Zombie Life Begins in Hongxi Village

Uncle Nine saw everything clearly from the side, and his face turned green.

"Wencai," Uncle Nine called out coldly.

Wencai didn't react; he was still staring at the ten silver dollars in his hand, grinning foolishly, his mouth almost reaching his ears.

"Wencai!" Uncle Jiu raised his voice.

"Huh? Ah! Master!" Wencai suddenly came to his senses, quickly stuffed the money into his pocket, and ran out. "I'm going to buy groceries!" Before he finished speaking, he had already darted out the door.

Uncle Nine watched him disappear in a flash, sighed helplessly, and turned to bow to Lin Yi:

"I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Fellow Daoist Lin. My disciple isn't very bright, but he's not a bad person at heart."

"It's alright, Brother Wencai is quite interesting," Lin Yi said with a smile. "Uncle Jiu, just call me Lin Yi or A Yi. I'm not a Taoist practitioner, so Uncle Jiu doesn't need to be so polite."

Uncle Nine paused for a moment, then replied, "Alright, then I'll call you A-Yi."

Uncle Jiu invited Lin Yi to sit down in the main hall and poured him a cup of tea.

The tea is coarse, and the brewed tea has a yellowish color, but it has a slightly bitter aftertaste and is very thirst-quenching.

Lin Yi picked up the cup, took a sip, put it down, and said seriously, "Uncle Jiu, I am really interested in these strange and supernatural things. I have heard many old people talk about them in my hometown, but they are all just fragmented rumors."

It's rare to meet someone as knowledgeable as you. Could you please explain it to me?

Seeing that his attitude was sincere and not just polite, Uncle Jiu became interested as well.

He took on two apprentices in his life. Wencai was so stupid that he wondered if he had committed some sin in his past life.

Although Qiu Sheng was clever, his interest in Taoist arts was only so-so, and he always studied things sporadically.

Now Lin Yi has suddenly appeared. Although his background is unknown, his strength is undeniable. The fact that he is willing to listen to these things is a sign of respect for him!

For Uncle Nine, who is always very concerned about his image, this was quite a relief.

He sorted out his thoughts and said, "Since Ayi wants to hear, I'll start with the basics."

There are three kinds of taboos in this world: taboos of heaven, taboos of earth, and taboos of man.

The taboos are based on the time of day, such as the opening of the gates of hell on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, when the yin energy is strongest at midnight.

Places considered taboo include locations such as watersides, crossroads, and mass burial grounds.

"Human taboo" refers to a stranger offending something unclean without even realizing it.

Lin Yi listened attentively, leaning slightly forward, her fingers unconsciously stroking the rim of the teacup.

Seeing his expression, Uncle Nine became even more enthusiastic: "Let's start with the Ghost Festival. It's best not to go out on that night."

If you absolutely must go out, remember three things—first, don't touch the piles of paper money burned by the roadside; those are burned for wandering spirits, and if you touch them, they will follow you home. If you encounter a grumpy ghost, you might even suffer some bloodshed.

Second, if you hear someone calling your name from behind, don't turn around. If you turn around, the yang fire on your shoulder will be extinguished, and once the yang fire is extinguished, a ghost can possess you.

Third, walk around the water's edge; there are all sorts of things in the water during the Ghost Festival (July 15th of the lunar calendar), and some creatures specifically wait underwater to find substitutes.

"The taboos around water don't just extend to the Ghost Festival," Uncle Nine said, taking a sip of tea. "They apply at other times as well. Avoid going near ponds in the wilderness, abandoned wells, and stagnant ponds overgrown with duckweed."

Water is considered yin, a place where ghosts love to stay. Children, in particular, are most prone to accidents near water…

Uncle Nine then shared some everyday methods for warding off bad luck and attracting good fortune: "If you feel that you have been having bad luck lately and strange things are happening in your home, you can hang a Bagua mirror on the front door with the mirror facing outwards to block evil spirits."

If you can't sleep well and keep having nightmares, put a pair of scissors under your pillow with the pointed end facing outwards.

If you're traveling and staying at an inn, knock three times before entering, and then place your shoes with the toes pointing outwards. This is called "inviting guests out."

"Also, if you encounter anything that you can't explain."

For example, if something inexplicably moves, you hear someone knocking on the wall in the middle of the night, or the lights in the room flicker on and off—don't try to tough it out; find someone knowledgeable to take a look.

Some things, if you don't bother them, they won't bother you, but once you're hooked, you can't get rid of them.

Lin Yi listened intently.

When he was in his hometown, he had heard the older generation talk about similar things, but they were all fragmented and not as systematic as what Uncle Jiu told him.

He couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Nine, what's the difference between a ghost and a zombie?"

Uncle Nine's eyes lit up. Had he found out about his specialty?

"Ghosts are souls, zombies are corpses." Uncle Nine put down his teacup and made a famous gesture. "After a person dies, their three souls and seven spirits leave their body."

Some souls harbor too much resentment and refuse to be reincarnated, thus becoming ghosts.

Ghosts have no physical form; you can't touch them, but they can influence your mind, causing hallucinations. Powerful ghosts can even possess you, appear in your dreams, or move objects.

"Zombies are different. Zombies are corpses that have absorbed the yin energy from underground, or those that died with lingering resentment. Their bodies do not decompose or rot, and over time they undergo a transformation into zombies."

Zombies have physical bodies; they can run, jump, and bite, but their souls are incomplete, or even nonexistent, acting solely on instinct.

"Zombies are also divided into levels." Uncle Nine said, taking out a small booklet with frayed edges from his pocket and showing it to Lin Yi. "The weakest are the walking corpses, which have only recently turned into zombies. They are stiff, afraid of light, afraid of roosters crowing, and afraid of human presence."

Above the walking corpses are the purple zombies. These zombies are bluish-purple all over and have already begun to possess the aura of a corpse. They can leap forward and will attack livestock and even people.

Above the purple zombies are the white zombies. These zombies have become quite powerful; they are difficult to harm with swords and blades, and they move swiftly. Encountering them in the wild is likely to result in certain death.

Above the white zombies are the black zombies, which have begun to develop intelligence. They are covered in black hair, invulnerable to swords and spears, and stronger than an ox. They dare to break into people's homes at night.

Above that is the Jumping Zombie, which can launch long-distance attacks, move like the wind, and is immune to ordinary talismans and magic.

Among the jumping corpses, there are also iron-armored corpses, bronze-armored corpses, silver-armored corpses, and gold-armored corpses...

The most powerful is the flying zombie, which can fly in the sky and disappear into the ground, and can also dive into the water. With more than 500 years of cultivation, even ordinary magical artifacts cannot do anything to it.

It is said that there is an even more powerful form of incorruptible bone, which is already a demon, and only immortals and gods can subdue it.

"So there are so many different interpretations of zombies," Lin Yi exclaimed in sudden realization.

He sighed inwardly. It turned out that Uncle Jiu didn't know about Jiang Chen's zombies. It seemed that zombies from this lineage rarely appeared in the world.

Lin Yi's expression was very focused, and her eyes held a deep respect, like a student listening to a lecture from a teacher she admired.

Uncle Jiu felt so comfortable, it was like drinking a bowl of chilled plum juice on a sweltering summer day.

He had been preaching for decades, but this was the first time he had encountered such a supportive audience.

When Wencai listened to him talk about these things, he either dozed off or his mind wandered.

Qiu Sheng would listen, but he would interrupt after only three sentences to ask some random questions.

Unlike Lin Yi, who listened quietly from beginning to end without her eyes wandering.

"Ah Yi, although this is our first meeting, we hit it off immediately." Uncle Jiu took out two talismans from his sleeve and handed them to Lin Yi. "These two talismans, one is a ghost-repelling talisman and the other is an evil-repelling talisman. I drew them myself."

Keep this; it might ward off unclean things in the future.

These two talismans are different from the yellow paper talismans sold by Taoist priests on the market—the talisman paper is made of the skin of a yellow bark with Taoist cultivation, which is many times more expensive than ordinary yellow paper.

If you sell them to the landlords and rich people in town, they'll start at least at ten silver dollars apiece.

Uncle Nine really bled this time.

However, he also had a bit of a testing mentality when he gave the talismans to Lin Yi. These two talismans were more than twice as powerful as ordinary talismans in exorcising evil spirits. If Lin Yi really had any evil energy on him, he would feel burning hot just by getting close to the talismans, let alone accepting them.

Lin Yi reached out and took the talisman.

He caught it steadily, his fingers gripping the edge of the talisman, and even turned it over to look at the runes on it, acting as if nothing had happened.

Uncle Nine secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and the last trace of tension on his face relaxed.

The fact that he could catch the exorcism talisman with his bare hands is enough to show that this young man is really not some kind of evil spirit.

As for that sense of danger that made his hair stand on end earlier—he was probably some kind of reincarnated deity or a naturally gifted individual.

"Thank you, Uncle Jiu." Lin Yi carefully folded the two talismans and put them into the inside pocket of his suit.

Although he doesn't need it, it's still a token of Uncle Nine's goodwill, just like a fan collecting an autographed photo of their idol, so it has great collectible value.

The two chatted for a while longer, and Lin Yi asked a lot of questions about the specific details of exorcising ghosts and catching zombies. Uncle Jiu became more and more excited as he talked, and almost took out all his secret Maoshan techniques.

Just as they were getting into the conversation, footsteps came from the doorway.

Wencai is back.

He was carrying a lively rooster in his left hand, a piece of pork belly and a large basin of pig's blood covered with lotus leaves in his right hand, and several oil paper packages hanging on his elbow. He was carrying a lot of things.

Behind him was another person—a young man in his early twenties, tall and thin, handsome, with a healthy tan, wearing a traditional Chinese jacket, and walking with a brisk pace.

Autumn.

Lin Yi recognized him at a glance. He was another apprentice from Mr. Zombie, the most capable fighter under Uncle Nine, and also a future undead knight.

"Master, I'm back!" Wencai put his things in the kitchen and ran to the main hall.

Uncle Nine glanced at the people behind him and nodded: "Qiu Sheng is here too."

"Master. My aunt knows I have something to do, so I don't need to watch the shop for the next couple of days."

Qiu Sheng greeted her with a grin, then looked at Lin Yi with curiosity.

Uncle Nine stood up and introduced the two to each other:

"Ayi, this is my second apprentice, Qiusheng. Qiusheng, this is Lin Yi, who came from the provincial capital and will be staying at the mortuary for the next few days."

His attitude was so good that it was as if he were a completely different person from before. Wen Cai, who was standing next to him, almost had his eyes pop out of his head.

When has his master ever been so enthusiastic towards people? He was so reluctant just a moment ago, how come he's become "Ah Yi" in the short time it takes him to go out to buy groceries?

He hadn't experienced such intimacy many times before.

Wen Cai scratched his mushroom-shaped hair and whispered in Qiu Sheng's ear, "Is my master possessed by a ghost?"

Qiu Sheng caught a glimpse of Uncle Nine's dark face out of the corner of his eye and forced a laugh, saying, "Don't talk nonsense."

Lin Yi had already stood up and extended her hand to Qiu Sheng: "Hello, Qiu Sheng, I'm Lin Yi."

Qiu Sheng was taken aback for a moment, then reached out and shook hands with him.

Although the custom of shaking hands existed during the Republic of China era, it was not yet widespread in rural areas like Renjia Town.

However, Qiu Sheng is young after all, so he accepted it quickly and felt quite natural after shaking hands with him.

"Hello." Qiu Sheng smiled, not saying much, but there was a clear curiosity in his eyes about Lin Yi.