Chapter 206: The Funeral Service That Came in Handy
Chapter 206: The Funeral Service That Came in Handy
“The house’s Feng Shui? It’s quite good.”
“Looking at the ancestral grave? That shouldn’t be necessary. With no illness or disaster in your family, why check the ancestral grave?”
“Fortune-telling and divination? At your age, why bother with fate? Can’t be worrying about a hurdle a hundred years from now, right? Tell your family then to nail the portrait securely, so it doesn’t fall down.”
“…”
Chen Xiyi half-heartedly dealt with the group. He felt something was off. For example, why were there five teacups set out for four people, all of which had been used?
Ximen Yue’s wife held their son, while Ximen Yue, his father, and his father-in-law sat drinking tea with Chen Xiyi. Meanwhile, his mother and mother-in-law went into the kitchen to tidy up and prepare some dishes.
“By the way, don’t you think there’s one extra person here?” Chen Xiyi suddenly spoke up amid the conversation.
The room fell silent. His words were a bit eerie.
“One, two… eight. There’s no extra.” Ximen Yue counted and found the number correct.
“When you counted just now, you didn’t include your son, did you?” Chen Xiyi kindly reminded him.
Sweat broke out on Ximen Yue’s forehead. If they didn’t count his son, there should be seven people.
He glanced at the table again. There were five teacups in total, all with signs of being used. But only four of them had been drinking tea. Who was the extra cup poured for, and who drank from it?
“There… there’s a dirty thing that came into the house.” Ximen Yue’s voice trembled slightly.
“I suspect your son’s soul leaving and feigning death might be this thing’s doing. Just not sure why it acted.” Chen Xiyi subtly glanced beside him, because the extra teacup was right next to him.
Then, Chen Xiyi took out a Pure Yang Demon Suppressing Talisman and tossed it into that teacup, waiting for the dirty thing to reach for the tea and drink.
No one dared to breathe loudly. They all watched the teacup quietly.
But Chen Xiyi suddenly felt his vision go dark. It wasn’t the face in front or the floating one, but the face on the back of his head seemed blocked by something.
Annoyed, Chen Xiyi reached out, grabbed the thing clinging to him, and pressed it onto the table.
“What kind of habit is this? Such a big person, clinging to me—how improper.”
Everyone froze when they saw what Chen Xiyi had pressed onto the table. If Chen Xiyi hadn’t been there, they would have run away.
It was a blackened, charred corpse. Once Chen Xiyi pulled it out, a rotting smell instantly filled the air.
“Master, this…” Ximen Yue pointed shakily at the dried corpse, wanting to ask something.
But Chen Xiyi spoke first to reassure him: “Don’t worry, this dirty thing didn’t come with me.”
Ximen Yue’s heart clenched. That went without saying. With your skill to pin it down on the table, how could it have come with you? It must have followed someone in the family.
“Then, Master, what should we do next? How will you get rid of this dirty thing?” Ximen Yue hurriedly asked.
But Chen Xiyi fell silent for a moment.
[Charred corpse, Status: 100%, Status: Hungry]
[Ability 1: Ghost Blinding]
[Experience]
[April: Shocked a soul out, prepared to eat it, but it escaped; changed target]
[April: Rose in the morgue, accidentally found a target, prepared to hunt]
[April: Lay in the morgue]
“This thing, it died violently, seems like it was burned to death.” Chen Xiyi felt this was a case of when one door closes, another opens.
Here he’d encountered a violently killed corpse for him to collect.
“By the way, did you cancel the funeral parlor and crematorium services you contacted? If not, use the service for this one. It’ll save you from this thing bothering you again.”
“You should also check which morgue this came from—maybe a hospital. Ask if they’re missing a corpse. But it’s so charred, unlikely they’d keep it in a hospital.” Chen Xiyi marveled at this.
“I’ll contact them right away.” Ximen Yue quickly made a call.
Meanwhile, Chen Xiyi picked up the charred corpse, looked around, and said, “Lend me the coffin for now. You’re not using it anyway.”
“Please, go ahead. Don’t stand on ceremony.” One of the elderly men, though badly shaken, reacted swiftly.
Chen Xiyi proceeded to stuff the charred corpse into the small coffin but found it didn’t fit.
Crack!
A crisp bone-breaking sound was heard. Chen Xiyi forcibly broke off the parts sticking out, packed them all in, tossed a Pure Yang Demon Suppressing Talisman inside, and sat back down.
He even wiped his hands carelessly on his clothes, picked up his tea, and drank it in one gulp.
He then poured out the tea from the charred corpse’s cup, kept the Pure Yang Demon Suppressing Talisman, and threw the cup into the coffin.
“Let this be his burial object. He used it, after all. You wouldn’t mind parting with it, would you?” Chen Xiyi asked the still-shaken group.
“Of course, of course. If it’s not enough, we can add a whole set.” Ximen Yue’s father-in-law quickly assured him. What was there to mind? If sending this dirty thing away meant parting with a teacup, they’d give a whole house if it meant it wouldn’t haunt them.
“Master, the hospital said no missing corpses. What do you…” Ximen Yue inquired.
Chen Xiyi thought for a moment. “Oh, that’s fine. Since we can’t find the family, I’ll handle it. Your son’s funeral package can be used for him. Consider it spending money to avoid disaster.”
“Master, is our house’s Feng Shui bad, attracting this dirty thing?” Ximen Yue’s father seized the moment to ask.
Chen Xiyi examined their house’s structure and looked outside before decisively saying, “Relax, your house is fine. You’re just unlucky.”
Hearing this, everyone felt worse. It would have been better if the Feng Shui was the problem.
“Then, Master, do you know how to change luck? We’ll give you anything. We just want peace and safety in the future.” Ximen Yue asked.
Chen Xiyi looked at him as if he were a fool. “We should believe in science. This is just a small probability, like tripping and falling.”
When Chen Xiyi said to believe in science, everyone had the same thought: In this room, even the charred corpse you stuffed in the coffin is more scientific than you.
“If you really feel uneasy, see a psychologist. Sort out your mind, so you don’t get sick from stress.” Chen Xiyi said seriously.
Ximen Yue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Master, you do joke.”
“I’m not joking. If you have nothing else, come with me to use your son’s unused funeral package for this one. I’ll handle it; you go communicate, so they don’t mess up halfway and let it escape. If it accidentally returns to your house, hiding under the bed knocking on the floorboards at night…”
“Whether it’s scary is one thing, but if it affects your marital life and leaves a shadow, that’s not good. Psychological issues are harder to treat than physical ones.”
Chen Xiyi spoke earnestly.
“Ahem, Master, you put it that way… I’ll take you to the funeral parlor first.” Ximen Yue awkwardly changed the subject, then fearfully approached the coffin. He couldn’t very well ask the master to carry it.
Chen Xiyi picked up the coffin lid and slammed it down, then lifted the entire coffin easily, as if it were a suitcase.
With this guy’s condition, if he carried it, he’d drop pieces of the charred corpse all over the road.
Chen Xiyi had dismantled it pretty thoroughly earlier.
They went downstairs, got in the car, and headed to the funeral parlor.
After Ximen Yue offered extra money and raised the price, the funeral parlor had no objections.
After stitching, restoration, makeup, and dressing, Chen Xiyi clearly felt his Primordial Spirit becoming active. It seemed a certain Spirituality was enhancing his Primordial Spirit through the corpse-collecting ritual.
During this process, Chen Xiyi sensed his vision perceiving the soul trapped in the charred corpse, burned by flames, gradually being freed.
When he completed the final step and placed it in the prepared coffin, the soul in the charred corpse was completely liberated, leaving only a body.
Closing the coffin lid, it was all over.
Chen Xiyi felt his Primordial Spirit had strengthened by about 1%.
“Spirituality from the soul has such a big effect?” Chen Xiyi pondered the change in his Primordial Spirit.
This was a 1% increase in Primordial Spirit, not just +1 experience.
“So what’s the principle of this ritual? Why does collecting a corpse allow me to gain Spirituality from the soul?”
But before he could think much longer, noise outside interrupted him.
Opening the door, he saw Ximen Yue. “It’s done. Just find a place to bury it.”
The corpse collection was complete; burial had to follow.
They carried the coffin to the public cemetery for burial. As Chen Xiyi presided, the tomb was sealed with cement, and the portrait was erected.
He felt a second wave of reward burst forth. This time, it wasn’t an increase in Primordial Spirit but an upgrade to Death Notice.
The passive range increased to 11 meters, and the active effect was enhanced.
This surprised Chen Xiyi. He originally thought he’d need to advance further before upgrading, but completing one corpse collection allowed an upgrade.
Watching the advancement condition change from 0/100 to 1/100, Chen Xiyi felt pleased.
This was what they called a good start.
He felt he needed to buy some ritual supplies, like coffins of various sizes, different styles of burial clothes, and items for makeup, stitching, etc.
Plus, with his professional skills as a Qi Refiner, if he encountered someone who died violently in the wild, he could provide a full funeral service on the spot.
“Master, is this all over?” Ximen Yue, seeing things concluded, came over to ask.
“Yes, it’s over. The dirty thing inside was freed by me. And that weakling only scared people with Ghost Blinding. Sealed with cement, it can’t get out. I even drew a Pure Yang Demon Suppressing Talisman on its grave. Even if it could get out, it can’t now. Though hastily, I should’ve just cremated it directly.” Chen Xiyi replied.
Ximen Yue was stunned. So it could have been cremated? He had thought about suggesting it, but since it was a charred corpse, cremating it might provoke a bad reaction.
But since it was over, Ximen Yue didn’t dare say more. They couldn’t dig it up and take it for cremation now.
“Then, Master, what are your plans next?” Ximen Yue asked.
“No plans. I just arrived in the city today and was left by the roadside. If I hadn’t met you, I’d be considering spending the night on a park bench.” Chen Xiyi sighed, thinking again of Ye Fan, who promised him a good time. He wondered if Ye Fan was now showing off and slapping faces or had become a live-in son-in-law.
Hearing this, Ximen Yue was inwardly pleased. “If Master doesn’t mind, you can stay at my place for a few days.”
“Was waiting for you to say that. Let’s go.” Chen Xiyi said immediately.