"Let me think about it."

Xiao Mu's words moved Village Chief Hao, prompting him to carefully consider it.

After a moment, it seemed that Village Chief Hao, having figured out his concerns, suddenly asked Xiao Mu and Daoist Qing Yan solemnly, "Mr. Mu, Daoist Qing Yan, you must promise me that you won't let the yin spirits of these extinct families be harmed."

"Okay, I promise."

Xiao Mu replied solemnly, "Unless I die, I won't let any of the yin spirits entrusted to me get hurt."

Daoist Qing Yan wasn't impressed with the village chief's words and disdainfully retorted, "I also assure you. If I'm around, what is there to worry about? Aren't evil ghosts easily eliminated?"

Village Chief Hao mulled over it, "I don't want your promises. Promises are meaningless. If any Spirit Tablet is destroyed, even if only one is, I would persuade Tao Zu not to provide you with Peach Wood."

"Whoever damages the Spirit Tablet will not receive Peach Wood, even if they ultimately exorcise the evil ghost. You can disagree, but if you borrow the Spirit Tablet, you should be responsible for it. I'm saying this now, and this what will be implemented."

"How many Spirit Tablets do you need?"

Xiao Mu answered: "Five or more, the more the better."

The more Spirit Tablets, the stronger the Yin Qi, the more capable they are of drawing out the evil ghost.

As for the village chief's claim of not providing Peach Wood if a Spirit Tablet is destroyed, Xiao Mu wasn't worried as he was confident he could protect the Spirit Tablets.

"Well then, please wait a moment, I'll go ask about it."

Village Chief Hao stated.

Upon hearing this, Daoist Qing Yan suddenly intervened, calling after Village Chief Hao, "Wait, I want to keep mine separate from his. If we are lumped together, who will get credit when the evil ghost appears? Who will get the credit for killing the evil ghost in the end?"

Xiao Mu turned to look at Daoist Qing Yan.

It seemed that Qing Yan hadn't yet perceived the horror of the evil ghost, probably thinking that it was just an ordinary evil ghost hidden under the altar.

As for his proposal, Xiao Mu didn't care much.

If they were to separate, it might prevent them from fighting each other over who gets to fight the ghost first when it actually appears, which would be detrimental to their task of exorcising the ghost.

"Alright, I agree. Village Chief Hao, prepare more than ten."

"Ten?"

Village Chief Hao furrowed his brows deeply and sighed resignedly, "I fear I might not be able to gather even five."

Even though he said this, Village Chief Hao still returned to prepare.

After some time, he came back not only with ten Spirit Tablets, but also with two incense tables, and an incense burner.

This was all part of Xiao Mu's plan. Merely setting up Spirit Tablets was not enough to lure out the evil ghosts, they needed an incense table, an incense burner, and incense sticks.

Once the incense is lit, the yin spirits on the Spirit Tablets will come out to enjoy the incense fire, releasing Yin Qi and luring out the evil ghosts.

Besides this, Village Chief Hao also brought a Peach Wood Sword, specially carved by the village carpenter, and quietly handed it over to Xiao Mu.

"I'll take five."

Daoist Qing Yan rushed over without any further procrastination. He didn't bother choosing and directly took five of the Spirit Tablets from the ten and departed.

In addition to this, he also lifted an incense table from the three-wheeled vehicle and took an incense stick.

The incense table was to be placed in the temple, and the Spirit Tablets were to be enshrined in the temple as well.

Even though the temple was in ruins, using it to worship the Spirit Tablets would still confer some special effects.

Picking up the incense table and setting up the incense burner, Xiao Mu and Daoist Qing Yan each occupied half of the temple, setting up the five Spirit Tablets on the altar table and lighting the incense sticks.

With the lighting of the incense, an ethereal cloud of incense smoke enveloped the temple. Suddenly, the temple seemed filled with an eerie chill, and even the light seemed to dim.

Xiao Mu and Qing Yan knew that this was because the Yin Spirits had come to enjoy the offerings.

All ten Spirit Tablets were occupied by Yin Spirits.

A smirk spread across Daoist Qing Yan's face. With these Yin Spirits, he felt more confident about drawing out the evil ghost. He took out Dao Talismans from his bag, sticking them one by one on the altar table and on the walls, starting to make the arrangements.

However, Xiao Mu couldn't help but turn his gaze to the Spirit Tablets on the altar table, and he was taken aback when he saw one of the Spirit Tablets.

The Spirit Tablet of his late granduncle Old Man Xu!

"This..."

Xiao Mu's attention was immediately drawn to this Spirit Tablet.

No other reason, unlike the other Spirit Tablets, there was a sense of resentment emanating from this particular Tablet, which took Xiao Mu by surprise.

Normally, those who die a normal death don't emanate resentment. Any resentment implies an abnormal death.

What scenarios constitute an abnormal death?

Wrongful deaths, unjust deaths, and deaths due to grievances all belong to the category of abnormal deaths.

This old man Xu, obviously, belongs to such a type of abnormal death, hence his lingering resentments.

This has, inexplicably, made Xiao Mu somewhat worried. Based on the information he personally collected over these past days as well as the information found online, evil absurdities are not just from otherworldly beings; the Yin Spirits of this world could also turn into evil absurdities.

However, this requires extremely special circumstances. Firstly, the Yin Spirit itself must harbor resentment. A Yin Spirit from a normal death without resentment will not turn into an evil absurdity.

Secondly, a resentful Yin Spirit must be infected by an evil absurdity. This evil could include the evil ghosts from another world and other evil entities, much like the Blood Monument that appeared previously in the Zhao family's ancestral hall.

Highly potent evil absurdities can indeed infect a resentful Yin Spirit, causing it to become aggressive.

Unable to resist, Xiao Mu glanced at the other spirit tablets beside Old Man Xu's:

Spirit Tablet of Old Man Zhang!

Spirit Tablet of Old Man Wang!

Spirit Tablet of Old Man Guo!

...

He began to worry inwardly. Besides Old Man Xu, the rest were ordinary Yin Spirits, without resentment, and hence would not be infected by evil absurdities.

He gestured to Village Chief Hao.

Village Chief Hao had no intention of leaving. This spirit tablet he borrowed, he planned to see it through to the end, staying in the temple to watch Xiao Mu and Daoist Qing Yan perform exorcism and demon suppression.

Seeing Xiao Mu gesture, he hurried over, "Mr. Mu, what can I do for you?"

Xiao Mu said: "Village Chief Hao, how did this Old Man Xu die?"

"He died from natural illness."

Village Chief Hao looked at Xiao Mu suspiciously, "Mr. Mu, are you worrying that I gave you the spirit tablet of someone who died violently? Rest assured, I understand these principles, all the spirit tablets I gave you are of those who died normally."

"Natural illness?"

Xiao Mu turned to glance at Old Man Xu's spirit tablet. The resentment was strong on Old Man Xu's spirit tablet. This was certainly not a natural death by illness; there must be some hidden story.

However, hidden stories were not Xiao Mu's concern.

All he knew was that Old Man Xu's spirit tablet must not stay here, or it would definitely harm the other Yin Spirits.

"Village Chief Hao, this spirit tablet of Old Man Xu, cannot stay here. Please take it back with you, it would be best to exchange it for another."

Hearing this, Village Chief Hao was puzzled, "Take it back? Mr. Mu, why should it be taken back?"

"To gather ten spirit tablets, I've truly done everything I could. If I take this one back, I can't exchange it for another, because there really aren't any left."

Hearing these words, Xiao Mu pondered for a moment before saying, "Take it back, even if there is no replacement, I don't want this one."

"Alright."

Village Chief Hao looked at Xiao Mu helplessly, lamenting, "If it is as you say, then I'll take this spirit tablet back. But remember, Mr. Mu, you are now left with only four spirit tablets."

With four spirit tablets, attracting evil ghosts was definitely not as effective as five. Village Chief Hao couldn't help but worry for Xiao Mu.

Because if it came to that, he was worried that the evil ghost would be drawn to Daoist Qing Yan, and ultimately be slain by Qing Yan. If that happened, according to the agreement, the Peach Ancestor could only give the peach wood to Qing Yan.

Compared to Daoist Qing Yan, Village Chief Hao favored Xiao Mu more.

Xiao Mu nodded, sticking to his viewpoint.

The spirit tablet of Old Man Xu must not stay. If it does, it would affect the other spirit tablets.

Village Chief Hao put great emphasis on the spirit tablets. If the spirit tablets got damaged, he was afraid Taozu would be dissuaded from giving the peach wood.

Therefore, for Xiao Mu, the priority was to protect the spirit tablets.

As for the evil ghost being attracted to Daoist Qing Yan, he was not worried.

Based on the power demonstrated by Daoist Qing Yan, Xiao Mu did not believe him capable of killing the Blood Demon. In the end, he feared that he would still have to take action.

"Sigh!"

Village Chief Hao heaved a sigh, shook his head regretfully, and picked up the spirit tablet of Old Man Xu, intending to leave.

"Huh?"

Daoist Qing Yan happened to witness this scene, his eyes lit up, and he called out, "Village Chief Hao, please bring the spirit tablet over here. If Mr. Mu does not want it, I will take it. Haha!"

Laughing heartily, he found Xiao Mu's actions utterly ludicrous.

A perfectly good spirit tablet, and he didn't want it?

Talking about unjust deaths, it's downright ridiculous.

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