At exactly 8:30 in the morning, the car drove into the villa area of Songyang Mansion. Surprisingly, the door of Zhu Peng's villa was not locked.
The villa was peaceful, at least on the first floor. The three of them walked upstairs and found a large patch of yellow-brown soil at the entrance of the stairs on the second floor.
The dirt stretched all the way to the bathroom door of a bedroom.
Chen Ling grabbed the door handle and turned it a few times. Seeing that it wouldn't open, he raised his foot and kicked it hard.
With a loud bang, Zhu Peng, with his back to the door and his head buried in the washbasin, appeared in everyone's sight.
The man was still alive. He held on to the basin with both hands and kicked and stomped on the ground with his feet, but he could not get his head out of the overflowing basin.
There was an invisible hand holding his back tightly.
The yellow talisman flew out and stuck to the back of Zhu Peng's head. At the same time, the person who was about to be drowned got a chance to breathe and raised his head from the water.
Zhu Peng's face turned purple, and he collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath with his mouth open.
Chen Ling noticed that there was a large patch of mud on his chest, dripping down along the folds of his clothes and onto the floor.
There were a series of barefoot footprints on the floor, which were delicate in shape and size, probably from women, and each of them had a little bright red printed on it. He squatted down, dipped a little with his finger and observed it carefully, it felt like blood dripping into the mud and not yet fully mixed.
Zhu Peng finally caught his breath, stood up, thanked everyone with a pale face, and asked, "I wonder how you found me?"
"Mr. Ding Junyuan's carving studio must have been taken over from you, right?" Wu Weiwei said.
"Yes." Zhu Peng walked out while tidying up his messy clothes. "Did Ding Junyuan ask you to come here? What's the matter?"
"For Zhou Wenhui." Chen Ling took out the photo from his backpack, pushed it across the room, and pointed at the woman next to Zhu Peng. "Zhou Wenhui is dead."
"You guys suspect that I have a relationship with this woman?" Zhu Peng took the photo and looked at it, then apologized, "I don't know this woman. Maybe she was invited by a friend to a party."
He frowned, and it was unknown what he was thinking about. A strong look of disgust flashed across his face, and then he wanted to go past a few people to the cloakroom to change his clothes.
Chen Ling stopped him and said, "Mr. Zhu, why did your wife leave home on the day she was fished out of the park lake?"
Zhu Peng's whole body stiffened, then he jumped up in anger, grabbing the young man's clothes with bared teeth.
"Let go." Jiang Yu, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke.
Zhu Peng then realized that there was a third person in this space.
This man had a low presence, but his appearance was deep and handsome, and his finely carved features were very impactful. He had only just discovered such a face and such an intimidating aura.
Zhu Peng felt a sharp pain as if his bones were cracking. He was forcibly brought back to his senses. He immediately let go of the young man in front of him and shouted with a distorted face, "Let go of your hand!"
He was furious and pounded the hand that was holding him with all his might.
Jiang Yu's expression was calm, as if he was not the one exerting the strength. Seeing the man sweating in pain, he loosened his hand, took the wet wipes on the table, wiped his hands, and threw the paper ball accurately into the trash can.
Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei were both stunned and swallowed in unison.
This is what we call cruelty, cruelty that comes without showing any emotion, cruelty that comes unexpectedly, cruelty that makes people unable to resist.
Zhu Peng covered his aching forearm and shrank into the corner, furious, but not daring to continue: "What on earth are you doing here!"
Chen Ling held the photo in front of him again: "What is your relationship with Zhou Wenhui?"
Zhu Peng refused to give in: "It doesn't matter."
Maybe fate was against him. Just as he finished speaking, Chen Ling received a text message from Jiang Shengxing, saying that Zhou Wenhui was Zhu Peng's secret lover. They had been dating for more than three years and only separated two years ago.
Chen Ling shoved the text message in front of Zhu Peng: "Tell me, why did you fall out with Zhou Wenhui? Is it related to your wife's death?"
"No! It has nothing to do with anything!" Zhu Peng suddenly became excited and tried to snatch the phone with his eyes wide open.
Chen Ling dodged and his nose suddenly wrinkled. The air was filled with a strong smell of mud, which surrounded them tightly. Just as he was about to ask the other two if they had smelled it too, Zhu Peng in front of him suddenly screamed in fear.
Muddy water with a strong fishy smell rushed in from outside the bathroom door and rushed straight towards Zhu Peng, like a twisted mollusk, madly drilling into his mouth and nose.
Wu Weiwei was stunned: "What the hell has changed..."
Chen Ling stepped forward and grabbed Zhu Peng's shoulders, freeing his other hand to pull at the twisting mud flow, but the sticky mud slipped through his fingers and he couldn't catch it at all.
But in the blink of an eye, all the mud that was lying quietly on the ground the moment before had entered the human body.
Zhu Peng rolled on the ground in pain, clutching his neck tightly with both hands. He felt his internal organs were heavy and were being dragged down by a huge force.
After rolling on the ground for a few times, the pain suddenly stopped. He looked at the other people in the bathroom angrily and cursed: "What are you doing standing there? Send me to the hospital, quickly!"
Chen Ling squatted down and looked at the middle-aged man at eye level: "Mr. Zhu, what you swallowed is not real mud and sand. It's useless to go to the hospital."
The X-ray shows that the abdominal cavity is definitely empty.
Wu Weiwei didn't quite understand: "What do you mean?" He clearly saw puddles of mud and water crawling into Zhu Peng's nostrils and mouth.
Chen Ling raised his hand. The black and brown mud on his fingertips had dried up. He held it forward and placed it under Wu Weiwei's nose.
Caught off guard, Wu Weiwei was choked by the strong smell of blood and retched, "Why does it smell like this!" It was as if it had been sealed in a jar and fermented for decades. Not only was it bloody, but it also had a rotten odor.
Chen Ling couldn't actually explain it, but this thing gave him a very bad feeling. Perhaps it was because he himself had a heavier yin energy, which gave him some commonality with evil spirits. He could almost feel the resentment hidden in this filth.
"Jiang Yu." He looked at the man behind him, "Do you know?"
Yin and Yang are separated and never offend each other. The affairs of the Yang world are controlled by the Yang God, and the evil spirits of the underworld are controlled by the Yin God. If they interfere with each other, they will inevitably be affected by cause and effect. Everything has a cause and a result, and then the world will be in chaos.
What's more, Jiang Yu had been banned from participating in any worldly affairs, and even the Jiang family was only borrowing his luck.
But Chen Ling is different, this is his future wife.
There is no reason not to ask the fiancée for advice when she has questions.
Jiang Yu took out a handkerchief from somewhere and wiped the young man's fingers clean. A small cluster of ghost fire ignited in the palm of his hand. The handkerchief was intact, but the dirt turned into black smoke, twisting in the air.
"It was his fault." The man clenched his five fingers, and the blue fire and the handkerchief disappeared.
"Evil..." Chen Ling repeated in a low voice, and understood, "It is a bad karma, and it is also the product of grievances and hatred."
His eyes became sharp, and he stared down at the man who was sitting against the wall in a mess: "What on earth happened between you and the evil spirit that just attacked you?"
Not only Zhu Peng, but also Ding Junyuan.
The slippery thing that Ding Junyuan described after being attacked should also be the mud transformed by these evil spirits.
Under normal circumstances, a ground-bound spirit would not harm a living person who had no grudge against it, so either Ding Junyuan was lying, or this ground-bound spirit had gone out of control because it was contaminated with Zhou Wenhui's blood.
"It's no use asking me again and again." Zhu Peng gasped with great effort and tried to get up. The blood vessels buried under his skin suddenly began to rise and fall strangely, as if countless maggots were moving in them, pushing against his thin skin.
"Ah!" He opened his eyes wide in fear and looked at his arms, then lifted the clothes on his stomach. His whole body was covered with blood.
Gradually, Zhu Peng felt a dull pain in his stomach, which became more and more obvious and sharper.
"You guys should think of a solution quickly." He covered his stomach, sweating profusely.
Chen Ling looked down at his pale face indifferently: "What is your relationship with Zhou Wenhui? Why did your wife leave home? Answer the questions and I will find a solution."
"Just wait, I'm going to sue you for murder!" Zhu Peng supported himself against the wall and walked out. Every step he took felt like he was walking on the tip of a knife. The disgusting things in his body squirmed even more violently, as if they wanted to pierce through his intestines.
Chen Ling turned around and stood there, still repeating what he had said before.
As the young man's voice fell, Zhu Peng fell to the ground, his body curled up like a shrimp due to the unbearable pain, but his hands stubbornly stretched forward, grabbing the door frame to use the force to move his body forward.
Wu Weiwei had never seen his brother Chen so cold and indifferent before, and he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
He quietly glanced at Jiang Yu, who also had a calm expression, and moved over to him, asking in a low voice, "Do you feel that our Brother Chen actually has a bad temper?"
Once they lose their patience, they will turn from a rabbit into a wolfdog in the next second, biting people to death without leaving any blood.
"He is a bit fierce." Jiang Yu curled his lips with interest, "But he is also very cute."
Wu Weiwei: “…Brother Jiang, we are different.” Your eyes must have bulged.
In the depressing atmosphere, the doorbell rang, and the joyful ringing did not alleviate the terrifying atmosphere at all.
Chen Ling was just about to ask Wu Weiwei to take a look when he heard someone downstairs shouting, "Mr. Zhu, I'm from the property management."
Wu Weiwei ran to the window, opened the curtains a little and looked downstairs, and exclaimed, "Li Hongyu came with two property managers."
Zhu Peng, who was already dying, suddenly came to life after hearing these words. He quickly stretched out his limbs, but before he had crawled out less than half a meter, he let out a cry of pain.
"Mr. Zhu." Chen Ling spoke again.
Zhu Peng was almost dying of pain. From his toes to his hair, every part was screaming sharply. He took a deep breath, and his pitiful persistence was about to be tortured by the pain.
"Zhou Wenhui, Zhou Wenhui is my lover. As for my wife... I... I..."
The point was about to come, and my body suddenly twitched, and the words that were about to come out of my mouth were swallowed back into my stomach.
Seeing that the man was about to die, Chen Ling pasted a talisman on Zhu Peng. The talisman paper was imprinted with the Yellow God Yue Zhang Seal and blessed with a spell. The effect was indeed much better than the ones he had used before.
The things hidden under the skin and flesh rushed towards the head like a mouse seeing a cat.
In just a dozen seconds, or even less, the mud that had squeezed into Zhu Peng's facial features flowed out on its own. When the talisman fire touched it, the filth burned in pieces, and in an instant it turned into black smoke and quickly disappeared into the air.
Zhu Peng's body bounced heavily on the ground and he sat up as if he had been reborn.
Chen Ling fished out a piece of toilet paper from his pocket and handed it to him, motioning him to wipe the stuff on his chin: "Let me guess, even if your wife was not killed by you, you must have forced her to death. Because she was unwilling to die, did she often haunt you in dreams or in real life? You were so scared that you didn't know where to get a magic tool or a consecrated object from, and trapped her in the carving room."
Zhu Peng's fingers crunched as he held the tissue, but his trembling lips betrayed him.
"Now that the thing that suppressed her is gone, she escaped from the carving room and killed Zhou Wenhui first... Oh, by the way, Mr. Zhu, do you know how Zhou Wenhui died? She drowned." Chen Ling's voice became a little more eerie, and he told the ghost story with a sense of immersion. "Her face and body were swollen, and her pale skin was already covered with blue corpse spots. The black dirt between her fingernails was from the mud she had touched when she was struggling."
He was a little scared when he said that. He paused for a moment and added, "When do you think she will come to see you next time? Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or tonight?"
"Stop talking, I beg you to stop talking." Zhu Peng pounced on Chen Ling with weak hands and feet, holding onto one of his legs.
Although he had transferred the art gallery, he had secretly sent people to monitor the movements in the sculpture room. He knew that Ding Junyuan was looking for someone to look at Feng Shui recently, and it was most likely this person. "Little brother, I know you must have the ability. Please save me. I will give you money, a lot of money!"
Chen Ling pulled his leg out and stepped back to Jiang Yu's side.
When Zhu Peng met the man's eyes, he felt the pain in his right forearm, which had not yet subsided, intensify again. He shrank back and dared not move forward.
Chen Ling raised his head and bowed to the back of his ancestor's head in his heart. Those who can kill the enemy with their eyes alone are all big guys.
"I'll tell you whatever you want to know." Zhu Peng stood there in fear, and said defensively, "But I really haven't done anything that is against the will of heaven and earth. At most, I have some moral flaws..."
Even at this time, he still didn't forget to excuse himself. Chen Ling felt disgusted: "I have already asked the question just now."
Zhu Peng buried his face in his hands, rubbed them a few times, and leaned against the wall in dejection: "You were right before, Zhou Wenhui is indeed my lover. I met her at a temporary art exhibition. At that time..."
"Get to the point." Chen Ling interrupted him.
"Let's not talk about that for now." Zhu Peng pulled the corner of his mouth awkwardly and continued, "I dated her for two years, and Zhou Wenhui began to feel dissatisfied and wanted to be my wife. My wife and I have been in love with each other for so many years, so our relationship is naturally not something she can compare to. Seeing that I didn't want to, she made an appointment with my wife to meet privately in the park behind my back. I don't know what the dispute was between the two of them, but when I arrived, my wife had fallen into the water and drowned. I was very scared at the time, and Zhou Wenhui was crying for help... In a daze, I took her away."
"After I left, I was always uneasy and felt guilty... Zhou Wenhui threatened me, saying that if I testified that she was at the crime scene with my wife, she would drag me into the crime. There were no surveillance cameras near the lake anyway, so whatever she said would be used as evidence... So, after calling the police, I concealed the truth and lied that my wife went out shopping and disappeared for no reason."
There was no surveillance at the scene, and Zhou Wenhui was dead without any evidence. Apart from Zhu Peng himself, no one knew what happened at the time.
Chen Ling did not raise any questions, but only asked in return: "If your wife was not killed by you, why did she come to you?"
However, the anger and hatred brought about by her husband's infidelity should not be enough to support the resentment to turn into a ground-bound spirit and come to claim her life. What's more, Zhu Peng had swallowed up evil spirits before.
That was the hatred of the earthbound spirit, and also the sin committed by Zhu Peng himself.
This person is lying.
"You're probably still blaming me for betraying your family and marriage..." Zhu Peng squatted on the ground without caring about his image, hugged his knees and sobbed, saying, "It's all my fault. I'm to blame for all this."
Chen Ling sneered at this confession: "I didn't expect Mr. Zhu to regret so much. If that's the case, why don't you find someone to help your wife resolve her hatred and reincarnate as soon as possible? But you suppressed her in the carving room, making it impossible for her to be liberated and reincarnated!"
"I don't want to either!" Zhu Peng didn't know which sentence touched his sore spot, he said sternly, "She always comes to haunt me after she died. I can see her shadow in my dreams, at home, and even at work. I tried to find monks and Taoist priests to pray for her soul to pass away, but it's useless! She just won't let me go! I can only choose other ways..."
After saying that, he raised his head and took a deep breath. With red eyes, he looked at the three people present, and his face full of regret returned to its previous expression: "When you send my wife away, can you please not let her suffer too much?"
Chen Ling looked at Zhu Peng's face and sighed in his heart. His eyes were sincere and his expression was earnest. It didn't seem like he was telling a lie. I'm afraid even he himself couldn't be sure which of his words were true and which were false.
"Come with us." Chen Ling said.
Zhu Peng: "Where are you going?"
"Carving room." While Chen Ling was speaking, he kept staring into Zhu Peng's eyes and keenly caught a hint of something strange.
Zhu Peng's body tensed up, his eyes dodging: "Why are you going to the carving room? I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."
"Hey." Wu Weiwei suddenly said, "Why do I feel like you're feeling guilty?"
"I didn't, I, I just feel that it's safest to stay at home." Zhu Peng's tongue was tied several times while he spoke.
"Mr. Zhu." Chen Ling was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke, "Mrs. Zhu was fished out of the water. Even if her spirit is still alive, she should be wandering around the lake in the park, but you suppressed her in the sculpture studio."
Zhu Peng's eyes became more wandering and he twisted his fingers unconsciously.
Chen Ling: "Mrs. Zhu's family must have known that she drowned, so you didn't dare to handle the body alone. You must have taken out the bones or ashes after the burial, secretly placed them in the carving room, and then found a magic tool to suppress it."
"Don't talk nonsense without evidence." Zhu Peng said with a pale face, "That's my wife. How could I do such a thing?"
"Tell me, is it ashes or bones? Where did you hide it?" Chen Ling's tough attitude made Jiang Yu look at him sideways for a long time.
Wu Weiwei swore that he actually saw a gentle smile in the eyes of the newly appointed financial manager.
Zhu Peng clenched his teeth, tensed the muscles in his arms, and maintained a firm attitude.
"You don't have to tell me. I'll let you stay here alone." He patted Jiang Yu's arm and said, "Let's go."
Since they were invited by Ding Junyuan, they would naturally be charged. Zhu Peng thought that since he had previously insisted that he would ask them to help exorcise ghosts regardless of the money, even if these people had a bad attitude, they should stay and protect him for the sake of the money.
The result was far beyond his expectations. They showed no intention of stopping until they reached the entrance and were about to open the door.
"Masters, please wait for me!" Zhu Peng rushed forward in two or three steps and tried to grab Chen Ling's sleeve, but was glanced at by the man who was always silent but had gloomy eyes.
His fingertips twitched and he turned to Wu Weiwei.
Wu Weiwei also hated him and slapped the hand away.
Zhu Peng stood opposite the few people with a bitter face. The strength built up from fragility collapsed. He swallowed and grasped the fabric on the sides of his pants tightly with both hands, as if he was nervous and scared.
"Since I started having nightmares, my spirits have been getting worse day by day. I was afraid that the situation would get worse in the long run, so I went to seek help from several masters, but the effect was not significant. Later, one day, I accidentally saw an article on the Internet about the five elements, which said that earth restrains water..."
Wu Weiwei listened with great interest and asked, "And then?"
"Then I contacted the cemetery and told them I wanted to find a new place to bury my wife, and took out the ashes."
Earth overcomes water, earth overcomes water… Chen Ling was now both amused and angry, not knowing what expression to make.
The mutual restraint of the five elements is widely used in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and divination, but it has nothing to do with suppressing evil spirits. The application of the five elements in magic is to borrow power, borrowing the natural power opposite to the five elements, the power of ghosts and gods.
So why do those people with no brains need to learn the skill of surfing the Internet? Is it really possible to do it blindly
"You mixed the ashes into the yellow mud and made a clay sculpture of a woman." Chen Ling's voice was extremely calm and chilling.
Zhu Peng's lips moved a few times before he pursed them and nodded stiffly, "Yes."
Wu Weiwei stood there in shock. Is this even possible? This is too vicious!
"Are you still a human being?" he cursed, his finger joints creaking and his hands itching badly.
Chen Ling sneered, turned around and left. As soon as he opened the door, he was met with the person who had been outside for a long time.
Li Hongyu glanced at the young man opposite him, then turned around and said to the two property staff members who came with him, "My friends are coming out. Sorry to bother you guys."
The property management said it was not a trouble, smiled and greeted Zhu Peng, then turned and left.
"Why are you lingering around?" Wu Weiwei crossed his arms to block Li Hongyu's view of Zhu Peng.
Zhu Peng is Brother Chen's bait, and he must not be snatched away. He said provocatively: "Mr. Li is still not giving up on this business. It's a pity that our company has now added a powerful general, and you have no chance now."
After Jiang Yu explained the nature of the mud, Wu Weiwei knew that this new financial sponsor, a part-time financial manager, was an expert.
Thinking of this, he stepped aside and deliberately showed off his powerful general, in order to severely dampen Li Hongyu's fighting spirit.