I can rewind time to prevent death

Chapter 300: Chapter 264: Body Swap (Part 4)

Tong De paused for a long time before saying to Yan Junze, “You really dare to dream. Now that the ancient corpse wants to leave, we can’t even keep it here. And you still want to eradicate its lingering obsession, snatch its body, and then have Big Brother Guo resurrect using his body?”

“Yes, indeed.” Yan Junze nodded.

Tong De’s head swayed like a rattle drum. “You have quite an imagination. Right now, we should just be thinking about how to keep this ancient corpse in Mo Family Village and count ourselves lucky if it doesn’t harm anyone!”

Zhang Xiaomo also said, “Junze, you might not understand this, but the ancient corpse has an extremely cold constitution. Even Incinerate Hidden Buckle can’t damage its essence. I’m thinking that even if our other two Four-Star Exorcists, who are on their way, join forces, they would probably only be able to clear away this ancient corpse’s remaining obsession, unable to truly take its body.”

“Why?” asked Yan Junze.

“Because there will certainly be a struggle, so it’s very hard to avoid damaging the ancient corpse’s body.”

Yan Junze nodded. “You all make sense, but… I still want to try.”

With that, he squatted down and began to search Yan Long’s body.

By now Mo Da had already left the area where the ground had collapsed and was walking briskly toward the direction from which they had come.

In that place, Liang and De were still hidden in the dark under the eaves of one of the houses, but Zhang Xiaomo and the others knew very well that they must have seen what was happening here. Now that they saw the ancient corpse walking over, they would definitely not rashly show themselves.

Yan Junze did not care how far Mo Da had gone. He meticulously searched all over Yan Long’s body, then opened the backpack beside him and dumped everything out.

The items included a climbing rope with pulleys, several flashlights, a dagger, an Incense Cup, and some small flat boxes that looked like those Yan Junze had seen in his childhood used to store snowflake cream.

These boxes were round, smaller than the size of a palm, and the lid could be unscrewed to reveal various colors of paste-like substances that resembled ointment.

Yan Junze picked up a box of completely black ointment, smelled it, but seemed to detect no odor at all, not even that of soil.

He then picked up another box with light yellow ointment, sniffed it lightly, and a sour and slightly bitter strange scent wafted into his nostrils, causing goosebumps all over his body and giving him a feeling of strangeness.

“Xiaomo, take a look. What is this?” Yan Junze passed the box with the light yellow ointment to her.

Zhang Xiaomo took it, glanced at it without bringing it close to her nose, and immediately said, “This is corpse salve, made by condensing various corpse oils and refining them with unique methods. It’s a staple for experienced Spirit Cultivators.”

“Why didn’t you sniff it?” Yan Junze asked curiously.

“Corpse salve is toxic to ordinary people.” Zhang Xiaomo said. “Just taking a sniff like that can cause dizziness and lightheadedness. If the composition of the corpse salve is high, ordinary people who haven’t been exposed much might faint even with a single sniff.”

Thud!

No sooner had she finished speaking than Zhang Xiaomo looked down to see Yan Junze slumped on the ground beside Yan Long’s body, his eyes closed and the corners of his mouth slightly hooked up, displaying a mystifying smile, having passed out.

It was unknown how much time had passed before Yan Junze awoke to find only Zhang Xiaomo squatting by his side, looking at him attentively, while Tong De was nowhere to be seen.

“You’re awake.” Zhang Xiaomo said irritably.

Yan Junze managed an awkward but polite smile. “You should’ve told me earlier. That sniff was too deep, got a bit of a buzz. Um, where’s Tong De?”

“He went to follow the ancient corpse, your idea reminded him. So, he took all the ointments from this Spirit Cultivator, planning to give it a try with the ancient corpse. As long as we can control it temporarily, we have a way to subdue it,” explained Zhang Xiaomo.

“How long was I out?” Yan Junze asked.

“About five or six minutes…”

As Zhang Xiaomo was answering, they heard a scream from a distance.

Yan Junze leaped to his feet. “Let’s go and check.”

They both ran off, leaving the ancient well area behind, turned a corner, and arrived on a small street to the east of the village. They saw a blurry figure lying on the ground in the distance with another person crouching next to it.

Upon getting closer, they realized the person on the ground was Tong De, his face pale as death, breathing barely there, his chest pierced by something that had left a terrifying bloody hole.

The person holding him was Liang.

“What just happened?” Zhang Xiaomo asked in shock, looking at Tong De who was clearly not going to make it.

“Big Brother was using the corpse salve to lure the ancient corpse to eat it, but somehow, the ancient corpse suddenly attacked him and pierced his body with a sword,” Liang’s eyes were filled with tears.

Yan Junze squatted down, picked up the empty box of corpse salve from the ground, and asked, “Which colors of the corpse salve did Brother Tong use?”

Liang was taken aback before answering, “Back there around the corner, he used a dark red corpse salve, but the ancient corpse only sniffed it, didn’t eat it. The one he used just now was light yellow. Who knew the ancient corpse would suddenly get angry? Big Brother Tong had no way to fight back.”

Yan Junze looked up at Zhang Xiaomo, “See, I’m not being picky, even the ancient corpse doesn’t like this brand of corpse salve.”

Zhang Xiaomo wasn’t in the mood to joke with him at that moment. Annoyed, she gently punched him on the shoulder and asked Liang, “Where did the ancient corpse go?”

“De followed it, taking with him the other unused corpse salves. I think he entered that alley over there,” Liang pointed to an alleyway about three hundred meters away.

The moonlight was sufficient at that moment to clearly outline the buildings without any hindrance.

Just then, Tong De, resting in Liang’s arms, suddenly sank down heavily, his breath slipping away.

“Big Brother, Big Brother…” Liang was immediately grief-stricken, tears uncontrollably falling as he clung to Tong De and started shaking him.

Yan Junze stood up and said to Zhang Xiaomo, “We should first go to the alley and check, I’m afraid De might be in danger if we delay.”

Zhang Xiaomo seemed not to hear, just looking down at Tong De who had just died, silent.

Yan Junze touched her arm, “Let’s go to the alley first. That matter is more urgent. If I were to say now that Brother Tong is fine, would you chop me with the magnetic knife?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaomo shook her head.

Yan Junze was suddenly touched, then heard Zhang Xiaomo say, “But I would think you are naturally cold-hearted.”

“Let’s go to the alley first; I’m afraid De will die too if we’re too late.” Yan Junze knew that explanations were useless at that moment, grabbed Zhang Xiaomo’s hand, and the two rushed toward that alley.

Zhang Xiaomo turned back to Liang, “Stay here and watch over Big Brother Tong’s body, we’ll be back soon.”

Arriving at the entrance of the alley after a short while, the two peered inside; due to the narrowness of the alley, moonlight couldn’t penetrate, and they could only make out shapes faintly ahead.

Standing at the entrance of the alley, unable to see anyone inside, Zhang Xiaomo immediately walked in front, gripping the magnetic knife with both hands, on guard.

“Follow behind me.”

The two of them moved slowly, one after the other, entering the alley without making a sound.

Before long, from behind a row of trash bins, a hand reached out, beckoning them.

Yan Junze and Zhang Xiaomo hurried over and crouched down to see De gesture for silence with his hand, then in a voice so low it was nearly inaudible, he said, “The ancient corpse is just standing ahead, doing nothing. I’ve tried two types of corpse salve on it, but neither worked.”

“Which two types?” Yan Junze asked.@@novelbin@@

De took out the boxes that had been used for the corpse salve, “These two. I smeared a bit on the ancient corpse, but there was no reaction.”

Yan Junze strained his eyes to look, trying to discern a box with white residue from corpse salve remaining, but couldn’t make out the color of the residue in the other box, muttering to himself, “This… what color is it?”

“It seems one box is white, and the other is a greenish, transparent kind,” De responded.

Yan Junze looked up at him, he had to admit, this young man’s observation was meticulous, and he wasn’t rash. In just this short time, he managed to test two types of corpse salve on the ancient corpse Mo Da.

“How many boxes have not been tried?” Zhang Xiaomo asked.

Just then, the sound of rustling came from a distance, and De said, “The ancient corpse has started walking again, seems like it’s heading further in, but this alley is passable, it might go through. There… it’s very close to the entrance of the village.”

“First, see how many boxes of corpse salve you haven’t tried.” Yan Junze repeated Zhang Xiaomo’s question, without the time to worry about Mo Da’s whereabouts. He just wanted to know, which box of corpse salve would work.

“There are three boxes left, the last three,” De answered, then looked at Zhang Xiaomo, “Sis, my strength is too weak. I barely survived approaching the ancient corpse. I think now if you distract it, I can try these three boxes of corpse salve. If one is successful, I can control it immediately.”

Zhang Xiaomo had not responded when Yan Junze already shook his head, “No.”

“Why?” Zhang Xiaomo and De both looked astonished, and then Zhang Xiaomo lowered her head to notice that Yan Junze had grabbed her hand again, without knowing when.

What was most important was that she had not noticed it herself and was naturally holding his hand.

“Others might go and try, and they might even die, but you can’t,” Yan Junze said.

He took a deep breath, as if speaking to himself, “Having understood so much, I now have half the confidence that I can subdue the ancient corpse without further tests.”

Rewind!

The thought arose, and the world before him swayed, his head spinning slightly; then Yan Junze was standing on the collapsed ground around the ancient well.

Tong De was beside him, Zhang Xiaomo behind him, and the ancient corpse Mo Da was taking steps forward, about twenty-some meters away from the three of them.

This was the moment they were just discussing who Guo Youliang would use for Possessing a Corpse to Resurrect. Yan Junze didn’t wait for Tong De to refute him as before but immediately crouched down and rifled through Yan Long’s backpack to pull out numerous boxes of corpse salve.

He quickly opened each box, and under the moonlight, an array of colored corpse salves lay before Yan Junze—dark red, black, white, light yellow, and green, among others.

Yan Junze quickly ruled out the dark red without a second thought, then the white, light yellow, and the translucent dark green one; however, he kept one that was deep green.

Now, only three boxes of corpse salve were left in his hands; one green, one pale purple, and another black.

This time, Yan Junze wisely refrained from smelling the corpse salves.

With the three boxes in hand, he stood up and said to Zhang Xiaomo and Tong De, “Just now, that Spirit Cultivator obviously controlled the ancient corpse, so one of these corpse salves must be able to control the ancient corpse. I have made a strict selection, choosing these three to test. Don’t follow, it’s dangerous.”

Tong De came to his senses and nodded. He asked, “I just want to know, how did you choose? What were the selection criteria?”

“They looked promising,” Yan Junze gave a bizarre answer, waved at Zhang Xiaomo, signaling her not to follow, and then, with the corpse salve in hand, he quickly chased after Mo Da’s direction.

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