Xu Er kept his head down, silent, as if weighing something.

I soon grew impatient. "Friend Xu, if you really don't want to open the door, that's fine. I can find another courtyard. Lao Liu, let's go!"

As I walked out, I couldn't help but transmit my thoughts, "This is a master who's completed a Earth-Rank secret mission? What a joke!"

Lao Liu quickly fanned himself, sending a coded message: "The Three-Eyed Tigers must be together to be considered masters. Separated, their combat power is only thirty percent of what it was. Besides, I heard their Earth-Rank mission was thanks to someone else's misfortune. Also, the Jianghu can wear people down."

I'd heard Lao Liu's words before. The higher someone's status in the Jianghu, the more afraid they are of death, because they can't bear to lose the empty fame and wealth they risked their lives for in the first half of their life. Unless, that person has the makings of a hero.

On the contrary, those Jianghu vagabonds with nothing to lose are truly terrifying, because they dare to risk everything.

The Xu brothers, have they been worn down by the Jianghu, losing their spirit?

"Wait!" Xu San stood up just as I reached the gate. "I'll go with you. I don't want to live like this."

Xu Er also spoke, "Master Li, I'll say it again, we can give up the task here. I'll obey your orders, and I won't complain even if I have to go through fire and water. But, please protect my third brother, and my eldest brother, alright?"

I looked at Xu Er for a long time and said, "Brother Xu, to be honest, would you believe me if I said I could protect the eldest and the third? I'll do my best!"

Xu Er gritted his teeth. "Third brother, open the door and welcome the guests. We'll follow Master Li's orders."

Xu Laosan walked into the courtyard in a few steps, opened the gate, and then picked up an axe from the yard and chopped the threshold into pieces.

The door can block ghosts, thirty percent depends on the door, seventy percent on the threshold.

Generally, the Five Emperors Coins used to ward off ghosts and resolve evil are all hidden under the threshold. Once the threshold of the gate is broken, even if there are consecrated door gods pasted on it, ghosts can still sneak into the house under the door.

As soon as the threshold outside was broken, a gust of Yin wind swept across the ground, causing the two doors to bang loudly, and the water in the alley flowed into the courtyard.

Xu Er turned to look at me, then simply stepped forward and took off the door panels as well, exposing the entire courtyard directly to the side of the alley. From our perspective, there was only a dark alleyway, and to the left and right there was only darkness that was difficult to see.

I sat in the living room, facing the gate directly. "How can we welcome guests without lights? Lao Liu, shouldn't we decorate with lanterns?"

"We should!" Lao Liu took out two folded white cloth lanterns from his backpack, unfolded them with a clap, lit the candles, and hung them at the entrance of the living room.

Lanterns are also common magical artifacts used by practitioners. It's not surprising that practitioners can pull out lanterns from their bags. The difference lies in whether they pull out white cloth death lanterns or red cloth ghost-illuminating lanterns.

The light emitted by the two white lanterns illuminated the gate faintly, expanding our vision somewhat. However, the white light made the gate even more eerie.

Anyone who has walked at night knows that the truly terrifying thing isn't pitch darkness, but that faint light in the darkness. Because, a little bit of light is enough to let you vaguely see something.

As soon as the lights came on, Xu Er and Xu San retreated, standing nervously in the middle of the living room, one hand clutching a weapon, the other holding a talisman, glancing at the gate from time to time.

I smiled, "You don't need to be so nervous. We're all civilized people. How can neighbors visit without a greeting? It's not too late for us to go out and greet them when someone calls at the door."

Although Xu Er and Xu San opened the door at my request, they also shuddered.

Opening the door to invite ghosts in, and having ghosts call at the door, are definitely two different concepts.

According to my current approach: let the ghosts into the house, and the humans have the advantage. If the ghosts ask people to come out, the ghosts can kill people.

When Xu Er and Xu San turned to look at me together, they saw me smiling at them. The hairs on their arms stood on end, and they subconsciously took two steps back.

Xu Er said with a trembling voice, "Master Li, are you alright?"

I smiled, "What could be wrong with me? Am I possessed by a ghost?"

While I was talking to Xu Er, Ye Yang was cursing me in the distance, "This idiot, still lecturing me! Did I hit him too lightly?"

Feng Ruohang looked at Ye Yang with a strange expression. Ye Yang then said, "Send all our information to Zhao Ci, and tell him to find out the results for me no matter what."

Feng Ruohang quickly found the news from Zhao Ci, "Li Po guessed correctly, that bell is indeed missing."

"According to Zhao Ci's intelligence, during the turbulent times, the bronze bell on the bell tower was dismantled and sent to the smelter. It was said to be breaking the old ways and customs, but it was also to support the smelting industry."

"That bell scared a lot of people at the smelter. At that time, the things sent to the smelter were piled up like mountains, and the bell was placed on the outermost layer. Every time the smelter loaded the truck, it would be full just before they got to the bell."

"So, every time they saw the bronze bell being placed on the outermost layer, it would be buried under other things when they went to pull it the next day. By the time they dug the bell out again, the truck would be full again."

"After several repetitions, someone said that the bell had become powerful and knew how to save itself."

"In that era, such remarks were unacceptable. Soon, someone organized a team to pull the bell away and melt it down no matter what. However, more than a dozen people went at that time, and they couldn't lift the bell no matter what."

"The leader got angry and insisted on smashing the bell. Someone took a hammer and hit the bell, but the hammer head flew several meters away and hit the leader on the head, killing him instantly. A hole was also smashed in the bronze bell."

"At that time, the direction in which the hammer head flew was too strange. The person who smashed the bell was afraid that the hammer would bounce back, so he deliberately leaned to the side and smashed it down. As a result, the hammer head flew five or six meters away, and crossed over two people to hit the leader on the head."

"After that, no one dared to touch the bell."