After hearing the village chief's explanation, realization dawned upon the two of them. "No wonder these living corpses are so tough and hardly seem like something an ordinary person could refine. Turns out they just wandered off and got lost."
"Is it common for living corpses to get lost like this?"
The village chief shook his head. "How could it be? I've lived for eighty years and this is the first time I've ever seen masterless living corpses. I'd only heard people speak of them before."
"May I ask what might cause a living corpse to become masterless?"
"From what I hear, there are usually only a couple of reasons. Either the master has died, leaving the corpses without control to wander day in and day out; or the master voluntarily relinquished control over them; or else the living corpses turned on their master and devoured them."
"Judging by the demeanor of the living corpses in our village, they aren't bloodthirsty, so the third scenario seems unlikely."
"Is there any way to find the master of these living corpses?"
Hearing Lu Yang's question, a conflicted look crossed the village chief's face. His brow furrowed into knots, and at last he sighed. "There is."
"Every corpse driver leaves a unique insignia on their living corpses to declare ownership. The living corpses in our village all bear an identical mark on their right wrists, like this."
The village chief crouched down and used his finger to draw three interlocking rings on the ground, with the character for 'Ghost' inscribed in the center. "If the master of these living corpses is still alive, they will have this exact pattern on their right wrist as well."
"Though I am only at the peak of the second level of Qi Refinement and my cultivation is limited, in my youth I studied under a remarkable corpse driver—my teacher was at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refinement!"
"While studying with my teacher, I familiarized myself with the insignia of corpse drivers across all the surrounding commanderies and counties. None had a style like this. As for corpse drivers from further away, I've never encountered any."
This was one reason why the village chief had not reported the matter: the living corpses had not been left behind by any local corpse driver. Even if he reported it to the yamen, the authorities would never find their master.
"Old Sir, have you heard of the Corpse Driving Sect?"
The village chief chuckled ruefully. "How could I not know the name of the Corpse Driving Sect? Thirty years ago, I even had the honor of glimpsing a Corpse Driving Sect disciple from afar. Truly a brilliant young talent—far beyond someone like me, who struggled even to grasp the basics of the corpse-driving arts."
"Do you know where the Corpse Driving Sect is located?"
"That would be far away." The village chief pointed west. "The Corpse Driving Sect lies right at the very center of our Huangzhou. Heading straight west from here, it's eighty million li away."
Meng Jingzhou nodded. "Looks like we have a few more days of travel ahead."
With the old horse around, eighty million li was not considered far. When he had run away from home back then, traveling from the imperial capital to the Dao Seeking Sect had been far more than eighty million li, yet it had taken only a few days.
How fast or slow they traveled depended entirely on the old horse's mood.
At the time, Meng Jingzhou had assumed their speed was due to spatial formations in the carriage's chassis that allowed it to freely shuttle through space and shorten distances. Only later did he learn that while the carriage was indeed a treasure, the true secret behind their swiftness was the old horse.
"Now that we know about the living corpses, could you let us brothers stay the night, Old Sir?"
"Very well. Since my wife passed away and my children moved to the county seat, hosting you is just a matter of adding two quilts."
The two rested and recuperated in Jianshi Village for the night. The following day, they took their leave of the village chief and set out on their journey.
"You two were quite lucky last night." The Immortal Fairy stretched lazily, twisting her body to limber up her joints and sinews. Though a soul body had no physical sinews or bones, habits from life were always partially carried over into death.
"Lucky?"
"Indeed. The mob of living corpses you encountered last night was painstakingly refined by a grand cultivator. It's just that they had no one directing them and were lacking in yang energy, leaving them too weak to move much. They could barely sustain basic activities each day by feeding on that pile of steamed buns. Otherwise, the two of you wouldn't have been able to beat them."
"If I'm not mistaken, acting together, that group of living corpses would be enough to take on a Body Integration stage cultivator."
"The Body Integration stage?!" Lu Yang was shocked. He had known the corpses from last night were resilient, but he had never imagined it was exaggerated to the point of contending with the Body Integration stage.
Even if Lu Yang was unfamiliar with the craft of corpse refinement, he knew that anyone capable of refining living corpses of that caliber had to be a Body Integration stage cultivator.
Such living corpses were the combat assets of a Body Integration cultivator; how could they be casually discarded?
Could a Body Integration-level corpse driver have died?
At that thought, a chill ran down Lu Yang's spine.
Nowadays, people rarely fought with lethal intent, and it was exceedingly rare for Body Integration cultivators to strike to kill. Not to mention how powerful Body Integration cultivators were, with numerous life-saving measures at their disposal. Unless the disparity was astronomical—such as the gap between his master Daoist Buyu, the Grand Elder, or Qiu Jin'an and an ordinary Body Integration cultivator—it was extraordinarily difficult for one Body Integration cultivator to kill another.
Seeing Lu Yang's expression shift, Meng Jingzhou couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "What's wrong?"
"You probably remember that the Immortal Fairy resides inside me."
Back when the Immortal Fairy was revived, Meng Jingzhou had been watching right beside him.
Meng Jingzhou blinked, clapped a fist into his palm, and wore a look of sudden enlightenment. "Ah~ I remember now! There's an ancient immortal inside you. What did the immortal say?"
"...Wait a second. Setting aside what the immortal said, why do you look like you just remembered?"
"You can't blame me for that." Meng Jingzhou scratched his head sheepishly and counted on his fingers. "Mainly, in my imagination, someone harboring an ancient immortal ought to enjoy endless strokes of miraculous fortune, wield ancient broken treasures as weapons, hold all kinds of earth-shattering secrets, be versed in countless cultivation methods, be invincible among peers, drop shocking remarks all the time, possess insights far beyond their realm, have beauties throwing themselves into their arms, and stroll into secret realms like walking into their own home.
"Looking at how you usually act, you're nothing like that. The only matching trait is being invincible among peers, but in our Dao Seeking Sect, that's hardly an eye-catching trait anyway.
"Oh right, you also know all sorts of ancient secrets that are only good for bluffing the Nine Nether Cult."
Lu Yang: ...
Yeah, I'd like to know why too.
"What did the immortal say?"
"She said the group of living corpses we ran into last night has combat power rivaling the Body Integration stage."
Meng Jingzhou's pupils contracted slightly, having clearly arrived at the same question as Lu Yang.
How could living corpses of this caliber end up stranded out in the wild? Something unknown must have taken place!
"Let's find a large city and ask around to see if any battles occurred or if some Body Integration cultivator fell. An event of that magnitude couldn't possibly leave behind no trace at all."
Lu Yang nodded; he thought the same.
"Right, since an ancient immortal lives inside you, could you ask her if she has a way to resolve my karmic backlash?" Meng Jingzhou looked at Lu Yang eagerly. That was right—even without Eldest Senior Sister's help, there was still an ancient immortal!
An ancient immortal possessed godlike means; wouldn't resolving a mere karmic backlash be child's play?
"I already asked."
"What did Her Ladyship say?"
"She told you to drop dead."
"?"
Chapter 405