A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

"Hmm, why did it stop?"

At this moment, Li Jitong, who was observing Zheng Xuan from outside, saw that Zheng Xuan suddenly stopped his meditation and was a little puzzled. But after taking a few more glances, he suddenly couldn't help but shudder. The aura on Zheng Xuan's body!

He's entered the sequence! That aura is correct—it's the aura of the ninth-ranked Water Ghost!

Li Jitong was startled, first surprised, then overjoyed!

Hahaha!

Heaven blesses the River God lineage, sending such a genius to our River God Sect! Our River God Sect has a worthy successor!

Li Jitong was extremely relieved that he had taken Zheng Xuan as his last disciple. He was also glad that he had taken on a disciple, otherwise such a talented young man would have been wasted.

Throughout Chinese history, there have been two regrettable phenomena: one is that a talented horse cannot find a discerning eye, and the other is that a discerning eye cannot find a talented horse.

The two complement each other, just like a master and apprentice. The apprentice wants to find a good master with real skills who is willing to teach him, while the master also wants to find a talented apprentice.

Now Li Jitong feels that he has found the rough gem he needs.

Zheng Xuan is definitely a top talent in cultivating the River God Sect's skills, a thousand times, ten thousand times stronger than my own disciple Zhou Xun.

I've struck gold!

Thinking this, Li Jitong left the ancestral hall with his hands behind his back, suppressing himself from humming a little tune. He couldn't have been happier.

Zheng Xuan didn't leave the ancestral hall until it was completely dark. This opportunity was truly a great one for him. He had broken through to the level of the Nine Water Ghosts, a level that ordinary people might not be able to reach even after many years of practice, through a single visualization.

This laid a solid foundation for Zheng Xuan's cultivation path.

After leaving his master's house, Zheng Xuan smelled himself. He had been sweating profusely from the meditation he had practiced that day, and now he smelled stinky. Since the Haihe River was right outside, Zheng Xuan jumped into the river to take a bath.

Upon entering the water, Zheng Xuan immediately felt as if he were a fish entering the ocean, and he was extremely happy.

After a refreshing shower, Zheng Xuan climbed ashore. There were several small boats moored on the shore. At first, Zheng Xuan didn't pay much attention to them, but from a distance, he saw one of the small boats bobbing.

Zheng Xuan was curious, thinking that a big fish had jumped onto the fishing boat. He thought that if he went over and caught the fish, he could take it home to nourish his wife.

But as soon as they got closer, they saw the two of them passionately kissing inside the cabin.

As Zheng Xuan approached, a shout rang out: "Who's there!"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I... Oh, senior brother!"

Zheng Xuan was taken aback when he heard the voice, then suddenly spoke. The person on the other end was also taken aback. Zheng Xuan looked over and, sure enough, it was Zhou Xun.

Meanwhile, a girl was hiding behind Zhou Xun. Half of the buttons on her clothes were undone, and she was clearly frightened as she hid behind Zhou Xun.

"Junior brother!"

Zhou Xun was also taken aback, looked at Zheng Xuan, and then asked, "What are you doing by the river so late at night?"

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said, "It's hot, so I came to the Haihe River to take a bath. Senior brother, what about you...?"

Zhou Xun then took two steps to stand in front of Zheng Xuan and put his arm around Zheng Xuan's shoulder: "Junior brother, you didn't see anything today, did you?"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't see anything."

Zheng Xuan nodded immediately, then said loudly, "Well, my wife is still waiting for me at home, so I'll be going now."

Then he whispered to Zhou Xun, "Senior brother, apologize to your wife. I didn't mean to offend her. I'll be leaving now."

"Alright, but junior brother, keep today's events a secret from me."

Zheng Xuan patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Senior Brother, I won't miss a single word."

Zhou Xun patted Zheng Xuan on the shoulder with a smile and said, "I'll treat you to drinks another day."

After they finished speaking, the two parted ways. On the way, Zheng Xuan recalled the woman's appearance in his mind. She must be Feng Nianjiao, the maid of the fisherman Feng who lived next door to his master's house. The two of them could be considered childhood sweethearts.

Zheng Xuan returned home, where the fisherwoman had already prepared a delicious meal.

Today, the fisherwoman stewed meat and made pancakes at home. It was perfect for eating meat-filled pancakes. We won't go into details about how the couple studied the character "昆".

The next morning.

When Zheng Xuan woke up, he smelled a strong aroma of steamed buns. When he went to the kitchen, he saw that the fisherwoman had steamed a large pot of meat buns.

"You made all of this this morning? What time did you get up?!"

The fisherwoman said, "It hasn't been long since we got up. The dough was ready when we made the pancakes yesterday. All we need to do is prepare the filling. We're steaming a lot of buns today. Take some to Senior Brother Zhou and Master Li. Senior Brother Zhou has helped us so much these days. He lent us his house and didn't charge us any money. We can't not express our gratitude."

"Master Li is your master. Only when the disciple is filial to the master can the master care for the disciple."

Seeing that the fisherwoman spoke so eloquently, Zheng Xuan smiled and said, "Wife, when did you become so knowledgeable about human relationships?"

The fisherwoman lowered her head and did not answer. She had lived under the roof of others since she was a child. If she hadn't been able to read people's expressions, how could she have survived to this age!

The steamed buns had thin skins and generous fillings. Zheng Xuan ate eight in one go. Ever since he advanced to the ninth-grade water ghost level in the corpse retriever sequence, he found that his appetite had also increased significantly.

The fisherwoman was full after eating just two of these big steamed buns.

The fisherwoman packed up the remaining buns for Zheng Xuan, who then took them to Li Jitong's house.

The breakfast at Master's house was rather simple, consisting of only a bowl of porridge and a few pickled vegetables. After all, Zhou Xun's cooking skills were quite poor. When the fisherwoman's steamed buns were served while they were still hot, both Zhou Xun and Li Jitong ate several, praising her cooking skills.

Zhou Xun even gave a thumbs up and said, "These steamed buns are almost as good as Goubuli steamed buns in the city!"

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Li Jitong looked at Zheng Xuan and said, "Xuan, now that you've passed the team's corpse retriever test, you're a corpse retriever now. Come with me to the river today, and I'll teach you some things about being a corpse retriever."

Zheng Xuan immediately agreed upon hearing this.

At Chenshi (7-9 AM), Zheng Xuan and the other two arrived at the corpse retrieval team's location. Zhou Xun rowed a small boat out from the dock, and the three boarded the boat. Zhou Xun rowed while Li Jitong explained the process.

"The profession of corpse retriever is an ancient one, one of the eight trades outside the main line. They make a living by dealing with the dead and earn money by risking their lives. The Haihe River is not just filled with silt and sand, but also with countless grievances and obsessions."

"So if you want to stay in this industry for a long time, you must remember these rules."

"First, we only retrieve corpses, we don't investigate grievances. Solving cases is the business of the government, not ours. As long as we fill out the corpse registration form truthfully, we've done right by our ancestors."

"Secondly, there are three things you shouldn't do when retrieving a corpse: first, don't retrieve a corpse during a thunderstorm; second, don't retrieve a corpse that is standing upright; and third, only retrieve a corpse three times. If you can't retrieve it in three retrievals, you can't touch it."

Third, we must respect corpses and not desecrate, trample on, or buy and sell them.

"Did you understand these three points?"

Zheng Xuan nodded upon hearing this, but thought to himself, "Your second rule seems to count as three rules." With that in mind, Li Jitong continued, "Besides these, let me tell you about the six treasures of the corpse retriever."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun immediately said, "Junior brother, listen carefully, this is the kind of person who can make a living."