The gap between the rich and the poor here is huge, which can be seen from the city's construction.
The rich are extremely wealthy, indulging in a life of debauchery all day long. Money seems to be inexhaustible for them.
As for the poor, some can't even afford to eat.
Racial discrimination and surname - based discrimination are also extremely severe.
Slums are everywhere.
In some mid - to high - end places, these poor people are not even allowed to enter. They might even get beaten just for taking a look.
Most of the poor people have gotten used to such a life and don't strive for progress.
Only a few people struggle to climb up. More of them passively endure such a hard life.
The poorer people tend to have more children. But after giving birth, they don't have the ability to raise them all.
They will trade their children for money.
This is also the reason why although most of them practice evil arts, the source of these evil arts is quite legitimate, and they haven't been widely condemned.
If they can sell their own living children for a little money, it's even less of a concern for them when it comes to their deceased relatives.
For these living people, whether the dead and their souls can rest in peace doesn't matter at all. What's important is that as long as they can get money by selling the ashes or souls of the dead, they can have some good food and live a better life for a couple of days.
Growing up in such an environment, the bald man didn't find the scene in front of him terrifying or inhumane at all.
He used to be like these children.
It's just that he had a bit of talent in the art of voodoo and was spotted by his master, so he was spared from a tragic end.
Otherwise, he would be just a handful of loess now, with his soul imprisoned in some small jar and being driven by others.
"Don't bother. You can't take care of all these children. And if you touch these children, it's like touching the interests of all of us voodoo masters. You're just here to find someone. There's no need to cause so much trouble."
The bald man thought these Chinese Taoists were nice and sincerely advised them.
It was indeed impossible to take care of all these children.
If they really got into a life - and - death fight with the evil sorcerer inside, they might rescue these children by the way. But for now, Niannian was the top priority.
If there was a way to solve this matter peacefully, they didn't need to cause trouble for themselves.
People have a sense of closeness and distance. For them, no one in the world was more important than Niannian.
"Let's go. Let's go in."
Putting away the pity in his heart, the Taoist Priest Qingyun held his head high, stepped into the yard, and walked into the house.
Although the yard was shabby, the house was quite big.
The inside of the house was dimly lit. There were a few candles on both sides, which were the only source of light.
All the windows were covered with sunshades. In the middle, there was a large rectangular table covered with various strange and fragmented objects.
There were cow bones, bat corpses, and nails and teeth of unknown things...
It was really dirty.
However, they didn't sense the sticky aura inside.
Was it really the work of this evil sorcerer?
"Chinese Taoists? What do you want from me?"
There was a curtain hanging behind the table. There should be another room behind the curtain. An old man with gray hair walked out, leaning on a cane with a cow skull.
"Have you kidnapped a six - year - old girl?"
Showing courtesy before taking action, the Taoist Priest Qingyun didn't attack immediately but politely asked.
"No."
The old man waved his hand impatiently and was about to turn around and go back into the room.
"Whether you did it or not is not up to you. We have to search for ourselves to believe it!"
Zhang Zicheng couldn't hold back his hot temper, especially after sensing that the old man didn't want to communicate with them at all. He rushed up and was about to take action.
The old man suddenly turned his head back, but his body didn't move. The scene looked extremely strange.
His eyes were completely white after turning around, without the black pupils in the middle.
His head slowly floated up, showing his sharp teeth, and headed straight for Zhang Zicheng's neck.
The Taoist Priest Qingyun threw out a talisman. The talisman emitted a scorching aura when it was halfway through the air.
It forced the old man to turn his head aside, missing Zhang Zicheng's neck.
"Do you think I can't beat you? You have nothing better to do than come to my place and cause trouble. Do you think I haven't taken action for a long time and my temper has become better?"
The old man's head was still floating in the air. His wrinkled face was as cold as ice.
"If you didn't kidnap that child, we wouldn't have come to cause trouble. The missing person is very important to us."
The Taoist Priest Qingyun took out another talisman. The threat was very obvious.
The old man weighed the power of the previous talisman and suddenly thought that he might as well sit down and have a calm chat.
After all, in his opinion, he really didn't do this, and there was no need to fight to the death.
He had a bad temper, but he wasn't stupid.
"Tell me the characteristics of the missing person and why you're so sure it was me who kidnapped the child?"
The old man put his head back on his neck, turned around, and said calmly.
The Taoist Priest Qingyun skipped some important information and didn't expose the bald man's friend. He just told the old man what had happened and their speculation.
The old man immediately shook his head. "It wasn't me. I bought all those people outside. I never kidnap people by force, unless I really dislike someone or have a feud with them. And I trade those ghosts because I need to practice. I need the yin energy of those souls to nourish myself. I'm in a hurry, so I offer a high price.
I practice the flying voodoo. I generally don't drive ghosts to do anything. You must have the wrong person. Moreover, I'm not the only one who practices the flying voodoo here."
In the old man's opinion, the person who kidnapped children everywhere to practice must be a poor and unworthy person.
Why would he, with such great skills, need to rob children when it was so easy for him to get money and then get children in this place?
"Are you really not the one?"
The Taoist Priest Qingyun could tell that the old man wasn't lying, but he was reluctant to see the clue end here.
"No, but I can help you inquire. However, I need something from you in exchange."
A slow smile appeared on the old man's face. But with so many wrinkles on his face, this smile looked uglier than crying.
"What do you want us to exchange with you?"
The old man pointed at Zhang Zicheng.
"That wooden token on that young man. I think it's very good. The token has a very pure aura, which is exactly what I need now."