Chapter 188 Old

The knocking stopped, and silence reigned inside and outside the house.

Fang Yang's hands trembled, and he almost didn't have the courage to knock again.

In Fang Hongbo's mind, his son Fang Yang had long been dead. Overwhelmed with fear, it was normal for Fang Yang to hide and not answer the door. Wei Yuan raised his hand to the door, ready to knock again, but at that moment, the tightly locked door slowly opened a crack.

*Squeak*

Fang Hongbo's face, pale with fear, appeared behind the door.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wei Yuan, then slowly turned his head and saw Fang Yang.

Fang Hongbo paused, and whispered, "A-Yang?"

Fang Yang took a deep breath, glanced at Wei Yuan, then turned back and said:

"It's me, Dad. I'm back."

"Back... you're back..."

A look of struggle flashed across Fang Hongbo's face, but he still slowly opened the door. Wei Yuan, with his Daoist cultivation, saw that there were no lurking ghosts in the house. However, when he saw Fang Hongbo, he paused, sensing an aura of death emanating from him, even though he looked no different from a living person.

But there was no resentment or baleful aura of a vengeful spirit.

Wei Yuan patted Fang Yang on the shoulder, quietly pressing a talisman onto his back, then leaned against the door, not entering. Fang Yang and Fang Hongbo stood awkwardly for a long while, then sat down on the old sofa in the living room, facing each other, but neither spoke for a time.

Fang Yang didn't know what was happening with Fang Hongbo; he was just filled with fear.

Fang Hongbo seemed to come back to his senses and said, "I never thought I'd be able to sit here and talk with you again."

"When you were little, you loved to jump all over these sofas. You wouldn't listen no matter what I said."

Fang Yang thought of his childhood, his expression complex, and he hummed in agreement.

Remembering that he had rarely returned after leaving home, he paused and said:

"Dad, how have you been these past few years?"

…………………

A man and a ghost met, but no harm came of it.

The father and son in the house simply talked.

Wei Yuan didn't intend to listen to their conversation, but he didn't stay too far away either. He stood by the door with his sword, watching the man who had been dragged over by the two ghosts. The man's disguise had been removed, revealing his true face: a man in his forties, with thin cheeks and a look of panic in his eyes.

Wei Yuan was still puzzled by Fang Hongbo's situation.

According to Fang Yang, Fang Hongbo had passed away four months ago, and a traditional burial had been performed according to local customs.

But Fang Hongbo undoubtedly had a physical body now.

Who had dug up the grave and exhumed Fang Hongbo's body?

Fang Hongbo firmly believed that his son was dead.

What was going on with this memory?

This man who stopped the car had come directly to Fang Hongbo's isolated residence and told such a story, saying that he had nothing to do with Fang Hongbo's affairs. That was impossible, but how did he know Fang Yang would return? How did he know to stop the car on this road?

Did this man know about Wei Yuan's special nature? Did that mean that even if Fang Yang hadn't met Wei Yuan at the museum, he would have returned in the end? In other words, had these people been targeting Fang Yang from the beginning? What were they plotting?

Was this related to Zhang Yue's life-extending ritual?

Wei Yuan whispered a few words to the water ghost and the soldier ghost.

He took out willow leaf water and opened the eyes of the man who had been pretending to be a ghost.

Then, the two ghosts dragged the man, who was weak in the legs from fright, to the side and began to question him. The man himself had no Daoist cultivation. The two ghosts looked ferocious, with menacing auras. Terrified, he confessed everything before they even asked much.

………………

The man's name was Wang Honghe.

He was a down-and-out villager, his parents having died early, leaving him a grown man all alone.

He had arms and legs but was too lazy to do anything, relying entirely on the country's welfare to survive. Moreover, he was the worst kind: they gave him piglets to raise pigs and earn money to support himself, but he took them back in the morning and slaughtered them for meat in the afternoon, exchanging the money for wine and getting drunk.

When the money ran out, he would go to the local government office and make a scene until he got some benefits.

In the end, the entire village looked down on this useless person.

He didn't care and continued to live his life. One day, craving a taste of something good, he ran to the graveyard and ate his fill of the sacrificial offerings, carrying a pot of wine home. But as he walked, he somehow ended up at a restaurant he had never seen before, all antique and elegant.

Inside, it was bustling with people.

Some were drinking, some were laughing loudly.

The tables were laden with chicken, duck, fish, and meat, everything that flew in the sky and ran on the ground.

Wang Honghe knew his situation; he definitely didn't have money to eat there. But he was really craving food, and he was drunk, thinking that if he ate a free meal, he would only get beaten up at most; they wouldn't kill him. So, emboldened by the alcohol, he walked in, head held high.

As soon as he entered, everyone in the room looked at him with strange expressions.

Liquor emboldened the cowardly, especially a rogue like him.

Wang Honghe was used to being stared at. He sat down at a table and slammed it, demanding that the owner bring out a round of the restaurant's signature dishes.

The owner said, "Guest, our food is not for everyone."

Wang Honghe slammed the table and cursed, "Do you think I can't afford it?!"

So the owner didn't say anything more, only said to wait a moment and retreated. Soon, he brought out a table full of good food and wine. Wang Honghe ate and drank to his heart's content, completely satisfied. When it came time to pay the bill, he began to act like a big shot, picking his teeth with a chicken bone and saying he had no money, only his life.

If that wasn't enough, they could take anything they liked from his body to pay off the debt.

As he spoke, he noticed that the owner's expression was a little strange. The entire room was silent, and he felt a chill in his heart for no reason.

Suddenly, he realized that the owner was so close that he couldn't hear the sound of his breathing. He could only hear his own breathing in the restaurant. Wang Honghe sobered up instantly, his mind going blank. Was he being haunted? Just as he was getting so scared that his limbs were going numb, a man pulled him aside and said that he would pay for the meal.

Then, he dragged Wang Honghe out.

He said with a smile, "You're very bold, daring to eat a free meal in a place like this."

Wang Honghe stiffly turned his head and saw that there were no customers or owners in the restaurant, only a gloomy scene with two lanterns emitting green light, and coffins and wreaths everywhere. He was so scared that his legs gave way, and he couldn't stand. When he came to his senses, he quickly thanked the man.

The man looked him up and down and said:

"You do have some courage. How about working for me?"

"If you succeed, you'll naturally get a lot of money, at least you won't have to eat ghosts' free meals."

After that, the man often contacted Wang Honghe, providing him with good food and drinks every time. Eventually, he asked him to take charge of the Fang family's affairs, promising a large sum of money upon completion. Wang Honghe didn't think much and agreed, obeying every instruction.

………………

After Wang Honghe finished speaking, he lowered his head, his body trembling.

He had encountered a ghost before, but the people he had seen were all normal-looking. Where had he ever seen such fierce-looking beings as the two beside him? At this moment, he regretted why he couldn't just faint. Wei Yuan was thoughtful, realizing that this man had gone to a restaurant in the ghost market.

The man Wang Honghe spoke of was likely the mastermind.

He was the one spreading the bizarre arts of "life-extending" and "undying when one should be dead" within Quan City.

Generally, unorthodox methods were only slightly more cunning in their cultivation paths, like the few eye-opening techniques at the beginning.

They were dangerous and fast-acting, but might have aftereffects.

However, they wouldn't harm others.

But this kind of evil magic required the lives of others during cultivation. Its very existence would harm those around it. Zhang Yue's life-extending method had used his own life to extend his daughter's life. In reality, one could use the lives of others to complete the spell as well.

More than an hour passed before the conversation in the house slowly stopped.

Wei Yuan entered the house and saw that their expressions had softened. Fang Yang's eyes were red, while Fang Hongbo looked complex and satisfied. In his memory, the father and son hadn't had such a good talk in a long time. To have this experience after his son's death was enough to satisfy him.

Wei Yuan sat down, laid his sword across his knees, glanced at Fang Yang, and looked at Fang Hongbo, saying:

"Mr. Fang, would you like to hear a story?"

Fang Hongbo was taken aback, looked at his son, and nodded.

Wei Yuan retold the story of Wang Honghe.

The purpose was to give Fang Hongbo a hint, using it as a foundation to gently awaken him.

Wei Yuan's voice was calm as he spoke.

Fang Yang kept his head down, his hands gripping his knees.

Fang Hongbo's face changed.

Wei Yuan finished the last sentence, looked at Fang Hongbo, and said calmly, "Some people are already dead but don't know it themselves, and must be pointed out by others. Once pointed out, they will truly die."

Before he could continue,

Fang Hongbo suddenly became agitated. The old man stood up abruptly, his eyes wide, and said:

"My son is still alive!"

"He's perfectly healthy, he hasn't died at all!"

With a thud,

Fang Yang knelt on the ground, kowtowing heavily, his voice sounding at the same time as the old man's words:

"Dad, you're already dead!"

"Don't be obsessed any longer!"

ps: In Fang Hongbo's eyes, Fang Yang is dead.

In Fang Yang's eyes, Fang Hongbo is dead~

Thanks to Chi Shu De Bu Zhi Shi Shu Chong for the myriad reward, thank you~