"What, you have a problem with that?" Yan Qing rolled her eyes at him.

"How could I dare!" The girl was acting like a tigress, what could he say?

The housekeeper seemed even weaker tonight; he barely had the strength to walk.

He still went to the coffin first to offer incense and burn paper money, going through the whole process. Yan Qing thought he was going to leave like last night, but instead he plopped down next to the man in black robes.

The man in the black robe seemed to know the butler, and upon seeing his condition, he showed concern.

"Uncle Wang, can you still hold on? Or should I—"

“No need!” The steward immediately stopped him. “This old man has lived this long by defying the heavens, and he’s already done enough. You should know that the reason I’ve stayed in this mansion is that I’ve been waiting for you to come back.”

The man in black robes gave a wry smile. "Uncle Wang, why are you doing this? I am now—"

"No!" The butler pointed at the coffin and said with a hateful look, "In my heart, he is not even worth a finger of yours! But you left for him for ten years. Ten years have passed, and if you don't come back, this old man's bones will almost rot away."

As he spoke, he lifted his clothes, revealing a nearly skeletal figure beneath his red brocade robe and mandarin jacket. His body was covered in large patches of festering and decay, indicating that he had been dead for a long time.

The butler is acting strangely!!

Yan Qing remembered the fifth rule of the "One Bow to Heaven and Earth Rules":

The servants in the manor will lie, but the steward won't. The steward only appears at night; if you see him during the day, you must be seeing things.

All the servants in the mansion seemed to be hostile towards them, as confirmed by the artificial lake that was suspected of being used to worship "Tai Sui".

So, she initially planned to question the housekeeper, because he was the only one who wouldn't lie. Unexpectedly, her trip today was worthwhile, and she even gained something unexpected.

From the steward's words, she made a very bold guess: could the dead Master Sima be an imposter? And this man in black robes be the real one?

The black-robed man's subsequent answer completely confirmed this.

“Uncle Wang, I never really cared about the Sima family's property. Since he likes it, what's so difficult about giving it to him?”

"But, Patriarch, how can you just stand by and watch that person squander our Sima family's fortune? That's the wealth you've painstakingly accumulated over nearly a hundred years!"

The steward, tears streaming down his face, said, "A century-old family business! I saw how hard you worked back then. But that person managed to squander it all in just over a decade!"

"Master is merciful, but this old servant cannot bear to watch!"

The steward's words caused the coffin to begin shaking violently; it was clear to the naked eye that "Master Sima" was so enraged after his death that he almost came back to life.

The man in the black robe's eyes lit up, but before he could get up, the coffin fell silent once more.

The attempt to revive the dead failed.

The butler looked at him with exasperation, "Master, don't hold out any hope. He absolutely cannot come back to life. I'm the most qualified to speak on this matter."

He pointed into the coffin and said in a sinister tone, "I know you're obsessed with becoming a monster. But I'm sorry, you'll never succeed."

"Within a day of your death, you must be immediately given fresh blood from a living person; this is a necessary condition for transforming you into a monster. However, success is not guaranteed. You have countless blood debts on your body; such a defying-the-godly act will not be spared by 'He'!"

The coffin began to shake violently again, but this time the shaking was much less intense, and it was clear that the "Master Sima" inside was weak and listless.

The man in black robes felt a pang of pity. "Uncle Wang, I—"

The butler then gave him a gentle smile, before his gaze turned icy and piercing as he looked at the coffin.

"Don't worry, in two more days, once he's exhausted his soul's power, he'll finally die completely. And—"

He glanced menacingly at the dense array of nails on the coffin lid and chuckled. "Aren't you very concerned about your pet? Don't worry, I already sent it to see you yesterday."

"No!—!!! Wahahaha, I'm going to kill you!! Ah—!!!"

From inside the coffin came the extremely angry voice of Master Sima, accompanied by the sound of countless fingernails scratching inside the coffin. It was clear that Master Sima was now extremely resentful in death.

Yan Qing became even more curious. What exactly was this "pet" that the butler was talking about?

She didn't believe it was a real pet; after all, the butler's gaze was one of near-revenge.

The man in black robes became extremely worried. With the intermittent sounds coming from the coffin, he could clearly feel the weakening of "Master Sima's" soul energy. Perhaps he would never wake up again in less than a day.

Upon hearing this, Yan Che seemed to understand something. "Young Master Liang was killed by Master Sima? The one who died?"

Yan Qing nodded. This Master Sima was currently something between the dead and the supernatural. Unfortunately, he hadn't successfully become a supernatural being and could only wait to die.

Why did he kill Young Master Liang?

"Hehehe—" Sima Yuanwai's voice suddenly came from inside the coffin, "Old man, it's you meddling again! Don't worry, you'll be next to die!"

The butler's response was a brief "hehe".

The wealthy man, Sima, was even angrier inside the coffin, but this time, he didn't even have the strength to get out of the coffin.

"Don't bother. Today is the third day. Your soul power should be almost completely depleted by now, right?"

The butler's opening line was a bombshell: "Yesterday you were able to crawl out and kill someone, but now you probably won't even be able to lift the lid of your coffin, and you still want to settle scores with me! Master, you should stop indulging him!"

The second half of what she said was to the man in the black robe, but he didn't reply and remained silent.

"Useless trash—" came the voice of "Master Sima" from inside the coffin, "You said you would protect me for life, is this what you call protection?"

When Yan Qing heard these words, something sounded very off.

This wasn't the first time she'd felt this way. These two identical people gave her an exceptionally strong sense of incongruity.

According to the steward, this man in black robes should be the real Master Sima, and the chronicle she obtained earlier was written by him.

This person must be at least 160 or 170 years old, but he still looks like he's in his thirties.

As for the imposter lying in the coffin, he's probably no good. This can be easily inferred from the attitude of the servants and the steward's words.

The imposter's actions, such as digging an artificial lake to raise "Tai Sui" (a mythical creature believed to bring bad luck) and squandering his family fortune, were likely all the work of this imposter.

Okay, so here's the question: why would Master Sima protect such a terrible person?