The black car indeed drove straight toward West Mountain Villa.
Since West Mountain Villa was located near the outskirts, the traffic on this road was sparse.
Lin Wushui didn’t keep close pace but gradually distanced himself, trailing far behind.
The two cars—front and rear—followed for over an hour before the black sedan turned into the villa district and then vanished from sight.
Lin Wushui also entered through the gate but naturally turned to park in front of a different villa.
After making a call, someone hurried over to open the gate and welcome them in.
Zhang Xianyu looked surprised.
“You have a house here?”
Lin Wushui raised an eyebrow and smiled meaningfully, “My mother bought it. She occasionally comes to stay for a few days.”
The servants at the villa were also from the Lin family mansion.
After learning he would be coming to West Mountain Villa, Lin Wushui had secretly asked his mother to send someone to tidy up the place, though he hadn’t told anyone.
Now, it was just in time to give a little surprise.
By the time they arrived, it was already dusk.
The servants only knew they’d be back today but didn’t know the exact hour, so they hadn’t prepared dinner in advance and hurried to get it ready once they saw them.
Zhang Xianyu had originally planned to scout at Luo Danqing’s house, but considering that if it was indeed the person who had stopped Luo Danqing last time, they might recognize him, so he held back for the time being and decided to wait until dark to check.
After the servants finished preparing dinner, the two ate and washed up.
When night fell, they slipped out through the back exit of their villa, not even alerting the servants.
Following the address the counselor had given them—down to the exact building number—the two made their way to the yard of Building 27, where they spotted the black car that had been tailing them earlier that day.
They exchanged a glance, then each put on a Concealment Talisman and circled around the guard at the gate, climbing in from the back.
Inside the yard, the guard wasn’t very strict.
The standalone villa stood quietly in the center, its interior lights already extinguished, giving it a calm appearance.
The villa was European in style, with window sills protruding from the walls, making climbing easy.
Zhang Xianyu mouthed, “Shall we check the second floor first?”
Lin Wushui nodded and crept toward the villa with him.
When they got close, Lin Wushui suddenly grabbed Zhang Xianyu, shook his head, and then furrowed his brow, scanning the air.
A wisp of black mist escaped from his palm, drifting toward the villa.
But as it neared, the surrounding air rippled like water waves, and the black mist immediately vanished, the ripples quickly fading back into stillness.
When they looked again, there was nothing—only the silent air remained.
Zhang Xianyu’s gaze darkened.
This villa appeared to have just two guards, but he hadn’t expected it to have a hidden Barrier.
If not for Lin Wushui’s sharp senses, they might not have noticed it at all.
“Can we get past it?”
Zhang Xianyu asked silently.
Lin Wushui shook his head gently and pulled him back.
Then he said, “I’ll go back to stabilize my body. You wait outside.”
If he transformed into black mist, he could slip past the Barrier unseen, like a ghost.
After a moment, Lin Wushui returned as black mist and swept Zhang Xianyu up, entering the yard together.
This time they successfully passed through the Barrier.
After a faint ripple, the waves smoothed out again.
Once inside the Barrier, the atmosphere of the villa changed immediately.
Outside, the villa had looked ordinary, no different from the others nearby.
But once past the Barrier, the interior was filled with cold wind and mournful howls.
If not for the unchanged surroundings, one would think they had entered a graveyard rather than West Mountain Villa.
Zhang Xianyu composed himself while Lin Wushui affectionately entwined around his waist.
Together, they climbed the European-style protruding window sill up to the second floor.
Unexpectedly, the second floor was empty except for countless hanging scrolls.
The entire second floor was open-plan, with numerous scrolls hanging from the ceiling.
There was no wind inside, so the scrolls hung still and motionless.
Zhang Xianyu held his breath, slowly scanning the scrolls.
He found that all of them were portraits—or more accurately, ghostly images.
Each scroll depicted one or two grotesque demons, or in some cases, four or five.
These demons bared their teeth in terrifying expressions, painted vividly as if they might step out of the scroll at any moment.
Zhang Xianyu examined the nearest scroll outside the window closely. In the lower right corner was a faint red seal bearing the characters “罗遯夫印” (Seal of Luo Dunfu).
Luo Dunfu?
His eyes flickered, then he looked at more distant scrolls, noting signatures that read “Luo Dunfu,” “Liangfeng,” and “Flower Temple Monk.”
Though the signatures differed, Zhang Xianyu recalled who the painter was.
The Qing Dynasty artist Luo Ping, courtesy name Dunfu, styled Two Peaks, also known as the Monk of the Temple of Flowers.
Born during the Yongzheng Era, with ancestral roots in Shè County, Luo Ping later moved to Ganquan and was the youngest of the Ganquan Eight Eccentrics.
At twenty-four, he apprenticed under Jinnong, learning poetry and painting.
He first gained recognition at thirty and became famous during the Qianlong reign for his eight paintings known as the Ghostly Intrigue Scrolls.
His career had its ups and downs—rising in middle age but struggling in his later years, relying on painting sales for income.
Yet his technique was superb, and he was commissioned to paint murals for temples.
The celestial and Buddha figures he painted were so lifelike that visitors flocked to temples just to see them.
Luo Ping died at sixty-six in the fourth year of the Jiaqing Era.
All this was something Zhang Xianyu had read before.
Luo Ping’s life was legendary and tumultuous—poverty-stricken youth, mid-life success, poverty in old age, but growing fame and high demand for his works.
His most famous pieces were undoubtedly the eight Ghostly Intrigue Scrolls, said to be inspired by his supposed ability to see ghosts with his blue eyes.
Some earlier viewers thought this strange and eagerly sought them out; others believed he used the paintings to satirize society.
Various historical records mention him.
However, few of Luo Ping’s paintings had survived, so Zhang Xianyu hadn’t expected to suddenly see so many here.
He narrowed his eyes, staring at the nearest scroll again.
Then he reached to his waist and murmured, “You check if there’s anything unusual about that painting.”
A wisp of the black mist coiling around his waist detached and slowly drifted toward the mist already hovering by the scrolls.
The black mist, transformed from Lin Wushui, didn’t stop on the painting’s surface but roamed over it for a while.
It seemed to find something and suddenly dove into the painting.
At that moment, the surface of the scroll quivered slightly.
Two motionless skeletons suddenly opened their jaws wide and fiercely lunged at the black mist.
The scroll trembled lightly as the black mist nimbly dodged the skeletons’ attacks, then quickly emerged from the painting.
The moment the mist exited, the skeletons froze mid-pursuit, locked in that exact pose.
Zhang Xianyu’s fingers unconsciously twisted at his waist.
He recalled the legend of Luo Ping’s blue eyes allowing him to see ghosts in daylight and thought this legend might indeed be true.
Perhaps Luo Ping’s ability was more than just seeing ghosts.
He also considered that Luo Danqing shared the same surname Luo and had once asked him whether he believed in ghosts, leading him to suspect Luo Danqing might be related to Luo Ping—maybe even a descendant.
He just didn’t know what secrets Luo Danqing was hiding.
Zhang Xianyu quietly descended from the second floor and circled around to the back of the first floor.
The villa wasn’t large; if Luo Danqing wasn’t on the second floor, he was most likely on the first.
Carefully opening a tightly shut window, Zhang Xianyu stealthily slipped inside.
The first floor was normally decorated with three bedrooms and two living rooms.
Zhang Xianyu searched through each room until he found Luo Danqing in the secondary bedroom.
Luo Danqing wore casual home clothes and lay on the bed, but his eyes were wide open, staring blankly at the ceiling.
On the ceiling above was an unusually large scroll depicting an old woman holding a skull, facing downward—also watching him.
Unlike the paintings on the second floor, this old woman seemed alive.
The skull she held had its crown facing downward and appeared to be filled with an oily substance.
A cotton wick in the center was burning a blue flame that flickered gently.
If one looked closely, the old woman’s mouth was constantly moving with a humming sound.
Surrounding the bedroom walls were many large and small scrolls filled with ghostly creatures, their eyes glaring menacingly at Luo Danqing lying on the bed.
Zhang Xianyu had never seen such a technique before.
The black mist rose from his waist to his shoulders, then a wisp slipped into his ear.
Lin Wushui’s voice whispered, “It’s the Soul Calling Curse.”
The Soul Calling Curse was an obscure and forbidden technique originally used by malevolent ghosts to harm people and possess them.
Later, some wayward cultivators exploited it and transformed it into a sinister spell.
They would raise ghosts skilled at clouding the mind and use these spirits to confuse and possess victims when they were unprepared.
Those affected would undergo drastic personality changes and obey commands blindly.
The curse’s effect was limited in duration, but someone later improved it by having these mind-confusing ghosts call the soul continuously day and night, counting to ninety-nine times.
Once completed, the victim would lose all sense of self and obey completely, like a walking ghost.
This technique was extremely vicious.
To prevent its spread and misuse, the Taoist Xie Dingxin once led a major crackdown on cultivators who practiced this evil art and burned all the secret scrolls.
Lin Wushui had seen records of it in the Ta Qing Temple Library while training with Xie Dingxin.
He hadn’t expected to encounter it here now.