"Brother Run Sheng, place the hook and block the path between you and the corpse!"
Run Sheng caught the hook in one swift motion and, as instructed, inserted the Seven-star Hook between himself and the hand.
Quickly, only the top end of the Seven-star Hook was left visible above ground. Run Sheng placed his palm on it and began to turn it, causing a series of "crackling" sounds to emerge from below.
So far, as he hadn’t touched the hand, the corpse hadn’t drilled further down.
Li Zhiyuan pressed his five fingers into an inkpad, swiftly running them over the Soul Returning Basket and the return home net, then tossed them into the pit.
"Set the basket in front, and drop the net behind."
"Got it!" Run Sheng had just received the items, and was momentarily puzzled. "Xiao Yuan, which way is the front of the corpse?"
"The way the palm is facing is the front."
Run Sheng placed the Soul Returning Basket in front of the palm. At first glance, the basket seemed narrow and shallow at the opening, but once the clasp was undone, both the opening and the depth could adjust themselves, showing incredible resilience.
As for the return home net, Run Sheng spread it over the back of the hand. The net was large enough to cover even the pit wall on that side.
Li Zhiyuan picked up the Luo Sheng Umbrella and said to Run Sheng, "Brother Run Sheng, catch me."
After speaking, he leaped into the pit, with Tan Yunlong next to him not having time to stop him.
Run Sheng caught him steadily. When Li Zhiyuan stood firm, he first lowered his head to closely examine the hand. Then, he pulled a talisman paper he drew himself from his pocket.
The preparations were complete; now, he wanted to conduct a personal test, for instance, using the talisman paper he had made.
The "Righteous Demon Extermination Records" did not specifically describe the talisman paper in detail, only listing satisfying types of conditions, akin to prerequisite course knowledge required to learn this subject.
Li Zhiyuan met none of those rigid conditions. He had merely drawn the talisman paper by concentrating and in a single breath, purely based on the style depicted in the manual.
Although he knew it was highly unlikely to work, what if it did...?
At just the right distance above the palm, Li Zhiyuan released the talisman paper. As it descended slowly, nearing the hand, the fingers suddenly spread out and grabbed the talisman paper fiercely!
The talisman paper instantly turned black.
"Xiao Yuan!" The abrupt change made Run Sheng immediately shield Xiao Yuan behind him.
Li Zhiyuan felt somewhat helpless; the opponent not only ignored his talisman paper’s threat but actively provoked him.
"Brother Run Sheng, pry it out."
Run Sheng grasped one end of the Seven-star Hook with both hands, squatted, and began pressing down hard.
The hand started to move, the soil below rapidly cracked, but this time it didn’t continue downward; rather, it frantically changed directions as if it were a headless fly.
Run Sheng continued to apply pressure, clenching his jaw, with bulging veins on his arms. His feet had already sunk, with soil reaching his ankles.
Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help but sigh internally, *Indeed, corpse recovery was a physical task.*
*Looking at Uncle Qin that night, and now at Run Sheng, no matter how good the tools you had, without a strong physique, you couldn’t wield them effectively.*
*Luckily, I was still young and could slowly train.*
With a focused effort, the corpse clearly couldn’t hold on any longer. Suddenly, a large amount of dirt erupted from below, mixed with black fog.
Li Zhiyuan immediately opened the Luo Sheng Umbrella, shielding himself and Run Sheng, the umbrella vibrating. Li Zhiyuan felt his hands go numb but persisted.
Upon noticing the faint black fog surrounding them, Li Zhiyuan drew out the Three Pure Ones Fan, pressed the hidden button, and waved it, releasing white incense ash from within.
In an instant, the air seemed to carry a faint scent of burned coal.
"It’s out!" Run Sheng growled lowly, "Xiao Yuan, fall back!"
Li Zhiyuan quickly retracted the umbrella and stepped back. The ground ahead split open, revealing a corpse dressed in pajamas that had been pried out. The Seven-star Hook was beneath it, each section extended outwards, like clasps locking the corpse in place.
The corpse, appearing mostly still, seemed to fleetingly rush forward, drilling into the Soul Returning Basket. The basket expanded quickly, and as it did, the corpse fell backward, dropping into the return home net, the net wrapping around it.
Then, the corpse lay still.
Li Zhiyuan sighed with relief, asking, "Brother Run Sheng, just now, was the corpse moving by itself, or were you pulling it with the Seven-star Hook?"
"The corpse didn’t seem to move, yet its weight fluctuated between being heavy and light. It almost threw off my strength."
"Then it wasn’t the corpse moving; this one isn’t a Corpse."
After the corpse was out, a person-deep pit was left in its place. Li Zhiyuan walked to the edge and looked down, noticing pairs of white bone hands exposed from the pit walls.
There were two more skeletons reduced to bone down below!
*It seemed that Brother Leopard’s help in burying old Zhou wasn’t the first time Jiang Dongping killed and buried someone here to feed Tai Sui.*
Li Zhiyuan compared the positions and angles of the skeletal hands with his own hands.
"Xiao Yuan, why are there white bones down there?"
"Brother Run Sheng, the reason this corpse kept moving downward was those hands pulling it, refusing to let it go."
"What about now? Can it still move?"
Li Zhiyuan shook his head, "It’s not a Corpse, just a spectral entity. It dissipates in the light."
*In areas unseen by sunlight, such ghostly entities moved and made things happen.*
*For instance, many people heard rustling sounds at night coming from the roof or other rooms in their homes.*