"Lan Ying, come out for a moment."

Li Guangyou called for his wife again.

"Guangyou, what is it?"

Li Guangyou's wife stepped out of the kitchen.

"It's nothing, you go back and help dad cook."

Li Guangyou casually dismissed his wife, telling her to return to her task.

"Crazy!"

Li Guangyou's wife muttered, but clearly this was spoken in jest.

Li Guangyou's face was extremely grave. When his father and wife each walked out of the kitchen earlier, he had observed that his wife's shadow was normal – dark, like Xiao Mu's, but his and his father's were much too faint, which was clearly abnormal.

"Mr. Mu, please follow me."

By now, Li Guangyou had no further hesitation and decisively led Xiao Mu toward the ancestral hall.

The Li family's ancestral hall was a separate building located in a corner of the courtyard, but despite its position, it was of extreme importance to the entire courtyard.

If one were to describe it in some particular way, it would be the North Star of the courtyard.

The entire Li family courtyard was like the Big Dipper, while the ancestral hall was its Polaris, guarded by the rest of the North Star constellation.

The first sight upon opening the doors of the ancestral hall was a divine curtain, which divided the interior. From the entrance, one could not see into the inner portion.

However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, Xiao Mu sensed an ominous energy.

Decay, death, destruction.

Had something happened to the Li family ancestors?

The moment he entered the ancestral hall, Li Guangyou's face turned serious and he stopped speaking recklessly, for fear of disturbing the spirits of his predecessors.

He gestured to Xiao Mu to follow him inside, lifting the divine curtain with a solemn expression on his face.

A strong smell of rotting fish and shrimp hit him, and although Xiao Mu instinctively covered his nose, he quickly realized the impropriety of his actions within someone else's ancestral hall and promptly lowered his hand.

Casting a glance at Li Guangyou, Xiao realized that Li didn't seem to be aware of the smell at all.

Li Guangyou took an incense stick and carefully lit it against the candle before respectfully offering it.

Xiao Mu, however, took the opportunity to look around closely.

Inside the ancestral hall, there were memorials to five people.

These were Li Guangyou's great-grandparents, grandparents, and his mother.

Three generations, five ancestors.

Clearly, Li Guangyou's great-grandparents had died a long time ago. Perhaps they had already reincarnated or met with some mishap, as their spirit tablets were devoid of spiritual light, which meant continuing the worship of these tablets was meaningless.

Li Guangyou was clearly unaware of this.

Of course, even if he knew, he might still continue the ritual as a keepsake, not for any gain.

Xiao Mu's gaze fell upon the spirit tablets of Li Guangyou's grandparents.

Apparently, Li Guangyou's grandparents had faced an accident.

A dull spiritual light shone on their tablets, now on the brink of utter darkness.

Perhaps, it was due to whatever misfortune had befallen Li Guangyou's grandparents that an evil ghost had appeared in the Li family compound.

After the ancestors passed away, their fortunes affected their descendants through geomancy.

If the ancestors were ill-fated, the descendants would also bear bad luck once the geomancy was destroyed.

What had happened to the Li family was obviously consistent with this.

Besides the dimming spiritual light on the tablets, Xiao Mu noticed something unusual about the tablets of Li Guangyou's grandparents.

The light inside the ancestral hall was gloomy, only from the candle.

Xiao Mu couldn't resist leaning closer, wanting to examine it more carefully.

Could it be...water stains!

On the tablets of Li Guangyou's grandparents and on the altar table beneath, Xiao Mu, to his surprise, found clear water stains.

This reminded him of the evil ghost he had killed earlier in Li Guangyou's old courtyard.

The evil ghost emerged from the ancient well, trailing water as it tormented Li Guangyou's relatives.

But why is there water here at Li Guangyou's grandparents' place too?

Subsequently, instinctively, Xiao Mu realized something else was wrong.

Whether it was Li Guangyou's great-grandparents or his mother, all their spirit tablets hosted portraits.

Only in front of Li Guangyou's grandparents' spirit tablet, there was nothing. No portrait at all.

Xiao Mu was taken aback.

Where did the portrait of Li Guangyou's grandparents go?

What's going on?

Could it be that the evil ghost had entered the ancestral hall and destroyed the portrait of Li Guangyou's grandparents?

Portraits are incredibly crucial to yin spirits. They not only provide the yin spirits with a more solid form but also have other unique effects.

In some sense, a portrait can serve as a kind of magic treasure for yin spirits.

Soon, Xiao Mu rejected his own speculation.

He deliberately observed the Li family's ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall was filled with yin qi, but there was no trace of ghost qi.

Ghost qi and yin qi are different. Ordinary yin spirits only produce yin qi, while ghost qi emanates from evil ghosts.

No ghost qi means no evil ghost has entered the ancestral hall.

With that in mind...

Could it be that Li Guangyou's grandparents didn't leave behind a portrait after all?

This conjecture seemed unlikely, so Xiao Mu turned to ask Li Guangyou, "Mr. Li, weren't the portraits of your grandparents displayed in the ancestral hall?"

"Portrait?"

Li Guangyou was momentarily startled, then quickly turned his gaze to the altar.

"Ah..."

The next instant he let out a scream, luckily he realized he was in the ancestral hall and quickly covered his mouth to mute his exclamations.

"How come the portraits... the portraits are gone?"

Li Guangyou appeared anxious. He couldn't understand how his grandparents' portraits could suddenly disappear. Suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly said to Xiao Mu, "Mr. Mu, wait for a moment. Let me ask my father."

With that, he left Xiao Mu in the ancestral hall and hurriedly exited.

In no time, Li Guangyou returned, Old Man Li with him.

Both of them wore heavy expressions. Old Man Li looked worried and as he entered, he eagerly looked at the altar, "Dad, mom, where did your portraits go? Why are they missing?"

The old man looked distraught. The absence of his parents' portraits left him at his wits' end.

"Old sir, don't panic."

Seeing this, Xiao Mu provided reassurance, "I've noticed that there're no evil things like evil ghosts ever entered your family's ancestral hall. The disappearance of the portraits must be due to your elderlies taking them away themselves."

"My parents took away their own portraits?"

Old Man Li looked at Xiao Mu with a blank face; he couldn't understand Xiao Mu's words at all.

Xiao Mu hesitated for a moment, then explained, "Maybe there's a problem with the elderly's grave. They needed the power of the portraits to suppress it!"

The moment he said this, the expressions on Li Guangyou and Old Man Li's faces became even more somber.

Old Man Li looked disconcerted as if he'd suddenly recalled something, "There's a problem at my father's grave?"

"My grandpa is in trouble?" Li Guangyou also asked.

Xiao Mu nodded.

The spiritual light on the spirit tablets of Li Guangyou's grandparents dimmed, and both yin spirits weren't on their spirit tablets.

This meant that these two yin spirits had gone somewhere else. The fact that they'd taken away the portraits meant they were facing a trouble beyond their capabilities and needed the power of the portraits to handle it.

Considering the evil ghost's attempt to steal the coffin, Xiao Mu figured that Li Guangyou's grandparents taking away the portraits must be related to this situation.

The evil ghost wanted to steal the coffin, and they couldn't hold their ground alone, so they took the portraits to suppress it.

Portraits are Image God Pictures of the deceased, like door thresholds and coffins, they possess some degree of sacred power.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.