Chapter 404: The People of Huangzhou Have Very Advanced Concepts

In the mere span of a single night's sleep, they had encountered two separate hordes of living corpses.

The living corpses clutched shovels, rakes, and other farming implements in their hands, seemingly plundered from the homes of the villagers; at this moment, these agricultural tools had transformed into weapons, presenting a perilous threat.

"One must admit, it truly lives up to its reputation as the Desolate Prefecture. You certainly wouldn't run into this sort of thing anywhere else. Quite an eye-opener," Lu Yang quipped with a light smirk. He drew his Azure Peak Sword, his demeanor entirely relaxed as the sword's radiant edge gleamed brilliantly under the reflection of the candlelight.

Despite the considerable number of living corpses and the fact that they were armed and surrounding the ancestral hall, the two of them were, after all, grand seniors of the Golden Core Stage—individuals capable of establishing minor clans or founding sects in the wider world. There was simply no way they would find themselves trapped by a band of rustic corpses.

"No wonder the villagers wouldn't let us stay in the village. They must have been afraid of the danger. And all that talk about being devoured by corpses, were they referring to this exact situation?"

Although the villagers' attitude toward them had been rather poor, Meng Jingzhou was not one to harbor grudges; lending a hand to resolve the village's troubles was of little consequence to him.

"Look, there are women among the corpses!" Lu Yang pointed at a disheveled female corpse, crying out in surprise.

Meng Jingzhou was thoroughly bewildered. "Who differentiates gender among the dead? Isn't it perfectly normal for there to be female corpses?"

"My point is, aren't you currently suffering from a karmic backlash that prevents you from meeting women? Now that you can encounter female corpses, it proves that the target of your karmic backlash is limited strictly to the living. Dead corpses, the demon race, and the like are not included. If you can't resolve your problem here in the Desolate Prefecture, you could always go stay in the Demon Territory for a while, right until you reach the Deity Transformation Stage."

"To hell with that! I refuse to believe the Eldest Senior Sister will never return!" Meng Jingzhou snapped in anger. He was the first to strike, leaping forward to meet the living corpses.

"Collapsing Fist!" Meng Jingzhou clenched both fists, positioning them like charging horns as he thrust violently toward the living corpses.

Boom—

A living corpse exploded, and the horde surging into the ancestral hall was blasted backward by the force of the punch, clearing a path.

"Huh, what remarkably tough corpses," Meng Jingzhou remarked in surprise. He had initially assumed these were just stray corpses from some unknown source, with fragile bodies that a single Collapsing Fist would be more than enough to shatter.

"Fairy, these living corpses aren't contagious, are they?" Lu Yang had originally intended to stop Meng Jingzhou from attacking so they could ascertain whether there was any danger before engaging, but it seemed a bit late for that now.

"What do you mean by contagious?" The Immortal Fairy asked, thoroughly perplexed by Lu Yang's question.

"As in, if a living person gets bitten, they turn into a living corpse too."

The Immortal Fairy looked at Lu Yang as if he were an idiot, unable to fathom why he would think such a thing. "Of course not. In fact, I've never even heard of such a phenomenon. Whatever made you think that?"

"Just a passing whim."

Assured that there was no risk of infection, Lu Yang finally cast his worries aside and boldly joined the fray to slay the enemy.

Once engaged in combat, Lu Yang also discovered that these living corpses were extraordinarily tough; they had absolutely been refined by a master.

"But if you think you can devour us with just this, you are dreaming fools!" The two laughed heartily, casting all the living corpses right out of the ancestral hall.

From the perspective of the living corpses, it was they who had surrounded the duo, but in the eyes of Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou, the two of them had surrounded the corpses.

"Not a single one of you shall escape! Today, we two brothers shall rid the people of this evil!"

Just as the two were about to unleash their ultimate techniques to sweep away the horde of living corpses in one fell swoop, they heard an aged voice ring out not far away.

"Young brothers, please stay your hands! They mean no malice!"

The newcomer was the very old man who had refused them lodging from the start.

"My claims about them eating people were merely to frighten you two. In truth, they only wished to enter the ancestral hall to consume the offerings. It just so happened that you two went to the ancestral hall."

Hearing this, the two froze simultaneously. Upon careful reflection, it seemed that from beginning to end, the living corpses had shown no intention of attacking them.

The two tentatively ceased their actions and discovered that the living corpses indeed did not attack. Instead, they bypassed them and walked straight into the ancestral hall.

Once all the living corpses had entered the hall, the two finally approached the old man to demand an explanation.

The old man let out a sigh and said, "I am the chief of this Jianshi Village. The matter of these living corpses might be hard for you two to believe if I just explain it, so it is better that you watch first."

They watched as the living corpses swarmed into the ancestral hall, circling around the piping hot mantou. Before long, the buns turned ice-cold, stripped of all their steam, whereupon the living corpses finally desisted.

When they departed from the ancestral hall, the living corpses could be seen holding shovels, rakes, plows, and other implements, marching in lockstep as they orderly exited Jianshi Village.

The three followed closely behind the corpses. The living corpses did not venture far; upon reaching the fields, they halted their advance, picked up their shovels and plows, and began to till the soil and cultivate the land.

Some of the living corpses even used carrying poles to fetch water from the riverside, tirelessly irrigating the fields.

Others who lacked tools squatted on the ground, pulling weeds and crushing pests.

The living corpses possessed a clear division of labor, presenting the very picture of diligent, hardworking old farmers.

Once the farming was finished and their tasks for the day were complete, the living corpses carried their agricultural tools from the cultivated fields back to the village entrance, and from the village entrance to the cemetery at the tail end of the village. Using the tools in their hands, they dug graves and buried themselves inside.

Lu Yang: "....."

Meng Jingzhou: "....."

The two painfully rubbed the space between their brows, almost believing they were hallucinating.

"Do all the people of your Desolate Prefecture use living corpses to farm?"

This was far more advanced than any other prefecture; even their own Dao Seeking Sect could not compare.

In their Dao Seeking Sect, they relied on the Azure-Eyed Water Buffalo Clan and the Third Elder to plow the fields.

The chief of Jianshi Village explained helplessly, "It is not as you gentlemen imagine. We are merely ordinary folk; how could we ever afford to maintain so many living corpses?"

"In truth, we have no idea where this group of living corpses came from. It was just an accidental night when we were enjoying the cool air under the tree at the village entrance, and we saw a horde of living corpses walking toward us. At first, everyone was terrified, assuming the corpses were going to attack us."

"But through contact, we discovered that this group of living corpses had no intention of harming anyone. Likely because their strength had been entirely spent, they stopped in our village and moved no further."

"Although our village has no corpse-drivers, I followed a corpse-driver for a period of time when I was young and learned a smattering of the trade. Thus, I attempted to steam some mantou to feed this horde of living corpses."

"This method proved effective, and the living corpses began to move once more. At that moment, someone suggested whether we could have the living corpses plow the fields. I thought it was a viable solution, so I drove these living corpses and requested them to farm."

"And so, we rest during the day, and at dusk, we steam a pot of mantou to place in the ancestral hall. By nightfall, the living corpses crawl out from the cemetery, absorb the yang energy from the mantou, and begin their farming. Because everyone is still afraid of the corpses, every household shuts their doors tightly when night falls."

"Once the farming is done, the living corpses automatically bury themselves, waiting until the following night, and so the cycle repeats."

"One must admit, ever since the living corpses took over the farming for us, life has become considerably easier, and we can spare time to attend to other matters."

"Then why did you refuse to let us stay the night?"

The village chief confessed honestly, "Was it not out of fear that you would discover these masterless living corpses here and report them to the government? If the government were to look for their owners, once the owners were found, wouldn't the farming duties fall back upon us?"

"We originally intended to scare you away, but who could have anticipated that not only would you refuse to leave, but you would actually stay in the ancestral hall instead. Seeing that the matter would be exposed regardless, rather than having you injured by the living corpses, it was better that I step forward to explain."