Li Hongyu was still dressed the same way today, except that he was carrying a copper coin sword strung together with a red string, with a very old tassel hanging from the hilt.
As Wu Weiwei made way, his sight followed the pair of shoes stepping on the smooth floor and met a pair of light-colored eyes.
A vertical wrinkle appeared between Li Hongyu's eyebrows, his heart was pounding, and the sudden sense of crisis made him subconsciously reach back to draw the sword. When his fingertips touched the hilt, the uncomfortable feeling brought to him by the strange man disappeared again.
After a brief consideration, he made a conclusion—he was no match for that person. At least at his current level, he could not see through the other person's background and skills.
He glanced at Jiang Yu warily, gritted his teeth unwillingly, and without saying a word, stood aside to let the three pass.
Wu Weiwei didn't expect Li Hongyu to retreat so submissively. He thought they were going to have another verbal fight.
He fell behind, walked side by side with Chen Ling, and asked quietly: "Brother Chen, what is Brother Jiang's background? You must have deceived this old customer before."
"As for him," Chen Ling's eyes stopped at the delicate jawline on one side of Jiang Yu, "even my master is no match for him."
Wu Weiwei took a breath and said, "How deep is this practice?"
Chen Ling pondered carefully and gave a more specific description: "If an ordinary person has a hundred years of cultivation, then he needs a thousand years or more."
"…" Wu Weiwei stammered, "This must be at the level of the Grandmaster."
That’s right, otherwise why would we call him ancestor.
Because the carving room was closed, it was even less popular, and even standing outside the door one could smell an eerie atmosphere.
As soon as the car stopped, Chen Ling opened the door and got out, then walked around to the passenger seat and pulled Zhu Peng down.
After receiving the notice, Ding Junyuan, who had been waiting on the roadside with the key in his hand, became angry as soon as he saw that face. Although he didn't know what Zhu Peng had done, based on the movements of Chen Ling and others, he could guess that the carving studio's poor business was related to that person.
He rushed forward, grabbed Zhu Peng by the collar, and punched him.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. As his rage grew, Ding Junyuan's punches rained down like raindrops, and soon Zhu Peng's face swelled up like a pig's head.
He howled in pain, "Ding Junyuan, are you fucking crazy?"
However, despite his miserable cries, no one stepped forward to stop them, and everyone just chose to turn a blind eye.
Ding Junyuan knew the seriousness of the situation and didn't want to beat the man to death. After a few punches, the depression in his chest eased a little, so he let the man go and walked back to Chen Ling and the others.
"Mr. Chen, what's going on?"
"It is indeed as you thought. The evil spirit causing trouble in the carving room is closely related to Zhu Peng." Chen Ling said, "It was his wife who drowned."
Ding Junyuan was so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time.
Wu Weiwei glanced at Zhu Peng, who was rubbing his face and gasping for air, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Chen, do you want to tie him up? I always feel that he is not honest and wants to run away."
"No, just keep an eye on it." Chen Ling said, spreading his fingers in front of Ding Junyuan's eyes and reminded him, "Mr. Ding, open the door first. We can talk inside if we have anything to say."
Ding Junyuan exclaimed "Ah" and fumbled for the key to open the door.
The carving room was dark and the air was several degrees lower than outside. Once it touched the skin, it immediately caused goose bumps.
Ding Junyuan touched his arm and hissed, then walked to the reception desk to turn on the light.
"Huh?" He frowned in confusion and pressed the button several times, but the lights at the entrance and in the corridor were not on.
Chen Ling stopped the person who wanted to go deeper and said, "Don't look, it must be all broken."
"How could this be possible? I locked the door myself before I left yesterday..." Ding Junyuan shut his mouth halfway through his words. There were even ghosts in his place, so what was impossible
The anger that had subsided rose up again and he glared at Zhu Peng fiercely.
Zhu Pengniu was a tall and strong man, but he huddled behind Wu Weiwei like a quail. He knew that even if he ran away from these people, he could not escape the entanglement of his deceased wife. Even if he was beaten again, he would never leave this group of people.
Ding Junyuan glanced at the dark corridor and didn't dare to move forward. Just as he was about to let Chen Ling take the lead, a figure passed by him.
He blinked and asked blankly: "Mr. Chen, that gentleman is..."
Chen Ling introduced: "My friend, who is also our financial manager."
Ding Junyuan then realized that the job of slaying demons and eliminating evil could be so formal. In addition to the field staff, there were also people in charge of finances.
But looking at the man from behind, he looked like a boss. The calm demeanor and fierce momentum when he walked were definitely not that of an ordinary person.
He didn't dare to gossip with Chen Ling, so he went to find Wu Weiwei: "Does he know any magic?"
"Of course, there are no ordinary people in Yuhe Mountain. Even the parrot raised by my brother Chen's master is very smart..." He had heard of the parrot, a rare species that even the rich and powerful were not qualified to raise. I don't know how Mr. Zhao managed to get one back.
It's a pity that it's dumb. It just eats and won't talk no matter how you tease it.
How strange.
Seeing Wu Weiwei suddenly fell silent, Ding Junyuan wanted to ask more questions when he heard a light cough in front.
Chen Ling turned his head and looked at Wu Weiwei, signaling him to shut up. Revealing too much would affect the majestic and solemn image and mystery of their Yuhe Mountain!
That's right, which sect is not secluded and independent, giving people a feeling that ordinary people cannot reach it? Wu Weiwei understood that we are trying to emulate the big sects, so he also coughed lightly, and the cheerful tone of gossip turned serious: "As for the rest, it is not convenient to disclose it for the time being."
Ding Junyuan understood from the other party's suggestive look and said repeatedly, "I overstepped my bounds."
Wu Weiwei nodded, then suddenly stopped and stared at the place where he had just entered with a strange look in his eyes. It shouldn't be an illusion, as there were slight footsteps approaching.
He pushed Ding Junyuan forward, put his finger to his lips and made a "hush" sound, then turned back and put his ear to the door.
There was a knock on the door, and it was Li Hongyu again.
Wu Weiwei pretended to shout, "It's Mr. Li. I'm so sorry, the door is broken and can't be opened."
In the past, the Special Investigation Department had insulted and oppressed their half-baked group in various ways, and had almost forced them to disband several times. Now, they have finally gotten their revenge.
Wu Weiwei felt so happy that he hummed a song and followed the main group.
Li Hongyu's mood was exactly the opposite of his. His bad mood made his face tense. This business deal had been filed after the police handed it over to the Special Investigation Department. He couldn't return empty-handed.
Even if he couldn't bring back money, he had to bring back the details of the case and the final result. That's why he chose to stay after being rejected twice.
Li Hongyu stroked his hair irritably and went to the side, trying to find another entrance.
In the not very spacious corridor of the carving room, because Jiang Yu was leading the way in front, the darkness was like encountering a scorching light, and people scattered in fear, and the light gradually became brighter as far as the sight could reach.
With the help of his ancestors, Chen Ling ran into the rooms on both sides of the corridor and opened the tight curtains one by one to let the sunlight in.
From the first floor to the third floor, the entire sculpture room was dead silent, with only the footsteps and breathing sounds of a few people walking.
The plaster ornaments and finished sculptures, which were usually works of art, were now covered with a layer of shadow.
The shadows pulled to the ground by the light, the shadows under the plaster eye sockets, the dried apples, the door gently blown open by the wind, all the most ordinary things, have become weird today.
Wu Weiwei was the last one to enter the office. He quickly closed the door, took out a short peach wood sword from his backpack, and held it tightly in his hand.
Chen Ling pressed down the wooden sword in front of him and said, "Don't worry, nothing is following in."
After saying that, he became a little uncertain again and looked at Jiang Yu eagerly: "What do you think?"
"Yeah." Jiang Yu was very tall and had a strong presence, which made the other three people except Chen Ling very uncomfortable, especially Zhu Peng who could only stare and not say a word.
Seeing that no one else dared to sit down, Chen Ling reached out and touched the man's elbow: "Why don't you sit down first?"
"Yeah." Jiang Yu glanced around the space and finally chose to sit on the three-seater sofa. As soon as he sat down, his aura was restrained and there was a little bit of laziness on his face.
If Chen Ling hadn't been standing close and observing the man closely, he would not have noticed this tiny detail at all.
Somehow, this scene reminded him of the time when he saw Jiang Yu half-lying in a rocking chair reading a book.
He smiled and looked at the others: "Aren't you going to sit down?"
Ding Junyuan really didn't want to sit still. Before entering the office, Wu Weiwei had already told him about the shit that Zhu Peng had done. Now he was extremely anxious and just wanted to resolve the matter quickly and restore peace to the carving studio.
"Mr. Chen, you asked me to open the door. Aren't you trying to catch a ghost? Isn't it a waste of time to just stay here?"
Ever since Wu Weiwei saw how powerful his brother Chen is, he has become a die-hard fan. "Of course my brother Chen won't do anything in vain."
"I wonder if Mr. Ding still remembers the compass in Mr. Li's hand?" Chen Ling explained, "The Earthbound Spirit is not a real soul. She is combined with the Earthly Evil and exists in every corner of this house. As long as she doesn't condense, we can't correctly identify her precise location, so naturally we can't take offensive measures and can only defend."
"What should I do?" Ding Junyuan grabbed his hair and said in pain, "Mr. Chen, to be honest, I, I have had nightmares before. Before I knew that the clay sculpture contained Mrs. Zhu's ashes, I always thought it was because of bad business and too much mental stress. "
He paced in panic: "She attacked me before. Zhou Wenhui is dead, and Zhu Peng is also entangled. Will I be the next one?!"
"A confused mind and panic-stricken people make it easy for them to be possessed." Chen Ling said calmly.
The effect of these three short sentences cannot be underestimated. Ding Junyuan stopped immediately, leaned against the wall, and looked at the young man for help.
“Although the earthbound spirit has gone out of control after being contaminated with blood, as long as Zhu Peng is here, your life will not be in danger.” To put it simply, Zhu Peng is the anger point of the earthbound spirit. Unless this point is destroyed, the anger will not disappear or transfer.
Ding Junyuan calmed down and looked at Zhu Peng as if he was looking at a thick shield.
Zhu Peng shrank to the side and moved towards the door without making a sound. Chen Ling winked at Wu Weiwei, asking him to pretend he didn't see anything. Turning around, he saw Jiang Yu picking up an orange from the fruit plate on the coffee table.
The orange was ripe, and the dark orange color made the man's fingertips turn red. He pinched the two sides lightly with his hands and applied a little force, and the orange, including the skin and flesh, was split in half.
Jiang Yu handed half of it to Chen Ling: "Want to eat?"
It’s ready, you’d be wasting time if you don’t eat it.
Perhaps because they had been together for a long time, Chen Ling felt that the atmosphere between them had become more natural. He nodded, sat over, took the food and concentrated on eating.
Wu Weiwei was speechless. The last time he caught the reincarnated evil ghost, Brother Chen was barbecuing and playing cards. This time, when he caught the earthbound spirit, he was not nervous at all and actually sat there and started eating.
He stared at the unwanted half of the tangerine placed on the coffee table, swallowed, sat on the single sofa at the side, and reached out his hand.
Just as he was about to touch it, the back of his hand suddenly felt a pain like a needle pricking him. He raised his head sharply and met Jiang Yu's calm eyes.
The hand suddenly regained its consciousness, cleverly turned a corner, reached into the fruit bowl, picked up the last rather shriveled orange, and began to peel it bitterly.
Chen Ling finished half of it and was enjoying the aftertaste. Just as he smacked his lips, the other half was handed to him.
He asked, "You don't want to eat?"
"No." Jiang Yu came closer, his lips almost touching the young man's ear, "I have no desire for food from the mortal world."
Chen Ling tilted his head and rubbed the tip of his ear, which was itchy from the man's breath, with the back of his hand. "Then why did you ask me to burn incense for you? That's also something from the world of the living." As soon as he said that, he remembered that he had forgotten his plan to buy a roast chicken to offer to his ancestors as a token of gratitude.
He glanced at Jiang Yu out of the corner of his eye and was glad that he didn't make a verbal promise, otherwise he would have done it again.
"Burning incense and offerings is to deepen the cause and effect between you and me." Jiang Yu glanced at the young man's fingers stained with light orange juice, his eyes shifted an inch, and continued, "The deeper the cause and effect between you and me, the deeper the induction. When you are in danger, I can arrive in time even if I am not in the world of the living."
Isn’t this the space jump in science fiction movies!
You just need to know one coordinate and you’ll be there in a flash.
Chen Ling stuffed the last orange slice into his mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, and couldn't help but comment again in his mind:
Our ancestors were really good at this. I’ve never seen anyone so good at it.
Anyone who is weak-willed or obsessed with looks would have collapsed long ago.
Chen Ling looked into Jiang Yu's eyes, carefully discerning, and the emotion in his eyes was still very light. He thought, the boss really was taking care of him as a junior, and it was a small benefit he gave to his fiancé.
"Um..." Zhu Peng said tremblingly, "I want to go to the bathroom."
Wu Weiwei looked at his brother Chen, and when he saw Chen Ling nod in agreement, he put down the orange that had been peeled and had pits all over it, and stood up, "I'll go with you."
"Let him go by himself." Chen Ling said, "Sit down and finish eating the orange."
Wu Weiwei rolled his eyes and sat back on the sofa obediently, continuing to peel his orange.
Zhu Peng didn't expect things to go so smoothly. His joy almost showed on his face. He touched his almost grinning mouth, opened the door quietly and walked out.
The corridor was brightly lit because the doors and windows of the classrooms on both sides were open, which made people feel a lot braver.
Zhu Peng did not go to the bathroom at all, but went to a studio on the second floor. There were many easels in the studio, and the white canvas was covered with white. On the desk not far away, there was a half-body plaster statue.
Zhu Peng pushed the plaster statue aside, stood on the podium, stood on tiptoe, and stretched his arms to reach the ceiling above.
There is a protruding handle on the ceiling, which was a passage from the ground to the inside of the ceiling to facilitate workers to repair the air conditioner.
After trying hard for a few times, he still couldn't reach it, so he had to jump to the ground clumsily and move a chair onto the podium.
This time, when he stood up, he was just able to reach the handle. He pulled down the cover of the passage, revealing a retractable metal ladder hidden inside. He grabbed the rope and pulled it down, and the ladder fell to the ground.
Zhu Peng climbed up holding the handrail of the ladder, and soon only his body was left exposed under the ceiling, so he didn't know that outside the studio, Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei were quietly watching the monkey perform.
The ceiling was pitch black, and only a little light from the entrance allowed him to barely see clearly that in the southwest direction, there stood quietly a small pagoda-shaped object.
The fat body slowly disappeared at the entrance of the passage. In order to avoid making too much noise and attracting people in the office, Zhu Peng made every move carefully.
It was only a distance of three or five meters, but it took him a full ten minutes to climb.
As he got closer and closer to the thing, Zhu Peng's breathing became rapid due to excitement. He unconsciously sped up his movements, stopped when his fingertips could touch it, and grabbed it.
Unlike the hard feel in my memory, the thing in my hand was soft and sticky, with a cold texture, like a ball of mud.
Tick, tick, tick.
The thin mud slipped from his palms and fell onto the ceiling panels. He heard the sound of sticky mud crawling across the floor.
Zhu Peng opened his eyes wide in horror, his muscles shaking uncontrollably, but he was unable to mobilize his muscles to move even a little bit.
He felt that his limbs were fixed to an invisible wooden frame, just like a clay sculpture, with a supporting skeleton hidden inside. It was invisible and intangible, but it could easily determine the success or failure of the clay sculpture.
The sound of mud gradually grew louder, and the small mass had expanded to take on a huge black shadow, enveloping them from all directions.
Something stuck to his feet, first his toes, then his ankles, calves, thighs, waist... all the way up to his chest.
Zhu Peng opened his mouth, unable to make a sound. He felt his body starting to lose control and he crawled inch by inch towards the corner, where he touched a tool knife that perhaps the decorator had forgotten to take away.
The rust on the utility knife could be felt with the fingertips. The blade, which should have been very blunt, was surprisingly sharp and easily cut off a small piece of flesh from the arm.
Zhu Peng's eyes were red from the pain, and tears and snot were flowing, but he couldn't control his hands.
The tears generated by cowardice and fear seemed to stimulate the ghost's emotions. He heard a chuckle in his ears, and then he felt the mud wrapped around his limbs all gathered in his chest. They condensed into a ball and formed a head, a woman's head.
He would recognize this face even if it turned into ashes. It was his wife who had passed away long ago.
"Help..." Zhu Peng used all his strength but could only squeeze out a faint moan from his throat.
"Help... Help..." The same painful voice sounded in my ears. It was a woman's painful cry, "Zhu Peng... Save me..."
The tears of fear in Zhu Peng's eyes burst out and flowed out madly. He wanted to shake his head and beg for mercy, but the other party didn't give him a chance.
The clay head stuck to his body came close to his eyes, and the bloody and sticky tip of its tongue licked the tears on his face.
However, this alone could not ease the hatred of the earthbound spirit. She curled up her tongue and slowly bit Zhu Peng's eyelids with her teeth, tearing them apart.
This reminded him of the scene when he hired someone to carve his eyes. Because the eye sockets created by the master were not deep enough, he personally instructed the master to use a utility knife to shave off some of the upper eyelids.
Except for the bitten eyelid, his hand holding the utility knife did not stop.
At this time, his arm was already scratched by a utility knife, with uneven edges and grooves, as if it had been gnawed by a small animal. Blood flowed along his elbow, some of which stained his clothes and mixed with the mud stuck to his abdomen and chest.
“I remember that’s how you did it in the beginning. You let the clay sculptor shave off my flesh bit by bit…” The clay sculpture’s head moved from Zhu Peng’s chest to his back and appeared on his right shoulder. “It hurts so much, it really hurts… I’ve been begging you, can’t you hear me, can’t you hear me!”
The voice that was so soft yet creepy suddenly became louder and Zhu Peng felt like his eardrums were about to burst.
At this moment, he regretted extremely that he had sneaked out on his own initiative!
Not getting a response, the earthbound spirit's malice deepened, and she turned into a puddle of spreading mud, crawling up Zhu Peng's shoulders and neck, slowly wrapping around his face.
"Did you ever think about today when you pushed me down there? Do you know how desperate I was when I asked you for help?"
The woman's voice was like a radio without power, distorted and weird, "Those fish and shrimps are gnawing at my toes, my skin, my eyes... It hurts, it really hurts..."
"You can also have a taste of what I've experienced, okay?"
"Speak..."
"OK… "
Zhu Peng's eyes were completely dark, and the whole world left him with only pain and fear. The breaths in his chest became less and less, the burning sensation became more intense, and his brain began to feel dizzy from lack of oxygen.
If he goes one step further, his consciousness will be swallowed up by death... Zhu Peng's mind collapsed and he couldn't even tell whether he was in reality or in hell.
But how can there be light in hell
His chaotic brain suddenly became clear, and he found that the mud covering his head was receding quickly, and his limbs, which had been stiff and unable to move, also regained their strength.
Turning over and sitting up, Zhu Peng's gaze met the young man's eyes at the entrance of the passage, shining brightly in the light from below.
Chen Ling held a half-burned yellow talisman between his fingers, and his eyes moved from Zhu Peng to the dark corner.
The darkness created excellent hiding conditions for evil objects, and Chen Ling quickly climbed up to the ceiling.
Because of the height, he could only squat there uncomfortably, holding the ink line he got from Wu Weiwei in his hand, with a nail tied to one end of the line.
With a strong throw, the nail flew straight into the darkness with the ink line. It probably hit the steel rope used for the suspended ceiling, and there was a clanging sound. Then it fell on the board with a slight collision.
Zhu Peng knew that he was saved, and he crawled towards the entrance of the passage using his hands and feet. Seeing someone blocking the way, he raised his hand and pushed him away, then climbed down in a panic.
Chen Ling had just listened to the complete version of the intermittent conversation between Zhu Peng and the earthbound spirit. Many parts were not stated, but it did not prevent him from thinking divergently and filling in the missing parts.
Thinking of all those things, he became angry, and even angrier when he was pushed unexpectedly by the other party and almost fell down.
Seeing Zhu Peng trying to grab his clothes for leverage, he dodged without saying a word.
Zhu Peng missed the target and before he could panic, his strong body rolled down the short ladder like a ball.
The bloody corner of his eye hit the corner of the stool he had moved earlier, and the miserable scream of pain made Chen Ling frown.