"Hair?!"
Lu Fei was suddenly startled and cautiously stopped in his tracks.
That's clearly my own hair!
When did I shave it off, without even realizing it?
"Kid! No matter how tough you are, you're just a little sparrow. Competing with us, old craftsmen who have toiled our whole lives, you're still too green!"
The old man struggled to get up from the ground, his burns being pulled, causing him so much pain that he was grimacing.
But he held tightly onto Lu Fei's severed hair, stumbling back to the altar table in the memorial hall.
Incense sticks were inserted into the incense burner.
Smoke wafted gently.
The three apprentices in the memorial photos seemed to be watching everything silently.
"Back then, I endured countless cuts from my master just to learn the skill of shaving!"
In the old man's smile, there was a tinge of bitterness amidst the pride.
"In our line of work, the blade must be sharp, and the hand must be steady, to shave and cut hair without a trace!"
"I've been shaving heads all my life, this skill is etched into my bones. Anyone who passes by me, I can take their hair silently and without them even noticing!"
"You are also a cultivator, you should know well what the consequences are if your hair falls into the hands of an enemy, right?"
The scar on his face trembled, and the old man's smile became increasingly sinister.
"At this point, I will put my old life on the line and not let you off easy!"
As soon as he finished speaking.
He took out a piece of human scalp and placed it in front of the incense burner, then inserted Lu Fei's severed hair onto it.
Holding the sharp razor in his hand, he turned it as if he were shaving a head, and began to scrape at those severed hairs.
Shaving the ghost head!
Lu Fei's eyebrows twitched fiercely!
In the traditions of Huaxia, before death, people need to tidy up their appearance, such as shaving and grooming, so they can depart cleanly.
Shaving the head of someone who is about to die is called 'shaving the yin head'.
Hair, which grows due to a person's essence, energy, and blood, contains one's spirit and soul.
Lighting incense and offering prayers, treating the living as if they were dead, is an ominous act.
Shaving the yin head for a living person can directly harm their soul, causing an imbalance between yin and yang, resulting in madness, idiocy, or even a fragmented soul, preventing them from being reborn after death.
Folklore has long held that barbers should not be offended.
Not only because the barber's sharp three-inch blade dances near one's neck and throat, a slip when you are unprepared could slit your throat, ending your life in an instant.
But also because of the practice of shaving the yin head.
Many dark arts in the world require human hair to be effective.
Who knows what a barber could do with your hair?
However, generally, no barber would shave the head of a living person's deceased as it would bring retribution.
Shaving the head of the deceased leads to a shortage of souls in the underworld, and the hell guards would take the barber's soul to make up for it.
This old man shaving Lu Fei's hair clearly intends to drag Lu Fei down with him!
The moment the old man made his move, Lu Fei's whip also sprang into action.
Snap!
The whip lashed out fiercely.
But the old man had anticipated Lu Fei's actions. He feigned a move, flicked his wrist, and dodged the whip, while his razor cut towards the broken strands of hair from another direction.
Not good!
Lu Fei was extremely anxious.
He moved his hand swiftly, striking again with the whip.
The old man turned around directly, using his back to firmly take the lash. Although it was painful, his hand did not tremble at all; the sharp blade had already touched the broken hair.
In an instant, it could cut through it.
Whoosh!
At this critical moment.
A strand of black hair rushed fiercely, quickly coiling around the old man's wrist and pulling hard.
The razor immediately moved away from the broken hair.
"Little Umbrella! You came back just in time!"
Lu Fei felt a great sense of relief. This evil object was connected to his life; if he was in danger, it would surely arrive at the first opportunity.
He lashed out again, taking away the piece of scalp.
"Damn it!"
The old man shouted in unwillingness, grabbing the hair clippers with his left hand and wildly slashing at his black hair.
Strands of black hair snapped one by one.
Hair clippers are naturally designed to cut hair and could be considered the nemesis of black hair.
"Stop!"
Lu Fei, furious, kicked the old man down and lashed him with a few harsh blows.
The offering table was knocked over, and the incense burner fell to the ground.
The old man curled up like a fully cooked shrimp, his aged body tightly bunched. Burns and lash marks deeply stimulated his nerves.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he was still holding a few broken strands of hair in his trembling hands. He mixed the broken hair with the ashes from the incense and secretly rubbed it onto his aged scalp, then savagely cut into it with the knife.
"More?!"
However, his small movements were still noticed by Lu Fei.
This old guy is really tenacious!
Fortunately, the black hair quickly reacted, the strands swiftly moving, arriving before the razor.
It precisely rolled away Lu Fei's severed hair.
The old man raised his hand, and the knife fell.
Several strands of hair were shaved off by him.
"Hahaha!" His scar-covered face suddenly broke into an excited laugh, "Kid, you're still one step behind in the end! Hahahaha..."
An unpleasant laughter echoed through the dilapidated hall.
Lu Fei just looked at him indifferently.
"You take a look first, whose hair that is, before you say anything!"
The old man was taken aback, he lowered his head to look, his old eyes suddenly widened, and his whole body began to tremble.
On the chilling blade, there were a few strands of gray hair.
They were his hairs.
He had shaved his own head!
"No, no..."
The old man couldn't accept it; he had been shaving heads his whole life without ever making a mistake.
But now——
"No..."
His eyes filled with despair, in extreme grief and anger, he actually used that sharp razor to slit his own throat.
"I curse you to not die a good death..."
He fell into a pool of blood, his eyes still fixed on Lu Fei.
Lu Fei didn't feel anything in his heart.
It was just a pity for the barber's legacy.
The same skills, when passed to different people, would have entirely different outcomes.
Shaving, bone reading.
These were originally good crafts that benefited the common people.
But they used them to harm others.
Evil deeds will bring their own retribution; they should have thought about facing karmic retribution when they were harming others!
"Wearing funeral hemp, the curse won't stop until everyone is dead! How formidable!"
Lu Fei looked around the mourning hall and stretched out his hand.
The black umbrella returned to his backpack.
He left the old house with a blank expression.
"Boss!"
Huzi only then came panting from afar.
"Just now, just as I was chasing that female demon, she suddenly disappeared, and the black umbrella flew back... Boss, are you okay?"
"Do I look like something's wrong to you?"
Lu Feibai gave him a glance and stepped out towards the alley exit.
His own car was parked not far away.
There was a person kneeling beside the car, guarded by Xiao Hei.
If that person moved even slightly, Xiao Hei would open his sharp mouth.
"Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, I was wrong!"
Seeing Lu Fei return, the man immediately turned around and knelt, tears and snot streaming as he kowtowed to Lu Fei.
"I really didn't know what Mr. Lei was up to. He gave me money to help him find you. I'll give all the money to you, okay..."
"Just treat me like a fart and let me go..."
The man was none other than Xiao Li from the car shop.
"Hu Zi, it's up to you!" Lu Fei got into the car with an expressionless face. Xiao Hei jumped up, wagging his tail like a propeller, clearly very pleased with himself.
"Damn it, daring to mess with our boss! You're asking for death!"
Hu Zi, who had been pent up with frustration, clenched his fists, making them crackle.
In the deserted outskirts, pig-like screams echoed.
Afterward.
Lu Fei did not immediately return to the Antique Street but instead headed to the Three Flavors Teahouse.
That demoness has escaped, and she's a potential threat.
He must find a way to uncover the demoness's background and her whereabouts!