The usual reasons people sought out corpse retrievers like them were for crossing rivers or retrieving bodies.
"I'm looking for someone!" Yu Daohan said with a faint smile.
"Looking for someone?" The man frowned, cupped his hands, and said, "May I ask which path you walk, friend? Could you perhaps give me your name?"
Yu Daohan cupped his hands in return. "Yu Daohan from Jiangdu."
Hearing the name Yu Daohan, the man showed a slight surprise before smiling. "So it's Master Yu! My apologies. I am Yang Yan, a corpse retriever."
Yu Daohan's reputation was now well-known throughout the martial world.
"Please, Master Yu, come aboard and sit," Yang Yan said, ushering Yu Daohan onto the boat.
Once on board, Yu Daohan saw the fish in the bamboo basket and the wine jug beside it. He chuckled, "Brother Yang, you live quite comfortably, fishing and sipping wine."
Yang Yan sighed and waved his hand. "Master Yu, please don't joke. I'm just fishing because I have nothing else to do."
Hearing this, Yu Daohan was a bit curious. "The Yellow River is so vast, surely there isn't no work to be found."
Although the corpse retrieval business was becoming increasingly difficult, it shouldn't have reached the point of having no jobs.
Yang Yan shook his head and began to explain. "That's not it. Master Yu, you know we make our living on the water. Spring, summer, and autumn are fine, but in winter, the water temperature can drop to minus four or five degrees Celsius. Going in for half an hour can be tough. When we were young, it was manageable, but in old age, our bodies are riddled with ailments."
Yu Daohan shook his head helplessly. "Alas, it's not easy for anyone."
Yang Yan then got to the main point. "Right, Master Yu, who are you looking for?"
"Su Lai," Yu Daohan said slowly.
"You mean Su Buyin?" Yang Yan guessed that he was looking for Su Lai.
After all, it was widely rumored in the martial world that Su Lai and Master Yu had a good relationship.
Yu Daohan felt a touch of helplessness. It seemed that Old Su's reputation also echoed throughout the martial world.
"That fellow took a job today. I'll take you to him," Yang Yan said, packing up his fishing rod, leaving only one fish in the bamboo basket. He then casually prepared the fish and took out his fire-starting tools to cook it.
The two sat by the stove, smoking and warming themselves. Yu Daohan asked with some curiosity, "When did that guy Su Lai become so diligent?"
In his memory, Su Lai had always been someone who put in minimal effort but expected maximum reward.
When did he become so diligent? Had he changed after a year?
Yang Yan shook his head helplessly. "Alas, this fellow is now a 'desperate warrior' among us corpse retrievers. There's no body he wouldn't retrieve. He's the only one who retrieves bodies in winter."
Yu Daohan fell silent. According to Yang Yan, most people in their line of work no longer took on such jobs.
Although Su Lai was physically strong, enduring prolonged exposure to icy water at minus five or six degrees Celsius in this weather would be unbearable, no matter how robust his physique.
"Brother Yang, has Su Lai encountered some trouble?" Yu Daohan asked.
From his understanding of Su Lai, he wouldn't be so desperate unless something had happened.
Yang Yan nodded, a hint of regret in his voice. "This fellow is considered one of the best among corpse retrievers, but he's just too fond of gambling, and the problem is, he never wins."
Because he never won, Su Lai had also been given a nickname: Su Buyin!
Upon hearing this, Yu Daohan guessed the situation. "Brother Yang, are you saying that Su Lai lost a lot of money gambling?"
Yang Yan nodded, showing some sympathy. "That's right. He's drowning in debt from gambling."
"How much does that guy owe?" Yu Daohan asked, his brow furrowed.
If he only owed fifty or sixty thousand, it wouldn't be a huge problem, as retrieving one body could earn him nearly ten thousand yuan.
He wouldn't have to risk retrieving bodies in the dead of winter.
Yang Yan held up one finger. Yu Daohan saw it and smiled, "One hundred thousand yuan?"
Yang Yan shook his head. "No."
"One million!?" Yu Daohan was somewhat surprised. How could this guy owe so much?
But Yang Yan still shook his head.
Yu Daohan was completely stunned, unable to believe it. "It can't be ten million, can it!?"
Yang Yan still shook his head and uttered a few words. "It's one hundred million!"
As soon as Yang Yan said this, the cigarette in Yu Daohan's mouth involuntarily dropped onto the deck. He couldn't believe what he had heard.
One hundred million!
Yu Daohan picked up the cigarette from the deck and held it between his fingers. For a long time, he couldn't recover from the astronomical figure.
One hundred million! That was a number many couldn't even dare to imagine.
With one hundred million, even just depositing it in the bank would be enough for him to live a comfortable life without worry for the rest of his days.
Yang Yan unscrewed the wine jug, took a sip, and slowly said, "If the debt collectors hadn't come looking for him, we wouldn't have even known."
Yu Daohan started calculating. If Su Lai relied on corpse retrieval, he would never be able to repay this one hundred million in his lifetime.
"Then why not just kill the creditor?" Yu Daohan asked.
In this martial world, there were no good people, and he himself was no exception.
Owing so much money, it was impossible for Su Lai to repay it all by himself.
Yang Yan shook his head helplessly. "To be honest, we thought about it. But anyone who dares to come to the Corpse Retrieval Sect to collect debts can't be someone to be trifled with. On that day alone, several formidable figures from the Heaven Ranking list came to collect debts, and the mastermind behind it didn't even show up."