The sky overhead was dark and bleak, the ground beneath enshrouded in a thin mist of yellow soil.
The winding, twisting dirt road ahead looked like a giant snake slithering through the dunes, carving out a narrow path towards the unknown in the forest.
Xu Qing still remembered Liu Youdao's words before they set out—wait for the sun to set, eat till you're full, then I'd take them to the mortuary.
As for what the mortuary was, he wasn't quite sure.
But with a bit of thought, he could infer a few things.
Liu Youdao was an unyielding corpse merchant, usually driving corpses and selling them. In the past, Liu Youdao could sell them to Cui's Mill, so it's likely he'd sell them somewhere else today, and this place would probably be the so-called mortuary.
As Xu Qing was lost in thought, Liu Youdao, sitting in front of the stretcher, suddenly intensified the jingling of his bell. Simultaneously, the leading zombie veered towards the right side of the small road.
"Baa—"
On the left side of the path, there came a chaotic bleating of sheep.
Xu Qing's gaze was drawn over, and he saw an old shepherd by the roadside ahead.
The old shepherd wore a large yellowed sheep's wool coat, holding a tobacco pipe, puffing on it while watching the corpse-driving team, looking just like an old farmer from the village watching the excitement at the field ridge.
Xu Qing felt inexplicably astonished. Who tends sheep in the dead of night?
But what puzzled him more was yet to come.
While passing the sheep, Xu Qing didn't catch the slightest whiff of the usual grassy stench. In his memory, just passing by a herd of sheep, that rank odor would hit you square in the face!
As the corpse-driving team went past, the shepherd cracked his whip, its crisp sound strikingly clear in the night.
Xu Qing's doubts lingered. As they passed the old shepherd's path, he made a point of observing the ground but saw no traces of Grass Returning Pills.
Sheep are straightforward creatures, dropping their pellets wherever they go. Anywhere a flock of sheep had passed, Immortal Pills could be seen everywhere.
There's something off about these sheep!
Xu Qing couldn't help but think of the Beast Creation Skill from folk tales, a sinister technique that could turn living people into baaing sheep.
While his scalp tingled, a figure in red robes, feet not touching the ground, floated towards them on the dirt road ahead.
"Sheep, delicious..."
The eerie wind swept past, the woman's voice murmuring like a dream.
When Xu Qing came to his senses, the figure in red had already drifted past.
His nostrils flared slightly, catching a lingering scent in the air, the peculiar incense smell that's only present when burning money for the dead.
In this short stretch of the corpse-driving route, he'd already encountered no less than three sinister things. Xu Qing couldn't help but shudder. Just how many otherworldly entities lurked outside Linhe District?
Fortunately, after the woman in red drifted away following the scent of sheep, he encountered no more strange people or events.
Around the second watch of the night, the air was extremely quiet, as if even insects and birds had grown weary and stopped their calls.
The ethereal sound of bells felt like it was isolated from the world. Xu Qing was wondering how much longer they had to travel when a faint light suddenly appeared on the pitch-black road ahead.
Xu Qing looked ahead in the distance, vaguely seeing lanterns and torches flickering, illuminating a building.
The mortuary was almost there!
At this moment, Liu Youdao, sitting at the front of the stretcher, put away the incense burner, and the entire corpse-driving team's pace immediately returned to normal.
With the mortuary in sight, Liu Youdao's spirits were lifted. He jumped off the bamboo poles, leisurely walking ahead.
The other zombies carried the dead bodies on the stretchers, trailing behind step by step.
But when they were barely two or three miles away from the mortuary, an unexpected event occurred!
From the pitch-black forest beside them, a man in a blood-soaked white robe suddenly emerged.
The man had thick eyebrows that nearly touched his temples and narrow eyes resembling a crescent moon, with whites more prominent than the blacks.
He held a ritual sword in reverse, smiling as he blocked Liu Youdao's path.
"Old sir, please halt. This junior has just arrived and doesn't know the way. Dare I ask, what place is this? If traveling north to Luojing, how far would it be?"
Liu Youdao looked at the young man, noting his extraordinary attire and bearing, yet blood-stained, suggesting he was no ordinary person. Adhering to the principle of avoiding unnecessary trouble, Liu Youdao kindly replied, "This is Liu Village Mortuary. Fifty miles south is Linhe. If you head north to the capital, you need to follow the road east from Liu Village, traveling about a hundred miles to Jinmen Prefecture City. From the Prefecture City, continue northward. Whether by river or road, you can reach the capital."
"Thank you, old sir! I'm in a hurry, so I'll be on my way!"
With that, the eerie young man in the blood-stained white robe took off from the ground, like wings wrapped around him, disappearing into the northeast at a speed hard to discern with the naked eye.
Liu Youdao grinned, revealing his yellow teeth. Judging from the young man's skills alone, he knew the other party's cultivation was far superior to his own.
Thankfully, his years of experience had taught him never to easily offend people of the martial world, or else he'd hardly survive to this age.
After the brief episode of directions, Liu Youdao resumed his journey, only to be blocked on the road by another stranger before traveling even two miles!
And this time, there was more than one!
"I am Zuo Zixiong, from the Capital's Divine Strategy Camp, Hundred Households. Old sir, have you seen a Celestial Heart Sect demon passing through here?" said Zuo Zixiong, dressed in light armor and carrying twin sabers and swords.
"This old man's eyes are dim and failing. I haven't seen anyone."
"You old ghost dare lie! I can still smell the demon's scent in front of you. Are you colluding with the Celestial Heart Sect, trying to hide them? In that case, we'll take you back to the Capital for punishment!"