Chapter 169

I still didn't see the female ghost, only Old Qi holding an ancient painting in his left hand and a black umbrella in his right, with a mass of yin qi beneath the umbrella.

I still didn't open my eyes to look at the female ghost's true face. Since she didn't take the initiative to show her face to me, I should respect her wishes. After all, ancient women were very particular, and a woman's face couldn't be shown to strange men casually.

I took the two of them to the village's funeral shop, bought some incense and candles, and paper for making paper offerings, and made a temple for the Well Dragon King.

Old Qi asked me if just a paper temple would be enough.

I said, "A paper temple can indeed provide a place for you two to live, but it won't attract incense offerings for the Well Dragon King. You'll still be under the Well Dragon King's command in the future. If possible, it would be better for you to build a real temple for the Well Dragon King.

"After the wedding, you have seven days left to live. You can arrange things yourself then. If you have money, build a better one; if you don't, build a simpler one. As long as you have the heart, it'll be fine. Anyway, you're all family now, and the Dragon King shouldn't make things too difficult for you."

With everything prepared, I began to invite the Dragon King. The process was very complicated, so I won't go into detail about the process of inviting the Dragon King and the wedding ceremony. Basically, it involved burning incense and candles, burning talismans, praying, and burning paper offerings, similar to shamanistic rituals. In short, after more than two hours of fussing, Old Qi and the female ghost officially became husband and wife.

Old Qi kept his promise and told me that the coffin that drove Qin Shuguang crazy wasn't entrusted to him by tomb robbers, but was dug up by himself.

"Where did you dig it up from?"

"In the mountains behind the village, but not inside a large tomb, but in a broken gully filled with dead branches and fallen leaves."

It turned out that Old Qi had a dream some time ago, in which he saw a long-haired beggar who said he would point Old Qi to a path to wealth.

At first, Old Qi didn't take it seriously and even ridiculed the beggar for being too poor to feed himself, let alone guide others to wealth. If he had such a path, he would have become rich himself, so why would he need to guide others?

But the beggar didn't give up and kept appearing in his dreams every night, leading Old Qi step by step from the village to the edge of that gully, pointing out the specific location and telling Old Qi that the place wasn't far and that there were treasures buried underneath, urging Old Qi to dig the next day.

What kind of person was Old Qi? A lazybones, lazy, greedy, and lecherous. Otherwise, living in an antique village where money came so easily, he wouldn't be so poor that he couldn't even afford a wife. Children in their teens were already buying houses in the provincial capital with their excellent business acumen, while he remained in his impoverished state with bare walls. I don't need to elaborate on how lazy this man was.

Even if there really were treasures in the gully, Old Qi might not be willing to exert himself to dig, let alone that the place didn't look like it was burying any treasures at all.

Old Qi grew up in the antique village and knew what he needed to know. Although he had never personally dug up a tomb, he knew what kind of places might contain tombs. That broken gully was full of rotten leaves, and it would accumulate water during the rainy season. What kind of idiot would build a tomb there? Even if there were good things in the tomb, they would have rotted away long ago. He refused to dig no matter what.

The beggar pleaded with him for several nights, but Old Qi refused to go, which exhausted the beggar's patience. The beggar revealed a fierce expression, glared at Old Qi, and told him that if he refused to dig, he would strangle Old Qi to death right now. If his soul was strangled to death in a dream, his body would also die. Even if he didn't die, he would become an idiot.

How awesome was Old Qi? Would he be intimidated by a stinking beggar in a dream? He tossed his head, tilted his eyes forty-five degrees upward, and said directly, "Go ahead and strangle me if you dare. You've entered my dream using dreamwalking. I'm the master of this dream. If you dare to strangle me to death, you'll be trapped in my dream forever. Then this poor gully will be your eternal prison."

"Oh, Grandpa, you even know about dreamwalking? Not simple," I said with a smile.

I wasn't teasing Old Qi; I was genuinely surprised. I had thought that this old man was cunning, lazy, greedy, and lecherous and didn't have any real skills. I didn't expect him to know a thing or two.

Old Qi chuckled, "That's right. Back in the day, my grandfather was a celebrity. Not only would people from the surrounding villages come to him for fortune-telling, but even feng shui masters from half the provincial capital would have to come to our village to ask my grandfather to cast a divination if they encountered something they couldn't solve.

"Sixty years ago, people were already driving cars to see my grandfather for fortune-telling.

"I'm not bragging, but the reason why Antique Village became Antique Village is thanks to my grandfather. Otherwise, why do you think so many people know about this small, broken village in a remote mountain area? It's because there's a Qi the Half-Immortal here.

"Those tomb raiders, wealthy bosses, and knowledgeable feng shui masters would all come to this village to ask my grandfather for fortune-telling. And since my grandfather only saw one guest a day, there would often be many people waiting in the village.

"Since they couldn't just wait around, they would chat with the villagers and ask the other fortune-seekers about their situations. Gradually, the tomb raiders started doing business with the bosses and feng shui masters.

"The bosses bought antiques for collection, the feng shui masters bought antiques to use as magical instruments, and the tomb raiders wanted to sell their goods. It was a perfect match, and they made several good deals. That's when everyone started thinking about this idea.

"However, there were good deals and bad deals. There were those who were scrupulous and those who weren't. There were those who sold fake antiques, those who used fake money, and feng shui masters who played tricks. All sorts of shady tactics emerged. If no one managed things, people would start dying every other day in this village.

"Later, it was my grandfather who stepped forward and set the rules for the antique business in this village and organized the villagers to act as intermediaries, and only then did the business stabilize.

"Tell me, wouldn't you say that my grandfather deserves the greatest credit for the village's success today?"

"Yes, yes," I nodded immediately. "That's right, he certainly deserves the greatest credit. But your grandfather was so capable. Didn't you learn anything from him?"

Old Qi waved his hand carelessly. "I was born to be a carefree person and didn't like that kind of thing. People only live once, no matter how they live. My grandfather was indeed amazing and did many great things, but in the end, he was just a handful of dirt, no different from ordinary people.

"I'm indeed useless, and everyone in the entire village laughs at me for being useless. But what have I lacked in my life compared to others? Everyone says I'm a bachelor, but didn't I just marry a wife now? And I can be with her for a long, long time.

"Did my grandfather, who toiled and strived his whole life, really live a happier life than me?"

"Makes sense!" I cheerfully gave Old Qi a thumbs-up.

Actually, what Old Qi said wasn't wrong. How a person lives their life is their own freedom. As long as they don't harm others, what's wrong with living however they want?

"Grandpa, I know you're no ordinary person, but let's continue talking about that coffin. Did you eventually go to dig up the coffin?"

"I did," Old Qi sighed and said, "That beggar was really not to be trifled with. He actually said that if I didn't dig up the coffin, he would die with me. Even if he was trapped in my dream forever, he would still strangle me to death.

"I thought he was just trying to scare me and didn't take it seriously at all. But that guy was a madman, and he really came up and strangled me, grabbing my neck and refusing to let go. I almost really died.

"Fortunately, Yun Niang realized that something was wrong with me and quickly entered my dream as well, and she managed to drive away that bastard beggar. But Yun Niang was also seriously injured as a result and almost died at the hands of that old beggar.

"The next day, the old beggar entered my dream again, and Yun Niang, disregarding her still unrecovered state, rushed in to save me again, only to be caught by the old beggar.

"The old beggar said that if I refused to dig up the coffin, he would kill Yun Niang, ruining my hard-earned ghost wife.

"There was nothing I could do. Yun Niang had been with me for so long, and she was captured trying to save me, so I couldn't just ignore her. I could only dig at the place the old beggar told me to, and I really dug out a coffin.

"It was just a coffin, nothing else. The coffin was buried directly under the dead branches and fallen leaves, and it came out after a few shovels, as if it had just been buried.

"At the time, I felt that the coffin was strange and unusual, but for Yun Niang's sake, I could only transport the coffin back to the village and then ask the old beggar what to do.

"The beggar said that he kept his word. He had said before that he would point me to a path to wealth, so this coffin must be for me. He told me to just find someone to sell it to, and the money from selling the coffin would all be mine.

"To be honest, I'm not a very money-oriented person. You might not believe me, but I really just went to dig up the coffin to save Yun Niang, not expecting to make money from it.

"The beggar said that after I sold the coffin, he would release Yun Niang. The next day, someone happened to take a fancy to the coffin, so I sold it, and Yun Niang was indeed released.

"However, I hadn't even warmed up the money before it was stolen. But so what if it was stolen? It was just money, something external. As long as Yun Niang was safe.

"That's all I know about the coffin. As for what the person who bought the coffin did with it and what's happening to him now, I don't know."

I said, "I just met that buyer, and he said that the corpse in the coffin had run away, and even the coffin had run away."

"Oh," Old Qi replied casually, seemingly uninterested in these things.

I asked Old Qi one last time about the specific location where he dug up the coffin before leaving.

Old Qi dreamed of a beggar, and Mi Tianying was also a beggar. Could the beggar that Old Qi dreamed of be Mi Tianying? It was very likely.

Judging from Mi Tianying's various bizarre actions, he really seemed like an old immortal who had crawled out of an ancient tomb. But who put his coffin in that gully?

I went to the gully where Old Qi dug up the coffin. Old Qi was right; that place wasn't a tomb. The coffin should have been placed there in the last few years, but the gully often accumulated water, so there weren't many traces left from that time.

I had to find the coffin. The coffin belonged to Mi Tianying, and Mi Tianying told Little Candle Dragon through Mei Gu that he couldn't kill Xuan cultivators. And it was this sentence, "can't kill Xuan cultivators," that ultimately led to Little Candle Dragon being struck to death by lightning.

Did Mi Tianying come out of the coffin to collect Little Candle Dragon?

I stood in front of the pile of dead branches and fallen leaves, trying my best to integrate the various clues in my mind.

"Do you think you can understand the truth of things just by standing there?" A man's voice came from the hillside opposite.

I looked up and saw a tall, strong, but ragged, long-haired man. His attire did resemble a beggar, but his aura didn't resemble a beggar's at all.

"Mi Tianying?"

"That's right, I am Mi Tianying."

"You crawled out of the coffin, killed Little Candle Dragon, and drove Qin Shuguang crazy?" I asked directly.

"That's right, I did it all."

"Why did you do this? Where did you come from? Why do I feel like you don't belong to this world at all?"

"Your feeling is correct. I am indeed not a mortal. Although I also have a physical body similar to yours and will have a corpse after death, I am not a human. I am the Great God Mi Tian."

I was stunned. "You came from the Mi Tian Realm? Are you a descendant of the Mi Tian Clan?"

"That's right."

"Did you guys organize this ranking competition for the struggle for fortune? What exactly are you trying to do?"

"If you want to know what we're trying to do, why don't you just come to the Mi Tian Realm? As long as you can bring the other nine strongest people into the Mi Tian Realm, I will give you all the answers you want."

"What if I don't?"

"Many things are beyond your control. You can refuse to participate, but you can't stop others from participating. I can tell you frankly that if you don't referee or if the people selected during the refereeing process are not truly strong, then blood will flow like a river during the ranking competition.

"You may not value the fortune offered by the Mi Tian Realm, but there will always be those who do, and there is more than just one or two who value the Mi Tian Realm's fortune. If you don't participate in this game, then you can wait for the entire Xuan sect to be completely rebuilt."

I stared straight at Mi Tianying, not answering his words. I also didn't take the initiative to attack him. It was pointless. The one on the opposite hillside was just a phantom. Mi Tianying's true body should still be in the Mi Tian Realm. Attacking a phantom was meaningless.

Things had reached this point, so there was no need to investigate anything further. All of this was caused by those guys in the Mi Tian Realm. If I wanted to know what tricks they were playing, I could only go to the Mi Tian Realm in person.

I went back to the village to see Qin Shuguang. Qin Shuguang was still in that half-crazy state.

Mi Tianying probably didn't intend to have me as the referee at first. He was planning to find Qin Shuguang. However, Qin Shuguang had been in charge of the Feng Shui Hall for so many years, so he definitely wasn't brainless. He quickly realized that something was wrong, so he began to resist Mi Tianying.

After Mi Tianying's deceptive methods proved ineffective, he directly controlled Qin Shuguang using technical means. However, Mi Tianying didn't come in his true body after all, and Qin Shuguang's willpower was very strong, so they couldn't really operate Qin Shuguang as a puppet. That's why he was in that crazy state, sometimes being manipulated to say things against his will and sometimes regaining consciousness and overturning everything he had said before.

If I insist on withdrawing, Qin Shuguang is my role model.