It is said that Old Master Huang spent a lot of money to hire a famous scholar to write his eulogy.

　　The ceremony was extraordinarily grand. Old Master Huang had the scholar carried in a sedan chair by eight men. As they walked, others paved the road with yellow earth and sprinkled it with water, making it so clean that not even dust would rise.

　　Onlookers said the scholar was putting on too much airs. However, they had also heard that this scholar was indeed worthy of such grandeur.

　　Those who waited to see the spectacle never expected to witness such a grand scene—the scholar, with all his pomp, couldn't write the two words "功德" (gong de, merit and virtue).

　　According to the proper order, the scholar had to grind the ink first, but the ink block wouldn't grind no matter what he did.

　　The scholar successively called up three people born in the years of the Ox, Dragon, and Tiger, but after grinding for a long time, the water in the inkstone remained clear.

　　The scholar finally gritted his teeth and said, "Bring chicken blood!"

　　The villagers had never seen anything like this. It was the first time they had heard of using chicken blood instead of ink to write a eulogy. Everyone wished they could stand on tables to get a better view.

　　Those who stood at a height really saw something.

　　They said that when the chicken blood first entered the inkstone, it bubbled up as if it were boiling. After the blood bubbles surfaced a few times, the inkstone shattered into pieces, splattering blood all over the table.

　　How much blood can a chicken produce? At most, it would fill half a bowl. Moreover, the person killing the chicken hadn't tried hard to drain the blood.

　　However, the chicken blood covered the entire table.

　　The blood didn't flow anywhere else; it dripped down along the four corners of the table, forming four pools of blood beneath it in a short time.

　　The scholar stood by the table for a long time, then angrily threw down his brush, said, "Farewell!" and left without looking back.

　　Old Master Huang chased after him for a long time, finally catching up at the village entrance, where he grabbed him and talked for a long while. The scholar either waved his hand or shook his head, and finally, he flicked his sleeve and left without looking back.

　　Old Master Huang returned home dejectedly.

　　At that time, the people of Qinghe Town were spreading rumors about the Huang family.

　　According to the elders, those who couldn't have "功德" (gong de, merit and virtue) written for them were people who lacked great virtue and would be struck by lightning after death.

　　However, no one knew how the Huang family had lost their virtue.

　　Later, someone figured out the Huang family's background. When Old Master Huang first came to Qinghe Town, he didn't farm or work, but he drank and ate meat every day. The money probably didn't come from a good source.

　　There were many bandits in the Northeast who found a place to settle down after growing old. Judging by Old Master Huang's behavior, he might be an old bandit.

　　Now, those who had been close to the Huang family didn't even step foot in their house.

　　Hearing this, I couldn't help but ask, "Old Leopard did it on purpose, right?"

　　Chen Shuyu said, "I think so too. At that time, the Huang family was a wealthy household in Qinghe Town. If they really held a funeral, all the neighbors would come to help. It would be difficult for Old Leopard to do some things."

　　"Besides, Zuan Shan Bao (Drilling Mountain Leopard) himself is a member of the esoteric arts. He could handle writing the '功德' (gong de, merit and virtue) himself. The elaborate invitation of a scholar was probably to prevent people from seeing where he was going."

　　I nodded. "What happened later?"

　　Chen Shuyu continued, "After hiding at home for a few days, Old Master Huang left with a large package on his back. At that time, someone saw silver coins falling out of the package."

　　The people of Qinghe Town were spreading rumors that Old Master Huang had gone out to hire an expert.

　　When Old Master Huang returned, he brought back more than a dozen people with scars on their bodies who occasionally spouted slang.

　　The people of Qinghe Town were frightened. No one dared to talk to them, and they didn't even dare to go out at night, fearing they might cause trouble for themselves.

　　Some brave people secretly watched what those people were doing.

　　Those people always appeared during the day and came out at night. After coming out, they carried a coffin along the river and didn't return until midnight.

　　This happened every day!

　　Later, some people noticed that the group carried the coffin barefoot. Some also saw that when they came out of the Old Huang's house, their feet were all red, but the red color disappeared by the time they returned.

　　Moreover, the Old Huang family frequently killed chickens. They were always seen buying roosters, buying out all the roosters in the surrounding villages and then starting to buy them in the county.

　　Some knowledgeable people said that those people soaked their feet in chicken blood before leaving the Old Huang's house.

　　The road they carried the coffin on was definitely not a road for humans; otherwise, they wouldn't have stained their feet with blood.

　　Old Huang probably knew his coffin would be struck by lightning, so he simply found someone to send him directly to the underworld.

　　Of course, no one believed this.

　　Carrying a coffin at most just sent someone to the grave. Who could directly carry someone into the underworld?

　　The person who said this, seeing that others didn't believe him, said with certainty, "There is indeed a river outside Qinghe Town that connects to the underworld. The elders have talked about this long ago. If you don't believe me, go back and ask your family elders to see if they know about the River Outside the River?"