**Chapter 47: The Forbidden Art of Three Corpses Blocking Wealth (Part 9)**
The night air echoed with their frantic cries for help as Li Chengfeng and Wang Bin sprinted through the empty streets. Behind them, the spectral forms of the cat, crow, and bat flickered like malevolent shadows, their unearthly screeches clawing at the edges of reason.
"*Help! Ghosts!*" Wang Bin's voice cracked, raw with terror.
Sleepy residents flung open windows, hurling curses at the disturbance—until their eyes caught the shimmering horrors in pursuit. Panicked, they slammed shutters closed, muttering, "Just a dream… *just a dream*…"
Exhaustion finally forced the two men to collapse on the pavement, chests heaving. When Li Chengfeng dared to glance back, the phantoms had vanished.
"They… they're gone?" Wang Bin panted, trembling.
Li Chengfeng wiped sweat from his brow. "Their spirits are bound to the corpses. They can't stray far."
Wang Bin stared at his urine-soaked pants, humiliation mixing with lingering dread. "Did I… *pee myself*?"
"Consider it a souvenir," Li Chengfeng replied dryly, though his mind raced. *The curse had birthed something far worse.* The animal corpses, nourished by the store's trapped *qi*, had evolved into vengeful spirits.
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**The Price of Justice**
At *Serendipity Hall*, Li Chengfeng knelt before his ancestral master's portrait, incense smoke coiling like guilt in his chest. "Was I wrong, Master?"
The painted figure stirred, beard twitching as a voice rumbled from the void: **"You upheld the Mandate of Heaven. Those exploiters reaped their karma."**
Relief flickered—until the portrait added, **"But storms gather. The Three Corpses hunger still."**
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**Dawn's Grim Resolution**
By noon, Li Chengfeng returned to Sheng Hai Jewelry with crowbars and cinnabar powder. As sunlight flooded the exposed ledge, the three corpses writhed under its glare.
"Burn them *now*," he ordered Wang Bin.
The cinnabar-laced flames roared to life, consuming the shriveled bodies. A final chorus of shrieks pierced the air—then silence.
But as ash scattered, Li Chengfeng noticed the crow's skull intact, its hollow eyes gleaming.
*The curse wasn't dead—it was waiting.*
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