Li Zhuiyuan had accompanied Grand Elder to many vegetarian meals, so he was very clear about funeral procedures and arrangements.

Furthermore, all the necessary materials for a funeral were already available at home, making the preparations even simpler and smoother.

Soon, the mourning hall was set up.

Offerings consisted mainly of local everyday food, which the older generation considered snacks. Li Zhuiyuan, according to his own taste, placed an unopened box of Jianlibao on the altar.

As for a slight luxury, Li Zhuiyuan lit eight thick white candles, four on each side. This was in consideration of potential power outages as the typhoon approached and winds intensified.

There was no memorial photo. Although taking pictures at home was easy – he could just pull Tan Wenbin over and have him make a cross-eyed face – doing so in advance would be going too far. Tan Wenbin’s acting skills were good, but he was better at the “sincere for sincere” approach; simple deception wouldn’t fool truly astute eyes.

Moreover, Tan Wenbin’s situation also involved the chain reaction with Lin Shuyou and Rungsheng. No matter how hard those two tried to disguise themselves, they were an open book to discerning individuals.

However, the absence of a memorial photo on the altar was a regrettable omission. Li Zhuiyuan took paper and a pen and sketched a self-portrait. Without using a mirror, he emphasized the angles and shadows, then placed it in an existing frame. Unless examined closely, it looked no different from a photographed memorial portrait.

He searched for elegiac couplets for a long time but couldn’t find suitable ones. Since Grand Elder’s clientele was generally older, the usual couplets wouldn’t fit Li Zhuiyuan. Li Zhuiyuan wrote a pair himself with a calligraphy brush and hung them:

Upper couplet: The young phoenix, before its cry, brought forth rain.
Lower couplet: The Epiphyllum, though fleeting, leaves its fragrance.
Horizontal scroll: Universal Rejoicing.

He had originally intended for the horizontal scroll to follow tradition and read “Heaven and Earth Mourn Together.” After a moment of hesitation, the boy felt this didn’t align with the literal facts. After all, he knew very well who the true mastermind behind this “wave” was.

The mourning hall was the skeleton of a funeral; all rituals and procedures revolved around it. But for Li Zhuiyuan, this “skeleton” was secondary.

It was just him and a dog, far too desolate. At this point, he needed to create some atmosphere. If there weren’t enough living people, then paper figures would do. There were plenty of paper figures in stock at home, but these weren’t what Li Zhuiyuan wanted. He intended to make them himself, or as they say in Nantong dialect, *zha ku* (to make paper effigies).

Grand Elder’s paper effigies, with their advantages of good quality and low price, had virtually monopolized the market in the surrounding area. Aunt Liu was skilled at making paper effigies; her painting skills, inherited from Grand Elder’s wife, were like “using a cannon to swat a fly” when applied to drawing faces on paper figures. Xiao Yingying’s paper effigies were also of very high quality; she took an authentic approach, and no one understood the aesthetics of “the dead” better than her.

In fact, everyone in the family, regardless of who it was, had some skill in making paper effigies. Tan Wenbin and Lin Shuyou quickly picked it up after arriving. When they were watching TV with nothing else to do, they would just pull out some bamboo strips and start making things, much like elderly rural women sitting on the threshing floor shelling edamame.

However, the person best at making paper effigies in the family was actually Li Zhuiyuan. This was because the boy’s *nuo* opera puppetry had already reached an extremely high level.

Xiao Hei stared with its dog eyes, watching this scene in astonishment. The boy sat on a small stool, simply rotating and rubbing his palms in the air, and the bamboo strips, as if endowed with life, automatically assembled themselves into precise and standard skeletons before him.

There was one thing that even Xiao Hei’s dog eyes couldn’t perceive. That was the bloodline in the boy’s palm during this stage of the production process, continuously flowing into the “skeleton” like adding blood vessels. However, only Li Zhuiyuan himself could “see” this bloodline. Even when Tan Wenbin and others were connected multiple times, they only felt it but couldn’t touch its form.

Once each “skeleton” was complete, paper of various colors immediately floated over to cover it, and pigments were also drawn in, coloring themselves. Accustomed to creating puppets using corpses, and powerful ones at that, simply making paper figures now was as easy as doing kindergarten math.

Soon, paper figures of Uncle Qin, Aunt Liu, Grandma Liu, Tan Wenbin, Rungsheng, and Lin Shuyou were made, almost identical to them in height and temperament.

Next, when making A-Li’s paper figure, Li Zhuiyuan put in a bit more effort. For some people, both emotionally and logically, you should show some differential treatment.

When A-Li’s paper figure was completed, it distinctly possessed a more vibrant aura than the others. Special treatment to this extent was sufficient; after all, this was not something auspicious, and making it too extraordinary would be inappropriate.

After a moment of hesitation, Li Zhuiyuan made a paper figure of Zhao Yi. Since Zhao Yi was made, he then conveniently made one of Chen Jing. He had planned to stop there, but after another moment of hesitation, Li Zhuiyuan still made one of Chen Xiyuan.

Work complete.

Next, it was time for some arrangement.

Li Zhuiyuan unfolded two round tables and placed them on either side of the mourning hall, which was also in the living room. Stools were arranged, plastic tablecloths spread out, and bowls, plates, chopsticks, spoons, and small shared vinegar dishes were set.

Grandma Liu’s paper figure was arranged to sit at one small round table, with a pot of tea in front of her, and a pen and a new guestbook on the table. Aunt Liu’s paper figure already held a paper tray with paper-made dishes, as if serving food. Uncle Qin was placed somewhere at random, as if waiting to be commanded or about to be scolded.

Rungsheng’s paper figure sat in front of the brazier, burning paper money. Tan Wenbin stood by the altar, directing the rituals. Lin Shuyou stood in the center, holding a golden ceremonial mace made of gold ingot paper. His image inherently carried the characteristics of a true deity, performing in front of the mourning hall.

Zhao Yi and Chen Jing were placed by the entrance, with their backs against the wall to avoid being soaked by the wind and rain, as if they were guests attending the wake. Chen Xiyuan’s paper figure stood at a safe distance, facing the wind and rain outside, playing a flute.

The three coffins were three beds. Rungsheng Ge’s coffin had a slightly coated interior. Binbin Ge’s coffin had been infused with the smell of smoke. Rungsheng Ge slept in Grand Elder’s coffin; he wouldn’t mind Rungsheng’s scent. Binbin Ge slept in Grand Elder’s coffin; Grand Elder himself was an old smoker.

But Li Zhuiyuan didn’t really want either of those. Within permissible limits, he wanted to lie in a slightly cleaner one. Fortunately, there was the coffin A-You slept in. A-You showered diligently, didn’t smoke, and always tidied and wiped his bed in the morning and evening, making him a qualified “coffin warmer.”

The coffin was heavy, but the family had small wheeled platforms for moving coffins. Li Zhuiyuan’s strength was sufficient; after inserting the platforms into the four corners of the coffin, he could easily push it alone to the back of the mourning hall. After confirming its position, he removed the platforms.

Li Zhuiyuan first lay inside to try it out. Compared to his build, this coffin was practically a spacious apartment. After getting out of the coffin, Li Zhuiyuan placed A-Li’s paper figure at the head of the coffin. The girl’s two hands gripped the coffin’s edge, her gaze looking inside the coffin.

The funeral was completely arranged.

Li Zhuiyuan was sweating from the effort. However, he didn’t go upstairs to shower; after all, the wind and rain outside were intensifying, and showering would be pointless.

Xiao Hei circled the mourning hall repeatedly. As a *wuhei quan* (five-black dog), it had an instinctive aversion and repulsion to the “evil” side, and the current environment here made it very uncomfortable. But looking at the boy… it didn’t dare to act rashly.

Because its doghouse had been demolished to make room for the mourning hall. Xiao Hei found a new corner, lay down, and closed its dog eyes, intending to put out of sight, out of mind. Before it could even drift off to sleep, a leash was thrown in front of it. Xiao Hei licked its lips, not daring to resist, put the leash around its own neck, and then adjusted the tightness with its paws.

At that time, even in the city, the trend of pet ownership was just beginning to emerge, and Xiao Hei, as a rural dog, had already learned to skillfully use a leash by itself. Li Zhuiyuan led Xiao Hei out of the living room and pushed out one of the family’s earliest small tricycles.

The boy tied the other end of Xiao Hei’s leash to the handlebar, then pushed the tricycle with the dog to the rice paddy behind the house. Li Zhuiyuan entered the training ground and began moving things out. His training ground was well-equipped; for those with deep ties to him, he had set up altars for them there.

The first things he moved out were offerings for Fengdu Great Emperor. After putting them on the tricycle, Li Zhuiyuan placed many newly made formation flags, crafted from mechanical materials, into the cart. The boy rode the tricycle, carrying the items, onto the village road.

The wind was strong, and the rain was heavy. The boy didn’t ride fast, and Xiao Hei easily followed behind, occasionally shaking off water droplets. Farming was too hard in those days, and grain had to be handed over, so renting fields in the village was very convenient. Grand Elder’s fields, thanks to Uncle Qin’s hard labor, were continuously expanding.

There were two fields located on either side of the village road, visible from the main road. Li Zhuiyuan got off the tricycle and pushed it along the field ridge into the field. The wind and rain were intense, and there were few villagers on the road. However, if you were to tamper with someone else’s field, you would quickly be “informed by word of mouth.”

The offerings were unloaded from the tricycle and arranged in the field. Formation flags were inserted around the perimeter, immediately forming a barrier that isolated the wind and rain. The greatest feature of this formation was its ability to amplify Fengshui power.

Li Zhuiyuan stood before the altar, his hands constantly grasping outwards. Invisible Fengshui power was drawn to him, temporarily bound here, as if accumulating momentum. After the arrangement was complete, Li Zhuiyuan hung up the newly painted portrait of Fengdu Great Emperor. The white-faced Emperor, though losing some majesty, gained a unique touch of femininity.

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the tricycle with Xiao Hei back. It wasn’t over yet. He then moved the Bodhisattva’s altar from the training ground onto the cart and then went to the opposite side of the village road from where the Emperor’s field was. Following suit, he first set up the formation, then connected to the Fengshui.

While he was busy, on the village road, Li Weihan, wearing a raincoat, rode past on his “two-eight” bicycle. He rode past first, then turned around and rode back. He squinted carefully in the heavy rain before confirming that the person busy in the field was his grandson. Quickly propping up his bicycle, he jogged down.

“Xiaoyuan Hou, what are you doing here?”

“Grandpa, I’m setting things up.”

“Setting up what?”

“Bodhisattva.”

Li Weihan looked closely and saw that it was indeed a Bodhisattva.

“Did your Grand Elder tell you to set this up here?”

“Yes.”

“Such strong wind, such heavy rain…”

“Grand Elder said this is to pray for blessings for me. I have a hurdle this year, and if I can get past it, everything will go smoothly until I become an adult. Grandpa, look, with this wind and rain today, it’s just right.”

Li Weihan felt bad that his grandson was exposed to the wind and rain, but he was also a bit superstitious. Besides, strange things had indeed happened to his grandson in the past, and it was Uncle Sanjiang who had resolved them.

“Then Grandpa will help you set it up.”

“No need, Grandpa. Grand Elder said I have to do this myself; no one else can help, or it won’t be effective.”

“You’ll catch a cold from the wind and rain. I’ll go back and ask your grandma to boil you some ginger soup.”

“The hot water at home is already heated, and ginger soup is prepared. I can have it as soon as I get back. Grandpa, don’t worry, Grand Elder has arranged everything. My body is fine; nothing will happen.”

“Then wear my raincoat.”

“I need to be exposed to the rain and wind; I can’t cover up. Covering up will affect my future.”

Li Weihan had nothing more to say. He could only stand by and watch his grandson work, to ensure nothing happened to him. Li Zhuiyuan didn’t avoid Li Weihan, arranging things as he saw fit, as his grandpa wouldn’t understand anyway.

When Li Zhuiyuan finished and was ready to leave, Li Weihan instinctively wanted to bow to the Bodhisattva but then realized that this Bodhisattva was protecting Xiaoyuan Hou, so he quickly stopped his action, fearing it would dilute his grandson’s blessings.

“Done?”

“Yes, done, Grandpa.”

“Come, I’ll push your cart for you.”

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t object. Li Weihan first pushed the tricycle from the field onto the village road, then placed his “two-eight” bicycle horizontally on it, and then pushed the tricycle forward.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, to the point where riding a bicycle was no longer safe. Moreover, there was a cement bridge ahead without railings. If you fell into the fields on either side, it would be fine, but falling under the bridge could cause serious problems.

“Xiaoyuan Hou, has your mother told you when exactly she’s coming back?”

“Soon, Grandpa.”

“Hmm, your grandma misses your mother very much.”

In fact, he felt the same way. Ever since Li Zhuiyuan arrived in Nantong, the most common thing he heard people say was how much Li Weihan had doted on his precious daughter back then.

Li Weihan pushed the cart to the threshing floor of Grand Elder’s house.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Grandpa, you’re also soaked. Everyone’s eating inside now, why don’t you join us?”

Li Weihan could see numerous figures in the living room. But he had always been someone who disliked taking advantage of others, not even his own son.

“No, no, you go up quickly, take a hot shower and drink some ginger soup to ward off the cold. Your health is important.”

“Okay, I know.”

Li Weihan took down his “two-eight” bicycle and walked away, pushing it.

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the tricycle to the threshing floor, not going to the main house but to the east room. Grandma Liu had left in a fit of anger, not even closing the door when she left. After entering the east room, Li Zhuiyuan bowed again before the altar.

Then, the boy took down all the spirit tablets from the altar and placed them on the tricycle outside the door, not missing a single one. This time the journey was not far, just to the field in front of the house. Li Zhuiyuan first transported the spirit tablets, then returned to transport the altar, essentially moving all the offerings from the east room to a new location.

Physical fatigue was not a major problem for the boy at this point; it was mainly setting up formations and drawing in Fengshui, which were indeed hard on the spirit. However, A-Li’s specially made “Jianlibao” was carried by Li Zhuiyuan. Whenever he felt a bit mentally fatigued, the boy would tear open the seal and drink half a can.

His energy was quickly replenished, even overflowing, putting him in an excited state. Any such medicine had side effects. If A-Li had carefully made it, she could have minimized these side effects. But for the current Li Zhuiyuan, it was meaningless; you can’t make someone who is very likely not to survive tonight worry about the dangers of energy depletion two days later. Moreover, this special Jianlibao was only a preliminary product. Li Zhuiyuan even had talisman needles prepared in his coffin.

“Hoo…”

Letting out a long breath, Li Zhuiyuan returned home. In the kitchen, the dishes Aunt Liu had prepared for lunch were still there. Next to it was a separate small table, laden with carefully selected eggs and attractive dark brown sugar. Clearly, this was A-Li’s dedicated small kitchen table.

Li Zhuiyuan made himself a bowl of brown sugar poached eggs, half a spoon of brown sugar and one egg, just a token amount. Then, the boy stir-fried two dishes for toppings and cooked some *guamian* (dried noodles). He served himself a bowl and also served Xiao Hei a bowl. One person and one dog ate face to face.

After finishing, Li Zhuiyuan washed the bowls and scrubbed the pot. As for the bowl Xiao Hei used, it was specially placed on the floor by the door, reserved for its future use.

After setting up a simple formation on the tricycle to help it counteract the wind and rain and maintain balance as much as possible, Li Zhuiyuan rode it again, with Xiao Hei, to Big Beard’s house.

The once brilliant and beautiful peach orchard now only remained a desolate expanse of withered branches and fallen leaves. The wooden house was gone, Qing’an was gone, even Little Oriole was gone. Here, Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t sense any trace of them. But he knew the location of the fishpond at Big Beard’s former home, clearly knowing where Qing’an had sunk.

The boy’s gaze fell on that area within the peach orchard. After standing and watching for a while, Li Zhuiyuan refocused his attention and walked to a dirt pit. This pit was originally where the pond was located. Yesterday, Li Zhuiyuan had completely absorbed the resentment from it, causing the peach orchard to wither.

Li Zhuiyuan squatted down and reached his hand downwards. In the fishpond deep within the boy’s consciousness, the fish that had just been fed fat for a day were pulled out and flew upwards. In reality, resentment poured back into the dirt pit through the boy’s palm. It was the springhead here. When it regained its “water flow,” the surrounding peach trees gradually regained their vitality. Peach blossoms bloomed again, and the ground turned green once more.

However, this peach orchard was still a bit “thinner” than in its prime. It wasn’t because Li Zhuiyuan held back; rather, there would inevitably be losses during such a process of absorption and release. But the current situation was already sufficient. The peach orchard had returned to being that peach orchard, and the home entrance was still that home entrance, only missing a gatekeeper.

Li Zhuiyuan drank from a newly opened can of Jianlibao with his left hand, while his right hand continuously pulled from the air around him, drawing Fengshui energy towards this spot. By the time he finished arranging, the can of beverage in his hand was also empty. The boy looked again at the original location of the fishpond, then reached out and broke off a peach branch. Using it as raw material, he employed *nuo* opera puppetry to weave a skeleton. Then, he drew in peach blossoms and covered it.

With peach branches as bones and peach blossoms as skin, this Qing’an paper figure, as soon as it was completed, exuded a carefree and elegant charm. Li Zhuiyuan hung this special paper figure on the thickest peach tree. From the boy’s perspective, this paper figure, due to the bloodline he left inside it, was several shades redder than the surrounding peach blossoms.

Leaving the peach orchard, Li Zhuiyuan rode the tricycle, with Xiao Hei, to the village entrance. There was a clear demarcation line between the main road and the village road. The main road was asphalt, while the village road was a gravel dirt path; this line was distinctly drawn. That day, Li Lan had stood outside the line, not stepping an inch over.

Li Zhuiyuan parked the tricycle by the side and stood at this line. Blood mist continuously overflowed from his right palm, rapidly condensing, and finally turning into blood, dripping steadily. The boy walked from the south end of this line to the north end, and then from the north end back to the south end, repeating tirelessly. The fresh blood he shed did not disperse upon landing, despite the impact of the rain and strong wind. Instead, it steadily traced and thickened this line repeatedly.

Xiao Hei watched from the side as the boy continuously shed blood. It silently raised its dog paw. In its subconscious, being bled was not only its mission but also its guarantee of a prosperous dog life. The boy now seemed to be smashing its dog bowl.

With a large amount of blood flowing out, Li Zhuiyuan’s face grew paler and paler, and his body colder and colder. When he finished, Li Zhuiyuan withdrew his hand, staggered a few steps backward, leaned against the tricycle, and began to pant. From his pocket, he pulled out the “last pill,” like a candy bead. He popped it directly into his mouth, chewing it as if it were a Malteser. To help swallow, he used A-Li’s special beverage. Anyway, with this body and spirit, as long as he didn’t die, he could push it as hard as he wanted.

Soon, two flushed patches appeared on the boy’s face, and his eye sockets became somewhat sunken. But his vigor and spirit returned to their peak again. Li Zhuiyuan lowered his head and looked at Xiao Hei, who had been staring at him with a resentful gaze for a long time. The boy squatted down and grabbed one of Xiao Hei’s paws. Xiao Hei excitedly stuck out its tongue.

Li Zhuiyuan drew out a yellow paper talisman and swept it along Xiao Hei’s wrist. A slender cut appeared, and the *wuhei quan*’s blood flowed out. The boy caught the blood with the yellow paper. When the yellow paper was stained red with dog blood, the boy gently stroked Xiao Hei’s wound, helping it stop bleeding.

Xiao Hei looked at the “red paper” in front of it with some disbelief. It pressed its paw on the boy’s wrist and pushed down with force. It seemed to be saying: “That’s all you’re taking? Are you looking down on a dog?” Mainly, after seeing the boy shed so much blood, taking so little from itself made Xiao Hei feel like it was a freeloader.

Li Zhuiyuan held the “red paper.” Karmic fire rose, and then dark red flames ignited, unaffected by the wind and rain of the natural world. The boy used it to complete a round of scorching along this line.

After doing all this, Li Zhuiyuan gently nudged Xiao Hei with his foot and said: “For the entire day now, don’t go home. Anywhere in this village you want to go, anywhere you want to hide, is fine, as long as you can guarantee you won’t be discovered, and that you stay alive.”

Xiao Hei tilted its dog head, its eyes showing confusion. Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze sharpened, and he said in a deep voice: “I know you can understand.”

This *wuhei quan* had been personally chosen by Aunt Liu when it was still a puppy; it had been fed delicious food and supplements until now. Although the Dao of Heaven deducted his merits, Rungsheng and the others could also share some of the bounty, a quantity enough to excite even the White Crane Boy and others. A small portion of this would certainly have fallen to this black dog, after all, its black dog blood was continuously used by the team members. It was not only smarter than ordinary dogs, but even smart dogs couldn’t match this fellow’s minimum level of intelligence. But it was lazy. Its robust body and almost awakened mind—it was too lazy to use them, absorbed in the wonderful life of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating.

“Woof woof woof!”

Xiao Hei barked three times, as if making a promise. Then, it turned its dog head and ran towards the village.

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the tricycle onto the road. Previously, no matter how much he walked back and forth along this line, one foot always remained inside the line. This time, it was the first time the boy had stepped outside the village boundary since Li Lan’s visit that night. The moisture in the air and the wind blowing from all directions had noticeably changed.

That entity sensed he had left the village. More precisely, he had intentionally moved from its blind spot into its line of sight. The Great Turtle’s vision was problematic; Li Lan was its eyes. Without Li Lan, the Great Turtle couldn’t find him. Because of Li Lan, he had a glimmer of hope when facing the Great Turtle. Li Zhuiyuan had spent so much effort to deduce this glimmer of hope.

But, one thing gives rise to all things. Indeed, as Tan Wenbin said, even if they ultimately died under the Great Turtle’s claws, they would have made the Great Turtle pay a price, thus fulfilling his promise of revenge to Zheng Haiyang. However, Li Zhuiyuan wanted more than just that.

Just as Grandma Liu believed that revenge should only be carried out after full growth in the future, Li Zhuiyuan felt time was of the essence and acted immediately. His strategy towards this Great Turtle was also the same. Either, this time, you thoroughly kill me; as long as you don’t kill me, then I will knock a hole in your turtle shell!

The boy wanted to develop slowly, grow step by step, but the surrounding environment constantly prevented him from doing so. Many people liked to blame their struggles and failures on the overall environment, as if they were the ones who could influence it. Li Zhuiyuan clearly belonged to this extreme, special category, yet he never thought of giving up.

“Wei Zhengdao, your starting point was like a flower in a greenhouse; how could it be as interesting as mine?”

Without returning to the village, Li Zhuiyuan rode the tricycle to Shigang Town. There were no pedestrians or bicycles visible on the road anymore, and even cars were much fewer. Many broken tree branches could already be seen on the road. Li Zhuiyuan rode to Zheng Haiyang’s house.

He didn’t need to come here. According to Fengshui observations and meteorological forecasts, the typhoon would officially make landfall in Qidong at midnight tonight. This was correct. But this was not the Great Turtle’s landing time. Its enormous, mountain-like — no, island-like — body could not actually set foot on shore, unless it truly intended to unleash a natural disaster. The typhoon it currently carried would be propelled and altered by its presence, but fundamentally, this typhoon would occur with or without it.

It was reckless yet cautious. It was willing to pay a price, but every cost was spent precisely where it mattered most. This wasn’t intentional, but rather an instinct formed by these ancient beings through their tacit confrontation and coexistence with the Dao of Heaven. Its precise “landing” time, Li Lan had also told him. Eight o’clock in the evening. Li Lan’s interrupted journey home would resume at that point.

Li Zhuiyuan had only told Tan Wenbin twelve hours, not the specific time, so even Tan Wenbin would likely only try to predict it through the weather forecast. Grandma Liu, moreover, would firmly believe her expertise was far more accurate than the weather station’s.

Whether some of those who left would return with a “death wish” mentality, even Li Zhuiyuan couldn’t be sure. But some people, Li Zhuiyuan was certain, would definitely return, even if it meant rushing to their deaths; and if you didn’t let them stand in front, they would even get angry and upset with you.

And Li Zhuiyuan needed them to come back. For example, Liu Yumei, Uncle Qin, Aunt Liu. He needed their combat power. Without them, this play couldn’t be performed at all; no matter how much he struggled, it would be a dead end. But due to the rules of *zoujiang*, he couldn’t conspire with them. They had to ensure their actions were not primarily driven by a desire to help him, otherwise they would suffer karmic backlash. And directly blocking the way, using their flesh and remaining years to block, was too costly.

Under the premise of not being able to command them, he still had to command and utilize them effectively—this was a major challenge. The funeral, first and foremost, solved the problem of karmic backlash. As long as they believed he was dead, even if only temporarily, at that moment, their actions would not be considered subjective karmic backlash. Because he was already dead, who could they help?

Moreover, this funeral served more than just this one purpose. In fact, this objective was merely the smallest bonus within the funeral. Li Zhuiyuan intended to accomplish all purposes that would normally require direct command, in advance, by himself. He wanted to create absolutely suitable conditions, and then, in the correct and appropriate manner, introduce their own forces. This funeral was not just for him; he was to be “buried together” with this Great Turtle.

It could be said that this time, Li Zhuiyuan had utilized the rules of *jiangshui* to the extreme, even to the point of resorting to any means necessary to exploit loopholes in the rules. But he didn’t feel he was cheating; just look at the other side—that Great Turtle had come all the way from the East Sea directly for him, a minor. Since he “lit the lamp,” there was no such thing as “fairness”!

Zheng Haiyang’s house was very old. To this day, no one lived there. Li Zhuiyuan pushed open the living room door, and with a series of creaks, the boy walked in. Then, he entered the room where Zheng Haiyang’s grandparents had invited him and others to eat.

The boy recalled the scene from back then. These memories were still very clear in his mind, but now, he needed to revisit the old place, making an extra effort to verify the Great Turtle’s “perspective.” He savored the sense of spatial disorientation he had experienced at the time, then detached himself from it, trying to put himself in Zheng Haiyang and his grandparents’ shoes at that moment. They were already under the Great Turtle’s control back then. Li Zhuiyuan was simulating exactly how the Great Turtle performed this control.

What he simulated, the spatial disorientation he had felt at the time, should not have been Zheng Haiyang’s “special ability,” but rather the Great Turtle’s “true manifestation.” Its eyesight was genuinely poor; the theoretical line also provided the same proof for this. Combined with the Great Turtle’s strange replication ability…

Li Zhuiyuan exited the living room and came to the threshing floor, looking in the direction where Zhu Changyong had jumped into the mixer and died. All the people replicated by the Great Turtle didn’t know they were fake; they all initially believed they were real.

Why did Li Lan go to the Great Turtle? It was because, through her own research, she believed the Great Turtle could cure her illness. What was the principle of the cure? And why did Li Lan believe that her illness had been cured?

The boy initiated *zouyin* (walking in the netherworld). *Zouyin* was another perspective for observing this real world. The Great Turtle was actually the same; its poor eyesight was because, from its perspective, this world was vastly different from how ordinary people saw it.

The two diagrams in the prophecy, Li Zhuiyuan was certain were fake, but the Great Turtle believed them, indicating that it accepted the underlying principle. The fact that it could even successfully replicate his adult self showed that the strength of one’s cultivation realm was not a difficulty for its replication.

Replication required a price, which should be its life force. The small turtles that crawled out of the replicas were actually the main body of the life force that the Great Turtle had split off. Therefore, rather than saying the Great Turtle was replicating verbatim, it was more like it was pulling out “people” it saw from its other, or even many other, perspectives, infusing them with its own life force, and “throwing” them back into reality. Li Lan felt that it could separate her healthy, normal self from her sick self.

Li Zhuiyuan had already deduced these things long ago. The reason he made another trip was purely because he had nothing better to do. It was like finishing an exam early but still having a lot of time before the end, so he might as well double-check everything. Incidentally, running out of the village to show his face would add another layer of excitement for it.

Almost done, it was time to go back.

Li Zhuiyuan rode the tricycle back to the village. On the road, a police car drove up, continuously honking at the boy. Inside the car was Tan Yunlong, who had returned from Jinling today to hand over a case. Li Zhuiyuan was forced to stop by the police car. Tan Yunlong, without a word, pulled the boy into the police car. As for the boy’s small tricycle, he put it in the trunk. It couldn’t close completely, so he just propped it open with the trunk, not caring if it got scratched or chipped.

“Xiaoyuan, how strong is the wind outside? Why are you still… Never mind, let me go back to the police station to drop off some things first, then I’ll take you home!”

“Uncle Tan, you’re using a public vehicle for private purposes.”

“Seeing an underage child on the road during a typhoon, as a police officer, how can I be indifferent?”

Tan Yunlong parked the car at the entrance of the police station. As he went inside to hand in documents, Li Zhuiyuan got out of the car and walked to the plaque hanging at the entrance of the police station. The rain had long since washed it clean, leaving no trace of dust. The boy spread his arms and embraced it.

Even with everything arranged, the probability of failure was still high. He might very well not survive tonight. The downside of having developed some emotions was that, beyond rationality, one began to crave a kind of sudden, seemingly meaningless sentimentality. And this was also a major key to the success of tonight’s plan; the Great Turtle, infused with Li Lan, would not believe in such things. She, it, like his past self, would consider such irrational impulses, meaningless desires for death, and suicide, as stupid, ridiculous, and lowly.

Tan Yunlong ran out, Li Zhuiyuan released his embrace and got back into the car. The police car started again, driving on the road, its body swaying continuously in the strong wind. Tan Yunlong looked at the boy in the back seat through the rearview mirror, smiling as he asked: “Xiaoyuan, what are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about Mom.”

“Heh heh, really? When you’re a few years older, you won’t miss your mom anymore. Binbin used to cling to his mom when he was little. He even wrote an essay called ‘My Beautiful Mom’ and miraculously won a third-place prize in his elementary school essay competition.”

“Can I still see it now?”

“It’s kept, along with his birth certificate, by his mom.”

As the police car just drove into Siyuan Village, a call came from inside. A factory building in the neighboring town had been blown down by the wind, and someone might be buried inside. Tan Yunlong dropped them off at the path, stopped the car, helped the boy take out the small tricycle, and then drove off in the police car for the rescue.

Li Zhuiyuan pushed the tricycle back home. He first went upstairs, took a shower, and changed into clean clothes. Then he went downstairs to the living room.

Li Zhuiyuan brewed a fresh pot of tea at the small round table where Grandma Liu’s paper figure sat, deliberately arranging the tea set there. Next, the boy sprinkled a handful of melon seeds on the tray of Aunt Liu’s paper figure. Finally, he placed a soy sauce bottle in front of Uncle Qin’s paper figure.

It was quite despicable; he had to calculate everyone’s emotions and reactions. He was now still plotting to add fuel to the fire so that when they returned, they would truly be angry and believe. Li Zhuiyuan knew that although he had forced Grandma Liu to leave by legal status, given Grandma Liu’s temper, she would definitely return. Moreover, the boy had deliberately handed Grandpa Qin’s spirit tablet to Grandma Liu. Even purely out of respect for Grandpa Qin, Grandma Liu would not show any respect at all!

Li Zhuiyuan lay in the coffin. Outside, the wind howled and the rain poured. In the boy’s ears, there was only the crisp ticking of the clock. On the East Sea, a lighthouse on a small island. The lighthouse keeper was still diligently working. As the light swept across, the keeper was stunned; his light had illuminated a swath of red.

He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him and began to sweep the light around, only to find that this red color filled his surroundings, its area almost boundless.

“Buzz!”

The red instantly disappeared.

The next moment,

“Buzz!”

The red reappeared.

It was as if an unimaginably gigantic eyeball beneath the surface of the sea had just blinked.

“Clang… Clang… Clang… Clang…”

When the wall clock at home struck for the eighth time,

“Rumble!”

A terrifying blood-red lightning bolt streaked across the sky, instantly illuminating the dark night as if it were a scarlet day.

A figure appeared at the entrance of Siyuan Village.

It,

had arrived!