Chapter 3: The Strange Yard

  "A few masters, that's the courtyard over there," said Wu the housekeeper, his voice trembling slightly, his hands rubbing each other non-stop, and his body seeming to be unable to stand still.

  "You just wait here." The ghost said faintly.

  "The master and Guiying are also waiting here." said Guiyan with a smile.

  "Master, why!" Guisheng said discontentedly.

  "You're not good enough." Guī Yǎn explained with a smile, but the seriousness in his eyes made Guǐ Shēng stop arguing.

  "What about his junior sister?"

  "Your junior sister can go in," said Gui Yan.

  "Master, I'm going in," the ghost said faintly and walked towards the courtyard.

  "Mugua, you stay here too." Chang Qingzi said, and then followed the ghost to the courtyard.

  The ghost walked to the gate, pushed it open directly, patted the dust on his hands and went in. "Isn't it said that people are often invited to perform rituals? Why is this courtyard so dilapidated?" The ghost said softly.

  "I'm afraid it's because nobody wants to come and practice the law here, and ordinary people don't dare to enter." Chang Qingzi said with a smile. "What do you think of this place?"

  "What's your view?" The ghost said, and didn't mind the bloodstains that could be seen everywhere, and walked straight towards the bedroom.

  Chang Qingzi didn't feel scared, just a bit uncomfortable. She covered her mouth with a handkerchief and followed the ghost to the bedroom.

  The ghost entered the room and went straight to the inner chamber. It seems that no one has touched anything here, still neatly arranged, only with a lot of dust accumulated. Opening a box at random, there were various accessories inside, exquisite workmanship, and the price was not cheap either. The bedding was still neatly placed aside, although some dusty, but it can be seen that it is high-quality fabric, it seems that this Zhao employee did not treat the child of his first wife badly.

  The first place I saw the bloodstain should be here. The ghost swept its gaze over the ground, then crouched down and took a closer look at the bloodstain. "Fire talisman, burn!" As soon as the ghost finished speaking, it pulled out a talisman and began to chant, and the talisman suddenly ignited. The bloodstains on the ground disappeared by more than half. Only the one in the middle still stubbornly remained a reddish-brown color. "So that's how it is."

  Chang Qingzi stepped into the door and heard the ghost say this sentence, quickly walking towards the inner room. Only to see the ghost squatting on the ground, staring straight at that small blood stain, the ground next to it was very clean. "Have you used a talisman to exorcise with fire?"

  "Hmm." The ghost replied.

  "It seems to be a bit tricky." Chang Qingzi smiled and said. "Then let me clean up the other places." Only to see Chang Qingzi walk out of the door, take out the peach wood sword, close his eyes, mutter to himself, suddenly fly out many fire talismans from his sleeve, the fire talismans scattered all over the place. Chang Qingzi placed the peach wood sword in front of him, with his left hand's index and middle fingers together, the remaining three fingers slightly curved, resting on the sword body, at this time Chang Qingzi suddenly opened his eyes wide, the peach wood sword pointing straight forward: "Burn for me!" It was strange that the flames produced by these talismans had no effect on the plants and dust, only the bloodstains in the yard disappeared instantly.

  At this time, the ghost also happened to walk out of the door and said faintly, "You're pretty good."

  "Compared to you who was born with the Wheel of Reincarnation?" Chang Qingzi sheathed his peach wood sword and smiled.

  "I've never compared, I'm not clear," said the ghost.

  "Let's go, since we already know what's going on, let's go back and prepare." Chang Qingzi said.

  "It's probably not that easy to solve." The ghost sighed and said in a low voice.

  Chang Qingzi turned his head to glance at the girl standing in her original position, smiled slightly, and then turned around to walk away.

  "Master." Looking at the back of the figure who had already left with Mu Ya, he turned to look at Gui Yan and said: "It was a blood barrier, but it has been cleared by Chang Qing Zi."

  "Oh, that's good. You have the Wheel of Reincarnation eye, so you won't be affected by the things in the Blood Barrier. I didn't expect that Long Qingzi actually had some skills." The Ghost Eye stroked his beard and said with a smile.

  "Ghost Birth, help me draw more fire-sealing talismans." The ghost spirit said to Ghost Birth.

  "Do we need many Huǒ Fú?" Guī Shēng asked.

  "Besides being better at drawing talismans than your junior sister, what else can you compare to her? Stop talking nonsense and go draw!" Ghost Eye shouted loudly as he knocked on the forehead of Ghost Birth.

  "Master!" Guisheng covered his own head and shouted loudly.

  The demon's eyes didn't look at the ghost who was shouting loudly beside him, but instead looked at the ghost solemnly and said: "Soul, this ghost not only has magical powers, but also has helpers. What about you?"

  "Master, I can." The ghost said with a smile, looking at Ghost Eye. "The apprentice hasn't been this excited in a long time."

  "Alas, you... Remember to wear the Thousand Soul Bell I gave you on your body, just in case you can't cope..." Ghost Eye said helplessly.

  "Alright." The ghost promised, but if they used the Thousand Soul Bell too early, it wouldn't be fun.

  At night.

  "Junior sister, junior sister." Gui Sheng pounded on the door and shouted loudly.

  The ghost immediately got up from the bed, and as soon as he was dressed, he rushed to the door. As soon as he opened the door, he saw a worried-looking Ghost Life, "What's wrong?" the ghost asked strangely.

  "We'll talk later." The ghost was dragged by Ghost Birth without saying a word and headed in the direction of the courtyard she had just visited that afternoon.

  The ghost pulled the soul out of the courtyard with a single breath, and by then, many people had gathered there. Guīyǎn was standing beside Zhao Yuánwài, looking at the courtyard with a serious face, while Chángqīngzǐ's eyebrows were furrowed, revealing an expression of incredulity in his eyes. The ghost also looked up following their gaze. Upon seeing this, the ghost itself was shocked and lost color. Hadn't Chángqīngzǐ already cleaned it up? How could it be like this?

  The courtyard was shrouded in a strange red glow. The bloodstains that had been cleaned up in the afternoon reappeared on the gate. Now, the entire courtyard was oppressively pressing down on everyone's nerves with an eerie posture.

  "Ghosts! Ghost Eye Master, this...this...this..." Zhao's assistant said in terror.

  "It seems there's no time for preparation, Soul!" Ghost Eye shouted.

  "Master." The ghost replied.

  "Be careful in all things, if you can't defeat it, then you must..."

  "Master, don't worry." The ghost said, then looked at Gui Sheng and asked: "Lihuo Fu?"

  "It's all here." Guisheng said as he handed over all the Li Huo symbols to Guihun.

  The ghost put the fire talisman into a cloth bag and went straight to the courtyard.

  "Meng Ya, wait for me outside." Chang Qingzi said, and directly chased after the ghost into the courtyard.

  "You've come too?" The ghost gazed at Long Qingzi who had caught up, asking in surprise.

  "Ah." Chang Qingzi smiled and replied, "Of course you must come in."

  "Has anyone ever told you that your smile is very fake?" The ghost said bluntly. People like this usually belong to the type of pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger.

  "Is that so." Zhang Qingzi said nonchalantly, stepping past the ghost and into the courtyard first. "I just don't know if your actual strength is as fierce as your mouth."

  "Then let's compare and see, didn't you ask about our strengths and weaknesses?" The ghost said calmly as he entered the courtyard.

  "Good!" Chang Qingzi said, directly drawing out his peach wood sword and entering inside.

  The ghost also refused to show weakness, took out the thousand soul bell and walked in. What's strange is that the thousand soul bell didn't make any sound, it was just quietly hanging in the ghost's hand.