Night had fallen, and a chilling wind howled.
The Li household was shrouded in a desolate, eerie atmosphere. The mourning hall inside had yet to be dismantled, with white funeral drapes hung everywhere. The offerings on the altar table had long since rotted and sprouted maggots, which crawled all over the tabletop.
The coffin was completely empty. Li Heijiang's mother's corpse was nowhere to be found.
Li Mother's corpse, the corpses of Li Heijiang and his wife, as well as those of their three children, had all been taken away by cultivators from the Profound Gate's Taiping City branch.
Yet whether it was the room containing the mourning hall or the other two rooms, all were in utter disarray. Much of the furniture—tables, chairs, and stools—had been damaged. The floors and walls bore traces of battle everywhere: scorch marks from fire, cracks cleaved by swords, and claw marks torn open by ghostly talons...
There were also five pools of dried, filthy blood, along with bloodstains scattered throughout the place, a gruesome sight to behold.
The former had been left behind by Li Heijiang's family of five. They had been utterly powerless before the vicious ghost, and their hearts and livers had been devoured almost the moment they met it. Thus, their bloodstains were concentrated around the mourning hall.
The latter had been left behind by disciples of the Ghost-Controlling Temple who had come to perform rites and exorcise the ghost. They had clearly endured a fierce battle before dying. Not only had they smashed up the furnishings in several rooms, but they had also been injured by the vicious ghost during the fight, their blood dripping everywhere. Though it had already dried, traces of exceedingly faint spiritual power still lingered within it.
Li Heijiang made his living selling meat and