Young master, why not become a corpse immortal?

Chapter 186 Coffin in the Lake
Lin Jiang looked in the direction Jiang Jinyue pointed and saw a strange-looking corpse lying on the ground.

The clothing on this corpse was clearly much finer than that of the surrounding dead bodies, but because it had been soaked in a pile of rotting fish for a long time, the fabric had long since hardened into clumps, and the wrinkled surface of the fabric was covered with a sticky, glue-like substance, mixed with a pungent, fishy stench.

Lin Jiang stared at it for a while, then his brows furrowed tightly.

He really didn't like this thing.

"The uniforms of the Casting Division are fireproof, heatproof, and protective."

Jiang Jinyue had clearly seen this outfit before:

"I remember that the Casting Division once sent a team to Qingniwa, but they disappeared there for a long time. There was a lot of wrangling about it in the capital. I don't know exactly how the matter was resolved, but I think that person was one of the Casting Division members from that group."

Seeing that the other person's eyes were still open, Jiang Jinyue sighed helplessly.

First, he took out a talisman from his pouch and swept it over the corpse twice, as if testing something.

After confirming that everything was correct, he reached out and stroked the deceased's face, not caring that his hands were covered in mucus, and gently wiped down the eyelids that refused to close.

Once the body had finally closed its eyes peacefully, Jiang Jinyue immediately grabbed a water bag and washed her hands.

It is our duty to let the deceased rest in peace, but this foul-smelling, sticky fluid on the skin is truly repulsive.

Lin Jiang, who had been watching all this, suddenly pointed to the campsite not far away and said:
"Want to go over and take a look?"

"it is good."

Jiang Jinyue rubbed her hands clean, but wrinkled her nose as she sniffed her palms.

Clear water couldn't wash away the stench, so I could only leave my arm hanging there to dry beside me.

The two went directly to the camp not far away. When they arrived, they discovered that the members of the Casting Division had left many things there before they left.

An iron pot for cooking, a sleeping bag, and other miscellaneous items.

There were many items inside that Lin Jiang didn't recognize; they should all be items used exclusively by the Casting Department.

The pile of fish bones beside the mound caught Lin Jiang's attention; mixed in with the bones were several long bones that clearly did not belong to fish.
This reminded him of the deformed shadows swimming at the bottom of the lake; besides the giant, monstrous fish, there were also strange fish with humanoid limbs floating in the undercurrent.

I thought of the eyes that grow on the fish's tail, and the arms that grow from the fins.

Sure enough, next to the fish bones, there were several long bones that clearly did not look like fish bones.

Lin Jiang wasn't sure if these traits stemmed from eating fish or if there was something else going on, but since it was clear that the people from the Casting Division had found lake fish to fill their stomachs, they shouldn't have gone to extremes by eating something else.

However, the fish in this lake are almost like mud, and it's amazing that they can swallow them.

and……

Lin Jiang turned his head and glanced at the small island in the very center of the lake.

He wasn't quite sure how much effort Tinker had put into getting to the coffin in the middle of the lake.

There were clearly large fish in the lake that could block them, and it was only after the iron sheet touched the coffin in the middle that it made contact with Lin Jiang.

It now seems clear that they failed to kill the giant fish. If they wanted to connect with the central island from the coffin, they would have to find a way to get there and back from that place.

Perhaps Tinker had some special treasure in his possession at the time?

Lin Jiang didn't know.

The other party was clearly unwilling to discuss the past in detail, so there was no way to inquire further.

Looking around, all that could be seen were dark brown bloodstains at the base of the wall. Following the trail to the side wall of the cave, a narrow passageway was found.

It wasn't formed naturally; it was dug out by people. The ground is paved with bluestone slabs, which are flat but covered with a lot of dust.

The corridor was lined with stone chambers, some empty, some scattered with rotten wood and pebbles, their original appearance unrecognizable, and several filled with neatly stacked bluestones. Lin Jiang measured and found that these stones could be pieced together to form the shape of beds; there were nearly twenty such stone beds distributed along the entire corridor.

"This place seems to have been inhabited for a long time?"

After scanning the area, Jiang Jinyue offered her own guess: "Perhaps it's the tomb keeper."

"If you are the guardian of the tomb, why did you sink the coffin to the bottom of the lake?" Lin Jiang thought about the coffin at the bottom of the lake.

The lake here is clearly not a later addition; it must have existed since the lake was first built.

"I'm not quite sure about that." Jiang Jinyue pondered for a moment, "But I guess it's because the lake water is special. Maybe they're researching some kind of magic?"

Lin Jiang frowned slightly as he recalled the eerie fish-bodied, human-shaped creature in the water.

"That's how those bodies attached to the fish came about, isn't it?"

"Maybe."

The two searched carefully again, but still found nothing. However, at the end of the corridor, they discovered a newly dug cave entrance, with rubble scattered all around and intermittent bloodstains winding their way there.

This is the hole that Bu Suanzi dug back then, and Tiepizi and the others probably left through this place as well.

“It looks like they managed to escape through this area.” Jiang Jinyue squatted down and examined the blood: “The bloodstains are continuous without any drops, so it must have been caused by dragging the corpse.”

"That's because they don't want anyone else to stay here."

Lin Jiang couldn't help but feel a little emotional upon arriving here.

Not everyone was successfully led out; one of them was clearly eaten by the big fish and died in that place.

"Let's think of a way to get that body out of here."

"it is good."

Even though he's already dead, we should still try not to leave him alone here.

We should take him home.

The two carefully explored the corridor and only returned to the riverbank after confirming that it was empty.

Lin Jiang stood by the lake, his gaze fixed on the island in the center of the lake:

"I'm going to go take a look."

"Does the young master possess any secret techniques for crossing water?"

Jiang Jinyue secretly thought that if they relied on ordinary lightness skills, Lin Jiang's cultivation level might allow him to force his way across, but without precise control of his movements, he might not escape falling into the water. Currently, neither of them knew what was in the water, but given the situation, neither of them wanted to go in if possible.

"Don't worry, I do know some special techniques."

Lin Jiang patted his chest confidently.

Stepping on clouds and rosy hues.

This method can still help him control the distance he falls.

If he's lucky, he might actually land right next to the coffin.

Although Jiang Jinyue did not understand why, she still stepped aside.

Lin Jiang prepared for the standing long jump by the lake, channeling his Qi into his feet.

Jiang Jinyue had seen Lin Jiang do this before and thought it was some kind of unique method, so she stared at Lin Jiang with even more curiosity.

then,

Jiang Jinyue clearly saw that clouds and smoke rose from beneath Lin Jiang's feet!

Of course, his movements were strange, but Lin Jiang seemed to rise from the ground and fly towards the center of the island.

At this moment, Jiang Jinyue couldn't help but widen her eyes.

What kind of skill is this?
Jiang Jinyue vaguely remembered a martial arts technique in the martial arts world that would create clouds underfoot after being used, but its effects should be quite different from what she was seeing now.

When Lin Jiang froze the big fish with a single breath of frost, Jiang Jinyue realized that this "barbarian" friend who had gone through thick and thin with her had mastered many mysterious techniques that she had never seen before. At this moment, his "lightness skill" that was like an immortal ascending to the clouds made her gaze involuntarily fall on Lin Jiang.

After looking at it for a long time, I finally sighed in my heart:
"What impressive kung fu skills."

Lin Jiang adjusted his landing point in the sky and landed directly on a distant island.

A cloud of dust was stirred up.

It jumped a little too high, but thankfully it didn't fall into the water.

Lin Jiang finally had some time to look around the island.

I was too far away to see clearly before, but now I can see that there are three things on this island.

In the center of the island is a coffin, next to which stands a tree, and beside the tree is even a platform, which is extremely wide and large.

The tree trunk is jet black, while the leaves are as transparent as the moon under the moonlight.

Lin Jiang approached the tree and plucked a leaf from it.

However, before he could even touch the leaf, he discovered that it had turned into a shimmering stream of light and disappeared into the air.

Strange plant.

"Mr. Liang, do you recognize this?" Lin Jiang asked in a low voice, looking at his sleeve.

Liang Huashan didn't do anything along the way, not even when the big fish came out.

However, that big fish was actually quite weak, probably only at the fourth level. If it weren't so disgusting, he and Jiang Jinyue could have easily dealt with it.

Upon hearing this, Liang Huashan also peeked out, stared at the large tree in front of him for a while, and shook his head slightly.
"This tree is rare; I've never seen one like it before."

He looked around again and said, "I've also looked around this place. There are many things I haven't seen before, but... I've heard a legend."

How so?

"Before the chaos of the previous dynasty, some countries studied the art of ascending to immortality. They created many secret realms during the Great Prosperity period, and this place looks like one of them," Liang Huashan said. "The carvings on the stone wall depicting the journey to climb mountains and obtain the elixir of immortality may also refer to our group."

Lin Jiang couldn't help but think of the mutated fish in the lake.

If this is what these people are researching...

Lin Jiang didn't like it much.

He composed himself and looked at the last item.

The last item was a chessboard-like object carved on a stone table. When Lin Jiang approached it, he found that the chessboard was enormous, and the grid on top was completely different from any chess game he had ever seen.

The stone table had a rather strange texture; when Lin Jiang reached out to touch it, he found it to be very smooth.

Since I couldn't figure out what it was, I decided to put it aside for the time being.

Lin Jiang turned his gaze to the coffin.

He took a closer look and found that the coffins here were the same as those of Ta Yunxia, ​​both covered with a layer of stone grime.

However, what was different was that the surface of this coffin was engraved with a phrase that Lin Jiang did not recognize.

Just as Lin Jiang was about to have Liu Fangyue write down this passage, Liang Huashan, hidden in his sleeve, suddenly uttered a soft "Hmm?"

"Master Liang? You recognize these characters?"

Lin Jiang immediately perked up.

“I recognize a little.” Liang Huashan hesitated. “Aren’t there these characters on the sealed stone tablet outside the gate? I don’t recognize all of them, so I didn’t mention them, but I remember seeing these before…”

"What does that roughly mean?"

Liang Huashan emerged from Lin Jiang's sleeve, his fingertips sweeping over the words.

"The first part is a number, using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches system, marked as Dingmao. And then... what does this mean?"

After hesitating for a while, Liang Huashan said:

"It seems to be... a medicine taster?"

Lin Jiang was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.

Isn't this what Subject Number Four means?

(End of this chapter)