Moreover, the water didn’t seem like ordinary dew; it was so kind of semi-translucent, slightly yellowish mucus.
Yang Xiao inadvertently slled a foul odor, sowhat similar to that of rotten eggs but even more pungent and distinct. In an instant, he thought of the swollen corpse that had appeared behind Zhang Songde—a Drowned Ghost. The mucus was corpse fluid dripping from the body, the sa substance that had sullied the eyes of the Gate God.
However, the Gate God’s eyes weren’t completely blind yet, aning that the ghost hadn’t fully seized control—Zhang Songde was still alive.
They still had a chance.
Approaching the door, Yang Xiao tried to keep his movents and facial expressions as natural as possible. After all, he knew that there must be eyes watching him from behind it. As before, he recounted Gong Banlan’s situation at top speed and warned them that tonight might be troubleso, as Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen would take action, advising them to just rest easy.
"Mr. Nalan and Mr. Xiang are both experienced seniors. With the two of them working together, they will be fine," Yang Xiao reminded them again. "All of us must not go outside, make noise, or look outside. Just quietly go to sleep; otherwise, we’ll bring disaster upon ourselves."
"If you understood, knock once for each person," Yang Xiao whispered.
"Thump."
"Thump."
"Thump."
Three knocks from different directions. Yang Xiao nodded, uttered a reminder to rember this, then turned and left, having done everything he could.
As soon as Yang Xiao returned to his room, Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen began to act. They headed straight for the well after stepping outside, each taking on their respective duties. Nalan Shuo lit a stick of incense and placed it beside the well where the handle of the windlass faced. Xiang Fengchen respectfully brought out the Divine Turtle Fragnt, setting it on the edge of the well.
The two coordinated silently—Xiang Fengchen kept a close watch on the incense and the Divine Turtle Shell, while Nalan Shuo turned the windlass handle. The old well rope tightened coil by coil, accompanied by creaking noises, as a rotten, broken wooden bucket was shakily hoisted up.
Xiang Fengchen, quick to react, used the large green porcelain bowl in his hand to scoop hastily from the bucket. By the ti he placed the bowl back beside the well, it was filled with more than half a bowl of water.
The chill of the well water was frightening; even the briefest touch seed to penetrate deep into the bones. Xiang Fengchen couldn’t help but clench his fingers until his knuckles whitened—the creature in the well was even more wicked than he had imagined.
Nalan Shuo and Xiang Fengchen carried out their tasks in complete silence, each concentrating on their own actions. Xiang Fengchen held the Divine Turtle Shell in both hands with respect, raised his head to locate the position of the moon, then began the Heavenly Gang Step, walking anticlockwise around the well for three laps, finally kneeling down and slowly, gradually, placing the Divine Turtle Shell into the green porcelain bowl filled with well water.
Watching from the side, Nalan Shuo couldn’t help but frown, as the previously damaged Divine Turtle Shell now seed to co alive under the moonlight. Its surface shimred with strange and magnificent patterns, as if frolicking in the water.
Seeing this, Xiang Fengchen also let out a sigh of relief. This indeed was a rare treasure. His master had searched half a lifeti without ever seeing it. Although only a fragnt, it was more than enough to suppress the evil Qi in the well.
In the middle room, Chang Chuchu sat wrapped in a blanket on the bed, her gaze fixed on the door, unable to hide the tension on her face. In contrast, Jiang Qingluan sat calm and still like soone fishing, quietly sitting at the table, sipping her already cold tea.
"Aren’t you curious?" Chang Chuchu couldn’t help but ask. "Aren’t you worried that those two old n are setting up a ruse to harm us?"
"I am worried, but it’s no use. If they are determined to harm us, we can’t defend against it. However, I don’t think they are that foolish," Jiang Qingluan replied, her expression as serene as ever.
"But..."
Chang Chuchu seed to want to struggle more, but in the next second, she was forcibly silenced by the sudden, icy gaze from Jiang Qingluan. "Don’t talk nonsense. Yang Xiao’s ssage has been delivered. We were told not to go out, not to make a sound, not to look outside. You and I just need to quietly obey. This is also what the seniors expect of us. I trust them."
"From now on, you keep quiet and just stay in bed. Be silent," Jiang Qingluan said, her voice just loud enough for Chang Chuchu to hear clearly.
In another room, the three Zhang siblings sat around a table, the atmosphere tense. Finally, no longer able to contain himself, Zhang Songde abruptly stood up.
"What are you going to do?" Lou Huixiang asked anxiously.
"I want to see what kind of ’Ghost’ they are pulling behind our backs?" Zhang Songde’s face was sead with scars, and those who lived in the lawless areas of Thailand and Myanmar were often desperadoes; he was certainly not amongst the good-hearted.
"But Yang said for us to mind our own business tonight and just rest quietly," Fang Zhou whispered.
Unexpectantly, the fierce-looking Zhang Songde glared, "Damn it, since when did you start wearing the sa pants as him? He is your Yang, but not mine."
Zhang Songde turned his head to look at Lou Huixiang and said, "I’m saying, can’t you see what you couldn’t see before too? Those guys are obviously hiding sothing from us, and they may well be plotting sothing, intending to make us their scapegoats!"
Lou Huixiang had a dark expression on his face and remained silent.
"Have you also noticed, out of our three rooms, only theirs have the Gate God stickers placed incorrectly. Isn’t that strange?"
Zhang Songde pressed his advantage, hoping to win Lou Huixiang to his side, harboring so wariness toward this mber of the Black Buddha Mother Sect, "All this talk of ghosts tonight, everyone will be in danger, it’s clearly a trick. Even if ghosts do co tonight, they will surely seek out those three. Don’t forget the reputation of Xiang Fengchen in the world of martial arts."
"Evil Mage Xiang Fengchen..." Lou Huixiang had heard of this notorious na—an individual known for doing all sorts of bad deeds, a regular on the wanted lists. Frankly, he didn’t believe Xiang Fengchen would take risks to save others.
"Brother Zhang, you make sense, but I’m worried that going out to check now might offend those guys and break team unity."
"There’s no need to go out, just peek through the crack of the door, and if we find out they are really plotting against us, then don’t bla us brothers for being rciless," Zhang Songde said fiercely.
"That’s a good idea, but who should do the looking? If you, brother, take the lead and sothing goes wrong, the loss would be too great," Lou Huixiang said with a sardonic tone.
Realizing sothing wasn’t right, Fang Zhou beca nervous. Sure enough, the next second Zhang Songde turned his gaze towards him with a smirk, "Brother Fang Zhou, we’ve taken good care of you for so ti now. Eating for free is not a good habit; it’s ti for you to make a contribution."
"No, no, let’s listen to Mr. Nalan, Mr. Nalan and Yang don’t seem like bad guys, Mr. Nalan is from the Patrol Defense Office..."
Before he could finish, Fang Zhou was grabbed by a hairy arm and hoisted up, slamming him to the ground, "Damn it, do you want to be punished because you refuse the toast?"
Zhang Songde’s face twisted nacingly as he pinned Fang Zhou to the ground. Fang Zhou looked at him with terror—not because of his aggression, but rather... it was the chill emanating from his body that made Fang Zhou shiver uncontrollably.
For so reason, Fang Zhou felt for a mont that Zhang Songde was a ’Ghost,’ or at least... sothing similar to those ghostly entities.
He didn’t understand why, but fear had already blanked his mind at that mont.
"Brother Zhang, stop, what are you doing?" Seeing the situation had escalated enough, Lou Huixiang finally stepped over to persuade Zhang Songde off Fang Zhou and crouched down to offer hypocritical comfort, "Brother Fang Zhou, don’t take it to heart, Brother Zhang is a straightforward man, quick to action and speech. You know that what he says makes so sense. We treat you as a friend, so you can’t be ungrateful, can you?"
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Fang Zhou saw clearly that these two were playing good cop, bad cop. If he didn’t compromise tonight, it wouldn’t end well.
"I’m sorry, Big Brothers, it’s my fault for being thoughtless. Please don’t be too hard on ," Fang Zhou apologized with a forced smile, getting up from the ground, "I’ll go, I’ll go then."
"Ah—" Lou Huixiang smiled, giving Fang Zhou’s shoulder a firm slap, "That’s the spirit. The three of us are in this together."
Under the coercion of Zhang Songde and Lou Huixiang, Fang Zhou moved step by step behind the door, then crouched down and brought his right eye close to the crack, shading his eye as if to block out the light, but it was just a pretense to take a cursory glance before closing his eye imdiately.
"How is it, what are they doing?" Lou Huixiang urged.
"There are two people, it looks like Mr. Nalan and Mr. Xiang, in the corner of the yard, acting very strangely... really strange." Fang Zhou combined the impression from his brief glance with the instructions from Yang Xiao and began to fabricate a story.
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