I was discouraged and dispirited, but I wanted to save Lu Ming. I took a short moment to rest then took out the precious medium-level spirit talismans Chuyi had given meand adheredthem on the teapot. Then, I just sat and watched.

If this couldn’t do anything to the ghost, I would have to callSenior Shufor help…

Around one minute later, the quiet house made a crackling noise,followed by loud sounds of people fighting. An uncomfortable feeling rose in my heart. Subconsciously, I watched the teapot.To my surprise, it was shaking.

It’sworking!

The teapot started to spin on the ground, movingfaster and faster. It bouncedup and down. Every time the teapot bounced up,thegold light radiatingfrom the medium-level spirit talismans subsided a bit. I was afraid that the talismans couldn’t endure it until Lu Ming returned, so Iheldthe Sirius Whip in my handand focused onthe teapot.magic

I would strike as soon as the power of the talismanswas gone.

Fortunately, after bouncing for a while, the teapot landedandstopped moving. Rightafter that, the scenerevertedback to the village. Lu Ming rushed out with a pale face. When he saw me, he screamed, “Master Zhang, where the heck is this place? Icouldn'tget out of it!”

He choked with sobs, but I didn’tfeel like making fun of him. We had both underestimated the ghost.

Afterward, we didn’t dare to lingerand returnedto the hostel. Lu Ming was scaredofthe ghost. He didn’t want to stay in his room aloneand insistedthat we stay together.

After hecalmed down, I asked,“What did you see in there?”

Lu Ming’s face turned aswhiteas a sheet of paper. His handsshook as he held acup of water.

“Don’t worry. We’re all right now, aren’t we?” I tried to comfort him.

He looked a little better after that.

“I saw ghosts,” he said gingerly. “Right whenIasked if you wantedtowatchthe Dai people dance and sing,everything in front of me changed. Those beautiful women became ghosts with malicious faces. They laughed and encircled me. They opened their horrible mouths as though they wanted to eat me whole…”

Lu Mingshivered. “Master Zhang,why don’t we goback now? I’ll give you your commission. I would rathersleepduring theday thanseethose female ghosts again!”

“You said that a horde of female ghosts encircled you?” It was beyond my imagination.I hadonlyseenthe ghost of the oldman fornow. Where did those female ghosts come from? Moreover, howdidLu Ming escape from those ghosts?

“Yeah, theywerefemale ghosts!” Lu Ming confirmed. Then, he described what he sawin detail.

The female ghosts surrounded him and scared him, but they didn’t do anything to him. It was as if they were afraid of something. Afterward, Lu Ming heard a voice in the back of his head. He followed that voice and left the village.However, his escapedidn’t gosmoothly. There were many timeswherethe voice in his head disappeared.When it happened, thehorde of female ghosts swarmed him again.

He was lucky that the voice returned on time. In the end,the ghosts couldn’t do anything to him.

Lu Ming mocked himself. “Ialmost wet myself. Master Zhang, did you know what happened back there?”

I contemplated as I was somewhat stunned. I reviewed what Isawin the dreamand then, I had an idea that I could hardly believe.I took out the teapot to observe it. There were a fewthincracks at the spout.

“Will you come with me to that fortified village one more time?” I looked at Lu Ming.

I was so excited when I thought I had gotten the key clue to thiscase.

Lu Ming shivered.“What? Are we going there now? I haven’tcalmed downmyself yet.”

“Then you should rest in the hotel. You can’t help mein this state,” I said.

Every art has itsrules, and onecouldn’t ask an ordinary man to take risks with an otherworldly merchant. To assure himintostaying in the hotel, I drew a few talismans and stuck them at the entrance to his room. I even used cinnabar to draw the Heavenly Dipper formationaroundthe bed.

After everything was done, I smiled at Lu Ming. “The Heavenly Dipper formation is the strongest formation I know. I’m sure it can protect you well! Even if something foul enters this room, itwon’t be able totouch you.”

“How do you knowthatthe formationwill work?” Lu Mingfelt better,but he couldn’t ease his mind yet.

I smiled. “Because I used my spirit power to draw this formation. As long as I’m alive, nothing can break that formation.”

“Thank you!” Lu Ming felt touched. Hiseyesturned red.

“No need to thank me. When this is over, just remember to give me abig reward.”

“Haha, it’sno big deal!”AsIcrossedthe door, Lu Ming suddenly called me. “Master Zhang!”“Yeah?”I turned, feeling skeptical.

Lu Ming looked hesitantas if he was struggling hard inside. Perhaps he felt embarrassedthathewassafe in the hotel while Iwas abouttorisk my lifeout there. Before he could speak, I stopped him.“There’s noneed to feel embarrassed. You’re not specialized in this business. Just wait here for me.”

I closed the door and headed to the village. I wanted to knowwhat thosefemale ghostsdid toLu Ming back there.

Menghai Township wasn’t abigplace.I soonreached the village. I went to the place where I had put the Yin and Yang Umbrellaand checked it.After confirming things, Iwentin.

The place wasso dark thatI had to use my flashlight. I went around the village. All the houses here were stilt houses.

Except for the sizes, the stilt houses here looked almost the same. It was asif they were molded from the same model.

My heart sankasI thought Iwastrapped in an illusion formation. However, after taking a closer look, I saw that those stilt houseshaddifferent levels of damage. The location of the spider webs varied, too. They shouldn’t be part of an illusion.

Although I didn’t know what made the residents here build similar-looking houses, therewasone thing I could confirm: This entire village was unoccupied. Ididn’t find anylivingpeoplethere.

Although the night was dark, as long as I opened my eyes wide,Icould see the darkmistemittedfrom theroofsof the houses. If itwere anormal day, I wouldn’t hesitate to run away if I saw this. However, tonight, to confirm my assumption, I had to tryno matter thecost.

When I went to the last stilt house, I climbed on the bamboo stairs to enter the house. The stairs were damaged so badly that Ibrokea few stepsas I walked on them. Ialmostfelloff the stairs.

After entering the house, I found that thefloorunderneath my feet was both soft and crispy. It was asthoughitwas a mattress. Iloweredmy headandsaw thatthe place was covered in a thick layer of tea leaves.I had read alot of books about tea in Lu Ming’s house. At first glance, I recognizedtheywere newandyoung tea leaves, which were also the best. In the market, this sort of tea had a surprisingly high price. However,theleaves wereair-dried. They would break into powder at eventhegentlest touch.

I checked around. The room was arranged simply. There was a small bed, a chairwith a backrest, a vanity, and some simple tools for tea picking.

Isawa few small wooden boxes on the vanity. They were cosmetic boxes that women used in ancienttimes.From this, I gathered that the owner of thisstilt housewasa woman. I carefully examined the house to see if I couldfindsomething useful. However, after a while, Ididn’t learn anythingnew. I just gota lot of dust in my eyes andnose.

It seemed thistripwasn’thelpful.Feeling dispirited, I brushed the dust off my body.AsI was about to leave the house, I was startledto catchapair ofred eyes gazing at me!

I pulledmyself togetherand carefully checked what it was.I sawa dried skeleton on the opposite wall. It was hung high so I didn’t see it when I first entered the place.

I had seen a lot of skeletons andcorpses, but I had never seenanythinglikethis one.The body was awhiteskeleton, but the head was well-preserved.The eyeswere especially lifelike. They looked nodifferentfrom a living human’s eyes.

This skeleton had a woman’shead. I guessed she was the owner of this stilt house. I bowed to the skeleton and went to check the other stilt houses.

The situation in the second house was the sameasthe first house. The floor was covered with tea leaves, and the owner of the house was hung on the wall. Her body was a skeleton, but her head was well-preserved.

A little later after midnight, I had checked out every house in this village. Every housewasthe same.

I was as tired as a dead dogas I layon the floor ofthe lasthouse. Ino longer caredwhy those female ghosts wanted to harm Lu Ming. I just wanted to know why they hadcollectivelycommitted suicide!