Ghost Immortal

Li Feng and Qiu Sheng went to the mortuary's storeroom to find what they needed.

The warehouse was located at the deepest part of the courtyard; it was a stone house without windows.

Thick iron sheets were nailed to the door panel, and a rusty brass lock hung on the door.

Qiu Sheng took out his key, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. He was greeted by a strong stench of corpses.

The warehouse was also filled with various tools and materials for collecting corpses.

Dozens of thin-skinned coffins were stacked in the corner, and next to the coffins were several large earthenware jars filled with dark, murky corpse fat.

The corpse ointment was made from the oil of a corpse that had turned into an old zongzi (a type of rice dumpling), and its smell was even more pungent than the one Li Feng had applied last time.

In another corner, there was a small mountain of grave soil, all old grave soil transported back from mass burial grounds. It was black in color and exuded a rotten smell.

"Junior brother, are we really going to apply this stuff?"

Qiu Sheng pinched his nose and looked at the corpse paste in the pottery jar with disgust.

Li Feng had already rolled up his sleeves, reached into the pottery jar and scooped out a lump of dark, viscous corpse paste, then calmly smeared it on his neck.

"Senior brother, if you don't want to be bitten to death by zombies, you should apply this stuff properly. I applied this stuff before going into the tomb with the tomb raiders last time. It smells bad, but it really works."

Qiu Sheng, with a bitter face, also scooped out a dollop of corpse fat and smeared it on his body.

The two smeared the corpse oil on their necks and genitals, the places where yang energy was strongest, and then ground the grave soil into fine powder and sprinkled it on their clothes and hair.

After half an hour of this, the two men were unrecognizable, looking like two pieces of coal.

As darkness fell.

One by one, the eternal lamps in the mortuary hall were lit, their pale red glow casting indistinct shadows on the dozen or so coffins.

Master Si Mei instructed Qiu Lan to light three sticks of incense in the hall to guide the way. As the smoke curled upwards, the yin energy in the hall gradually intensified.

"Tonight is the second day of the Ghost Festival. The gates of hell are still open, and the yin energy is much heavier than usual. The corpses in the mortuary will be more severely transformed than last night. It's a good time to test your corpse energy concealment technique."

Master Si Mei stood at the entrance of the hall, holding a Bagua mirror in his hand, solemnly instructing his two disciples.

"You must remember this: there are three criteria for zombies to attack living people: yang energy, respiration, and blood."

"The Corpse Qi Concealment Technique can hide yang energy, but it cannot hide breathing and blood. After you go in, you must breathe according to the breathing method given by the one-eyed old man. The rhythm must be slow and the breath must be shallow. You must not gasp for breath, and you must not be injured or bleed. Once there is a smell of blood, all the zombies will go berserk at the same time."

"Understood, Master."

Li Feng and Qiu Sheng exchanged a glance, held their breath, and adjusted their breathing to the rhythm required by the Corpse Qi Concealment Technique.

This breathing method is extremely slow, with only three or four breaths per minute, and each exhale is three times longer than the inhale.

Ordinary people would feel dizzy and lightheaded after breathing at this pace for a few minutes, but they are cultivators whose meridians are much stronger than ordinary people, so they can barely hold on.

The two pushed open the door to the hall and tiptoed inside.

The hall was filled with an eerie, gloomy atmosphere.

A dozen or so coffins were placed side by side, their ink lines all lit.

The sound of fingernails scratching could be heard coming from inside the coffin, even more intense than the night before.

The ink lines on several coffins were already taut and could break at any moment.

Li Feng walked ahead, his steps as light and stealthy as a cat's.

He had all five senses activated, constantly sensing any subtle changes in his surroundings.

Qiu Sheng followed behind him, sweat beading on his forehead.

Fortunately, his breathing rhythm remained stable and did not become disordered.

The two walked to the first coffin.

In this coffin lies the body of a woodcutter who died a violent death.

He had been dead for less than seven days, and his body had swelled up and turned white, so he was not buried immediately.

Li Feng reached out and pressed his hand on the coffin lid, and the scratching sound from inside the coffin immediately stopped.

"Suck!"

Immediately afterwards, a low sniffing sound came from inside the coffin, like a hunting dog sniffing its prey.

Li Feng and Qiu Sheng stood motionless in place, maintaining the breathing rhythm of the Corpse Qi Concealment Technique.

The sniffing sounds from inside the coffin lasted for about ten breaths before gradually subsiding.

The scratching sound of fingernails reappeared, but it was much milder than before.

It worked!

The zombies mistook them for one of their own!

The two continued walking forward, passing each coffin in turn.

The zombies in three coffins sensed something amiss, and the scratching sound under their fingernails intensified, but they still did not break out of their coffins.

The Corpse Aura Concealment Technique did work; although the zombies could sense their presence, they couldn't be sure they were alive.

Li Feng stopped in front of the last coffin.

The body of the water seller was lying in that coffin.

His body was covered in eerie frost, and the entire coffin was frozen to the bone.

Li Feng could sense a faint aura inside the coffin, mixed with a dark, ominous energy.

Even after Gu Zhenren's Gu worms left the water seller's body, the residual black aura remained.

Moreover, it is causing the water seller's corpse to undergo a strange transformation.

He couldn't help but recall the shards of porcelain he had received from the water seller's palm.

The porcelain shards are decorated with winding, blue lines, resembling a part of some kind of totem.

He didn't recognize it at the time, but now that he thinks about it, the patterns seem somewhat similar to the soul-suppressing talisman pasted on the Ghost King's coffin.

"Junior brother, everything's fine now, let's go out," Qiu Sheng urged softly from behind him.

Li Feng came to his senses and followed Qiu Sheng out of the hall.

Master Si Mei was waiting for them at the entrance of the hall. When he saw the two of them come out safely, his expression visibly relaxed.

He used a Bagua mirror to examine the two of them, making sure they weren't tainted by any evil spirits, before nodding.

"The secret method is effective, but it's not safe enough."

Master Four Eyebrows put away the Bagua Mirror and pondered, "The number and level of zombies in Tengteng Town far exceed those in the mortuary. Corpse oil and grave soil alone are probably not enough. You need a stronger disguise so that even the Zombie King won't recognize you."

He thought for a moment, then suddenly turned and walked towards the side room on the west side of the hall.

The Ghost King's black coffin, which was brought back from the west of the city last night, was placed in the side room.

A soul-suppressing talisman was affixed to the coffin lid, and Li Feng had already taken out the wedding dress from inside the coffin, leaving only an empty coffin.

Master Si Mei opened the coffin and said to them, "Go inside and lie down for one night. That should be enough to block out most of the yang energy. This is a yin artifact made by the Ghost King; it's absolutely effective."

Then, the Taoist priest with four eyebrows took out the blood sand, divided it into two portions, wrapped them in oil paper, and handed them to Li Feng and Qiu Sheng respectively.

"This is blood sand made by grinding cinnabar with zombie blood. Applying it to the outside of the corpse paste will make the zombie aura on your bodies stronger. The zombie king's senses are much sharper than ordinary zombies. The corpse paste and grave soil alone may not be enough to fool it. Adding blood sand will make it much safer."

He then took out two small jade bottles from his sleeve and handed them to them.

The bottle is only the size of a thumb and is sealed with wax.

"These are breath-holding pills, made from century-old He Shou Wu and several other medicinal herbs. Each pill can allow you to hold your breath for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

"Near the Zombie King, even breathing techniques may be detected by it. If necessary, swallow a breath-holding pill to stop breathing, and the Zombie King will be completely unable to sense you."

"But remember, there are only three pills in a bottle, so use them sparingly. If you hold your breath for more than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, you'll suffocate."

Li Feng took the jade bottle and carefully put it into his pocket: "Thank you, Master."

Qiu Sheng also took the jade bottle, but couldn't help but mutter, "Master, are we really going to go and cause trouble for the Zombie King? The one-eyed old man said there are more than a hundred zombies around that ancestral hall, four blood zombie guards, plus a two-hundred-year-old Zombie King. My junior brother and I are just two lowly cultivators in the Spirit Root stage. Aren't we just courting death?"

"Who told you to go fight the Zombie King?" the Four-Eyebrowed Taoist priest interrupted him.

"You are going to steal coffin fungus, not to exorcise demons. Remember, coffin fungus melts when exposed to light, so it must be harvested at midnight and sealed in a jade box."

"Be quick when picking them, and leave immediately after you've finished. Don't linger. If you disturb the Zombie King, don't fight back. Survival is the priority. You can find more coffin fungi, but you only have one life."