As Chen Miao walked, he could sense three sources of malice around him.
Two came from the Paper Effigy Man and the Paper Effigy Woman.
Because of Chen Miao's earlier performance, their malice toward him had actually fallen to the same level as that of the black dog guarding Tianmen Funeral Home.
But now, that malice had surged again.
It still wasn't enough to bring about Chen Miao's death, but he knew that the slightest suspicious move would send his future back onto its original course.
Besides, there was a third source of malice.
It came from neither Old Ghost nor Old Woman, but from the seemingly unguarded soul body above the coffin!
That discovery also extinguished Chen Miao's idea of taking Elder Bamboo down with him here.
Sure enough, someone willing to expose his soul body before a stranger couldn't possibly be relying on trust alone.
Chen Miao even suspected that he couldn't defeat this soul body by itself.
With mixed feelings, Chen Miao approached Elder Bamboo's coffin.
"Elder Bamboo, I'm going to begin."
Chen Miao spoke respectfully.
Then he took out his lighter and lit the candles beside Elder Bamboo's coffin.
Once he was done, he picked up the Soul-Splitting Paper Knife with his right hand without looking at the Paper Effigy Man or the Paper Effigy Woman, then slowly lowered it onto Elder Bamboo's soul body.
Using the Soul-Splitting Paper Knife, Chen Miao cut a cross-shaped incision into one side of the soul body's chest.
Before the incision could heal, Chen Miao skewered a six livestock soul mark with the Soul-Splitting Paper Knife and pressed it onto the wound.
As he did so, he slowly withdrew the knife, using its side to hold the soul mark down instead.
Less than a minute later, Chen Miao nudged the