I wanted to get up, b

ut

 my body couldn’t 

muster

 any 

strength. My

 limps sh

ook 

continuously. 

The bony old man came from behind me. He stomped his rubber boot on my head

. He sounded angry

. “Little boy, so many people stronger than you 

have come here.

 They 

are

 all gone, you know? 

Did you think you were better than

 them?” 

“I… I just want to find something… I’m sorry if I

’ve

 offended you…” Since I was still shivering hard, my voice was intermittent. 

I tried my best to prove that I didn’t mean harm. At the same time, I wanted to seize more time

. 

I wanted to know why the people in Dragon King Village were so xenophobic. 

“Find something?” The old man pressed his boot harder against my head. I thought my head would burst soon. I 

felt like I was

 suffocat

ing

. 

After a moment, he removed his foot 

and turned

 to pick up the Holy Mother Scepter. He stroked the 

s

cepte

r and smiled

. “What a good treasur

e. I

t’s a waste in your hands!” 

Then, he 

shouted

 and 

raised

 the Holy Mother Scepter high in the air

, aiming it 

at my head! 

If he hit me, my head would 

burst like

 a watermelon. The strong urge t

o 

surviv

e 

hit me. I wiggled and successfully dodged the 

deadly

 attack. The Holy Mother Scepter hit my shoulder. My upper body went numb instantly. I vomited a mouthful of blood one more time. 

“

Screw

 you!” I cursed with blood

 in my

 mouth. I 

thought

 the old man in front of me 

was crazy

. He didn’t even give me a chance to talk

; h

e just 

wanted to kill

 me. The bony

old man’s eyes turned red 

at

 that moment. He screamed, “You

’re

courting

 death!” 

Then, he spun the Holy Mother Scepter and hit me one more time. The last dodge had used the last bit of my strength. I could only close my eyes and wait for my 

end

. 

At the moment my life was at stake, I heard the sound 

of a

 long sword 

being

 drawn out of its sheath. Then, I saw Chuyi coming from the dark with a hiss of his sword.

I opened my eyes and saw Chuyi stopping the Holy Mother Scepter with his eight-faceted Han sword. 

At this

 moment, he was parrying with the old man. 

However, i

t was strange that they 

remained

 in that parrying position for quite a long moment. No one had taken the initiative to attack first. 

Chuyi was standing with his back facing me. I didn’t see his face, but I could see the old man’s countenance. He seemed to have complicated feelings toward Chuyi. Although he still wore a harsh, brutal face, his eyes showed his hesitation. 

They stood like that for a few solid minutes. The bony old man turned and left. When he completely disappeared into the dark, his voice 

arose.

 “Take this kid and leave. I’ll spare your lives today for Yingying’s sake. But it’s the last time!” 

It seemed h

e was talking to Chuyi. Moreover, I didn’t have any connection with someone named Yingying.

I felt curious

. 

I linked this name to Chuyi’s beloved person who had died in this village. 

“Are you all right?” 

Chuyi helped me get up. He hurriedly pressed the acupoints in my limbs. In the end, I 

was able to

 stop myself from shaking uncontrollably. I shook my head 

and gave

 a wry smile to show that I was okay.

“Where 

did

 you go?” I asked Chuyi. 

“I followed him for quite a long time and saw 

him disappear

 into the river. I recognized that we were trapped in an illusion, so I hurried to come back here. Fortunately, I 

wasn’t too late,

” Chuyi said while squeezing water 

out of

 his clothes

. He

 sigh

ed

. “Let’s go! 

We should leave b

efore that old man changes his mind.” 

When Chuyi 

said

 that, I recognized the surroundings had completely changed. It seemed the old man had lifted his illusional technique. 

On the way back, I thought

,

Even

 Chuyi was wary of that old man, just who 

is

 he

?

“He is… my father-in-law.” 

Before I 

could

ask

 him, Chuyi spoke up. Then, with 

red-rimmed

 eyes, he started to tell me his story. 

Yingying was that old man’s daughter and also Chuyi’s love

r

. 

It was unknown why 

the people

in 

Dragon King Village 

were

 so xenophobic

 and

 hated outsiders. Yingying 

quickly grew to be

 a powerful hotshot under her father’s training. She was strong enough to kill all the intruders 

that came here

. 

Yingying and Chuyi had fought once when Chuyi came here to investigate the deaths of 

some

 people. Unfortunately, they later fell in love. 

T

hey thought that their bond could persuade the bony old man. Unexpectedly, the old man thundered

 and asked 

Yingying to kill Chuyi. 

The couple was helpless

. They left 

Dragon King Village. After a long time, Yingying thought that time would melt her father’s 

anger

. 

However,

 the old man stayed 

firm

. He forced her to kill Chuyi. In the end, Yingying was broken mentally. She decided to kill herself instead… 

After Yingying’s death, the old man 

felt great regret

. However, he was 

so

 extreme that he blamed the death of his daughter on Chuyi. 

P

erhaps it was because of his love for his late daughter that he

’

d let Chuyi go now. 

Still

, they had maintained this kind of grudge against each other. 

Chuyi sighed

 and said, 

“

T

ell me, should I kill him? He indirectly killed the woman I loved the most,

 b

ut he’s her blood father.” 

“I’m so sorry…” 

Ever since we had come to this village, I felt that something was wrong with Chuyi. I had thought about many possibilities but this

…

Moreover, this issue included the grudge of his wife’s death and the blood bond of the family. 

Besides

 staying quiet, I couldn’t do anything else. I felt so sorry for the man. Although I always considered 

him as my

 brother, I knew he was more similar to 

Senior Shu 

and Zen Master 

Baimei

. They were from my senior generation. That

 was

 why I 

couldn't understand

 why he didn’t have a family. And now, I finally 

knew

. 

After quite a long time, Chuyi got a hold of himself. He spoke faintly, “Jiulin, I’m so sorry

.

 I can’t attack that old man. Even if he’s evil, he’s my father-in-law.” 

“It’s okay. We should look somewhere else. I believe we’ll 

find the water

 nymph’s 

tears

.” 

Before Chuyi continued talking, I 

intervened to show 

that it was all right. 

Still

, my heart

 winced

. Yin Xinyue was waiting for 

me at home

. What should I tell her if I couldn

’t 

find the water nymph’s 

tears

? 

But, h

ow could I force Chuyi!? He had done a lot for me! 

I now understood why Chuyi had been so careful this time. He wanted to sneak behind his father-in-law’s back to get the mermaid’s 

tears

. Unexpectedly, the old man had 

noticed us,

 setting 

up a

 trap for us to step in. 

He’d seen through o

ur operation tonight. Moreover, the old man had made himself clear that he 

would only spare

 us this time. If we encountered him the next time, it would be a death or life situation. 

I thought then said, “Chuyi, 

how about we

 ask Zen Master 

Baimei

? He 

is knowledgeable across a vast number of topics. 

Perhaps he 

knows

 something about the water nymph’s 

tears

.” 

Chuyi wasn’t a pretentious person. He didn’t want to linger 

and gave 

me a confirming nod. 

“I’m tired. We should sleep here tonight.” 

When we got 

in

 the car, Chuyi didn’t drive right away. He suggested 

spending

 the night here. I was aching all over, so I didn’t have any objections. I la

id

 on the back seats

 and soon fell 

asleep. 

While sleeping, I suddenly heard Yin Xinyue crying. I opened my eyes and saw Yin Xinyue wearing mourning clothes with a gauze hat on her head.

She was kneeling in front of a bed, crying her heart out. 

My in-laws were lying on 

a

 bed

. T

heir faces were pale

, and t

heir pupils

dilated. They were dead! 

I didn’t expect that they would leave this world so 

quickly

. 

I a

bsent-mindedly

walked toward Yin Xinyue

 and tried 

to comfort her. She pushed me away

 and shouted 

at my face

. Her

 voice 

was cracking

 in pain. “Zhang Jiulin, you’re a swindler! A

n 

evil swindler!” 

Each word 

of her

 stabbed into my heart. I gritted my teeth and tried to embrace her. Yin Xinyue suddenly grabbed a pair of scissors nearby

 and

 directly 

stabbed

 her own throat. 

Her w

arm blood splashed on my face. 

“Yin Xinyue, noooo!” 

I screamed and ran to support her. Suddenly, my head banged into something. 

I lifted my head and saw that I had just hit the roof of the car. I was still in the car.

I exh

aled in relief when I realized i

t was just a horrible nightmare. While wiping the cold sweat 

off

 my forehead, I subconsciously turned to look at the window. I was scared out of 

my wits to see

 Yin Xinyue standing outside

. She looked so pale; she looked 

at me with her blank eyes. 

I instinctively opened the door, but it was locked. I called Chuyi to 

unlock it

. But when I turned to the 

driver’s

 seat, there was no one. 

“What the heck is going on?” 

Doubtfully, I took out my phone to call him 

until 

I saw the message he had sent me. 

The message wrote 

that he went out to solve 

a

 problem and that he had locked me inside to protect me. He also carefully advised that the ghosts here were powerful enough to enter my dreams. No matter what I 

saw

 in my dream, I shouldn’t believe 

it to be

 true. 

After reading the message, my head buzzed. 

N

o wonder I had dreamed 

about my

 parents d

ying

 and Yin Xinyue kill

ing

 herself! 

A ghost had messed with

 my dream! 

I looked at the ghost outside

 and sneered 

inwardly. I quietly took out a medium spiritual talisman

 and held 

it in my palm. My head motioned toward 

the ghost who had taken on Yin Xinyue’s form.

 I waved at her as though I wanted to talk. When she came near the window, I suddenly palmed the talisman on the window! 

The ghost turned back to its original form. Frightened, it wanted to flee. 

B

ut Chuyi’s medium talisman was intimidating enough. In just 

the

 blink of an eye, its gold light swallowed the ghost. 

“

I feel like

a

 tiger who got 

bullied

 by stray dogs!” I couldn’t help but curse. No matter what, I had experienced enough. And now, while looking for the mermaid’s 

tears

, a little ghost 

was

 able to tease me! 

Although Chuyi didn’t tell me what he was going to do via his text, I knew he was exerting his last effort for me. It was inevitable that he had to leave me in the car

. T

he old man could spare him at the critical moment, but I was sure he wouldn’t let me 

stay

 alive!