People worship their ancestors: I'm just burning some paper money, how did I become a Taoist ma

Don't miss out: Chapter 37, "Death Is Not the Most Terrifying Thing," is available in its entirety. Click here.

Li Mu flipped through the will and understood.

This is not charity, it's a transaction.

Zheng Hongyuan wasn't trying to help Liu Jianguo; he wanted to take his own money.

As for how Zheng Hongyuan, an outsider, could get other people's money, that's not Li Mu's concern!

"How is he now?" Li Mu asked.

"He's in the hospital." Zheng Hongyuan's face darkened. "A week ago, that thing pushed him down the stairs, breaking three ribs and fracturing his left leg. He's in the ICU now, conscious, but mentally broken. His wife and children have moved out and are too afraid to go back to that villa."

Li Mu returned the photos and will to Zheng Hongyuan.

"Mr. Zheng, I can help you take a look. But there's something I need to make clear to you first."

"Please speak."

"There are two types of ghost raising. One is when an unconscious spirit is imprisoned by an object, and over time it gains power and harms the living. I can handle this type. The other type is when someone deliberately raises a ghost, and someone is controlling it behind the scenes. If it's the latter, if I touch that thing, the ghost raiser will know, and then the trouble will be much bigger than just a villa."

Zheng Hongyuan's expression changed.

"Mr. Li, what kind of person do you think Liu Jianguo is...?"

"I can't be sure without seeing the actual object." Li Mu stood up. "I'll go take a look tonight. Can you contact Liu Jianguo's family for me? I need to get into that villa."

"I'll go with you." Zheng Hongyuan also stood up.

"No need. I'll go alone. If you go, I'll have to worry about protecting you."

Zheng Hongyuan opened his mouth, but ultimately did not insist. He simply took a bank card out of his bag and pushed it in front of Li Mu.

"Mr. Li, this is the deposit. Whether the deal goes through or not, it's yours."

Li Mu glanced at the card, did not refuse, and put it in his pocket.

"Give me your address."

……

Liu Jianguo's villa is located in the hillside villa area on the east side of Tianhai City. It is built against the mountain and has its own gate and courtyard.

By the time Li Mu arrived at the foot of the mountain by taxi, it was already completely dark.

He didn't let the taxi drive up; instead, he got off at the foot of the mountain and walked up.

Li Mu walked slowly, sensing the "qi" around him as he went.

The area at the foot of the mountain is relatively normal, with fresh air and the scent of grass and trees.

But the higher you go, the more pronounced the chill in the air becomes. It's not the coolness from the mountain breeze, but a sticky, damp chill that seeps in from the ground.

When he reached the halfway point of the mountain, Li Mu stopped.

He took out three incense sticks from his bag, lit them, and stuck them into the soil by the roadside.

The smoke from the three incense sticks all sank downwards at the same time, plunging straight into the ground as if being sucked in by something.

Li Mu's face darkened.

The first incense stick is pressed, and all three sticks are pressed.

This indicates that the yin energy in this mountain area is abnormally heavy; it's not a problem in just one or two places, but rather the entire mountain area is affected.

He put away the incense and quickened his pace.

After walking for about ten minutes, a three-story European-style villa came into view.

The villa was built on a platform halfway up the mountain, surrounded by high walls and tightly closed iron gates.

The yard should have had a garden and ornamental trees, but now, looking in from the outside, all you can see is a dark shadow; there aren't even any streetlights.

Li Mu walked around the wall once.

When he reached the back of the villa, he noticed that a window on the second floor was half open, with the curtains fluttering in the wind.

Li Mu took out a talisman from his bag, folded it into the shape of a small person, wrote the character "探" (probe) on the back with cinnabar, and then tossed it gently.

The paper figure was blown up by a night breeze and floated toward the open window.

This is a "Spirit Detection Talisman," a minor Taoist spell used to detect the presence of spirits. It doesn't require much Taoist cultivation, but it can sense the aura of the dead within a radius of 100 meters.

After the paper figure floated in through the window, Li Mu closed his eyes and focused on sensing it.

Then I sensed it directly.

There is something in that room on the second floor.

It is not a dead soul, nor a lingering spirit, but a deliberately created "being" filled with resentment.

Its shape is indistinct, but you can sense that it is very powerful and full of evil.

Li Mu could sense an extremely hidden, chilling "line" extending from that thing, passing through walls, through forests, and stretching to an unknown distance.

Someone is indeed raising it.

Li Mu opened his eyes, his back already covered in a layer of cold sweat.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

There are now two options.

The first person simply turned around and left, pretending they'd never been there. They refunded Zheng Hongyuan's deposit and cancelled the order.

Secondly, go inside, face that thing, and face the ghost keeper behind it.

Li Mu stood outside the wall, looking at the dark villa, and remained silent for a full minute.

Then, Li Mu took out the key and opened the front gate of the courtyard.

He pushed open the iron gate and walked into the courtyard.

……

The villa's front door was unlocked; it could be opened with a push.

The moment the door opened, a strong, eerie aura rushed out, as if I had plunged into an ice cellar.

Li Mu did not rush in. Instead, he first pasted a "talisman to ward off evil spirits" on the threshold before stepping over it.

The living room was large, with a high ceiling and a huge crystal chandelier hanging down. The furniture was all covered with white sheets, making it look like no one had lived there for some time.

But Li Mu knew that it wasn't that no one lived there, but that no one dared to live there.

He took out his peach wood sword, made a sword incantation with his left hand, held the sword in his right hand, and walked step by step toward the stairs.

With each step he took, he recited a mantra to purify heaven and earth.

"Heaven and earth, in their natural order, disperse all impurities—"

The sound echoed in the hall, as if something was responding to him.

A sound came from upstairs.

It wasn't footsteps, it was a scraping sound, like something was being dragged across the floor.

Li Mu stopped and looked up at the top of the stairs.

At the corner of the stairs, a dark shadow flashed by.

It's not the size of an adult; it's only about one meter tall, resembling the silhouette of a child.

Li Mu did not chase after them, but stood still and took out a small bronze mirror from his bag.

This is an old bronze mirror that he found at a flea market. He engraved Bagua symbols on it himself, making it a simplified version of a "demon-revealing mirror".

Li Mu pointed the bronze mirror at the top of the stairs and chanted, "By imperial decree, reveal the demon's form! So be it..."

A faint golden light shimmered on the surface of the bronze mirror.

Through the bronze mirror, Li Mu saw the true appearance of that thing.

A seven or eight-year-old child, wearing a red bib, with a bluish-black face, two black holes in his eyes, and a mouth that stretched to his ears, revealing two rows of sharp teeth.

A red rope was wrapped around its neck, the other end of which disappeared into the void, connecting to the "line" that Li Mu sensed.

A little devil, and one that was created in an extremely cruel way.

Li Mu had only heard of this method of creating a ghost in his previous life through oral traditions and folk tales passed down by his master. It required using a child under the age of seven, in an extremely yin time and place, to separate the child's soul from the body using special techniques, and then feeding it with resentment for forty-nine days before it could be created.

Throughout the entire process, the child's soul endured unimaginable pain.

Death is not the most terrifying thing; the most terrifying thing is not being able to die or escape, and being forced to endure torment day after day.

We wholeheartedly recommend this book to you: "Everyone Worships Ancestors: How Did I Become a Celestial Master Just by Burning Paper Money?" Read it here.