With Sari's car, they quickly arrived at the haunted house. Sari parked her car, a few houses away from the haunted house.

Sari watched the busy road and nudged Mingliang, "There are many people right now, are you sure we should do this now?"

Mingliang nodded, "Yeah... people will see us enter the house. But I can't feel at ease until we do it. I keep having this feeling that things are going to go crazy pretty soon. Just try to act normally, sometimes people would forget things if they think nothing is important about it. Sorry, I know I could get you into trouble...."

Sari shrugged her shoulder, "No worries, I got no problem with it. But I worry about you... I mean you know about that thing in the pond."

They already entered the haunted house's front yard. Mingliang ignored the peoples who watched them from afar, and pushed the gate open, "I know, I wish no one sees me go in and out of this house. But as I said, I keep having this bad feeling."

"Even if they saw us come in, they have no proof against you Teacher, you know about that thing in the pond.", Somad followed Mingliang in. He spoke casually, probably he was the calmest in this little group.

Sari sighed and calmed her heart. She's the last to enter and closed the gate before followed the other two.

They felt nothing as they entered the haunted house. Rather than being scared, they found the house was a pleasant change. It felt much cooler and relaxing compared to the noisy road they left behind. Even thinking about the dead body buried in the pond, didn't make them troubled. As soon as they entered the house, Mingliang divided work between them.

Somad drew a rune on the floor to attract the energy in the main house and stored it to the bronze medal. Aside from that, Mingliang also asked Somad to practice his qi cultivation and gathered energy for himself, as much as he could.

Meanwhile, Sari would accompany the boy and watched the entrance.

As for himself, Mingliang went to the small building at the backyard. He did a quick scan. When he saw no danger, Mingliang quickly sat on the floor and drew the energy from the array he made a week before.

Slowly he used the energy and started practicing Xuan Wu body. The moment he chanted the mnemonic, his skin glowed. Dense glowing small runes appeared on his skin. Half of the skin on his head was already covered. Mingliang carefully drew another rune, continuing from the last one. He could feel a prickly-burning sensation as the line slowly formed on his skin. But he'd been through the same process many times, in the past few days, that it no longer even bothered him.

Two hours passed by, the energy stored in the array still abundant and only a small patch on the top of his head left uncovered. Mingliang kept on doing the arid process.

About twenty minutes later, Mingliang was drawing the last rune. The moment he connected the last line, all the runes on his skin glowed several times brighter. Mingliang could feel the runes, became one array and now drawing a large amount of energy to fill it.

He kept his heart calm. Carefully he controlled the amount of energy absorbed by the array on his skin. He monitored the stored energy in the array on the floor and felt relieved to find it still had more than enough.

'BZZZZZZZ.....! Ding!', around ten minutes later, he felt his whole skin buzzing and vibrating, then a second later it congealed and hardened. He felt like there was a sheet of steel covered his whole body. Slowly Mingliang opened his eyes and let out a long breath.

There was some energy left and Mingliang closed his eyes once again, this time he planned to calmly absorb them all when he heard loud noises and shouts coming from the main house.

Mingliang quickly ended his practice, he jumped and ran toward the main building. The closer he was, the clearer the sounds became.

"Damn bitch! Don't get cocky! I'm showing some leniency back then. Now, don't make me start seriously!"

"Oh, shut up, I can't stand a whinning. I feel like I want to throw up soon.", Mingliang could hear, this time was Sari who spoke.

"You..! Shit!...", the first person shouted, followed by a series of sounds of people fighting.

Mingliang sped up, he forgot, Sari was at least two times stronger than him in fighting. In a fight, he would need her to protect him, not the other way around.

With his long leg, it took less than a minute for him to reach the main building. As he rushed toward Sari and Somad, he still caught the sight of Sari sending flurries of jabs onto her opponent and ended it with a roundhouse kick right to his jaw.

Mingliang cringed from watching the scene, and for a moment he felt sorry for the assailant.

Somad heard him coming and the boy turned to find him staring. He grinned when he saw Mingliang, "Teacher! Did you see it? Sister Sari is awesome!"

Mingliang walked toward Sari and Somad. He patted the boy's shoulder, but his eyes never left the three men before them. Sari stepped back, moved toward Mingliang. She didn't fear the prospect of fighting against three men, but she still felt better if she had Mingliang at her side.

"Hmm, nice job there.", Mingliang winked at the girl as he gestured over the man who was struggling to get up from the floor.

"Wanna taste some?", Sari shook her fist in his direction.

Mingliang grinned at her, but quickly their attention turned to the men before them. The other two helped their friend to get up and stand on his feet. They stared at Mingliang cautiously, while the one who got beaten by Sari stared at him angrily.

Mingliang silently complained of injustice, 'I'm not the one who beat the shit out of you …'

Outwardly he showed a calm demeanor, "So what's going on here?"

Mingliang quietly observed the three men before him. Physically, two out of those three weren't the sort that would intimidate people. The one who fought with Sari and lost was the one who had intimidating physics. He was tall and muscular. It was unfortunate for him to meet Sari. She had many experiences dealing with men stronger than her.

The other two were dressed better than the muscular one. They wore a traditional batik suit, the more expensive type too. One of them had gray hair and lines of wrinkles on his face. The second probably was in his early thirties, well groomed, with a slight measure on the heavy side.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"They're trying to go in and force their way when I told them not to.", Sari told Mingliang.

"You have no right to stop us from entering the house.", the younger of the two stepped forward and responded.

Mingliang glanced at Somad. The boy twirled the bronze medal with his deft fingers. Their eyes only met for less than a second, but they understood each other's meaning.

'I've filled the medal.', Somad's eyes said.

Mingliang sighed and put his arm on Sari's shoulder, "Yeah..., he's right you know. It's not like we're the owner of this house."

"Okay, let's go, we have seen enough here. There's no ghost. It's all just stories. Come, I'll treat you chicken porridge near here. It's not famous, but it's super delicious.", Mingliang winked at Somad and Sari.

"Bah! Keeps your hands away from me and don't think a bowl of chicken porridge is enough to pay your debt to me.", Sari flung his hand away and swaggered out of the house.

"Teacher! Teacher! I want two bowls!", Somad didn't want to lose in showing an attitude.

The muscular man snorted but didn't dare to stop them. Mingliang, Sari, and Somad were going to pass those three when suddenly the gray-haired man suddenly called, "Wait, stop."

Mingliang, Sari, and Somad slowly stopped, their eyes never left their opponent. The muscular man took a step forward. Sari sneered, her eyes sparked a threat, and the muscular man faltered.

The gray-haired man snorted in disdain, and pushed the muscular man back, "Just stay back..."

The muscular man almost choked in rage, but he didn't dare to argue the gray-haired man.

"What were you doing inside? Did you find something? Did you take it with you?", the gray haired man stared at Mingliang and ignored the other two.

"I have no right to prevent you from searching the house, and you have no right to ask questions as well. How about that? Fair enough?", Mingliang coldly smiled.

They stared at each other, no one willing to submit to the other. Sari and Somad couldn't see what happened between the two of them. Neither the muscular man nor the fatty. It wasn't merely a staring contest. Both men's expression slowly hardened. Beads of sweat appeared on their forehead.

The gray hair softly chanted something, and in response, Mingliang drew a rune in the air and confidently said, "I warn you, better for all of us if you don't go too far."

The gray hair stopped chanting and quickly made a calculation. He didn't have any confidence to win against Mingliang. At the same time, he knew Sari could easily defeat the muscle in his team. The one who would decide the fight then would be his disciple against the boy with the medal, and faintly he felt a threat coming from the medal.

The gray hair glanced at Sari and Somad, trying to weight their worth. There was no question about Sari, and Somad the wild card. He turned his attention back to Mingliang. Mingliang still watched him closely and had his rune ready to release.

Gray hair finally relaxed his stance and shrugged his shoulder, "Hmm... I guess you'll be on your way and we'll be on ours."

Mingliang nodded, "That would be for the best."

"Would you mind leaving your name?", Gray hair asked, a contempt slightly expressed on his face.

"If I gave you a name, would you believe it?", Mingliang sneered in return.

The gray hair snorted and turned his back to Mingliang. He gestured to his colleagues and walked toward the backyard.

Mingliang exchanged a glance with Sari and Somad. He hesitated for a while then said, "Let's leave the house."

Sari and Somad followed him left the house. Mingliang stopped at the front door, he gestured Somad and Sari to go first. When they all out of the house, Mingliang quickly drew a rune on the floor, right before the front door.

"Okay, I guess that will do.", he turned to the other and smiled.

"Come, it won't hold for long.", he led the other to leave the house quickly.

"BANG!", they just reached the house next door, when there was a loud bang coming from the haunted house's front door.

The sounds drew much attention. Several people even came over to take a look. Mingliang slightly pulled Sari and Somad aside, "Come, we better move faster."

"What was that?", Sari asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. That's your car, come, quickly, let's leave this place.", Mingliang replied.

"Bang!!", another loud noise came from the haunted house.

Sari quickly opened her car, and they hit the road, leaving the haunted house behind. More people came to see the house. No one paid attention to them three leaving the place.

"Okay, now you can explain that noise?", Sari navigated through the roads. She was taking a turn here and there. Within minutes, they already left the area.

"I think those three were related to the man in the pond. Something about them, smell familiar. I can't put my finger on it, but that's how I feel. So I left something on the door. Something that will block any black magic user or black magic from passing."

"Were they trying to attack us back there?", Sari's hand slightly trembled. It was hardly noticeable, but Mingliang noticed it.

"Maybe, but whatever it is, we are safe now.", Mingliang gently squeezed her shoulder.

Sari sobbed a bit, "Damn..."

She hit the steering wheel. She hated it the most when people think she was weak.

"It's over now. It's alright. We're safe herre, let's pull over first.", Mingliang tried to comfort her.

She didn't say anything but quickly spotted a free parking spot at the roadside and pulled over. She turned off the car, and threw herself to Mingliang, sobbing at his shoulder.

"Sorry.... maybe I shouldn't get you into this, but I need someone I can trust.", Mingliang let her cry on his shoulder, he gently put his arm around her. For some minutes, there was no sounds but Sari's sobs, quickly she got a hold of herself though.

Sari pulled herself away, then with her eyes still a bit red and puffy, but she already got her spunk back. Suddenly she punched Mingliang on his arm. "I'll kick your ass if you don't ask for my help."

"Arghh... girl...". Mingliang wanted to complain, but when he saw Sari's face, he lost the words.

He had never seen her so scared like that before and when he thought about it, this time it was out of their ordinary life. He killed a man about a week ago, and now they found out this man had people behind him. They weren't the common local bullies either. They might be involved in a dark ritual that murdered a man in its processing. Gently he rubbed the trace of tears from Sari's face. She held his hand for a moment before letting it go.

"What should we do now? Is everything going to be okay? Can they track us down? How about my mom?", Sari waited until her voice was back to normal before she asked.

"I don't want to take any risk. Doesn't your family have another house in Central Java? I think you and aunt should stay there until everything is back to normal. I told you, I have a bad premonition about all this.", Mingliang held her hand.

Sari frowned, "Are you trying to get rid of me now?"

"No, I'm not, but I get the feeling that the danger is real. I don't want to put you and aunty in danger."

"I'll take my mom there, and then I'll return to help you here.", Sari said it, there was no compromise in her voice.

"Okay, if that's what you wish.", Mingliang knew her well. Once she spoke like this, it would be a waste of time, trying to make her change her mind.

"What should we say to my mother?", Sari put her hand on her chin, and her finger lightly tapped her nose. Her eyes looking at the street.

"I think it's better if I told her the truth. Come on, let's go to your house. I don't want to waste any moment.", Mingliang tapped her shoulder.

"Are you sure about that?", Sari started the engine, but she still doubted Mingliang's decision.

"Yeah, trust me. I really have a bad premonition about all this and it's much better if your mother knows the truth. I'll leave some protective charm for her too.", Mingliang nodded confidently.