Immortality: Grinding Experience Starting as a Paper Craftsman

Chapter 18 Burning Corpses and Refining Evil Spirits, a Perfect Match for Professionals

Ten miles outside the city lies a mass grave.

This place is inherently extremely yin, shrouded in mist year-round.

Now, the corpses are piled up like mountains, with more than three hundred bodies stacked on top of each other, obscuring the originally withered weeds.

The snow had stopped, but the air was filled with a suffocating stench of blood and corpses, so much so that even the crows circling the withered trees dared not land easily.

When Gu Yan arrived, there were already two figures standing there.

It was the same two people from the Demon Suppression Division I had seen that night.

The man in blue robes, carrying a long sword on his back, stood upwind with a cold expression.

The woman in red covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, looking disgusted.

"This humble servant, Gu Yan, greets both of you."

Gu Yan put down the huge toolbox on his back and bowed respectfully.

He was hunched over, his eyes darting around, looking exactly like a naive, unsophisticated commoner.

The man in blue glanced at him, his gaze sharp as a sword, as if trying to see right through him.

"So you're the paper craftsman Zhao Feng found? You've got some nerve, daring to come to a place filled with such malevolent energy."

Gu Yan gave a wry smile and rubbed his frozen, red hands:

"My lord, for those few dozen taels of silver to support my family, I would gladly face any danger, even a mass grave or a mountain of knives."

The woman in red was amused by his greedy and cowardly appearance and waved her hand:

"Alright, stop joking. Get to work. These corpses are all possessed by evil spirits, so they must be burned clean before sunset, otherwise this place will truly become a ghost town after nightfall."

"Yes, I understand."

Gu Yan said no more and carried his toolbox toward the pile of corpses.

He wore a look of disgust on his face, but inside he was overjoyed.

In his eyes, these were not corpses, but mountains of gold.

He put on heavy oilcloth gloves and began to move the body.

According to custom, corpses must be cremated by building a pyre, not just piled up haphazardly, otherwise they won't burn properly.

Gu Yan's technique was extremely skillful; he grabbed the head, lifted the foot, and exerted force with fluid movements.

The panel lit up the moment his palm touched the first corpse of a Black Dragon Gang member.

[Touch the corpse of a martial artist who died a violent death.]

[Gained +2 to Qi and Blood Power.]

[Gained 5 fragmented martial arts experience.]

Even the smallest mosquito leg is still meat.

Gu Yan remained calm and continued moving things.

As he touched each corpse, the notification sounds in his mind turned into a pleasant melody.

[Touching a corpse corrupted by sorcery absorbs a small amount of Yin energy, granting +10 experience points in Papercrafting.]

[Gained +3 to Qi and Blood Power.]

……

The woman in red, watching from a distance, looked on in surprise.

"Senior brother, this paper craftsman is quite skilled. Look at the way he moves the corpse; it's a sealing technique, able to lock in the corpse's energy and prevent it from leaking out. Moreover, he's quite strong; he seems to be a trained martial artist."

The man in blue said calmly, "Anyone in this line of work would be dead long ago if they didn't have some farming skills. As long as he has a clean background, it's good that he has some strength."

The two stopped paying attention and turned to check the outer array.

Gu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and quickened his pace.

Soon, he found Li Hu's corpse.

This once arrogant head of the Punishment Hall had half his head severed, and his death was gruesome.

Gu Yan placed her palm on his chest.

[Touch the corpse of a mid-level martial artist (Skin Refining Realm).]

[Gain a large amount of Qi and Blood Essence.]

[Iron Palm experience increased by 50!]

[Residual obsession detected. Extract?]

Gu Yan's heart skipped a beat. Extract.

A vague fragment of memory flooded my mind.

Those were the last images of Li Hu before his death: he was kneeling in a secret room at the headquarters, burying several large boxes of gold and silver jewelry into the ground, muttering that this was the way out left by the gang leader...

The location of the secret room was clear to him.

They've struck it rich.

Gu Yan suppressed a smile and threw Li Hu's corpse into the bottom of the corpse tower.

With the Black Dragon Gang wiped out, their treasures became ownerless. Now that their location is known, it's a gift from heaven.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

From deep within the pile of corpses, a gurgling sound suddenly came, like water boiling.

Immediately afterwards, a previously stiff corpse suddenly sat up straight, its skin turning black and swollen, its eyes bulging, and it opened its mouth to spew out a stream of black gas.

That's a sign of a corpse exploding.

Last night, the resentment that Master Yin left behind before his death was too strong, and some of the corpses underwent strange changes.

"Be careful!"

The woman in red in the distance exclaimed in surprise, and was about to throw her throwing knife.

But Gu Yan was faster than her.

He neither dodged nor drew his sword.

Like a plumber repairing a leaky pipe, he showed a hint of impatience on his face and pulled out a half-foot-long peach wood nail from his toolbox.

"Stop fooling around, it's not your turn yet."

Gu Yan muttered something under his breath, then with a backhand thrust, he precisely inserted the nail into the Dazhui acupoint at the back of the corpse's neck.

"puff."

The corpse was like a punctured balloon; the surging corpse gas leaked out through the nail hole, and it instantly went limp, collapsing back into the pile of corpses.

Gu Yan casually took out a yellow talisman, dipped it in cinnabar, and slapped it onto the corpse's forehead.

"Behave yourself."

The entire set of movements was fluid and smooth, without any unnecessary frills, and exuded a reassuring sense of proficiency.

The woman in red froze in mid-air with her throwing knife, then awkwardly withdrew it.

"this……"

She looked at her senior apprentice beside her and asked, "Are all paper craftsmen this unconventional?"

The man in blue looked at Gu Yan with a hint of admiration in his eyes: "Everyone has their own expertise. This is a folk method for determining the location of a corpse. Although it is crude, it is very effective. This person is a rare talent."

Gu Yan didn't see their reactions and continued to work.

One hour later.

Ten enormous corpse towers were completed.

Gu Yan poured kerosene on the torch and lit it.

"Fire—Farewell—"

He drew out his tone and threw the torch in.

boom!

Flames shot into the sky, and billowing black smoke rose straight into the clouds.

Amidst the crackling of the flames, Gu Yan stood before the firelight, his back to the two members of the Demon Suppression Division.

His face, which had been somewhat pale from the cold, turned rosy in the firelight.

No, it wasn't just firelight.

That was a sign that his Iron Palm technique was breaking through.

Having absorbed so much blood and energy, his martial arts cultivation finally crossed that threshold amidst the raging flames of this mass grave.

Iron Palm (Minor Mastery): 1/500

[Acquired Trait: Fiery Poison Palm Power (Each palm strike contains highly toxic heat that can burn meridians and suppress evil influences).]

Gu Yan's hands, which were hanging in his sleeves, turned red and jade-like, radiating astonishing heat that instantly vaporized the snowflakes falling around him.

"Sirs, the work is done."

Gu Yan turned around, the red glow on his face disappeared, and he returned to his timid and submissive appearance.

"Little one...can I collect my reward now?"

The man in blue looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then suddenly threw out a silver token.

It wasn't fifty taels, but a silver plaque engraved with the emblem of the Demon Suppression Division.

"Take this. If you ever encounter any unclean things that you can't handle, or if you run into trouble, you can seek help from the Demon Suppression Division branch in the neighboring county. It's a pity that your skills are buried in the mass grave."

Gu Yan caught the silver medal, his heart pounding with surprise, but his face showed a look of utter flattery.

"Thank you so much, sir! Thank you for your guidance!"

Watching the two figures fly away on their swords, Gu Yan weighed the silver token in his hand and then looked at the gradually dying fire in the distance.

They had silver, status, and increased strength; they even had a treasure map.

This mass grave is truly a place of auspicious geomancy.

Gu Yan slung his toolbox over his shoulder, humming an unknown tune, and walked towards Changning County in the afterglow of the setting sun.