Zhou Zhicheng poured me half a cup of tea and gave me a thumbs up: "Mr. Duan has a good eye. Foreign countries are not like China. They don't have as many treasures, and they don't care about antique culture. The people who come here are all curious."

I had no interest in these unorthodox methods, so I picked up my teacup and said, "About Song Laosan, you really don't know this person?"

"I...know him."

Zhou Zhicheng needed my help, so after a moment's hesitation, he told me the truth: "Mr. Duan may be young, but he is an expert in this field. I believe you can tell that my shop deals in items with a lot of yin energy, such as Egyptian mummies, Thai ghosts, Turkish evil eyes, Southeast Asian evil Buddhas, Japanese dolls, and mani stones... I sell everything that customers need. Over the years, I have attracted many buyers who enjoy the unusual."

I didn't interrupt Zhou Zhicheng; I simply waited for him to continue.

Zhou Zhicheng continued, "I came to India twenty years ago to collect these evil items and sell them all over the world! In the antique circle, although there are people who deal in these peculiar items, they do it occasionally. No one does it year after year because this industry is too yin and people with weak birth charts can't handle it. The three Song brothers were all peddlers that I found through friends in the domestic circle."

Zhou Zhicheng's so-called peddler refers to someone in the trade who has a good eye but no money to open a shop, so he goes around "collecting goods" and then resells them in other people's shops. This phenomenon is also called "baofuzhai".

Earlier at the airport, Xu Hu told me that the four sects usually only have one successor. When I heard Zhou Zhicheng say that the three Song brothers were his peddlers, I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are these three brothers a small gang?"

Zhou Zhicheng shook his head: "No, they all acted alone. The first peddler to work for me was Boss Song. He was killed fifteen years ago because of a batch of goods that was stolen and killed by someone else. Boss Song worked for me for eight years. Later, he returned to China and was sued for fraud for selling fake antiques. He died in prison. Boss Song only started working with me in the last five years. He is the only son of the Song family."

I looked at Zhou Zhicheng curiously: "Since you know Song Laosan, why don't you just say so? Why were you being so secretive before?"

Zhou Zhicheng's gaze turned cold: "Because Song Laosan has a grudge against me, I'm not revealing any information about him to avoid trouble."

According to Master Wei's wishes, if we are to open the Tomb of the Demonic Monk, we must gather the strength of the descendants of the four sects.

Like me, Song Laosan is also the only remaining descendant of the Song family line.

If something happens to him, wouldn't that mean our operation is over before it even started?

The thought of losing my job, which paid me 20,000 yuan a day, made me ask with heartache, "Isn't he your peddler? How could he have a grudge against you?"

Zhou Zhicheng twirled the teacup in his hand: "A week ago, I received a call from Song Laosan in China. He said he had a supreme item, a jade-like corpse embryo. I rushed back for it, which caused me trouble."

I unconsciously frowned: "Are you talking about that legendary thing that can prolong people's lives?"

Now it was Zhou Zhicheng's turn to be surprised: "Mr. Duan is indeed very knowledgeable. He even knows the details of such an obscure thing."

I've seen the Jade-Transformed Corpse Embryo in the Judge's Record, but not in the Appraisal section, but in the Strange Tales section.

Legend has it that the fetus inside a pregnant woman's womb continues to absorb nutrients from her body and grow after she dies violently.

In Chinese legend, every fetus is a soul that has been waiting in the underworld for many years.

These reincarnated souls were originally supposed to have one lifetime of life, but because their mothers died violently and their own lifespans were not yet over, they could not be born.

These souls in the womb can neither come to the mortal world nor return to the underworld to appeal; they are spirits themselves, yet they cannot become ghosts.

Ultimately, such souls, existing outside the Three Realms and Five Elements, are the most miserable existences.

Because of this, this thing is extremely resentful and will devour the surrounding yin energy. It will never disappear or be destroyed, and over time, it will become a corpse fetus.

According to legend, the soul that transforms into a corpse fetus is reincarnated through the proper procedures of the underworld, and has a period of lifespan in the human world, and will not be captured by the underworld officials.

Some extraordinary individuals can use special methods to transfer the lifespan of a fetus into a human body.

In this way, the host can continue their lifespan while the fetus is still attached, and avoid the screening of the Book of Life and Death.

However, the Jade Corpse Embryo is an extremely evil thing. The trapped wronged soul can no longer be reborn, and if it is not handled properly, it will perish together with its host.

Although legends of corpse fetuses have always circulated in the martial arts world, after extensive research by the Duan family ancestors, there is no historical record of corpse fetuses actually appearing, which is why they are included in the "Strange Tales" volume.

I recalled this passage and a sense of unease rose in my heart: "You just said that Song Laosan got into trouble because of the corpse fetus. Could it be that he suffered a backlash?"

"Bullshit! The fetus that Song Laosan sent was fake!"

Zhou Zhicheng cursed, "My family has been in the antique business for three generations and has never been fooled by a treasure. I never expected that I would be deceived by him!"

"Fake?"

I looked at Zhou Zhicheng speechlessly: "Since he delivered a fake, he should have just smashed it and refunded the money. How could anything have happened to him?"

“A week ago, Song Laosan brought me a piece of jade that looked like amber. Inside was the shape of a fetus. He told me it was a jade-like corpse fetus. I deal in niche antiques and have heard of this kind of thing. Seeing that the jade was genuine, I bought it at a high price and resold it!”

Zhou Zhicheng gritted his teeth: "The person who bought the corpse fetus was an old client of mine in Europe. Three days ago, he came to my door and told me that the corpse fetus was fake, and he was furious. I tried my best to explain that it was impossible, but he just slammed an appraisal report on the table. When I saw it, I was dumbfounded."

I put down my teacup: "What report?"

"The DNA test report shows that the fetus in the amniotic sac is indeed real, but it was a stillborn fetus that was aborted, and the death was estimated to have occurred a year ago. Since this stillborn fetus is from recent times, the contents are naturally fake."

Even now, Zhou Zhicheng is still bothered by the fact that he was fooled: "I saw that jade at the time. It was of superior quality and had already developed blood-like patterns. The jade was deeply stained. How could it be a fake?"

"It's a sheep jade."

Hearing this, I had already determined that Song Laosan was a dishonest person. In order to continue to get information out of him, I didn't keep him in suspense: "This is a niche method of counterfeiting. The counterfeiters will sew the jade into the belly of a sheep and take it out after more than a year. The blood lines are so deep in the jade that it is very difficult to distinguish."

"Damn it, so that's how it is!"

Zhou Zhicheng slammed his hand on the table: "What a vicious person! I, Zhou Zhicheng, usually boast about my excellent judgment, but I never expected to be fooled by him! I'm so angry!"

I didn't dwell on it. After thinking for a moment, I asked, "You've said so much, but you haven't mentioned Song Laosan. Does that mean he's in your hands?"

“That’s right. It took me more than ten years to open up channels in Europe! Because of this fake, they have cut off all cooperation with me!”

Zhou Zhicheng grew angrier as he spoke: "Song Laosan made my years of hard work go down the drain, shouldn't I teach him a lesson?"