February, with fragrance in the air.
Inside the Funeral Shop, a small, skinny gray mouse with a tuft of white fur on its head was squatting in a dish, holding a piece of dried, hardened sashimi and gnawing away.
A ray of sunlight broke through the window seam, landing on the edge of the quiet table, with dust particles floating in the air.
In this serene and silent moment, the dark wood coffin at the table, which had been still, suddenly made a light sound, and the dusty coffin lid revealed a clear gap.
The gray mouse, caught in the act, instantly froze its chewing motion, staring with beady black eyes in the direction of the sound like a sculpture.
"Bang!" The sound of the coffin lid being lifted and falling to the ground echoed, followed by a slender hand, as if newly born, reaching out from the coffin.
On the five protruding fingers, there were elongated, sharp nails, resembling the nail guards worn by Empress Dowagers.
"Hiss—" The long-missed sound of breathing was heard.
Xu Qing, who had been asleep for a long time, seemed to have had a dream, in which he became a cocoon hanging on an ancient green tree deep in the mountains, surrounded by serene scenery, chirping birds, and shadowy flowers.
As days and seasons passed, when the spring sun shone warmly, he broke out of the cocoon and transformed into an insect or butterfly.
At that moment, he felt extraordinarily light, as if gently flapping his wings would lift him to the clouds.
In the Funeral Shop, Xu Qing, waking up from his great dream, grabbed the edge of the coffin post, and as he exerted slight force to sit up straight, the joints and bones of his body involuntarily made crisp cracking sounds.
Opening his eyes again, the world came back into focus, showing a frightened gray mouse scurrying into a corner, squeaking loudly.
He could even see the distinct fur on its body, seemingly right in front of him.
"I seem to have become paler?"
Xu Qing looked down at his arm, noticing the skin under the shadow was extraordinarily pale, but the skin illuminated by the ray of sunlight from the window reflected a metallic sheen, similar to the cold light reflected when examining a blade under a lamp at night.
Seeing this, Xu Qing was not frightened but delighted. According to the records in the Corpse Talk, there were five stages of zombie progression, namely Wandering Corpse, Hidden Corpse, Undying Bone, Flying Corpse, and Corpse Immortal.
Among them, the Wandering Corpse had three types, and the Hidden Corpse had three forms. The three types referred to the Iron Armored Corpse, Silver Armored Corpse, and Golden Armored Corpse.
These three zombie types were hard to distinguish by the naked eye during daily encounters, but there was a trick: by observing the skin's reflection under sunlight, one could gauge the strength of a Wandering Corpse based on the reflected light.
Sunlight, being immensely yang in nature, was the extreme opposite of the yin-favoring Wandering Corpse.
At this moment, the sheen on Xu Qing's skin was the hallmark of advancing to an Iron Armored Wandering Corpse.
Besides the cold, iron-like sheen of an Iron Armored Corpse, a Silver Armored Corpse, when illuminated by sunlight, would show crystalline points of light on its skin akin to snowflakes in sunlight, resembling silver stars.
The Golden Armored Corpse would dazzle like pure gold set with jade, brilliant to the extreme.
Fortunately, the Corpse Nourishing Scripture had solutions for such situations. All he needed to do was dust the powder used with the Mute Dog Spell over his body to avoid the problem of sunlight reflection.
Recalling the entire evolution process, Xu Qing suddenly thought of something as his gaze involuntarily fell onto the two coffins covered with a canopy in the west corner.
Speaking of which, both Yang Taigong and Liu Youdao had spent their lives as Corpse Drivers; it was impossible for them to only raise ordinary Walking Corpses. Were they not cultivating Iron or Silver Armored Corpses?
Xu Qing put on his clothes and silently approached the two coffins.
The one on the left was completely black, bound with three horizontal and two vertical red strings, made of thousand-year-old dark wood.
The one on the right was red with black edges, not bound by strings, but marked with 'fake ropes' made using an ink box and ink line dipped in vermilion water and rooster blood, a total of eighty-one times.
These two coffins were notably heavier than ordinary coffins, and the myriad talismans pasted on them seemed fresher despite the passage of time, as though they had just been drawn.
Having just personally experienced the refining process of an Iron Armored Corpse, Xu Qing found the process he underwent while lying in the small dark wood coffin to subtly overlap with these two coffins before him.
"Could Liu Youdao, that old man, have left me two Golden Armored Corpses in my shop?"
If they were Iron Armored Corpses, given his previous evolution speed, they would've emerged from the coffins long ago!
Even as Silver Armored Corpses, it was unlikely they would stay dormant for so long.
Xu Qing observed the seemingly formidable coffins for a while, ensuring the various seals and talismans were intact before feeling somewhat reassured.
The shop, having been idle for several days, was evidently dusty.
Xu Qing tidied up briefly, noticing the water clock he used for timing, with its water long gone.
Cultivation knows no years, and enlightenment follows no calendar.
"If it takes this long to evolve into an Iron Armored Corpse, wouldn't evolving into a Golden Armored Corpse possibly mean waking up to find the Dayong Dynasty has perished?"
With a sigh, Xu Qing passed through the backyard, climbed over the wall to the front door, where Wu Yaohua, squatting at the Paper Mache Shop and making paper horses, suddenly paused.
"Younger Brother Xu, you're back!"
Wu Yaohua immediately put down his work, took a few quick steps forward, and looked him over.
"You've become lighter and not as thin as before. It seems the family you were looking after must be wealthy, treating you to lavish meals daily, huh?"
Xu Qing smiled as he opened the door, "You guessed right. The landlord's family had plenty of food, treating me well. They killed sheep and pigs every few days. It was hard to stay skinny!"
"Gaining some weight is good. It shows we eat well, making it easier to find a wife. Who would want to marry someone pale and thin?"
"By the way, Younger Brother Xu, it's time for you to settle down. Should I ask my family to find a match for you?"
Xu Qing removed the door panels, letting sunlight mix with dust into the shop, stirring an old woody smell.
"No, you know me; I'm always either at Youlan Courtyard or Cuiyun Building. I still want to enjoy a few more years of freedom. If I marry, where's the fun in that?"
Xu Qing's words were half-true. He visited Youlan Courtyard and Cuiyun Building, but not for leisure; he was there to experience Linhe's local culture, testing the rumors of their close-knit community.
Moreover, he had other reasons for not wanting to marry.
First, as a zombie, marrying would risk exposing himself due to close daily interactions.
Second, zombies are immortal, while beauty fades. He couldn't possibly turn his wife into a zombie during her prime, even if he had such thoughts.
This was not Twilight City, and he wasn't a Vampire.
Wu Yaohua still wanted to persuade him but was diverted by Xu Qing's question.
"Old Wu, has anyone come looking for me these past few days?"
"Yes! On the fourth day you left, some officers from Patrol Room came, led by a forensic doctor carrying two pieces of dried meat, claiming to be an old acquaintance of your master from Xiangyin County, wanting to catch up…"