Yu Nian looked at the good fortune flowing around Grandpa Fu and asked, "You've practiced so well in this lifetime. Is it really worth depleting your own spiritual power like this?"
Grandpa Fu's gaze slowly fell on the merman.
"Uncle, it's rare to find a bosom friend in life. They say demons are inherently cunning, but which human could accompany me for a century like the merman and A Gui..."
Yu Nian didn't say a word. She crouched down by the shore and reached out her hand to the merman.
The merman seemed extremely curious about Yu Nian. It quickly swam to the shore and tentatively rubbed the top of its head against the palm of Yu Nian's hand.
Yu Nian said in a soft voice, "It's truly a kind - hearted demon."
The merman blinked its huge eyes and suddenly spat out a pale blue bubble.
The moment the bubble touched Yu Nian's fingertips, it immediately split into several small, iridescent bubbles.
As the light and shadow shifted, Yu Nian unexpectedly saw Feng Chengyuan's figure in them.
His handsome face magnified infinitely in front of Yu Nian, full of smiles and with moist eyebrows and eyes.
When Yu Nian instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, the bubble suddenly burst.
Feng Chengyuan's face disappeared, replaced by the merman's exotic - looking face.
The merman tilted its head and asked, "Do you like him?"
Yu Nian's eyebrow twitched. She finally remembered another ability of the merman - being good at reading minds.
Seeing Yu Nian remain silent, the merman moved closer and repeated like a parrot, "Is he your sweetheart? He looks as handsome as I am."
Yu Nian:......
Grandpa Fu quickly coughed twice. "Quan Ke, don't be naughty."
Actually, it was obvious to anyone with a discerning eye that Feng Chengyuan treated his uncle differently.
But even if Fu Qingxuan were to live another hundred years, he wouldn't dare to tease his uncle to his face.
The merman let out an "oh" sound. It was extremely obedient to Grandpa Fu and obediently dived back into the water.
There was no expression on Yu Nian's face, but her earlobes inexplicably turned a bit red.
She stared at Fu Qingxuan for a while and said in a soft voice, "I'll bring back the Tianyuan Stone."
After saying that, Yu Nian was about to turn around and leave when she was suddenly called out by Fu Qingxuan. "Uncle."
Yu Nian stopped in her tracks.
Grandpa Fu heaved a sigh of relief. "Uncle, Qingxuan has prepared a tea feast and will wait for you here."
Watching Yu Nian's departing back, Grandpa Fu put down his walking stick and wanted to sit down by the shore.
Due to his old age, his movements were a bit slow.
The merman always floated by the shore waiting for him without the slightest impatience.
The man and the demon sat quietly for a while, but suddenly it started to drizzle outside the window.
Grandpa Fu was startled. As if he had thought of something, he felt for his walking stick and tried to stand up.
At this time, the butler puppet also walked into the attic. It draped a blanket over Fu Qingxuan's shoulders and said in a soft voice, "Master, don't worry. The ancestor left in General Feng's car and didn't get wet in the rain."
Grandpa Fu finally felt relieved and said slowly, "That's good." He paused for a moment, and a slight smile suddenly appeared on his face. "My uncle may seem cold - faced, but actually has the kindest heart. I was originally worried that no one would take care of my uncle after I'm gone. Now it seems that there's someone who loves her whole - heartedly and protects her well. I can rest assured."
The merman looked at Grandpa Fu blankly and stated, "Fu Qingxuan, you're very happy today."
Grandpa Fu smiled softly and coughed lightly. "Yes, my uncle is back. I can finally let go and be a carefree child again..."
...
There were still three days until the final, but none of the contestants had a good rest. They were all busy collecting information about the final venue.
The format of the final was different from before. Since the final was extremely dangerous, after discussion, the program team decided to select one person from the judges to go with the contestants.
To everyone's surprise, Feng Chengyuan actually volunteered to go with them.
The competition venue was one of the most dangerous haunted places jointly selected by all the members of the Taoist Alliance - Wanjv High School, a school that had been abandoned for ten years.
Yu Nian didn't deliberately prepare anything for the competition. On the contrary, Xue Yier had been frequently going to the Qingxin Temple in the past few days. She presented stacks of thick materials in front of Yu Nian.
Xue Yier said proudly, "Here, these are all painstakingly collected by me. Consider it as my way of repaying you for saving my life in the secret room back then! Don't be too grateful to me."
Yu Nian lifted her eyelids. "Just introduce them directly. I'm too lazy to read."
Xue Yier was taken aback for a moment and then resignedly explained, "Wanjv High School was originally a key high school in the province. It even expanded due to an excessive number of students. But just ten years ago, an accident happened in Wanjv School. Two months before the college entrance examination, two female students from a senior - three class mysteriously disappeared. Since Wanjv High School is a boarding school and students can only go home once a month, it was almost certain that the students disappeared on campus. But the police and school leaders searched the school from top to bottom and couldn't find any trace of the two students. This incident caused quite a stir back then, and various media outlets reported on it one after another. As a result, Wanjv High School was removed from the list of provincial key schools."
"The principal of Wanjv High School thought the school's feng shui was bad, so he hired a construction team to renovate the campus. But no one expected that a worker from the construction team accidentally fell from a scaffolding and died. Since then, Wanjv's reputation has gotten worse and worse. Eventually, the school was closed and has been abandoned for ten years. A few years ago, some fearless young people went in to explore. They were fine when they came out of the school, but they went crazy not long after... Alas, what on earth is the program team testing us on?"
...
On the day of the competition, everyone took a bus and arrived at Wanjv High School on time.
The walls were badly mottled, and large parts of the walls had turned black. From a distance, the building volumes were staggered and overlapping, looking gloomy and terrifying.
Even though it was daytime, everyone could still feel the continuous overflow of cold air from the abandoned buildings.
After the staff counted the number of people, they announced the rules of the final. "This competition will last for three days and will still be broadcast live. Your task as contestants is to find the students who disappeared ten years ago and solve the mystery of the worker's death. Before entering the competition, please sign this death waiver agreement."
The faces of all the contestants looked a bit ugly.
How dangerous was this competition that all the contestants had to sign such a thing?
After the staff collected all the agreements, they reminded again, "Contestants can enter the venue. The things from ten years ago have been completely replicated in the venue. Everyone you meet may be the key. I wish all the contestants good luck in the competition!"
The contestants walked through the dilapidated gate. They suddenly felt their feet go empty and fell straight down as if in a state of weightlessness.
I don't know how long it took, but finally they felt something under their feet.
Noisy sounds slowly came from all around. In front of them was a rice - red oval plastic track and a huge playground covered with green grass. The breath of youth came rushing towards them.