Siheyuan: Hang Jia Dongxu, smash Banggeng to death!

"Shazhu, Yan Bugui, make your move," Third Master said in a deep voice.

Sha Zhu stood up and walked to Yi Zhonghai's side.

He squatted down and looked at that familiar yet unfamiliar face.

Over the years, Yi Zhonghai has always been an elder and an authority figure in his heart, one of the few people who were willing to "take care" of him after his father ran away.

But now...

"Uncle," Sha Zhu said, his voice a little hoarse, "I'll call you 'Uncle' one last time."

Yi Zhonghai's eyelids twitched again.

"You always tell me to be generous to the Jia family, saying that a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative, and that helping others is helping yourself."

Sha Zhu continued, "Now it's your turn to be magnanimous to me. Your sacrifice can save us all."

Don't worry, I'll secretly burn paper money for you every Qingming Festival from now on.

He spoke with such sincerity, as if he truly cared for Yi Zhonghai's well-being, just as Yi Zhonghai had treated him kindly in the past.

Yan Bugui, on the other side, put his arm around Yi Zhonghai's arm and interjected, "Old Yi, putting aside the facts, don't you have any faults at all?"

If Yi Zhonghai could move, he would definitely want to spit in his face right now.

Putting aside the facts, are you saying you have no humanity?

"All of this began because of you, and it should also end because of you."

Yan Bugui said earnestly, "Don't blame us. Blame Factory Director Yang for threatening you. If he hadn't forced you, you wouldn't have gone so far as to destroy the Lin family, right?"

That's right!

What's the point of saying all this now?

Let me go!

Yi Zhonghai was screaming in his heart.

Third Master walked over, holding a severed hand and a blood-soaked garment that had been soaked in his heart's blood.

"Let's put one in first to test the oil temperature," he said.

Sha Zhu took the severed hand, hesitated for a moment, and then threw it into the oil pot.

Sizzle—!

The moment the severed hand was plunged into the oil, a loud bang was heard.

Oil splattered everywhere, and Sha Zhu quickly took a few steps back.

The severed hand rolled and deformed in the boiling oil, its skin and flesh rapidly contracted, and finally sank to the bottom of the pot.

A meaty smell filled the air.

"Now, let me put out the blood-stained clothes." Third Master handed the blood-stained clothes to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui took the blood-soaked rag, his hands trembling slightly.

But he gritted his teeth and threw the blood-stained clothes in as well.

The blood-stained clothes sizzled even louder when they came into contact with hot oil.

The fabric quickly curled and carbonized, eventually turning into a dark, lumpy mass that floated on the oil noodles.

"Alright," Third Master took a deep breath, "Now, place the offerings."

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui exchanged a glance, then simultaneously bent down and lifted Yi Zhonghai.

Yi Zhonghai finally opened his eyes.

He saw the blinding sunlight overhead, the large iron pot emitting blue smoke, and the golden hot oil bubbling inside.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

He shook his head desperately, but the cloth stuffed in his mouth prevented him from uttering complete syllables; only desperate sobs could be heard.

"Old Yi, don't be afraid, it'll be over soon," Yan Bugui comforted him. "It'll be over in the blink of an eye."

Sha Zhu also said, "Uncle, don't worry, I'm good at starting fires and I can control the oil temperature accurately, so it won't hurt you too much."

It won't be too painful?

Deep-frying someone alive wouldn't be too painful?

Yi Zhonghai wanted to laugh, to burst into laughter and mock himself.

But tears of fear flowed first, and snot and saliva mixed with fear of death smeared all over his face.

The two men carried him step by step toward the oil fryer.

The oil in the pot was bubbling even more violently, with tiny bubbles rising to the surface of the noodles. The temperature had risen so high that even the surrounding air was distorting.

"one two three--"

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui exerted force at the same time, throwing Yi Zhonghai into the oil pot.

In that instant, time seemed to slow down.

Yi Zhonghai drew an arc in the air and saw his wife, Wang Cuilan, smiling at him, and his great-grandmother waving at him.

Then, it fell into boiling oil.

"ah--!!!"

A low, piercing scream, almost inhuman, erupted from the frying pan.

Even with a cloth stuffed in his mouth, the sound still pierced through the fabric and cut through the air, sending chills down the spines of the three people in the yard.

The oil in the pan is boiling.

Yi Zhonghai was like a fish entering the ocean, struggling and thrashing in the oil...

The skin quickly bubbles, turns black, and peels off, revealing the bright red flesh underneath. Then the fish meat turns white and becomes cooked.

The scene was so horrifying that even Sha Zhu couldn't help but turn away and gag.

Yan Bugui's face turned pale, his legs went weak, and he almost knelt on the ground.

Only Third Master remained fixed on the oil cauldron, shaking a bell in his hand and chanting: "Heaven and Earth, the Mysterious Origin of All Qi... Cultivate for countless eons, and prove my divine powers..."

The fish in the oil struggled weaker and weaker until they finally stopped struggling completely.

Yi Zhonghai remained motionless.

He floated on the oil noodles, his body curled up in a ball, his skin charred and carbonized, no longer recognizable as human.

Only those eyes remained wide open, staring intently at the sky, their gaze filled with pain and resentment.

The Third Master chanted the incantation faster and faster, and the bell rang more and more urgently.

Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the courtyard.

It was noon, the time when the sun was at its strongest, but the wind was so cold it was bone-chilling, making your hair stand on end.

The fire at the bottom of the pot suddenly flared up, and the flames turned an eerie bluish-green.

"They're here!" Third Master shouted. "The evil spirits are here!"

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui looked around in horror, but could see nothing.

Only Third Master could sense that intense resentment was surging in from all directions, gathering in the air above the courtyard.

The oil in the pan began to churn unnaturally, as if something was stirring inside.

Yi Zhonghai's charred corpse suddenly moved.

Then, slowly, he sat up from the oil pan.

"Oh my god, a ghost... a ghost... a ghost..."

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui were so frightened they almost fell to the ground.

The scene inside the oil pan was so horrifying that both of them felt their legs go weak.

Having learned from the previous incident involving He Yushui's corpse, they had developed some resistance and at least didn't collapse like they did last time.

Seeing this, Third Master shouted, pointing his peach wood sword directly at the oil cauldron: "Demons and monsters, get out of here! Demons and monsters, get out of here!"

He chanted incantations and rang a bell, his voice so loud it made the courtyard buzz.

Strangely enough, when he shouted, the charred corpse in the oil pot did indeed sway, then slowly fell backward and sank back into the boiling oil.

With a "plop," a few drops of oil splattered and landed on the stone beside the stove, sizzling loudly.

Sha Zhu let out a long sigh of relief, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and exclaimed, "Third Master truly lives up to his name! His skills are profound; he suppressed the evil spirit with just one move!"

Yan Bugui, having regained his senses, quickly flattered him: "Third Master is a living god! With just a slight gesture, the evil spirits had nowhere to hide!"

He meant it sincerely.

That scene was truly terrifying. If Third Master hadn't intervened in time, he didn't know if he would have wet his pants from fright.

But there was no sign of relaxation on Third Master's face.

His expression was grave, his peach wood sword still held high, his eyes fixed on the oil cauldron, and he said in a deep voice, "Aren't you all celebrating too soon?"

"Huh?" Sha Zhu was taken aback. "Wasn't the evil spirit suppressed?"

"Suppress?" Third Master sneered. "Where are you looking? The culprit isn't dead yet!"

"What?!"

Sha Zhu and Yan Bugui exclaimed in surprise at the same time, looking incredulously into the oil pot.

There was nothing in the pot except for the charred corpse and the boiling hot oil.

Third Master roared, "Look down! On the ground!"

The two of them subconsciously looked down.

That one glance was enough to seal the deal.

It almost scared the soul out of me.

The courtyard was bathed in bright sunshine, yet a thick, impenetrable shadow loomed beside the oil pan.

The shadow was writhing and deforming, as if something was trying to crawl out of it.

Even more terrifying, the shadow was slowly "standing up"—not like a person standing up, but a two-dimensional shadow peeling off from the ground and becoming a three-dimensional outline.

It's like a piece of paper standing up from a flat surface.

"Silly Zhu, Yan Bugui, long time no see."

……