As for what happened later, Yu Nian could roughly deduce it.
Although Jiang Sheng came back to life, he became neither human nor ghost.
Jiang Sheng was already marked as dead in the Book of Life and Death. Logically, his soul should have been taken to the Netherworld to be judged for his merits and demerits. However, the ghost messengers couldn't find his soul no matter how hard they tried, so they automatically classified him as a "missing soul".
The so - called missing souls refer to lives that shouldn't have existed in this world. Every three years, ghost messengers would come to the mortal world to hunt for them.
It was from then on that Jiang Li started to learn how to raise ghosts. He placed two fierce ghosts beside Jiang Sheng to protect his safety.
"But the hunting ability of the ghost messengers is too strong. I've been hiding with him for a long time. There was really no other way, so I came up with such a despicable plan to hide one of Sheng'er's souls in a cat. It's just that..."
Yu Nian slowly opened his mouth and finished the rest of the sentence for Jiang Li, "But after all, this goes against the laws of nature. So every time Jiang Sheng's soul left his body, the ill - luck on him grew stronger. When he was a child, you could still cover it up a bit, but as he grew older, the ill - luck on him became stronger and stronger, and he was extremely unlucky. But hiding his soul in a black cat was never a long - term solution. Moreover, the lifespan of black cats is short. With Jiang Sheng's powerful ill - luck attached to it, the cat would die in a short time. As time went by, there were more and more black cat corpses in the cave. You simply decided to go all the way and hung the cat corpses on the treetops, using the strong evil qi to cover Jiang Sheng's aura, right?"
With a soft "click", the black cat that had been lying in the coffin finally struggled and fell to the ground. It crawled hard to Jiang Li's side. Its breath was weak, and its green eyes were constantly oozing blood - tears, wetting its black fur.
For Jiang Sheng and those black cats, every soul - snatching was a kind of torture. After the ghost messengers left, the missing soul of Jiang Sheng would be placed back into his body.
Although Jiang Li cast a spell to make Jiang Sheng forget what had happened, Jiang Sheng subconsciously remembered what Jiang Li looked like when he snatched the soul, and was extremely afraid of him.
As time went by, the father - son relationship became more and more estranged. By the time Jiang Sheng grew up and left Putuo Village, they hardly had any contact.
Only Jiang Li was still calculating the three - year period. Every time the date was approaching, he would let the two fierce ghosts beside Jiang Sheng bring back his soul.
However, seeing Jiang Sheng in such a state of being neither human nor ghost, Jiang Li suddenly slumped.
Yu Nian suddenly wanted to ask Jiang Li if it was worth prolonging his son's life in this way.
Jiang Li had no eyes and couldn't cry. Only his shoulders kept trembling.
"A parent who loves their child will plan far - reaching for them. I just wanted you to survive. Did I really do something wrong..."
Yuan Ao muttered, "Even if you want to save your son, you shouldn't have snatched my soul! Your son is precious, but I'm also the apple of my parents' eyes!"
Jiang Li's body trembled, but he didn't say a word. Instead, he hugged the black cat in his arms even tighter.
Yu Nian remembered the strange man in Jiang Li's words just now and asked, "Who was the person who saved you? What did he look like?"
Jiang Li thought for a moment and replied hesitantly, "After dealing with him for so many years, I've never seen his face clearly. When I first met him, he wore a black mask that covered his whole face tightly. Moreover, his aura was special. He was neither a demon nor a ghost. By the way, there was also a very rare black - crested cockatoo beside him."
Yu Nian frowned tightly listening to Jiang Li's vague answer, "Then how did you contact him?"
Jiang Li said, "He left me a spiritual jade. Every time I wanted to find him, I would put the jade in the blood - water, chant the incantation three times, and then the parrot would appear and guide me to find him."
Yuan Ao was dumbfounded after hearing this, "This is too absurd, isn't it? Do you think it's magic? Making a live bird appear out of thin air?"
Yu Nian looked at Jiang Li with a half - smile, obviously not believing his words either.
Jiang Li coughed softly, "The jade is in my clothes pocket. If you don't believe me, I can show you. But you have to untie the ropes on my hands first."
Yu Nian wasn't afraid that he would play any tricks. He hooked his finger, and the rope that bound the immortals returned to his side.
Jiang Li reached into his bosom and fumbled for a long time. He actually took out a square object the size of a palm. He bit his finger and chanted the incantation three times. Suddenly, a blinding and dim light burst out in the room. A black shadow like a hurricane suddenly appeared in the cave. Yu Nian's face suddenly changed, and he squinted his eyes with an unclear expression.
At the same time, everyone felt an indescribable dullness in their chests. Then the scene in front of them gradually dimmed and finally became completely dark and silent.
Panic, depression, hatred, all kinds of negative emotions came like a flood and submerged everyone.
Unconsciously, they didn't know how long this state lasted. Feng Chengyuan slowly opened his eyes and was extremely surprised when he saw the surrounding scene.
The sky was gray. There was nothing around except the majestic Mount Tai in the distance.
Under his feet was a dark - brown land, and the roadside was full of scarlet lycoris radiata, as bright as flames. There were also many small houses on both sides of the road, and several sedan - chairs passed by from time to time on the road.
Feng Chengyuan stared at the colorful sedan - chairs for a while, and suddenly frowned - it seemed that the sedan - chairs were made of paper.
Feng Chengyuan was stunned for a moment and knew that this was definitely not the mortal world. He subconsciously started to look for Yu Nian.
Just then, two or three ghosts silently floated by on the roadside. Each of them had a pale face and a terrifying appearance.
One of the ghosts caught a glimpse of Feng Chengyuan out of the corner of his eye and curiously turned his head.
It was a distorted and bluish - purple face with dilated pupils and a long tongue that almost touched the ground.
Feng Chengyuan's eyebrows twitched, but he wasn't afraid. He calmly shifted his gaze and seriously looked for Yu Nian.
Seeing that he couldn't scare Feng Chengyuan, the ghost turned his head boredly and followed the group.
"Niannian? Where are you?"
Just as he called out twice in a low voice, a gentle pat suddenly came on his shoulder. Feng Chengyuan turned around expectantly.
But it wasn't Yu Nian who appeared in front of him, but a female ghost in a red wedding dress.
"Are you looking for someone?"
The female ghost's cheeks were deeply sunken, and her lips were completely black. Her corpse was already shriveled. At first glance, it was impossible to tell how long she had been dead.
But judging from her voice, the female ghost should have been very young when she died. At this moment, her withered hand tightly grabbed Feng Chengyuan's arm and wouldn't let go.
The female ghost's eyes rolled strangely for a moment and asked, "May I know your surname?"
Feng Chengyuan was a bit confused, "My surname is Feng."
The female ghost's eyes suddenly lit up, extremely delighted, "...Feng Lang? Is that you?!"
Feng Chengyuan:.....?
Feng Chengyuan was eager to find Yu Nian and didn't want to deal with this hard - of - hearing female ghost. He frowned and took a step back, "I think you've mistaken me. I don't have the surname Feng."
He wanted to break free from the female ghost's arm, but after all, this was the Netherworld. The female ghost's strength was terrifyingly strong. It was like two iron clamps that firmly imprisoned him.
Feng Chengyuan's patience was exhausted. He stared at the female ghost with a gloomy face, "Let go."