Chapter 1 Acknowledgment

Old Liu lowered his head and walked out of the Zhao family's house without saying a word. When he got home, he spread out his bedding and said, "Mr. Li, please make do for the night!" Then he collapsed on the kang (heated brick bed).

In reality, Old Liu spent the whole night tossing and turning on the kang, without even closing his eyes. I knew he was waiting for a result.

A result that I had made clear, but he refused to accept.

After Old Wang's wife appeared, several questions popped into my head.

Old Liu lighting incense at the village entrance was to lure the village's ghosts out. If that was the case, then apart from the secretly sneaking water ghosts, there shouldn't be any other ghosts in the village. So, what was Old Wang's wife all about?

The appearance of Old Wang's wife was equivalent to negating Old Liu's statement that he was the only warlock in the village. If the old woman wasn't a warlock, she couldn't have hidden in the village for so long without being discovered.

The water ghosts were causing trouble outside the village, but the villagers were anxious yet not panicked, which made it even more strange.

Whether they weren't afraid of Fish Basket Village being flooded, or they knew that Old Liu could hold back the water ghosts outside, had always been a question in my mind. It wasn't until Zhao Zhuang and the others arrived carrying the coffin that I solved the mystery in my heart.

Old Liu had some skills, but not the cultivation to kick away a coffin. Besides, he was lying inside the coffin. Could a few slightly stronger ordinary people really send him to the intended location?

When I flew up and kicked the coffin at the village entrance, logically speaking, the people carrying the coffin should have all fallen to the ground due to the sudden relief of pressure on their bodies. However, they didn't react at all, which could only mean that they were also warlocks.

All the signs were pointing to one question: the entire Fish Basket Village was scheming against Old Liu himself, and everyone tacitly regarded him as cannon fodder.

Moreover, this tacit understanding might have started many years ago.

Old Liu wasn't stupid. After I gave him a hint, he had already thought of this possibility. He was even sure of this possibility, otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to sleep all night.

I, however, was constantly sorting out the clues related to Wang Li Shi's earth soul.

Since arriving at Fish Basket Village, I had been dragged into the water ghost invasion, and had no time to investigate Wang Li Shi's whereabouts.

The deeper I went into Fish Basket Village, the less I was able to find Wang Li Shi's earth soul.

Now, the only thing I could be sure of was that the water ghosts attacking Fish Basket Village came from the water pit where Wang Li Shi drowned.

To find Wang Li Shi, I had to overturn the water pit.

To overturn the water pit, I had to figure out the secrets of Fish Basket Village.

I had already fallen into this cycle-like quagmire. I had to jump out of the circle before I could continue the game. But the way to jump out of this circle fell on Old Liu.

Old Liu probably couldn't sleep, so he got up before dawn, packed his belongings, threw a backpack at the door, and sat in the yard smoking his pipe.

Old Liu was still holding onto a glimmer of hope!

Before long, the villagers arrived at Old Liu's house as agreed.

The people at the front were the ones who carried the coffin last night. In addition to Zhao Zhuang, there was also a "familiar face," the fisherman I hypnotized with ghost eyes at the village entrance.

So, he was also a warlock. No wonder he was resisting my ghost eyes at the time.

Zhao Zhuang walked up first and said, "Old Uncle Liu, let that fellow surnamed Li leave. Last night, Grandma Wang came to us in a dream and said that the kid is a disaster, and if he stays, he will kill the entire village!"

Old Liu said in a hoarse voice, "Mr. Li is the only one who can help us. If he leaves, who will save the village?"

Zhao Zhuang took it for granted and said, "Isn't there you, Old Liu?"

Old Liu raised his head slightly and said, "What can I do? Block the water?"

Zhao Zhuang rubbed his hands and said, "Old Uncle Liu, look at what you're saying. Your family has guarded this village for three generations. Which family doesn't remember the goodness of the Old Liu family?"

"No one wants anything to happen to you, but if there really is such a day, the entire village will have to wear mourning for you!"

Old Liu smiled, "I don't need you to wear mourning for me. I've guarded this village for decades, my wife was lost, and my son was lost. Now, only this old bone of mine is left, and I can't guard it anymore. Now that Mr. Li is here, he's willing to help me get rid of the things in the water, and I've agreed."

"That won't do!" Zhao Zhuang glared and said, "The fellow surnamed Li does have some skills, but who can guarantee that he can destroy the things in the water? If he fails, our village will be finished!"

Someone next to him chimed in, "If the fellow surnamed Li really wants to do it, fine. We'll give him a boat and let him do it on the river, don't bring disaster to the villagers here."

While the villagers were talking at once, I had already stood at the door, leaning against the door frame with a smile that was not a smile, looking at the yard. This was the time for Old Liu to make a decision, and I couldn't interfere.

Old Liu seemed unusually calm, "So? Letting me block the water is the best way, is it?"