Ye Yang paused slightly, "It seems you're better suited for treasure hunting!"

I smiled smugly at Ye Yang before turning to look at Lü Peng, "Brother Lü, I want to ask you about someone. Do you know where Wangqing Laozu is?"

Lü Peng shook his head, "I've never seen such a person. Could you be mistaken?"

I probed, "Do you know everyone in the village?"

Lü Peng said seriously, "I know all the prominent figures in the three villages. I've never heard of such a person."

I couldn't help but mutter to myself, "The village chief of the lower village said that Wangqing is in the village?"

Lü Peng sneered, "You can't trust the words of those in the lower village. They'll say anything for the tong shen qian (money to reach the gods); not a word of it is true."

"I deliberately set the rule that you have to pay a high entrance fee to move to the second village because I look down on those people."

"Even if people from the lower village come, they won't have an easy time in the second village."

Lü Peng denied Wangqing's existence, but I felt that Wangqing must be in the Da Meng Xiang (Great Dream Village), and even the Shen Ji Tu (Divine Scheme Map) was inseparable from Wangqing.

I asked casually, "Then what's the deal with buying dead people in the upper village?"

Lü Peng said, "That's who the upper village chief wanted to buy, seemingly to dig something up."

"He used to ask for people in the lower three villages, but this time, he probably didn't have enough manpower, so he bought people from outside."

"Who knows what he's mysteriously digging up all day long?"

The upper village has been digging for treasure? Lü Peng, Yi Lü, and the others came to Da Meng Xiang for treasure.

Could there be a connection here? It seems the mysteries of Da Meng Xiang need to be slowly unraveled; I can't jump to conclusions so early.

While I was pondering, Lü Peng had already led me to a small river and pointed to a pit in the riverbed, saying, "This is where I drowned."

The small river flowing down from the top of the mountain wasn't very deep. By my estimation, the deepest part was no more than knee-deep, except for the spot Lü Peng pointed to, which was probably one or two meters deep.

I squatted by the river and looked at it. "What happened then?"

Lü Peng stood behind me and said, "At that time, I was squatting by the river like you, looking at the water, looking at this pit."

"I don't remember why I was looking at the water. In any case, I was curious at the time and just had to take a look into the pit."

"Just as I was squatting by the river, a piece of clothing floated down from upstream—a red piece of clothing."

Hearing this, a chill suddenly ran down my spine.

Squatting by the river for no reason, looking at the water—wasn't that encountering shui gui huo ren (water ghost bewitchment)?

Water ghosts don't necessarily have to grab people's ankles when they go into the water, or capsize their boats to kill them. Luring people to the water's edge is also a way for water ghosts to kill.

When people are walking by the river and suddenly have a whim, insisting on taking a look at a certain place, they've probably encountered a water ghost.

The water ghost is just hiding in a place that people can't see, leading them to the place where the water ghost drowned.

When a passerby squats by the water and looks in, if they see a figure behind them, that's the water ghost coming ashore, about to push them in.

As for why the water ghost doesn't come out from the front and just drag people down, it's because the people on the shore still have yang energy. If the water ghost appears from below, the person on the shore only needs to blow a breath at it to block it for a moment.

Those few seconds are enough for the person on the shore to escape, as long as they're not scared witless.

As I stared at the surface of the water, ripples suddenly appeared, and a blurry figure was reflected behind me.

I turned my head sharply to look at Yi Lü behind me, gave a smile, and imitated Lü Peng's voice, "Yi Lü, don't push me again."

"Ah—" Yi Lü screamed in fright and sat down on the ground, "It wasn't me pushing you, it really wasn't me."

"It was Xiao Hong, Xiao Hong pushed you down. The clothes that floated down the river were hers."

"Just now, the person behind you was her too!"

I was just pretending to be a ghost to scare people.

There's also a saying in the arts of the occult called "ren gui tong xing, gui hun suo ming (when humans and ghosts walk together, the ghost seeks revenge)," which means that if a murderer suddenly returns to the scene of the crime one day.

The person he killed back then might possess someone else and seek revenge on the murderer.

The first thing the possessed person says will definitely be the cause of their death.

After falling down, Yi Lü pointed behind me and shouted, "Xiao Hong, Xiao Hong is right behind you! Her clothes are floating over again."

Ye Yang unhesitatingly stabbed his sword behind me. The sword qi grazed my shoulder and landed in the water, exploding in the riverbed with a thunderous roar. As the river water, stirred by the sword qi, rained down from the sky, Ye Yang also used his sword to bring back a red piece of clothing.

I turned to look at Lü Peng. "Who is Xiao Hong? Are these her clothes?"

Lü Peng said blankly, "I don't remember who Xiao Hong is."

Yi Lü said, "Xiao Hong was also a member of our team. Our team had six people, four men and two women. The other girl was Xiao Hong."

"I only remember that she died, but I don't remember how she died!"

"I only remembered that she was the one who pushed Brother Peng from behind when I saw you squatting by the river."