President of the Spiritualist Association

  When Lili appeared at the villa door with a fearless expression despite being covered in injuries, Zhang Haiyang was momentarily stunned. This scene overlapped with a certain point deep in his memory, striking his heart like thunder.

  "You're simply asking for trouble, aren't you afraid they'll tear you limb from limb?"

  "No, thank you for your concern."

  Lily briefly recounted what had happened and thanked him briefly, enduring the pain as Zhang Haiyang changed her dressing.

  "Do you think you're very brave? In fact, you haven't defeated anything, it's all just an illusion."

  "Huh?"

  Zhang Haiyang smiled, horizontally hugged Lili and turned her over, grabbed Qian's foot, and carefully changed the dressing. At this moment, Lili suddenly stiffened, and after a while, she became soft and boneless again.

  "That's impossible, it was just an illusion? I clearly saw blood all over the ground..."

  After getting used to Zhang Haiyang's big hands caressing her, Lily raised the doubts in her mind.

  "What you see with your eyes is the truth? My name is Zhang Haiyang, my file and everyone I know knows that I am Zhang Haiyang, but am I really just Zhang Haiyang? Don't you think about it, such an important thing has no one guarding it, if there's no mechanism or anything, how could it be possible? Do you think the underworld are all idiots?"

  "How is it possible? I've been in that room before and didn't see Old Gao set up any mechanism?"

  Zhang Haiyang let out a cold laugh, and with a slight increase in force, Lily let out a pained and itchy cry, her face reddening like the evening glow. She didn't understand why she had become so sensitive either.

  "That's it, if I'm not mistaken, the dust on the book is what caused your hallucination. You don't think about it, everywhere else is clean, but only the bookshelf is covered in dust, is that possible?"

  Lily's shoulders relaxed as if she was deep in thought.

  "By the way, I still don't know your real name."

  Lily.

  "You're actually named Lily!"

  Lily buried her head in the bed sheet, as if she wanted to suffocate herself. She understood what Zhang Haiyang meant - the name Lily often appeared among professional women in entertainment venues. But who would think of future events when giving a name?

  The sunlight at noon descends from the sky and spreads out, embracing everything on earth.

  Yet, under the light, there is still the existence of shadows.

  "Don't go out for these two days, take good care of your injury."

  "Hey, why did you take me in?"

  Lily suddenly asked, with a look of expectation on her face. Zhang Haiyang smiled slightly.

  "Why are you following me again?"

  "I feel safe when I'm with you."

  "I haven't thought about it yet."

  Zhang Haiyang smiled and dodged the question, reminding him of two more things before leaving the villa, he still had a lot to confirm.

  "Is this a Blood Demon from the Thirteen Evil Spirits? I didn't think Wang Nian would actually come up with something like this."

  As Zhang Haiyang walked out of the villa, his face turned gloomy.

  Gao Tian almost crawled into his own room, then fell from the edge of despair into the depths of hell.

  The room was in a state of utter disarray, with dark bloodstains all over the floor. The carpet in front of the desk had been rumpled up into a ball, and the door to the secret room was wide open. The CDs containing compromising photos of female college students and officials were scattered all over the place.

  "This is what you call foolproof?"

  Yang Ming's icy question came from behind Gao Tian, who seemed to wake up with a start and jumped up, pushing aside the fake Van Gogh painting at the door, revealing what was behind it. Yang Ming followed his movement and couldn't help but take in a cold breath.

  It was a white clay idol with an eerie shape, its long face drooping to its chest, and between its two ferocious eyes that shone brightly, there was another eye, but not on top, rather near the bridge of its nose. Its ribcage had bone spurs protruding from its skin, each hand grasping a huge eyeball, while its feet were cow hooves. All five eyes stared at the person facing it, and on that face, there was an ominous smile.

  Gao Tian seemed to let out a long-held breath, wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead as he reached out to grasp the statue.

  "Wait!"

  Yang Ming suddenly grabbed Gao Tian's hand.

  "I recall you saying that the evil god would show no mercy to anyone who desecrated him, so..."

  Gao Tian suddenly came to his senses, since this little thief was fine, that meant the evil god's anger had not erupted yet. Going to touch the statue at this time would be no different from inviting disaster upon himself.

  "What's to be done?"

  Gao Tian was at a loss for a moment, completely like a local tyrant. Yang Ming had to hold back his temper and slowly persuade him, calling over a member of the community group and pushing him in front of Gao Tian. A face full of vicious evil light, with a hint of blue light on his glasses lens.

  "We older folks don't have to personally take care of everything, we should give young people some opportunities. Don't you think?"

  "Oh, right! Little Fourth, come here and carry this stone statue out, be careful not to break it."

  Gao Tian seemed to have just come to a realization, and hastily pulled the young brother to the front of the evil god statue, then quietly retreated two or three steps back, stepping on the bloody ground that was all over the place.

  That member of the club called Xiao Si was an old hand at causing trouble and often schemed against others. Seeing Yang Ming's gaze and Gao Tian's appearance, he felt a bit uneasy in his heart, so when he stretched out his hand, he didn't forget to turn back and take a look. As soon as he turned back, he found that Gao Tian had retreated three steps away, and he knew that the terrifying ceramic statue in front of him was definitely not a good thing, so he stopped.

  "Boss, this thing is made of clay, not stone."

  "What's all this nonsense!"

  Gao Tian suddenly kicked out with his foot, right on Xiao Si's waist. He immediately lost his balance and fell forward, hurriedly using his hand to grab onto the wall for support. As a result, he ended up grabbing onto the ceramic evil spirit statue instead. Including Yang Ming, all three people in the room froze in place, stopping whatever they were doing.

  Silence, deathly silence.

  "I remember! This Zhang Haiyang is a Thai national of Chinese descent. Do you still recall that case last year where we took over the six subjects?"

  Zhao Liming suddenly lifted his head and said to Liu Li, with an inexplicable flash of terror in her eyes.

  "That's right, it was that nanny murder case. But how did he become an American citizen? Now that you mention it, Liu Ke took over the case last year for that very reason, looks like they still haven't cracked it."

  In the bright sunlight of the afternoon, both women had a sense of unease in their eyes. At this moment, Director Li's office door suddenly opened a crack, and Director Li's large head poked out.

  "What's on young people's minds when they don't work hard and just daydream?"

  Li Kezhang's tone was unusually serious, not as if he were joking. The two women immediately lowered their heads and pretended to work seriously. The other members of the department seemed as if nothing had happened, reading newspapers, reviewing application forms, except for a goldfish in the peculiarly-shaped aquarium on the east-south window sill, which jumped out of the water and splashed several drops of water.

  "These two girls are clever, but they're too sharp. If they were a bit more reserved, I'd feel at ease handing over the foreign affairs department to them."

  Li Kezhang returned to his desk and habitually pulled out a cigarette, just about to light it when he suddenly felt a sharp gaze upon him, and the back of his ear felt unusually hot. Professor Yu was not someone who didn't understand the nuances of human emotions, so he looked out the window, coughed a few times, and pretended to stretch his neck.

  "Recently this wind is so strong, and my neck really feels a bit uncomfortable, haha!"

  Tang Hong's name was mentioned, and Professor Bai Liao's eyes changed, and when he turned his head back, there was a worried look in his eyes.

  "Zhang Haiyang has three properties in Tiannan City, and we've all sent people to stake them out. But based on my speculation, he should have another house, otherwise there would be a 13 million yuan gap in his assets. The feeling of our six departments is that he's still in Tiannan City, but where exactly is he hiding?"

  Zhang Haiyang was on his way to Xiguan Daming Temple, and when he had already walked halfway up the mountain, he suddenly stopped and let out two loud sneezes.

  "Who is talking about me?"

  Zhang Haiyang rubbed his nose and thought for a moment.

  The majestic mountain remains lush and green, with continuous peaks surrounding it, making the mountain like a pupil in one's eyes. Zhang Haiyang stood on a large stone at the waist of the mountain, looking south, the distant city under the azure sky seemed to be hidden in a misty veil, as if it were a mirage. Zhang Haiyang sighed and took a long time to muster up his courage, turning his head to look westward. On the western slope was a sea of maple trees covering the entire mountain. It was already November, and the leaves had turned red. As the sea breeze caressed them, the rustling sound rose from the foot of the mountain all the way to the top. From Zhang Haiyang's vantage point, the undulating maple leaves seemed like a fiery ocean, sweeping across the softest part of his heart.

  Two lines of tears have unknowingly fallen.

  "I'm finally back after all!"

  Zhang Haiyang clenched his fists tightly, but still couldn't help letting out a loud wail.

  If you take the cable car and look at Dàmù Mountain from a high place, it really looks like a human eye protruding from the earth. The mountain is the pupil, and the maple forest on the western slope is that touch of color in the eye, revealing endless beauty.

  Zhang Haiyang's mournful cry echoed far and wide, even the people in the cable car heard it vaguely, and two great monks came out of the Daming Temple, walking towards Zhang Haiyang from afar.

  "Amitabha Buddha! Zhang Shizhu, I knew it was you as soon as I heard your voice."

  Dàmù sì zhù chí pì guāng fǎ shī yī liǎn bēi tiān mǐ rén de chén jìng miàn róng, ràng rén wàng qù biàn xiǎng bài xià. Zhāng hǎi yáng què dāng xiōng gěi le tā yī quán, mù guāng lǐ quán shì xǐ yuè.

  "You're still as lively and energetic as ever, this monk hasn't changed a bit!"

  Bhikkhu Guang's face was slightly embarrassed, and he hastily pulled Zhang Haiyang into the temple, ignoring the surprised gaze of the many good men who were burning incense on the mountain. When they entered the abbot's room, Bhikkhu Guang closed the doors and windows tightly, and then severely criticized Zhang Haiyang from head to toe.

  "I knew you were up to no good, look at you, learning wolf howls on the mountain. This is a sacred place of Buddhist blessings, what if you bring bad luck? And in front of so many pilgrims, you call me a drunkard monk! Although I'm an officially appointed abbot, I've studied Buddhist scriptures for years. After cultivating my heart and practicing Buddhism for two or three years, the good reputation I built is all ruined by you, what a sin!"

  Zhang Haiyang didn't interrupt him either, waiting for him to finish venting before speaking up.

  "I didn't come here for anything good, and as the president of this spiritual association, you should know that."

  His face sank, and he put away the forced smile. His eyes flashed with cold light. He walked back and forth in the room several times before asking in a trembling voice.

  "The Thirteen Evil Spirits, have they appeared again?"

  In Gao Tian's room, the little four in his left hand slowly let go of the evil god statue, flipping it over to examine the palm and back of his hand, and only after a long time did he confirm that nothing was there.

  "What? How can this be?"

  The sky-high unanswerable question, Yang understood it at a glance. This Southeast Asian sorcery is sometimes effective and sometimes not. Heaven knows what's going on here.

  But just then, the clay idol of the evil god suddenly emitted a dense burst of cracking sounds. Gao Tian looked back from behind Xiao Si's body and saw that the corners of the clay evil god's mouth seemed to float with a hint of sinister smile, before shattering into countless fragments with a loud crash.

  "Heavens, how can this be?"

  A scream of terror was suppressed in Gaotian's voice, but something even more terrifying happened at an unexpected moment. Xiao Si suddenly let out a strange cry, and the flesh and blood on his left hand quickly spread up to his arm like they were being sucked dry.

  "Ah! Help! Save me!"

  Xiao Si was screaming in terror and pain, frantically waving his left hand. Xiao Si's withered left hand was now breaking off joint by joint, as if some invisible beast was gnawing at his arm.

  Yang Ming was frightened by this scene, just wanting to go forward and save people, but was pulled back by Gao Tian, whose eyes were shining with surprise.

  "The Oni of Teeth has descended into this world!"

  Yang Ming swallowed hard and quietly took a few steps back from Gao Tian. Compared to Xiao Si's miserable appearance, Gao Tian now looked more like a devil.