Chapter Thirty-Four: Wine Too White Invites You to Sweep Away Fallen Flowers

  Time waits for no one, Cao Jing Yu quickly picked up the talisman from the ground and stretched out a hand from behind the zombie to hold it in place.

  The zombie's claws were only 0.1 meters away from me, and if I was any later, my life would be in danger. At this moment, I remembered that classic line from the movie "A Chinese Odyssey", where the sword was only one centimeter away from my throat... I wanted to say three words to that person: "I love you". But now, all I want to say to the zombie are three words: "Fuck your sister."

  Cao Jing Yu took something that looked like a steelyard weight and hung it around the zombie's neck.

  "What is this? Is it useful?" I asked curiously.

  "This is called Ding Shi Shen Zhen, as the name suggests, it's used for fixing corpses." Mao Shi Jiu explained.

  "The zombie is now immobile, oh right, let's go take a look at the Taoist priest who was scratched by the zombie's claws, he must have been poisoned by the corpse poison, if we don't take action quickly, he might become a zombie." Ma Shi Jiu suddenly remembered.

  Just as I finished speaking, as I was about to turn around, a black shadow suddenly pounced on me from the side, and a tearing muscle sensation made me cry out involuntarily.

  Cao Jing Yu heard my cry, his face turned pale, and he immediately came forward to check. It turned out that Shi Zhuan Dao Chang had become a zombie, biting anyone who saw blood and flesh. I was bitten on the arm, and a piece of flesh was torn off, causing me to sweat profusely in pain.

  The corpse-transformed pig-faced Daoist turned around and bit Mao 19 again. Mao 19 was not so gentle, directly picking up a wooden sword to stab him, back and forth, eating a lot of grievances. The pig-faced Daoist finally couldn't bear it, turning to bite me instead. I'm really a ripe soft persimmon, so easy to squeeze? A surge of nameless fire suddenly rose in my heart, and I randomly picked up a brick from somewhere, smashing it onto the corpse-transformed pig-faced Daoist's head, instantly crushing half his skull, blood and flesh blurred, brain matter splashing out, a mixture of white and red swirling together, that feeling was simply refreshing.

  "I've killed someone!" I screamed in extreme panic, I smashed his head with a brick, half of it was crushed, this time I'm done for, I'll probably spend the rest of my life in prison. My eyes were staring blankly ahead, unable to accept this reality.

  It was unimaginable that the corpse, whose head I had knocked off, did not stop its pace and continued to walk towards me step by step, somewhat like a zombie in Resident Evil that still walks after being beheaded.

  "He's already a zombie, he lost his own consciousness long ago, so this doesn't count as killing him, it's more like liberating him. But even without a brain, he still relies on his bodily instincts and previous orders to kill you." Mao Shi Jiu saw that I was scared stiff and immediately spoke up to comfort me.

  As expected, the corpse-turned-Daoist fell into the pool of blood after a few blows, thoroughly dead.

  I let out a sigh of relief and slumped to the ground, only to suddenly discover that the wound was unbearably itchy. I wanted to scratch it with my hand, but Mao Shi Jiu stopped me in time. However, my hands seemed to have a mind of their own, wanting to grasp at something. Upon closer inspection, my fingernails had turned green - was this a sign of rigor mortis? I grew tense, not wanting to become some kind of unnatural creature.

  "Don't move, you've been poisoned by corpse toxin. Let me try to get the poison out." Mao Shi Jiu said as he leaned in close, is this the rhythm of him wanting to suck it out? I was scared stiff, but unexpectedly, Mao Shi Jiu spat a mouthful of saliva on it, and it hurt so much that I almost cried out for my mother.

  "There's no disinfectant, just make do." said Mao Shi Jiu lightly.

  What the hell, can this be tolerated? It feels like being ridiculed and even insulted by Mao Zedong.

  Cao took out a white tube, a fire cupping jar, and some cotton balls. He spat some liquor onto the cotton, lit it on fire, and placed it inside the jar. Once the jar was heated to a certain temperature, he directly applied it to my wound. My mind was left with only a few words: "This is really fucking painful."

  "You hold this white tube in your mouth and keep inhaling, you absolutely cannot exhale." Mao Shi Jiu warned me.

  What's the point of giving me a fire cupping now? I'd rather have a full-body massage! I thought to myself.

  It's been roasted for a minute, and I see a black thing flowing out of the body and pouring into the fire pot. Is this the legendary corpse poison? The appearance is already nauseating.

  The corpse poison soon filled the entire jar, and I was still panting heavily, unable to catch my breath, which made me feel uncomfortable for a while. Mao Shi Jiu prepared another jar, "Quickly change the air." Mao Shi Jiu suddenly shouted.

  I can finally breathe in some air, satisfyingly indulging in this beauty. Beauty is only temporary, "Take another breath." Mao Shi Jiu was like a military officer conveying orders, making people have to obey, and I took another deep breath.

  In less than half an hour, the fire pot had been changed several times, but the black stuff never decreased and even showed a tendency to increase, with its viscosity increasing greatly. Is this a sign of the disease entering the bone marrow? My heart felt anxious.

  "Oh no, the corpse energy has entered your body, and the yin energy is simply helping it grow. The toxins are now expanding exponentially, isn't your entire arm numb?" Mao Shi Jiu exclaimed.

  I nodded, indeed my arms were almost unable to hold on any longer, and my fingers couldn't move at all.

  "I can't save you now, I'm not familiar with this corpse poison and can't give you sufficient treatment." Mao Shi Jiu furrowed his brow, and I saw despair in his eyes.

  I lay on the ground, exhausted all over, looking at the night sky above, and I also fell into despair. I didn't expect that after finding a girlfriend with great difficulty, I would die in sacrifice. I just wanted to quietly wait for the moment of death notification.

  I paced back and forth in a state of extreme anxiety, seemingly trying to think of a solution, but to no avail. I increasingly felt like I was losing control of my body.

  "Got it!" Mao 19 slapped his head, had he thought of a way? I sat up with a start, feeling as if I had been revived from the dead.

  "The two emotions are empty and want to stop, please sweep away the fallen flowers in Jiangnan." Suddenly, Mao 19 recited a poem.

  "What?" I looked at him with a puzzled expression.

  "Falling flowers are heartless, flowing water has intention, on the boat, following the waves." Mao Zedong recited the poem again.

  I didn't expect Mao Shi Jiu to be a pretentious youth, it's really unbearable. I'm dying over here and he's still reciting poetry over there.

  "In the midst of a sea of people, it's been over a decade since we parted ways. I asked you about your reclusive life in the south, and the vicissitudes of life. When will the world's banquet gather again?"

  Alright, I lay down again, and once more fell silent, continuing to gaze at the sky.

  Come on, I'll take you to see your Shibo. My senior fellow disciple, Jiutian Xuannu, said that when emotions are exhausted and the Tao is exhausted, all things are empty. That's why he chose to hide here, where there are only ghosts and no emotions.

  I really don't know why Mao Shi Jiu suddenly became so artistic, but I felt a hint of sadness in his words, as if this matter had happened to him.

  "Where is he? It's impossible for him to be really at Mount Zhongnan, which is 108,000 miles away from here."

  He can appear in every crowd and on every street, only he is different from others, his eyes have no worldly complexity.

  "Where is it? Speak clearly!" I finally couldn't help but say.

  "In the midst of the bustling city, it's that vegetable market right in front."

  It seems that this is a kind of seclusion, secluded in the midst of a bustling city, spending all day seeing chickens, ducks, fish and geese, hearing the quarrelsome voices next door. Is this also called seclusion? In my heart, only Tao Yuanming's pastoral life can be called seclusion. However, if one can maintain that calm and serene mind in the midst of a bustling city, it is indeed admirable. But what Mao Zijun said about the vegetable market is really unacceptable, too common.

  "It's so late at night, there isn't a single soul on the streets, how can I possibly run into him?" I'm worried that my condition won't hold up.

  "Don't worry, I'll let out a ghost and he'll come out," said Mao Shi Jiu. After finishing speaking, he took out a qiankun bag, opened it, and threw it upwards towards the sky. A black ghost emerged from the sky, looking bewildered as he stared at Mao Shi Jiu. He must have thought to himself, "This idiot, why did he let me out?!" The black ghost's mouth curled up into a sly smile as he quickly escaped.

  "We waited without even half a stick of incense being burned, and he came to me on his own initiative. After all these years, I know his character." said Mao Shi Jiu thoughtfully.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, before half a stick of incense had been burned, a beggar wearing a white Taoist robe with patches all over it, with messy clothes and disheveled hair that was sparse and blown by the wind, holding a broken wine gourd and a broken fan, appeared in my line of sight. I called him a beggar not because of his appearance or clothing, but because I saw him carrying a broken bowl on his back.

  "Look, without even waking up Shibo, a beggar has arrived." I said with some complaint.

  Unexpectedly, Mao Shi Jiu directly walked up and still had a smiling face to greet him.

  "Master brother, I'm here."

  "Oh, here's your black ghost back." The beggar in my eyes didn't seem surprised at all when he saw Mao 19, but instead said lightly and threw a tattered cloth bag to Mao 19 while taking a sip of wine from the broken wine jug.

  "Master Brother, it's been over a decade since we last met. The last time was during the Xiangxi Ghost Convention. I didn't expect that after all these years, you still look like this, and haven't changed at all?" Mao Shi Jiu let out a sigh.

  "I've already forgotten," he replied, and then poured himself another drink.

  This sentence is very rhythmic. Mao 19 didn't mention anything about the past, but he said I forgot now, he obviously knows what it is, since he knows he forgot why did he say he forgot? Of course, there's another possibility, that is, he can only forget when drinking, and keep remembering when sober.

  "Li Dong, if Master knew you'd become like this, can you face his spirit in heaven?" Cao Shi Jiu said with some urgency.

  "Master, when he was alive, the ones he cared about most were you and me. You were the biggest, I was the smallest. All his love and care were given to us. Do you want to disappoint him?" Ma Shi Jiu continued.

  "Please, sir, go to Jiangnan to sweep away the fallen flowers." Li Dong suddenly thought of this poem, and saw that tears had already welled up in his eyes, shining brightly on his wrinkled face.

  Seeing old friends brings back memories of past events, old friends mention past events, surging up in the mind, flowing endlessly.