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

No sooner had Yan Zhengchu left than Xia Ximo quietly stood up and followed him.

Ren Fengjue was startled to find the space beside him empty. He looked at her figure, about to ask her a question.

"Don't follow me."

"..."

Her tone remained firm, and without turning her head, she followed Yan Zhengchu's footsteps.

Yan Zhengchu, who was walking ahead, was startled to see him following him and hurriedly said, "My dear lady, why are you following me?"

"Who wants to be with you?"

Still that arrogant attitude.

"..."

Yan Zhengchu didn't know what to say to her for a moment, but then he thought about it and vaguely felt that the giant's sudden subjugation might be related to her.

Could it be her?

Xia Ximo gave him a cold glance, then asked, "Do you have a way to preserve Huang Yuqiong's soul while subduing the zombie?"

Yan Zhengchu was surprised that she would ask such a question. He hesitated for a moment before replying, "There is a way, but it's a bit tricky. We need to take the Soul-Nourishing Pearl out of her body."

If he guessed correctly, the bead should have already been swallowed.

"I considered using the 'corpse-fixing curse' to subdue her first, and then take out the bead."

"It's just... I suddenly forgot how to draw that talisman..."

Xia Ximo gave him another cold look, her eyes seeming to say—just admit it, you're useless.

Yan Zhengchu felt embarrassed by her stare. He coughed lightly and then said, "But after thinking about it for a while, I have some ideas now. I'll try again in a bit."

"..."

As they were speaking, something seemed to be slowly approaching from behind.

Yan Zhengchu turned around abruptly, only to be stared at by a pair of murky, dead-fish-like eyes. Seeing that the other person was about to pounce on him, he immediately covered his mouth and nose and quickly squatted down.

The zombie suddenly lost its target and turned to Xia Ximo.

Yan Zhengchu broke out in a cold sweat. On a whim, he picked up a stone from the ground and threw it aside.

Attracted by the noise, the zombie quickly ran over.

Yan Zhengchu breathed a slight sigh of relief and tugged at Xia Ximo's sleeve, only to find her still standing ramrod straight.

This woman! She's not afraid of people, she's not afraid of ghosts, and now she's not even afraid of this "fierce corpse"!

"Grandma..."

Yan Zhengchu pleaded in a low voice, "Could you squat down with me?"

Under his earnest gaze, Xia Ximo reluctantly and slowly squatted down.

Yan Zhengchu made a shushing gesture, then took out yellow paper and a vermilion pen from his pocket.

He mentally reviewed the blurry talisman several times, but the more anxious he became, the less he knew how to begin writing it down.

Xia Ximo didn't say anything, but his bright eyes and disdainful gaze were incredibly oppressive.

Yan Zhengchu's hands trembled uncontrollably under her gaze.

"Will it work?"

"..."

Xia Ximo seemed unwilling to waste time with him, so he stood up and chased after the walking corpse.

"You...wait..."

Yan Zhengchu was extremely anxious, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of the Bagua jade gourd hanging at his waist.

The key to that talisman is related to the "Eight Trigrams Formation".

He suddenly realized the meaning, and with a dot of cinnabar on the paper, his brushstrokes flowed effortlessly.

-

At this moment, A-Xia was squatting in place, guarding the lantern, staring at Thirteen big eyes next to her.

The cave was so quiet you could hear the wind whistling through it, and the light only illuminated the small area beneath your feet.

Everything else in sight was dark.

Suddenly, a figure slowly walked out in the dim light.

Xia subconsciously stood up and, seeing that the figure was slender and clearly a woman, called out, "Miss Xia?"

Upon hearing his voice, the man seemed to pause for a moment, then suddenly quickened his pace.

But for some reason, his walking posture looked very strange.

As they got closer, A-Xia gradually realized something was wrong, and Fourteen on the ground also let out a low growl.

Immediately, the figure pounced forward...

Before A-Xia could even see clearly, her arm was grabbed by a pair of icy hands.

In his panic, he looked closely and saw a deathly pale face in front of him.

But judging from his pale, bluish skin, he seemed to have been dead for a long time, and there were even faint signs of lividity in a few places.

And those "eyes," which were now just whites, showed no trace of human life.

Could this be a corpse that crawled out of a grave deep in the mountains?

A-Xia tried to struggle, but the woman's grip was incredibly strong. He tried his best but couldn't break free even a little, which horrified him.

Just as the other person suddenly opened their mouth, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, about to bite down...

But then he saw another figure appear behind the female corpse.

"Miss Xia!"

A-Xia immediately cried out in surprise.

He thought he was doomed this time, but nothing happened until cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

The female corpse in front of them seemed to be restrained by some force.

Her mouth was still open, and her teeth were almost touching his neck.

Xia was so shocked that her legs completely went numb, but then she heard Yan Zhengchu's voice: "Xia, don't panic!"

"Master Yan!"

Yan Zhengchu, who arrived just in time, struck Huang Yuqiong on the forehead without saying a word.

Seeing that she was frozen in place, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness I wasn't too late!"

Yan Zhengchu, who had been on edge the whole time, suddenly went limp and sat down on the ground. He couldn't help but sigh, "Fortunately, I remembered this at the critical moment, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."

Although the female corpse in front of her was no longer moving, Xia was still shaken and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happened?"

At this moment, Ren Fengjue, Yu Lang, and Shisan rushed over.

With everyone's combined efforts, they separated the female corpse, which had already been "subdued," from A-Xia.

Yu Lang patted A Xia on the shoulder and said, "I'm sorry you were frightened. I'll tell you the details later."

Thirteen couldn't help but walk up to Huang Yuqiong, his expression filled with indescribable sorrow and regret.

He reached out his trembling hands, as if wanting to touch her face, and finally cried out, "Sister Yuqiong, Thirteen was wrong..."

Yan Zhengchu rested for a moment, then realized he had important business to attend to.

He walked up to the female corpse and Thirteen and said, "I will now use magic to force out the Soul-Nourishing Pearl she swallowed. Only by releasing her soul can she have the chance to enter the underworld for reincarnation."

Upon hearing this, Thirteen tried to kneel down again, but was refused: "Don't kneel. She died so unjustly. If her resentment is still not appeased, she will need you to dispel her resentment..."

As Yan Zhengchu spoke, he immediately put his index and middle fingers together, made a hand seal, and inserted it into the woman's brow.

A wisp of black smoke immediately shot out from her eyes.

He tossed out another copper coin, silently chanting an incantation, and the soul-nourishing pearl inside the female corpse's abdomen seemed to respond.

Immediately afterwards, a bead the size of a pigeon egg flew out of her mouth, landed on the ground, and broke in two.

At that moment, a shadow flew out from within and quickly headed towards the outside of the cave…