Chapter 607: Chapter 188: Death Qi
"The old man from the Lu Family died so miserably back then, they said he went up the mountain to chip stones, and got injured by a falling rock — ha! We’re all from the same village, who doesn’t know about their affairs. Chipping stones on the mountain, what a lie.
In fact, he went to dig someone else’s grave and somehow got seriously injured, was carried back home, and passed away in less than half a day.
At that time, his entire family was doing this, even my elementary school classmate and her elder brother. He wasn’t even an adult when he followed his parents to dig up soil, and later got caught by the police, spent many years inside.
When they were caught, several police cars came, searched the Lu family’s house thoroughly, found a lot of stuff, and took the people away.
Many years later, they came back once, probably got released, but didn’t stay in the village for more than two or three days before leaving, never seen again afterward."
The chubby landlady said, looking at Chen Yan with a peculiar expression, "Young man, you aren’t an undercover cop, are you? Here to gather information?"
As she spoke, she seemed to become excited, "Hey! By telling you these things, am I providing intelligence? Is there a reward?"
Chen Yan laughed, took out his phone to scan and pay for what he bought, and replied with a smile, "Auntie, you’ve got it wrong, I’m not a cop. I just enjoy gossip and rumors, just randomly asking around, treating it like listening to a story."
The landlady was immediately somewhat disappointed.
Saying goodbye to the landlady, who due to midlife boredom had some whimsical thoughts, Chen Yan walked into the village.
After wandering around a couple of times, he easily found out about the old Lu family house.
The house wasn’t big, located on the west side of the village, a bit isolated, near a small river.
The homestead wasn’t big either, just two tiled houses, but they looked very dilapidated, seemingly not maintained for many years, appearing a bit rickety.
The vegetation around the house was withered, presenting a scene of desolation.
After glancing around to ensure no one was watching, Chen Yan jumped over the wall and entered the house.
The lock on the door was already rotten, but Chen Yan didn’t twist it open, instead, he pushed the window. The window frame had turned into decayed rotten wood, it came off with a gentle push. Chen Yan supported the window frame, moved the window aside, and after creating a small gap, squeezed inside.
The house reeked of a strong musty smell, very pungent. It was dim and cramped.
Most of the furniture was rotten. Judging by the extent of the corrosion, Chen Yan guessed that the roof probably leaked, so over the years of rain and snow, water seeped inside, which is why all the wooden furniture in the house had rotted into their current miserable state.
Even mushrooms were growing in the corners of the walls.
The walls were covered with patches of mold.
Chen Yan calmed himself down and took out a compass from his Storage Jade Pendant, calculating directions according to the ’Destiny Cycle’, then used the Celestial Eye Qi Observation Skill to observe.
He captured a faint trace of Death Qi!
Following this trace, Chen Yan walked out of the house and took over twenty steps by the small river at the back of the house.
Finally, he stopped in front of a slab of bluestone by the river.
This bluestone slab was by the river, but the terrain was a bit higher, so even during high waters, it wouldn’t be submerged.
Chen Yan looked around to ensure no one was watching, then stretched out his hand and exerted force to lift one side of the bluestone slab.
With a quick search, he felt something underneath.
It was an already tattered oilcloth bag, the material severely deteriorated, giving the feeling that it might disintegrate with a little force.
However, holding it in hand, there was still that clinking sensation.
Chen Yan opened the oilcloth bag, finding some scattered items inside.
There were corroded and dilapidated copper coins and a jade bracelet. The jade material couldn’t be seen because it was obviously improperly preserved, and had turned black.
These items carried traces of Death Qi, clearly having been dug out from a tomb!
They were Nether Artifacts.
Chen Yan recalled the wisp of Death Qi on Lu Xiuting herself, nodding.
Just as he finished storing these things into his Jade Pendant, footsteps sounded behind him.
"Hey! What are you doing here!"
Two men approached by the riverbank, seemingly villagers, one holding a stick, glared at Chen Yan and exclaimed, "You’re not from our village, how did you end up here?!"
Chen Yan smiled, "Just wandering around."
"Wandering around for what!" The man with the stick eyed him warily.
Chen Yan glanced around and saw the shopkeeper lady standing stealthily under a distant utility pole, peeking over here.
He chuckled, realizing what was going on.
The landlady probably got carried away, curious about whether he was an undercover cop after inquiring about Lu family matters.
After he denied—could she possibly have mistaken him for some grave-robbing criminal gang and reported him?
Sure enough, after speaking with these two villagers, Chen Yan learned that one was the village security director, and the younger one with the stick was the director’s son.
"Misunderstanding, I just came to see the river, looking for a fishing spot—I love wild fishing."
Chen Yan casually came up with an excuse.
As for showing his ID, he didn’t refuse, good-naturedly taking out his documents—along with car keys.
Bringing the security director to the village entrance, Chen Yan started his car with the keys.
The bright new G Wagon with local Jinling Prefecture plates.
Local person, local car, coupled with Chen Yan’s youthful handsome appearance, and extraordinary dressing.
The security director no longer doubted, but after hesitating a moment, said, "If you want to fish, you can go by the reservoir, there’s a fishing spot there. If you prefer pond fishing, we have fishing households in the village, I can introduce you."