Chapter Sixteen: The Battle of the Altar

  Li's mansion, located in a sinister location, had an eerie calmness to it. If not for the events of last night, Nan San would still be speculating about it, but this time he had some leads. Although Lao Ba Dao was unwilling to come forward, it wasn't good to force him, so he ordered two people to prepare some black dog blood and then returned to the mansion with a jar of it.

  Li Da Tou was up early and saw that San's room was empty, he was anxious to send someone out to look for him, just as he saw him coming back, he hurried forward to greet him.

  "Where did you go? Why didn't you say something in advance? You got me worried." Li Datou said, stroking his beard and frowning.

  Nan San shook his head and smiled: "This isn't what Old Blade said was important, so he sent him away. What's the hurry?"

  Perhaps it was intuition, but San Guan Li's complexion looked worse than before, his eyes were swollen and paler than they had been the day before. He felt puzzled, but then Li Da Tou spoke up: "Yesterday I don't know what happened, I had a nightmare, and this morning when I woke up I felt dizzy and my head was killing me. Can you take a look and see if there's something wrong with my body?"

  Nan San Dao didn't refuse, although this Li Da Tou was usually overbearing and had someone's life in his hands, but the Taoist teachings never said to ignore those who are dying. So he felt for his pulse, and upon doing so, his brow furrowed even more tightly.

  This Li Datou's body yang energy gradually declined, yin energy became strong, leading to physical function problems. The Taoist "I Ching" says that the fine substances produced by the functions of human organs are collectively referred to as essence, qi, blood,津液, and spirit; essence, blood,津液 belong to yin, while qi and spirit belong to yang. Therefore, the manifestation of this yin dominance and yang decline is just physical weakness and mental depression.

  Li Da Tou's robust physique was a stark contrast to his current pale complexion, prompting Nan San to inquire about his recent lifestyle habits. Li Da Tou scratched his head and said: "Damn it, I've always been in good health, but for the past half month, I've had nightmares every night and headaches every day - what kind of illness is this?"

  "No illness, just lack of sleep!" Nan San said perfunctorily, and immediately opened the Four Gentlemen Decoction to supplement his body. In fact, he was clear in his heart that this was not the reason for getting sick, and there might be a deeper reason behind it.

  After returning to the room, Nan San closed the big door, sat cross-legged on the ground, took out a palm-sized incense burner from his cloth bag, a red rope, three talismans - namely the Evil Spirit Warding Talisman, the Five Thunderbolt Talisman and the Ghost Exterminating Talisman, plus an Eight Trigrams Disc. After making all these preparations, Nan San held two incense sticks in his hand, recited the Three Pure Ones, then used the red rope to tie up the incense burner, placing four candles at the four corners of the incense burner, with the other end of the red rope having the Evil Spirit Warding Talisman.

  So, what was the point of Nan San's actions? The reason is simple: to test Li Da Tou's father. He always felt that this old man was strange and didn't even like to come out of his room, wasn't it weird? Afterwards, he quietly walked out of the door and came to the front of Li Da Tou's father's room, throwing the red rope with the evil spirit symbol tied to it through the gap. He hurriedly ran back to his room.

  It's strange to say, but the red rope seemed to be pulled and stretched continuously. Just as it was about to drag the incense burner away, Nan San raised his ink-slab wooden sword and slapped the incense burner heavily, no matter how hard it was pulled, it didn't move at all. What happened in Li Da Tou's father's room, nobody knew, Nan San stabilized the incense burner while also keeping an eye on whether the four candles had been extinguished.

  As expected, the candle flame suddenly swayed back and forth, about to go out, when Nan San bit his finger and dripped blood on it, the flame gradually grew stronger. At the same time, the pointer on the Bagua compass was spinning rapidly, finally pointing directly at Li Da Tou's room. This outsider naturally couldn't understand such complex mysticism, but he was a Daoist successor, how could he not see through it?

  Nan San's mind was also somewhat settled at this time, and he was about to withdraw the red rope. Just then, a loud cracking sound was heard, and the red rope broke into two pieces. The four candles also disappeared along with it. His expression was stunned, what kind of person is this Li Da Tou's father, probably not a good egg.

  To verify his guess again, Nan San found Li Da Tou and said: "Want to sleep well tonight?"

  Li Datou's face changed color, and after a few seconds of silence, he nodded: "Is this still necessary to ask? If you can make me, Li Datou, sleep soundly every day, I'll guarantee that you'll have a great time in Jinyuan Town, with no worries about food or drink."

  Nan San smiled wryly. He was a man who had always been calm and composed, so he didn't need to be coaxed. He took out the Five Thunder Seal and the Black Dog's Blood and said: "You stick this seal on the bedside, and sprinkle the black dog's blood from the door to the bed edge. At midnight, no matter what sounds you hear, don't come out."

  Li Datou, upon hearing that it was so simple, naturally followed the instructions. He was curious as to how these two things could cure his insomnia of many years. He immediately ordered the people below him to prepare a good meal from outside to entertain Nan San. Although Li's large courtyard seemed to have no servants, it didn't mean there weren't any outside. Nan San wasn't polite either, after all, he had eaten and drunk enough, only then did he have the energy to investigate, so he indulged in luxury for once.

  As the day's time was about to pass, Nan San returned to his room early and lay down on the bed to rest. The black night enveloped Jin Yuan Town, and this Li family compound might be said to be out of place with the surrounding residential areas. Within a hundred meters in all directions, there was no movement or noise, the silence was frightening, and occasionally when pedestrians passed by, they couldn't help but shiver and hurry away. Those who knew said it was Li Da Tou's territory, while those who didn't know thought this place was a haunted house.

  In fact, Nan San also thought that the Li family's courtyard was hiding a sinister plot at first, so although he was resting now, he was holding his breath and listening intently to the outside.

  As expected, the footsteps sounded again last night. This time, Nan San didn't rush out to check, but instead waited quietly. After a few minutes, he heard a scream coming from Li Da Tou's room and got up with his wooden sword in hand. When he arrived at Li Da Tou's room, Nan San found him curled up in the corner, eyes wide with terror, cold sweat dripping from his bald head, staring at the black dog blood on the floor.

  The black dog on the ground of Nan San Chao suddenly ran away, and found two footprints. The Five Thunder Seal had turned to ashes at this time. Li Da Tou, who was still in a state of shock, shouted towards Nan San: "Ghost! It's a ghost... no... it can't be!"

  Li Datou was now talking nonsense, Nan San shook his head and walked to his side, pressing two fingers on the chest, at the Heart Front Hole acupoint, before he relaxed.

  "Have you seen your dad?" Nan San asked. Li Da Tou looked up in shock and stuttered, "How did you know?!"

  Nan San stared at the footprints on the ground, then looked up at Li Da Tou, and after a long time of contemplation, he said: "Your father is actually dead!"

  As soon as these words came out, Li's face was extremely shocked, and the frightened expression he had just now was suppressed. He couldn't react, stuttering a bit, as if he didn't believe San's words. Indeed, this matter would be hard to convince anyone even if it were pinned on someone else.

  "You... you said my dad is dead, how can that be? Isn't he still fine?" Li Datou exclaimed in shock.

  "It's true, he's dead, probably been dead for over a decade, you just didn't notice." Li Daitou was shocked and hastily asked what was going on, but Nan San didn't have time to explain, telling him to stay there for a while before rushing into that eerie room.

  Perhaps sensing the commotion, the door to Li Da Tou's father's room suddenly swung open, and a gust of eerie wind sent chills down one's spine on that dark night. Before he could even react, Nan San felt a chill run down his back, and with a swift motion, he stabbed his wooden sword backwards, but it was a futile attempt. He knew exactly who had attacked him, and with a cold snort, he strode towards the room, whereupon a figure emerged from within.

  The two of them stared at each other, Nan San's face expressionless and coldly gazing at the figure in front of him. The icy eyes hidden in the darkness exuded an aura of evil. His face was covered with wrinkles, his old body... This person was actually Li Datou's father, no, to be precise, a ghost.

  "Hmph, you little demon, possessing this body and causing trouble, still refusing to surrender!" Nan San Jian pointed out.

  "You little brat, I warned you last night, didn't think you'd still have the guts to meddle in other people's business. I'm not someone to be trifled with!" The ghostly figure threatened menacingly. Nan San was unfazed and sneered coldly: "You're just a pig butcher, even after death, you still want to harm people. I'm afraid the underworld won't tolerate you."

  He immediately raised his ink sword and slashed, but he underestimated this pig butcher. Although he seemed to be possessed by a ghost and proficient in evil techniques, he took out a bottle of transparent black liquid and threw it at San Nan three times. San Nan barely dodged, but his body was still splashed with the liquid, and a large piece of his long gown was corroded, making him feel terrified.

  These little ghosts have long been distinguished from lonely souls and wild ghosts, and are likely to have cultivated into the ghostly way. I think this Li family's mansion was built on the basis of a slaughterhouse, such a fierce cave, for ghost objects, it is naturally the best. Nan San didn't dare to be careless at the moment, took out the ghost-killing charm, threw it towards the butcher, just sticking to his chest, a wisp of green smoke dissipated. But seeing the butcher coldly smile and say: "Just now was carelessness, I got hit by your way, this time you hurt my physical body, what can you do about it?"

  Nan San's face froze for a moment, he had forgotten that the Ghost-Exterminating Talisman only worked on souls, and was useless against the Pig Butcher at this moment. In his daze, he saw the ghost suddenly raise the pig-killing knife. It seemed that even after death, this person couldn't change his old ways, and such professionalism truly made Nan San admire him.

  But he won't wait for death, more importantly, Nan San wasn't afraid. He flashed to the back of the butcher, and with a flick of his red rope, it bound the butcher's neck. Then he shouted to Li Da Tou on the other side: "Quickly, take two incense sticks and insert them into his nostrils."

  Li Da Tou was secretly peeking at the scene outside, listening to the conversation between the two. His heart had long been filled with boundless fear. When he heard Nan San's shout, he initially didn't react, but after coming back to his senses, he gritted his teeth and took out two incense sticks.

  However, facing his "old father", Li Datou didn't dare to make a move for the time being, especially when he saw those sinister eyes, which scared him stiff, and he trembled with both hands saying: "Dad, don't blame me, if you must blame someone, blame this little devil."