I found an excuse so that Ru Xue wouldn’t worry. Then, I called Li Meng. Indeed, his phone was switched off!

I was sure that something had happened to Li Meng. Moreover, it was related to those people hiding in the dark. Otherwise, Li Mazi wouldn’t have left without telling me.

“You fool, brotherhood doesn’t work like that!” I sighed. It wasn’t the first time that he had jumped into the jaws of death. After getting a hold of him, they would use him to threaten me as I was their real target.

However, what Li Mazi had done still touched me.

After everything was clear in my head, I calmed down. I couldn’t stop the inevitable. Fortunately, I had accumulated many spirit talismans over the past few days. They could protect me for a while.

I checked the Peach Soul Flower, the Sirius Whip, and the Yin and Yang Umbrella. After some consideration, I decided to bring none of them with me.

Since the other party had Li Mazi and his son in their hands, even if I brought those items, I wouldn't be able to use them. If I was careless, my precious items could fall into the other party’s possession.

I put all the spirit talismans into my bag, opened my shop, made a pot of tea, and waited.

At around 10:00 PM, when I was about to doze off by the table, my phone rang. I hurried to pick it up. It was Li Mazi’s number.

Before the other party could speak, I thundered, “Don’t you dare to hurt them!”

“Haha, you’re smart. You know that I’ve captured them…” said the person on the other end of the line. He used a voice changer, which made him sound robotic. I couldn’t guess his age.

I frowned and waited for him to tell me about his conditions.

“If you don’t want something bad to happen to them, wait for me at the threshing floor of Sanshui Village.” After spitting out those words, the other party hung up.

“He sure chose the worst possible location!”

I took a deep breath. Sanshui Village was famous for being a haunted village. According to the rumors, the village endured natural disasters for three consecutive years. Afterward, a plague broke out, which killed everyone.

The government tried to cover up this horrible incident. They sent soldiers to the village to clean everything up. They gathered all the corpses and burned them.

Although no one had lived in the village since that incident, the place was preserved.

Old people still tell the tale of Sanshui Village. They say that when the night falls, even if you are a few miles away from the village, you can still hear the ghosts crying and roaring. Later, the people who lived near that village also moved away. As such, nobody knew about the current situation there.

I had heard about Sanshui Village from my grandpa when he was alive. At that time, he had told me with a serious voice, “No matter what happens, do not step even half a foot into Sanshui Village!”

“Li Mazi, Li Mazi, what do I do now!”

I dumbly lingered in my antique shop and sunk into sadness. I wondered what I should do about Li Mazi.

As my grandpa had warned me about Sanshui Village, I was sure that the

paranormal activities in that village weren’t ordinary.

In the end, I decided to find Li Mazi. I couldn’t just stand and watch him die without giving it a try!

I closed my shop and called a taxi. However, many drivers kicked me out of the car as soon as they heard that I wanted to go to Sanshui Village.

It wasn’t until I promised to pay ten times the rate that one driver agreed to take me there. However, he said that he would only take me to the road near Sanshui Village.

When we got there, no matter how much I implored the driver, he didn’t want to move further. As soon as I got out of the car, he stepped on the accelerator and returned to the city.

At first, I didn’t feel anything. But after the driver hurriedly drove away, I felt somewhat scared.

It was a cloudy night, and dark clouds hindered the moonlight. The entire Sanshui Village looked pitch-black. The wind blew, and the mist around the village moved like shadows.

I walked on the wide road amidst the cold.

After around half an hour of walking, I saw a scary-looking stone stele. I shone my phone over it. The red words, Sanshui Village, were carved on it.

I didn’t know why, but my heart throbbed when I saw the words. It was a fear I felt from the depth of my soul.

My wit told me it was really dangerous inside and that I should not enter.

However, after thinking about my years of friendship with Li Mazi, I had to step inside.

I heard two voices in my head. One was urging me to enter the village, while the other reminded me, “No, don’t go in there. Someone wants to harm you…”

The two voices started to entangle and attack each other. I thought that my head was about to explode. In the end, I cursed loudly, “Shut up! I’ll listen to no one! I just want to save Li Mazi!”

At this moment, a burst of male laughter arose from the village. Although the voice came from far away, I recognized it was the man who had called me. I also recognized that he didn’t use magic or any tool to deform his voice. It was his real voice!

Since he was here, Li Mazi was also here. I gathered all of my courage and walked into the village.

Soon, I found that something was off. I didn’t know why, but I was strangely familiar with every corner of the village, including the big trees, the buildings, and the streets. I could picture in my mind the next house or the next corner with their distinct features before I reached there.

There’s something wrong with this village... 

I became vigilant and held the spirit talismans in my hands. I thought that everything in front of me was an illusion created through the power of the wandering ghosts. I had never been to this place, so I couldn’t know every corner like this.

But soon, I denied this idea.

As I continued to walk, more shadows flew past me. Sometimes, it was just a shadow, but there were times where they came in groups of three or even five. When those shadows appeared, they screamed strangely. After approaching me, they would halt and study me, continuing to fly past me right after. Only one shadow kept following me since I’d entered this village. I became fearful, but soon recognized that it was my own shadow.

I felt lucky to be holding a lot of talismans in my hands. Otherwise, I would have been done for before even seeing the mysterious man.

I didn’t know how long I had been walking, but I finally saw a vast area that had a lot of wood and withered straws. There were some black items in the center as well.

I turned on the flashlight on my phone. Those were threshing machines that people used to extract rice grains. They were all rusted, which proved that they had been exposed to the weather here for several decades.

However, this place was deserted. Let alone humans, there was not even a single animal! I thought that the mysterious person didn’t show up because he was afraid that I had backup.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, I didn’t see anyone. At the same time, the talismans in my hands started to heat up. It was a sign that the power of the talismans was about to drain.

I tensed up and dialed Li Mazi’s number. I was trying my luck.

Unexpectedly, the line went through. The voice of the mysterious person came from the other end of the line. “Boy, you came!”

“If I didn’t come, then my name is not Zhang Jiulin.” I refrained the flame of anger in my heart and said coldly, “You better not mess with me.”

“Haha, I definitely don’t dare to mess with you. After all, you’re a member of the Zhang family,” the mysterious man said oddly.

“There’s no need to babble. Tell me, where is Li Mazi?” I asked.

“Do you see the threshing machine over there? Underneath is a chamber. Li Mazi and his son are in there. But it’s up to you to know how to open that chamber…” He then sneered and hung up the call.

I calmed down and thought it could be a trap.

I guessed he wanted me to go to the chamber so that he could lock me there. I shivered and felt like leaving.

However, I thought about it and decided to go and take a look. What if Li Mazi was really there?

The human heart was really hard to understand. Anyway, the problem was that the mysterious man had me by the balls right now.

I went to the threshing machine and reached out my hand to touch it. A chill crept through my fingers. It was like soaking in a river in the middle of a bitter winter.

I immediately understood. This threshing machine could be a sinister otherworldly item.

Even if it wasn’t, the chamber underneath it could be hiding something ominous. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so cold!

I wanted to give up. But after thinking about Li Mazi’s silly face, I had to suppress this thought. I gritted my teeth and tried to push the threshing machine aside.

In theory, this old-style threshing machine shouldn’t be too heavy. An adult such as myself could move it easily. However, even after I had gathered all of my strength, I couldn’t move it.

I tried a few times, but the threshing machine stayed still. I didn’t care about the danger anymore. I took out a handful of white sesame seeds and sprinkled them on the threshing machine. Then, with the machine as the center, I arranged a low-level spirit talisman in the North, South, East, and West directions.

It was a simple evil-expelling formation that could force the strong Yin energy out of the otherworldly item.

White sesame seeds could absorb Yin energy. This way, I wouldn’t be afraid of the threshing machine being ‘stuck.’

I tried to push the threshing machine one more time. This time, it moved and revealed a pit-black hole underneath.

Before I could feel happy, a strong blow of wind came from the hole. It roared and swirled around me. Instantly, the four talismans were blown away.

I didn’t have time to care about them. I shone my phone over the hole. At first glance, I was baffled.

It wasn’t a chamber! This place was a subterranean ancient tomb. Through the dark hole, I saw a big scarlet coffin with a strange form. It was a triangular coffin with many black talismans adhered to its surface.

I gathered my courage and looked at the drawings on the talismans. I had never seen such drawings and patterns before.

At this moment, two questions popped up in my head. Who’s the owner of this triangular coffin? Who stuck those bizarre black talismans on it? 

However, none of these questions had anything to do with me. I had come here to find Li Mazi. If he was here, I should hurry to find him and leave.

With that thought, I arranged a new evil-expelling formation and prepared to push the threshing machine back to its original location. However, the threshing machine suddenly moved and aimed at me.

If I wasn’t fast enough, I would have been crushed into a bloody dough!

The resentful energy that exuded from the coffin was formidable. I didn’t dare to linger. I had to run!

All of a sudden, a familiar voice came from behind me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

This voice sounded so familiar. It belonged to Zhang Xuecheng!

It turned out that the ghost lingering in this place was General Zhang Xuecheng.

Just a few days had passed and his resentful energy had skyrocketed. It had to be related to Bai Xiya’s ascension.

Since he was controlled, I was sure he didn’t have a sober mind. I didn’t waste time talking sense into him. I screamed and dashed toward the village entrance. At the same time, I held the last talisman in my hand and was ready to strike.

While running, I felt the presence of Zhang Xuecheng’s ghost behind me. However, he didn’t chase after me. I thought it was because the mysterious person was too far. It was hard for him to control Zhang Xuecheng from such a distance.

I didn’t know how long I had been running, but when I saw the red stone stele at the village entrance, I knew that as long as I could get out of here, I would be safe!