Above the Great Dao
Chapter 197 - 108: Bodies Hidden in the River, Souls Used for Alchemy (Part 2)

Chapter 197: Chapter 108: Bodies Hidden in the River, Souls Used for Alchemy (Part 2)

After he figured it out, he became much smoother and more well-rounded, hiding his principles beneath his newfound polish. Thus, he thrived and lived joyfully.

By now, Chen Shi had come into contact with the ways of the world even earlier than him, recognizing the true nature of the world, which perhaps was a good thing for Chen Shi.

"He’ll figure it out," Fu Leisheng walked towards Bridge Bay Town.

Chen Shi stood by the river for a long time, listening to the chanting of the river, sometimes surging, sometimes deep.

"I don’t get it!"

Chen Shi suddenly started walking and said, "Black Pot, I just don’t get it! I indeed can’t change the world, but changing a little bit counts as well! Doing nothing means nothing changes at all! Don’t you think? I’ll just do what I can!"

Black Pot nodded vigorously, confused, "Woof?"

Chen Shi followed upstream along the De River, saying, "I’m going to check upstream."

Black Pot hurriedly followed him, man and dog tracing the river’s flow.

Bridge Bay Town was followed by Hundred Victory County, part of Xianzhou Province, but continuing upstream along De River remained under Xin Xiang Province, leaving Xinxiang County for Lei County.

The villages along the river in Lei County were mostly flooded, with many houses collapsed. Some villages were nearly deserted, likely caused by the rampaging Jiao dragon.

Chen Shi walked through the muddy villages, some areas still wet, with small fish struggling to breathe air in the puddles above the muddy water.

The villagers looked just like these little fish.

Dull and stunned, they watched Chen Shi, the stranger.

Chen Shi walked through the village and paused before the village’s temple guardian.

Like the villagers, this guardian also looked gaunt, and her temple attracted very few offerings. — How could the villagers, who could barely sustain themselves, support her?

Chen Shi offered her some incense sticks and continued on his journey.

Not far away was Lei County’s town, which had likely just had its defenses broken by the flood, sweeping away many people. Wreaths and paper money were scattered all over, mixed with the muddy streets, making it very uncomfortable to walk on.

The town was filled with the sad and mournful music of horns and suonas, evoking memories of lost loved ones.

Chen Shi passed through this town and soon reached the outskirts, where a burial mound lay. Some who had drowned were not swept into the river but were hastily buried here without proper funerals.

"These bodies, if dug up by wild beasts and bathed in moonlight, could possibly turn into corpse demons."

Just as Chen Shi thought this, he saw ghostly fires flitting about in the burial mound, startling him: "There are corpse demons roaming!"

He signaled to his dog to slow down and stealthily advanced, peering from afar. There, in the burial mound, sat a young Daoist surrounded by ghostly fires the size of heads, continuously entering and exiting a shrine behind his head and the tops of graves.

Inside the shrine behind his head, a Divine Embryo sat precariously with closed eyes in meditation, in front of it floated a round, finger-sized Golden Core, verdant green, evidently in its seventh transformation.

"It turns out to be a cultivator! Judging by his attire, he must be a Scholar, but why is he cultivating in a burial mound?" Chen Shi thought to himself.

Scholars, though both scholars, had different statuses and wore distinct attire which made them easy to distinguish.

This Scholar was dressed in a wine-red robe, his head adorned with a square scarf, waist girded with jade, and a golden crown topped with a golden hairpin.

He was about to leave when suddenly he heard a cracking sound from the Scholar’s head, which then slowly rose off his neck.

Chen Shi widened his eyes, staring intently.

Black Pot crept up cautiously, and seeing this scene, couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock, almost yelping.

Chen Shi quickly pinched the dog’s mouth, signaling it to be silent.

The Scholar’s red head floated up, the trachea and blood vessels still dangling from the neck, waveringly soaring into the air.

Then, a new head started to grow from his neck.

Chen Shi almost shouted out loud, but Black Pot quickly covered his mouth. Chen Shi slapped away the dog’s paw and stared with wide eyes to see that the scholar’s newly grown head also emitted a crackling sound and rose up from the neck!

Thus, there were twelve heads floating in the air, looking in all directions.

Meanwhile, the body on the ground did not grow a new head from the neck again. Instead, it sat cross-legged and continued to cultivate.

"What kind of sinister cultivation technique is this?" Chen Shi was shocked.

"Huh—"

A ghostly flame flew past Chen Shi, tinged greenish-white, displaying human facial features, though they were blurred. It had its mouth wide open as if screaming in agony.

"This person is using the spirits of the dead from the burial mound to refine alchemy pills!"

Chen Shi had just thought of this when suddenly one of the heads spotted him and let out a sharp, piercing scream.

One of the heads immediately descended, landing on the headless neck, and the red-garbed scholar immediately activated his Golden Core, with dreadful green sword flashes crisscrossing and hurtling towards Chen Shi.

Chen Shi promptly activated the Meridian Evil Slayer Sword, and several sword qi shattered the opponent’s dreadful green sword flashes. However, the Meridian Evil Slayer Sword had limited variations, and three sword flashes broke through the sword qi barrier, reaching Chen Shi and Black Pot.

With his palms, Chen Shi either slapped, blocked, or smashed, shattering the three dreadful green sword flashes.

Immediately, a burning sensation passed through his hands, and the skin that had touched the dreadful green sword flashes began to rot.

Startled, Chen Shi stimulated his Qi-Blood, expelling the evil energy that had invaded his skin, which stopped further decomposition.

Eleven heads flew in from the air, one of which opened its mouth to reveal a dreadful green flame tongue shooting towards him. Chen Shi instantly flipped and leaped away, dodging the fiery attack.

This flame was extraordinary; wherever it touched, even the tombstones were melted significantly, emitting a greenish ooze, the nature of which was unknown.

"How sinister! Has this scholar transformed himself into an evil spirit?"

The other heads attacked from all directions, flying flexibly through the burial mound. Some weaved through tombstones, while others attacked from above. Chen Shi, along with Black Pot, dodged in all directions, only to see trees sprayed with the green flames instantly snap and fall.

Frowning, Chen Shi was about to counterattack when a voice suddenly laughed loudly, "Stop! Yan Fang, stop! This young fellow is not an outsider, but Chen Shi, the top scholar of the Xinxiang county examination, Scholar Chen! Quickly stop!"

Hearing this, the red-garbed scholar stopped the flying heads, which returned to his side.

Uncertain, Chen Shi saw several swift horses approaching on the pathway through the forest. Their riders were also red-garbed scholars, each firmly seated on horseback, smiling as they held the reins and looked at them.

These were all strangers; none was familiar to Chen Shi.

The head on the neck of the red-garbed scholar Yan Fang shrank back into the torso, and as it disappeared, another head fell and likewise shrank inside.

This happened repeatedly until only one head remained on the neck. This head then apologetically said to Chen Shi, "So it turns out you are Scholar Chen. I thought someone was spying on my practice and meant me harm, so I hastily counterattacked. Please forgive me, young brother, and do not hold it against me."

He was so polite that it was hard to be upset.

Chen Shi scanned the faces of these few people, still highly guarded, and said, "Fellow brothers, I don’t know you."

On the pathway, the red-garbed scholar who had spoken earlier laughed, "It’s normal that Brother Chen does not know us. We are disciples of Xuanwu Pavilion in Lei County. I am Yan Rong. This is my third junior, Yan Qing, and this is my youngest brother, Yan Shuo. Brother Chen rarely visits our Lei County, but we’ve known of you for a long time."

Yan Fang reminded him, "My aunt is the second wife of Governor Li from Xin Xiang Province."

Chen Shi realized; these few people were the nephews of Jingshu Yan, the Second Lady of the Li Family!

"You cousins, Li Tianxiu, was killed by me."

Chen Shi thought for a moment and said, "Don’t do evil deeds. If you practice like this again and fall into my hands, I will kill you just like I killed Li Tianxiu. Black Pot, let’s go."

Yan Fang, Yan Qing, and the others could not help but get angry and were about to take action when Yan Rong raised his hand, smiling as he watched Chen Shi walk away, and laughed, "The Li Family has not touched him, so why would our Yan Family be the first to do so? Brothers, we have important business today; no matter what, we must find the lost Jiao Long!"

—I’m sorry, the update is a bit late; I won’t dare next time!