Chapter 27 The Corpse Painter?

"Corpse Painter?" The term was new to the rest of the group. Yu Chengmu didn't beat around the bush, explaining directly, "You still remember the paper figure in the paper craftsman's room, right? The one that little brother Du Moyu said he saw the face of? That paper figure had traces left by a Corpse Painter."

"The reason his face was torn off is because as long as that face is there, that paper figure might come to life. That's what's so terrifying about a Corpse Painter. 'Painting a person, first paint the soul.'" Yu Chengmu seemed particularly concerned about this point. "According to the current situation, these people from the yin business (yinhang) first created a paper figure, and even fabricated an identity, background, and name for the paper figure. He was a candidate named Lu Jianli, who was going to the capital to take the imperial examination." Zhang Junyu paused. "Then they arranged for the paper figure to live in the Wu family and have an interaction with the Wu family's young lady. What happened in between is not yet clear, but the end result is that the paper figure left a love letter for the eldest daughter of the Wu family. Finally, the eldest daughter of the Wu family voluntarily offered herself to the River God." Fatty didn't even realize that he was looking at Jiang Cheng when he said these words. It wasn't until Jiang Cheng glanced at him that Fatty reacted. To be honest, Fatty thought this kind of thing was perfect for the doctor; passing through countless flowers, not a single leaf stuck to him. Moreover...he still remembered Du Moyu's words, the paper figure actually had the doctor's face. Fatty and Jiang Cheng's interaction left Zhang Junyu and Jin Liang baffled. They didn't know what happened, and they couldn't ask, but they just felt inexplicably uneasy. Yu Chengmu didn't really understand either, but he narrowed his eyes and pretended to be a wise man who could see through everything. "What secret does this eldest daughter of the Wu family hold that would attract the yin business people to plot against her like this?" Jin Liang asked the question. Now all the clues pointed to this Lady of the River. "?" Du Moyu suddenly made a sound. Chen Hao looked at him, "What is it? What did you think of?"

Du Moyu's expression changed, then he shook his head, "I just thought of a possibility, but it shouldn't be right. I don't have any evidence to prove it." "Tell us anyway," Jin Liang said with a fake smile. "Everyone doesn't have much evidence on hand right now, and these are all speculations. Brother Du Moyu has such good luck, maybe he can really think of some good ideas." Ignoring Jin Liang's sarcasm, Du Moyu opened his mouth and said, "I was thinking... the woman you saw in the mortuary last night, is she really the River Goddess?"

"Yes," Yu Chengmu nodded affirmatively. "Good." Du Moyu's conjecture seemed to be confirmed little by little. He continued, "Then have you ever thought about what this River Goddess was going to do in the mortuary?"

"Of course, she was going to kill people, to kill those who violated the rules," Lei Mingyu chimed in. "I know that, but I'm talking about the River Goddess's true intentions. It's true that she went to kill people, but why did she lift the coffins? She clearly knew that you were in rooms separated by white cloth at the time." "Could it be... she went to the trouble of lifting those coffins just to scare you?" Du Moyu retorted. "Listening to the villagers' complaints today, the mortuary must have been badly damaged." Hearing this, a special emotion covered everyone's faces. After a moment, Zhang Junyu was the first to speak, "So..."

"...you mean the River Goddess didn't go there entirely to kill us, her real purpose was to search through those coffins?"

"No," Zhang Junyu added, "she was looking for someone, looking for..."

"Looking for her lover, that scholar named Lu Jianli!" Du Moyu suddenly said. "But how could the scholar be in the coffin?" Immediately another new question was raised, "He's dead... I mean, why would Miss Wu think the scholar is dead?"

"There's something wrong with that sacrificial ritual!" Jiang Cheng said decisively, "It's true that Miss Wu went to sacrifice herself willingly, but she was likely deceived."

"Deceived about what? Deceived that she was marrying not the River God, but the scholar?" A Biao sneered. He was very repulsed by Jiang Cheng. Zhou Qing had been tricked by Jiang Cheng last time. But as he laughed, he couldn't laugh anymore, because he suddenly realized that these... were not impossible. After everyone calmed down, Yu Chengmu naturally changed the subject, "These things will be clarified sooner or later, don't be impatient, let's do the things in front of us first. Tonight, there will be another test." "Based on the previous few missions, we may soon encounter this Corpse Painter," Du Moyu said with anxiety hidden in his expression and tone. "" Yu Chengmu stroked his beard, his eyelids fluttered, and he sneered, "Not may, I think it's certain, and soon, maybe... tonight we can meet him." Yu Chengmu's expression, coupled with his tone, made people feel even more uneasy, and most importantly, Yu Chengmu was the most experienced person in their group, and everyone had to weigh his words. Moreover... he didn't need to lie on this issue. "What is the background of this Corpse Painter?" Jiang Cheng looked at Yu Chengmu very naturally, without any tone of seeking advice, as if he thought he knew a lot and sharing it was the right thing to do. Yu Chengmu didn't bother with him and slowly explained, "This Corpse Painter is like us corpse retrievers, a branch of the yin business, but they are even rarer." "They generally don't deal with ordinary corpses, they only deal with evil corpses, or those who died with grievances and cannot close their eyes, or those who died tragically in disasters, it's all this kind of thing."

"Most of these corpses are disfigured, or their appearance is very scary. At this time, the Corpse Painter needs to take action. They have the means to temporarily suppress the corpse's aura, so that the corpse's appearance becomes peaceful, so that their relatives can send them on their last journey, looking good." Jiang Cheng suddenly interjected and asked, "Which ranks higher, Corpse Painter or Corpse Sewer?"

Yu Chengmu glanced at him with some appreciation, nodded, "Of course it's the Corpse Painter. The most important role of the Corpse Painter is to dissolve and suppress the corpse's resentment, so that the Corpse Sewer can complete their work without distraction." "Of course, the Corpse Sewer also has their own means of suppressing corpses, but if it's a corpse that even the Corpse Painter doesn't dare to take on, then the Corpse Sewer won't touch it either, that's the rule," Yu Chengmu explained. "So... the order of these missions of ours is also problematic," Jiang Cheng said, stroking his chin. "The order is reversed." He had thought about this question before, but only now did he confirm it. "That's right," Yu Chengmu nodded. "What the hell are these yin business people up to?" Du Moyu knew that they were not to be trifled with just by hearing the names of these people, and that these yin business people were gathered together, probably to complete some kind of evil magic. Is this so-called Lady of the River their sacrifice?

Lei Mingyu also opened his mouth and said, "The yin business people should value these methods very much, how could they make a mistake like reversing the order? In my opinion, these people are doing it on purpose, there must be a big pit here."

Fatty's brain twitched, and he blurted out, "This pit is definitely prepared for us, it's obvious without even thinking about it." Su Dan Novel Network

Du Moyu heard Fatty's words, although they were nonsense, he still said, "Brother Fugui is right!"