Holding a lantern, guiding souls across, Lady Hou comes from the underworld.

That night, Yan Zhengchu began using the "Soul-Seeking Technique" to search for Bai Qingshuang's whereabouts.

However, she was clearly much more cunning than the other demon.

Judging from the compass readings, she had already traveled around the entire capital, her location constantly shifting, as if she was intentionally playing cat and mouse with them.

"This evil spirit... is clearly toying with me."

Yan Zhengchu stared at the constantly changing hands, feeling a slight dizziness and headache.

Yu Lang, who was watching intently, couldn't help but ask, "What exactly did the Taoist priest use to find the evil spirit's trail?"

"Um…"

Yan Zhengchu pondered for a moment, then tried to explain in the simplest and most understandable way: "It is to take the ghostly energy from its body and combine it with the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams techniques."

Last night, when he fought Bai Qingshuang, he was a little cautious and took a strand of her hair, storing it in his compass.

The hair is placed in a coil, transforming into ghostly energy. Then, by activating the "Soul-Seeking Incantation," one can discern traces of the ghost's presence on the compass.

Yu Lang, somewhat eager to try, asked, "Is there any 'ghostly aura' on this compass? How can I see it?"

Yan Zhengchu smiled, made a gesture in the air, and then directly touched his left eye.

"Cover your right eye and look."

Yu Lang pressed his right eye as instructed, then looked with his left eye and saw a cloud of white smoke swirling above the compass.

He watched in amazement, then suddenly heard footsteps outside and immediately turned around to look.

One glance was enough to make his heart tremble.

As Xia Ximo walked in the courtyard, a white shadow floated above his head.

He shouted, "Taoist priest, there's a ghost!"

Yan Zhengchu glanced back and saw that it was Xia Ximo, and immediately knew what was going on.

He knew, of course, that a formless ghost would occasionally follow Xia Ximo around.

But this wisp of soul was extremely pure, purer than any other wisp of spirit he had ever seen.

Seeing that it had no intention of harming anyone, he let it go.

"Where did this ghost come from? That's Miss Xia..."

Yan Zhengchu said that on purpose.

Yu Lang stared wide-eyed and looked around again. Xia Ximo had already entered the room with a cold expression and glanced at him lightly.

That look in their eyes is more terrifying than a ghost's.

He shuddered, and though he wanted to say that he had just seen a white shadow, he swallowed his words.

Xia Ximo ignored him and went straight to Yan Zhengchu, asking, "Taoist, is there any result?"

Yan Zhengchu narrowed his eyes inscrutably before saying, "This evil spirit is trying to confuse the public by running all over the city, but as long as she is still in this city, I will definitely be able to find her."

"So, you're saying there's still no result?"

"…yes."

Xia Ximo glanced at him again, her eyes seeming to say—I knew you were useless, you Taoist priest.

Yan Zhengchu understood immediately after being looked at by her.

"Yes, yes, but it shows that she has just left the capital and is heading north."

"We need to act quickly and catch up with her as soon as possible. We can't let her get out of our control."

Yu Lang immediately said, "I'll go inform Lord Ren..."

He was about to walk out when Ren Fengjue's figure was reflected in the window of the main hall.

Beneath his dark blue cloak was a black outfit, a sword at his waist, and his hair was neatly combed.

At first glance, he seemed to have a more chivalrous air than usual.

Yu Lang was somewhat surprised: "Your Excellency is so well-informed?"

Ren Fengjue was clearly prepared: "Master Yan had told us beforehand that we should set off immediately once we found any trace of ghosts."

-

The night was deep, and the moon was obscured by clouds.

A four-horse carriage exited the north gate and headed towards the wide official road.

Yan Zhengchu kept a close eye on the "ghostly aura" on the compass the whole way. Just as they were about to reach a town, the ghostly aura suddenly turned into smoke and disappeared.

However, at that moment, thunder suddenly rumbled in the sky, and a torrential downpour began instantly.

Under these circumstances, Ren Fengjue had no choice but to instruct A Xia to find an inn nearby to stay in.

However, the small town called "Ge Town" is not far from the imperial city, but the scene at night is completely different.

The streets were almost deserted at this time, with only a couple of shops occasionally having their lights on, which would turn off before you could get close.

After searching through several streets, I finally found an inn called "Qiongying".

However, although lanterns were hanging in front of the inn, the door was tightly closed.

Ah Xia knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Just when he thought the shop was empty, the door suddenly creaked open a crack.

A figure appeared behind the door, but its face was almost invisible.

A-Xia asked, "Are there any guest rooms?"

The person inside stared at Xia for a while without moving before saying in a low voice, "Someone just died in this inn. Are you sure you want to stay?"

A-Xia was taken aback.

That's far too direct.

This caught him off guard for a moment.

The person inside gave a disdainful smile, as if mocking his cowardice, and was about to close the door.

Ah Xia blocked the door with her hand and said sternly, "Let me ask my master first."

As he spoke, he quickly ran to the carriage with his umbrella and told the people inside about it.

Ren Fengjue lifted the carriage curtain and glanced into the inn.

In the darkness, only one lantern was lit, and it was very inconspicuous.

It even exudes a hint of eeriness.

He glanced at the relentless rain, a strange glint in his eyes: "Let's go in and take a look. Since we're open for business, even if someone has died, it's no big deal."

Ah Xia returned and informed the shopkeeper.

The shop door slowly opened, but no one inside came out to greet them.

Seeing this, A-Xia could only let everyone get out of the car first, while she found a leaky thatched shed next to the shop and parked the car there.

As Ren Fengjue and his group stepped into the shop, they immediately felt a chilling aura rushing towards them.

Yan Zhengchu frowned and said in a low voice, "The yin energy here is so heavy..."

Yu Lang glanced around and felt a chill run down his spine.

There was only one person standing in front of the counter in the shop. Even though there was a distance between them, the other person could still hear what he said.

"They say that if someone has died there, of course the yin energy will be heavy."

The other person's voice was cold and sinister, and their face was not clearly visible, but from the tone of their voice, it was impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman.

Ren Fengjue immediately stepped forward and asked, "Are you the only one in the shop?"

"Yes."

"This inn is quite large; can you manage it all by yourself?"

The person inside gave a sinister smile, and his tone was even more chilling: "Because people are dying so often, the waiters, waitresses, accountants, and cooks have all run away, not to mention the guests who stay at the inn."

"If you're brave enough, stay one night and you'll find out."

Yu Lang couldn't stand his attitude and couldn't help but speak up: "Stop scaring people like this. Even if there are ghosts, can't you see there's a Taoist priest here?"

"Ghosts?" The man sneered again. "Evil people are far more terrifying than evil ghosts."

Just as Yu Lang was about to continue arguing with him, Ren Fengjue took out two silver ingots from his pocket and said, "Enough with the nonsense, arrange five superior rooms directly."