Good deeds and bad deeds eventually have their rewards, it's only a matter of time.
The Helmsman Zhang Da left this world peacefully, and Xu Qing, after reviewing his life movie, obtained an Old Clam Pearl Pill.
The Pearl Pill is of the middle human grade, about the size of a fingernail, more of a clam pearl than a pill.
This pearl is quite interesting. No matter dead or alive, as long as it's placed under the tongue, one can conceal their brilliance, take on the guise of an old man, and once removed, the person will instantly return to their original form.
Xu Qing casually placed the pearl under his tongue, then took a mirror to see that his hair, including the fine corpse hair, had all turned an icy white.
Looking further at his eyebrows and expression, he had become quite the gentle and kind looking old corpse from a mountain village.
What is this, an Elder Pill?
An old clam hiding a pearl; who would think that a hunched old man would be a robust and vigorous zombie.
Securing the Elder Pill, Xu Qing then turned his attention to the Helmsman's body.
Helmsman Zhang Da's matter was not yet over; shortly after he turned himself in, he had his tongue cut out during trial.
The one who cut his tongue wasn't anyone else, but the same Government Official Xue who had ignored the plight of Zhao Zhonghe and his nephew, ordering the boat to return to Linhe.
Xu Qing speculated that Yang Hong and Jinmen Prefecture constable Zhou Heng were the masterminds behind the case, with Official Xue acting on their orders to cut the Helmsman's tongue so he couldn't expose Yang Hong or Zhou Heng since he was illiterate.
As all clues pieced together, a case of collusion between officials and criminals, oppressing and harming innocents, emerged before Xu Qing.
If it were an ordinary person faced with this matter, it would certainly mean death with no escape.
The Wu family brothers, though scholars, stood no chance against these heartless officials and criminals hiding in the shadows.
Xu Qing shook his head slightly, he wasn't worried about the Wu brothers' safety; Wu Zhiyuan had a Peace Talisman from Hu Baosong, ensuring that even if he fell into the river, nothing major would happen unless his luck was exceedingly poor and he encountered water monsters or ghosts.
Before Wu Wencai left, Xu Qing was studying the Grotto Heaven Talisman and had drawn many talismans, not much inferior to Hu Baosong's, and even surpassing them in some aspects.
For ordinary people, Xu Qing and Hu Baosong were like supermodel assistants beyond the secular versions.
As for how far the Wu family brothers could go, it depended entirely on their own fortunes.
If even under such auspicious circumstances they still met an untimely death, it could only be deemed as fate.
Ultimately, Xu Qing was just a zombie; without the ability to protect himself, he wouldn't leave Jin Sect. If the Wu brothers failed to return safely from their journey, the most he could do was gather a few more corpses in Jin Sect, nothing more.
In recent days, the Underground Street was bustling with people, besides the customers visiting Xu Qing's business, there was also Daoist Priest Yizhen from the street's coffin shop.
The female Daoist priest had been despondent for several days because of Hu Baosong's matter, recently deciding to return to the Five Elders Temple to focus on cultivation.
"Senior Sister, rest assured, I'll take care of the coffin shop for you."
Yizhen smiled, called the Golden Simurgh, and was about to leave this place.
The big rooster took a few steps, turned back three times, reluctant to part. At Xu Qing's place, it could eat and drink well, but returning to the Five Elders Temple meant only eating plain food, with nothing but millet and coarse grains as options.
Such a life seemed to have a clear and foreseeable limit.
Seeing the Golden Simurgh's demeanor, Yizhen felt stifled yet helpless, like taking a child out to play only to have them insist on staying at the candy vendor's stall without moving.
"Junior Brother Xu, it seems this chicken is quite fond of you. Why don't I give it to you, and you can decide whether to stew or boil it?"
Xu Qing flatly refused; ever since this silly chicken slept for half a month, its appetite had increased over tenfold.
He didn't know the cost of food unless he managed a household, a chicken like this should be left to find food for itself rather than coming to beg from him every day.
Underground Street was bustling, Xu Qing had seen off numerous living and dead, and he had just sent off the female Daoist Priest when a new female guest walked in from outside.
Xu Qing had some impression of her, as Huang Xiaoliu had mentioned that someone sent a maid to the Wu family wife at the adjacent Paper Mache Shop.
It was said she came from Jiangnan.
The maid brought some newly made paper figures to the shop. With nothing better to do, Xu Qing casually chatted with the maid.
Under the influence of official authority, the maid was like a criminal under interrogation, and soon spilled everything about her home, why she became a maid, and why she ended up working for the Wu family.
After obtaining the answers he wanted, Xu Qing withdrew his 'official aura' and revealed a kind smile, saying, "So you're from the family of Lord Yin from Jiangnan, which means your master Yin Mingxuan is Wu family's wife's nephew, Wu Wencai?"
The maid shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face in panic.
Lord Yin had warned her not to speak of family matters to outsiders, and now she had committed a grave error!
Xu Qing smiled warmly, "Don't worry, this is known only to heaven, earth, you, and me; I certainly won't tell anyone else."
The maid didn't know how she exited the Funeral Shop, only feeling as if she had lost her soul. The shopkeeper Xu, who was overseeing the shop, seemed like a judge from the Yama's court, instilling fear within her and making her reveal all she knew.
Inside the Funeral Shop, Xu Qing cheerfully played with the paper ingot in his hand.
Beside him, Xuan Yu curiously asked, "Since the Wu family boy acknowledged the official as a godfather, why not just come back to clear his uncle's name?"