Fang Xuan asked nervously, "Brother Li, are we going in? Or… should I send those three in to scout the way?"

I glanced at the approaching corpses. "Not yet. Let's wait for the others to arrive. Ye Yang, set up the formation."

Ye Yang dug a snow cave near the edge of Dead Man's Gulch, packed the snow inside, and blocked the entrance with snow, leaving only a ventilation hole the size of a person's face.

With Ye Yang's formation in place, unless a world-class formation master arrived, they wouldn't discover we were hidden just twenty-odd meters from the mouth of the valley.

I sat down and asked Fang Xuan, "How much do you know about the Niu family?"

Fang Xuan said, "Everything I told you about the Niu family, except for Niu Tianlu leading eight corpses into the mine, was true."

"Including the letters I showed you that Niu Tianlu left behind. Those were genuine."

"I wanted to lure you into the mine because it really is haunted. I set up corpse control formations in the mine, waiting for you to enter so I could catch you all in one fell swoop."

I nodded slightly. "Tell me everything you know."

"Although Niu Tianlu made a living building coffins, his existence never aroused suspicion. Even though we knew he knew a little magic, we didn't think of him as a sorcerer."

Fang Xuan wasn't lying.

Sorcerers can also be divided into different grades. Any type of sorcerer has top-tier practitioners and also the dregs of the art. Like the most common fortune-tellers – no matter where you go, there's no shortage of people telling fortunes, but true heavenly calculators who can see through the secrets of the heavens are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

In the mountain villages of Northeast China, more or less everyone has small tricks passed down from their ancestors. Knowing a few skills doesn't make you a sorcerer, and naturally won't attract the attention of the sorcerer world.

Fang Xuan continued, "Back then, after the mine accident, the news of Niu Tianlu's fortune-telling spread like wildfire, and the Five Great Families heard about it, but no one paid much attention to the Niu family."

"It wasn't until Meng Die found me that I learned that a man named Wei Daqiang was regularly sending pig blood to Niu Bao. It was this that aroused Meng Die's suspicion."

"Meng Die investigated all the way down and finally determined that the Niu family was raising jiangshi (animated corpses)."

"Three years ago, Meng Die took me to the Niu family, suppressed the jiangshi, and captured Niu Bao. At that time, Niu Bao said the same thing I told you at the Niu family."

"As for whether Meng Die continued to pursue Niu Tianlu's whereabouts after that, I don't know."

"Oh, right!" Fang Xuan added, "Meng Die only gave me that letter Niu Tianlu left behind yesterday."

I asked without a change in expression, "What's your impression of Meng Die? Besides her looks."

I won't deny that most men love women starting with their appearance. But asking if Meng Die is beautiful is meaningless to me. I want to know if Meng Die has any outstanding qualities.

Fang Xuan said with a wry smile, "To be honest, I don't like Meng Die. When it comes to beauty, there are plenty of high-value beauties. As for personality, Meng Die's personality is very assertive. She's not an ideal spouse! Moreover, Meng Die is inscrutable."

"I can't see the joys, sorrows, or any emotions that ordinary girls should have in Meng Die. She never seems to have any emotional changes, and she always has a detached attitude towards people and things."

"The feeling she gives is a polite aloofness, not just towards me, but even towards Meng Haoyun of the Meng family."

"And…" Fang Xuan hesitated before saying, "Meng Die seems to disregard her mother and her mother's family. She doesn't seem to hide her contempt for her mother and uncle."

"Oh?" I asked back, "Is she that obvious about it?"

"Not really! Her mother and uncle are very polite to Meng Die, but I can tell that she doesn't like them and even rejects them."

"It's not just me, everyone pursuing Meng Die can see it. That's why no matter what her uncle says to us, we've never cooperated with him."

I narrowed my eyes and said, "You've never seen any emotional fluctuations in Meng Die?"

Fang Xuan thought for a while and said, "No! It seems to me that Meng Die knows everything. You also know that the four of us are pursuing Meng Die at the same time. Whether our love for her is real or fake, there must be times when we are jealous and competitive."

"But no matter what we plan, Meng Die only says two words: 'Thank you.' We've never seen her happy."

"How should I describe that feeling? It's like she already knew what we were going to do in advance. Knowing the result in advance means she's not interested in anything."

"So, the more I pursue Meng Die, the more I lose interest. That feeling of frustration is almost indescribable. If it weren't for the family alliance, I would just want to stay as far away from her as possible."

Hearing this, I couldn't help but smile wryly. "It seems I underestimated this Meng Die. Besides that old fox of the Meng family, the most terrifying should be this little fox, Meng Die."

Fang Xuan asked in surprise, "Brother Li, what are you talking about?"