Around eight or nine o’clock, a luxury off-road vehicle bearing a Shao City license plate drove along the loess road in front of Zhujiachong Village. Three people got out: two wore black suits and sunglasses, while the third wore casual clothes. He looked exceptionally refined, was in his thirties, and had a fair, clean complexion.
This was the man who had previously visited Zhujiachong and insisted on buying Fan Xiwen’s family’s orchard. He was said to be from Shao City, but in reality, no one knew his background.
Still, he had bodyguards and a driver whenever he went out, and the luxury off-road vehicle was worth a considerable sum. Zhu Gui therefore felt that he must be a major businessman, though he had no idea just how wealthy he was.
The vehicle stopped at the former threshing ground in Zhujiachong. Zhu Gui had been waiting there for quite some time. Upon seeing the vehicle and its occupants, he hurried over and called out obsequiously, “Boss Liu.”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu merely gave an indifferent acknowledgment, then pointed toward Fan Xiwen’s family’s orchard and said, “Let’s go take a look at the land.”
Zhu Gui nodded as he moved closer to the middle-aged man surnamed Liu and whispered, “Boss Liu, could I speak with you privately?”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu did not stop walking. Instead, he sneered disdainfully. “They’re nothing more than rumors about the place being Haunted by Ghosts. I want that plot of land. The rest need not concern us.”
The meaning was perfectly clear: whether the place was Haunted by Ghosts or not, he was not afraid in the slightest.
Zhu Gui’s eyes immediately lit up. The ingratiating wrinkles gathered on his forehead became even more conspicuous, while his bent back stooped even lower.
“Very well. Please follow me.”
Led by Zhu Gui, the group headed toward Fan Xiwen’s family’s orchard. However, before they even drew close, the middle-aged man surnamed Liu suddenly stiffened. Then, as if he had gone mad, he charged forward.
Zhu Gui did not understand what he was doing, but the driver and bodyguards who had come with the middle-aged man surnamed Liu also ran over. Zhu Gui stood there in a daze for a moment before having no choice but to follow.
To be honest, he did not really want to come to the orchard. After all, the place had only just been Haunted by Ghosts.
But for money, he had no choice but to steel himself and come.
However, after enjoying wealth for several years, he had long since lost the Essence, Qi, and Spirit he had possessed when working the fields. Besides, even if he still had them, he probably could not outrun these three people. Thus, by the time Zhu Gui reached the orchard, he saw only the middle-aged man surnamed Liu standing inside it, muttering, “How could it be gone? How? I clearly saw it before.”
Zhu Gui arrived panting heavily. The moment he saw the middle-aged man surnamed Liu in that state, his legs went weak.
“It’s happening again.”
“But it’s broad daylight.”
“Hurry, let’s go. He’s possessed.”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu now looked somewhat deranged, almost exactly like Deng Jun and the others had a few days earlier. He waved his arms and legs about while muttering incoherently.
Zhu Gui wanted to leave, but he simply could not get away.
The bodyguard and driver quickly ran to Zhu Gui, then brought him over to the middle-aged man surnamed Liu.
“Where is it?”
“I’m asking you, where is that thing?”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu grabbed Zhu Gui by the collar, his face fierce, like a wild beast about to devour a person. Madness shone in his eyes; the calm, refined air he had displayed earlier had completely vanished.
Zhu Gui was terrified. He had no idea what the middle-aged man surnamed Liu was asking about. After struggling twice without breaking free, he could only answer quickly, “What thing? What could there be in this orchard? I don’t know anything!”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu suddenly calmed down. “Whose orchard is this? And who else has come to your village?”
“It belongs to Fan Yue in the village, but he sold the orchard to me yesterday. No one else has come to our village.”
There was something in the orchard, and it was extremely important to the middle-aged man surnamed Liu. Could there be an unknown treasure hidden there?
Zhu Gui’s thoughts suddenly drifted far away, followed by another shudder.
That was it. In television dramas, places where treasures were buried always ended up Haunted by Ghosts. Otherwise, how could Deng Jun and the others have gone mad? Otherwise, how could Zhu Hai have been frightened to death?
“Let me go! This place is Haunted by Ghosts. If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you.”
Zhu Gui wanted to leave, but unfortunately, the driver and bodyguard were clearly not ordinary people. They pinned Zhu Gui to the ground, and he could not break free no matter how he struggled.
“Haunted by Ghosts?”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu chuckled softly. “Indeed. Then tonight, I’ll capture a ghost.”
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu left directly. Once Zhu Gui was released, he shot away at once. He did not dare remain in this place any longer.
“Sir, could the Village Chief have discovered something, and that be why he deliberately staged this Haunted by Ghosts act?”
The three returned to the vehicle, and the bodyguard spoke with great respect.
“Impossible. I don’t even know what that thing is. How could these ignorant country bumpkins possibly have discovered it?”
In fact, they had secretly come to the orchard before. They had dug around for a long time in the dead of night, yet found nothing.
However, the man surnamed Liu could sense only spiritual energy, not anything else. Moreover, Zhujiachong was remote and fairly quiet, so he had decided to buy the orchard. Coming here for secluded cultivation whenever he had nothing else to do would not be a bad idea.
But now, the spiritual energy was gone. Not a trace remained.
The only possibility was that someone had taken that thing away.
Who had taken it?
The man surnamed Liu furrowed his brows into a deep crease. His hands clenched tightly, his fingernails already digging into his flesh without his noticing.
“Interesting. This matter is becoming more and more interesting. I, Liu Junxian, would like to see which expert is directing matters from behind the scenes.”
Liu Junxian came from an unknown place in the mountains and rivers of Hu Province, in Heze. Even the black-clad bodyguards and driver in the vehicle did not know his background.
The black-clad bodyguards and driver actually belonged to Mo Younian of Shao City—the richest man in Shao City. In Shao City, Mo Younian was a man of unrivaled power and influence. Yet when he had originally given the two men to Liu Junxian, he had looked even happier than Zhu Gui had when he heard Liu Junxian say that he wanted only the land and was unconcerned about the place being Haunted by Ghosts.
Of course, Zhu Gui could not be happy now.
Because Liu Junxian no longer wanted the land. He had spent one hundred sixty to one hundred seventy thousand on it, only to be stuck with it himself.
“Sir, should we head back now, or…?”
The thing in the ground was gone, and it was not yet known who had tampered with it. Only a rumor about the place being Haunted by Ghosts remained. They still did not know where to begin investigating, but one thing was certain: now was not the time to investigate the thing itself.
Of course, none of the three connected the person who had taken the thing with the person at the foot of the mountain.
They had not made that connection, but the culprit behind everything had arrived.
Fan Xiwen knocked on the car window and said calmly, “Don’t you want to know where the thing is?”
The thing?
What thing?
Liu Junxian looked Fan Xiwen up and down twice. In the end, he merely gave a sly chuckle and got out of the vehicle.
“Speak. Who sent you? What did he want you to tell me?”
There was not the slightest fluctuation of cultivation on Fan Xiwen. Even his aura was somewhat disordered. He was nothing more than a frail scholar.
Thus, Liu Junxian had never imagined that this youth was the person who had completely drained the spiritual energy from the rear mountain orchard and dug up that thing. Moreover, this youth knew far more than Liu Junxian did.
Fan Xiwen walked forward on his own. Liu Junxian did not mind and followed behind him. Only after they had moved away from the black-clad bodyguards and driver did he stop and wait for the youth to speak.
However, the youth’s first sentence stunned Liu Junxian.
“What kind of realm is this? It’s so low that you can’t even draw spiritual energy into your body.”
His tone was full of disdain. He did not even glance at Liu Junxian.
“I thought you would at least be Mahayana or something. At the very least, you should have been a Golden Core cultivator. But you’re just this sort of thing.”
Yes, just this sort of thing.
Liu Junxian had traveled the world for many years and had been treated as an honored guest wherever he went. Yet he had ended up receiving such an assessment. The disdain in the youth’s voice and expression nearly made Liu Junxian explode with rage.
However, before he could act, he suddenly felt as though a great mountain had descended from above his head, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.
Liu Junxian was instantly horrified. Just who was this youth?
Liu Junxian was no petty thug like Zhu Hai or Deng Jun. He was not only a peak internal force expert, but also an extremely rare qi-gazing master. With these two identities, even if he was not the strongest person in the world, he was certainly not a nameless person.
At another time, in another place, facing another person, if anyone dared to assess Liu Junxian this way, Liu Junxian might have killed him with a single finger. Alternatively, with just one look, the black-clad bodyguards and driver not far behind him could have beaten that person half to death. Liu Junxian had status, so he could not be bothered to act personally.
But when Liu Junxian felt as though a great mountain had pressed down upon his shoulders, he knew that he truly was extremely weak before this person.
Liu Junxian simply could not understand which sect this disciple had come from to possess such terrifying strength.
A peak internal force expert did not even have the qualifications to make a move before him.
Just what realm had this sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth reached?
Many questions filled Liu Junxian’s mind, but he wanted to ask them and could not.
Because someone did not want him to speak, he naturally had no way to open his mouth.
The sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth seemed to be disdainfully assessing Liu Junxian’s strength, but in reality, he was merely talking to himself.
Disappointment—that much was apparent.
It could be said to be directed at Liu Junxian, yet it could also be said not to be.
Liu Junxian was far too weak. Fan Xiwen did not know anything about peak internal force; he only knew that this man had never even touched the path of cultivation. Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Violet Palace, Tribulation Transcendence, Mahayana, and only then ascension. Fan Xiwen hoped to encounter a Golden Core cultivator or someone similar. At least then, it would prove that cultivators had once existed on Unnamed Star. In that case, Fan Xiwen could follow the traces to places where those cultivators had lived and harvest some spiritual energy.
But what had come was a good-for-nothing who had never even reached Qi Refining.
His previous plans had all come to nothing.
Fan Xiwen was in a very low mood. He merely cast Liu Junxian a light glance, then left.
He walked very slowly, but Liu Junxian’s expression gradually changed.