At that moment, Shang Lin really wanted to say, "You've got the point wrong, kid."

But considering that Meng Zhe had been "frozen" for several hours, it was already quite remarkable that he could still speak to him calmly. So Shang Lin could only try to persuade him gently, "So, can you understand it?"

Meng Zhe's eyes remained fixed on the puppet, and it took him a while to respond to Shang Lin's words, "I'll give it a try."

After gesturing for a while, the puppet started to pace restlessly in the trap again, seemingly wanting to get out. Shang Lin hurriedly said to She Jinxing, "You protect Meng Zhe, I'll let it out."

She Jinxing hurriedly said, "Sect Master, be careful."

"Hmm." Shang Lin said as he pulled out a flag, and the puppet instantly jumped out. He put the flag back, and the puppet immediately started to wobble and walk outside.

Shang Lin and the other two looked at each other, then followed in unison. As they walked out of the basement and headed toward the gate of Meng Zhe's courtyard, the gate was suddenly pushed open and Meng Fanyu walked in from outside.

"Dad." Meng Zhe's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly ran over, but Shang Lin grabbed him. Meanwhile, the puppet walking in front of them stumbled and rushed over, as if it wanted to beat the other party up.

Meng Zhe looked at Shang Lin with a puzzled expression, clearly asking, "My dad's back, why are you pulling me along?"

Shang Lin shook his head slightly. In such a short time, the puppet had already been kicked away by Meng Fanyu as if it were trash. And that wasn't all. He walked over and was about to stomp on it again.

Shang Lin hurriedly stopped him, saying, "Uncle, that's my puppet. You can't step on it."

Meng Fanyu didn't put down his raised right leg. Instead, he looked at Shang Lin and asked, "Who are you? Why are you in my house? And why are you lying so much? This puppet clearly belongs to our family, how did it become yours?"

Meng Zhe finally realized something was wrong. This person... didn't seem to be his father, otherwise why didn't he even recognize Shang Lin? Moreover, the aura around him had changed.

Among all the family's belongings, this puppet was her father's most treasured possession. How could he kick and stomp on it? Meng Zhe didn't move, but stared intently at the thing before him...

A stranger, Father! Yes, a stranger. Although it was still the same person, he had changed inside and out. But no matter how I looked at him, he was a living, breathing person. I didn't see a trace of a ghost!

Meng Zhe subconsciously looked at Shang Lin again, only to see that Shang Lin had already walked to his father's side at some point, and extremely quickly picked up the wooden puppet at his feet, and then...

He even smiled at his father and said, "Uncle, this is clearly my property, but you say it belongs to your family. That's a bit unfair. You can't bully me just because I'm young, and you can't take advantage of your age and spout nonsense just because you're old."

Meng Zhe looked at Shang Lin in utter astonishment. This guy was incredibly bold. He didn't even know what was going on, yet he was going head-to-head with his "father." When did he become so fierce?

Or did Shang Lin already know what was going on and that things were already under his control? The next second, "Father" suddenly turned red in the eyes and slapped Shang Lin with his palm.

Meng Zhe screamed in fright, "Dad..."

At the same time, She Jinxing had already flashed in front of Shang Lin and reached out to catch Meng Fanyu's palm strike, but then heard Shang Lin say, "Go easy on me, don't hurt your uncle."

Meng Zhe was a little dumbfounded. What was going on? Then he heard Shang Lin say, "Take the person to the basement."

Shang Lin strode up to Meng Zhe and waved his hand in front of his eyes, "Snap out of it."

After saying that, he put the puppet back in Meng Zhe's arms, "Hold it tight, I bet this is the real uncle, and that one is an imposter."

"You..." Meng Zhe felt himself shivering again, his lips trembling. "What did you say? This, this puppet, is, is my father?!"

As Shang Lin pulled Meng Zhe toward the basement, he said, "I guessed. Otherwise, would your puppet have become a spirit?" He wasn't worried at all that She Jinxing wouldn't be able to bring people over.

Meng Zhe subconsciously looked at She Jinxing and "father," only to see that "father" was being held by the arm but could not break free no matter what he did. His eyes had turned blood red and his face had become ferocious.

Meng Zhe hurriedly caught up with Shang Lin and asked in a low voice, "So what exactly happened? Has my father been possessed by something?"

Shang Lin spoke frankly, "I guess it's something like possession or soul-swapping. After all, your family has too many strange things, and they've been sealed for many years. It's inevitable that something would go wrong during that time, like that embroidered shoe that ran away last year. Oh, no, I should say the year before last."

Meng Zhe was shocked. "I know about possession, but soul swapping?! Just from the name, it's not an easy thing to do. Besides, my father has only been gone for a few hours. How could his soul have been swapped?"

As they spoke, they arrived at the entrance to the basement. Shang Lin went down first. "Whether it's possession or soul swapping, neither is easy. So I'm just guessing. But even if it's not possession or soul swapping, it should be a similar technique, or... swapping one soul and one spirit. Hmm, that's probably it."

In that instant, Shang Lin suddenly felt that he must have guessed right. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to complete the possession or soul swap in just a few hours, especially since Meng Fanyu, who was possessed or had his soul swapped, had gone out for a stroll.

Perhaps it was something in Meng Zhe's basement that wanted to go out and take a look through Meng Fanyu's body. In any case, tonight's events were inseparable from the strange things in their basement.

However, this also proves that the ancestors of the Meng family were truly powerful masters, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to seal so many strange things. It's a pity that so many talented people are hard to find! Especially in the end times of the human world, various cultivation resources are scarce, and masters are even more rare.

Once in the basement, Shang Lin took the puppet from Meng Zhe and asked it according to his own train of thought, "Where was the thing that took over your body before?"

The puppet immediately stretched out its arm, and Shang Lin hurriedly walked in the direction it pointed, but stopped in front of a wall. He looked down and asked again, "Here?"

The puppet stretched out its finger, and Shang Lin hurriedly looked over, only to find a small hole in the wall. It was hard to spot if you didn't look closely, and he instinctively handed the puppet over.

The puppet's wooden fingers fit perfectly inside, and then the wall slowly opened, revealing a small hidden compartment with a short sword hanging on it. The sword also had a broken red rope and talismans on it.

When the sword was fully revealed, the sword energy was like a cold wind, instantly rushing towards them. Shang Lin hurriedly asked, "Has this short sword already formed a weapon spirit?"