Chapter 216
“Hey, mister! Don’t do that!”
The driver got off the bus, but he was too afraid of the creature, so he did not dare take a step further .
From afar, he waved at Ye Shaoyang and nervously shouted, “Mister, we know you are quite capable . However, the Undead God had shown mercy and was willing to leave . Please don’t provoke it any further, mister . If you get into a fight with it and get overpowered, everyone here is going to taste its wrath!”
As he spoke, everyone in the car nodded in agreement . The soul-bound undead silently stared at Ye Shaoyang . Ye Shaoyang could even see it creepily smiling out of satisfaction as it knew everyone was now afraid .
Seeing this, Ye Shaoyang burst out laughing instead of getting pissed . “You? A God? You are nowhere near!”
The soul-bound undead was caught by surprise and looked confused . It could not understand why Ye Shaoyang was not intimidated . Of course, it did not realize that it stood no chance against Ye Shaoyang . All it wanted to do now was tear Ye Shaoyang into a million pieces . It growled as it reached out its hands and charged at Ye Shaoyang .
Ye Shaoyang shook his head as he avoided the attack by taking a step back . Before the creature realized, Ye Shaoyang had already moved behind it . He smacked the creature’s head with his palm, and its head immediately cracked into two . While one half of its head remained attached to its body, the other half dropped to the ground .
Its brain was exposed . It no longer seemed fresh since it was covered with coagulated blood lumps .
The creature moaned as it stopped its attack on Ye Shaoyang . It squatted to pick up the half of its head that had dropped to the ground . Then, it tried to fix its head by forcing the two parts together .
It only made things worse . As it forced the two parts of its head together, it squeezed its brain like a lemon . Liquid oozed out of the brain and dripped all over its body and hands .
It was a disgusting scene that made many of the watching passengers puke on the spot .
Ye Shaoyang frowned . He walked over to the creature and lifted his left hand . He pressed on the creature’s temple with his left middle finger and swiped down the creature’s face . A silhouette was dragged out along with his finger movement . In return, the creature fell onto the ground motionless .
As the crowd watched, they noticed that the silhouette looked exactly like the undead, except without any damage to its head . Obviously, this was the undead’s soul .
None of the passengers who were present knew anything about sorcery, but all of them were impressed by the young man . He had managed to capture the undead’s soul without much effort, so he had to be powerful .
“Master, please, I beg for mercy,” the undead’s soul now pleaded desperately .
Ye Shaoyang sneered, “Now, you know who I am . Tell me where were you from . How did you die? Why are you on our bus?”
He softened his grip on the soul and let go .
The soul immediately kneeled before Ye Shaoyang as it started to cry, “My name is Jin Jun . I am from the Jin Clan Village located at the Mount Qiu Hai . While I was alive, I was working at a construction site in Rong Cheng . One day, I had a quarrel with a colleague, and he killed me with a shovel . He killed me in a jungle . I didn’t want my body to be eaten by animals, so I possessed my own body before a Spirit Commissioner arrived . I wanted to walk my body home and rest in peace there . ”
Ye Shaoyang helplessly shook his head as he heard this bizarre story . He intended to help, so he drew a talisman paper and handed it to the soul, “You are lucky that you have not overstayed for too long . Hurry, report to the underworld now, or you will be punished . Do not worry about your body; I will make sure it arrives at your hometown safely . ”
Jin Jun went against the underworld’s rule only to send his own body home . Now that Ye Shaoyang had promised to do that for him, Jin Jun was more than happy to check in to the underworld and spare himself from punishment .
Jin Jun bowed to Ye Shaoyang as a sign of appreciation before vanishing into a stream of smoke . Ye Shaoyang released the talisman paper in his hand and let the wind carry it away until it disappeared .
Ye Shaoyang let out a sigh of relief . He glanced at the bus and quickly realized that everyone was looking at him in surprise and admiration . The driver was especially nervous as he scratched his chin anxiously .
“Master, a thousand apologies for what I said just now---”
Ye Shaoyang pointed at the body on the ground, “This body, can I count on you to deliver it to his home? The merit will be yours too, won’t it?”
“Of course! Coincidentally, we will be passing through Jin Clan Village . I will deliver his body to his next of kin,” the driver obliged . With help from two passengers, he carried the body onto the bus on a piece of waterproof cloth .
Then, it was time to continue their journey .
Ye Shaoyang did not like attention, so he sat in the last row of the bus with Tan Xiaohui and Xiao Ma . The fat man still had his attention fixated on his game, so he did not even look up the whole time . Even Ye Shaoyang was impressed by how ‘cool’ he had been the whole time .
While they were on the road, Tan Xiaohui took the opportunity to explain to Ye Shaoyang something about the Miao culture, especially the people in the region through which they were traveling . According to her, they were very particular about their funeral rituals . They would never choose a cremation, so their bodies had to be brought home to be buried . Dying in a strange place was a Miao person’s greatest fear .
“However, it is not a usual thing for someone to die without anyone’s knowledge, so an undead walking home is not such a common sight,” Tan Xiaohui said . “In the past, bringing a dead body back was much harder for the Miao people, so, they would choose Corpse Driving . They would rather go through such a hassle than cremating the body and bringing it home . That is their culture . ”
Ye Shaoyang whispered to her, “No wonder you are so persistent in looking for your cousin’s body . ”
Tan Xiaohui nodded, “There’s another thing I must tell you . That day, Xiao Ting and I, we used some-- urm, witchcraft and checked the water in the well . We are now sure that there is no corpse in it . ”
Ye Shaoyang asked, “Does this mean that your cousin did not die there?”
“No, we are sure that she died in the well . However, this finding implies that her body had been removed from the well . Jin Shuai might have moved her corpse away . ”
Tan Xiaohui paused briefly, and she continued, “I am sure he did that on purpose . He will not bury her body out of kindness, so he must be using my cousin’s bones in some ill-intended ritual . ”
Ye Shaoyang was perplexed, “How would a person’s bones be useful?”
“Some high-level dark spells can be cast using human bones as a medium . ” Tan Xiao Hui sighed, “I dare not speculate much now . Let’s pray for the best, and that I find her remains soon . ”
“Do you know where they are?”
“I could only guess . The bones were most probably used in the Five Spirits Moving Mountain Formation . Since we did not find any in the other four spots, then we will most probably find them in the final spots . ”
Ye Shaoyang nodded, agreeing with her . Now, Ye Shaoyang was overwhelmed by a gut feeling: Jin Shuai must be using the bones for a powerful ritual, and it would not be easy to handle this .
“Hey, you mentioned something about Corpse Driving . Doesn’t that only happen in Xiang Xi?” Ye Shaoyang was curious .
Tan Xiaohui said, “This practice can actually be seen any place where Miao people live . However, now that the transportation system is much better, there is basically no need for this practice, so people only practice this in areas that are difficult to reach nowadays . ”
Xiao Ma curiously chipped in, “What exactly is Corpse Driving? I saw on some TV shows that Corpse Driving is actually just a dude carrying the corpse on his back . Is that so?”
Tan Xiaohui smirked . Before she could answer, a loud blasting noise suddenly came from the outside of the bus . Everyone looked toward it . Water splashed high into the air from the river flowing down the mountain .
“Is someone fish-bombing?” Xiao Ma asked, “It looks like a powerful explosive . Is it TNT?”
Tan Xiao Hui shook her head as she stared out of the window . She mumbled, “ Dragonification!”