"Ghost?!"
Li Hai exclaimed in surprise. "The ghost didn't harm you, but instead became your relative?"
"Uh..." Zheng Dashan nodded. "That's right."
"Well, I'll be." Li Hai shook his head in astonishment. "This really is... a rare thing in this world."
Then he asked, "What about this brother-in-law of yours? Where is he? In this cave?"
As he spoke, Li Hai raised his eyes and scanned all around.
Although this cavern deep in the mountains was vast, with complicated terrain and little light, everything was still crystal clear to his extraordinarily keen senses.
But after looking around in every direction, he couldn't detect even the slightest trace of a genuine ghost's aura.
The only thing drifting through the cavern was the muddled aura of Zheng Dashan's family, all Ghost Citizens.
"Interesting."
Li Hai muttered under his breath. "He actually managed to evade my senses. This ghost... isn't ordinary."
To leave not a trace under the scrutiny of Ghost and Monster Seeking, Qi Observation Technique, and Yin-Yang Eyes, this ghost must have possessed some exceptionally powerful ability to conceal his form and tracks.
Good. I'd come to the right place.
"Brother-in-law doesn't come out during the day," Zheng Dashan said honestly. "Only after the sun goes down does he suddenly appear from who knows where."
"I see," Li Hai said. "Then I'll wait until night."
Since arriving in this world, he hadn't had a proper rest. He could take a nap while he waited.
"Take this money."
Li Hai pulled ten silver coins from his pocket and handed them to Zheng Dashan. "When you have time, you can go down the mountain and find somewhere to exchange them for cooked food and buy some new clothes. Give your wife and children a better life."
Zheng Dashan took the money and hurriedly bowed. "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Uh... we can forget about the new clothes."
He hesitated. "Brother-in-law... can't stand people dressed in fine clothes. He'll go mad."
Li Hai chuckled. "Your brother-in-law has a taboo like that? Heh, what an interesting fellow... no, an interesting ghost."
"Sir, you..."
Zheng Dashan looked at Li Hai's clothes. "Your clothes might offend my brother-in-law too."
"It's fine," Li Hai said indifferently. "That's his taboo, not mine."
"But..."
Zheng Dashan tried to say more, but Li Hai had already closed his eyes and lain down on the ground, clearly unwilling to listen any further.
So Zheng Dashan swallowed his words and quietly walked back to his family.
Li Hai was glad to have some peace and quiet, and began sleeping soundly.
As a Steel-Grade Martial Artist, insomnia simply wasn't a thing.
Whenever Li Hai wanted to sleep, he could fall asleep at once.
That didn't mean outsiders could take advantage of the chance to ambush him, though. They'd be asking for death.
Time flowed slowly by as Li Hai slept.
While fast asleep, Li Hai could clearly feel three small figures sneaking over to watch him.
They were probably Zheng Dashan's three children. They sure were bold.
But Li Hai didn't suddenly wake up to scare the three children. He simply let them watch.
Just like that, six shichen passed in the blink of an eye.
The daylight filtering through a break in the rock overhead gradually faded, and Zheng Dashan's family lit oil lamps in the cavern.
Just then, a wisp of sinister ghostly aura suddenly emerged from the deep pool.
At the same time, a dripping-wet, eerie figure came step by step out of the water, head bowed.
"You've finally come, Zheng Dashan's sworn brother-in-law."
Li Hai sprang to his feet and turned to look from afar at the sinister figure standing by the pool, covered in blood.
Name: Unknown
Rank: Ghost Path → Dead Soul, Bloodline Divine Ability → Low Grade
Skills: Ghost Body Soul RemainsGolden Ridge Yin Gathering
Traits: [Ghost Body Level 1][Ghostly Image Level 1][Yin Absorption Level 1][Breath Concealment Level 1]
Stronger Fragment: None
"Bloodline Divine Ability?"
Li Hai said in surprise. "You can still have a divine ability after you're dead?!"
As he was speaking, the ghost by the pool suddenly dropped to all fours and rapidly crawled toward him, leaving bloody footprints with every step.
An ordinary person would have been scared out of their wits and wet their pants at this horrifying sight. But Li Hai wasn't an ordinary person—he wasn't even human.
In an instant, Li Hai switched himself into a ghostly state.
Buzz—
At once, a vicious, malevolent ghostly aura surged out from him, sweeping across the surrounding area for dozens of zhang.
The weeds and tree roots withered and died on the spot. Zheng Dashan's family trembled in fear, while the ghost by the pool abruptly stopped crawling and froze completely in place.
The Ghost Path had always been governed by a strict hierarchy, with clear ranks and order. A ghost of a higher rank could even command lower-ranked ghosts to work like cattle and horses. So when Li Hai revealed the ferocious aura of a Fierce Soul, Zheng Dashan's brother-in-law was naturally pinned down on the spot, unable to move.
But after suppressing the ghost, Li Hai didn't immediately destroy him.
Not every ghost had to be destroyed. Plenty of people were worse than ghosts; they were the ones who deserved to be killed to the last.
Since Zheng Dashan's family were pitiable people who had been persecuted, might their ghostly brother-in-law, who lived among them, also be a pitiable ghost?
Curious about this, Li Hai beckoned to the ghost. "Come here. Let's talk."
The ghostly aura shrouding the area vanished in an instant. Zheng Dashan's terrified family relaxed, and the brother-in-law was released from the "restraint." He slowly got to his feet.
This time, he didn't dare walk on all fours in that horrifying manner. Instead, he walked up the rocky slope step by step, like a normal person.
"Come," Li Hai said, pointing in front of him. "Sit here."
Following his instruction, the ghostly brother-in-law sat cross-legged before him in silence.
Li Hai didn't waste words. He asked outright:
"What's your name?"
The ghostly brother-in-law slowly raised his head, revealing a skull with not a trace of flesh left. His completely rotten jawbone opened and closed as he spoke in a chilling voice.
"My name is Qiu Fangzheng, sir."
Not far away, Zheng Dashan's family nearly gaped their jaws off.
"Uncle's being so good today," one of Zheng Dashan's children said innocently. "He doesn't seem like Uncle at all."
His mother quickly covered his mouth and quietly admonished him, "Don't talk. Just stay quiet."
After warning him, the woman looked toward Li Hai alongside her husband, her eyes filled with awe. They marveled in unison:
"This sir is truly amazing. He subdued big brother without doing anything, and big brother answers whatever he asks, obedient as can be."
As they marveled, Li Hai's conversation with the ghostly brother-in-law continued.
"You said you're from Ox-Horn Town too?"
Li Hai asked in surprise. "Then why didn't you know Zheng Dashan's family before?"
"Ox-Horn Town... is big," Qiu Fangzheng said with difficulty. "The biggest... for two hundred li around."
"Let's leave that aside," Li Hai said bluntly. "Tell me how you became a ghost. Why did you die a violent death deep in the mountains?"
"My death..."
Qiu Fangzheng's voice sounded hollow. "It was connected to the Zhou Family."
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