Chen Erzhuang
There was a cultural belief that associating with the dead would result in bad luck rubbing onto one. Therefore, only visitors Chen Erzhuang’s store located in the most remote alley were withered leaves landing on the cracked stone path to greet the moss growing out of the cracks. Chen Erzhuang tended to avoid interacting with others and kept to himself, holing up in the only store in the alley.
Chen Erzhuang placed a five-metre-tall paper Zhong Kui, the traditional deity regarded as the vanquisher of ghosts and evil demons in Chinese mythology, at the entrance to his door. Unlike the timber door to the store that looked as if it was decaying, the wooden sword in Zhong Kui’s clutch was kept in pristine condition.
“This place reeks and is damn dark,” Mu Yu commented. “Those, what, five open coffins behind the shelf smell like fresh phoebe zhennan, though I can’t say the same for the yellow paper, white candles and all that other fluff.”
Noticing someone lying on one of the beds next to the coffins, Mu Yu remarked, “Don’t tell me I’ve chanced upon a corpse. My hairs are standing up even though I’ve seen plenty of dead people. Wait, that’s a wooden mannequin. That’s some extravagant blue robe for wooden mann-… It must be graveclothes.”
All of the wooden dummies strongly resembled actual humans, even sporting human facial features.
“Please provide the details of the deceased.”
Mu Yu spun around after jolting, never noticing the individual’s presence. “Chen Erzhuang? Pardon me for the intrusion.”
For whatever reason, Chen Erzhuang’s life qi wasn’t energetic, and he didn’t have any spiritual energy circulating in him. With his face concealed in the shadows, he repeated, “Please provide the details of the deceased. Are you looking to hold an earth burial or heaven burial?”
Heaven burial was the colloquial term for “dumping the corpse at No-Man’s Cemetery” in the village.
“You still conduct heaven burials after that event?”
“The question is whether you want to do it or not, not whether I dare to or not,” calmly corrected Chen Erzhuang.
Mu Yu shifted his line of sight upward to see a floating coffin under one of the beams. Even stranger was that Mu Yu couldn’t smell wood in spite of it being constructed from wood – visually speaking. Curious, he sent his consciousness in to explore it and confirmed it was an empty coffin void of any life.
“You’re not here for business. I don’t smell the aura of the dead on you, but you do carry the odour of death,” stated Chen Erzhuang, strolling to the back of the store.
The aura of the dead? The odour of death? He can sense the death qi from dark herb? He can’t be human, can he? Mu Yu questioned in his mind. He chased after Chen Erzhuang, cutting the latter off and declared, “I have a question for you.”
Chen Erzhuang remained as cool as a cucumber, voicing, “You’re a cultivator.”
“Correct. I’m here to investigate Elder Zhao’s resurrection incident.”
“Elder Zhao just took his family along because his descendants weren’t filial. That’s all there is to it.”
Mu Yu abruptly pressed a hand on Chen Erzhuang and transferred spiritual energy over. “You’re not cursed?”
“I won’t be cursed because I spend my entire life with the dead.”
Mu Yu removed his hand after confirming Chen Erzhuang was a living human and not a cultivator. That only befuddled him further as Chen Erzhuang’s reactions defied the norm.
“As you are not here for business, please leave. I only do business with the dead,” asserted Chen Erzhuang, heading to the back of the store again.
Mu Yu stopped by a tree not too far from the store and questioned, “Xiaoshuai, did you notice anything out of place?”
“How can I not when everything was out of place?! How does a living human live in that sort of dark, spooky place?”
“Why didn’t you just cast Divine Soul Formation to pry?” inquired the dragon vine.
“You idiotic earthworm, it could potentially cripple him! Ever heard of common sense?”
“Anyway, there’s more to look into now. There is no way you can tell me the floating coffin is a normal phenomenon. Who would even do that? I swear I could feel a pair of eyes watching us ever since I entered the store, and I don’t mean Chen Erzhuang but somewhere in the darkness. If Chen Erzhuang is the puppet, I better not alert the puppet master. Based on the fact that I couldn’t sense the puppet master, their cultivation should rival mine – if not surpass it.”
“You reckon there’s a corpse in the coffin?” Xiaoshuai queried.
“I recommend you check at night by yourself,” mocked the dragon vine.
“Hell no. I hate murky places. Why don’t we just sit in the sun and enjoy some roast meat?”
“I noticed a lot of wood that had just been chopped down at the back of his store. I can say for certain they’re camphorwood, which is the same material used to make the wooden mannequins. I’ve never heard of anyone using camphorwood to manufacture coffins. What does he intend to do with that many mannequins? We’re going to see if we can track down the mysterious person Elder Xu mentioned through Chen Erzhuang.”
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