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"My coworkers were kind enough to find me a village doctor when we were there," Du Qianfan continued, his tone filled with dread. "Tell me, isn't there usually a reason for someone suddenly feeling unwell? But there wasn't for me; the doctor said I was in perfect health. He even said it might be all in my head."

"In my head?" Du Qianfan scoffed and laughed bitterly. "How could that be?"

"All my colleagues thought I was slacking off, pretending to be sick to avoid work. Only I knew the terror of being completely drained, my limbs too weak to do anything but lie in bed."

He seemed on the verge of breaking down, leaning on the table as he massaged his hair. "I didn't want this, you know."

The neighbors exchanged glances and tried to comfort him.

"Could it be a psychological effect?"

"It's just a meal of offerings, how could it be that powerful?"

One neighbor turned to Chu Yuening. "Master, did Mr. Du really fall ill after just one meal of offerings?"

Chu Yuening glanced at Du Qianfan before responding. "Offerings serve as a bridge between the world of the living and the realm of the deceased, a tribute to our ancestors. When people make offerings and pay their respects, they usually carry good wishes, hoping for their ancestors to live well in the afterlife. These offerings aren't ordinary food; they're meals infused with the power of those wishes."

"When he mentioned those five graves being offered food simultaneously, it implies that it wasn't an ordinary day. Ancestors sometimes have to wait half a year for such a feast."

Yet, Du Qianfan had consumed all of them.

Chu Yuening calculated with her fingers, "There will definitely be some impact. Regardless of whether the ghosts had malicious intentions or not, consuming such a meal would greatly harm one's yang energy. When yin energy overpowers yang, one's health will naturally deteriorate."

Du Qianfan broke out in cold sweat after hearing this.

His expression turned dazed, and he let out a bitter laugh. "With such severity, who else but me would be unlucky? No wonder they hold grudges."

"You eating their offerings wouldn't lead to such dire consequences," Chu Yuening said, lifting her teacup and shaking her head. "Excessive yin energy can affect the body. Just like how a cold needs time to run its course, the body will naturally recover gradually."

Du Qianfan was originally a science-believing young man. After encountering a series of bizarre incidents, he eventually embraced mysticism and sought help from a master in Hong Kong as advised by his friend.

And yet...

The master didn't believe him?

Du Qianfan grew anxious. "Master, I really did encounter something strange. Please let me finish."

"After my health declined, I started having nightmares very frequently, often one dream following another. But the content of the dreams never changed.

"As I recall those nightmares, beads of sweat slowly trickle down my forehead, and my expression turns panicked again. I can't help but rub my sleeve with my thumb."

"There were many people..."

"Truly, a multitude."

"Men and women, young and old... They surrounded my bed in my dreams, saying nothing, their eyes fixed on me. Each of them pointed at the door with their fingers."

"After it happened multiple times, I thought they were trying to hint at something."

There was an occasion when Du Qianfan woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, drenched as if he had just been pulled out of water. Unable to endure such torment any longer, he turned on his flashlight and stepped out of the thatched cottage.

"I followed the clues and found that place. Can you guess where it was?"

The neighbors shook their heads, unable to hazard a guess.

"It was the graves where offerings were made previously." Du Qianfan trembled with fear.

He could never forget how terrified he was under the cold moonlight when he saw those pristine white tombstones, his knees knocking in fear.

Eventually, he realized that all of this was the seniors' punishment for him consuming their offerings.

He knelt before each grave, prostrating himself and pleading for forgiveness again and again.

He believed that through these actions, the seniors might forgive him.

"Was I truly naive, thinking that stealing from a vengeful spirit's meal would earn me easy forgiveness? As I knelt, I heard a cacophony of voices whispering, 'Leave, hurry and leave.'"

Du Qianfan's tone grew increasingly anxious, and he frantically covered his ears.

The mingling of elderly and youthful voices seemed to reverberate right next to him.

"They don't wish to see me, and I dare not provoke them. The situation escalated further. Apart from having nightmares, my limbs could sense their touch."

"If I stood by the door, they would push at the back of my heels."

"On the bed, they'd push at my waist relentlessly."

Once, Du Qianfan had indeed been shoved, landing in a spectacular tumble at the door. It was unimaginable what might have happened if he had been in a pond or somewhere even higher – he could have fallen to his death.

He tugged desperately at the fabric on his thighs, his eyes wide with fear.

"The vengeful spirits are after me, this is exactly like a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street! They want to kill me!"

"Master, please, I beg of you, write me a protective charm. Save me!"

When Du Qianfan finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the neighborhood.

It wasn't until a while later that the commotion resumed.

"It sounds like these vengeful spirits are truly fierce."

"What a pity, he's still so young."

"In my opinion, he deserved it. Who told him to greedily consume offerings?"

"Exactly, if you dare to eat offerings, you should be prepared to pay with your life."

"Are you all serious? Eating an offering shouldn't cost someone their life, right?"

"Let's all calm down and hear what Ning Ning has to say."

The crowd's attention turned back inside.

Sunlight slanted across the long table through the small window.

Chu Yuening knitted her delicate brows slightly and began calculating with her fingers.

After a moment.

She looked at Du Qianfan, whose suit was unbuttoned, his face pale, hair in disarray like a bird's nest, half his face covered in stubble, and a subtle hint of breakdown in his expression.

She raised an eyebrow.