I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 153 - 127: Corpse Recovery Man

Before setting off to Pinghu Village, Sang Que received her supply package from Xu San, courtesy of the Evil Suppression Bureau.

A pitch-black dagger, ten Exorcism Talismans, a bamboo tube of black dog blood, some glutinous rice and vermillion, a handful of incense, a candle, and a bundle of red hemp rope.

Sang Que sat in the donkey cart, closely following the four riders ahead, reviewing the items Xu San gave her.

Xu San placed great importance on this black dagger, repeatedly instructing Sang Que to guard it carefully, and under no circumstances should it be lost—it must be returned to him afterwards.

Sang Que noticed that the dagger was made of Obsidian. The quality of the Obsidian was excellent, but for her, this item wasn’t really valuable. Even if it was lost, she could easily compensate the Evil Suppression Bureau with a cartload.

However, if this object truly could harm a Ghost Level being, she might consider having Jiang Zao craft some Obsidian items for her when she returned, like replacing the arrowheads on her arrows with Obsidian. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about collecting them in time, avoiding trouble with iron arrowheads.

Immediately, Sang Que had an idea, such as wrapping high-quality Obsidian fragments in firecrackers, adding some vermillion, which might be very effective in damaging ghosts.

How would she talk to Jiang Zao about this? If she starts tinkering with gunpowder and firecrackers at home, would the police come knocking?

Actually, she’d wanted Jiang Zao to make her a makeshift gun for a long time, but Jiang Zao said he could do it. The problem was whether she could acquire the materials. Jiang Zao even commented, ’You sure are daring!’

"Hiss—"

Suddenly, a gasp came from the side. Sang Que looked down to see Xia Chan curiously touching the dagger. Before she could fully touch it, her finger split open, and a wisp of black hair emerged from the wound.

Sang Que quickly took the dagger away, and Xuan Yu, on the other side, cautiously tapped the dagger with a paw, nothing happened.

Meow~

Xuan Yu meowed at Xia Chan, who pouted and glared at Xuan Yu.

The Exorcism Talismans, black dog blood, glutinous rice, and vermillion are all standard items. The focus is on the incense, candle, and red hemp rope.

There were a total of twelve sticks of incense. Xu San said the incense could attract evil spirits to gather at the location where the incense burned, and one stick could typically burn for five minutes. When encountering a large number of evil spirits blocking the way, lighting incense could divert them.

This incense only worked on Third Layer and below evil spirits.

The candle was similar to the Exorcism Red Candle she carried, but the candle’s red was not as rich as hers. It was a weaker version of an Exorcism Red Candle; once lit, it could repel ghosts below the fourth layer from getting close.

However, Xu San also told her that if a four-layered evil ghost approached, it would accelerate the burning speed of the red candle. If she couldn’t fend it off, she would have to escape before the candle burned out.

Finally, this bundle of red hemp rope was the same as the red hemp rope used by Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu. When Sang Que saw the hemp rope, she confirmed that He Buning and Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu were watching them from the shadows.

There were a total of three daggers, clearly provided by the three of them.

The hemp rope was called the Soul-locking Rope, dyed red by soaking in vermillion and black dog blood over the years. Later on, there were some complex procedures that required Taoist disciples to create, eventually resulting in a bundle that could temporarily restrain a four-layered evil ghost.

Sang Que found that the Evil Suppression Bureau indeed had quite a few tools for dealing with evil spirits and ghosts. They even had products made from the Ten Victory Stone commonly used by the Buddhist Sect, as well as this Soul-locking Rope used by the Taoist Sect. This was just a common part of their equipment.

She heard from Xu San that the Evil Suppression Bureau also kept numerous yin objects. Day Travel and Night Travel could be exchanged for with merit points, which were awarded based on contributions after handling bizarre cases.

Even if a Yin Walker wanted to advance their evil spirits, they could use merit points to request help from the Evil Suppression Bureau.

The donkey cart traveled down the road, and Sang Que checked all her equipment on her person. She changed out of her stab-proof vest and wore Yao Zhen-enhanced Copper Coin Armor underneath, with a Dao Bell attached to her belt.

She placed easily accessible items within her coat, with the rest in a crossbody cloth bag, offloading unused items into the cart compartment.

Whoa—

After half an hour of traveling in the cart, the four riders ahead pulled on the reins, prompting Sang Que to stop the donkey cart as well.

"Miss Sang, over there is Ping Lake."

Sang Que jumped down from the cart’s shaft. They were currently on a mountainside, with a cliff to their right. Looking out to the left, they could see a corner of the lake, where the clear waters reflected the sky and clouds.

The rest of the lake was completely shrouded in thick white mist, stretching for hundreds of miles with no end in sight, even under the scorching sun, the light couldn’t disperse the mist.

The group dismounted their horses, standing by the roadside to gaze. Qin Ze walked up to Sang Que. Sang Que glanced at him, finding his appearance today unusual.

Qin Ze, originally a calm man in his late twenties, served as a squad leader in the army. Although his rank wasn’t high, he still had some presence as a leader.

Today, he donned a different outfit: wearing a bamboo cap, a coarse linen vest revealing muscular arms, with a strip of red cloth wrapped around his right wrist, his pant legs rolled up, wearing straw sandals, and with a small bamboo fish trap hanging from his waist.

His face was clean-shaven, and he was chewing on a blade of grass. He didn’t take the Soul-locking Rope provided by Xu San but instead brought his own bundle of black rope mixed with black dog hair.

(Thanks to [Yi Zhong] for providing the illustration)

Qin Ze also had two flower-tailed roosters tied to his horse. This outfit resembled that of a fisherman’s, but the red cloth on his right hand indicated he was dressed as a ’Corpse Recovery Man’.

When they set off that morning, Qin Ze had told Sang Que that the evil spirit he controlled was once a ’Corpse Recovery Man’ in life.

Corpse Recovery Men had taboos against going into the water during thunderstorms to recover bodies, along with three bodies they wouldn’t recover.

The first was an upright corpse, standing upright in the water.

The second was a body that couldn’t be lifted after three attempts—if it couldn’t be recovered after three tries, it had to be abandoned.

The third was a young female corpse.

The evil spirit under Qin Ze’s control had been a young man under twenty years old, who violated the taboo on a thunderstorm day, attempting to recover a young female corpse that stood upright in the water and could not be raised after three attempts. In the end, he was dragged into the water by the female corpse, trapped among the aquatic plants.

"This lake doesn’t seem peaceful," Qin Ze said, chewing on the grass, "Miss Sang, when the time comes, you and your sister mustn’t enter the lake. Us Corpse Recovery Men don’t recover young girls like you."

Qin Ze had already embraced the role, even his speaking manner had become lively and youthful.

Sang Que understood; the rules of the Corpse Recovery Men were the same as Qin Ze’s evil spirit’s rules.

The group continued on, descending from the mountain after another half hour, then turning onto a narrow path. Dense fog blanketed the area ahead, obscuring everything from view and slowly spreading outward.

Xu San stopped, jumped off his horse, and said to everyone, "Light your torches and tie the horses by the roadside."

"I’ll drive the cart in," Sang Que called out. Yao Zhen had said that the donkey was extraordinary. She thought it best to bring it along, maybe it could help her escape in a critical moment.

"By the way, one more reminder to everyone, the Taoist nun I encountered once said that as long as we don’t eat or drink anything in the village, we’ll have a chance to make it out. Please remember that."

Sang Que had already told everyone this matter before setting off; now she reiterated it.

The group nodded, taking the opportunity to check the water and provisions on them.

Xu San lit a torch. Before departing, he had left a farewell letter for his parents. Fortunately, as a Day Travel of the Evil Suppression Bureau, he was not required to marry, and he had a younger brother at home who could take care of their parents in the future.

Taking a breath, Xu San led the way into the fog.

Giddy up!

Sang Que drove the donkey cart quickly, overtaking Xu San and the others. A soul lamp hung from the cart, emitting a faint red glow that slightly dissipated the heavy fog around them, like a beacon, guiding the way forward.

"Little Chan."

"Mm!"

Xia Chan, munching on a bun, sat on the cart shaft, her legs dangling and swinging. Her black hair, falling over her shoulders, shed a few strands that floated with the wind, swiftly wrapping around the ankles of the three people behind them.

Another tendril rose from Xia Chan’s shoulder, affectionately entwining Sang Que’s wrist before disconnecting.

Even Xuan Yu’s neck had a strand of Xia Chan’s hair tied around it.

This was also a capability Sang Que helped Xia Chan develop: within a certain range, Xia Chan could sense the location of her hair, so even if they got separated in the fog, Xia Chan would be able to find them.

The main issue was Xia Chan needing to eat enough, or else her perception would weaken.

Sang Que glanced at the fully packed cart compartment out of the corner of her eye; it was loaded with various edibles, otherwise she wouldn’t have needed to drive the cart in and could have just led the donkey.