Chapter 23: The Past of the Head of the Shang Family

"How did you see that he was a Painted Skin Ghost?" Tao Yaoye asked the question that Butler Zhang didn't know the answer to until he died.

Lu Yang cleaned up the remnants of the battle, using a broom to sweep the Painted Skin Ghost's ashes into a small pile, and Tao Yaoye also consciously took out a dustpan to catch it.

"Very simple, keep recalling what the parrot said. 'Who are you? Where is Butler Zhang?'."

"After we met Shang Yuan, she deliberately drove us away, letting us stay away from the Shang family."

"This shows that the current Butler Zhang is no longer the person Miss Shang knows, and is extremely dangerous."

"There are three possibilities for Butler Zhang's identity replacement."

"One is that Butler Zhang was possessed. But how could an old monster who possessed someone stay in the Shang family for so long? If it were me, the first thing I would do after possessing someone would be to leave Taiping Township and find a place with good feng shui to continue practicing. And Butler Zhang's talent is not very good. Possessing the head of the Shang family would be better than possessing him." Lu Yang put himself in his shoes and thought from another perspective.

"The second is that someone disguised themselves as Butler Zhang. But this is also wrong. The Shang family doesn't have anything valuable. Why pretend to be a butler? Does he have a hobby of serving people? Even if the Shang family has something valuable, why not just grab it? With his late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, no one would care if he crawled in Taiping Township."

"The third possibility is the Painted Skin Ghost. What the Painted Skin Ghost likes most is collecting human skin, disguising itself as a human, following the habit of disguise, and living with humans."

The Painted Skin Ghost was a human before death and a ghost after death. It is a kind of ghost cultivator. Most ghost cultivators have some kind of psychological barrier.

For example, the Painted Skin Ghost is most taboo about being exposed. They will try their best to make themselves believe they are human, will say the same things as humans, do the same things, and when they are tired of it, they will change into a new skin and start a new identity, repeating this over and over.

Lu Yang's reasoning was well-founded, making Tao Yaoye look sideways and admire him, completely unable to see the shadow of the Senior Brother Lu who was trembling on the flying boat.

She also mastered the knowledge Lu Yang mastered, but she didn't think as much as Lu Yang for a while. This is the gap in thinking sensitivity.

"Keep the ashes well, this is the proof that we completed the mission." Lu Yang took out a white porcelain jar two palms high and put all the ashes of the Painted Skin Ghost into it.

The Painted Skin Ghost is an extension of the mission and is part of the mission. Killing the Painted Skin Ghost is definitely more rewarding than finding the parrot.

There was a sound of running outside the house, and the running sound stopped at the door, as if several people had woken up from their sleep, came to the east wing to check the situation, but didn't dare to enter the room.

It was not difficult to guess the identity of the person outside the door. Lu Yang laughed loudly: "Head of the Shang family, come in. The Painted Skin Ghost has been killed by me. It is very safe here."

With a bang, the wooden door was pushed open by the head of the Shang family. Behind him stood his wife and daughter, maids and servants, a total of twelve people, all showing the look of survivors.

"Thank you two Immortal Elders for taking action, killing the Painted Skin Ghost, and saving the lives of twelve people in my Shang family!" The head of the Shang family knelt down with a thud, and the people behind him also knelt down together.

The Painted Skin Ghost is moody. Once he gets tired of the butler identity, it is highly likely that he will kill all the Shang family members!

"What are you talking about, Head of the Shang family? Eliminating demons and defending the right path is what we Wendao Sect disciples should do." Lu Yang had never seen such a big battle and was startled, hurriedly helping them up one by one.

"Please forgive the two Immortal Elders. The Painted Skin Ghost is elusive and his whereabouts are uncertain. I don't know where he came from."

"Since this Painted Skin Ghost pretended to be Butler Zhang, he didn't allow us to leave the Shang family. If anyone visited, he didn't allow us to talk about his affairs. If he found out, it would be a dead end!"

Speaking of this, Shang Yuan on the side also looked ashamed. She was a gentle young lady, and all the cold actions in the boudoir were to keep Lu Yang and the other away from danger.

Only hearing the head of the Shang family continue: "It's a pity that I retired to the countryside, and all my cultivation belongings have been exchanged for gold, silver, and jewelry, which are useless to the two. I don't know what the two need. Even if I sell the family property, I will complete it." The head of the Shang family was not being polite, but really wanted to repay the life-saving grace.

His wealth was almost the same as scrap copper and iron in the eyes of Wendao Sect disciples, worthless.

Lu Yang really had a need.

"I heard that you encountered a great terror of life and death while tomb raiding, so you decided to wash your hands of it and withdraw from the Cultivation Realm. I don't know what happened at that time?"

Tao Yaoye looked at the head of the Shang family with great interest. Tomb raiding, life and death crisis, great terror, washing hands of it—these words sounded like a story, and maybe there was a great opportunity. What she liked most was to explore the unknown in mysterious places.

Lu Yang didn't have as much interest in exploring the unknown as Tao Yaoye, but he liked to listen to strange stories.

The head of the Shang family's eyes twitched. To be honest, he didn't want to recall that terrifying past from the bottom of his heart, but the life-saving benefactor asked, and he couldn't not answer.

He dispersed the crowd, especially Shang Yuan who tried to stay secretly, leaving only Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye.

"Don't tell others about this today."

Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye nodded.

After the head of the Shang family got a positive reply, he began to talk about the past twenty years ago.

"Thirty years ago, I, Shang Zhongtian, was also a little famous in the tomb-raiding circle during the Qi Condensation stage. Not to mention notorious, but I reached the point where people hated me." The head of the Shang family put his hands on his hips, recalling the golden years of struggle.

Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye didn't quite understand why the head of the Shang family, Shang Zhongtian, was so proud when he said this.

They didn't know that peers are enemies, and tomb raiders are also competitors. Shang Zhongtian could have such a good reputation, naturally showing that his technology was superb.

"I have always been cautious when tomb raiding. I never touch those big tombs and ancient tombs. Big tombs have ghosts, and ancient tombs have immortals. We in this line all know this sentence."

The ghosts mentioned here are not small ghosts of the Foundation Establishment stage like the Painted Skin Ghost, but powerful existences that dominate among ghosts.

"Qi Condensation cultivators are poor, and valuable things are given to their descendants. Where are there any burial goods? I don't touch the tombs of Qi Condensation cultivators, there is no oil and water."

"Foundation Establishment and Jin Dan cultivators have a little family property. After they die, they will habitually distribute most of their family property to their descendants, leaving a small part for burial. Just this small part is enough for me to make a big profit."

"Unfortunately, walking by the river often, how can you not get your shoes wet? That time I was digging a Jin Dan tomb. When I dug to the end, I found that this was originally a tomb within a tomb. The Jin Dan tomb was a burial, and the main tomb was Nascent Soul!"

"According to the rules of our line, you can't dig a tomb that is too high for your own cultivation, but at that time I was overwhelmed by joy. At that time, I thought I was at the peak of Qi Condensation. If I really ran, my speed would be comparable to the Foundation Establishment stage, and tomb raiding doesn't involve fighting, so rounding up, I am also a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Digging a Nascent Soul tomb that fell from the sky is not dangerous."

"So I burned incense to the ancestor, prayed for the ancestor's blessing, and then started digging the Nascent Soul tomb." ===== CHAPTER 24 =====