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Chapter 489 Digging up the Coal

Li Mu was not clear about the background of the old faker, but he was sure that the backing he had been definitely not weak. Anyway, that had been verified many times.

The mystery was about to be revealed.

Li Mu walked through the archway topped by the plate bearing “Young Master’s legacy” and came to the gate of the ancient Randeng Temple.

Everything was the same as it used to be.

But Li Mu’s expression altered, and he suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

Because weeds were overgrown around the gate of the ancient temple. The path that came into being five years ago had been covered with weeds again.

The door was ajar, and there was a spider web on the door frame.

He pushed open the door and entered. The courtyard was overgrown with grass. The Medicine King Hall next to it was already half-dilapidated. As to the few meditation rooms that were used to stack up miscellaneous items, the doors and windows were all damaged and looked rather weather-beaten.

Frightened by the creak of Li Mu opening the door, several birds flapped their wings and rushed to the night sky.

In the backyard, the small wood where Li Mu often practiced the Xiantian Skill and the Zhenwu Boxing was already ramshackle. The waist-high weeds grew extremely dense. The vegetable fields near the woods had long been withered.

The kitchen that Li Mu used to cook was completely run-down, and the well at the door had dried up as well.

An ominous feeling arose in his heart.

Li Mu quickly searched the whole Randeng Temple, but found no trace of the old faker.

“What’s going on?”

“Has the old faker already left?”

Li Mu searched the place carefully, but the old faker was nowhere to be seen.

Li Mu even employed the Third Eye to check around. Nevertheless, there was no clue. He also tried to use the Searching Incantation to look for the trace of the old faker, but it was of no use, either.

It was very weird. It seemed that the wretched old man Li Mu remembered was just a part of his memory and did not really exist.

That made Li Mu greatly disappointed. At the same time, he got a little worried.

“Did something happen to the old faker?”

Distracted by his concern, Li Mu immediately felt ill at ease.

For a long time, the old faker was his moral pillar. Unreliable and very obscene as he was, for Li Mu, the old faker was like a “mentor”.

The reason why Li Mu did not directly break through the Void-breaking Realm and step into the universe to compete with the cultivators from the outer space was that he wanted to return to Earth first and find the old faker to solve many mysteries.

But now, the Randeng Temple was in total ruins, and the old faker was nowhere to be found.

All of a sudden, Li Mu felt like he had lost his backbone.

Judging by the view of the temple in disrepair, it was obvious that it had been untended for at least two or three years. That was to say, the old faker already left for at least two or three years.

Sitting at the door of the old faker’s former meditation room, Li Mu stared around blankly despite himself.

He was wondering if the old faker had left Randeng Temple and gone somewhere else, or if he had left Earth forever.

Moreover, the truly weird thing was that, logically speaking, the old faker should have left some clues to tell Li Mu what to do next before his departure. Otherwise, how could Li Mu find him when he came back 20 years later?

And to say the least, with Li Mu’s current cultivation, as long as the old faker was in this world, he could certainly find some traces with the Searching Incantation or the Flashback Art.

However, there was no clue left, nor could Li Mu find any traces.

It appeared to Li Mu that a powerful deity had erased all traces of the existence of the old faker with his supreme secret technique.

That made things even more absurd.

Li Mu did not believe there was a so-called powerful deity on Earth who could be stronger than him.

He sat at the door of the meditation room and mused for a whole night.

A new day had arrived, and the Randeng Temple was basked in the first beam of sunlight.

In the village beneath, the bickering of roosters and dogs was heard. It was the harvest season in autumn. At this time, the village was at the busiest time in a year.

Li Mu made his way out of the temple.

Along the village path, a lot of farmers were rushing to the fields to harvest crops.

“Uncle Zhang San, and Aunt Zhang, you two still look hale and hearty.” Spotting those acquaintances from five years ago, Li Mu greeted them with a smile.

“Young man, you are... Hey, you look a little like Little Mu. Is it really Little Mu?” Uncle Zhang San looked him up and down for a while and finally recognized from his facial features that the handsome young man in front of him, who was much taller than him, was that Li Mu he knew five years ago.

Uncle Zhang San said in surprise, “Little Mu, did you escape from the depths of mountains?”

“What?” Li Mu was a little puzzled at the question.

“What does he mean to escape from the depths of mountains?”

Aunt Zhang said, “Five years ago, you went missing. Master Li said that you were abducted by traffickers and sold to the mountains to dig coal...”

Li Mu was speechless.

“The old faker does live up to his reputation as an old nut. He even told such a lie!”

“In fact, I was sent by my grandpa to study abroad. I graduated this year, so I just came back.” Li Mu had no choice but to keep lying. “It’s a completely enclosed military school. I’m not allowed to bring a cell phone in or send letters to the outside world, so I haven’t been able to contact you for five years.”

“Well, that’s good to know. When we were told by Master Li that you were abducted, we were very worried about you. We also joined hands to report the case to the police, but they didn’t find out anything. Later, Master Li disappeared, too. We thought that he must be traveling across the country to locate you.” Uncle Zhang San let out a sigh of relief.

At this time, more and more villagers passed by, and they also recognized Li Mu.

“Little Mu, you’ve finally escaped!”

“Which mountain have you been dragged to for the coal-mining?”

“How did you escape?”

“Did Master Li find you?”

Those kind and honest villagers were clearly very concerned about Li Mu. They gathered around him and asked him all kinds of questions.

“We should’ve called the police and arrested all the human traffickers. They should be executed.”

“Yeah. Now the laws have changed. Human traffickers are punished as the same as drug dealers. Once caught, they will face a death sentence.”

Several villagers said indignantly.

Li Mu could only explain the whole thing to them. Then, it dawned on the crowd that there was no abduction at all.

“This is actually in line with Master Li’s mischievous style. He always surprises you.” Commented Mr. Zhang, an old man in a village. He nodded and exclaimed, “It’s really the style of a super mundane immortal!”

Li Mu was speechless.

“What the hell? He had lied to you and fooled you to call the police. How can you still come to the conclusion that he had the style of ‘a super mundane immortal’? You are such a crazy fan. I can’t have a normal talk with you at all!”

“So, my grandpa left Randeng Temple by himself?” Li Mu posed another question.

The sun slowly rose. The people in the village were so glad to see Li Mu again that they were no longer in a hurry to go up to the field. Instead, they all sat on the side of the road and chatted with Li Mu.

“For a period of time, Master Li always said that he was going to leave. The world is so big that he wanted to go and have a look. He must have been talking about it for a while, and he seemed to be rather preoccupied. I remember that he was gone the next day after he performed a religious ritual for the second son of the Liu family.” Mr. Zhang, the crazy fan, recalled.

“He’s gone? Didn’t anyone see him leave?” Asked Li Mu.

Another elderly man said, “No, Master Li simply disappeared the next day. I recall clearly that the ‘Lucky Agritourism’ in the north sent someone to ask Master Li to preside over the opening of the business on that day. They said that they already made an appointment with him on the phone the prior evening. But when their man went to the temple, Master Li was already missing.”

“Alas, it’s a great loss for Randengsi Village. Master Li had granted us a peaceful life during the years he was in our village. Master Li must have protected us in those years,” Mr. Zhang, the crazy fan, said with absolute certainty.

“Then... has my grandpa ever come back since he left? Have you heard that he appeared in some other places?” Li Mu inquired, still unwilling to give up.

“I’ve never seen him again.” One of the villagers said, “At first, we thought he was just going out for a walk and would come back soon. We even sent people to the Randeng Temple to clean up and fetch some water regularly. But later, a lot of haunted events happened in the temple. A series of odd things occurred one after another. Everyone was so scared that we didn’t dare to go in. Later on, the temple was abandoned.”

“Haunted?” Li Mu was stunned and then began to have some guesses.

“Yes. When someone went to clean up, he saw a few ghost shadows flashing by, which even breathed at his neck and said some creepy words. When that man came back, he had a serious illness. Also, some people were bitten by poisonous snakes when they went into the temple and almost lost their lives. Some even saw a female ghost in red clothes drift around the temple at night, who showed no feet...”

“I saw ghosts fighting in the temple with my own eyes, and a pool of blood appeared out of thin air on the ground. All the birds inside died and fell to the ground that night.”

“Great Immortal Zhang, from the neighboring village, has come and taken a look. He said that there were ghosts and monsters in Randeng Temple. When Master Li was there, he was still able to restrain them. However, after Master Li left, the evil things could no longer be suppressed...”

“In the two years after Master Li left, some rich bosses running big companies in other places still drove their luxurious cars to Randeng Temple with many bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses. They prayed and burned incense in the temple and also inquired about the whereabouts of Master Li in the village. But as the years went by, fewer and fewer people came here and looked for him.”

The villagers talked noisily.

Upon hearing what the villagers got to say, Li Mu vaguely realized something.

The old faker seemed to have left Randeng Temple of his own accord to avoid something. Those so-called ghosts and monsters might be the tricks played by some people in martial arts society, or some people had been deliberately mystifying things... Anyway, the Randeng Temple might have been targeted by some parties.

Such speculation made Li Mu feel a little more relieved.

Although the old faker was quite unreliable, he cherished his life very much and was very cunning. Ordinary people might not be able to do anything to him. And judging by the things that happened later, it seemed that those who had been looking for him had failed to find him.

“Little Mu, haven’t you seen your grandpa during those years you were studying at school?” Asked Mr. Zhang, the crazy fan of Master Li.

Li Mu had to continue to embellish the lie. He shook his head and said, “Every year’s tuition fees are directly transferred to my bank card. I have never seen my grandfather since then. I just graduated this year. And I’ve come back to see him. I was under the impression that he was still in Randeng Temple.”

At that, Mr. Zhang sighed with great emotion and said, “Master Li, you’re really an incredible immortal. You move in and out with wizardly elusiveness. You’re playing in the world and living in defiance of conventions... How I wish I could see you again in this life!”

“Little Mu, what are you going to do next?” Asked Uncle Zhang San.

Li Mu thought for a moment and said, “I’ll stay in Randeng Temple for the time being. I’ll clean the place up and wait for grandpa to come back. I can’t run to other places. Well, what if grandpa can’t find me when he comes back?”

“But this temple is haunted. It’s tainted.” Aunt Zhang said with concern, “Why don’t you stay in my house for a while?”

Li Mu smiled and answered, “It’s okay, Aunt Zhang. In the good old days, I learned some skills to catch ghosts from grandpa. I won’t be afraid. Even if I can’t catch them, I can still protect myself. Nothing will happen to me. Actually, I have to ask a favor from you, uncles, and aunts.”

“Tell us, Little Mu. We are all family.”

“Right. No need to be shy asking for our help. We’re all from in the same village.”

“You’ve helped us a lot in the village back then. Every winter vacation, you helped us slaughter pigs for free...”

The crowd was very enthusiastic.

Li Mu beamed and said, “Please do a little advertisement for me. Just tell the people in the nearby villages that Master Li’s grandson has returned and wants to restart his grandfather’s old business to carry on Master Li’s brand. Everyone can come to me for any religious rituals or catching ghosts. From now on, I’m living in Randeng Temple.”

“What? You are going to catch ghosts?”

“It’s a tough job.”

“I don’t think young people can handle this work.”

The villagers tried to talk Li Mu out of it. But when they saw that Li Mu had made up his mind, they did not say anything more.

On the afternoon of the same day, the young men in the village, led by the elderly men, also plucked up their courage and came into Randeng Temple to assist Li Mu in repairing the collapsed house and making a new well. They also brought some firewood and quilts in the temple and helped Li Mu clean up a room to live in.

“Thank you, everyone.” Li Mu was moved by their kindness.

Five years had passed, but this group of villagers was still so pure and enthusiastic. They still remembered him, which made him feel like being back at home.