Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

Scarface took the inspection bureau token from Chen Mo and frowned as he glanced at it under the courtyard light.

"The inspection bureau of Jinshi? How did they end up in Ganzhou?"

Chen Mo didn't answer, but first squatted down to check the breathing of the first mate and the others.

Thankfully, they're all alive.

They were simply bewitched and couldn't wake up for a while.

"The Wang family arrested the people on my boat, there's nothing I can do." He pointed to the three unconscious men on the ground and shrugged helplessly.

If he could, he wouldn't want to come.

Scarface tossed the token back to him, his gaze sweeping over Master Long and his two companions. "Take your men and get out of here."

Master Long had been waiting for these words. With a wave of his hand, two of his men each carried an unconscious crew member, while Master Long himself slung the first mate over his shoulder. The three of them followed Chen Mo toward the courtyard gate.

The spirits and monsters in the courtyard were being held back by the people from the Bureau of Suppressing Evil, so no one had time to pay attention to them.

A few ignorant brats tried to pounce, but were scattered by several bursts of Yin energy that Chen Mo casually flicked out.

The little demon screamed and turned into black smoke, and the rest dared not approach again.

After showing their tokens to the members of the Zhenyi Division who were blocking the gate, the group successfully left the Wang family residence.

Chen Mo led them to the alley entrance before stopping. "Take them back to the ship first."

"Go to Master Li and get a calming talisman. Once you pour a bowl of talisman water over yourself, the bewitching will be broken."

Master Long was taken aback: "Master Chen, aren't you coming with us?"

"I have something to do."

Chen Mo glanced back in the direction of the Wang family's residence and told him, "If I'm not back by dawn, you take Master Li and the others and leave first. Don't wait for me."

"OK."

Without asking any further questions, Lord Long hoisted the first mate back onto his shoulder and called to his two men, "Let's go back to the dock."

The group walked south along the alley, their footsteps gradually fading into the night.

Chen Mo stood at the alley entrance, watching their figures disappear around the corner before turning back.

......

In the Wang family courtyard, the curtains in the inner hall moved erratically without any wind, and a strong, pungent stench wafted out from inside.

Scarface instinctively turned to the side, holding the copper coin sword horizontally in front of him.

The curtain was violently lifted off the ground.

Shredded cloth flew everywhere, and a visible black fumes, emitting a pungent stench, billowed from inside the door frame.

Wang Shouren strode out, followed by seven or eight men dressed as servants.

However, those people walked with stiff postures, like puppets being led by strings.

Their faces were uniformly covered in pale powder, the corners of their mouths were drawn up in an eerie arc, and their eyes remained motionless.

The last one to emerge was the old lady holding the black cat.

Scarface's gaze swept over the old woman, finally settling on the black cat in her arms, and his hand gripping the hilt of the copper coin sword suddenly tightened.

"You cat-faced witch, how dare you show your face in Ganzhou?"

Cat-faced witch is a prominent figure in the unorthodox sects of western Hunan.

Ten years ago, he roamed three provinces with his cat sacrifice, raising cat ghosts to harm people and seize their property. He was wanted by the Zhenyi Division for eight years but was never caught.

She suddenly disappeared five years ago, and everyone thought she was dead. No one expected her to appear at the Wang family's house tonight.

The old woman grinned, revealing a few yellowish-black remnants of roots.

"Oh, so someone in the Zhenyi Division still remembers this old woman. I haven't been out for ten years. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

As she spoke, she walked forward, and the black cat in her arms meowed, its voice high-pitched, like a baby's cry.

"The Wang family actually dared to collude with a wanted criminal; do they want their entire family executed?"

The scarred man's tone was icy. He brandished his copper coin sword, the tip pointing at Wang Shouren. "Everyone, form a formation. Prioritize killing these two."

"You've ruined my plans, none of you are leaving tonight."

Wang Shouren raised his right hand with a cold smile, spread his five fingers, and pointed towards the courtyard.

The eight servants behind him stepped forward in unison.

As soon as the first step was taken, everyone in the courtyard smelled a strange odor—the musty smell of pulp mixed with the stench of rotting flesh, an indescribably pungent odor.

Chen Mo, hiding in the shadows, scanned the servants with his divine sense and understood what was going on.

It turned out to be half paper and half corpse.

Old Wang, having learned some evil magic from who-knows-where, incorporated the art of raising corpses into his paper-making craft.

These servants were originally living people who had been killed. Their corpses were specially treated, covered with paper talismans and filled with corpse poison. They retained the lightness and agility of paper figures, while also possessing the immense strength and toxicity of zombies.

It does involve some shortcuts, but it's not suitable for me.

.....

"Scatter! Don't let them touch you!" Scarface shouted sternly.

Before he finished speaking, the few half-paper corpses had already rushed into the courtyard and were fighting with the members of the Zhenyi Division.

Its speed is illogical; its paper-thin body is almost weightless, and it can cover a distance of several meters in a single stride.

Scarface dodged a paper corpse's attack by sidestepping it, and swept his copper coin sword horizontally, the blade slicing across the creature's waist and abdomen.

"Sizzle."

The copper coin sword sliced ​​through the paper and cut through the rotting flesh, spurting out a stream of black blood.

As the blood dripped onto the ground, white smoke immediately rose from the blue bricks, which were corroded into pits.

The half-paper corpse was cut in half at the waist, its upper body fell to the ground, but it was still crawling forward.

What gushed out from the cut was not intestines or internal organs, but clumps of pulp soaked in blood.

The pulp writhed like a living thing, still trying to reconnect the broken pieces of the body.

"What the hell is this thing?!"

A tall member of the Zhenyi Division smashed the head of a half-paper corpse, sending paper scraps and bone fragments flying.

But the monster, though headless, was still waving its arms, and suddenly ten pitch-black fingers pierced towards his chest.

The fingernails, imbued with a heavy aura of yin energy, easily broke through the barrier of qi and blood. Five rips were made in his clothes on his chest, the skin and flesh were torn open, and blood flowed freely.

Worse still, the edges of the wound quickly turned black, and a putrid smell emanated from it.

"Corpse poison!" The others' expressions changed drastically, and they grabbed the injured team member and dragged him backward.

Scarface gritted his teeth, pulled out a stack of talismans from his waist, and threw them out without caring how many there were.

The talisman exploded in the air, turning into balls of flame that landed on the half-paper corpses.

Paper ignites when exposed to fire.

The talisman fire landed on them, the paper crackling as it burned, while the rotting flesh beneath sizzled in the flames, emitting thick, black smoke that smelled foul.

Several paper corpses engulfed in flames were still moving, rushing straight towards the people from the Zhenyi Division.

"Boss, we can't burn them to death!"

Scarface's heart sank. His gaze swept over Wang Shouren, who was standing at the entrance of the inner hall. He saw that the other man's fingers trembled slightly. The three paper corpses that were most severely burned by the talisman fire suddenly stopped and trembled violently, revealing the charred and rotten flesh inside.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone in the courtyard, the rotting flesh began to swell.

Fist-sized lumps emerged from the surface of the corpse, bursting open to release yellowish-green pus.

The pus kept flowing, and in the blink of an eye, it extinguished the talisman fire.

"The other party has actually mastered the art of raising corpses to this level..."

Scarface gripped the sword hilt tightly, veins bulging on his forehead, and suddenly thrust it towards Wang Shouren.

To catch the thief, first catch the king. Once the master is dealt with, the paper corpses will be easier to handle.

"Young man, I'm still here."

Upon seeing this, the old hag holding the black cat smiled sinisterly and gently patted the black cat in her arms with her withered right hand.

"Baby, eat him."

"aim......"

The black cat launched itself out, its body swelling in mid-air to become a giant beast the size of a calf.

The fur tore apart inch by inch upon landing.