Actually, even without Wan Chunhui's request, Lu Fei would save the souls trapped in the painting.
He had a favor to ask from the owner of the Tianlong Auction House, so naturally, he needed to do things properly.
Originally, inquiring about the origin of the ancient painting was to find the magic seal, which was the stamp imprinted on the painting.
With the magic seal's power, dispelling the bride's resentment would be easier.
However, since the painting's origin was unknown, the seal couldn't be found, so he could only use the method to break the soul-binding painting.
Dawn gradually broke.
Night represents yin, and day represents yang.
Now that it was daytime, the ancient painting was heavily weakened, and with the addition of the Seven Stars Ghost-Suppressing Array, it naturally had no strength to cause trouble.
He locked the door.
Lu Fei instructed Wan Chunhui to prepare the materials to break the soul-binding painting, while he and Tiger went back to the pawnshop to rest.
On the way, Tiger had a stomach full of questions.
"Boss, didn't you say dealing with evil objects is best done during the day? Why are we doing it at night this time?" This was the question he was most curious about.
"This time we need to rescue the souls of those three employees. Souls fear sunlight, so we can only act at night."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Remembering the blood-curdling scene of the security guard gouging out his own eyes last night, Tiger still felt chills down his spine.
At that moment, if Lu Fei hadn't blocked his view in time, he might have ended up just like that security guard.
"The method to break the soul-binding painting isn't difficult, so there's no major problem."
Lu Fei's expression was calm.
Seeing him so composed, Tiger felt much more at ease.
Although his boss was young and kind-looking, he was truly unparalleled when dealing with evil objects.
Having not slept all night, both of them were extremely exhausted, especially since they had to gather their energy to face the ancient painting at night. Once they returned to the pawnshop, they fell asleep as soon as they lay down.
Time passed in a flash.
Before dusk, the auction house's car had already arrived to pick them up.
Lu Fei tidied up and took Tiger to the car.
Wan Chunhui first arranged for the two of them to have dinner at a nearby restaurant before heading to the auction house.
"Little Shopkeeper Lu, I have prepared everything you asked for. Is this method really going to work?" Wan Chunhui asked anxiously as they walked.
He didn't doubt Lu Fei's abilities but was concerned that this method might damage the ancient painting.
"Don't worry, Mr. Wan, as long as you prepared everything according to my instructions, there's a one hundred percent chance of success!" Lu Fei smiled at him.
"I assure you, I prepared everything as you asked."
As they spoke, Wan Chunhui stopped and opened a door.
Inside was an empty room, with nothing inside.
"This used to be an unused meeting room. I had everything moved out. Does this work, Little Shopkeeper Lu?"
"This is fine, as long as it's an empty room." Lu Fei stepped inside, looked around, and nodded. "Where's the firewood?"
"Right here."
Wan Chunhui brought out two sacks of firewood from the hallway.
"I guarantee they are elm branches over ten years old, freshly cut today. We cut down three whole trees and only took the branches, not touching the trunks. The leaves were stripped off, leaving only the wood."
"Very good." Lu Fei picked out a fresh branch from the sack and examined it, showing a satisfied expression. "Then there shouldn't be any problems. Have the three employees been brought back from the hospital?"
"They have. They're in the car right now, being watched over."
"Bring them in."
Wan Chunhui immediately made a call to have the three crazed employees escorted in.
Two security guards had their eyes covered with bandages, and their ten fingers were bitten to shreds.
The female employee hadn't harmed herself, but she occasionally let out eerie, silly laughter.
Lu Fei took out red ropes and tied the three of them to chairs.
Strangely enough, although these three were uncontrollably insane in the hospital and required several people to restrain them during their fits, they all sat quietly and motionlessly once bound with the red ropes, without making any noise or commotion.
Next, Lu Fei tied a red string to each of their middle fingers, with the other end of the strings connected to white candles.
The white candles, carved with each person's birthdate and eight-character horoscope, were placed by their feet.
After finishing this, Lu Fei asked Wan Chunhui to open the storeroom door so he could retrieve the ancient painting.
Now, no one but him dared to touch the painting.
"I still need three people to watch the candles. Tiger is one; we need two more. Who's up for it?" Lu Fei said to Wan Chunhui.
"We'll do it."
Wan Chunhui called the security captain to stay in the meeting room.
The others waited outside.
The security captain looked pale and had a miserable expression. But backing out now meant he could forget about working at the Tianlong Auction House ever again, so he could only grit his teeth and bear it.
"All you need to do is keep an eye on the candles and make sure the flames don't go out," Lu Fei instructed solemnly.
"Understood."
The three sat down next to the white candles in turn.
Lu Fei sprinkled a circle of incense ash around them and warned them not to leave no matter what they saw or heard.
Then, he hung the ancient painting on the wall.
A large copper basin filled with fresh elm branches was placed in the corner.
Finally, he shut the doors and windows tightly.
After doing all this, Lu Fei paused to catch his breath and surveyed the room to ensure everything was ready.
The small room fell silent.
Wan Chunhui, seated by the white candles, glanced around nervously.
But before he could say anything, darkness fell outside.
"It's dark now! From now on, no one is to speak until I have subdued the painting! Otherwise, if the yang energy leaks out, I won't be responsible for what happens," Lu Fei said seriously.
The three of them exchanged glances, nodded firmly, and grew more tense.
Lu Fei took a deep breath, glanced at the ancient painting on the wall, and used yellow paper to ignite the elm branches.
The fresh elm branches burned slowly, soon emitting thick, billowing white smoke.
The smoke quickly spread throughout the room, making it hard for everyone to keep their eyes open.
Wan Chunhui's throat itched, but remembering Lu Fei's instructions, he covered his mouth and nose and forced himself not to cough.
The guards, clueless about what Lu Fei was doing, looked worried, their heads hanging low.
Only Tiger remained relatively calm, fully trusting his boss.
However, all three shared one thing in common: they kept their heads down and dared not look at the painting on the wall.
The smoke from the burning elm branches continued to rise, enveloping the painting.
Lu Fei gripped his ghost-head knife tightly, staring intently.
At first, the painting remained calm, but soon it began to tremble, as if unable to withstand the smoke.
A wisp of black energy emerged from the painting, trying to extinguish the white smoke.
But as soon as the black energy touched the smoke, it dissipated instantly, as if evaporating.
"Ah!"
A ghostly, ethereal scream echoed, and the painting shook even more violently, slowly oozing fresh blood.
The three people with their heads lowered felt their scalps tingle, wanting to look up but not daring to. Their hearts pounded in their chests.
Lu Fei, however, let out a sigh of relief.
This method was working!
He put down the ghost-head knife and kept an eye on the fire basin, adding yellow paper whenever the flames seemed to wane.
The flames from the damp wood weren't large, but the smoke was substantial.
The smoke continuously engulfed the painting.
Whenever the black energy appeared, it was immediately evaporated by the white smoke, and more fresh blood dripped from the painting.
Then, an incredible scene unfolded!
The white smoke gradually began to seep into the painting.