Chapter 78.4: The Most Direct Threat

General Mountain, formerly known as Guanyin Mountain, was renamed in honor of General Yue Fei, who once fought off the Jurchens here.

It wasn’t a particularly famous scenic spot, but it had mountains and water, lovely views, and made for a decent city-side getaway.

Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t come with a specific purpose. Tan Wenbin could handle his own end of the investigation alone, so Li figured he might as well come here and try his luck.

If he’d actually anticipated danger, he wouldn’t have dragged Lu Yi along at the last minute.

He climbed to the top of a hill and took out a compass, beginning to observe the feng shui of the area.

Lu Yi had thought this was a fun little hike. But when he saw the Prodigy pull out a compass and seriously start taking readings, he suddenly remembered what the boy had said the night before.

Damn… was there really a ghost in the dorm?

Li Zhuiyuan checked three hilltops in a row. Aside from spotting several auspicious burial spots, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

But on the fourth peak, he noticed something strange.

Nine bends in the water, hidden dragon in the abyss, bowing toward the main city, borrowing the aura of kingship.

This was practically a textbook location for a water burial.

And precisely because it was so ideal, it made sense that a geomancer or even a Water Monkey might’ve taken interest in it.

Which was why there was a temple here.

Ancient custom dictated that in places prone to trouble—hauntings, mass graves, old tombs—you built a temple on top.

Nowadays, you might build a school.

Li Zhuiyuan reached the temple entrance. It was small. The plaque read: General’s Temple.

Inside were both Buddhist and Daoist elements, but no monks or Daoists—just a few custodians. No entry fee.

Still, the moment he stepped inside, Li Zhuiyuan sensed something was off. The temple’s style was muddled, sure, but regardless of denomination, any temple should carry a sense of balance and serenity—some stronger, some weaker.

This place, though, felt slick, damp, and cloying. Worse still, there was a faint scent of water corpse rot.

His nose wasn’t as sharp as Runsheng’s, but if he could smell it, he was probably right.

But what kind of Dead Sinker would hide in a temple?

Li Zhuiyuan hesitated. If Runsheng were with him instead of Lu Yi, he would’ve kept investigating without a second thought.

But he had come here just to test his luck. Now that he’d stumbled onto something unusual, retreating would just be a waste.

Might as well take a look. Just look, no action. I’m a tourist.

He followed the scent of corpse rot toward the main temple hall.

Lu Yi caught the smell now too and sneezed. He pointed around and said, “They’ve planted loads of ginkgo trees here. I always thought those things smelled nice.”

Li Zhuiyuan ignored him and stepped into the hall. Inside was a fierce-looking general statue. A metal plaque below it read: Great General.

This wasn’t Yue Fei—it was the sword-wielding Mo Liqing, one of the Four Heavenly Kings from Investiture of the Gods.

Li Zhuiyuan knelt on the prayer mat before the statue.

Lu Yi saw him kneel and followed suit.

To him, the Prodigy with a compass now carried a whiff of real mystique.

Li Zhuiyuan leaned in and sniffed. He was sure—the smell was coming from beneath the general’s statue.

The statue stood atop a stone platform. At the base, a visible seam hinted at a compartment inside that could be pushed or pulled open.

Normally, the next step would be to walk the shade and dig deeper.

But Li Zhuiyuan held back.

The even diffusion of the corpse rot meant that if a Dead Sinker was inside, it was asleep.

It could be like that peach grove in front of Big Beard’s house—a sealing formation laid down by someone before him.

Li straightened up, only to hear Lu Yi beside him already kowtowing and praying for his parents’ health.

Li had to stop him. “Don’t bow.”

“Huh?” Lu Yi blinked. “Then…”

“Follow my lead.”

Li performed a complex ritual gesture, slowly and deliberately.

Lu Yi watched closely and copied him. After they finished, they stood up together.

Ordinary temples were fine for offering prayers. You’d gain a bit of emotional comfort. But a Dead Sinker carried innate malevolence. Even if it didn’t harm you, just being near it could bring misfortune—unless you had great fortune yourself.

Worshipping a Dead Sinker for protection? That would actively bind you in karmic debt. Very unlucky.

Li Zhuiyuan began circling the statue, examining its layout. Lu Yi followed.

The boy was young, but he had a commanding presence that made people want to listen—made you believe he was always right.

After a full circuit, Li Zhuiyuan noticed something wrong.

This place had once followed a textbook Dissolution of Evil layout. But someone had altered it.

Li nudged a crack in the floor with his toe. It had been chiseled in later.

The familiarity of it struck him—he often liked to modify existing feng shui setups for his own purposes.

But whoever had modified this one hadn’t done a good job.

They’d just ruined the Dissolution of Evil. If he’d done it, he could’ve turned it into a full-on Yin Convergence.

For now, he just circled the spot on his map. He didn’t yet know if this had anything to do with Qiu Minmin. No need to stir things up yet.

They’d have to wait until Tan Wenbin got more info from the case file before deciding what to do next.

“Let’s go, Brother Lu.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Just as they turned to leave the hall, two men walked by under the corridor across the way—an older man and a younger one. Both wore staff badges—likely workers here.

The elder had graying hair and walked with hands clasped behind his back. But his interlocked hands turned inward, and his shoulders slouched with scapulae lifted high.

That was a corpse-bearer’s stance.

And it wasn’t just mimicry—it was a habitual posture, trained into the body through years of practice.

Uncle Qin had said during basic training that he didn’t need to set aside time to practice. Just working the job was training in itself.

That old man clearly had the real thing down.

The young man was showing signs of the same, though not as fully. Clearly, the old man’s apprentice.

Li Zhuiyuan hadn’t expected to run into fellow Corpse Retrievers here.

Still, he had no plans to say hello. After all, it was possible that they’d been the ones who wrecked the original formation.

The two men eventually parted ways. The younger one kept going and stopped at a door that looked like an office. He knocked.

A woman opened it, visibly agitated. She was speaking to him animatedly, while the young man tried to placate her. But his hand, hidden behind his back, was clenched into a fist—clearly frustrated and impatient.

Neither of them realized they were being watched.

Li Zhuiyuan tugged Lu Yi’s sleeve, motioning for him to follow out the back door of the hall.

They walked briskly out of the General’s Temple. Once outside, Lu Yi couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Prodigy, wasn’t that lady just now our dorm supervisor?”

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