Chapter 341 - 172: Tragic!

"It’s breathing!!"

Jiang Ran wasn’t the only one who saw it.

Ruan Yuqing also noticed something was wrong with the corpse.

Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, and she grabbed Jiang Ran’s arm, trying to pull him back.

But she couldn’t budge him. Without a moment’s hesitation, she let go and, with a WHOOSH, darted more than ten feet away.

’Are you kidding me...’

Jiang Ran’s martial arts were peerless; he wasn’t afraid of anything.

’But I’m scared.’

Jiang Ran glanced back at her, feeling a little speechless.

"Ruan Yuqing, isn’t that a bit disloyal?"

Ruan Yuqing took a deep breath, tightening her grip on her Gentle Water Sword.

"Don’t worry. If you really get eaten by a zombie, I’ll definitely save you!"

"..."

’If I’ve already been eaten, how are you going to save me?’

The wielder of the Gentle Water Sword was great in every way, except for this fear of ghosts. In that, she was identical to Tang Huayi.

’It seems that regardless of whether they follow the Righteous Path or the Demon Path, they are, first and foremost, women.’

Jiang Ran shook his head gently, his gaze returning to the corpse. As he looked closer, he realized he hadn’t been mistaken before.

The corpse’s chest was rising and falling, and its limbs twitched slightly. It truly looked as if it were breathing.

But this corpse had been here for who knows how many years. Although some special method had preserved the body from rotting completely, it had long since become shriveled and Black, like ancient, submerged wood.

How could a body like this possibly be breathing?

After a moment of contemplation, Jiang Ran slowly approached. He took a pair of deerskin gloves from his robes, put them on, and reached out to examine the body’s condition.

Watching him, Ruan Yuqing felt her scalp tingle with apprehension.

"Young Hero Jiang... be careful."

Jiang Ran didn’t look back, continuing to investigate the body’s condition bit by bit.

His expression, however, grew increasingly strange.

"How can this be?"

"What did you find?"

Ruan Yuqing couldn’t help her curiosity. She was too afraid to look, yet she couldn’t stop herself from stealing glances.

Jiang Ran said softly,

"This body... it appears decayed, but there is a whole other world within it."

"The person is dead, but... but..."

For a moment, he seemed unable to find the right words to describe it.

After thinking for a good while, he finally said,

"But the body is still alive."

"???"

Ruan Yuqing felt as if her mind was under assault.

"What does that mean? That’s even more terrifying!!"

’The person is dead, but the body is alive. Isn’t that just a zombie?’

But Jiang Ran shook his head.

"That’s not what I mean... He’s sort of like a person in a vegetative state."

"Huh?"

Ruan Yuqing found that term even more confusing.

Jiang Ran, however, looked as if he had just discovered some fascinating oddity, his face full of interest as he studied the corpse.

He thought for a moment and said,

"How should I explain this to you..."

"All things in this world have life. Every flower, every tree, has its own life force."

"You and I were born as humans. We have our own thoughts and ideas, and with our vigorous life force, we can walk freely through the world."

"Plants live out their seasons. Although they cannot walk or leave the small patch of land they occupy,"

"they too possess an internal life force."

"And this corpse... it is an existence that lacks thoughts and ideas, cannot leave this place, yet possesses an internal life force."

"Just like a flower, or a tree..."

"Are you saying this corpse is a plant spirit that’s gained sentience?!"

Ruan Yuqing clearly had her own interpretation.

"..."

Jiang Ran shook his head.

"I think he was originally a normal person, but by some unknown means, was turned into what he is now."

"His breathing isn’t real breathing, either. It’s more like the natural rhythm of a plant growing strong and flourishing."

"The rising and falling of its chest is just its rhythm..."

As he spoke, he looked at the pearl in the corpse’s hand.

After a slight pause, he took a cotton cloth from his robes, placed it over the pearl, and gently wiped it.

He said to Ruan Yuqing,

"Do you think this pearl is the key to why his body hasn’t decayed? If I take it, will he instantly turn to dust?"

"How would I know..."

Ruan Yuqing watched Jiang Ran fiddle with the corpse for a while. Seeing that it didn’t jump up and give him a good slap, she grew a little bolder.

She slowly walked over to Jiang Ran, her brow furrowed as she gazed at the pearl.

"I feel like I’ve seen this pearl somewhere before..."

"Oh?"

Jiang Ran was taken aback. "Where have you seen it?"

Ruan Yuqing didn’t answer, staring intently at the pearl for a moment before speaking softly.

"To hide a star within its heart, to hold the light within the dust."

"This... I’ve read about it in a book."

"A book called the ’Record of Rare Treasures’ mentions that when the Golden Cicada Dynasty was founded, a strange stone fell from the heavens."

"It landed in the location of the present-day Capital City... An occultist cut the stone open and retrieved a pearl from within."

"This pearl contained stars within it, as if a star from the heavens had fallen to the mortal world."

"Therefore, it was named the ’Falling Star Pearl’!"

"There was an illustration in the book, and this one looks very similar to the Falling Star Pearl in that illustration..."

"However, the Falling Star Pearl has always been kept in the collection of the Astronomical Bureau. There’s no reason for it to be here."

"What if someone from the Astronomical Bureau brought it?"

Jiang Ran said softly,

"That official who died here all those years ago—do you think he might have been from the Astronomical Bureau?"

"And their reason for coming here... is it possible they were looking for this person’s tomb?"

The speculation seemed a bit far-fetched.

But if this really was the Falling Star Pearl, then the theory might not be so baseless after all.

Ruan Yuqing nodded lightly, only to see Jiang Ran had already reached out and pried the pearl loose.

"Hey? Aren’t you afraid the corpse will turn to dust?"

Ruan Yuqing was startled.

But Jiang Ran shook his head.

"If this really is the Falling Star Pearl that was brought here only seven or eight years ago, then it means the method used to preserve the corpse has nothing to do with it..."