This celestial master cultivates both physical and magical arts; why did you provoke him?

A bolt of lightning suddenly exploded, illuminating the entire backyard with a blinding flash.

Lightning erupted from Shane's palm and struck the burly, evil creature squarely in the chest.

Before the burly monster could even scream, it was blasted backward and crashed into the wall, causing half of the wall to collapse with a loud "boom".

The other two evil beings were stunned.

They looked at their companion embedded in the pile of bricks, then at Shane, and didn't react for a moment.

"you!!"

Shane didn't give them time to react.

He took a step forward, instantly closing the three-meter distance, and with his left hand outstretched, he pressed it directly onto the face of the second evil creature.

"Palm Thunder - Double Strike"

"boom!!!"

Another bolt of lightning struck, even more powerfully than the previous one.

The second evil creature's head was blasted into pieces, and the headless corpse swayed twice before collapsing to the ground with a thud.

The third evil creature finally reacted, screamed, and turned to run away.

It was extremely fast, almost instantly darting more than ten meters away and rushing into the depths of the alley.

Xia En didn't pursue it.

He simply raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, pointing at the fleeing dark figure.

"Lightning Strike - Finger Sword"

A bolt of lightning as thin as a hair shot out from the fingertip, instantly catching up with the dark figure and piercing through the back of the heart and the front of the chest.

"ah--!"

The dark figure screamed, collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then lay still.

The courtyard fell silent.

The only sounds were the buzzing of electricity and the clatter of bricks rolling down.

The female ghost huddled in the corner, trembling like a sieve.

The way she looked at Xia En was like she was looking at some monster.

What kind of lightning attack is this?!?

Three seconds.

Three seconds, three evil creatures, two dead and one crippled.

The burly, evil creature embedded in the pile of bricks was not dead, but a large hole had been blasted in its chest, from which black energy was billowing out uncontrollably.

It struggled to get up, but found that its body wouldn't obey its commands.

Xia En walked up to it and squatted down.

"You just said," he said calmly, "that you've eaten with people from the Celestial Master's Mansion?"

The burly, malevolent creature stared at him, its blood-red eyes filled with fear and disbelief.

"No, it's impossible... How could you...?"

"What about me?" Shane tilted her head. "What's wrong with me?"

"You...you used lightning magic...how could lightning magic be...how could this be possible..."

What it's trying to say is, "How could it be so powerful?"

But Shane didn't let it finish speaking.

"What happened to Lei Fa?"

He interrupted it, "Can't Lei Fa be a little more aggressive?"

The burly, evil creature opened its mouth, but couldn't utter a word.

Xia En stood up, looked down at it, and suddenly asked, "Did you eat the five people who went missing in the old town?"

The burly, evil creature remained silent.

"Not going to tell?"

"Um?"

Xia En nodded. "Okay."

He raised his foot and stepped on one of the burly, evil creature's legs.

"Click."

The sound of bones shattering was clear and piercing.

"Ah—!!!" the burly, evil creature screamed in agony.

"Don't shout," Shane said. "This is just the beginning."

He then lifted his foot and stepped on his other leg.

"Click."

"ah--!!!"

"There were five of you, how many did you eat?"

"Three, three!"

The burly, wicked creature finally relented, "We only ate three! There are two more... and that woman ate the other two!"

It points to the female ghost huddled in the corner.

The female ghost shook her head frantically, pointing to the marks where her mouth had been stuffed, then to her companion in the well, now only half-eaten, meaning:

I was forced into it; if I didn't eat them, they would eat me.

Xia En glanced at her, said nothing, then looked at the burly, evil figure: "Where did you come from?"

"Underground..."

"What underground?"

"In the old town... underground... there's... a passage... that leads here..."

Xia En frowned: "What passage?"

The burly, evil creature opened its mouth, as if to say something, but suddenly its whole body began to convulse violently.

Its body began to melt, like a snowman encountering the sun, turning into black water inch by inch from its feet to its head.

"Someone is...calling us..." it said haltingly, "I...we can't say...if we say it, then..."

Before it could finish speaking, its head turned into black liquid, seeped into the cracks between the bricks with a "glug" sound, and disappeared completely.

Xia En stood up, looked at the pool of black water, and frowned even more deeply.

Is someone summoning them?

Who?

What is the purpose?

He turned to look at the female ghost in the corner.

When the female ghost saw him looking over, she immediately knelt down, put her hands together, and made a gesture of surrender.

Xia En walked over and squatted down in front of her.

"What's your name?"

The female ghost opened her mouth and uttered a few indistinct syllables, something like "Cuihua" or something like that.

"Okay, Cuihua."

"Where is that underpass?" Shane asked.

The female ghost pointed in the direction of the old town.

"The exact location?"

The female ghost shook her head, indicating that she didn't know.

"Do you know who is summoning them?"

The female ghost shook her head again.

"So what do you know?"

The female ghost thought for a moment, then pointed to her companion in the well, who was now only half-dead.

Xia En walked over and lifted out the half-corpse.

It was a man, dressed in a burial shroud, which was almost completely rotten.

But there was something emitting a faint red glow on my chest.

Xia En reached inside and pulled out a palm-sized bronze plaque.

A symbol is engraved on the bronze plaque.

One eye, with twisted lines in the pupil, like a snake or a flame.

Xia En stared at the symbol for a few seconds, took out his phone to take a picture, and then put the bronze medal in his pocket.

He stood up and looked at the mess in the backyard—half a wall had collapsed, blue bricks were shattered into pieces, there were three pools of black water, and a trembling female ghost.

"Tsk."

Xia En rubbed his temples. "Master told me not to cause trouble, and now look what's happened."

He looked at the female ghost.

The female ghost was looking at him with a "don't kill me" gaze.

Xia En was silent for two seconds, then sighed.

"You, come here."

The female ghost crawled over tremblingly.

"From today onwards, follow me."

The female ghost was taken aback.

"Didn't you understand?"

Xia En said, "Follow me. If you do well, I'll help you pass on to the afterlife. If you don't, I'll beat you up like you just did."

The female ghost nodded frantically, her hair flying everywhere.

"Okay." Xia En pointed to the three pools of black water. "Clean these up."

The female ghost looked at the three pools of black water, then at Xia En, with a "Are you serious?" expression on her face.

Xia En ignored her and turned to walk into the building.

After walking a few steps, he stopped again.

He looked towards the alley entrance.

Under the moonlight, a thin, wiry figure was crouching behind a telephone pole, half his head peeking out, staring wide-eyed in their direction.

Fang Zijian.

Xia En didn't speak, she just looked at him.

Fang Zijian hesitated for two seconds, then slowly stood up, waving his hand with an awkward smile.

"Um... I was just... passing by..."

Xia En remained silent.

Fang Zijian swallowed hard and walked over with a forced smile.

As he approached, he looked at the female ghost squatting on the ground cleaning up the black water, then at the half-collapsed wall, and finally at Xia En.

"you……"

He opened his mouth, his voice trembling slightly, "Are you human?"