CHAPTER 176: CHAPTER 147 LOTUS FLOWER

The Underground Ghost Market was not situated on a flat, horizontal plane. It consisted of a dozen waterfalls, tens of river sections, and hundreds of caves of various sizes. Due to the differences in elevation between the tributaries of the Dark River, the entire Ghost Market was divided into several layers. Some areas were only accessible by bamboo stairs or by diving.

Without familiarity with the terrain and a guide’s directions, it was easy to get lost in the sunless Dark River system and never find a way out.

No wonder the Yu Kingdom’s Court and the garrison couldn’t eliminate the Ghost Market here. The underground Dark River extends in all directions, with countless secret passages. It’s hard for a large army to enter, and even if they do, the people in the Ghost Market can quickly evacuate and move to other Dark River systems.

Li Ang looked around, slightly surprised. The complexity of the Ghost Market’s terrain was comparable to a gigantic ant colony. It possibly housed a population of over 100,000, perhaps even several hundred thousand. It truly resembled an underground kingdom.

Fugitives with bounties on their heads, Cultivators seeking to purchase contraband, foreign spies with ill intentions, greedy merchants...

If Chang’an was a heavenly city above ground, then the Ghost Market was the filthy confluence where all of Chang’an City’s dirty water gathered.

"This place still stinks as much as ever."

Wu Huo, hands clasped behind his head, complained, "What on earth do the people here eat all day?"

Ya Jiu, walking ahead, answered without turning his head, "Their staple diet is moss, eyeless albino fish, and earthworms. Only a few can afford grain."

"Bulk grain can’t be transported in, so they have to eat this?"

Wu Huo clicked his tongue. "It’s a wonder they can stomach it."

"When people are starving, they’ll eat anything," Ya Jiu said nonchalantly, quickening his pace as he rounded a corner.

"Hmm?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. What appeared before them was no longer the low-slung shacks seen in the previous river section, but a proper, well-constructed villa residence situated on high ground.

Outside the mansion stood a towering courtyard wall embedded with countless ceramic fragments, meant to guard against burglars. Behind the wall, there were several arrow towers, manned by well-armed soldiers.

Above the cavern housing the entire villa, a huge rain canopy, shaped like the Chinese character for ’human,’ was suspended, shielding it from the dripping water of the cavern.

Underneath this canopy, numerous Long Burning Lamps hung, constantly illuminated, lending the villa estate a spectacular yet eerie appearance.

TAP TAP TAP.

Two bald, identically featured strong men in short robes emerged from the shadows on either side of the residence, their gazes sweeping sinisterly over Ya Jiu and his companions.

"I’m here to find Kou Zhi’an, Kou Dalang," Ya Jiu stated, his expression calm. He retrieved a letter from his robes and handed it to the two bald guards.

The bald guards glanced at the letter. Still silent, they turned and gestured for Ya Jiu and the others to follow.

Kou Zhi’an, Kou Dalang?

A thought struck Li Ang. This name had appeared during the incident at Victory Square. At that time, the scholar, the dwarf, and two others were Abnormal People whom Kou Zhi’an had allegedly introduced to Gold Department Doctor Huai Rui to help resolve the anomaly.

I initially thought Kou Zhi’an might be some kind of middleman in the Ghost Market. But judging by this display, his status seems to be quite high. A local boss?

As if sensing Li Ang’s unspoken question, Ya Jiu flicked a finger, activating the Sound Transmission Skill. His voice resonated beside Li Ang’s ear.

"The entire Ghost Market is divided among eleven different forces. Kou Zhi’an is one of them—his father, Kou Wukui, is a Candle Cloud Realm Cultivator, but he hasn’t shown himself in the Ghost Market for several years. Given that the Kou Family has consistently been oppressed, their territory encroached upon, and he has never intervened, he’s probably dead. Or at the very least, he has fallen from the Candle Cloud Realm."

Kou Wukui... That name sounds familiar.

Li Ang’s eyes lit up; he seemed to recall Yang Yu, a Chang’an local, mentioning him.

During the reign of the Holy Empress, she had kept many male concubines, showering them with gifts and even official positions. Some of these concubines, however, grew arrogant due to her favor and acted unscrupulously. This led to a severe purge by the Li Family after they regained control of the government during the Shenlong Coup.

Some scholars from the Academic Palace theorized that the Holy Empress indulged her male favorites due to senility in her later years. Others, however, privately assessed this as a deliberate gambit by the Empress: intentionally allowing her male favorites, lovers, and sycophantic officials to run amok, thereby drawing animosity towards them and away from the members of the Wu clan. The reasoning was that after the Empress’s death, the Wu clan would not be too severely implicated.

Most of the male favorites were executed or assassinated by the Li Family. Only a few who were completely innocent or deemed not worth punishing escaped this fate.

Kou Wukui was among them. He was a contemporary of Mountain Master Lian Xuanyao. Favored by the Holy Empress for his handsome features, she even mobilized palace resources to aid his Cultivation.

After the Shenlong Coup, Kou Wukui, who had by then reached the Cloud Patrol Realm, barely escaped the pursuit of the Li Family. He then vowed to avenge the Holy Empress, becoming an irreconcilable enemy of the Li Yu Dynasty.

Back then, it was rumored that he assassinated many members of the Li Family and the meritorious officials of the Shenlong Coup who had contributed significantly. Afterwards, he disappeared. The citizens of Chang’an thought he was dead, never expecting that he had been hiding in the Ghost Market all these years and had even ascended to the Candle Cloud Realm. Hmm, in a sense, hiding in the Underground Ghost Market for decades until his death did indeed fulfill his vow of ’not sharing the sky’ with the Li Yu Court.

With these thoughts, Li Ang followed Ya Jiu into the villa.

The villa’s structure was largely indistinguishable from buildings on the surface, featuring a main gate, pavilions, a Central Hall, and a rear courtyard complete with artificial mountains and flowering plants.

However, presumably for moisture-proofing, all wooden components of the villa had been replaced with stone.

"Feels like a coffin," Wu Huo muttered with a grimace.

The bald guard leading the way immediately turned, giving him a chilling look. A sinister wolf-like aura, its Fierce Appearance, emerged behind the guard, its gaping jaws fixated on Wu Huo. This was the Fierce Appearance characteristic of a Body Refining Martial Artist.

Wu Huo snorted coldly, meeting the brutal, sinister eyes of the wolfish Fierce Appearance. A larger, dark shadow emerged behind him, attempting to envelop his opponent’s projection.

"Don’t cause trouble," Ya Jiu glanced at him and quickened his pace forward.

Just then, a middle-aged man in luxurious clothing emerged from the rear courtyard. He was tall and robust, with deep-set eyes and a prominent nose, showing signs of Hu Ren ancestry.

"Kou Huai’an?" Ya Jiu frowned slightly. "Kou Erlang, where is your elder brother?"

The man, Kou Huai’an, also known as Kou Erlang, smiled and said, "Sir, you must be the esteemed guest introduced by Mr. Yuan Sou? My elder brother went to Jing Country half a month ago on business. I am now in charge of the Kou Family’s affairs. You can discuss anything you need with me."

Ya Jiu fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Before Kou Dalang left, did he mention to you the whereabouts of certain remains?"

"Are you perhaps referring to the Buddha’s shed skins?" Kou Huai’an nodded, then turned and walked into the Central Hall. "Please, follow me."

Li Ang followed Ya Jiu into the Central Hall. Inside, Kou Huai’an was giving instructions to his subordinates. One of them disappeared down a corridor for a moment and returned carrying a large wooden box.

SQUEAK.

When the wooden box was opened, it revealed pieces of muscle and bone, some grayish-white, others waxy yellow. They looked like the shattered and crushed pieces of an anatomical model.

Kou Huai’an gestured with an open palm. "Everything we collected from the Dark River is here."

Ya Jiu crouched, examining the shapes of the fragments in the box. He then stood up and said to Li Ang, "Take a look. Can these be pieced together?"

"Hm?" Li Ang was slightly surprised but stepped forward and examined the pieces.

The fragments in the box were as hard as pieces of a statue, but their fractured surfaces clearly showed patterns of muscle and bone.

Biceps, triceps, trapezius, deltoids...

Humerus, scapula, ribs, clavicle...

Li Ang didn’t take long to arrange the fragments into their respective positions, roughly assembling the upper body of a human. However, it was missing the head and the left arm.

"Is everything here?" Ya Jiu looked up at Kou Huai’an.

The latter spread his hands innocently. "We only retrieved these. If you need more, you might want to check with others. The Ghost Market citizens who first found the limbs might have already sold them elsewhere."

Hearing this, Ya Jiu nodded. He directly pulled out a stack of round, token-like Fine Gold Currency from his robes and placed it on the table.

This type of currency, resembling tokens, was commonly used within the Ghost Market. However, transactions outside typically used copper tokens; these Fine Gold ones were likely much more valuable.

Seeing the gold coins, Kou Huai’an nodded. He waved his hand, and his men collected the currency. "Would you three like to see anything else? I have..."

"No need. Kou Erlang, take care. We’ll take our leave," Ya Jiu said, his tone even. He picked up the wooden box from the floor, tossed it to Wu Huo who had been watching the proceedings, and strode swiftly towards the courtyard exit.

Li Ang, who had just been getting a feel for identifying bones, blinked and followed.

After leaving the Kou residence, Ya Jiu remained silent, winding his way along the Dark River until they reached a secluded shack in the Ghost Market.

He placed the two boxes on the ground, opened them, and said to Li Ang, "Can you sew these parts together with thread?"

"I can," Li Ang nodded. "But there aren’t enough parts here; it will definitely be incomplete."

"It’s fine. It’s normal for there to be missing pieces," Ya Jiu said. He unfastened a ceramic bottle from the Brocade Bag at his waist, poured some scarlet liquid onto the fragments in both boxes.

SSS—

Smoke rose from the fragments. They visibly swelled, becoming full and plump, resembling parts of a human statue.

"Sew them," Ya Jiu said, recapping the ceramic bottle.

Li Ang, frowning deeply, opened his medicine box, put on gloves, and using Mulberry Bark Thread, meticulously arranged all the fragments according to the contours of a normal human body, sewing them together one by one.

Soon, the fragments gradually took shape, forming an incomplete upper torso. With the right arm from the iron box added, only the left arm, head, and lower body were missing.

Li Ang stood up, used a magic spell to incinerate the cloth gloves, and turned to Ya Jiu. "My part is done. Can I leave now?"

Ya Jiu didn’t immediately respond to Li Ang. Instead, he stared at the torso—missing its left arm, head, and lower body—and began chanting in an abstruse language.

"Taiyi Guarding Corpse, Three Souls Camp Bone... Seven Spirits Guarding the Flesh, Fetal Spirit Record Qi... This is the so-called Taiyin Refining Form."

As Ya Jiu chanted, densely packed black text, similar to that on the original right arm, gradually appeared on the back of the torso.

The entire torso ’came to life.’ The right arm twisted and shook. Using the straw in the iron box for support, it pushed the headless upper body upright. The torso now stood within the iron box, facing Ya Jiu and the others.

SWISH—

The headless corpse’s right arm gently rose to hover in front of its abdomen. Its middle finger hooked the thumb’s knuckle, while the other three fingers were raised, forming a lotus hand gesture from Zen Buddhism.

Pure and self-liberated, the flowering reveals the Buddha.