Chapter 48: Encountering Corpse Raising Ground Again
That night, Jiang Ce and Daoist Wang arrived at the construction site.
Ever since a worker nearly lost his life a few days ago, the construction site had been temporarily shut down, with all personnel cleared out. Now, aside from the security guards on the perimeter, no other human figures could be seen anywhere on the site.
The area enclosed by the construction site was vast, but the part that had actually been worked on occupied only a very small portion of it.
A massive foundation pit had been dug here, roughly half the size of a soccer field, but what puzzled Jiang Ce was that it was half-filled with water—or rather, mud.
Normally, after excavating a foundation pit, waterproofing and drainage work should be carried out simultaneously, so there shouldn’t be any water. It hadn’t rained these past few days either—could it be that water was seeping up from underground?
Thinking of this, he once again glared maliciously at Daoist Wang from behind.
It was all this clown’s fault, insisting that his methods involved spiritual communication and that ordinary people seeing it would encounter misfortune. Not only did he refuse to let Old Liu and the others come in, he had also shut down all the site’s surveillance cameras. Otherwise, if there was anything unusual, they could have asked someone about it anytime.
Wasn’t this just a complete waste of time?
After hesitating several times, Jiang Ce still decided to kindly remind him: “Don’t rush into action yet. Something’s off here. I’ll go out and ask about a few things, then we’ll talk.”
Daoist Wang glanced back at Jiang Ce, snorted coldly, assuming Jiang Ce was incapable and trying to draw attention this way. He didn’t take it seriously at all and instead quickened his movements, beginning to set up the magic array.
Of course, what he called a magic array was really just the kind of ritual platform that half-immortals in the countryside set up for shamanic dances—light some incense on it, place some offerings, and then start waving a peach wood sword to perform Buddhist rituals.
Its substance was even less than the Soul Soothing Technique that Chen Mian used.
Jiang Ce felt he had a clear conscience. He’d given the reminder; whether he listened or died was his own business, having nothing to do with him.
He walked out of the construction site toward the nearby temporary sheds, wanting Su Feng to find someone to ask about the pooled water.
But just as he looked up, he sensed something was wrong.
From afar, Jiang Ce surprisingly found that the distant high-rise buildings seemed to inexplicably carry a sense of oppression.
He frowned, feeling a faint palpitation in his heart, as if something was just within reach in the haze, yet always one step short, forever elusive like a mirage.
Suddenly, a familiar sensation welled up in him.
“No way.”
He pursed his lips, hesitated no more, and ran toward a tower crane about fifty or sixty meters tall not far away. With a few leaps, he reached the top and overlooked this plot of land awaiting development.
Sure enough, just as he had imagined, this land was actually sunken—compared to the areas with tall buildings, it was practically a basin.
As for the earlier sense of oppression from the high-rises, it was because standing in this land and looking out gave the feeling of gazing at the sky from underground, amplifying all visual effects.
And the familiarity came because this environment reminded Jiang Ce of Red Terrace Manor.
Ye Lu Feng had said that, in terms of feng shui, Red Terrace Manor was an excellent corpse raising ground. This undeveloped wasteland, aside from lacking a willow tree, was essentially a large-scale Red Terrace Manor!
“Wait, there’s water in the foundation pit, but it’s not flowing—that’s stagnant water. Live water brings wealth and fortune, but stagnant water—damn, isn’t this even worse than a willow tree?”
Jiang Ce was greatly shocked by his discovery. Linking it to the ancient battlefield rumor, it was hard not to suspect something terrifying was buried below.
Not only that, but no one had noticed the water in the foundation pit, meaning it had appeared very recently. In other words, if this was a natural giant corpse raising ground, it meant something was about to stir.
“This is bad! You messing around is one thing, but don’t provoke the big guy!”
The entry point from before was blocked by a blind spot, so Jiang Ce couldn’t see Daoist Wang’s situation. In his anxiety, he jumped straight down from the tower crane.
Thud—
With a loud crash, Jiang Ce’s legs sank into the muddy ground.
Despite the protection of the Golden Bell Shield, the lack of cushioning still jolted his internal organs painfully.
Clutching his stomach, he spat out with difficulty: “Careless… the Golden Bell Shield prevents impacts but not shocks, damn it.”
With no time to tend to his discomfort, Jiang Ce dashed quickly toward the interior of the construction site.
Just after passing the safety zone, Jiang Ce saw that Daoist Wang had somehow lost consciousness. Worse, half his body was submerged in the water, continuously drifting toward the foundation pit, as if something underneath was dragging him.
Jiang Ce froze, instinctively running over to reach out and save him. But halfway there, his steps slowed, his expression hesitant—though the hesitation lasted only a moment before being replaced by resolve.
“You fucking deserve to die! If I were a bit more ruthless, I’d just let you die here!”
With Jiang Ce’s frustrated roar, Daoist Wang—man and all—was yanked out entirely.
A black hand was gripping his ankle, connected to a pitch-black water ghost. Under Jiang Ce’s pull, this vengeful spirit, perhaps of ninth rank strength, was actually dragged out of the mud.
Jiang Ce didn’t even glance at it, grinding his teeth, seemingly dissatisfied with himself for ultimately not having the heart to let the unconscious Daoist Wang die, and spat bitterly:
“Is the peach wood sword any use? Huh? Can’t you charlatans just do what charlatans do? You’ve really disgusted me—useless for success but expert at sabotage. Better if you newbies died early!”
With that, Jiang Ce picked up the peach wood sword Daoist Wang had dropped, flipped it, and nailed the still-dazed water ghost to the ground.
He turned back, face grim as he looked toward the foundation pit, never once glancing extra at the water ghost.
Perhaps due to food being snatched, or a kin being killed, the ghosts and monsters in the foundation pit suddenly grew restless.
The water boiled like a cauldron, bubbling and churning, splashing about, with shadowy figures occasionally darting past ghostly and silently.
“Can’t kill him, but you think I can’t kill you?”
Jiang Ce shouted in frustration, first whipping Daoist Wang’s corpse-like body to ensure he wouldn’t wake midway, then pulling items he had prepared in spare time during the day from his backpack. In a few swift moves, he set up a massive Soul Soothing Technique encompassing the entire foundation pit.
At this point, Jiang Ce had to admit that it was fortunate no one had followed them in and the surveillance had been shut off—otherwise, he couldn’t explain his invincible true god status.
But admitting Daoist Wang had been right was even harder than killing him. Helplessly, he vented his full fury on the water ghost instead, collateral damage to the pool ghost.
“You little bastards! Today I must flush you all out to vent my rage! Decree!”
The moment the Soul Soothing Technique activated, the ground even began to tremble faintly. Jiang Ce knew that though he couldn’t see them, a fight must have broken out underground.
And the scale was certainly far more exaggerated than the one at Red Terrace!
Jiang Ce took Aatrox out of his backpack, then stripped off Daoist Wang’s Male Virtue Academy daoist robe, tore it into long strips, and bound them to Aatrox. Once secured, he tossed Aatrox into the water like bait fishing.
Down below, every dead ghost Aatrox absorbed energy from—it was all about fast food.
“Not entirely useless for success and sabotage—at least it can help me chum the water.”
Jiang Ce sat on a nearby stone pier, patiently waiting for all the water ghosts below to die off.
He vigilantly watched the gradually calming water surface, mentally prepared for horrors like the male ketone ghost that might emerge, utterly unaware that a pair of cold, sinister eyes had long since locked onto him.
