"How did you know he was the Painted Skin Ghost?" Tao Yaoye asked Butler Zhang a question that he didn't know the answer to until his death.
Lu Yang cleaned up the remaining traces of the battle and used a broom to sweep the Painted Skin Ghost's ashes into a small handful. Tao Yaoye also consciously took out a dustpan to catch it.
"It's simple. Just keep thinking back to what the parrot said. 'Who are you? Where is Butler Zhang?'"
"After we met Shang Yuan, she deliberately drove us away and told us to stay away from the Shang family."
"This means that the current Butler Zhang is no longer the person Miss Shang knew, and he is extremely dangerous."
"There are three possibilities for replacing Butler Zhang's identity."
"First, Butler Zhang has been possessed by another spirit. But how could the possessed old monster stay in the Shang family for such a long time? If it were me, the first thing I would do after possessing another spirit would be to leave Taiping Township and find a Feng Shui treasure land to continue my practice. Besides, Butler Zhang's talent isn't that great, and possessing the head of the Shang family is better than possessing him." Lu Yang put himself in his shoes and thought from their perspective.
"Second, someone disguised himself as Zhang's butler. But this is not right. The Shang family doesn't have anything valuable. Why would he pretend to be a butler? Does he have a habit of serving others? Even if the Shang family has valuables, can't he just rob them? With his late foundation building cultivation, no one would care if he crawled around in Taiping Township."
"The third possibility is the Painted Skin Ghost. The Painted Skin Ghost likes to collect human skin, disguise itself as a human, follow the habit of disguise, and live together with humans."
The Painted Skin Ghost was a human in life and a ghost after death. He is a kind of ghost cultivator. Most ghost cultivators have some kind of psychological disorder.
For example, the Painted Skin Ghosts are most afraid of having their identities revealed. They will try hard to convince themselves that they are human, and will say the same words and do the same things as humans. When they get tired of them, they will change their skins and start a new identity, and repeat this process over and over again.
What Lu Yang said was well-reasoned and made Tao Yaoye look sideways in admiration. She could not see the shadow of Senior Brother Lu who was trembling with fear on the flying boat at all.
She mastered all the knowledge that Lu Yang mastered, but at the moment she didn't think as much as Lu Yang. This was the difference in thinking sensitivity.
"Keep the ashes. They are proof that we have completed the mission." Lu Yang took out a white porcelain jar that was two palms high and put all the ashes of the Painted Skin Ghost into it.
The Painted Skin Ghost is an extension of the mission and can be considered a part of it. The reward for killing the Painted Skin Ghost is definitely greater than that for finding the parrot.
There was a sound of footsteps outside the house, and the sound stopped when it reached the door. It seemed like several people were awakened from their sleep, came to the east wing to check the situation, but did not dare to enter the house.
It was not difficult to guess the identity of the person outside the door. Lu Yang laughed loudly and said, "Master Shang, come in. I have killed the Painted Skin Ghost. It is safe here."
With a bang, the wooden door was pushed open by the head of the Shang family. Behind him stood his wife, mistress, maids and servants, a total of twelve people, all of whom looked as if they had survived a calamity.
“Thank you both immortals for your help in killing the Painted Skin Ghost and saving the lives of the twelve members of my Shang family!” The head of the Shang family knelt down with a plop, and the people behind him also knelt down.
The Painted Skin Ghost is moody and once he gets tired of being the housekeeper, he will most likely kill all of the Shang family members!
"Master Shang, that's not right. Killing demons and defending the righteous path is what I, the disciple of the Dao Sect, should do." Lu Yang had never seen such a big scene before. He was shocked and quickly helped them up one by one.
"Please forgive me, the Painted Skin Ghost is elusive and his whereabouts are unknown. I don't know where he came from."
"Ever since this Painted Skin Ghost impersonated Butler Zhang, we are not allowed to leave the Shang family. If anyone comes to visit, we are not allowed to tell anyone about his affairs. If he finds out, we will be dead!"
Speaking of this, Shang Yuan on the side also looked ashamed. She was a gentle lady from a noble family, and all her cruel behaviors in the boudoir were just pretended to keep Lu Yang and the others away from danger.
The head of the Shang family continued, "It's a pity that I have retired to the countryside, and all my belongings as a monk have been exchanged for gold, silver and jewelry. They are of no use to you, and I cannot repay you. I don't know what you need, but I will fulfill it even if I have to sell all my property." The head of the Shang family was not being polite, he really wanted to repay the life-saving grace.
In the eyes of the disciples of the Wending Sect, all his wealth was worthless, like scrap metal.
Lu Yang actually has a need.
"I heard that you encountered a life-or-death crisis when you were robbing a tomb, so you decided to retire and quit the world of cultivation. I wonder what happened to you at that time?"
Tao Yaoye looked at the head of the Shang family with interest. Tomb robbing, life and death crisis, great terror, and retirement, these words sounded very interesting and there might be great opportunities. What she liked most was to go to mysterious places and explore the unknown.
Lu Yang is not as interested in exploring the unknown as Tao Yaoye, but he likes to listen to strange stories.
The Shang family head's eyes twitched. To be honest, he didn't want to recall that horrific past from the bottom of his heart, but since his savior asked the question, he had to answer.
He dispersed everyone, especially Shang Yuan who tried to stay secretly, leaving only Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye.
"You can't tell this to anyone else today."
Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye nodded.
After receiving a positive answer, the head of the Shang family began to talk about the events of twenty years ago.
“Thirty years ago, I, Shang Gengtian, was well-known in the tomb-robbing world during the Qi training period. I wasn’t notorious, but I was hated by everyone.” The head of the Shang family put his hands on his hips, recalling the golden years.
Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye didn't quite understand why Shang family's head Shang Zhongtian was so proud when talking about this.
However, they did not know that colleagues are enemies, and tomb robbers are also competitors. The fact that Shang Zhongtian has such a good reputation naturally shows that he has superb skills.
"I've always been very careful when robbing tombs. I never touch big or ancient tombs. Big tombs have ghosts, and ancient tombs have immortals. We all know this in our industry."
The ghost mentioned here is not a small ghost in the Foundation Establishment Stage like the Painted Skin Ghost, but a powerful existence that is the king among ghosts.
"The Qigong cultivator was poor, and all the valuables were given to the younger generation, so there was no burial object. I won't touch the tomb of a Qigong cultivator, there's no money in it."
"Foundation-building and Golden Core-stage cultivators have a small fortune. After they die, they will usually divide most of their fortune among their descendants, leaving a small portion for burial. Even this small portion is enough for me to make a lot of money."
"It's a pity that if you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. I was digging a Jindan-stage tomb that time. At the end, I found that it was a tomb within a tomb. The Jindan-stage tomb was for the accompanying burials, and the main tomb was for the Yuanying-stage!"
"According to the rules of our industry, we cannot dig graves that are too high above our own cultivation level. But at that time, I was overwhelmed by joy. I felt that I was at the peak of Qi training. If I really ran, my speed would be comparable to that of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator. Grave robbers don't involve fighting, so rounding it off, I am also at the Foundation Establishment Stage. There is no danger in digging a Yuanying Stage grave that fell from the sky."
“So I burned incense to the ancestor, asked for his blessing, and then started digging the Yuanying period tomb.”