even the well-being of their descendants. She was a captivating flame he refused to let fade.I heard a low sob, soft and mournful, breaking my heart.I and my brother looked towards the entrance. The...This old man certainly looks very old, but in such a remote village, he lives alone

How does he live How does he deal with eating, drinking, using the toilet, and defecating

"Are you the old Taoist from the Hong character generation" my brother eyed him suspiciously.

The old man grinned, his shriveled face creased with wrinkles: "Youngsters... aren't you here to find me"

"You're living like that, buried up to your neck in debt, how are you even able to play with your phone and computer Don't try to fool us, we're too poor to be worth kidnapping for ransom." My brother scoffed.

This old man doesn't look like a fairy at all, how could he possibly be an immortal from the Hong character generation

Formal schools of thought place great importance on seniority. Age and length of time since entering the school are less important than seniority. The current popular generation within the circle is already the Hongzi generation, the descendants of grand-grandchildren. The elder deities of the Hongzi generation have long ascended to heaven.

He walks like that, trembling, and still practices rituals to ward off bad luck

"Come in...there's nothing to be afraid of across from that thing..."

The thing across from us was dry and withered, motionless. We looked at it from both sides, and felt like there was something wrong with both of us!

Which side should we check first

I glanced at my brother, and he whispered, "Come on, let's see what this old geezer is up to..."

My brother strode into the yard first, the old man sitting on the threshold of his dilapidated wooden hut, a pair of cloudy eyes scanning us, lingering especially on me for a long time.

“I have a disciple who moved to the new village… He can help me spread the Tao among you young people, and those who are destined will naturally come to visit… I can’t leave here, so I use this to make some money to support myself, and give it to my disciple. He will bring me food…” The old man explained tremblingly.

He raised his hand and made the gestures, his withered fingers surprisingly nimble. His movements were precise and practiced.

Could it be a fraud

"Why can't you leave here Everyone else has moved out, what are you doing staying here" I asked.

He squinted at me, grinning wickedly: "Little girl, I see you're brimming with spirit, your aura is vibrant and strong. You're a remarkable vessel indeed..."

"You—!" This old geezer is so disrespectful!

"What are you doing You old immortal, can't even catch your breath before flying away on a crane, and still thinking about collecting essence" My brother glared at him.

The old man was withered and thin like a corpse, his protruding cheekbones covered in age spots. When he smiled, it was creepy: "Hee hee hee... I haven't seen such a high-quality furnace tripod in years... Lots of people would want to fight over you, wouldn't they You better be careful..."

Humph... I shrank behind my older brother, ignoring that smelly old geezer.

The old man definitely has a smell. It's normal for elderly people who live in poor conditions and have no one to take care of them to smell bad.

It's just some sweat and sour smells, but this old man still has a faint scent of medicine.

"Old Immortal, how old are you" My brother cautiously asked.

"What do you think..." He chuckled twice, his Adam's apple bobbing in the loose skin of his neck. An inexplicable feeling of nausea crept over me.

"According to your school's algorithm, one generation every twenty years. Now your oldest great-grandstudent is in their thirties or forties. Adding three more generations gets you sixty years... You are over a hundred" My brother asked.

Looking at this old man, he truly resembles a hundred-year-old.

The old man chuckled twice, without answering.

Well, you're saying he's even *smaller* than I thought

"You ask me to avert the stars, no problem..."

"How do you charge" My brother immediately interrupted him.

The old man continued calmly, "…Normally one would charge for matchmaking, but I don't really need the money. A little more or a little less doesn't matter much. But we have to wait until nightfall to perform the ceremony. You can stay here and wait a while… If you get thirsty, there's well water to drink, and if you get hungry… heheh… you'll just have to eat north wind."

He propped himself up on the door frame and staggered back into the dark house.

"This old geezer kept us here until dark, there's definitely a trap," my brother whispered in my ear.

I nodded and, with my brother, left the yard.

The old man said that we could drink well water because we were thirsty. How could we possibly drink it Who knows what strange things might be in the water.

That stiff, shriveled thing across the way was still there. We walked over to take a closer look and discovered it was something like a corpse.

"This isn't a corpse, corpses have bones! This is just a shriveled human skin suit!" I frowned. "This old man lives alone in this deserted village, and there's a dried-up human skin suit here. He's not some immortal, he's probably a monster or something!"

"What are we going to do He has a shadow, he's alive. Are we going to forcibly take the soul of a living person No way! We were seen at the gas station. If this dead man's apprentice blames us, how can we explain We'll end up in jail!" My brother frowned and said.

"Then let's go Don't expect an old monster to perform a ritual to ward off the stars, it's good enough if he doesn't harm anyone." I pulled my brother along, and we immediately walked out.

A gust of wind whistled through the village, sending a shiver down our spines.

The red prayer flags on the big tree danced wildly in the wind, and half-new and half-old paper money was blown into the air. The scene looked too eerie.

"We… did we get tricked" I looked at my brother.

A faint mist drifted out from the village entrance. I took out my phone to check, only to find that the signal was long gone.

I immediately recited the Bao-gao, and two puffs of blue smoke appeared around me. I heard the little demon clerk cry out, "Ouch!"

What's wrong Blocked by a barrier again!

The little devil's hat almost fell off, and he appeared before me in a disheveled state, shouting: "Which blind thing set up a formation to trap our young mistress! Fortunately, you recited the imperial decree in time, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to come in!"

I was watching him, he looked so flustered, like he had almost been caught by the elevator doors.

"Elder brother, hello." The little demon official grinned sheepishly.

"Don't you think your butt is a little hot" My brother twitched his mouth.

The little imp turned his head and saw that the back of his soap robe was on fire. He was startled and quickly beat it out, while the foolish little imp also helped to put out the fire.

"My, this formation is quite powerful! Who set it up" The little ghost officer was a bit apprehensive: "Little Madam, if you encounter fierce ghosts in the future, you should still summon the Seven Lords and Eight Lords directly. I'm afraid my Taoist skills aren't enough."

My brother laughed and said, "Do you still want to get promoted, raise your salary, and marry a wealthy ghost beauty You actually dare to push the work onto your boss I summoned you here, don't think that just because things are getting hot you can back down."

The little ghost clerk twitched his lips and said, "My Lady, you're really good at finding places…This…this…we dare not come here."

Didn't the ghost dare to come

"Why Is there something here" I asked, frowning.

A voice, old and frail, answered from behind me, “Of course there is… I have been… waiting for the right person…”r a moment—"Bang!!" A gunshot rang out, and the woman's body erupted in a spray of blood. The old man actually shot her!"What are you doing!" I shouted at him.This old geezer is a real jerk! He hasn't...