For ten years I practiced Gu poison in Southeast Asia; all living beings revered me as a deity.

"Is it you... Senior Brother Zhou?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Liu Guangyang turned around, a look of surprise on his face.

The newcomer was a middle-aged man who was lame. He was dressed in a clean white linen shirt and cloth shoes.

He was holding a palm-sized gong in one hand and a gong mallet in his other right hand.

Zhou Jing?!

Luo Feng recognized him too; this was Zhou Jing, whom he had met once before.

"Junior Brother Liu, I didn't expect you to still acknowledge me as your senior brother..."

Zhou Jing smiled.

"What are you saying, senior brother!"

Liu Guangyang said in a deep voice: "In my heart, Senior Brother Zhou has always been the eldest senior brother of the Datuk lineage."

Oh, and I must thank you so much, senior brother, for saving my life!

He quickly glanced at Luo Feng.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Zhou, for saving my life."

Luo Feng also seized the opportunity.

He hadn't expected Zhou Jing to be so powerful. Even with Liu Guangyang's combined efforts, they couldn't defeat the "Zhenni" evil spirit, but Zhou Jing shattered the evil spirit's domain with a single bang of a gong.

"You're welcome, both of you."

Zhou Jing nodded slightly, then glanced in the direction of the durian orchard.

"You two are really unlucky to run into that thing here!"

"Senior Brother Zhou, do you know the origin of that skeletal demon?"

Liu Guangyang asked quickly.

He knew that Zhou Jing's presence here must mean he knew something about that skeletal demon... Moreover, although Zhou Jing was not weak, to break the "Zhenni's" domain, he needed to understand the opponent's true strength and weaknesses.

"Know."

Zhou Jing nodded

"That is what the Malays call 'Zhenni,' a fierce and malevolent spirit worshipped by Malay shamans in their ghost worship rituals... According to Islamic scholars' records, they belong to the seven powerful kings."

He said that these seven powerful monarchs correspond to the week and the seven planets: the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Earth. Each monarch possesses unique powers and domains, with different symbols representing their authority, and the number of spirits under their rule is also vast…

Upon hearing this, Luo Feng immediately thought of the seven kings of hell in European legends, such as Leviathan, Samael, Belphegor, and Mammon.

According to Zhou Jing's subsequent description, these nuns are generally divided into three categories, the weakest of which are low-level beings that resemble snakes, scorpions, and dogs.

The second type exists in the wind, its form is like clouds and mist, floating and uncertain, similar to a wandering ghost;

Finally, the third type is the extremely powerful Zhenni, who may take the form of a giant, a ghoul, or a human.

Of course, this will not change the nature of these demons—powerful demons are evil spirits, and their innate hostility, bloodlust, and cruelty towards humans will not change.

Luo Feng couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Hearing this, he felt more and more that Zhenni, demons, and what the Chinese called "evil spirits" were essentially the same thing.

"That evil spirit must be a subordinate of some king. They seem to exist like subjects, with different ranks."

Zhou Jing said calmly.

He claimed that some Malay shamans in West Malaysia were familiar with the names of these "Zhenni" ghosts.

The skull-faced demon can only be summoned through the "living man's oil and wax" ritual, a unique secret technique of one of the Malay shamanic traditions.

This evil spirit was known to the world as "Ole" and also had the name "Saiadan".

Adam is the name of the human race in the Islamic tradition, similar to Adam in the Bible.

The skeletal demon is called "Sai Adam" because it has the cruel custom of feeding on the offspring of the human ancestor "Adam".

It can be described as a ghoul, or similar to the demons in the hell "Gihena," devouring the souls of sinners for those great hell kings.

"Ghost soldiers... does that mean they're similar to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face demons in our Chinese hell?"

Luo Feng countered with a question.

Upon hearing his question, Zhou Jing nodded solemnly.

"almost……"

He sighed deeply again: "But most importantly, this 'Zhenni' evil spirit was summoned. It usually roams the underworld and will not appear in the mortal world unless controlled by a shaman who is proficient in Malay witchcraft."

Furthermore, its level is not low; the Malay shaman who can summon this skeletal ghost must also possess an astonishing level of sorcery.

To be honest, for certain reasons, I've been searching for the person controlling this ghost, but I never expected to run into you all.

"Who exactly is this person?"

Luo Feng asked this question.

"I want to know too."

Zhou Jing shook his head, seemingly not intending to say anything more on this matter, and turned to admonish the two of them.

"This matter is complicated... Even I haven't been able to dig out many clues. All I can say is that this matter is somewhat related to the mine manager, Luo Daming."

"Rotten feet?"

Liu Guangyang's face also looked somewhat gloomy.

"Yes, it's him."

Zhou Jing lowered his voice: "'Rotten-Foot Luo' Luo Daming, he is a member of the Luo family. The Luo family's ancestor was named Luo Lishi, who was a pig sold to Southeast Asia."

His rise to power was also quite bizarre. Luo Lishi was sold to work in a gold mine. Later, he colluded with the foreman and a group of pigs to steal and cheat while digging for gold veins. In the end, he betrayed his fellow prisoners and kept the gold nuggets for himself.

After narrowly escaping death from the mine, Luo Lishi fled from Dutch territory to Sarawak, where he used his gold nuggets to secure an agency agreement for a plantation with the British.

He made his fortune on the plantation and opened gambling dens, opium dens and brothels in the plantation. He was very shrewd. He recruited many Chinese laborers and sold them opium at cheap prices.

They run casinos and lend money at exorbitant interest rates, while the laborers inside smoke opium. Once addicted, they constantly run up debts. Those addicted to gambling lose every time they gamble, inevitably accumulating a mountain of debt, with all their earnings going to the mines.

The Luo family is a well-known and powerful family in Kuching, with foreigners backing them up, and ordinary people can't afford to offend them.

Luo Daming, nicknamed "Rotten-Foot Luo," was a spoiled brat with little ability and an arrogant and domineering personality. He acted like a tyrant in the mining area of ​​Lipan, and was deeply hated by the locals.

"Rotten-footed Luo is a good-for-nothing; he can't accomplish anything on his own. Could this be the work of the Luo family of Kuching?"

Liu Guangyang asked, puzzled.

"A Malay shaman, especially one who can command such a 'Zhenni' evil spirit? He is definitely not an ordinary person."

Zhou Jing scratched his chin.

"You can't hire someone like that, and I think only the Luo family of Kuching has the ability to do this."

"But we can't rule out the possibility that the Malays themselves are behind this?"

Liu Guangyang raised this question again.

"There are not many Malays in Sarawak, and there has been no animosity between the two sides over the years, so there is no need to go so far."

Zhou Jing sighed: "Moreover, they, like us, don't get along well with the indigenous people of Dayak. I don't see any reason why the Malays would do this. As for the indigenous people of Dayak, they can't even summon 'Zhenni'. Therefore, it's clear that the mine and the Luo family are the most suspicious in this matter."

"Yeah?"

Liu Guangyang frowned slightly.

"The mine is Luo family territory. Even if Master Diao comes in person, the Luo family won't let us in easily. They'll probably find all sorts of excuses to refuse... This matter is going to be a bit difficult to handle."

"Leave the investigation to me."

Zhou Jing said in a deep voice, "From the very beginning, I had no intention of troubling Master Diao. I am here to warn you."

"Oh, and it would be best to remind Master Diao to be careful. The Luo family is clearly up to something at the mine; tell him to keep an eye on things."

"OK."

Liu Guangyang smiled.

He had always had a very good impression of this senior brother.

He believed that the other party's expulsion from the Datuk temple lineage was a complete misunderstanding.

Diao Wudou, who drove Zhou Jing away, probably regretted it a little, because in Diao Wudou's eyes, Zhou Jing was almost his successor and the best person to support him.

"There should still be lingering traces of that evil spirit near the durian orchard. Don't go there. If you want to investigate, send someone over tomorrow during the day..."

Zhou Jing added, "I've also heard about the Yang family's affair. If the body is found, that would be for the best. If not, don't keep looking. It's obvious that the other party did this intentionally. Be careful not to fall into their trap."

He cleared his throat and said, "That 'Suppressing Nun' evil spirit, unless Master Diao personally takes action, neither you nor I are a match for it. I only managed to break through that evil spirit's 'domain' just now by sheer luck. It still has a chance to come back."

Zhou Jing reminded the two that the crisis was not over yet, and that the only safe place to go was Lipan Village, where the Datuk Temple would protect them, and even the evil spirit would not dare to approach.

Next, Liu Guangyang and Zhou Jing chatted for a while. Finally, Zhou Jing clasped his hands in a fist salute to the two of them, turned around, and limped away.

Seeing that it was getting late, Liu Guangyang and Luo Feng decided not to go to the durian orchard to investigate, but instead took Yang Caifa's head and returned to Lipan Village.

When Liu Guangyang and Luo Feng returned to the Datuk Temple, intending to explain the situation to Diao Wudou, they heard a crying sound coming from inside the temple.

"Senior Brother Zhou!"

As soon as the two entered the temple gate, they saw Zhong Laosan staggering towards them, his face full of grief, saying, "My master... just last night, he passed away peacefully!"