Li Mazi charged into the room with a horrified face. When he saw me lying with Yin Xinyue on the bed, he was enraged. “Little Brother Zhang, you are simply too unreasonable! You left me alone in that room while you’re here hugging the beauty to sleep!”

“What happened?”

“An icy-cold hand touched my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw a pale face. That person wore ancient-styled silk clothes and loomed over me. I almost got a heart attack and ran to your room as fast as possible.”

I now noticed that he wasn’t wearing any shoes. He was really in a sorry state.

“Ancient-styled silk clothes?”

I suddenly realized something and felt like cursing. This house was haunted. The film crew didn’t dare to stay here, so they made us spend the night here instead.

“That ghost could be one of the old skeletons in the pool. That pool has strong Yin power, and since they’ve been trapped there for hundreds of years, the ghosts also have strong resentful energy now. As the pool has dried up, they are free to wreak havoc.”

“How should we spend the night?” asked Li Mazi.

“We can’t all share one room. Come with me. We’re going to help them ascend!”

Then, Li Mazi and I walked back to our room. We put on more clothes and took out some tools. I told Yin Xinyue to come looking for us in a while.

Since I thought that this was going to be a simple trip, I didn’t bring many things with me. I only had the Sirius Whip and some talismans.

As such, I wanted to find materials in this place. Li Mazi looked tense and followed closely behind me.

I found a big iron pot in the kitchen and put it upside down. Then, I used a knife to scrape the soot off its bottom. I collected the soot, wrapped it in a piece of paper, and put it in my pocket.

A few strings of dried chilies and garlic were hung under the eaves. I took one string of each and asked Li Mazi to hold them. I then found a chopping knife and held it firmly. It was better than having nothing.

Li Mazi teased, “General, the pretty girl’s still working in the room.”

“Why isn’t Yin Xinyue here yet?”

I turned to look at the room. The light was off. My heart sank when I saw that Yin Xinyue hadn’t come out of the house.

I rushed back to the bedroom and found that we had inadvertently wiped off the line of salt on the ground. The window was open. Yin Xinyue was silently walking toward the pool as if she was bewitched.

I called her, but she didn’t react. I got close to the window and jumped out to save her when a pair of cold hands grabbed my face. Even the hairs on my back stood up.

“You asked for it! Li Mazi, give me the mineral water bottle!”

Li Mazi hurried to fetch a mineral water bottle and handed it to me through the window.

I told him to crush some chilies and garlic cloves. I then put them all into the water bottle and shook the contents. I took a mouthful of the liquid and sprayed it directly into the air!

Instantly, a shadow appeared in the air. Its body twisted as though it was being burned. We could even see the flame. The shadow shrieked strangely, then floated toward the woods and disappeared. Li Mazi watched everything and dropped his jaw in awe. “Incredible! Little Brother Zhang, it’s the first time I’ve seen the awesome effects of chilies!”

I didn’t have time to explain. I took more sips and sprayed the water on both sides of the chopping knife. The chili water was so spicy that my mouth felt like it was on fire. Li Mazi and I ran to the pool.

Yin Xinyue was squatting in the pool. She was reaching for something in the mud with her bare hands, her face blank.

The two of us directly jumped into the dried pool. Li Mazi suddenly pulled me and pointed at the mud. I saw fresh footprints on the damp mud. I focused and saw two people wearing ancient clothes. They were moving around with their heads held low. They seemed to be looking for something.

I handed the water bottle to Li Mazi and took out the Sirius Whip. I started to lash it at the two figures. The two ghosts were scared and fled.

I stepped on the muddy bottom of the pool to reach Yin Xinyue. I held the chopping knife and moved it in front and behind her a few times. Yin Xinyue woke up and asked in surprise, “Brother Zhang? Why am I digging mud here?”

“You were bewitched,” I said with a serious face.

“What?” Yin Xinyue gawked in shock.

Li Mazi said, “This pool is too strange. Tomorrow, you should tell that director to call some people to fill it.”

“If you fill it, then the wild, wandering ghosts won’t have a shelter. They would trouble people even more. Look behind you.” I pointed to the space behind Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue.

They looked in the direction of my finger, where three ghosts were wandering. Li Mazi and Yin Xinyue couldn’t see the ghosts, but they could see the newly formed footprints on the soft mud. Of course, the footprints were very shallow, and they soon disappeared.

Two wandering ghosts suddenly bumped into each other, and they started to fight. Some signs of their fight appeared in the mud. Li Mazi asked, “What’s going on over there?”

“They are looking for something. Or, they are competing against each other to obtain something. There are three of them. My guess is that they were tomb robbers who killed each other over some grave goods. They all died here,” I said.

“What is the treasure that they have kept in mind for so long? It’s sad that they can’t forget about it even in death!” Li Mazi sighed.

I rubbed my face. Why did those ghosts grab people’s faces?

Were they repeating a movement they did before they died? Were they checking the face of a corpse...?

I glanced at the big mountain behind me. I had some thoughts, but I couldn’t verify them yet.

“We should head back inside!” I waved my hands and urged the other two.

Those three ghosts were rather weak. I didn’t want to waste my Ksitigarbha Talismans on them.

I burned the chilies and garlic into ashes, then added some refined salt to the mix; the smoke made me cry due to its spiciness. I then used the ashes to draw a circle around the house.

Although I had set up protection around the house, Yin Xinyue didn’t dare to sleep alone. She asked me to stay with her. Li Mazi was scared, too. I gave him the chopping knife and asked him to put it under his pillow as it would protect him but, in truth, I was just coaxing him.

I woke up early the next morning and sat idly in the courtyard. After Yin Xinyue woke up, she came to me and said, “Didn’t you want to go to town to ask for more information?”

“Xinyue, you told me that after the film crew found the skeletons and cultural relics, they called the police. Did anybody take photos of the artifacts before the police took them?” I asked.

“I don’t know. How about we ask some people from the film crew?” suggested Yin Xinyue.

“Forget it.” If those cultural relics were taken by the police, it was useless to even think about them.

At around 8:00 AM, we finished breakfast with the film crew. Then, we headed to the town. When we reached the entrance of the small town, we saw a black RV parked by the road. I was certain it was the private car of an actor or actress.

The car door slid open, and a slender and handsome man wearing a candy pink shirt and a pair of tight black jeans jumped out of the car. He even had a pair of sunglasses hooked at his collar. From his movements and style, he gave people a somewhat feminine feeling.

“Is that really him?” Li Mazi palmed his forehead and said excitedly, “That’s Yi Xi! He’s starred in many dramas!”

“He’s the protagonist of this drama,” said Yin Xinyue.

Yi Xi smiled at us. I caught a wisp of perfume exuding from him. He raised his slender fingers and greeted us. “Hello, sister Yin, long time no see. I’ve missed you so much.”

“Hey, long time no see. What have you been doing lately?” asked Yin Xinyue.

“Just puttering around! And these two gentlemen are…”

Yin Xinyue introduced me and Li Mazi. As soon as he heard that I was Yin Xinyue’s fiancé, Yi Xi revealed a contemptuous look. “Sister Yin, you have excellent qualities, and you can definitely find a better man. Why would you stick to some greedy antique merchant? Does your family lack money”

I immediately became enraged. I didn’t care if he was a great star. It was low of him to insult people right in their faces like this! “What do you know about me? Don’t you think it’s rude of you to make such remarks?”

He reached his hand out and patted my shoulder. “Mr. Zhang, I was just joking. Don’t keep it in your mind. Do you have paper and a pen? I’ll give you my signature. Just consider it as my compensation, okay?”

My face twitched. Who the hell does he think he is? He’s so arrogant!

Yin Xinyue pulled me. “We’re going to town to run some errands. We’ll part here. See you.”

“Okay, see you at the filming location.”

Before we left, Yi Xi threw Yin Xinyue a seductive look. He thought that I didn’t catch it, but I did!