A debt-ridden tycoon inherits a luxury mansion, but the tenants are not human.

Chen Mo stood in the center of the main hall of the Earth God Temple, surrounded by seven paper figures.

The paper figure floated in mid-air, its red paper clothes glaringly bright in the dim light, and the smiling face painted on its face distorted and deformed in the smoke.

Zhao Shouyi's figure was hidden behind the smoke, and his voice was erratic.

"Chen Mo, I'm giving you one last chance. Share half of your power with me, and I'll tell you the truth about Chen Banshan's death."

Chen Mo gripped the incense ash pouch in his pocket tightly.

He didn't answer immediately, but instead activated his spiritual vision to observe the paper figures.

Under his spiritual vision, the paper figure was wrapped in black threads, which were the flow of energy. Each thread extended into the depths of the smoke and connected to the prayer beads in Zhao Shouyi's hand. The paper figure itself had no consciousness; it was a puppet controlled by Zhao Shouyi with his mental power.

"What if I refuse?" Chen Mo asked, his voice echoing in the empty temple.

Zhao Shouyi's voice turned cold. "Then you'll die here. I can still take your wish. The dead are easier to deal with than the living."

As soon as he finished speaking, the seven paper figures moved at the same time.

They pounced on Chen Mo from seven directions, not fast, but their trajectories were unpredictable.

Chen Mo suddenly pulled out a cloth bag of incense ash from his pocket, tore open the seal, grabbed a handful of incense ash, and scattered it forward.

The incense ash scattered in the air, forming a gray mist. The two paper figures at the front collided with the incense ash, making a hissing sound. White smoke rose from the surface of the paper figures, and their movements became noticeably sluggish.

But the five paper figures behind them bypassed the incense ash mist and continued to rush forward.

Chen Mo dodged a paper figure's attack by sidestepping it, and at the same time took out the wooden box from his Yin-Yang bag—Grandma Zhang's wooden box.

He didn't know what this thing was for, but his intuition told him that relics could sometimes ward off evil spirits.

He opened the wooden box, revealing the medals and letters inside. The paper figure that was rushing towards him suddenly stopped, hovering in mid-air. Its red paper clothes moved without wind, and the smiling face on the paper figure twisted slightly, as if it had sensed something.

Chen Mo seized the opportunity and raised the wooden box high.

The medals inside the wooden box gleamed faintly with a metallic sheen in the dim light.

"Zhang Jianjun!" Chen Mo shouted, "Your wife waited for you her whole life!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the letter in the wooden box suddenly burst into flames without any fire. The pages began to glow from the inside, then turned into golden specks of light that drifted into the air.

The light drifted towards the paper figures, and as soon as the paper figures touched the light, they were violently pushed backward.

A muffled groan came from Zhao Shouyi through the smoke, as if he had suffered a backlash.

"An obsession... a pure obsession..." Zhao Shouyi's voice was filled with surprise. "How could you have something like that?"

Chen Mo did not answer.

He realized that Zhao Shouyi's paper doll magic was essentially about manipulating resentment and yin energy. Grandma Zhang's obsession was a pure longing that she had waited seventy years for, without any resentment, which was just right to counter this kind of evil magic.

The medals inside the wooden box also began to glow. The light was faint but warm. Wherever the light touched, the smoke dissipated and the paper figures cowered.

Chen Mo seized the opportunity and rushed toward the temple gate.

But the door was sealed shut by some force, and it couldn't be opened no matter how hard you pulled.

"You think you can escape?" Zhao Shouyi's voice came from the smoke, this time filled with anger. "Looks like I underestimated you."

The smoke suddenly contracted, condensing into seven streams, which were then injected into the seven paper figures.

The paper figures suddenly swelled up, growing from the size of a palm to half the height of a person. The smiling faces on their faces cracked open, revealing black voids inside.

The seven paper figures opened their mouths at the same time, emitting a sharp whistling sound. The sound was produced by the vibration of the paper pieces, sharp and piercing, and went straight into people's brains.

Chen Mo covered his ears, his head throbbing with a needle-like pain; the sound had a psychological attack effect.

He gritted his teeth, focused his attention, and tried to activate the landlord's mark—but the mark was in the old house, too far away to be sensed.

Tenant resonance...maybe we can give it a try.

Shen Mo's obsession is to complete the array diagram and find out the cause of his grandfather's death. If Chen Mo can promise to help him, he might be able to gain his trust and borrow his knowledge of array formations.

Chen Mo closed his eyes, concentrated, and cried out in his mind, "Shen Mo! I need help!"

no respond.

The paper figure's whistling grew sharper and sharper, and Chen Mo felt warm liquid flowing down his earlobe.

is blood.

My vision began to blur, and the scene inside the temple began to spin.

Just when he was about to give up, a voice suddenly rang in his mind:

"The southeast corner, the Kun position, has weak earth veins."

It was Shen Mo's voice, very faint, coming from a great distance.

Chen Mo suddenly opened his eyes and looked towards the southeast corner. Under his spiritual vision, he saw that there was indeed a patch of ground there with a fainter aura than other areas—a sign of weaker earth vein energy.

"Sprinkle incense ash... there..." Shen Mo's voice trailed off, "It can temporarily... break the seal..."

Without further hesitation, Chen Mo grabbed a handful of incense ash and threw it towards the southeast corner.

The paper figures tried to stop them, but were driven back by the warm light emanating from the wooden box.

He rushed to the southeast corner and scattered all the incense ash on the ground. The moment the ash touched the ground, it made a sizzling sound, and a pale golden magic circle pattern appeared on the ground, but the pattern was fading rapidly as the incense ash eroded the magic circle.

"Now... step on it..." Shen Mo urged in his voice.

Chen Mo lifted his foot and stomped hard on the incense ash.

"Click~"

With a crisp sound of energy structure collapsing, the magic array beneath their feet completely dissipated, and at the same time, the seal on the temple gate was released.

Chen Mo turned and rushed toward the temple door, which opened easily this time.

The afternoon sun outside the door was so bright that he squinted.

He rushed out and ran forward without looking back. Only after running more than ten meters did he dare to turn around.

The door to the earth god temple was still open, but the smoke inside had dissipated. Zhao Shouyi stood at the door, looking at him with a mixture of anger, surprise, and even a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Zhao Shouyi didn't chase after him. He just stood there, looking at Chen Mo, and then slowly closed the temple door.

Chen Mo leaned against a tree by the roadside, panting heavily. His ears were still bleeding, and his head was buzzing. He raised his hand to wipe his ears, and the back of his hand was covered in blood.

It took him a while to calm down and then he took out his phone to call a taxi.

While waiting for the bus, he checked his belongings. The incense ash bag was mostly used up, the letter in the wooden box was burned, leaving only the military medal. The medal's light had gone out, and it had turned back into an ordinary bronze item.

The car arrived, and Chen Mo got in, giving the address of Qing Shi Lane.

On the way back, he sent a WeChat message to Di Ling: "I'm fine. On my way back, Zhao Shouyi didn't chase after me."

Di Ling quickly replied, "We'll talk about it when we get back; we have guests at home."

guest?

Chen Mo frowned. Who is it this time?

It was already 2 p.m. when I got back to Qing Shi Lane.

The sun was shining brightly in the alley, and several old ladies were sitting in the doorway basking in the sun. When they saw Chen Mo return, they all looked at him curiously. He looked very disheveled, with wrinkled clothes, bloodstains on his ears, and a pale face.

Chen Mo had no time to explain and quickly walked to the entrance of the old house.

The door was open.

He went inside and saw that besides Di Ling, there were two other people in the main room: a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing a gray jacket and glasses, who looked like an ordinary civil servant; and a young girl in her early twenties with a ponytail, wearing sportswear, who was sitting in a grand chair drinking tea.

When Di Ling saw Chen Mo enter, he introduced him, saying, "This is Master Liu, the cemetery caretaker at the funeral home, and this is his daughter, Liu Xiaoyu."

The middle-aged man stood up, extended his hand, and said, "Chen Mo, right? I'm Liu Jianjun, I work at the funeral home. Granny Wang sent me here."

Chen Mo shook hands with him; Liu Jianjun's hand was cold, but strong.

"Wang the fortune teller said you encountered trouble at the local temple, so she sent me to take a look." Liu Jianjun looked Chen Mo up and down. "Is your ear injured? I brought some medicine."

He took a small medicine bottle out of his bag and handed it to Chen Mo, saying, "Use this to wipe it off; it will stop the bleeding and reduce inflammation."

Chen Mo took the medicine bottle, thanked her, and then asked, "How did Granny Wang know...?"

"She has her connections." Liu Jianjun smiled. "Zhao Shouyi invited you to the local temple. Many people in the industry know this. Some are waiting to see how it goes—to see if you, the new landlord, can hold out."

"Within the industry?" Chen Mo frowned.

"It's just us," Liu Jianjun said. "Gravekeepers, and people connected to this circle. Zhao Shouyi is an antique shop owner, I'm a mortician, Wang the sorceress is a sorceress, Wang the priest is a priest... We each have our own territory, and we don't usually interfere with each other, but we all keep an eye on the seven anchor points."

Chen Mo sat down in another armchair, and Liu Xiaoyu poured him a cup of tea, which was still warm.

"Zhao Shouyi's invitation to you today isn't just about wanting your willpower," Liu Jianjun said. "He wants to test your strength. If you die or give in, he can rightfully take over the old house. If you win or show enough potential... he will change his strategy."

"What strategy?"

"Cooperation," Liu Jianjun said. "Just like he told you today, but you have to be careful. Zhao Shouyi is a very shrewd person. He may have told you some of the truth today, but he definitely withheld some key information."

Chen Mo recalled what he had overheard in the whispered obsession: He can't know everything... That secret must be kept...

"What is he hiding?" Chen Mo asked.

Liu Jianjun shook his head. "I don't know either, but I do know one thing: Zhao Shouyi's grandfather, Zhao Shouzheng, did not die a natural death. In 1949, after the seven tomb keepers sealed the formation, Zhao Shouzheng was the first to die. The cause of death was said to be illness, but some people say he was silenced."

Why were they silenced?

"Because he wanted to tell the truth." Liu Jianjun lowered his voice. "Regarding the truth about the true function of the formation, before Zhao Shouzhen died, he left a letter. The letter mentioned sacrifice, immortality, and the price, but that letter was lost. It is said that it was hidden by Zhao Shouyi."

Chen Mo recalled the photograph he had seen in the local temple.

Zhao Shouzhen's grandson, Zhao Shouyi, now wants to obtain the power of wishes but does not want the sacrifice to happen. What is the connection between these two things?

"What did you see at the local temple today?" Liu Jianjun asked.

Chen Mo briefly recounted what had happened, omitting the part about Shen Mo's help.

After listening, Liu Jianjun nodded. "You used your obsession with the relics to break the paper doll technique, which is very clever. But you must remember that Zhao Shouyi's paper doll technique is just the tip of the iceberg. His real skill is soul control—he can manipulate the souls of the recently deceased and make them do things for him."

A chill crept up Chen Mo's back.

"Manipulating souls?"

"Yes." Liu Jianjun's eyes sharpened. "So you have to be careful and not approach the edge of death easily. If you are seriously injured and on the verge of death, he may take the opportunity to control your soul and turn you into his puppet."