I don't want to be trained by my senior sister!

Fang Xuan was dazed by the commotion and was just about to break the formation.

But suddenly a hand reached out from the shadows and gently grasped his wrist.

Then pull.

The darkness vanished instantly, and my vision returned to normal.

Moonlight, bamboo shadows, the familiar courtyard, and Ning Qian's cool and aloof face so close at hand.

She still held a sword incantation that hadn't completely dissipated in one hand, while her other hand gripped his wrist.

However, Fang Xuan's first reaction was...

Wow... what a move my senior sister made...

Slender fingers, smooth skin...

It's a bit chilly, so I need to eat more nourishing foods.

"What are you spacing out for?"

Ning Qian's cool voice pulled him back from his brief daze.

"It's nothing."

Fang Xuan stood up straight, looking around. "Where are the ghosts? Where are those shadowy figures?"

The courtyard was empty, the moonlight was bright, as if the terrifying scene of howling winds and a hundred ghosts walking at night was just an illusion.

Ning Qian replied, "In your room."

"Huh?" Fang Xuan subconsciously shrank back behind her, only peeking out half of his head.

"Still inside? Senior sister, how about... we take our time and talk about it after the sun comes out..."

Ning Qian was still somewhat puzzled.

"How can a person who cultivates himself fear such filthy things?"

Her tone remained calm, but Fang Xuan could detect a hint of disdain in it.

Ning Qian truly couldn't understand how someone who possessed a top-tier protective spiritual artifact, whose strength had reached the nascent core stage, and who could plant people in the ground when she made a move, could be so afraid of ghosts that she wanted to hide behind her.

She walked straight to the bamboo house.

Seeing this, Fang Xuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow her step by step.

Upon reaching the door, Ning Qian did not immediately push it open. Instead, she stretched out her finger and casually drew a line in the air.

Her brows furrowed slightly.

"The malevolent energy has gathered and gained considerable strength, yet it has been concealed so deeply..."

Fang Xuan's heart pounded with anxiety.

If he gains influence, wouldn't he become the big boss?

Just then, Ning Qian pushed open the bamboo door.

"boom--!!"

A dark red aura, ten times more ferocious than before, surged out from inside the house.

Fang Xuan instinctively tried to pull Ning Qian away, but Ning Qian stepped forward instead, completely blocking him behind her.

"Disperse."

Centered on her fingertips, an unparalleled and sharp "intention" suddenly spread out.

Fang Xuan's eyes widened slightly.

This was the first time he had ever felt Ning Qian's sword intent so closely.

The dark red, malevolent aura rapidly dissipated under the impact of this sword intent.

But the aftershocks of the sword intent seemed not to have stopped.

"call--!!!"

A wave of air swept outwards from Ning Qian as the center.

The things inside the house were blown about and tilted.

The most unfortunate of all are the bamboo house roofs that were just repaired and haven't even had a chance to be enjoyed yet—

After the newly laid tiles and bamboo beams groaned under the strain, the entire roof was blown away by the aftershocks of the chilling sword intent.

Bamboo and wood collapsed onto the ground with a clatter, even more completely than when Fang Xuan had destroyed it himself...

Fang Xuan stood behind Ning Qian, looking at his own little house that had instantly turned back into an "open-air view room" and the mess all over the place.

He opened his mouth, but was speechless for a moment.

His roof... is gone again...

That's really...wonderful.

If he speaks now, will his angry senior sister silence him?

He took a deep breath, swallowed back the words that were about to come out, and adjusted his facial expression.

Ning Qian looked at the bare roof beams and the broken pieces on the ground, and clenched her hands tightly at her sides.

It took her all afternoon to fix it...

......

The surging malevolent energy inside the room did not completely dissipate under the impact of the sword intent; instead, it seemed to be enraged, frantically contracting and condensing.

Finally, a chilling dark fog formed in the center of the room.

Within the fog, countless ferocious faces could be vaguely seen.

The black mist rushed towards the two people at the door again.

This time, its target seemed to be Fang Xuan, whose aura was weaker and who had been hiding in the back.

Ning Qian's eyes turned cold, and she was about to make another move.

But the malevolent aura had only reached halfway.

Under the somewhat astonished gazes of Fang Xuan and Ning Qian, surprisingly...

They turned around and ran away.

Instead of rushing towards the doorway, it crashed directly into the wall behind the bamboo house, passing through it instantly like an invisible entity and disappearing into the direction of the bamboo forest behind the mountain.

Fang Xuan: "......."

This guy... he's actually pretty savvy?

After a brief silence, Ning Qian quickly composed herself.

She glanced back at Fang Xuan, speaking a little faster than usual.

"This beast is quite intelligent. Just now, it was only a portion of its power manifesting through an object. I went after it to prevent it from escaping."

"Stay here and search. The evil energy just erupted from this house, so there must be something left behind to support it. It could be an old vessel, a weapon stained with blood and evil energy, or even... something buried underground."

Before he finished speaking, his figure had already transformed into a faint phantom, chasing after the direction in which the evil aura had fled.

......

"Looking for... a place to stay in my body?"

Fang Xuan looked at the dark room, which was still filled with wisps of lingering eerie energy, and felt a chill run down his spine.

The moonlight shone directly down from the roofless sky, making it even brighter than when the lamps were lit, though it was a bit chilly.

"The original body... is usually an old item, right?"

Fang Xuan muttered to himself as he began searching.

The bed? He had just been lying on the bed like a corpse, feeling nothing but cold.

A table? A regular bamboo table, the one my senior sister made recently, that's impossible.

A chamber pot? ...There's no such thing in this room.

Even if he did, he would still feel sorry for the ghost.

The roof tiles and bamboo beams? Those were just replaced by my senior sister, they're brand new. And if the evil energy were attached to them, she would have discovered it when she was repairing the roof.

He turned all his meager possessions upside down.

A few pieces of clothing, some miscellaneous items, and the new bedding that Ning Qian had laid out for him were now covered in dust from the collapse.

In short, nothing was gained.

"Could it be buried underground?" Fang Xuan squatted down and tapped the ground. The ground was paved with solid bluestone slabs, so it didn't seem like there was anything there.

Finding things isn't his forte.

Let's just force it out with spiritual pressure.

He began to activate the vast spiritual power within his body.

Although he hadn't specifically studied any detection spells, with his total spiritual power at the Void Core Realm, he could still create a sense of oppression simply by releasing it externally.

An invisible spiritual force slowly spread out from him, like ripples on water, across every inch of the room and every object.

At first, there was no reaction.

But when his immense spiritual power swept across the corner under the bed—

"Buzz..."

A very faint ripple came from under the bed.

Fang Xuan's gaze locked onto that corner.

He remembered there... something seemed to have been stuffed there?

Oh right, he stole his senior sister's wine and hid a jar under the bed.

He reached out and dragged the wine jar out.

The wine jar is very ordinary; it's the kind of rough earthenware jar most commonly seen at the night market in Qingshi Town, sealed with red cloth and mud.

It looks ordinary.

Fang Xuan hesitated for a moment and did not open it immediately.

Not right.

This discovery... wasn't it a little too easy? It's almost as if he discovered it on purpose.

He pinched his chin, staring at the wine jar with a wary look in his eyes.

In horror movies, these seemingly crucial clues are often traps.

But before he could figure it out—

A soft sound.

The once intact mud seal and red cloth on the wine jar had cracked open.

Immediately afterwards, a dark, malevolent aura, even more venomous than the one that erupted inside the house before, surged out from the crack.

It instantly engulfed Fang Xuan.

On the surface of the altar, a distorted ghost face faintly appeared, facing Fang Xuan with a strange smile.