Chapter 147.2

Li Zhuiyuan walked up to Xie Shun'an. Xie Shun'an sat on the ground, utterly dejected.

“Kill me.”

Li Zhuiyuan ignored him. He knew perfectly well that Xie Shun'an was not afraid of death.

After walking over, the boy naturally passed by Xie Shun'an’s side.

He stopped at the edge of the huge pit, looked down at the black coffin below, raised his hand, and pointed at it.

The corpse-driving Daoist, who had remained frozen on the steps in the same halted posture as before, turned around and slowly walked toward the boy.

It too passed by Xie Shun'an’s side.

Xie Shun'an asked, “How did you do it?”

He mainly relied on the traditional methods of corpse retrievers, using a bamboo pole to control corpses.

Even that earlier move—blinding himself with a secret technique to force the corpse-driving Daoist to attack on its own—could only be maintained for a brief instant.

But this boy could control it almost perfectly.

Without any external aid, he could directly make a corpse obey him.

To Xie Shun'an, that was simply an inconceivable ability.

Li Zhuiyuan’s special technique had come from a fellow patient surnamed Wei.

It was the sort of thing only suitable for being shared within that circle of patients.

Outsiders would find it nearly impossible to learn. And even if some rare prodigy somehow forced themselves to master it, the outcome would be doomed to misery—worse than death, with death itself impossible to seek.

The one beneath the peach tree back home was the best example.

But whether it could be learned or not was beside the point. Li Zhuiyuan simply could not be bothered to keep talking to Xie Shun'an.

If Xie Shun'an had truly been willing from the beginning to sit down and talk properly, and had handed over that command banner to him, then Li Zhuiyuan probably would have sat down with him and discussed a revenge plan.

The boy rather liked pondering things like that.

Sometimes, he would also think of that black cat from before.

It had trusted him, and it really had been obedient—well-behaved, good at following instructions, able to report progress and the final result, seeing things through from beginning to end.

Too bad it had already found release.

The difference between the two was that, back then, although the Cat-faced Granny had suffered in a fight with a zombie in his hometown, that black cat still had the ability to keep him in check when he encountered her in the village at night.

He might have tricked Uncle Qin into coming to the village, but at the time Uncle Qin was still in the stage where he could not even steady a bottle, and they were not all that close.

So that cat had listened to his advice from a position of strength.

Xie Shun'an was different. He had been completely defeated by Li Zhuiyuan.

“You don’t even deign to speak to me anymore?”

The savagery on Xie Shun'an’s face slowly resurfaced.

But just as he was about to stand again, Runsheng pressed a shovel against his back and forced him back down into a seated position.

Runsheng really wanted to crack his skull open on the spot, but Little Yuan had not said anything yet.

Under Li Zhuiyuan’s control, the corpse-driving Daoist walked down into the huge pit and lay back inside the coffin.

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes and ended his control over it.

Then blood began to trickle from the corners of his eyes.

That was the price of controlling something on that level. Even if the other side was cooperating with him deep down, the burden was still terrifying.

Li Zhuiyuan had his own way of measuring how far he had overdrawn himself. A headache was the first stage, a nosebleed the second, and bleeding from the eyes the third.

Once he reached this point, it was dangerous. If he kept pushing further, he could very well go blind.

“Brother Runsheng, the offering table.”

“Right away.”

Runsheng immediately went to set up the offering table.

Xie Shun'an was just about to try standing again, but this time White Crane Child, still holding the baby, stepped down on his shoulder and pinned him there with one foot.

He let out a muffled groan of pain and was stomped flat onto the ground, forbidden to even struggle.

Once the offering table was set, Li Zhuiyuan began making offerings to the Xie family ancestors. It was a matter of ritual propriety.

The boy raised three lit incense sticks.

Since the other party was half Xie family ancestor and half general, the incense offering had to be reduced by half.

No matter how subdued the general now was, no matter how much mutual sympathy he shared with those who had once suppressed him, with the boy’s status he still could not properly worship him.

He pulled out one incense stick. As he prepared to snap the second one in half, he thought of the cup of wine the general had raised to him in the banquet hall.

After a moment, he decided to forget it. This half-stick of incense could count as repaying that cup of wine.

The ritual was complete.

When he turned around, Lin Shuyou hurried over with tissues and water to help Little Yuan wipe the blood from his face.

White Crane Child had already slipped away without a sound. The one now holding the baby and pinning Xie Shun'an underfoot was Lihua.

When Li Zhuiyuan walked over, Lihua showed a shy smile.

It was as though she had completely forgotten that not long ago she had openly bared her chest and nursed for the boy to see.

Her son’s future was right in front of her, yet as a mother, she suddenly did not know how to begin.

In the end, she lowered her head to look at the swaddled baby in her arms and forcibly squeezed out a sentence:

“It just occurred to me that my son still doesn’t have a godfather.”

She knew full well that, given the boy’s age, being a godfather seemed a little inappropriate.

But she could hardly have her son call him godbrother. Wouldn’t that make her the boy’s godmother?

Nearby, Runsheng, who had his back turned while collecting the offering table, quietly muttered:

“You’re not worthy of knowing my husband.”

Lihua burst into loud laughter.

Only laughter—very loud laughter—could cover the awkwardness she felt right then.

But because of that, it also eased the somewhat oppressive and cramped atmosphere.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the child.

Earlier, he had used the baby’s crying to disrupt Xie Shun'an’s perception of the whispering. The effect had been excellent, and the child had known how to cooperate too.

“The child can already walk the shade. Contact with these things this early isn’t good.”

“Hm?” At first Lihua was delighted, but then she frowned in confusion. “Isn’t good?”

My son can walk the shade while still in swaddling clothes. Doesn’t that make him a genius? How could that be bad?

Li Zhuiyuan stretched out a foot and lightly nudged Xie Shun'an, who was lying on the ground.

“He barely counts as a genius too.”

What he had gone through was worthy of pity, but what he had done was not worthy of sympathy.

There was no point in identifying with him too much, because you were very likely to be one of those ordinary people who got off work, went home, sat down to eat with family, and then were slaughtered overnight by malevolent spirits because of him.

Lihua seemed to understand something at once and quickly asked, “Then... then what should we do?”

“Have your man use talismans to seal his spiritual perception. Let him at least have a normal childhood.”

“Okay... I will.” Lihua nodded hard.

Whether it was the abilities the boy had displayed or the background he clearly possessed, both made Lihua trust him.

Li Zhuiyuan thought of Ah Li. But Ah Li had been far more pitiful than this child.

If all Ah Li had been was a little child able to walk the shade, occasionally seeing a few lonely ghosts that normal people could not, then her childhood would probably have been innocent and bright.

A handful of little ghosts was nothing compared to the masses of great malevolent spirits and Dead Sinkers pressing in like a palace coup, threatening and humiliating her. They were not even on the same level.

And yet even so, Ah Li had only shut herself off, showing rejection and resistance toward the outside world. She had never thought of taking indiscriminate revenge.

Lihua gathered her courage again and said, “The child only has a pet name right now. We still haven’t given him a proper name.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “I’m not suitable for that.”

The karmic burden on him was too heavy now. More importantly, he truly did not like children—especially clever, sensible children.

At that moment, Xie Shun'an spoke up:

“So what if you’ve taken me down? If you don’t kill me now, I’m grateful, because I can already hear the sound of disaster rising. Heh heh heh.”

No one responded.

Xie Shun'an continued, “Are you looking at me with disdain? Hah, I don’t believe you have any way to resolve it. It can’t be resolved. Keep dreaming.”

Runsheng had just finished packing things up and happened to be walking back. He lowered his head and said to him:

“Little Yuan didn’t even look at you.”

Xie Shun'an instantly clenched both fists and began hammering the ground with all his strength.

Lin Shuyou finished cleaning Li Zhuiyuan’s face, then with a crack opened a can of Jianlibao and handed it over.

“Brother Little Yuan, do you want to rest a bit?”

Li Zhuiyuan took the drink and drained it in one go, then shook his head.

“There’s no time to rest.”

After first being driven by Xie Shun'an and then controlled by himself, the corpse-driving Daoist had grown even weaker. It could not hold this place together for much longer.

The problem with the curse power here could erupt at any moment.

And outside, unless something unexpected had happened, the people from those three families were probably about to reach Peach Blossom Village.

There were too many variables. The only thing he could do right now was seize the time and solve this problem as quickly as possible.

Li Zhuiyuan sat down on the ground, took out a notebook and pen from his backpack, and began drawing diagrams.

The only way he could think of to break the deadlock was the Dragon-Eye Locking Gate Formation at the entrance to the water burial site.

Using the fire of the ghost eye, he could burn away and dissolve the curse power.

The premise was that he could not dissolve it all at once. If he did, the formation and this place would blow apart together, causing a catastrophic release.

So he had to break down the vortex of curse power and disperse it among each of the Unseeables.

Then they would be carried into the pond one by one, where each would be annihilated and dissolved one by one.

There was one problem: there were too many Unseeables. How were they supposed to send them in? The corpse retrievers’ method was feasible, but Li Zhuiyuan suspected the corpse-driving team here was severely understaffed. Otherwise, when Tan Wenbin and Runsheng had infiltrated the corpse-driving ranks earlier, there would have been no need for them to cycle back and forth over and over. And each time, this place would not have sent out only eight corpse-driving teams.

Moreover, he intended to completely repair the Dragon-Eye Locking Gate Formation, changing it back from using corpses as lamp oil to borrowing the tidal force of the lake above, creating a self-sustaining cycle.

Otherwise... it simply would not be enough for the ghost eye to burn more than a few times. And there was no way he could go out and temporarily find that many fresh corpses to fill it with. The number required would be enormous.