Chapter 1240: The Mystery of Life and Death

The miners in Rolling Stone Valley were all sturdy men. Fu Liushan used the *yang* energy on them, combined with the blood energy of the garrison at the village entrance, to set up several arrays to resist ghosts. Actually, they weren't required to defeat the enemy, just to delay them until reinforcements arrived. The Ghost King's corpse puppets indeed caused everyone a lot of trouble.

At the critical moment, the mine shafts came in handy.

Jiang Lishui and the others who came out of the village to greet He Lingchuan still had lingering fears: "When the situation didn't look right, we hid in the mine shafts. It was just hard on the Boss Situ family's soldiers; I heard there were some casualties. By the way, two corpse puppets were also knocked down."

"Normal." People die in war? "Later, I don't know why, but the corpse puppets besieging us suddenly collapsed, and the other evil ghosts turned and fled, not appearing again."

Comparing the time, it was exactly when He Lingchuan killed the Xuan Lu Ghost King.

The Ghost King vanished, so the ghost creatures that were originally controlled no longer worked for him? "The Ghost King shouldn't appear again; you can work with peace of mind." He Lingchuan comforted everyone with a few words, gave Jiang Lishui some instructions, and the latter nodded and turned back to the village.

Now, the village was cleaning up the aftermath. There weren't many villagers, and the ones doing the work were basically Boss Situ soldiers.

From the village entrance, Fu Liushan lit a "Heart-Covering Candle," enclosing himself, He Lingchuan, and Dong Rui within the candlelight.

They all held their breath.

The Yangshan Chamber of Commerce and the Boss Situ army had long received orders to bury their heads in their own work, pretending not to see them walking in.

The three of them, holding the Heart-Covering Candle, slowly approached a civilian house.

The owner of the house was a thin, gaunt man in his fifties, a widower with nowhere else to go. The other villagers of Stone Village had fled, but he had stayed behind.

Just as the three approached, he happened to push the door open and walk out, but he seemed not to see the three of them.

Jiang Lishui walked over from the side and dragged him: "Come, come, I happen to have something to find you for!"

"What matter..."

"A good thing, a great thing!" Jiang Lishui dragged him away without explanation, and looked back at He Lingchuan.

Fu Liushan held a finger to his lips, making a gesture for silence.

This Heart-Covering Candle could only isolate the sight of ghosts; it couldn't block the gaze of humans. That the widower couldn't see them meant there was a problem with him.

He Lingchuan still remembered that when eating the village feast last night, this person seemed to be sitting at the neighboring table eating heartily, and had heard their conversation with the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce people word for word.

The three of them, under the cover of the Heart-Covering Candle, walked into the house through the open door.

The ground was actually very clean, with no dust, otherwise leaving footprints after walking a few steps would be awkward.

The house was small, barely separated into a front hall and back room by a large wooden board, but there was no statue of the Xuan Lu Ghost King in either place.

There were some round burn marks on the table; He Lingchuan looked, it seemed to have been scorched by fire.

Was this the original place for incense and candles? Fu Liushan also leaned over, reaching out to wipe the corner of the table, finding some powder.

Incense ash.

He looked around and saw that there were several places in the house covered with gray cloth; he didn't know if it was to block dust or hide things.

The three didn't dare to expand their divine sense here, for fear of attracting unnecessary attention.

Fu Liushan took out a bottle, dripped two drops of medicine into his eyes, and rubbed them. When he opened his eyes again, he could see through the cloth curtains and see the things inside.

This ability to see through lasted for a very short time and had many limitations, but it was enough for now.

As soon as he looked at the cloth curtain, he raised his eyebrows, and Dong Rui hurriedly gestured to him:

If you have such good things, give us some too!

The Celestial Master's tricks were indeed many.

Fu Liushan had no choice but to hand over the bottle, and both of them dripped the medicine into their eyes.

It was icy cool and quite comfortable, effectively relieving visual fatigue.

When they opened their eyes again to look at the cloth curtain, they saw a statue a palm-height sitting inside, indeed the Xuan Lu Ghost King, but the posture was one hand supporting the sky and one hand pressing the earth, with a fierce expression.

Looking at the material and the craftsmanship, it should be from the same source as the statue in Granny Li's house.

Most importantly, after dripping the medicine, they could also see faint black smoke lingering around the statue, just like light ink dissolving in water, in fine threads.

After looking, the three exited the house and walked all the way outside the village entrance before catching their breath.

"The old widower is still worshiping Xuan Lu at home." Dong Rui spat a mouthful of foam on the ground, "Look at the Ghost King statue's posture, supporting the sky and pressing the earth, hehe, he really thinks of himself as a god."

"Your worry was right; Xuan Lu's true self is still there. The one we killed in Cotton Village might be another avatar!" Fu Liushan had looked carefully, "The evil energy on the statue is very faint now; either Xuan Lu deliberately restrained it, or his power was significantly weakened."

The Xuan Lu Ghost King, who had plagued the central and western parts of Flash Gold for over 300 years, how could he be eliminated so easily?

"Killing one avatar after another, is it never-ending?" Dong Rui was irritable, "Did he use these tricks in the past too?"

"How would I know? I don't live in the Screaming Forest, how would I count how many avatars the Ghost King has used?" Fu Liushan pondered, "However, now that you mention it, I do recall the clan records stating that 160-plus years ago, my clan leader Fu Xiong defeated the Xuan Lu Ghost King and was also triumphantly proclaiming everywhere that he had removed a great scourge for the local area. At that time, he was wearing Luo Shengjia and could do what others couldn't, but he was deceived by the Xuan Lu Ghost King's fake death. After Luo Shengjia was sealed by Fu Tianlin, the Ghost King appeared again."

"But he is indeed weakened and his vitality is greatly damaged. This time, to seize Luo Shengjia, he must have sent his strongest avatar." He Lingchuan was certain, "Otherwise, why let this widower hide the statue, why fake his death? This shows that he doesn't want to clash with us again, at least not in the short term."

"It's time to take a trip to the Screaming Forest." The enemy is weak and we are strong; how could He Lingchuan let go of such a good opportunity? "Strike while the iron is hot. Otherwise, once he recovers, he will definitely make a comeback."

Xuan Lu had the most vengeful heart and would likely take it out on the people of the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce in Rolling Stone Valley first.

If this scourge isn't removed, the subsequent development of the Yangshan Archipelago in this area will not be peaceful.

Fu Liushan sighed, knowing things weren't that simple: "As it stands, this guy is no longer hard to deal with, but he is hard to eradicate. I'll check some more information and think of some ways; it might take a few days."

The place they were going to was the Screaming Forest; how could they go without proper preparation? Dong Rui was eager to try: "Hurry up!"

He couldn't wait.

The news that the Xuan Lu Ghost King was dead spread like wind throughout Pi Xia and the surrounding areas.

The Screaming Forest had always been like a malignant tumor; the surrounding powers feared and loathed it, but could never do anything about it. In the past, the Gaopu Kingdom had regarded the Xuan Lu Ghost King as a thorn in their side, but several attempts to clear him out were unsuccessful.

Unlike White Hair Mountain, the Screaming Forest was too special.

No one expected that after the fall of the Gaopu Kingdom, there would still be a strong man capable of removing the Xuan Lu Ghost King.

And just at this time!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1241 =====