Chapter 62: East City Glamour Corpse (Part 7): Picked Up a Person Part 1

The smell from the veil led right to this place. The houses were shrouded in gloom everywhere, and now there were even cries laced into the opera music. All signs pointed to one conclusion: the glamour corpse was inside this house!

Upon discovering this, Shang Shan’s eyes widened slightly. Thinking back to the gruesome state of the corpse she had seen yesterday, anger surged within her, and she was about to burst through the door. Jiang Yuanqi drew his demonic sound, unhurriedly pulled her back, and chuckled softly. “We can’t just charge in like that.”

Shang Shan mouthed the words: “Then what should we do?”

Jiang Yuanqi pulled her back a little farther and looked up. “Miss Shang, listen to your Brother Yuanqi. Right now, the glamour corpse is out in the open while we’re hidden. It’s inside, and we’re outside. This is the perfect chance to catch a turtle in a jar, but we have to make sure the jar is sturdy enough. If we act rashly and give her a chance to escape, it’ll alert her, and finding her again won’t be easy.”

He pulled out a handful of talismans from his bosom and flung them into the courtyard. Golden light burst forth as they hovered in the air, scattering evenly like flying nails before suddenly plunging into the ground. “So, either we hold back without striking, or we land a decisive blow.”

Mu Qian Tan listened and sneered inwardly: Hypocrite. He made it look like meticulous instruction, but if something really happened, he would be the first to throw someone else out as bait to save his own skin.

Too lazy to watch the show any longer, Mu Qian Tan wandered off elsewhere. Shang Shan nodded as if she half-understood and stood by the door waiting. Jiang Yuanqi finished laying talismans in the front yard, circled around the house, and tossed out more talismans like they were free, setting traps and curses in every direction.

When he reached the backyard, he spotted Yao’e Immortal—who had seemed so idle—standing there under the largest shady tree at some point. She leaned against the trunk with a book in hand, reading.

“…” The sun stung his eyes, making him squint as he shaded his brow with one hand, his smile unchanged. “It seems Yao’e Immortal has quite a bit of confidence in her own disciple’s abilities.”

It was clearly her disciple, yet she had handed her off to a stranger she had only met twice, letting him teach and lead while she paid no attention. He wasn’t sure if she trusted the stranger that much or her own disciple that much.

Mu Qian Tan ignored him and continued holding her book, reviewing the spells she had seen that night.

Seeing that she paid him no mind, Jiang Yuanqi smiled, finished setting up all the formations, and came to the door. He handed the girl a rope. “Use this immortal binding rope to strangle the glamour corpse. In a moment, I’ll control her with the demonic sound to keep her from moving. You rush in and loop it around her neck, and she’ll be subdued.”

Shang Shan took the rope, wrapped a few loops around each hand, and tensed the middle section before nodding. “I got it.”

Jiang Yuanqi brought the flute to his lips. The two exchanged a glance and silently counted to three. He then lifted a foot and kicked the door open with great force while blowing a shrill flute note that pierced the soul with every tone. The two door panels flew inward, smashing tables and chairs. Shang Shan charged in with the rope. “Glamour corpse!”

The room was extremely dim. Sunlight poured in only after the door opened, and Shang Shan plunged into even deeper darkness. Behind the dining hall’s gauze curtain, a wheelchair lay toppled on the ground, its wheels still spinning nonstop. Wen Yu knelt by the bed and turned her head toward the noise. Her face was utterly bloodless, tears streaming like a spring. In the darkness, those teardrops emitted faint, fragmented light—just looking at her tugged at the heart.

In front of her was a vine-wood bed frame with chains bound to all four corners, now pulled completely taut. A woman in gorgeous opera garb was tied to the bed. Her exposed hands were pale as ghosts and constantly struggled.

She had likely been barely contained before under the cover of the opera music, but the noise from the break-in greatly stimulated her. She let out a howl, snapped all the iron chains with a lift of her hand, flipped off the bed, pounced on Wen Yu, sat astride her, and seized her neck as if to kill!

In the heat of the moment, Shang Shan grabbed a large porcelain vase by the door, dumped out the green plant inside, gripped the mouth of the vase, took aim, and hurled it forward. It perfectly capped over the glamour corpse’s head. While she was dazed, the girl leaped forward and looped the rope tightly around her neck.

The flute sounds grew even more urgent. The glamour corpse’s roars came muffled and terrifying from inside the vase. She clawed at the rope around her throat, and her body sank downward, pressing right onto Wen Yu. The woman let out a low cry of pain.

That pained cry drifted precisely into Shang Shan’s ears. Fearing she would crush the woman, she startled and loosened her grip. The glamour corpse seized the chance to tear off the rope, flung her aside, rolled across the floor, crashed through the window, and tumbled into the blazing sunlight.

Shang Shan helped Wen Yu up and had her cling to the bed’s edge before chasing out at full speed. She saw countless little paper figures crawling gleefully across the house’s exterior, diving down like a sudden white rain. Like schools of fish shadows on the ground, they swirled toward the center, clung to the glamour corpse’s body, and hugged her tight with their fan-like wings, dragging at her to restrict her movements.

With her entire body exposed to the sunlight, the glamour corpse’s joints had already slowed considerably. As she took a step forward, the trap talismans embedded in the ground transformed into golden little hands that reached up, seizing her limbs. She toppled downward in an instant. The porcelain vase on her head shattered crisply, scattering shards everywhere.

Shang Shan rushed forward and bound her immediately. Jiang Yuanqi didn’t use his hands. Leveraging his long legs, he flipped sideways out the window while the flute sounds continued. The demonic sound had fully taken form, and amid so many bindings, the glamour corpse finally couldn’t move.

Mu Qian Tan leaned against the tree trunk, glanced up, then lowered her eyes again.

The backyard returned to quiet, with tree shadows swaying. Jiang Yuanqi strode quickly to the glamour corpse and squatted down. He used the end of the demonic sound to lift her chin and examined that pale face.

Her features revealed that she had clearly been a stunning beauty in life. In the earlier struggle, her hair had become disheveled, with a few loose strands sweeping her cheeks in a moving portrait. But her eyes were white as dead fish, threaded with web-like blood vessels—utterly horrifying.

Lifted to face the sun, the glamour corpse seemed unable to bear the pain. She whimpered a few times from her mouth and tried to close her eyes and lower her head. Shang Shan asked in confusion, “Qin He told me that ghostly things are born from darkness and oppose the light, which is why they fear sunlight. But a fierce corpse is a mutation of the body—why would this one fear it too?”

Jiang Yuanqi replied, “Ordinary fierce corpses aren’t afraid of it, naturally. This corpse is different.”

Shang Shan stared for a good while but couldn’t spot any difference. “This is my first time seeing a fierce corpse. I can’t tell what’s different.”

Jiang Yuanqi was about to explain when Wen Yu crawled arduously out through the hole in the house. Her face was still full of tears as she cried out, “Silver Snake!”

That form of address sent a jolt through Jiang Yuanqi’s entire body. Sharp coldness mingled into his smile for an instant before vanishing. Wen Yu crawled forcefully toward them. “Don’t touch her…”

The glamour corpse’s crash through the house had scattered fragments everywhere, mixed with debris from the cabinets—jagged and incredibly sharp. Even ordinary people had to watch their step, but she crawled out on her hands. Soon, blood seeped from her forearms. Shang Shan strode forward, reached Wen Yu’s side, and helped her up. “Don’t move around—you’ll get hurt!”

Wen Yu clutched her sleeve, her eyes full of desperation. “Please… don’t touch her….”

Jiang Yuanqi said, “Miss Wen, you were harboring this glamour corpse. Did you know she harms people at midnight?”

Wen Yu’s face turned ashen, her lips trembling faintly. “I… I’m sorry…”

So she knew—perhaps she had even enabled it. Shang Shan’s mouth fell slightly open. She looked at the glamour corpse, then at the woman in her arms, and frowned. “You did this? Why would you do something like that? You perform coffin layings—you’ve seen how much pain those who’ve lost loved ones go through!”

The barrage of questions left Wen Yu speechless. She shrank back, her whole body trembling. Shang Shan’s teeth chattered as she suppressed her anger and pressed on. “Tell me the reason! Why do good deeds on one hand and harm people on the other? Does that make you happy?!”

Jiang Yuanqi sheathed the demonic sound at his waist, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he shook his head. “Miss Shang, you won’t get an answer asking like that.”

He reached toward the glamour corpse’s collar as if to strip her clothes. Seeing this, Wen Yu gripped the girl’s arm and cried out in alarm, “Young master! What are you doing!”

It was an alarmed cry, but weak and drifting due to her frailty. She tried to break free and stop him but accidentally knocked her leg on the steps. Color instantly drained from her face, and cold sweat poured out.

Shang Shan watched her every move and sensed something off. Her gaze shifted to the legs covered by the blue skirt. The coffin shop owner had said her legs were broken months ago. Even if not fully healed after so long, a mere bump shouldn’t hurt that much.

That cry of hers made Jiang Yuanqi pause his reaching hand. He glanced at his palm, then down at his robe, realizing he had nearly forgotten something. He let out a hearty laugh and backed away.

Even if it was a glamour corpse, stripping her clothes in broad daylight would be hooligan behavior. For someone of his status, it was even more disgraceful. He retreated several steps before stopping, then turned his back to the glamour corpse. “Miss Shang, could you trouble yourself to find something for me?”

The thing he wanted to see was probably the “difference” in the murderer. Shang Shan didn’t ask further. She helped Wen Yu sit steadily before returning to the glamour corpse’s side. Jiang Yuanqi said, “Please check her limbs first for anything unusual.”

The situation had been urgent earlier, so Shang Shan had bound her tightly in an intricate web of ropes across her whole body. Simply pulling open the clothes was difficult. But she couldn’t remove the ropes lest the corpse lash out again. Weighing her options, she tore the fabric along the sleeve seams and carefully inspected the pale skin for anomalies.