I suddenly realized.

So, Old Liu had been luring ghosts all along.

The villager I stopped back then had told me that when someone died in the village, Old Liu would take the body out on the river in a boat and circle around.

Old Liu was also leading souls away from the village.

The military talisman by the river could block the ghosts in the river and also the spirits of the dead in the village.

If Old Liu didn't lead the earthbound souls away, the dead couldn't enter the netherworld. Forcibly burying the bodies without this step would inevitably cause trouble, either disturbing the peace of the dead or causing them to haunt their families.

That's why Old Liu insisted on taking the corpse out on the boat for a circle.

Fish Basket Village! Fish Basket Village!

I roughly recalled the terrain I saw upstream.

The name Fish Basket Village wasn't because the villagers lived by fishing. It was because the village resembled a fish basket, and the opening of the basket was where Old Liu's water-guarding house was.

Ghosts were the fish!

A fish basket placed by the river keeps the fish inside from getting out and the fish outside from getting in.

I looked at Old Liu with a hint of a smile.

Old Liu, guarding the incense, had no idea that there was a pair of eyes watching his every move from the shadows at the village entrance. Only after the incense had burned out did Old Liu sigh and head towards the most dilapidated house in the village.

As soon as Old Liu lit an oil lamp, I stepped into the house. The yin energy on my body instantly attacked the light, and a green flame more than a foot high shot up from the oil lamp.

Green flames mean ghosts!

I changed the color of the oil lamp, and Old Liu's face changed as well.

I naturally sat down on a chair. "A warlock's dwelling doesn't need to be luxurious, but it must be full of hidden secrets. Let me see what kind of mechanism you have hidden in this house?"

I tapped the ground lightly with my foot. "The ground under here is hollow, isn't it? What are you hiding down there?"

Old Liu said with a gloomy face, "Who exactly are you?"

But I didn't answer Old Liu's question. "What age is this? You don't use electric lights, you use oil lamps. Do you know that ghosts will come looking for you?"

Old Liu's face darkened even more. "If you are a warlock, then please, friend, don't interfere with matters here. You can't handle it."

"If you are a ghost, tell me what you want. Anything I can give you, I will."

I said in a deep voice, "I told you, I'm here to find the ghost of Wang Li Shi. If you bring her out, I'll leave immediately. I won't touch anything here. If I can't see Wang Li Shi, I'll just have to stay here and wear you down."

Old Liu shook his head and said, "I don't know any Wang Li Shi, leave!"

I tapped the ground lightly with my foot. "Are you sure you want me to leave? Although I don't know what you have in this village, I'm sure of one thing. Your fish basket is leaking."

Old Liu's eyes suddenly widened. "What do you know?"

I said unhurriedly, "I can see that Fish Basket Village is a trap formation. Someone is now prying at the cornerstones of this trap. Once the cornerstones are pried open, no one in this village will be able to live."

I ignored Old Liu's increasingly ugly expression and continued, "I've caught fish before, and I know that a fish basket standing upright in the water is to keep the fish alive. If you put the fish basket flat in the water, it shouldn't be called a fish basket, it should be called a fish trap!"

A fish trap is what we call it nowadays, which is putting bait in something like a fish basket and throwing it by the water. When the fish eat the bait, they will crawl in through the opening, and once they are full, they won't be able to crawl out again.

The person who sets the trap just needs to collect the fish regularly.

I stared at Old Liu and said, "The military talisman by the river blocks ghosts, but you left a secret passage in the water-guarding house, which is clearly intended to let ghosts in. If I'm not mistaken, the ghosts swimming in the water should be able to swim to the bottom of your house!"

"Bullshit!" Old Liu roared. "That underground river is long gone. What does it have to do with me? I'm a water guardian, not a ghost keeper."

I looked at Old Liu with a smile that wasn't a smile. "Do you dare to light a soul-attracting incense in your house?"

I was deliberately provoking him, but I didn't expect Old Liu to actually light a soul-attracting incense in the house.

Old Liu slammed the table and sat down opposite me angrily. "Boy, I don't care who you are. If nothing happens in my house, and you don't give me an explanation, I'll risk this old bone of mine to keep you here."

Warlocks have always been a part of the martial world, and they also adhere to the ways of the martial world. There are countless instances of drawing swords and seeing blood over a disagreement.

I came to Old Liu's house to cause trouble. If I found something, that would be fine, but if I didn't, he wouldn't leave me here, and he wouldn't be able to stay in the martial world.

I watched Old Liu light a cigarette with a smile that wasn't a smile. I finished one cigarette, and the soul-attracting incense on the ground had burned down a little.

Old Liu said with a gloomy face, "Boy, a third of the incense is gone, what are you waiting for?"

"Isn't there still a big part left?" I had just said a word when I heard someone knocking on the door outside. "Grandpa Liu, Grandpa Liu, something happened outside. Come and take a look!"