Chapter 29

Ke Wangwei wiped his sweat. 'The man in the painting is my childhood brother, Li Er.'

'Before I made my fortune, I spent every day with him,' Ke Wangwei said. 'He was like my own brother — we shared everything, spent money together, shared hardships together. When we were seventeen or eighteen, we met a friend who robbed tombs by chance, and we started doing this work...'

Digging up graves, finding valuables, selling them off.

'But one time, we had an accident in the tomb, he didn't make it back,' Ke Wangwei wiped his tears. 'I was the only one who came back. After that I never went into a tomb again — I used my old savings to start a business... In the blink of an eye, it's been almost twenty years.'

So much time had passed that he'd even forgotten what happened, forgotten the silhouette in the painting.

Feng Li frowned. 'Is that all?'

Ke Wangwei nodded.

Feng Li asked, 'What did you do to wrong him?'

Ke Wangwei hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth. 'The money from selling the things we brought out of the tomb back then — I took it all for myself. Didn't leave a single cent for his family.'

Ke Hetang couldn't believe it. 'Dad, how could you...'

'Shut up!' Ke Wangwei snapped harshly. 'Without that money, how could you have the life you have now!'

After speaking, his face changed. He forced a smile and asked, 'Master Feng, you said I'd die in half a month — what's going on?'

Feng Li said calmly, 'This Human-Skin Paper is tainted with Livid Ghost Qi. He's come to take revenge on you. The painting has already affected you — made you neither man nor ghost. In the end, however he died, that's how you'll die.'

Jiang Luo heard this. His peripheral vision caught the scratch marks on Ke Wangwei's arm.

According to his wife and son, Ke Wangwei scratched at his own skin savagely. Would he end up like the Human-Skin Paper — peeling off his own hide?

Ke Wangwei was definitely lying.

Fear flickered across Ke Wangwei's face. 'Master Feng, what should we do?'

'Every debt has its debtor. He's already become a Livid Ghost — the only way is Transcendence,' Feng Li said. 'But before the Transcendence, you must apologize to him and compensate what he's owed. Since you used his money to build your current business, give half your property to his family. Then find a feng shui treasure spot for his remains as a Yin residence.'

Half?!

Ke Wangwei's face showed the pain of parting with wealth. 'Master Feng, this...'

Feng Li: 'Your life or your money?'

Ke Wangwei took a deep breath. 'Fine. I'll give him half my property.'

Ke Wangwei did what he said he'd do. He immediately called his lawyer and Assistant, afraid that if he delayed, Feng Li would stop caring about this matter.

Soon, Ke Wangwei finished signing the contract. His face twitched with pain. He came to Feng Li and said, 'Master Feng, the property matter is done. Is this alright now?'

Feng Li nodded lightly. 'I'll perform the Transcendence ritual. When you apologize, you must kowtow three times to beg his forgiveness.'

Ke Wangwei nodded quickly. 'Yes, yes, yes. Thank you, Master Feng.'

Feng Li told his disciples to prepare the ritual items. Only Jiang Luo, who had brought nothing, was left alone behind him.

Feng Li looked at the black-haired youth.

The black-haired youth had clearly left in a hurry — his hair still creased from sleep. His face was thoughtful; the beauty his features brought was settled by contemplation, giving him a classical elegance that matched Feng Li's Tang suit.

Feng Li saw what he was thinking. 'What do you want to ask?'

Jiang Luo raised his eyes to look at him, curious. 'Master Feng, do you believe what he said?'

Feng Li said coldly, 'No need to know if he told the truth or lies. If he lied, he must bear the consequences of his lies.'

This original novel's male lead was more formidable and cold-blooded than Jiang Luo had imagined. Jiang Luo understood. 'I understand.'

Half an hour later, the ritual items were prepared.

Ke Wangwei's nervousness was visible to the naked eye. He kept wiping the sweat from his head, waiting for Feng Li's ritual. 'Master Feng, I just kowtow three times and it's fine?'

Feng Li said, 'Mm.'

He stood three incense sticks in the burner. The smoke rose in curls — but after reaching a certain height, it actually sank downward, gathering in a white porcelain bowl.

Feng Li used a chopstick to slowly stir the white mist in the bowl. The white mist gradually condensed into clear water; the clear water turned blood red.

The blood was thick and viscous. Until the chopstick could pull it into long threads, Feng Li put down the chopstick and placed a talisman paper folded into a triangle into the bowl.

The talisman paper ignited the moment it entered the bowl, burning the red water to nothing.

Only then did Feng Li say, 'Kowtow and apologize.'

Ke Wangwei exhaled in relief, kowtowed decisively. 'Li Er, brother wronged you. Brother will give half his money to your parents, will treat your father and mother like my own. Brother will find you a good Yin residence for burial. Please, forgive brother.'

While he was kowtowing and speaking, the three burning incense sticks suddenly snapped in the middle. Jiang Luo instinctively looked at the Human-Skin Paper, only to see the shadow beneath the man's feet in the painting constantly writhing, bulging up in lumps — as if something was about to break out of the painting.

Ke Wangwei noticed nothing, continued, 'What happened back then was my fault. I really know I was wrong. For the sake of us growing up together, spare my life.'

Before his words fell, three strands of Black Mist suddenly burst from the shadow, tightly binding themselves around Ke Wangwei's body.

But no one seemed to see this, including Ke Wangwei himself. After he finished apologizing and saw nothing happened, he was the first to relax. His spirit was good, but his body was inexplicably exhausted and weak. Ke Wangwei carefully looked at Feng Li. 'Master Feng, this?'

Feng Li looked at the three malicious ghosts with heavy resentment clinging to his body, said coldly, 'Your life — I cannot save.'

After speaking, Feng Li said to his disciples, 'Let's go.'

Though the disciples didn't understand, they decisively followed Feng Li, preparing to leave. Huang Yulan's lips trembled. She didn't dare stop Feng Li, tears streaming, crying miserably. 'Master Feng, how can you not save him?'

Ke Hetang's face was deathly pale, trembling. 'Master Feng...'

Feng Li paused, turned his head to look at Ke Wangwei behind him who still didn't know what was happening. 'What he said wasn't the truth. Who else could be expected to save him?'

He didn't want to deal with this anymore, his steps to leave were resolute. Ke Wangwei shuddered all over, suddenly shouted loudly, 'Master Feng, if I die your reputation will be ruined too! You promised to save me, but you still couldn't. If I really die, your Feng Clan won't be fine either!'

After speaking he suddenly began to beg again, 'Master Feng, I don't want to die. Please save me. I'm willing to give you my remaining half of the property — donate it is fine too.'

Feng Li's eyes went cold.

He suddenly gave a cold laugh, turned around and said, 'Fine. I'll save you. But everything you did back then — you must say it all, every detail.'

Ke Wangwei's lips moved for a moment, then he collapsed to the ground in despair.

When Ke Wangwei used to go into tombs with his good brother Li Er, because they didn't have enough hands, he went back to the village and lured away three farm men who had never been in a tomb before.

Those three farm men thought Ke Wangwei was taking them to the city to work and earn big money. They followed Ke Wangwei out of the village without a doubt. Ke Wangwei tricked them that city people liked things from underground, and tricked them into the tomb.

They were also very lucky — the tomb they robbed actually had valuables. One haul was more than what Ke Wangwei and Li Er had gathered in years. Ke Wangwei had evil thoughts, and at the end, heartlessly, he left those three farm men in the tomb, blocked up the tomb entrance, so he wouldn't have to share any money with them.

Li Er was uneasy about this. Before leaving the tomb he kept muttering that they'd be revenged on by Livid Ghosts. Ke Wangwei was also spooked by his muttering, so he specifically went to find a Daoist, wanting to know how to prevent malicious ghosts from taking revenge.

Coincidentally, the Daoist he asked was a rather sinister one. That Daoist told him, the three farm men could survive a few more days by eating cockroaches and bugs in the tomb, but the bugs in the tomb were Yin-corrupted, and the tomb itself was a place with extremely heavy Yin Qi — Yin upon Yin, the three would definitely transform into Livid Ghosts.

If he wanted to avoid their revenge, he had to seal away the Livid Ghosts the three farm men had become.

'I asked him how to seal them, he told me, told me,' Ke Wangwei swallowed. 'He said those three malicious ghosts have two enemies. As long as you use one of the enemies' skin to seal the tomb entrance, if those malicious ghosts want to come out for revenge, they'll be sucked into the human skin. And the malicious ghosts sucked into the human skin will be sealed and unable to come out.'

And the two enemies of the malicious ghosts — one is Ke Wangwei, the other is his good brother Li Er.

Now Ke Wangwei is still alive, so the one whose skin was stripped to seal the malicious ghosts must be the other person.

Wang Santan couldn't help but curse quietly, 'This is too vicious.'

Another disciple frowned, 'Are we really going to save him?'

Jiang Luo felt Feng Li would not save Ke Wangwei.

Not out of good or evil, but because of Ke Wangwei's threat just now.

After Feng Li heard the story, his expression didn't change at all. He said, 'Since that's the case, there's still one method.'

Ke Wangwei was overjoyed.

Feng Li said, 'You drape the Human-Skin Paper over your body for forty-nine days. The Yin Qi in the Human-Skin Paper will be suppressed by your body's Yang Qi, and the things inside naturally won't be able to come out.'

Ke Wangwei heard this, immediately struggled to get up and pulled down the Human-Skin Paper, without hesitation wrapped it around his body. Just as Feng Li said, the moment he wrapped the paper around his body, he suddenly felt lighter, as if he'd shed dozens of pounds of weight.

Ke Wangwei was overjoyed. 'Thank you Master Feng, thank you Master Feng! I won't die! I won't die!'

Feng Li glanced at him a few times calmly, and left with his disciples. Just as they were about to leave The Study, Jiang Luo looked back — on the painting, black ghost shadows bared their fangs and brandished their claws around Ke Wangwei, those ghost shadows laughing wildly, watching Ke Wangwei with gleeful malevolence.

Whether it was Jiang Luo's illusion, he seemed to see the man in the painting who only had a back silhouette, slightly turn his head, revealing a grin that split to the roots of his ears.

The man's features gradually morphed into Ke Wangwei's likeness.

Feng Li said quietly, 'Don't look.'

Jiang Luo withdrew his eyes.

Feng Li glanced at him. 'Good is rewarded with good, evil with evil. Livid Ghosts won't let him go. Even two people as close as brothers — after death, malicious ghosts won't show the slightest mercy.'

Jiang Luo then remembered — this male lead had brought him to handle this matter precisely to let him know 'the paths of the living and the dead are different.'

He very much wanted to agree with Feng Li, but on the surface stubbornly said, 'It's not the same.'

Feng Li asked, 'What's not the same?'

Jiang Luo said, 'What I have with Chi You is love; what they have is friendship. I didn't kill Chi You — he killed his brother.'

He said this with full conviction, not the slightest guilty conscience.

Feng Li countered, 'What difference does it make?'

'Malicious ghosts are never good people,' Feng Li got in the car. 'Once they have an obsession — whether it's revenge or something else — they'll use any means to achieve their goal. Family is obsession, friendship is obsession, love is obsession. Once it becomes a malicious ghost's obsession, they will no longer have their original heart as a human.'

'The paths of the living and the dead are different,' Feng Li said finally. 'You are my clansman — you must obey my words. If I see you entangled with that malicious ghost again, I'll make his soul scatter to nothing.'