"Wasn't this flower completely withered last time?"
Master Ren looked at the newly sprouted Prosperity Flower and asked.
Uncle Jiu stepped forward to examine it. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Someone must be behind this. If nothing unexpected happened, the culprit probably cast another spell to awaken this demon flower. The most urgent matter is to destroy it completely!"
"Someone is trying to harm the Ren family again?"
Ren Fa's face instantly paled as he heard this, and he thought to himself.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. He stumbled backward and nearly fell onto the ground.
"Uncle Jiu, you have to help me this time. We must eliminate the threat once and for all!"
Master Ren said aggrievedly.
Uncle Jiu looked at Master Ren with a resolute gaze. "With my three disciples here, Master Ren, you can rest assured."
Uncle Jiu then raised two fingers in a sword gesture and recited a spell.
A Blazing Fire Talisman shot toward the demon flower, and blazing flames suddenly erupted.
The demon flower was burned to ashes.
"Heaven and earth are natural, bright and clear is the Great Origin, the eight directions possess divine might, and make my talisman command!"
Uncle Jiu skillfully recited the [Purifying Heaven and Earth Divine Incantation].
He purified the evil aura in the room section by section.
Lin Fan suddenly seemed to think of something and fell into deep thought.
If this was merely a demon flower that had returned from the dead, there was no need to mention whether Uncle Jiu was necessary.
He alone could have dealt with it swiftly.
Yet this demon flower only possessed an evil aura and showed no sign of resurrection.
Moreover, it had appeared in the dead of night, and everyone from the funeral home had been drawn over.
It shouldn't be this simple. Something was definitely wrong.
No, no. But what exactly was wrong?
Lin Fan thought to himself.
"Senior Brother, what are you thinking about?"
Wen Cai asked.
"Master Ren, this flower was right beside your bed. How did you fail to notice it growing back?"
Lin Fan ignored him and turned to ask Master Ren.
Master Ren answered, "Tonight, I even took special care to clean the room. I looked everywhere, but I didn't notice anything. At the time, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But when I finished cleaning and turned around, it had appeared."
Lin Fan continued thinking.
A demon flower that had appeared out of nowhere, drawing everyone from the funeral home over.
Suddenly, a flash passed through Lin Fan's eyes, as if everything had become clear.
No, no. Everyone?
Someone was missing—Qiu Sheng!
"Not good!"
Just as Master Ren finished speaking, Lin Fan suddenly cried out.
"What happened?"
Uncle Jiu, who had been casting a spell to cleanse the evil aura, was interrupted by the shout.
Lin Fan walked toward Uncle Jiu. "Qiu Sheng may be in danger."
With that, he hurried outside.
Seeing this, Uncle Jiu had no time to ask questions. He casually called for Wen Cai.
Then he hurried after Lin Fan.
The forest at night appeared especially quiet.
"Rustle."
The sound of running broke the forest's silence.
A young man raced forward without stopping.
Lin Fan sprinted ahead, with Uncle Jiu and Wen Cai following close behind.
After pausing briefly, the three gathered together.
"Lin Fan, what exactly is going on? Why the sudden rush?"
Uncle Jiu did not slow his steps as he asked.
Lin Fan stared resolutely ahead. "Master, tonight, all of us were drawn to Ren Manor by the person who cast the spell."
"Drawn to Ren Manor?"
Uncle Jiu became puzzled.
"That's right. The spellcaster guessed that we would rush to Ren Manor, so he resurrected the remaining body of the Flower Demon."
"Then what is his purpose?"
Uncle Jiu continued asking.
Lin Fan said, "I'm afraid Old Master Ren didn't escape on his own. He was taken away. Master, think carefully. We were awakened by the sound, and then immediately came out and headed for Ren Manor. The reason he lured us to Ren Manor was that he wasn't confident about facing you—especially with me there."
At this point, Master should have understood the whole sequence of events, Lin Fan thought.
"Senior Disciple Brother, what does this have to do with Qiu Sheng?"
Wen Cai asked blankly, his mind slow to catch on.
Lin Fan shot Wen Cai a disdainful glance and said irritably, "We ruined his plan because of what happened at Ren Manor. Do you think he won't hold a grudge? So what do you think he is after?"
"You'll have to tell me that, Senior Disciple Brother."
"He definitely wasn't confident he could deal with the four of us. He used the Flower Demon's body to lure us to Ren Manor precisely to get revenge on us. But since we're together with Master..."
Lin Fan sighed and shook his head.
Any normal person would have understood by now. Unfortunately, Wen Cai was timid by nature.
Suddenly, Wen Cai's eyes widened. He said in terror, "Qiu Sheng is alone, so... he..."
After hearing Lin Fan's explanation, even Wen Cai's innocent mind had figured it out.
Since the enemy couldn't deal with him and the three others, Qiu Sheng was naturally the lamb waiting for slaughter.
Just as Wen Cai was panicking, a shout suddenly rang beside his ears.
"Hurry up."
Uncle Jiu, who had already understood everything, shouted.
The three master and disciples hurried toward the rouge shop.
Before long.
A cold wind swept across the gloomy, chilly street.
The three arrived in front of the rouge shop.
Just before entering, they suddenly smelled wisps of corpse aura.
Uncle Jiu raised two fingers in a sword gesture and began reciting an incantation.
His gaze followed the distant path along which the corpse aura spread.
Suddenly, Uncle Jiu's heart tightened.
It was lingering corpse aura, and it was already slowly dispersing with the wind.
The enemy probably hadn't left long ago.
Since the enemy had already left, they had probably succeeded.
Against a Black Zombie, Qiu Sheng might have had a way to respond.
But if he encountered Old Master Ren after his transformation into a Purple Zombie—
Qiu Sheng would probably be in grave danger.
Although Qiu Sheng was mischievous by nature, he was kind at heart.
He was still his beloved disciple, even if he was not as outstanding as Lin Fan.
Uncle Jiu did not expect him to bring glory to his master like Lin Fan.
He only hoped Qiu Sheng would live a peaceful life. He prayed that things were not as he imagined.
Uncle Jiu muttered inwardly.
"Knock! Knock!"
In the silent night, the knocking sounded especially loud.
Lin Fan hurriedly knocked on the rouge shop's door.
After a moment, the door slowly opened.
A middle-aged woman stood there holding an oil lamp.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at the group in confusion.
The person who opened the door was Qiu Sheng's aunt.
"Where's Qiu Sheng?"
The three master and disciples asked in unison, stunned.
Qiu Sheng's aunt answered with a stream of complaints, "That little bastard hasn't come back all night. Who knows where he's gone to fool around?"
The unexpected good news instantly eased the tension in the three master and disciples' hearts.
Qiu Sheng really had incredible luck.
By some twist of fate, he had missed the enemy.
If they had encountered each other, setting aside the fact that the enemy's strength was unknown, the mere fact that he could control Master Ren, who was about to transform into a Purple Zombie, showed that he was at least countless levels stronger than Qiu Sheng.
As things stood, the person plotting evil probably could only grit his teeth in frustration.
"Is there anything else? If not, I'm going back to sleep."
Qiu Sheng's aunt spoke impatiently.
"Sorry to bother you, sorry to bother you."
Uncle Jiu clasped his hands and apologized profusely.
After the shop door closed, Uncle Jiu said to the other two, "It seems we can't return to the funeral home tonight. We'll have to stay at the Ren residence and keep watch."
"That makes sense, Master."
Lin Fan readily agreed.
After speaking, the three master and disciples headed back to Ren Manor.
When they returned to Ren Manor, Master Ren was already waiting in the main hall.
After the three had left, Master Ren had been trembling with fear.
Without seeing the three master and disciples, he had been unable to sleep.
"You're finally back!"
Master Ren greeted the three with a radiant smile.
Uncle Jiu got straight to the point. "Master Ren, I'm afraid we'll have to trouble you tonight. This is to prevent any further incidents."
Lin Fan saw this and exchanged a knowing nod with his master.
Master Ren beamed with joy.
His expression practically said that he couldn't have wished for anything better.
He then arranged rooms for the three master and disciples.
The following day.
The main hall of Ren Manor.
White smoke curled through the air. Master Ren had not put down his pipe since early morning.
He seemed worried as he paced back and forth through the hall.
When he saw the three master and disciples, already awake and dressed, walking toward the hall, he happily went forward to greet them.
"Uncle Jiu, I still haven't recovered from what happened with the demon flower last night. I wonder..."
Master Ren spoke to Uncle Jiu anxiously.
The incident with the Flower Demon was still vivid in his mind. Every time Master Ren thought about it, he was terrified.
If not for Uncle Jiu, the Yang energy of everyone in Ren Manor probably would not have been enough to satisfy the Flower Demon.
Uncle Jiu patted Master Ren on the shoulder and nodded. "Master Ren, rest easy. I destroyed the demon flower last night."
"Then, Uncle Jiu, I wonder whether there are any important matters that still need to be dealt with?"
Master Ren asked as if he had something to request.
"It's nothing major. To be safe, my disciples and I will remain at Ren Manor for the time being. What do you think, Master Ren?"
Uncle Jiu raised his brows slightly and exchanged a glance with Master Ren.
As soon as he finished speaking, Master Ren replied with a radiant smile, "Good, good. That's for the best. Then I'll have to trouble you, Uncle Jiu."
Master Ren was overjoyed.
He wished he could hand over the entire Ren Manor to Uncle Jiu for a thorough purification.
Uncle Jiu nodded, then began making arrangements for the residence.
The most important thing now was to put up various sensing and protective talismans throughout Ren Manor.
However, he had almost no pre-drawn talismans left on him.
It seemed he could only go out and buy some.
"Wen Cai, you stay here and make the arrangements at Ren Manor first."
Uncle Jiu handed a thick stack of yellow talismans to Wen Cai.
Then he waved to Lin Fan and called, "Lin Fan, come with me to buy some yellow talismans and glutinous rice."
"All right, Master."
Lin Fan immediately followed beside Uncle Jiu.
They walked toward the market in Ren Family Town.
Just as the two of them were about to step over the threshold and leave through the door,
a familiar figure suddenly appeared on the street outside the Ren family's gate.
Before you continue