The rich woman sniggered. “You surprised me. I thought you guys were just a bunch of hoaxers, but you do have some skills. I’m always fond of talent... How about we join hands?”

I sneered. “Is this your way to make an invitation?” 

“Well, your friend is with me, so you don’t get to choose! You must help me, either by snatching the company’s equity transfer contract or getting my husband back. Otherwise, just come and pick your friend’s dead body.” 

“I want to hear his voice.” 

“Hold on.” 

Then, I was able to hear Li Mazi crying for help on the other end. However, he was muted after crying for a short moment.

The rich woman said, “Don’t worry! I will give him good food and ask my people to serve him well. You should also rest well in the villa tonight. A grandmaster will be visiting you tomorrow, to offer help.” 

“Why are you doing this?” I didn’t really understand. 

“You tell me, what can a woman do when she’s being forced like this? I’m doing this for my children. I won’t receive a dime if I do nothing!” The rich woman talked through her gritted teeth. 

I found another meaning behind her words, but she didn’t give me a chance to ask further; she directly hung up the call. 

I straight up cursed eighteen generations of her family. The Daoist boy said, “Brother Chuyi also asked me to tell you that you are being watched. You must be careful. I will come to see you at around ten o’clock.”

He gave me a charm that was folded into a triangle and asked me to keep it with me at all times.

After that, the Daoist boy walked toward the door and disappeared into thin air.

“That woman is really disgusting. Resorting to such despicable means.” Yin Xinyue sounded angry.

“Don’t let Ru Xue and Li Meng find out about this. We should think of a way to save Li Mazi.” I sighed. 

“I understand. Do you have any ideas?” asked Yin Xinyue.

I shook my head, then I stood up and checked outside. I saw many men wearing black suits walking back and forth; they were the woman’s guards we had seen before.

As we had nothing to do, we sat on the sofa and watched TV, but we still couldn’t calm down. At around eight o’clock, the lights in the villa suddenly started flashing. We heard people screaming until their voices grew hoarse outside. “There's a ghost! Help me!”

“What happened?” Yin Xinyue was worried. 

“It’s okay. I guess Chuyi did that,” I answered. 

The Daoist boy entered the living room through the wall and said with his childish voice, “Brother Chuyi is using his magic power over there. He said that you should play along.”

Oh, so it’s a show for Shen Hongbin and the rich woman...

I didn’t have anything good enough to use, so I had to improvise. I dipped a handkerchief in the useless swine blood the rich woman had sent me and used it to write a big formation on the ground. Then, we heard people banging on the door; I asked Yin Xinyue to open it. The Daoist boy disappeared right when the door was opened.

The bodyguards stormed into the room with pale faces. They begged, “Grandmaster, please save us!” Although they were well-trained, they were just ordinary people. Seeing supernatural stuff was too much for them. 

“Calm down and sit cross-legged close to the edge of the formation.” Then, I told them to start mumbling some spells. Of course, I was just trying to fool them. After pretending for a while, the Daoist boy’s voice echoed in my ears. “Now’s the time. You should find an excuse to go out, then head East…” 

The lights stopped flashing after that. I walked to the window and looked outside as I said to the bodyguards, “It’s all right now. I’ve sent those wandering ghosts away.”

They were all quite grateful. I told them to stay put before they could get up. “Do you know about the person who sent the ghosts here?” 

They shook their heads. 

I tried to scare them. “He’s not any ordinary man. My strength is just enough to resist for a while. What you witnessed earlier was just a warm welcome. He’ll send more powerful ghosts later. You’re likely to die if you don’t listen to me.”

The bodyguards were too scared; they quickly nodded in agreement. “No matter what you want us to do, we will try our best.”

“I have to go out to prepare some materials. Or else, we’ll all be doomed.” Then, I headed to the door. 

A trembling bodyguard stopped me. “No, Mrs. Shen said that you can’t step outside this villa.”

“Do you want to die that much?”

They hesitated, opting to call the rich woman to let her know. I heard her voice bellowing through the phone, “Bunch of scumbags! Give him the phone!”

The woman sounded furious when I took the call. “I’m warning you, don’t try any tricks. Your friend is still in my hands.”

“What tricks could I possibly play? That grandmaster from Hong Kong wants to kill us, and I have to be ready. We had a recent encounter, and I could tell that his strength is incredible. I’m not trying to scare you, but if I die, you’ll be his next target.”

“I dare him!” I could hear the woman grinding her teeth. Eventually, she said, “What do you want to do now?” 

“I’m going to my shop to pick up some tools. I promise I’ll come back immediately.”

“Okay, but the girl has to stay!” The woman compromised.

I gave the phone back to the bodyguard, then I asked Yin Xinyue to take care before I went out alone.

I headed East after leaving the villa. My jacket suddenly swelled when I reached a three-way junction. The head of the Daoist boy protruded from my chest and pointed with his finger. “Go this way.” 

“How are you able to come out of me like this?” I was a little startled.

“I’ve always been with you!” 

I understood it was thanks to the charm Chuyi had given me. This little Daoist boy was a ghost he kept. In normal conditions, the ghost could only be around Chuyi; he would need some tool to take shelter if he needed to move further away. That triangular charm was an example.

It was incredible that the boy was with me all this time, but I didn’t even feel a bit of his weight. I thought I should also keep a little ghost like this. It would be very useful to show the way, to send messages, and he could entertain me if I got bored.

I soon arrived at a park; no shadows were being projected at this late hour. The Daoist boy kept showing me the way until I reached an artificial lake. Chuyi was standing there, facing the lake as if he was enjoying the rippling water under the moonlight. I greeted him, and he replied with a nod. The Daoist boy in my chest disappeared.

“Why are you here? And, why are you working for Shen Hongbin?” I asked. 

“It’s a long story.” 

He picked up a stone and threw it into the lake, creating some ripples. Then, he told me the story from the beginning.

There had been a recent series of mysterious murder cases in Hong Kong. Chuyi had a feeling that there was some otherworldly item behind this. He started to investigate and eventually found an antique merchant. However, he was a step late since the latter had already sold the otherworldly item to an oil tycoon’s wife in the Mainland. It was the rich woman.

The Red Barbarian Cannon wasn’t an intimidating otherworldly item in the beginning. However, someone had turned it into a ‘refined device.’ The victims in Hong Kong were the offerings made to create it. That was why Chuyi couldn’t leave this otherworldly item unchecked.

He followed the traces to this place and ended accepting Shen Hongbin’s deal to facilitate this operation.

I had read about ‘refined devices’ in my grandpa’s journal. To produce such a device, one had to use an evil technique to create a master-slave bond between the user and the otherworldly item. However, this technique had been long lost.

Otherworldly items would normally have their limitations when harming people. For example, some items hated ungrateful men, while others just wanted to scare people at midnight for fun. But when people controlled them, they would become killing machines like that Red Barbarian Cannon.

I was quite surprised to learn that some people nowadays still knew how to create a refined device.