I discovered a world bug.

Once back in the village, the "funeral" in the narrow sense was effectively over.

The guests who came to pay their respects left one by one, leaving only family members behind.

After the mountain is closed tomorrow, this once lively little courtyard will return to complete tranquility.

----But it's still very lively here now.

The banquet had already begun. The men carrying the coffin were drinking loudly, while women and children chased each other around the courtyard, feeding them. The elderly were busy packing up the leftovers.

In Linchuan, there aren't many taboos about funerals. Compared to the "unlucky" feeling of bringing funeral food home, people actually think it's more unlucky to leave the food uneaten and throw it away.

Lin Shu sat down at a table with Xu Feng's family. After a quick meal, Xu Feng went back to greeting the guests.

With nothing else to do, Lin Shu planned to say goodbye and leave.

But Xu Feng told him to have dinner with him beforehand—it seemed he had something to say to him.

So he stayed and hid in Xu Changshun's study to study the materials he had left behind.

These materials are extremely complex; while they may not be vast, reading them all would be difficult.

Lin Shu focused on the contents of "Master's Knife Altar" and "Avoiding Disaster," which constituted the largest portion of Xu Changshun's estate.

After briefly outlining the context, Lin Shu discovered that Xu Changshun had begun researching various rituals for "avoiding disaster" as early as 1982.

This was only three years after he became a college student and discovered the effectiveness of the "yarrow stalk and tortoise shell divination" ritual.

In other words, after he started using yarrow stalks and tortoise shells for divination, he had already foreseen a calamity within three years that was "impossible to avoid through conventional means."

This is actually a very simple judgment.

Putting myself in their shoes, I realized that I had indeed witnessed the inevitable end of "death."

But when I saw the ending, my first reaction was not to use a more powerful ritual to counteract it, but to adjust my actions to avoid death in a "physical sense".

The pursuit of rituals was merely a safety net.

Even now, I would not rely on the Master's Sword Altar as my only means of survival.

But Xu Changshun was not.

Clearly, he devoted most of his time to the study of rituals for avoiding misfortune over a period of more than 40 years.

This suggests two points:

First, the outcome he foresaw was extremely dangerous, and no conventional means of escape would suffice.

Second, the time before death should be far enough to give him ample time to prepare.

so......

What did he see?

Is it a scene of dying alone in a mental hospital due to cardiac arrest?

impossible.

He was 70 years old, and cardiac arrest is a very common, even reasonable, way to die.

Such a way of dying is not worth all the trouble he went through.

Lin Shu frowned as she searched through the documents.

However, Xu Changshun did not leave any record of the "prophecy".

Even though he meticulously recorded the time, process, and changes in the effects of each yarrow stalk divination, he never kept the results.

Is this some kind of taboo?

If so... thankfully I haven't told anyone about the results of my divination.

Lin Shu felt a sense of relief, and just then, Xu Feng knocked on the door.

"Brother."

He peeked out.

Is it convenient?

"It's convenient—this is your own home, what's inconvenient about it?"

Lin Shu answered with a smile, and Xu Feng then walked in.

"Sigh, when my dad was still alive, he basically wouldn't let us into this room."

"Now that you've taken over his position, you still need to follow the rules..."

As he spoke, Xu Feng took something out of his pocket.

Lin Shu glanced at it and saw that it was a key.

"What is this?"

He asked curiously:

"Did Master Xu leave anything else behind?"

"Yes."

Xu Feng nodded.

"Bank safe deposit boxes - accessed by someone other than the account holder."

"This is the power of attorney. Take the power of attorney and the key to the bank to verify the password, and you can take the contents of the safe."

"I'm not entirely sure what's inside, but it should be something quite important."

"He left a letter beforehand. If you stay and escort him up the mountain, this thing will be yours."

Send him up the mountain and leave him to me?

Xu Changshun...

You really did foresee everything.

Only when I come here can I see the things on your computer.

If I choose to run away and don't truly take up your mantle, then the deeper "legacy" cannot be passed on to me...

Lin Shu could almost imagine how Xu Changshun meticulously planned and deduced everything in his final moments, striving to make his funeral arrangements as perfect as possible.

Was he really just trying to pass on his mantle?

It doesn't seem that simple.

Lin Shu didn't mince words or stand on ceremony. After taking the things from Xu Feng's hands, he asked:

"Do you want to come with me? After all, this is something left behind by Master Xu. Even if you don't want it, it's good to take a look..."

"Really, you don't need to."

Xu Feng interrupted Lin Shu.

"We have already received what he wanted to leave us."

"What I want to give you, I don't want us to interfere with."

"so......"

Xu Feng then changed the subject.

"Let's go, it's getting late. Are you going back to the city today?"

"We want it back."

Lin Shu nodded—she really should go back.

The time for the next divination has arrived, and I must see the results as soon as possible.

"Then I'll drive you to the station—once we get to the city, you can go straight to the bank and pick up your things; you should have enough time."

"no problem."

Lin Shu gave a brief reply, packed up the computer Xu Changshun had left behind, slung it over her shoulder, and followed Xu Feng out the door.

A pickup truck was already waiting, its bed loaded with the books left behind by Xu Changshun, which Xu Feng had sorted out, as well as various tools needed for his role as a shaman.

He loaded the car to the brim, and after dropping himself off at the train station, he would go to the county logistics center to have all the items shipped to Lin Shu's home via logistics.

The car started, and Xu Feng remained silent the entire way.

Lin Shu was worried that she might encounter some other accidents, but fortunately, she made it through safely.

The two said goodbye to each other at the entrance of the train station, and half an hour after boarding the train, Lin Shu returned to the city.

The moment he stepped out the door, he felt as if he had been transported to another world.

Outside the station, touts and hotel owners loudly advertised their services, while young women in miniskirts posed for photos in front of the huge "Linchuan Station" sign. Tour buses drove out of the parking lot one after another, and police officers from the station patrolled the square with a robotic dog, attracting a large crowd of curious children...

This is the world I'm familiar with.

But this world...

Is that really all there is to it?

Lin Shu frowned slightly.

Other images flashed through his mind.

Under the dim light of the campfire, the priest smeared blood on his face, raised a dagger, and chanted loudly.

The Taoist priest, wearing a Taoist hat and holding a whisk, made a hand seal to guide the lightning that was falling from the sky.

Then there was Xu Changshun, who raised his right hand, and a phantom snake coiled around it, hissing and flicking its tongue...

Lin Shu shuddered, suppressed her unease, hailed a taxi at the station entrance, and headed straight for the bank.

The paperwork left by Xu Changshun was exceptionally complete, and the entire process proceeded without any obstacles.

In just five minutes, he was led to the safe by the account manager.

He originally thought the safe would contain some kind of old wooden box, or perhaps some ancient book wrapped in oil paper.

But to my surprise, it was just an ordinary suitcase inside.

But what surprised him even more was what happened next.

When he finally got home, he opened his suitcase.

He was shocked to discover...

Inside, there was a golden light.

gold.

So many gold bars!!