Chapter 54: Suppression

"What's wrong?" Zhou Jian asked urgently.

Zhang Xiaofan felt his body go limp. He whispered nervously, "That limping old man from before—he's come upstairs."

"So what if he's here? We've already got what we came for. At worst, he'll just kick us out," Hu Xiaotian said, heading toward the door.

Zhang Xiaofan grabbed him instantly, his face pale. "No, you can't."

"What is it? Xiaofan, why do you look so ghastly?" Jiang Jiewei asked in surprise.

Zhang Xiaofan pointed at the crack in the door. "Take a look through here, but don't make a sound."

Zhou Jian peeked out cautiously. A pale corpse was being dragged past the door. Zhou Jian was startled, whispering, "Someone is dragging a corpse."

"It's that old man in the white clothes we saw earlier. He came up with the limping man," Zhang Xiaofan said in a low voice.

"What on earth is he doing?" Hu Xiaotian asked, his face drained of color.

Zhang Xiaofan leaned toward the door. "Let's wait a bit before we leave. This old man doesn't look simple at all."

The four of them rested, and Zhang Xiaofan pulled out the red cloth he had dug out from Li Ting's corpse. "Don't you find it strange? This thing was inside Li Ting's body."

"Open it and see," Hu Xiaotian suggested.

Zhang Xiaofan nodded and unwrapped it. Inside was a talisman inscribed with the words: "Suppressing Li Qingshan!" Below that was a line of smaller characters recording a date; comparing it, they realized it was exactly ten years ago.

Seeing this, Zhou Jian's expression changed. "Xiaofan, this is used to suppress someone with immense resentment. No wonder Li Ting's internal organs were completely hollowed out—it was to prevent her corpse from turning. They hid the name of her killer inside her stomach to keep her suppressed. You can imagine how much hatred Li Ting must have harbored at the time of her death."

Zhang Xiaofan remarked, "The person who drew this talisman must be an expert."

"Not just a master of talismans, but a master of corpse refining as well. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to refine the body to suppress her," Zhou Jian said, his face turning ashen. "No wonder Li Ting was confined to that village; her body was suppressed, making it difficult for her to break free. But over all these years, that place became a gathering spot for yin energy, allowing her to cultivate until her power reached a profound level. That’s why we encountered so much trouble when we went there."

He stared at the talisman, adding, "And for a master of corpse refining to use such a cruel method on Li Ting... this guy is a vicious character."

Zhang Xiaofan tucked away the talisman wrapped in the red cloth. "We'll have to go back and figure this out later."

Hearing the sounds outside fading, he turned to the others. "You stay here. I'm going out for a moment."

He opened the door slightly. The white-clad old man was dragging a male corpse by its arms, while the limping old man hobbled alongside him, holding a tiny bell. Every time he rang it, the white-clad man would take a few steps. Soon, the limping man reached a door at the end of the corridor and opened it.

*Ting-a-ling.*

The white-clad man dragged the corpse inside, and the limping man followed, slowly closing the door.

"What is this old man doing?" Zhang Xiaofan wondered. Driven by curiosity despite knowing he should leave, he followed them. He felt confident he could escape if discovered.

He reached the door, which was left slightly ajar. A rhythmic *creak-creak* sound drifted from within. Zhang Xiaofan peeked through the gap, and a scene of pure horror met his eyes: the limping old man was holding a saw, laboriously sawing back and forth at the corpse on the floor.

He was sawing the corpse!

Zhang Xiaofan couldn't see the man's face, only the white-clad man standing quietly to the side. The limping man, his back to the door, struggled as he sawed through the corpse's arm.

*Pervert, killer, desecrator*—the words flooded Zhang Xiaofan's mind. He didn't dare breathe. Inside his chest, the voice of Qin Xiaoyu from the ancient mirror sounded tense: "Such powerful mental energy... this person is terrifying..."

Knowing that if Qin Xiaoyu was afraid, the man must be formidable, Zhang Xiaofan prepared to retreat. Suddenly, the old man sawing the corpse turned around. His face was splattered with blood, his eyes bulging with rage as he glared at the door.

"Who's there!" the limping old man roared.

Zhang Xiaofan turned and ran, shouting, "Run! Get out of here, run!"

*Bang!*

The morgue door burst open as Hu Xiaotian and the others rushed out. Seeing the limping old man in hot pursuit of Zhang Xiaofan, they scrambled to flee. They weren't novices anymore; they could see at a glance that the old man was powerful—far beyond any ordinary person.

As he ran, Zhang Xiaofan cast a few flames behind him, hoping to hinder the old man, but the man simply waved a hand and extinguished them easily. Furthermore, the old man, who had been limping, suddenly exploded with unnatural speed, closing the distance in an instant. He bellowed, "Tell me! Why do you keep intruding on my work? If you don't start talking, I'll refine all of you into dried corpses!"

Zhang Xiaofan didn't dare answer. He and the others rushed down to the first floor. "Keep chasing us and I'll burn this place to the ground!" Zhang Xiaofan threatened, throwing more flames toward the wooden doors and windows, thinking that if they were pushed to the limit, they would fight to the death.

Just as he felt a sense of triumph, the first-floor morgue doors swung open, and the corpse with the sunken head charged out.

*Ting-a-ling...*

"Catch them!" the limping old man commanded.

The corpses were under his control!

Following his command, several more white-clad corpses rushed out from behind the door. Though they lacked offensive power, they were perfect for stalling.

"Charge!" Zhou Jian took the lead, throwing a punch that sent the sunken-headed corpse flying.

Hu Xiaotian chanted while holding a string of copper coins. "Take this!" He flung the coins at a corpse, only to be shocked when they had absolutely no effect.

"What the hell? These are anti-ghost techniques!" Hu Xiaotian couldn't wrap his head around it.

"These aren't ghosts," Jiang Jiewei said, gripping his dagger.

"Keep moving!" Zhang Xiaofan roared.

But there were too many of them, and more poured in from the distance, clogging the path like a river of flesh. Even if the corpses just stood there to be slaughtered, it would take them half an hour to break through. In that time, the limping old man would have dealt with them all.

Sure enough, the old man said coldly, "You nearly ruined my work. If you don't give me a reasonable explanation tonight, you'll all stay here and become my dried corpses!"