Above the Great Dao
Chapter 196 - 108: Bodies Hidden in the River, Souls Used for Alchemy

Chapter 196: Chapter 108: Bodies Hidden in the River, Souls Used for Alchemy

Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng walked along the river toward Bridge Bay Town, but before reaching the town, they saw several boats floating near the shore. People on the boats were stretching out bamboo poles with hooks attached, slapping the surface of the water.

On the riverbank, some people were carrying white banners, scattering paper money, calling for the return of lost souls.

There weren’t many people—just over a dozen men and women, young and old, all with ashen faces.

This place was the water bay below Bridge Bay Town, where the river was broad. Normally, many fishing boats fluttered their sails here, and flocks of white gulls gathered.

The waters of the De River were swift, but here they calmed down, the scenery picturesque, akin to a heavenly land of mortals.

When Chen Shi and Fu Leisheng arrived, they saw an old woman performing a ritual by the river, shaking the Wenwang Drum in her hands, dancing and summoning, invoking the Spell of Soul Summoning and Corpse Searching, as waves of yin energy rose from the river.

The old woman was Granny Sha from Gangzi Village, likely paid by someone to find the body of a relative.

Granny Sha, with her inscrutable Taoist skills, found the task of body searching trivial. After completing her ritual, she pointed, and the water churned, lifting a corpse that had swollen and turned pale from being submerged.

As it surfaced, the posture of the body was bizarre, with the head emerging first surrounded by hair that resembled black water weeds, and then the upper body floated as if standing on the water.

After a moment, the body fell back, landing with a splash on the surface.

The hair spread apart, revealing the face of a woman.

The body, swept down by the floods, was completely nude but intact, with no marks of fish or shrimps nibbling on it.

The dozen or so people on the bank cried out.

On the boats were corpse recovery people, accustomed to retrieving bodies from the river. Seeing this, several speedboats hurriedly approached, hoping to snag the business.

From afar, they lifted their bamboo poles, ready to hook the body and drag it to the boat.

By the river’s customs, bodies pulled to the boat but were not immediately taken ashore, as the deceased’s relatives had to pay some money, more or less, depending on their willingness.

If the payment was deemed too low, some unscrupulous corpse recovery people might deliberately slash the body with a few large cuts, so generally, the money offered was not insubstantial.

Suddenly, the water churned again, and another body, also washed down by the flood and unclothed, floated up.

This body emerged, stood on the water, then collapsed with a splash.

This was followed by a third body, then a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...

The waters of the river bubbled like boiling water, one body after another rising from its depths and standing on the water like water ghosts, an eerie sight to behold.

Within a short span, thousands of bodies stood on the river, hair loose and flowing, none wearing any clothes, swollen and pale.

Their heads, covered by hair, made it hard to distinguish front from back.

"Plop!"

"Plop!"

"Plop!"

...

The sound of heavy objects falling into the water continued, and soon thousands of bodies had fallen, floating on the surface, a ghastly sight of pale white.

Even though Chen Shi had achieved a Golden Core and Fu Leisheng a Nascent Soul, at this moment, their skin crawled, the scene indescribably bizarre.

"Could these bodies have been standing in the water?" Chen Shi shuddered.

The corpse recovery people on the small boats were stunned by the sight. Thousands of pale bodies, like dead fish, surrounded their boats. They had never witnessed such a scene before.

The men, women, and children on the shore were also stunned, unable to discern which of the bodies might be their relative.

Seeing this, Granny Sha immediately called upon the Four Ghost Kings to retrieve the corpses from the river.

Chen Shi approached and asked, "Granny, where did all these dead come from?"

"The floods upstream drowned them."

Granny Sha nodded toward the upstream direction, saying, "A Jiao Long upstream caused the flooding, trying to shed its old body and transform, thus drowning these people. This isn’t the first time; it’s happened multiple times, which is why so many bodies have accumulated. There must be a dragon’s nest below where the Jiao Long resides. That creature drowns these people, brings them here, and then uses their souls to refine its inner core... Little Ten, I must deal with these bodies quickly to prevent them from turning into corpse demons once the moon rises!"

She appeared anxious—the transformation of over a thousand bodies into corpse demons would certainly be a spectacular sight.

These were people who had died unjustly; some families had met with tragedy, their resentment strong, and the transformation into corpse demons would undoubtedly be fierce.

"This Jiao Long has already been eliminated by you, so there won’t be any more river disturbances."

Fu Leisheng looked at the corpses on the river, shook his head, and said, "We are but livestock raised by the powerful..."

Fu, we are not livestock," Chen Shi stated seriously, looking at him. "We are human. Our ancestors struggled against the heavens, against the earth, against evil spirits, not to live like livestock. I believe they wanted us to live as humans."

Fu Leisheng was deeply moved, then shook his head and reiterated a question he had once asked Chen Shi, "This is the way of the world! Can you change it?"

Unconsciously, Chen Shi stopped walking.

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