I scanned the room and saw that Gold-toothed and Qin Sisi were lying on the ground, still unconscious. 

When I saw him, I remembered that Gold-toothed had almost killed us just now. If I didn’t have this wound on my thigh, I would have rushed toward him and strangled him. 

“Help me!” Li Mazi screamed for help. I turned my head and saw that the lavishly carved wooden door was cracked. The sword’s blade had followed the crack and was looming above Li Mazi’s head. If it weren’t for the couch that stopped the blade, Li Mazi’s head would have been cut in half. 

The smell of piss exuded from Li Mazi. Our fellow had wet himself due to the fright. 

The door wasn’t going to block him for long. Soon after, we smelled the ether. The smell got into the room through the cracks in the door.

I called Li Mazi, “Li Mazi, watch out! The ether’s getting into the room!” 

Li Mazi was frightened. “What should we do? This fellow will break the door soon. Damn, I’m starting to feel dizzy.”

“Urine can detoxify it.” I had read this theory on the internet, but I didn’t know if it would work. However, at this moment, we had no other option. We could only use the dead horse as a living one. 

“Urine… I just pissed myself. Let me borrow some of yours!” Li Mazi cried. 

Qin Minghao’s Thunder Sword hacked the door again. The door now had a cross-shaped crack in it. One of his arms had also reached into the room. Li Mazi helplessly had to carry the vanity that was next to him over his head to fend off the attack. 

I didn’t have anything to lose, so I pulled and crumpled the bedsheet, peeing on it. After I was done, I threw it to Li Mazi. 

Li Mazi wasn’t afraid of hygiene and directly shoved the fabric into his mouth. The scene was so disgusting that I almost vomited.

However, it wouldn’t work for long; we had to escape. I glanced at the window. We could only jump from there.

I crawled toward Gold-toothed and Qin Sisi then slapped their faces to wake them up.

Although Gold-toothed had almost gotten us killed, I couldn’t just watch him die. No matter what, I was the one who had dragged him into this mess. 

When Gold-toothed was awakened, he was dumbstruck and looked around in a daze. Eventually, he hissed, “Oh shoot, what’s going on? Who chopped the door?” 

I was enraged and kicked him. “Stop pretending to be dumb! Why didn’t you open the door for me?” 

“The door? What door?” Gold-toothed looked dumbstruck. “Young Master, you can’t blame me. I’ve always done what you have told me to do.” 

Li Mazi still had the piss-stained bedsheet in his mouth but managed to talk. “It seemed like Gold-toothed was possessed at the time. He suddenly jumped on me. Little Brother Zhang, I think you suffer from excessive internal heat these days. Your piss smells terrible.” 

Since I saw that Li Mazi couldn’t endure it anymore, I went over to help him and pushed the sofa. “Listen to me. You guys should seize the time and jump through the window! If he gets in here, nobody can escape!” 

Gold-toothed didn’t think much. He jerked up, grabbed Qin Sisi, and ran toward the window to jump down. 

However, as soon as he came to the window, he was stunned. He gazed at something below and stayed still. 

Qin Minghao’s Thunders Sword slashed the door one more time. This time, the door had almost collapsed. The man’s intimidating face poked through and watched the panicked people in the room.

We didn’t have time to linger; we had to go!

I screamed, “Gold-toothed, why are you still here? If you want to die, just die by yourself!”

Gold-toothed quickly returned. He grabbed a stool and pounded it at Qin Minghao’s head. Then he yelled, “Young Master, y-you’d better go and see for yourself.” 

I knew that Gold-toothed had a reason for saying that, so I cautiously went to the window. I needed to see the situation down there. 

When my eyes saw the things underneath, I was dumbstruck. 

There was a horde of people that stood outside the window. There were around thirty of them. It was horrifyingly strange that they were all headless. There was nothing above their necks. They all wore armor and were drenched, with water dripping from their bodies. They were scurrying over the grass as if they were searching for something.

We were caught between a rock and a hard place.

I cursed under my breath, realizing that I had been too careless while dealing with Mr. Qin. I didn’t expect that he would borrow a knife to kill us.

Mr. Qin was a scary person. 

I turned to see if Qin Sisi was scared out of her wits, but her appearance made me doubt my worldview.

She looked really calm, and I didn’t see any trace of fear across her face. Her bright eyes watched the bunch of ghosts below. It seemed like she was contemplating something.

I was bewildered for a while. Then, I panicked. Qin Sisi’s bravery was not normal. Was she possessed too?

This thought of mine scared me. Subconsciously, I moved away from Qin Sisi to take a better view of her. 

Her bright eyes gazed down. Except for her somewhat stunned face, she didn’t look strange. There were no signs of possession. 

Strange, what happened to her? 

Li Mazi and Gold-toothed couldn’t hold it anymore. They screamed and asked why I was standing dumbstruck instead of finding a solution. 

Right after, I heard Gold-toothed shriek. I turned and saw a horrible cut on his arm, and blood was gushing out. 

Also, half of Qin Minghao’s body had gotten through the broken door. He was wiggling around and trying to get into the room. If the other two didn’t use a big table to push him out, Qin Minghao could have jumped in and killed all of us already.

I didn’t have time to consider if Qin Sisi was possessed or not. I walked forward and shook her shoulders. “Hey, wake up! Is this the time to be daydreaming?!” 

Unexpectedly, it worked. Qin Sisi lowered her head and asked, “What are you doing?” 

“What can I even do? Take the chance and save yourself. Don’t you see that your father’s going to mince us and make dumplings out of our meat?”

Qin Sisi glanced at the door. She finally returned to her senses. “I’m sorry. I just dozed off.” 

“Dozed off?” I almost choked on my saliva. I had to cough in order to clear my throat. “I really can’t tell if you’re smart or stupid.” 

Li Mazi exclaimed, “This young miss is really something!” 

Qin Sisi asked, “Why don’t you ask me what I just saw in my dream?”

“Miss, we don’t have the time. If I asked you about your dream, I guess we would all be doomed. Quickly, take the chance and escape through the window!”

“No, I think you must listen to me. I’ll tell you what I saw in the dream.” Qin Sisi looked at me, her eyes stern. “I saw a strange old man.”

“A strange old man...” I couldn’t help but shudder. I turned to look at Qin Sisi. “You mean… The strange old man who came here and helped your family solve the paranormal activities fifteen years ago?”

“Yeah.” Qin Sisi nodded and said, “That old man said that he was your grandfather.” 

I was so excited that my body shivered. “What did he tell you? That wasn’t a dream. My grandfather was communicating with you through his spirit…”

Li Mazi and Gold-toothed couldn’t resist it anymore. They cried unceasingly. “Brother, you can talk later! We can’t put up with him any longer.” 

I bellowed, “Don’t give up! We’ll be done right away!”

Then, I turned to Qin Sisi. “What did my grandpa tell you?”

“Your grandfather asked me to tell you that fifteen years ago, he set up the Seven Fiend Soul Locking Formation. It still can work, but someone has messed it up. As long as you can repair the formation, it can subdue Xiang Yu’s soul,” Qin Sisi said. 

“The Seven Fiend Soul Locking Formation…” The familiar terms lingered in my head. Subconsciously, some images began to resurface in my brain. 

After the rain, a rainbow appeared on the horizon. A bored teenager sat at the door. In front of him was a big puddle of rainwater. His bright, yearning eyes looked into a far distance. 

He was waiting for his grandfather, the only family he had, to come home and give him a little surprise.

He lived with his grandpa. Every day, his grandpa would go to the mountain to find herbs. It was their family’s livelihood. When he came back, he would bring home a wild animal. Enjoying his grandpa’s wild treat was the teenager’s happiest moment of the day.

Eventually, he heard footsteps at the gate. The boy smiled with happiness. He threw the pencil he was playing with and hurried to welcome his grandfather.

The bony old man gave the boy the wild animal he had trapped. It could be a pheasant, a rabbit, and when he was lucky, he could even trap a deer. That was why the teenager was fed healthily even though they lived in a rural, remote village.

While the old man was cooking, he would lovingly watch his grandson. This grandson of his was the only hope he had in his life.

“Hey grandson, do you want to eat deer meat?” 

“Of course I do,” the teenager answered. 

“Good, then. I’ll teach you an incantation. If you can learn it, I’ll let you eat this roasted deer meat.” 

“Grandpa, why are you so stingy? Why do I have to learn an incantation to eat roasted meat? It’s not like I’m going to take an exam!” 

“You have to learn at school to ensure that you make a decent living. As for these incantations, you have to learn them to ensure your life.” The old man smiled and said, “Come, read after me… High power in the stars. Adapt to nonstop changes. Expel the evil, bind the demon. Save a life and protect the body!”

Although the teenager didn’t know why his grandfather was trying to teach him the incantation, in order to eat the roast meat, he earnestly repeated after the old man. 

Almost every day, the teenager had to read and learn those obscure incantations until they were carved deeply in his head. Then, his grandpa would teach him new ones. The teenager was taught roughly one thousand incantations, and he remembered every single one of them. He wouldn’t forget them for the rest of his life. However, until now, he didn’t know how they worked or how to use them.

The boy didn’t understand why his grandfather had done this, but today, he finally did...

That teenager was me, and the old man was my grandfather!