In the Ancient Yin River Dao, one corpse after another was being delivered by straw spirit papermen along with their coffins to Xu Qing.
At this moment, Xu Qing was comfortably settled in the underground tomb, immovable as a mountain in the face of the ceaseless stream of bodies being brought to him.
The burial chamber deep within the Ghost King Mausoleum was different from the outer areas; if Xu Qing were too hasty to perform the Rescue every time a straw spirit paperman delivered a corpse, sooner or later the troublesome Ghost King would sense something amiss.
However, if he transferred the coffins first, without touching the bodies inside, the situation would be different.
In Xu Qing's eyes, stealing the burial coffins from an old neighbor's home was no different from having a fling.
First, there had to be a gradual process, and you definitely couldn't just jump into it with both hands.
Otherwise, aside from the possibility of the old neighbor noticing, even the consorts and ministers would cause a commotion.
It wasn't until the funeral procession of straw spirits had emptied the outer chambers of the imperial mausoleum that Xu Qing began to perform the Rescue on the bodies before him.
The first coffin was painted and varnished, with a gourd-shaped head sculpted from solid wood at its front. Xu Qing instantly recognized it as a concubine's coffin.
Opening the coffin lid, gold pins, jade rings, and dazzling jewels shone brightly, yet they did not catch Xu Qing's eye.
He was not interested in these treasures of gold and silver.
Ignoring the glittering gems, Xu Qing cast his gaze upon the body inside and saw a fully dressed female corpse, her beauty as captivating as when she was alive.
The woman's almond eyes were gently closed, her long lashes like frost, her cheeks as white as the first snow, and her lips like ripe cherries.
The texture of her skin appeared fresh and lively, as though she was still napping in the palace at noon.
Xu Qing took only one look before directly reaching out to peel open the woman's collar.
Sure enough, as he suspected, this concubine's body was exactly the same as Princess Yan Ning's — both were fair-faced skeletons!
Women love beauty, and most of the princesses, concubines, and even female officials and palace maids in the Ghost King Mausoleum would expend significant effort and devise various methods to maintain a glamorous appearance, but once the clothes were removed, they were nothing more than stark white bones.
Looking at the bones, Xu Qing felt they were even more beautiful than the beloved face of the concubine before him.
"What a beautiful skeleton, if it were to be taken back to the longevity clothing shop to be made into a longevity rack..."
Just as the thought arose, Xu Qing shook his head with a sense of regret.
What looked like a beauty in his eyes might just seem a mere skeleton to others!
The Sutra of Salvation flipped its pages with a rustle, and Xu Qing received a pair of youth-restoring earrings as the conclusion.
Whether living or dead, as long as one wears these earrings, their visage can return to a jade-like youth.
However, aside from the face, the body won't undergo any change.
Moreover, these earrings must be worn as a pair; if only one is worn, then only half of the face will return to youth.
Xu Qing casually tossed the earrings into storage, unable to think of where he might use them for now.
After performing the Rescue on the fair-faced royal concubine, Xu Qing turned his attention to another massive coffin, complete with three layers and six inches thick.
According to burial standards, commoners' coffins are four inches thick, always small and without a case. Whereas the three-layered, six-inch-thick coffin before him could only belong to a prince or a high-ranking official!
This meant that the body inside this coffin was at least a prince or a minister during their lifetime.
Xu Qing was delighted in his heart as he opened the layered coffin.
Whoosh! Eleven layers of longevity clothes wrapped around a single body like nesting dolls!
A bright red ceremonial robe, a red-and-blue surcoat, layers of patterned bird and beast court robes inside and out—one might think this official was afraid of the cold, coming into the coffin for winter hibernation!
Looking at the head, the hat adorned with inlaid rubies, topped with a small red coral cap, Xu Qing pulled at the neckline before finally seeing the properly concealed face.
A genuine skeletal face, without any cultivation in beauty techniques, showing it's quite an earnest corpse.
Following his routine, Xu Qing checked the opponent's lamp of life.
This person was an imperial tutor in life, a minister among the Three Ministers, who once had authority over rites and protocols, assisting two emperors, and the troublesome Ghost King was the 'young emperor' he'd watched grow up.
The young emperor called him 'master' from a young age, so even when the nation was on the brink of collapse, when the troublesome Ghost King wanted to rebuild the underworld kingdom on the Ancient Yin River, he dug up the recently deceased minister from the ground and buried him in the Yin River Mausoleum, conferring upon him the title of 'Ghost Master' to serve as the teacher of ten thousand ghosts.
"This emperor sure knows how to honor his teachers!"
After performing the Rescue for the South Wan state tutor from a millennium ago, the Sutra of Salvation gave its evaluation, top grade among mortal ranks, with a reward of a 'White-Mouthed Heavenly Edict' control technique.
This technique implicitly suggested an authority akin to speaking with a heavenly edict, where words and laws follow, but it was somewhat different.
The former usually described a powerful minister wielding ultimate life-and-death power. The White-Mouthed Heavenly Edict, however, was a 'teaching method.'
Meaning at a gravesite, even when face-to-face with a Yin Ghost, one could still apply this method, speaking with a heavenly edict to impart education.
Xu Qing thought it over carefully and found this technique differed from what he imagined; rather than true education, this teaching method seemed more like exerting a certain mental influence on ghosts to intimidate the soul.
Once the lecture stopped, weaker ghosts might stay under the influence of the heavenly edict for a long time, but if it were a more powerful spirit, it might immediately become aware.
Xu Qing thought should the day come when his actions were discovered, and the old neighbor found out about his deeds, this technique might come in handy to persuade them, as after all, they were just neighbors, and fights harmed harmony.
Even if it came to blows, using the 'White-Mouthed Heavenly Edict' to distract the old neighbor would be beneficial.
Within a short span, Xu Qing had clearly arranged the entire scheme devised by the troublesome Ghost King.