Uncle Nine: You were supposed to drive corpses, so you summoned the Monkey King!

Lin Chen raised his right hand and brought his index and middle fingers together.

A bright red flame shot out from his fingertips.

The flames were only the size of soybeans, and the fire produced no smoke, exuding a domineering pure yang energy.

Lin Chen withdrew the mark, and the flames dissipated.

The mark left by Zhao Tianlei is indeed useful. In the future, when encountering tough opponents with Yin and cold attributes, there is no need to painstakingly draw talismans. Just use pure Yang fire to burn them, saving time and effort.

Lin Chen closed his eyes, formed hand seals, and continued meditating to circulate his energy.

The next morning, just as dawn broke.

The dull sound of chopping wood came from the backyard of the dojo.

Lin Chen, shirtless, carried an iron axe, with a pile of hard jujube wood in front of him.

With a swift swing of the iron axe, the firewood was severed with a smooth cut.

Lin Chen treated chopping wood as his morning exercise, coordinating each axe stroke with the breathing rhythm of the Maoshan Breathing Technique.

The lobby door opened.

Master Simu, dressed in a white undergarment, came out yawning while carrying a teapot.

Seeing the small mountain of firewood piled up in the backyard, Si Mu turned and shouted towards the side room.

"The sun's already high in the sky! Get up and get to work!"

The door to the side room was pushed open.

Jiale ran out rubbing her eyes, one button on her clothes was fastened wrong, and her hair was a mess.

"Master, it's only just dawn," Jiale muttered.

In the neighboring yard, Jingjing came out carrying a wooden basin to hang clothes. Hearing the noise, Jingjing turned her head to look this way.

Jiale was fully awake. He hurriedly unbuttoned his clothes and re-buttoned them, then ran his fingers through his hair and grinned foolishly at Jingjing.

Master Simu kicked Jiale in the buttocks.

"What are you laughing at! Go fill the water tank! If you're short even one bucket, you won't get any food today!"

Jiale covered his backside and ran out carrying two wooden buckets.

Master Ikkyu looked at the people in the courtyard with a smile.

"Amitabha, fellow Daoist, it's so early in the morning. You're so hot-tempered. It's easy to damage your liver. Young people should sleep a little longer to help them grow."

Master Simu raised the teapot as if to smash it.

"Old monk, you're meddling in everything, from heaven and earth to my teaching disciples! Believe me or not, I'll chop up your wooden fish and use it as firewood!"

Master Ikkyu shook his head and shrank back over the wall.

After chopping the last jujube tree, Lin Chen put down his iron axe, fetched water to take a shower, changed into a clean blue Taoist robe, and walked into the main hall.

Breakfast was laid out on the octagonal table.

White rice porridge with pickled radishes, and half a pot of stewed chicken left over from last night.

Just as the three of them picked up their bowls and chopsticks, there was a knock on the door outside the dojo.

"Senior brother, are you there?"

The voice outside the door was strong but tired.

Master Simu put down his chopsticks.

"That voice... is it Chizuru?"

Jiale ran to open the door.

The door opened, and five people stood outside.

Leading the group was Master Qianhe, dressed in an apricot-yellow Taoist robe and carrying a peach wood sword. Behind him were four disciples from the east, west, south, and north, each carrying a bulging bundle.

Master Qianhe stepped into the courtyard and saw Simu and Lin Chen in the main hall.

"Senior brother!"

Master Simu went up to Qianhe and looked him over.

"Qianhe, didn't you escort the young prince to the capital to report for duty? It's been over half a year, how did you end up in this state before coming back?"

Chizuru sighed, walked to the table, poured herself a cup of cold tea, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Don't even mention it. This trip to Beijing was full of trouble."

The four disciples from the east, west, south, and north put down their bundles and walked up to Lin Chen, bowing and clasping their hands in unison.

"Thank you so much, Senior Brother Lin, for saving my life!"

Lin Chen stood up and waved his hand.

"Fellow disciples, no need to be so polite. Have you all been completely cleansed of the corpse poison?"

The apprentice nodded.

"Brother Lin used pure glutinous rice to draw out the poison in time. We recuperated in the capital for more than two months and are now much better."

Qianhe instructed her apprentice to place the bundle on the Eight Immortals table.

Unwrapping the bundle revealed several exquisite rosewood boxes.

Chizuru opened the first long, rectangular box, inside which were ten gold bars neatly stacked.

"Senior brother, this is the compensation and reward from the imperial court."

Master Simu's eyes lit up, and he reached out to take it.

Chizuru pressed down on the box and pushed it directly in front of Lin Chen.

"This money is for Junior Nephew Lin. If it weren't for Junior Nephew Lin summoning a deity to shatter that royal zombie that had absorbed lightning, we, master and disciples, would all have died on the way."

Lin Chen did not refuse and closed the box carefully.

With this money, we'll have much more money to buy offerings for the gods in the future.

Chizuru opened a few more small boxes.

"This time in the capital, besides reporting back, I also used my connections to go to the Imperial Household Department's storeroom. These items were specially found for my junior apprentice, Lin."

The box contained two palm-sized pieces of lightning-struck wood. The wood was purplish-black, and the surface was covered with natural lightning patterns, exuding a fierce and powerful aura.

There was also a white jade bottle next to it, filled with red powder.

"This is top-grade cinnabar, mixed with the essence and blood of a hundred-year-old tortoise. It has miraculous effects when used to draw talismans," Qianhe said.

Lin Chen picked up the lightning-struck wood and examined it. This material, when incorporated into the lightning-struck wood sword, made it even more powerful.

"Thank you, Uncle-Master." Lin Chen accepted the gifts.

Master Simu was pacing anxiously beside him.

"Chizuru, what about mine? My bronze greatsword got chipped last time too!"

Chizuru took a small cloth bag out of her bosom and tossed it to Master Simu.

"You'll get your share. Two ounces of purple gold sand, enough for you to mix into the bronze sword and re-quench it."

Master Simu quickly stuffed the cloth bag into his bosom, afraid that someone would snatch it away.

After their reminiscing, Chizuru sat down at the table with a serious expression.

"Senior brother, the reason I rushed back this time is because I encountered some strange things on the way."

Master Simu put away his smile.

"What strange thing could make you look like that?"

Chizuru pointed outside.

"The Ghost Festival is just two weeks away. In previous years, the yin energy was heavy at this time, and wandering ghosts would often come out and roam freely."

"But this time, as we traveled south from Zhili, the mass graves and desolate villages along the way were filled with an eerie atmosphere."

"Three days ago, we passed through Heishui Town, where there was an old mortuary that had been abandoned for more than ten years. In broad daylight, a dark cloud gathered in the sky above the mortuary and the wind could not disperse it."

"I took Dongzi and the others over the wall and went in for a look."

Chizuru clenched her fists.

Lin Chen looked at Qian He.

Chizuru is at the mid-stage of the Human Master realm and has rich experience in combat. Anything that can make him feel troubled is not simple.

"What's in the mortuary?" Lin Chen asked.

Chizuru put down her teacup.

"The mortuary was built in a mountain valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides, a natural basin that gathers yin energy."

"The courtyard was overgrown with weeds that were half a person tall. The main hall and side rooms were densely packed with more than a hundred coffins."

"The coffin was made entirely of thin-skinned wood, without even being painted. The strangest thing was that the coffin lid wasn't nailed shut, leaving a gap about two fingers wide."

"I took a closer look and saw that inside were all corpses wearing armor from the previous dynasty. The bodies were bluish, the fingernails were two inches long, and white sweat was gushing from their throats."

Master Simu frowned.

"Over a hundred corpses of former dynasty military officers? They're practically zombies now?"

Chizuru nodded.

"It'll be soon. Moreover, the bottoms of these coffins are all painted with Yin-gathering arrays, the patterns of which are drawn with a mixture of human blood and cinnabar. Someone is using the Yin energy of the Ghost Festival to mass-produce corpses!"

"I originally wanted to burn that place down, but there was a protective array set up by a master around it. I tried to break the array, but I was almost devoured by the Yin energy in the array's core."

"The other side has a large number of people and is powerful. I dare not make a move that might alert them. I can only retreat first and travel day and night to come back and discuss it with my senior brother."

More than one hundred zombie military officers.

If they were mass-produced, on the Ghost Festival when the gates of hell open, these zombies would absorb enough yin energy to rise from the dead, resulting in a massacre.

The faces of Hercules and Zhao Tianlei flashed through Lin Chen's mind.

How many beggar's chickens and butter hot pots would it take to settle this?

Master Simu stood up and walked around the main room twice.

"We can't ignore this. Blackwater Town is only a few hundred miles away from here. If they really raise more than a hundred zombies, the surrounding towns will all suffer."

Chizuru agreed.

"That's what I meant too. I plan to go to Renjia Town to find Senior Brother Lin Fengjiao. The three of us brothers will join forces and wipe out this den of evil spirits before the Ghost Festival."