The moment I stepped out of Sanshui Village, a stiff and cold hand grabbed me, pulling me back.

My heart sank. I turned my head around and saw Zhang Xuecheng. He wore a Japanese military uniform and gazed at me with a sinister look on his face. His eyes were bloodshot and bulged terrifyingly. “You little dog, I had no grudge against you, but you killed my woman. And now, you have come to vanquish my soul! Tonight, I’ll make sure you die without an intact body!”

From his voice, I knew he was controlled by the mysterious person.

“Damn, let’s fight!” I thundered with anger. Then, I stuck the spirit talisman on his forehead.

Unexpectedly, my talisman was useless as it directly passed through his body.

“You loser! Hahaha!”

Zhang Xuecheng gave a mocking laugh and strangled me. However, he didn’t squeeze my throat all at once. He slowly increased the strength of his grasp.

I struggled to breathe. At the same time, waves of cold energy moved through his hands to my body. It was so cold that I thought I would soon freeze.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to escape today. I just hoped that after I died, Zhang Xuecheng would let Li Mazi and Li Meng go. I thought about Yin Xinyue. I hoped she would forget about me soon and marry a good man…

While I was recalling the happy memories I had with Yin Xinyue, a white shadow rushed toward the village entrance like a gust of wind. The long sword in his hand turned into a blue lightning strike that aimed at Zhang Xuecheng’s chest.

Who else could it be if not Chuyi?

Since Zhang Xuecheng was focused on me, he didn’t watch his back. Chuyi’s sword thrust through his chest. Immediately, black smoke rose from his body, and he began to shiver.

“Argh!” Zhang Xuecheng screeched in agony. At the same time, I heard someone vomit blood nearby.

I turned toward the source of the sound. The sound came from a small house with a transformer installed at the village entrance. The door to the house was closed.

It was no wonder that Chuyi’s attack worked well. He had hidden well from the mysterious person’s view! If that person vomited blood, it wasn’t hard to imagine how serious his wound was. “Chuyi, what should we do? We shouldn't let him run away.”

“I summoned Lu Dongbin, the Sword Immortal, to use that attack. Zhang Xuecheng’s soul is confined. We can ignore him for now. Come with me. We need to find the culprit behind all this!” Chuyi said as he dashed toward the small house. I followed closely behind him.

He slashed the door into two on the first attempt and rushed into the house. I felt things couldn’t be this simple and wanted to remind Chuyi to be more cautious. However, I was a step too late. I could only follow him.

I turned on my phone’s flashlight. There was a sinister-looking statue, candles, and an incense holder on the floor. It looked like a magic altar. The statue was on top of two pieces of paper.

“What’s this?”

When I picked up the papers, I was shocked to read the contents. They recorded Zhang Xuecheng’s biography and his relations in the Zhang family.

When the Taiwanese chairman sent us the Zhang family’s genealogy and documents, I had read them. I recognized these two papers were the most important documents among the batch. However, they weren’t the original genealogy. They were just two copies.

“Copies can become otherworldly items?” I felt unsure.

Chuyi nodded. “Although it’s a rare situation, it can happen.”

However, this wasn’t a naturally-born otherworldly item. It was the otherworldly item the mysterious person created in order to control Zhang Xuecheng’s soul.

Chuyi burned the two papers before searching the house. I now recognized that there was a small door at the back of the house.

When Chuyi saw that door, he paled and screamed, “We’re trapped!”

“What’s wrong?” I was skeptical and looked at the area outside the door. There was a muddy, meandering small path that had two rows of candles. Facing the door was a fierce-looking, paper beast.

The beast looked extremely ugly. It held a paper sword between its teeth and gazed at the door with malicious eyes.

“It’s Yazi! He actually arranged the Yazi Formation... I underestimated him.” Chuyi turned around. We then found the same Yazi Formation on the path we used to come here.

“He’s vomited blood and he still has the power to arrange this sort of deadly formation. He doesn’t want to live anymore!” I couldn’t believe it.

I had heard about this formation from my grandfather. This was the deadliest geomancy set up. Once people stepped in it, they had to die. According to legend, Yazi was the second son of the Dragon King. It was very ugly, and it looked neither like a dragon nor a beast. As a result, the Dragon King abandoned it. With deep hatred, Yazi began to take revenge on the world. If someone offended it, Yazi would find and kill them even if they escaped to the end of the world. It was the root of the proverb ‘Yazi must take revenge.’ However, this sort of deadly geomancy set up required the caster to spend a great deal of energy from their soul, spirit, and essence. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare to use it.

“He wants us to die with him!”

Chuyi let out a deep sigh. “It seems we have only one method…”

“What method?” I was surprised.

As soon as I asked, something detached from my shadow. It was the cute little Daoist boy with a braided ponytail. He smiled sweetly. “Brother Chuyi, leave it to me!”

I looked at the Daoist boy and suddenly realized something. It turned out that ever since I had entered this village, the shadow that had followed me wasn’t my own shadow. It was the Daoist boy.

It was no wonder that Chuyi could find me so quickly and come to my rescue!

“I’m sorry...” Chuyi wanted to add a few more words. His lips moved, but he couldn't say anything in the end. He took out a piece of white paper from his bag, folded a paper crane, and wrote a birth date on it.

The Daoist boy didn’t hesitate and entered the paper crane. Chuyi bit his finger and used his blood to write a line of small words on the paper. Instantly, the paper crane looked as if it had come to life. It started to fly toward the paper Yazi in the formation.

“Did you write his birthday on it?”

I suddenly understood Chuyi’s intentions. That mysterious man was dying. At most, he could only activate the Yazi Formation once. Chuyi wanted to let the Daoist boy die for us.

Is he crazy? If he does that, the Daoist boy’s soul would perish and he would never be able to reincarnate!

I hastily moved to catch the paper crane. Chuyi grabbed me and pulled me back. “Zhang Jiulin, you need to live. You shouldn’t waste his sacrifice!”

As soon as he said that, the Yazi exploded. It burned together with the paper crane. The moment the Daoist boy perished, I seemed to hear an ethereal voice in my ears. “Big Brother, I’ll see you again.”

As the flame rose higher, the entire Yazi Formation collapsed.

I was surprised to see Chuyi crying. This peerless expert who always looked composed had finally shed tears. I knew the tears were for the Daoist boy.

“We can’t let the culprit run away! After him!” Chuyi snarled coldly.

I gritted my teeth and ran after him. Soon, we found a middle-aged man crawling out of the village. He had left behind a horrible streak of blood. Needless to say, he was the person who had planned everything!

“I’m going to kill you!”

I snatched the sword in Chuyi’s hand and aimed it at the man’s neck. I had to take his life to avenge the Daoist boy. No matter what, this place was deserted and rural. Even if I killed a man, no one would know.

This time, Chuyi didn’t stop me.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I’ll tell you everything I know! I’m Xiang Yuanzhen. I’m an elder and consecrator of the Longquan Villa. You can’t kill me…” Before the middle-aged man finished, my sword slashed him.

His head flew off. Blood spurted from his neck like water gushing from a broken pipe, splashing everywhere. My hands were still in the slashing position, and half of my face had been dyed with his blood.

It was the first time I had killed a person. At this moment, I felt a pleasure I had never experienced before.

Little boy, I, Zhang Jiulin, have taken revenge for you!

Longquan Villa, from now on, only one of us will survive!

Chuyi helped me bury the corpse. Then, we searched the entire village for Li Mazi and Li Meng. In the end, we found them locked in an abandoned house. They were starving. However, their lives were saved.

Zhang Xuecheng’s ghost became calmer after the elder was killed. I used the letter Bai Xiya had left to convince him. In the end, he agreed to leave.

We helped him ascend, and this complicated case ended here.

Except for the unexpected loss of the little Daoist boy, there were no other casualties. Anyway, I felt somewhat emotional seeing Zhang Xuecheng’s end.

He had fame, wealth, and power, but he wasn’t satisfied. He wanted more, which made him choose to be a traitor. That was why he worked for the Japanese.

He was almost the spitting image of the rich, second-generation people and corrupt officials in this modern world.

Fame and money, you couldn't take them with you when you died. If you were too persistent to gain them, you’d lose everything you once had.

Don’t be like Zhang Xuecheng. Don’t let your name be dirtied for generations.