Shocking Changes at the Teahouse

"Spiritual fire, profound light, blazing flames manifest. Fire Official, descend your essence, let all evil perish. Fire Essence Incantation, strike!"

As Li Hai chanted the incantation, the seven or eight yellow talismans in his palms ignited spontaneously, transforming into golden-red fire swallows that spread their wings and darted in every direction.

Within a mere few breaths, seven or eight sources of fire began to ignite throughout the Zhou Family estate.

These golden-red talisman flames, conjured through sorcery, were indiscriminate; aside from stone and sand, they could consume almost anything they touched.

In a short span of time, house after house, tree after tree, and corpse after corpse were swallowed by the talisman fire, crackling and popping as they burned.

Immediately following this, Li Hai began to cast another spell:

"Wind talisman rise, sweep away evil calamities. Where the Dao power reaches, let all demonic nightmares perish. Gentle Wind Incantation, strike!"

Whoosh—

As the remaining yellow talismans turned to ash, a powerful, fierce wind surged from the southeast, causing the talisman flames to sway and dance, spreading to even more areas.

Aided by the wind, the scorching fire quickly engulfed every corner of the Zhou Family estate.

Seeing this, Li Hai did not linger. With his back to the raging inferno, he turned and strode toward other parts of Ox-Horn Town without a second glance.

The fire at the Zhou Family estate grew ever larger after his departure, eventually evolving into a towering blaze that consumed the entire property.

Fortunately, due to their disdain for the townspeople, the Zhou Family had deliberately kept the area around their estate empty and barren, isolating themselves from others. This meant that once the fire left the estate, there was nothing left to burn, preventing it from spreading elsewhere; otherwise, nearly half of Ox-Horn Town would have suffered.

One could only say that while the Zhou Family had committed a mountain of evil in life, they at least caused no trouble for others after their deaths.

A good death, truly a good death.

Meanwhile, Li Hai leaped over walls and sprinted for several miles, finally stopping before a solitary building designed like an ancient temple.

Unlike the bustling shops nearby, the building's solid black wooden walls and tightly shut doors gave it a cold, solemn air, much like a prison.

However, the appearance of the building was secondary; what mattered was the sign hanging above the entrance.

It bore three characters—Tea Hall.

Indeed, this was the outpost of the Great Jing Demon-Slaying Division that Zhang Miaoji had mentioned.

Just as Li Hai glanced at the sign and prepared to knock, an elderly man passing by called out to him:

"Hey, young man, are you planning to enter this Tea Hall?"

Li Hai found the old man's behavior strange, but out of politeness, he replied:

"Old sir, is there something you wish to tell me?"

"Nothing much, er, the old man just wanted to give you a word of warning..."

The old man paused, then added mysteriously, "This place... it's haunted. You'd best not go in."

"?"

The remark left Li Hai full of questions.

What did he mean? An official outpost for the department dedicated to hunting ghosts and slaying demons... was haunted?

That would be quite a slap in the face for the Demon-Slaying Division.

"Old sir, please tell me more."

Puzzled, Li Hai asked again, "I've just arrived in Ox-Horn Town and don't know much. This tea house seems fine, so why would it be haunted?"

"Oh, so you know it's a tea house. I thought you were just an outsider wandering in blindly."

The old man looked left and right before whispering, "It's like this: aside from the tea being expensive and having few customers, the place was always normal. But yesterday, something terrifying happened."

Li Hai asked curiously, "What happened?"

"Last night, the Tea Hall was operating as usual, but as soon as the hour of Hai arrived, all the lights inside went out. It was pitch black, and from the outside, you couldn't see or hear a thing."

The old man caught his breath before continuing, "Some people from the Civilian Militia came by this morning, but as soon as they stepped inside, they got trapped and haven't come out since. Now, no one dares to enter."

Hearing this, Li Hai frowned. "Did the Civilian Militia not follow up on it?"

The old man shook his head. "Probably not today. They'll likely have to wait until tomorrow to send more people."

"Very well." Li Hai nodded. "I understand."

With that, he turned and walked toward the Tea Hall.

Seeing his actions, the old man realized his words had been in vain and immediately shouted from behind:

"Young man, you must listen to me! Don't go in! If you go in, you'll never come out!"

Li Hai simply waved his hand without looking back, leaving the old man jumping in place, too terrified to take even half a step toward the Tea Hall.

Standing before the closed doors of the Tea Hall, Li Hai gave them a gentle push.

Creak~

With a soft sound, the door opened.

A thick, suffocating aura of ghosts surged forward and slammed into Li Hai's face.

Yet, to his naked eye, it appeared to be an entirely ordinary tea house.

All the tables, chairs, and benches were arranged in perfect order.

On a tea table nearby, a teapot and cups were still set out.

It was as if someone had been sitting there drinking tea only moments ago.

Yet, upon closer inspection, there was not a shred of living presence to be found within this teahouse.

Only wisps of hazy mist, originating from some unknown source, drifted and swirled incessantly through the room.

Observing all this, Li Hai wore a strange expression as he remarked:

"A Cursed Ground?!"

Indeed, this outpost of the Demon-Slaying Division had inexplicably transformed into a small-scale Cursed Ground.

No wonder those outside could not see into the teahouse; with this evil fog present, how could they possibly see clearly?

"Strange, truly strange."

Li Hai muttered as he walked over to a tea table and sat down. "Putting all the circumstances together, this Demon-Slaying Division outpost must have turned into a Cursed Ground last night at the Hour of the Boar, after which every Demon-Slaying Captain stationed here vanished without a trace. Tsk, why does everything have to be so poorly timed? Everything goes belly-up right when I arrive; even if you had waited a little longer until I finished copying, that would have been fine. Sigh~"

After an annoyed sigh, he stood up and began a thorough search of the entire teahouse, hoping to find any possible clues.

But after searching for only a short while, Li Hai slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Almost forgot, I'm a ghost too."

With that, he abruptly shifted from human to ghost, transforming into his spectral form.

In his Ghost Eye Vision, the teahouse instantly morphed into a gloomy tomb chamber, cluttered with a dozen dilapidated coffins piled haphazardly about.

Aside from these coffins, the chamber was filled with flickering, eerie green will-o'-the-wisps, while the original tea tables and chairs had vanished without a trace.

"I can feel it..."

Li Hai, his face pale and cyan like a corpse, slowly shifted his gaze downward and whispered eerily, "Beneath this level of the tomb, there is still more space."

As he murmured, he dove headfirst into the floor as if plunging into water, vanishing in an instant.