I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 106 Crane Bone Flute, Corpse Retriever

Half a month ago, a major event happened in Baisha County.

The relatives of the Baisha County Magistrate were actually exposed by the Tianxin Sect rebels in court, saying that Wu Yaoxing was their accomplice, and that the 500 taels of silver that the Tianxin Sect used to purchase bows and crossbows were hidden in Wu Yaoxing's residence.

The chief officer who investigated the Tianxin Sect rebels was none other than the newly appointed prefect He of Tianjin Prefecture.

He, the new magistrate, was very intolerant of any wrongdoing. After hearing the confession of the traitor, he immediately sent officials to Baisha County to arrest the traitor and seize the stolen goods.

Poor Wu Yaoxing was sitting at home when disaster struck. The leading officer seemed to have opened his third eye and entered his residence and searched it casually, and actually found a package hidden in the wall bricks.

Although there was no 500 taels of silver in it, there were still 300 taels of money left. In addition, there was a secret letter with the Tianxin Sect, which contained all kinds of rebellious remarks made by Wu Yaoxing. It looked like he had hated the Yong Dynasty for a long time and was eager for the Tianxin Sect's Holy Lord to invade the imperial city at the next moment.
With both witnesses and evidence in hand, Magistrate He showed no mercy and immediately threw Wu Yaoxing into prison, awaiting his execution in the autumn.

Zhang Xianzun, the county magistrate of Baisha County, was not quite convinced at first, but he could not stand the comments of the crowd.

Zhang Yong's eldest daughter Zhang Yao and her husband spent the whole day trying to persuade him to break off relations with the Wu family and expel Wu Zhiyuan from the mansion.

"Logically, our Zhang family should have severed ties with the Wu family to prove our innocence, but Zhiyuan once explained to me that his father was framed and would never do such a treasonous act."

"If that's the case, I should help my in-laws overturn the verdict. That's the best strategy. If I distance myself from them too early, it will be bad."

Zhang Yao sneered at this and said, "Father is so confused. This is not the best strategy at all. If we don't cut ties with the Wu family soon, our Zhang family will become traitors, and we might even be implicated along with our entire clan. If the best strategy doesn't work, then we'll end up with the worst strategy of confiscating our property and annihilating our entire clan."

When Zhang Yong heard this, he woke up as if from a dream. He immediately called his son-in-law Wu Zhiyuan and was determined to drive him out of the house and sever all ties with him.

Wu Zhiyuan was an honest man. Knowing that the Wu family had encountered a great disaster and fearing that it would affect his father-in-law's family, he agreed to sign the divorce agreement.

Zhang Yong's youngest daughter, Zhang Wan, was also a loyal and chaste person. She cried and was reluctant to leave, but she could not bear the fact that Wu Zhiyuan had made up his mind.

Seeing this, Zhang Wan had no choice but to point to the sky and swear that she would serve no one but him and would not marry no one but him in this life.

Wu Zhiyuan's father was imprisoned and his wife left him. Even if he was a man of steel, he could not withstand these blows.

Seeing Wu Zhiyuan's sad look, Zhang Yong couldn't bear it and wanted to give him two hundred taels of silver, but unexpectedly, Yang Hong snatched it away.

"Why would my father-in-law give money to outsiders? Now that he's been expelled from the mansion, he's no longer my Zhang family's son-in-law, but the son of the Tianxin Cult rebel Wu Yaoxing. If my father-in-law gave him money, and someone with ulterior motives saw it, my Zhang family might be considered an accomplice to the Wu family."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhiyuan immediately bowed and said, "How dare I implicate everyone for my own selfish reasons? I absolutely cannot accept this money!"

After saying that, Wu Zhiyuan bowed to Zhang Yong, glanced at his crying new wife, and then left Zhang's house without looking back.

But what he didn't see was the undisguised sarcasm on Zhang Yao and Yang Hong's faces when he left.

Linhefang, inside the paper-making shop.

Wu Wencai drove the county magistrate away and told Yang Hong how he had taken advantage of the situation to his face.

After listening to Wu Wencai's tearful complaint, Xu Qing frowned and said, "According to what you said, it's likely that someone deliberately framed Zhiyuan."

"It's not something an ordinary person can do to bribe the Tianxin Sect rebels. Zhiyuan hasn't offended anyone. The only ones he has some conflicts with are the county magistrate's eldest daughter and son-in-law."

Wu Wencai was puzzled and said, "Although there is a rift between my brother and Yang Hong, they are brothers-in-law after all. Why would they do such a shameful thing?"

Before he finished speaking, Wu Wencai began to waver.

"Brother Xu, what I heard reminds me of something. Before Zhiyuan got engaged, Yang Hong and his wife tried to stop the marriage, saying that my family was born unlucky and that we were low-class people who dealt in the death trade. They tried to persuade the county magistrate not to agree to the marriage. Could it be that this incident caused the trouble?"

Xu Qing clicked his tongue.

The Wu brothers are still too inexperienced. He has saved so many corpses, from all walks of life, what kind of shit has he not seen?

The human heart is unpredictable and the world is like ice.

The person who was drinking with you and calling you a brother yesterday might stab you twice today; the enemy who was once a life-and-death struggle, who could only sleep in the same bed with you in the blink of an eye.
This is all uncertain!
But no matter what, as long as you see more things, you can always find some comparisons from past experiences.

Jade is not cut, not a device.

Xu Qing looked at Wu Wencai, who had never experienced any hardships, and said, "This is a human error. No one can help you, but don't lose heart. As the saying goes, the clear will be clear, and the turbid will be turbid. You and Zhiyuan don't usually seem like timid people. Can't you think of a way to clear your suspicion?"

Wu Wencai was stunned for a moment, and then he suddenly became excited.

He paced back and forth, tapping his left palm with his right fist.

"Brother Xu is right. The innocent will be cleared. I can't just give up and lose heart just because the prefect closed the case."

"Saving people is like putting out a fire. Regardless of whether Yang Hong is the culprit behind this, as long as he is suspected, he must not be let off easily."

"The Inspector General is about to arrive in Tianjin. I can write a petition and say that Yang Hong bribed the Tianxin Sect thugs to frame me. If it is indeed him who is behind this, when the punishment begins, someone will inevitably be unable to resist and confess the truth.

Even if the inference is wrong, it won't be a big deal. Who knows, we might be able to find order in the chaos and discover new clues."

"Brother Xu, do you think this is a good idea?"

Xu Qing remained silent, but asked curiously, "In an emergency, we must act swiftly. Haven't you and Zhiyuan ever thought of asking Prince Zhu for help?"

Wu Wencai shook his head and said, "Perhaps it was possible before, but now rumors are spreading that the Crown Prince had secretly colluded with the Tianxin Cult to murder the Crown Prince. This case also happens to be related to the Tianxin Cult, so it is even more impossible to ask His Highness for help."

"Otherwise, it would be like adding fuel to the fire, not only burning myself but also implicating His Highness."

Xu Qing was speechless.

When people encounter problems, they generally have two paths to choose from: one is without any scruples, and the other is full of difficulties and thorns.

People who don't care about moral constraints and disregard friendship often choose the easiest path.

But the Wu brothers always chose the most difficult path.

Good people are not rewarded, and disasters last for thousands of years. Perhaps it is because the path the former took was too bumpy.

"Brother Zhiyuan has decided to go to Beijing to plead his case, just to delay the closing of the case. I wonder if he can buy some more time for my uncle."

After saying this, Wu Wencai sighed again, "After this incident, brother has been unable to sleep or eat for many days. Even his walking is like a reed in the wind, as if he is about to fall. The journey to the capital is long, and I am worried about him. What can I do?"

Xu Qing shook his head slightly.

Although Wu Zhiyuan and Wu Yaoxing were protected by the amulet given by Hu Baosong, this thing could only prevent some external disasters.

But it is not very effective for heart disease.

Xu Qing thought about it, reached into his sleeve and fumbled around, taking out a few talismans.

"This amulet is for you. The others are for calming the mind and curing illness. You can give one to Zhiyuan and the other two to the old lady. If you can see Old Wu, give him two as well. It's for peace of mind."

Finally, Xu Qing took out a pair of bone flutes from the map of mountains and rivers.

“This thing is called a Crane Bone Flute, and it’s made from the humerus of an old crane’s wing.

These things originally grew on the same body, one on each side, and they were extremely connected. If one broke, the other would break for no apparent reason.

Xu Qing handed the flute to Wu Wencai and continued, "You two brothers have a deep bond. With this flute, no matter how far apart you are, you can both know whether the other is safe or not." "Brother Xu." Seeing that Wu Wencai's eyes were slightly red and he was about to act pretentiously again, Xu Qing quickly waved his hand to stop him.

"No need to thank me. After all, I can't help you much. Everything still depends on you and Zhiyuan.
Okay, I have to go to the port for some work tomorrow, so I won't stay any longer. Brother Wencai, please stay."

After leaving the paper-making shop, Xu Qing returned to his own shop, still thinking about the Wu brothers.

When he took Hu Baosong to the county magistrate's house for a banquet, the old man only took one look at Wu Yaoxing and saw that the other party was unlucky and had a bad luck star on his head, and that a disaster would befall him soon.

Only a few days had passed, and unexpectedly, Hu Baosong's words had come true, and Wu Yaoxing really got into trouble.

"Old Hu practiced the Six Realms Method. In the second realm, he only opened the visual consciousness, and he had such vision. If all nine consciousnesses were opened..."

Xu Qing looked at the several jars of buried money accumulated in the map of mountains and rivers, and the progress in making a Yin gold coffin had been shortened.

As long as the Yin Gold Coffin is built and he uses the power of Yin Gold to cultivate a golden armored corpse, he will be able to break through the boundaries of ordinary corpses and access the nine orifices magical power unique to zombies.

If all nine orifices were opened, he might become the "celestial corpse" in the corpse theory that escapes the five elements and is no longer in the Nine Netherworlds.

And Kuiba evolved from a celestial corpse.

The next day, at Linhe Port.

Xu Qing traveled light and came to the dock where the corpse recovery team was registered.

The business of corpse recovery is not easy to do. The Baisha River is vast and the waves are turbulent. There are also ferocious creatures such as pig dragons and man-eating catfish lurking in the water.

As the saying goes, those who drown can swim. Even if you are an experienced corpse rescuer, if you are careless once, you may become the object that needs to be rescued.

Xu Qing wrote down the name at the dock and received the equipment needed for the corpse retriever.

A bundle of ropes, a pig's bladder for breathing underwater, and a special sickle for cutting aquatic plants, nothing else.

"You are new here and don't know much about this. If you encounter any problems, don't just focus on retrieving corpses." The manager in charge of registering the information of corpse retrievers at the dock looked at Xu Qing with a smile.

"If you see a corpse, you can't go down to retrieve it. What's the logic behind this?"

Upon hearing this, the steward stretched out his finger and scratched a copper coin on the table, saying with a smile: "You can't just tell people what you're talking about. If you do, it's not what you're talking about."

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows and took out a tael of green money from his pocket and put it on the table.

The steward happily put away the silver and said, "Young men like you who act on impulse, I can tell at a glance that you don't understand the ins and outs of this."

"There aren't that many kindhearted people in this world. People fish out corpses to get money, to earn rewards from the living. Whoever fishes out the body first gets the money."

"But whether I can keep the money is hard to say!"

The steward looked around and saw no one around, so he lowered his voice and said, "I'll give you a tip. If you find something on a corpse, don't hide it on your body. Look for some shallow water plants and tie the thing there with a rope. When the body recovery team returns, you can row the boat over quietly on your own."

"I wouldn't tell this to ordinary people, but I just like you."

Xu Qing smiled, reached out and took out another tael of real silver from his arms and placed it on the table.

"I like you, so I'll give you an extra ounce of silver."

The steward was overjoyed.

It's rare to find such a smart and sensible child.

Being a corpse retriever is an ancient profession. In addition to retrieving corpses, they will occasionally help people salvage some valuables that have fallen into the water.

After Xu Qing joined the body recovery team, he paddled a black-sailed boat and followed a dozen body recoverers to the place where the fishermen said someone fell into the water.

The leading corpse retriever is named Lupin, an experienced expert.

He estimated the speed of the water flow and rowed the boat downstream.

Seeing this, others followed suit and followed closely behind.

Xu Qing rowed the boat, but followed slowly at the end.

He had acquired many common skills that were no longer useful, including the ability to read the water while sailing.

If it comes to steering the boat, no one present can compare to him.

Putting down the pole, Xu Qing stood at the bow and took out the corpse-finding compass given to him by Hu Baosong from the map of mountains and rivers.

The function of the compass is very simple. After a person dies, the aura around him will change. At this time, you only need to use the corresponding spell to use the compass to calculate whether there are any newly dead bodies within a radius of twenty miles.

The people that corpse lifters rescue are often those who have just fallen into the water and disappeared not long ago, or even those whose death has not yet been confirmed.

But if the other party really drowned in the water and was within the detectable range, he would not be able to escape the detection of the corpse-finding compass.

Pouring a wisp of Yin energy into the compass, Xu Qing pinched the corpse-finding spell with his hand. The boxwood compass suddenly began to tremble, and after the needle in the middle turned twice, it pointed to the southeast.

Xu Qing held the compass in one hand and put one hand behind his back, and the boat under his feet moved without wind.

The art of walking on water enables one to walk on the waves as if on flat ground, and can also steer a boat.

At this time, Xu Qing could no longer see any other corpse retrievers around him. He controlled the black-sailed boat into the reeds. Before he had traveled two miles, he saw a corpse floating in the reeds.

It turned out that it was stuck in the reeds and was not washed downstream by the current.

Xu Qing put away the compass and jumped into the water happily.

The water walking technique was used, and water was dragged under his feet. As soon as Xu Qing came to the floating corpse, he realized something was wrong.

The corpse was seen upside down in the water, with only its hips and legs standing straight.

The slightly fishy river breeze blew, and the two upside-down legs of the corpse swayed along with it.

According to the rules of corpse retrievers, this kind of corpse must never be touched, because it is an upside-down corpse, which is the most ominous way of death by drowning.

But Xu Qing doesn't have so many taboos. As long as it is a corpse, it is his responsibility!

When he came up to him, Xu Qing put his hand on the other person's ankle without saying a word.

It was at this moment that Xu Qing suddenly felt an itch on his neck.

He looked down and saw that a water plant had climbed onto his body at some point, and the plant was still growing wildly, like a long snake trying to strangle his neck.

Once the hoop was tightened, the water plants would pull his head to the bottom of the water, as if they wanted to treat him like a green onion and plant him in the reed marsh.

Xu Qing stood still as a mountain. Although the force coming from the bottom of the water was not small, it was still not enough to pull his silver-armored corpse into the water.

He activated the Qi-gazing technique and looked down at the water surface. When he saw the creature making trouble deep in the water, Xu Qing suddenly felt that the corpse in his hand was no longer interesting.

(End of this chapter)