Seeing the hand below, Li Zhiyuan’s eyes showed confusion, "Why does this hand look so fresh?"
According to Brother Leopard, it was him who helped Jiang Dongping bury the corpse here, and it’s been a while since then, even years.
This is the bottom of a pond, inherently damp, the skeleton should have decomposed very quickly, so how could there still be clear flesh and skin visible?
Either this body is not the murdered Old Zhou, or there is something wrong with the current Old Zhou.
"Marquis Runsheng, why are you just standing there dumbfounded? Get your gear ready."
Li Zhiyuan came back to his senses and looked at Run Sheng: "Brother Runsheng, take good care of your equipment."
Just to be safe, better to use his own.
Run Sheng responded promptly, lifted the plastic tarp from the tricycle, and brought over a new set of tools.
Li Sanjiang looked puzzled at these instruments that seemed familiar yet weren’t his own, but with the police around, it was inconvenient to ask more. Anyway, new or old, it was all the same to him.
"Grandmaster, let Brother Runsheng try first. If Brother Runsheng can’t pull it up, it means Mr. Shan doesn’t have the skill to teach his disciple, and then you can step in and teach him properly."
Li Sanjiang felt Little Yuanhou’s suggestion made sense.
Run Sheng took the instruments, set them up by the pit, his excitement clearly written on his face.
Li Sanjiang found a small wooden stool, arranged the simple offerings on it, he even brought two nearly burnt-out white candles.
He truly complied with the police comrades’ request to not make a big scene, thus everything was on a smaller scale.
Lighting the candles and burning paper, Li Sanjiang muttered under his breath as he circled the pit.
Around them, young police officers curiously watched, while the older ones silently retreated some distance.
Tan Yunlong looked around; the old Jiang family’s house was built large and secluded with few residential houses nearby. Coupled with the nature of the Jiang family’s local influence, not many villagers dared to come watch the commotion at this time. Only about a dozen bystanders stood outside the perimeter wall, half of them having stopped by upon seeing the police cars parked there.
As for the Jiang family members, they had already been taken into the house by Tan Yunlong for testimony recording.
The surroundings were relatively quiet, unlikely to attract too many spectators gossiping.
After finishing the ritual, Li Sanjiang took out two beer bottles stopped with cloth strips from a package, filled with a red liquid.
Upon seeing this, Tan Yunlong immediately stepped forward to stop him: "Grandmaster, what are you doing?"
"Black dog blood, I’ll use it to dispel the evil first. If we don’t, the body will shrink further into the ground. It’s holding resentment."
"Can’t we skip the pouring?"
"If we pour it, the body will be impossible to examine."
"Then I’ll give it a try. Run Sheng, time to work. Let’s see if Shan Pao has taught you any real skill."
Saying this, Li Sanjiang put the two bottles of pig’s blood mixed in his hands on the ground.
To assert his status as an old master, he deliberately walked a few steps out, took out a cigarette, attempting to light it and hold his stance.
One of the police officers reminded him, "Grandmaster, you should smoke a bit further away; we still have to collect evidence here later."
"Oh, right." Li Sanjiang hesitated for a moment, but because he had put on airs, he could only walk to a corner with his cigarette. But after searching his pockets, he realized he had left in a rush and forgot to bring matches, so he went to borrow a light.
Therefore, now standing at the edge of the pit, only Li Zhiyuan, Run Sheng, and Tan Yunlong remained.
"Officer Tan, is the body sinking deeper?"
"Yes, it keeps sinking the more we dig."
"Officer Tan, could you ask someone to move that jar containing ’Tai Sui’ away?"
"That’s important evidence; we need to take it back to the station for examination."
"I’m not asking you to throw it away, just move it outside the door, don’t leave it within the range of this house."
"Is there some taboo?"
"Alright then." Immediately, Tan Yunlong ordered a few policemen to move the jar outside the door.
Li Zhiyuan nodded subtly; with this, he and Brother Leopard and Zhao Xing’s karma was complete, and what followed was purely a matter of settling accounts.
Officer Tan turned back to see the boy take out a crudely crafted wooden Compass. Tan Yunlong thought that even the vendors selling cheap toys wouldn’t stock such a toy because it was too ugly to sell.
The boy first adjusted his standing direction, then stared at the Compass in his hand, turned around on the spot, and after setting his stance, he again silently recited some numbers.
Tan Yunlong listened carefully, expecting some spell to be chanted, but all he heard were numbers.
After mentally recalibrating,
Li Zhiyuan lowered his head to look inside the pit, gestured to Run Sheng beside him: "Use the Yellow River Shovel, here, here, and here... dig six downward-facing small pits in these positions."
Run Sheng took the Yellow River Shovel and went into the pit, without even glancing at the hand’s position, he proceeded to dig six holes in the side walls following Li Zhiyuan’s instructions.
Li Zhiyuan nodded; the purpose of these six holes was to disrupt the miasma, confuse the ’sense of direction’ of the corpse, and cause it to lose judgement should it get startled and try to flee.
"Jianghu Chronicles" described this kind of corpse, stating they possessed abilities akin to razor clams, burrowing in the soil.
However, strictly speaking, these corpses were not considered Corpse, as Wei Zhengdao specifically noted: there must be oddities near the corpse.
Li Zhiyuan took out the seal ink box, pressed hard on it with his index finger, then dragged it across the Seven-star Hook. With each segment the hook opened, he successively applied a red seal, until all seven segments were extended, then he threw the Seven-star Hook into the pit.