Following the voice, Steward Liu looked out with a face full of confusion, only to find that the words were spoken by a musketeer standing a dozen yards away.
This young soldier was tall and strong but kept his head bowed, so his exact appearance could not be seen.
So, Steward Liu frowned and reprimanded him with some dissatisfaction:
"Hey, I, Old Liu, am speaking, what are you interrupting for? And with your head bowed, you dead wretch, lift your head up!"
"Hehehe~"
The soldier with his head bowed chuckled ambiguously, "Lift my head, huh? Alright."
With that, he lifted his head, revealing a face as pale as paper, utterly bloodless, yet one that Steward Liu was extremely familiar with.
"Li Hai?!!"
Steward Liu's eyes widened, and he stammered, "You, you... weren't you burned to death? Are you, are you a human or a ghost?!"
"As you can see."
Li Hai chuckled, "I~ am~ a~ ghost~"
Immediately, his expression turned cold, and he raised his gun and fired.
After a loud bang, Steward Liu immediately screamed, clutching his right thigh and falling to his knees.
At the same time, the dozens of musketeers scattered around Li Hai, both far and near, also saw and heard various terrifying, horrifying, bizarre, or strange illusions, and subsequently fell into a state of chaos.
"Ghosts! So many ghosts! They're all chasing me! Ahhh, I'll kill you all! I'll kill you all!"
"Why is it dark? Why can't I see anything? Hey! Is anyone there?"
"Oh, why are there so many watermelons on the ground? Hehe, I'm thirsty."
"Are you f***ing crazy? You're eating that f***ing corpse!"
"How did I get to a cliff? Help! Someone save me!"
"Wow! So much gold! Hey! No one is allowed to snatch it from me, I'll kill anyone who takes it!"
"Ahhh... I've been shot! Who ambushed me!"
In this extremely bloody and chaotic mess, there was even a Formless Evil Spirit possessing and killing everywhere, laughing madly and making the great chaos even more chaotic.
But no matter how chaotic and noisy it was, it could not affect Li Hai's steps as he slowly walked towards Steward Liu.
Along his path, both sides seemed to have invisible high walls, preventing anyone from approaching a single step.
Thump~ Thump~ Thump~
Facing Steward Liu's fearful, bewildered, and shocked gaze, Li Hai smiled and walked step by step, asking teasingly:
"Steward Liu, you probably didn't expect us to meet so soon, did you?"
"Mercy... have mercy, Young Master Li, no, no, have mercy, living immortal!"
Steward Liu, who had witnessed the effects of Li Hai's evil sorcery, sat paralyzed on the ground, pleading in extreme fear, "I... I was just following orders, this, this... it's all Guo Huaijin's evil deeds!"
"Are you stupid?"
Li Hai tilted his head and looked at him, saying strangely, "Do you really think I came to reason with you? I came to vent my anger on you!"
He let out an evil laugh, raised the gun stock, and smashed it hard into Steward Liu's face.
"Ah!!!"
Amidst flying broken teeth and screams of agony, Steward Liu's lower face was instantly caved in, and he could only roll around on the ground in pain.
Then Li Hai raised his gun, aimed at his two ankles and two wrists, and fired four shots in quick succession, completely crippling him.
"Compared to Guo Huaijin, the mastermind who wanted to harm me, you are indeed just a small fry."
Li Hai raised his foot and stepped on Steward Liu's face, saying leisurely, "So, being as magnanimous as I am, I'll allow you to live a little longer."
With that, the musketeer squad around the dirt mound, which had fallen into infighting due to the illusions... no, there was no musketeer squad anymore.
In this chaos and slaughter, everyone had been reduced to gruesome, mutilated corpses, with no one surviving.
"Alright, I'll go deal with your master first."
Li Hai casually threw away his gun and said chillingly, "As for you, just lie here and keep the corpses company for now. After I'm done, I'll come back and deal with you."
With that, he turned and sped off towards Guo Family Fortress.
"Wuwuwu... Ahhh..."
Watching Li Hai's receding figure, Steward Liu, lying on the ground in extreme pain, finally couldn't help but let out cries of regret.
He regretted it.
If only he had escaped Guo Family Fortress with his gold and silver just one day earlier, he wouldn't have had to suffer such a great crime, nor would he have to lie here waiting to die.
Unfortunately, it was too late for regrets.
Now Steward Liu could only wait for death in agony, like a maggot.
"If only I had known, I would have been better off as a farmer..."
Just as he closed his eyes, enduring the pain and recalling the past, Li Hai's voice appeared again:
"No, I can't leave you here alone."
Footsteps grew closer, "As the saying goes, if you don't cut the grass at the root, it will grow back with the spring breeze. What if some busybody master comes and rescues you, and a few years later you transform into a master and come back to seek revenge on me? So, it's better to just end it completely."
These words made Steward Liu open his eyes on the spot, looking in disbelief at Li Hai, who was walking quickly towards him.
"No, look at me, how can I become a master like this? My living father, I beg you, just let me go like a dog."
Steward Liu wanted to say these words, but his broken mouth could no longer support the task, so he could only whimper twice.
But after only a few whimpers, Li Hai, without hesitation, brutally stomped on his head with great force, exploding it.
From then on, Guo Huaijin's loyal lackey, Steward Liu, completely returned to Yellow Springs.
...
Guo Family Fortress, at the residence where the Blood Tree Stake was located.
"A Su, I have always missed you these past years. You have always been the most important person in my heart."
Guo Huaijin sat on the grand chair, looking at the disheveled female ghost, A Su, who was tightly bound to the Blood Tree Stake with a purple-black rope. He stroked the beard on his old face and said with deep regret:
"But you, as soon as you appeared, you started shouting to kill me, not remembering any past affection, alas~ You are truly disappointing. I can only say that my deep affection... was misplaced."
Saying that, he slowly stood up with his hands behind his back and said:
"A Su, to be honest, every time I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night over these many years, I was terrified that your figure would appear by my bed.
So after I outlived that old man and completely took control of Qian Family Stronghold, I began to search the world for a treasure that could restrain fierce ghosts like you."
Speaking of this, Guo Huaijin smiled, "Fortunately, I found this Demon Subduing Rope. It can effectively suppress the evil power of ghosts.
How is it? Are you unable to move an inch, and unable to use even a trace of your sinister ghost Qi?"
A Su's hair covered her face, and she said nothing, only trembling silently.
"Oh~ I forgot, you can't move now, you can't even speak a single word. Hmm... I know you hate me, but even if I had to do it all over again, I would still make the same choice, simply because..."
Guo Huaijin first smiled, then slowly said, "I couldn't accept my remaining life rotting away in a small village. Therefore, I had to marry into Qian Family Stronghold and climb to a higher branch, and you, as well as the fetus in your womb, were precisely the obstacles between me and that branch, so..."
"So you set fire and burned your wife, who was ten months pregnant, just to..."
Accompanied by a voice full of disdain, Li Hai walked in from outside the mansion gate with a mocking expression, "become a live-in son-in-law."
He stopped, looking coldly and mockingly at Guo Huaijin, who was utterly astonished in the courtyard:
"Guo Laogou, you truly are a rare... living beast."