the ribs and arm that had been broken by her kick were restored as if he were a living person.

He left the back courtyard of the Taiping Inn, heading in a certain direction.

The innkeeper raised her hand, and the golden-armored deity transformed into a streak of golden light, flying back into her palm. Then she followed the wanderer, who now looked like a living person, out of the inn.

***

At Wei City...

In a dilapidated mountain shrine, the statue’s head had long since been taken by unknown hands. Even the doors and windows of the shrine had been chopped up by ignorant villagers and used as firewood.

At this moment, a girl dressed in green sat cross-legged inside the shrine, with a large yellow dog by her side. The dog looked bored, quietly watching the meditating girl, faithfully guarding her.

Suddenly, the girl opened her eyes and let out a soft exclamation, “My spell has been broken?!”

She quickly began calculating with her fingers, her expression turning grave. “What a clever technique, almost even I, the caster, didn’t notice it.”

She stood, patted the dog on the head, and smiled. “Come on, Goldie. There are hidden dangers in that inn; we need to be careful not to be found.”

“Fear? Bah! Whoever comes, we’ll deal with them directly,” the dog said, speaking human words with fierce authority.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The green-clad girl tapped his head. “This is near Wei City; mind your words[1].”

The dog bared his teeth in pain, seemingly remembering something, and stopped arguing. Then, the girl and the dog walked out of the mountain shrine.

Behind them, a pair of dark, sinister eyes were watching her.

As she stepped out of the shrine, the girl suddenly remembered something. She tapped her clean, white forehead and turned to look at the broken statue.

“I can’t believe I almost forgot about you.”

Then, the green-dressed girl extended two slender, verdant fingers and traced the air lightly. Soon, a talisman glowed with a faint cyan light into existence.

1. “风大闪了舌头” is a regional saying or old expression. It doesn’t mean the wind literally struck someone’s tongue. Rather, it refers to getting into trouble or bringing misfortune upon oneself because of talking too much, speaking carelessly, or saying things that shouldn’t be said. It is often used to caution people to speak with restraint and avoid inviting trouble with their words. Here, the word “闪” is similar to its use in “闪了腰” (“twisted one’s back”), meaning a strain or injury; metaphorically, it suggests the tongue is “injured” from speaking too much. ☜