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 me

 and adhered 

them on the teapot. Then, I just sat and watched. 

If this couldn’t do anything to the ghost, I would have to call 

Senior Shu

 for help… 

Around one minute later, the quiet house made a crackl

ing noise,

 followed by loud sounds of people fighting. An u

ncomfortable feeling rose in m

y heart. Subconsciously, I watched the teapot. 

To my surprise

, it was shaking

.

It

’s 

work

ing

! 

T

he teapot started to spin on the ground

, moving

 faster and faster

. It bounced 

up and down. Every time the teapot bounced up, 

the 

gold light radiat

ing

 from the medium-level spirit talismans subsided a bit. I was afraid that the talismans couldn’t endure it until Lu Ming returned, so I 

held

 the Sirius Whip in my hand

 and focused on

 the teapot. 

I would strike a

s soon as the power of the talismans

was gone

. 

Fortunately, after bouncing for a while, the teapot landed 

and

 stopped moving. Right 

after that

, the scene 

reverted

 back 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? I 

couldn't

 get out of it!” 

He choked with sobs, but I didn’t 

feel like making fun of him

. We had both underestimated the ghost. 

Afterward, we didn’t dare to linger

 and returned 

to the hostel. Lu Ming was scared 

of

 the ghost. He didn’t want to stay in his room alone

 and insisted 

that we stay together. 

After he

 calmed down

, I asked

,

 “What did you see in there?” 

Lu Ming’s face turned as 

white

 as a sheet of paper. His hands 

shook as he held a 

cup 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 when

 I 

asked if you wanted 

to 

watch

 the Dai people d

ance 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 Ming 

shivered

. “Master Zhang,

 why don’t we go

 back now? I’ll give you your commission. I would rather 

sleep

during the

 day than 

see

 those female ghosts again!” 

“You said that a horde of female ghosts encircled you?” It was beyond my imagination. 

I had

 only

 seen 

the ghost of the old 

man f

or

 now. Where did those female ghosts come from? Moreover, how 

did

 Lu Ming escape from those ghosts?

“Yeah, they 

were

 female ghosts!” Lu Ming confirmed

. Then, he described what he saw 

in 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 escape 

didn’t go

 smoothly. There were many times 

where

 the voice in his head disappeared. 

When it happened, the 

horde of female ghosts swarmed him again. 

He was lucky that the voice returned on time. In the end, 

t

he ghosts couldn’t do anything to him. 

Lu Ming mocked himself. “I 

almost wet myself

. Master Zhang, did you know what happened back there?” 

I contemplated as I was somewhat stunned. I reviewed what I 

saw

 in the dream

and then, I had an idea that I could hardly believe

.

 I took out the teapot to observe it. There were a few 

thin 

cracks 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 c

lue to this

case

.

Lu Ming shivere

d.

 “What? Are we going there now? I haven’t

 calmed down

 myself yet.”

“Then you should rest in the hotel. You can’t help me 

in this state

,” I said. 

Every art has its 

rules, and one

 couldn’t ask an ordinary man to take risks with an otherworldly merchant. To assure him 

into

 staying 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 formation 

around

 the 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, it 

won’t be able to

 touch you.” 

“How do you know 

that

 the formation 

will work

?” Lu Ming 

felt 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

. His 

eyes 

turned red

. 

“No need to thank me. When this is over, just remember to give me a 

big reward

.” 

“Haha, it

’s 

no big deal!” 

As

 I 

crossed

 the door, Lu Ming suddenly called me. “Master Zhang!” 

“Yeah?”

I turned, feeling skeptical.

Lu Ming looked hesitant 

as if he was struggling hard inside. Perhaps he felt embarrassed 

that

 he 

was 

safe in the hotel while I 

was about

 to 

risk my life

 out there. Before he could speak, I stopped him. 

“There’s no

 need 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 know 

what those

 female ghosts 

did to 

Lu Ming back there. 

Menghai Township wasn’t a 

big

 place. 

I soon

 reached the village. I went to the place where I had put the Yin and Yang Umbrella 

and checked it.

 After confirming things, I 

went

 in. 

The place was 

so dark that

 I 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 as 

if they were molded from the same model. 

My heart sank 

as 

I thought I 

was

 trapped in an illusion formation. However, after taking a closer look, I saw that those stilt houses 

had

 different levels of damage

. T

he 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, there

 was

 one thing I could confirm: This entire village was unoccupied. I 

didn’t find any 

living 

people

 there.  

Although the night was dark, as long as I opened my eyes wide, 

I

 could see the dark 

mist

emitted

 from the 

roofs

 of the houses. If it 

were a

 normal day, I wouldn’t hesitate to run away if I saw this. However, tonight, to confirm my assumption, I had to try 

no matter the

 cost

.

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 I 

broke

 a few steps 

as I walked on them. I 

almost 

fell

 off the stairs. 

After entering the house, I found that the 

floor

 underneath my feet was both soft and crispy

. It was as

 though 

it

 was a mattress. I 

lowered

 my head 

and

saw that

 the place was covered in a thick layer of tea leaves. 

I had read a 

lot of books about tea in Lu Ming’s house. At first glance, I recognized 

they

 were new

 and 

young tea leaves, which were also the best. In the market, this sort of tea had a surprisingly high price. However, 

the

 leaves were 

air-dried. T

hey would break into powder at even 

the

 gentlest touch. 

I checked around. The room was arranged simply. There was a small bed, a chair 

with a backrest

, a vanity, and some simple tools for tea picking. 

I 

saw

 a few small wooden boxes on the vanity. They were cosmetic boxes that women used in ancient 

times

. 

From this, I gathered that the owner of this

 stilt house 

was

 a woman. I carefully examined the house to see if I could 

find

 something useful. However, after a while, I 

didn’t learn anything

new. I just got 

a lot of dust in my eyes and 

nose

. 

It seemed this 

trip

wasn’t

 helpful. 

Feeling dispirited

, I brushed the dust off my body. 

As

 I was about to leave the house, I was startled 

to catch

 a 

pair of 

red eyes gazing at me! 

I pulled

 myself together

 and carefully checked what it was.

I saw 

a 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 and 

corpses

, but I had never seen 

anything

like

 this one

. 

The body was a 

white

 skeleton, but the head was well-preserved

.

T

he eyes

 were especially lifelike. T

hey looked no 

different

 from a living human’s eyes. 

This skeleton had a woman

’s

 head. 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 same 

as

 the first house. The floor was covered with tea leaves

, and t

he 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 house 

was

 the same. 

I was as tired as a dead dog

 as I lay 

on the floor of 

the last

 house. I 

no longer cared

 why those female ghosts wanted to harm Lu Ming. I just wanted to know why they had 

collectively

 committed suicide

!