I Collect Skill Fragments in the Demon World

Chapter 933 - 561: Resurrection

The Shen Family’s steward occupied the moral high ground, using the dissatisfaction of the crowd to pressure Mrs. Zhang. Not only did this position himself in an invincible spot, but it also minimized potential future consequences.

Faced with the aggressive crowd, Mrs. Zhang’s expression grew grim. The Shen Family’s steward said, "Madam Zhang, your son is already dead. You must accept reality. Why not let us help you cremate him, which would save you trouble? Our family is in business; encountering situations like yours puts us in a difficult position. Since a guest boarded our ship, we must uphold our reputation and be responsible for the customers aboard. In your situation, I truly don’t know what to do. How about we send someone to help you bury your eldest son, allowing him to rest in peace and you to avoid the current trouble?"

"No! My brother’s body absolutely cannot be burned! I don’t believe he’s just dead like that! There must still be a way to revive him!" Zhang Tuowei’s voice was full of defiance and determination.

"Exactly! Even if he’s truly dead, there’s still a chance for revival if the body is preserved. The body must not be burned!" Chengyu chimed in.

The steward ignored the two little ones, simply turning his head to look at Mrs. Zhang, who stubbornly said, "No burning!"

Hearing this, the steward sighed gently, glancing around at the indignant guests, then focused back on Mrs. Zhang: "I’m also at a loss. How about this, madam? Could you give me a solution? If you can provide a way to appease the guests, I shall carry it out."

Truly worthy of a major family’s steward, he quickly claimed the moral high ground to use the crowd’s force to corner Mrs. Zhang.

At this time, a guest interjected, and a muscular man spoke up: "I absolutely refuse to stay on the same ship with this plague-ridden situation! Ship owner, either the corpse stays and I leave, or I stay and it leaves!"

"Right! If you keep the corpse onboard, we will demand our money back."

"If we catch a plague, who will take responsibility for us?"

"Yes! Steward, we boarded the Shen family’s passenger ship trusting their reputation. If you can’t give us a satisfactory explanation, just refund us and let us disembark. We can take the Salt Gang’s ship and still reach Jinling."

...

Amid the crowd’s constant pressure, the steward looked at Mrs. Zhang with a troubled face and advised: "It’s just a corpse; it will rot sooner or later. It’s better to burn it now. The deceased is gone, and we shouldn’t make it difficult for the living."

"We’ll get off the ship!" Mrs. Zhang suddenly lifted her head, her voice filled with determination: "We want to disembark!"

"The body won’t be burned, and we won’t make things difficult for the steward. We’re getting off the ship!" Mrs. Zhang’s voice was firm.

Hearing this, the steward was momentarily stunned; Mrs. Zhang’s decision was unexpected for him. Considering they were helpless orphans and widows, they should have intended to rely on the ship to Jinling, so where did the courage to disembark come from?

Moreover, Mrs. Zhang’s decision contradicted the instructions from his family’s young master!

"Please arrange for the ship to stop," Mrs. Zhang said.

"Would you like to reconsider? The world is unstable now. Why do this for a dead person?" asked the steward tentatively.

Hearing the steward, Mrs. Zhang shook her head vigorously: "No need to trouble you. We will disembark right away."

The steward, making a mistake of his own, looked at the resolute Mrs. Zhang, feeling somewhat helpless but having no choice. Even his young master didn’t dare act ruthlessly, let alone him?

He could only arrange for Mrs. Zhang and her family to disembark, watching their carriage disappear into the distance. Scratching his head, he quickly went to Shen Qiu’s room to recount what happened.

After hearing the steward, Shen Qiu pondered briefly: "Let them disembark if they want to. Send people to secretly inform local authorities along the way, saying that the court’s fugitive, defying imperial edict, has left the Northern Land. Then, local governments will naturally pursue them. How can mere orphans and widows make it to Jinling? Once they’re apprehended and sent back to the Northern Land, everything will return to normal."

As for Zhang Chen, with his descent into the seven-day ordeal, he fell into a state of chaos.

Amidst the jolts, with the Qi mechanism fluctuating in him, Zhang Chen’s consciousness gradually awakened; he felt his chest was pressed with two large stones. Then he heard sobbing, accompanied by murmurs near his ear. Little girl Zhang Tuowei was lying on top of Zhang Chen, crying miserably:

"Big brother, I beg you, come back to life! I promise I’ll be obedient and never anger you again."

"Big brother, I’m sorry to you and to our late father! Why am I the one alive! Rest assured, even if I die, I won’t let anyone cremate you," Zhang Tuowei wept bitterly.

On the side, Zhang Fei was also lying on top of Zhang Chen, wiping tears, not caring about the pox on Zhang Chen’s body: "Oh, my dear brother! Why did you leave like this, your temper so small? If only you could come back to life, I would train diligently daily and never slacken, even letting me punch dogs instead of chasing chickens."

Zhang Fei clung to Zhang Chen’s shoulder, sobbing constantly, smearing tears and snot all over his clothes.

At this moment, Zhang Chen’s Primordial Spirit was about to be mastered. Qi circulated throughout his body, and he began to regain sensation in his flesh, with his blood starting to flow gradually.

He could sense that he was in a carriage, the road bumping up and down, making it feel like his bones might fall apart.

While the two little ones cried and confessed, Zhang Chen’s blood, under the support of the Blood Sea Superpower, gradually revived, his flesh returning to life. Hearing the repentance of the two, Zhang Chen sighed softly: "Do you truly realize your mistakes and are you willing to correct them?"

In an instant, the interior of the carriage fell into a dead silence. The crying of the two little ones stopped, and they simultaneously lifted their heads from Zhang Chen’s chest. Their eyes met Zhang Chen’s face, confronting him as he opened his eyes.

"Big brother! You’re alive!!!" Zhang Tuowei reacted first, exclaiming in surprise, his face full of ecstasy, and directly pounced into Zhang Chen’s arms: "I knew it, how could you die? How could we anger you to death?"

The two little ones threw themselves on Zhang Chen, wiping their snot and tears directly on him, causing Zhang Chen to show a hint of disdain on his face. Madam Zhang, who was driving the carriage, heard the cries inside and hurriedly pulled the reins, trembling as she lifted the curtain, only to see Zhang Chen sitting up and pushing the two little ones away with a face full of dislike.

"Zhang Chen, you’re really not dead???" Madam Zhang teared up upon seeing Zhang Chen seated safely, too moved to speak.

Hearing Madam Zhang’s words and seeing her breathless excitement, Zhang Chen sighed gently: "I worried you, mother!"

He felt deeply gratified, as Madam Zhang’s genuine emotion at this moment was unmistakably sincere, making all his plans for her worthwhile.

"Where is Chengyu?" Zhang Chen, not seeing Chengyu, quickly asked.

Upon waking to find himself not on the large ship but in a carriage, he knew something must have gone wrong.

"Since we disembarked, Chengyu has been scouting ahead. She mentioned there was a band of mountain bandits up ahead and went to deal with them." Madam Zhang’s voice was trembling.

Zhang Chen’s expression changed upon hearing this: "Which direction?"

Madam Zhang pointed her finger, and the next moment Zhang Chen’s figure vanished from the carriage.

Outside

In a large mountain, several figures were engaged in battle. The ground was stained with blood, and corpses littered the forest. As Zhang Chen appeared, the fighting in the forest had just ceased.

His gaze followed a gap in the trees, noticing a bloody figure in the distance struggling to stand. After taking several heavy breaths, the small figure, with a blade larger than herself on her shoulder, wiped the blood from her face and walked toward Zhang Chen.

As Chengyu walked, the blood from her clothes dripped to the ground, leaving a red trail.

Chengyu carried the large blade, cursing as she walked and tearing a strip of cloth to bandage her wounds: "Damn it, those bastards from Cao Bang, you’d better pray I don’t succeed in cultivating a Yin Spirit, or I’ll slaughter every last one of you in the future!"

While cursing, Chengyu keenly sensed a figure at the very front of the forest, her footsteps halting, her eyes looking toward the forest with a hint of seriousness.

"Is there one more left?" Chengyu’s small face was somber. She had reached her limit, and although she had attained the possession realm, the opponents were formidable, with two of them harboring traces of Incense Qi within. If not for their low levels, she might have been defeated already.

"I can’t sense any mysterious aura from the opponent, nor can I feel any Incense Qi from them; they’re stronger than me!" A fierce gleam appeared in Chengyu’s eyes:

"Today I fear I might meet my end here! I must exert all my strength to delay this person and give Madam Zhang a chance to escape."

Thinking this, Chengyu touched the long blade on her shoulder: "Zhang Chen, you scoundrel, you better come back to life! I’ve repaid all the favors I’ve owed you now!"

She wasn’t a fool; the opponent had been observing her conflict with the Cao Bang members without intervening, clearly confident in their victory.

"Damn it! Come on! Let’s see who survives in the end!" Rage filled Chengyu’s eyes: "Zhang Chen, you unlucky bastard, don’t let down the efforts of your dear ones. You must live, seek vengeance for me, tear the Salt Gang and Cao Bang to pieces! Smash them to oblivion, send them to join me down below!"