As Ye Ling opened the door to the old house, he saw a spirit with a face full of rotten flesh fly out and charge at him ferociously!
Before Ye Ling could make a move, Yang Qi behind him was startled and retreated repeatedly. He slipped and fell onto the ground.
Immediately, more hands grew from the ground, grabbing Yang Qi’s limbs tightly and trying to drag him into the earth.
Yang Qi, panicked, quickly cried out to Ye Ling for help, "Sir! Save me!!!"
Ye Ling glanced at Yang Qi dismissively, flicked his hand, and sent out a wisp of demonic energy that devoured the charging spirit. He then walked up to Yang Qi, and his demonic energy dissipated, scattering the surrounding arms.
Ye Ling looked at Yang Qi, who was slumped on the ground, still shaken, and said, "Get up. These things aren't after you."
"They aren't after me?"
Yang Qi was still dazed. He looked at Ye Ling with disbelief, not understanding what Ye Ling meant.
The ghost that had just rushed out had called his name, and yet it wasn't after him. Who else could it be after?
Ye Ling said, "Although that evil spirit called your name, it showed no intention of attacking you. It was entirely focused on me."
"Its words and actions contradict each other."
"As for the ghostly hands grabbing you from the ground, they were merely a trap triggered by your fall, activated by the restrictions buried within this old house."
Yang Qi got up, still shaken, and said, "But just now, it clearly called my name..."
"That was your inner demons at play," Ye Ling stepped into the house, the wooden planks creaking under his feet.
He scanned the interior and said, "This house has been modified. It has begun to possess a semblance of life and the ability to influence one's mind."
"Perhaps there was some fear within you that this old house absorbed. That's why the resulting evil spirit called your name, intending to draw out your fear and then consume you."
"In reality, these evil spirits lack intelligence. They don't know who you are and can only attack based on instinct. Even if someone else came, the outcome would likely be the same."
Hearing Ye Ling's explanation, Yang Qi breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and apologized to Ye Ling, "My apologies, sir. I lost my composure just now..."
"Follow me."
Ye Ling interrupted Yang Qi's apology and walked towards the living room of the old house.
Yang Qi quickly shut his mouth and followed Ye Ling.
Despite it being broad daylight, the inside of the old house was quite dim, with only a few slivers of sunlight piercing through the gaps in the wooden boards.
The air was thick with the smell of rotting corpses and wood, and dust motes floated everywhere.
The atmosphere was incredibly eerie.
Ye Ling glanced around the living room, ignoring the evil spirits lurking in the shadows, waiting to ambush. He extended his spiritual sense outwards, searching for any clues.
This house had been modified, and the modifier's spiritual energy must have left some trace.
Although some time had passed and the residual spiritual energy might have dissipated, if Ye Ling could capture even a trace, and his own aura hadn't changed, he could pinpoint that person anywhere on Earth!
The room suddenly fell silent.
Yang Qi didn't know what Ye Ling was doing, but he dared not disturb him. He simply stood quietly beside Ye Ling, waiting for Ye Ling's next command.
Yang Qi's mind was in turmoil. Despite the unusually cold surroundings, he was sweating profusely.
Even now, he was still hiding something from Ye Ling.
In fact, Li Xiaomei had indeed sent him a letter, but within that envelope were two letters with entirely different content.
When he read the letter Li Xiaomei had sent him, he knew... his life had been irrevocably changed.
In that letter, Li Xiaomei explained why she had deliberately kept her distance from everyone, why she had always rejected him... and why she would die.
It was Li Xiaomei's final warning to him.
After reading that letter, he realized that if his relationship with Li Xiaomei were ever exposed, he would surely die!
Subsequently, the bizarre deaths of all of Li Xiaomei's relatives confirmed Li Xiaomei's warning!
The other letter contained the incantation of a cultivation technique, which would allow him to enter the circle of extraordinary individuals and gain some ability to protect himself.
After reading both letters, Yang Qi had no hesitation in destroying the first letter and then burying the other letter under the槐树 (huái shù - pagoda tree) as a diversion.
The fact that Li Xiaomei had sent Yang Qi a letter might be discovered, but the content of the first letter must never be known. That was why Yang Qi chose to bury the second letter under the pagoda tree.
This way, even if someone found the letter and read its contents, they wouldn't suspect anything else!
Over the years, Yang Qi had lived in extreme regret and fear.
He knew that Li Xiaomei was in danger, but he had chosen to shrink back, to be a coward, and allowed Li Xiaomei to be harmed.
He had hidden for over a decade, never daring to avenge Li Xiaomei, only collecting information about his enemies from afar to comfort himself.
He actually knew that hiding behind his computer, even if he found the murderer of Li Xiaomei, he would still be unable to do anything.
Moreover, Li Xiaomei was carrying his child. The mastermind behind it would never give up searching for him!
One day, he would be found by that killer and brutally murdered.
However, even knowing all this, he still dared to do nothing, hiding in his room day after day, engaging in self-consoling activities.
That's why when Ye Ling came looking for him, his first reaction was to flee.
But after learning that his daughter was still alive, his state of mind had shifted somewhat.
The longer Yang Qi followed Ye Ling, the more he felt that Ye Ling could help him bring things to a conclusion!
After much internal struggle, Yang Qi finally made up his mind and said to Ye Ling, "Sir, there is something very important I want to tell you."
Ye Ling continued to search the old house for any residual spiritual energy with his divine sense, saying casually, "About that letter?"
Yang Qi nodded. "Actually... the content of the letter I buried under the pagoda tree was just a cultivation mantra for a technique, it's not important... What's important is that Xiaomei also sent me another letter... The content of that letter is of great significance, and I have hidden it in my mind."
Hearing Yang Qi's words, Ye Ling looked at him with some surprise. "A letter hidden in your mind?"
Although Ye Ling had indeed planned to conduct a soul-searching on Yang Qi after investigating the old house to find out what he knew, Yang Qi was now proactively confessing about another letter, which surprised Ye Ling.
This saved him the trouble of soul-searching.
Yang Qi said, "I know that powerful individuals like you, sir, must have methods like soul-searching, and you won't pay too much attention to my confession."
"But please, sir, let me explain..."
Hearing Yang Qi's words, Ye Ling became a little more serious and said, "Speak."
Yang Qi continued, "Actually, Xiaomei had created a device that could scramble human memories. With that device, all my memories are in disarray. If you were to search my soul, sir, you would only get my false memories."
"However, after that device was connected to my brain, it could form a special key based on my brain's unique structure. Those memories are compiled by my brain, and as long as I search for related memories, I can still retrieve the correct information..."
Hearing Yang Qi's words, Ye Ling's eyes changed slightly. "There's such a device?"
According to Yang Qi's account, once that device was used, the user could retain all their memories without needing to plant any restrictions in their soul, thus preventing others from soul-searching!
This kind of advanced technology, if used properly, would be an invaluable treasure for countless families and factions!
If the person controlling Ye Feng from behind the scenes possessed the technology Yang Qi described...
Ye Ling couldn't imagine how perfectly the mastermind's plan would be executed, by someone who knew the entire plan like the back of their hand but wasn't afraid of it being leaked!