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

Ren Fengjue opened the door and saw Xia Ximo standing alone outside, his expression still indifferent.

"Come with me."

She gave the order and then turned to lead the way.

Ren Fengjue was somewhat puzzled, but this was indeed her style of doing things, so he followed her and asked, "Where are Daoist Yan and Yu Lang?"

Xia Ximo, who was walking ahead, said coldly, "We've found some clues about the Du family, so we're sending you over to take a look."

"Have you found her main soul?"

"Yes."

Ren Fengjue then asked, "Did she reveal who killed her?"

Xia Ximo paused slightly, her tone remaining calm: "You'll know when you get there."

She quickened her pace, and Ren Fengjue hesitated for a moment, almost falling behind.

But after taking a few steps, he realized something was wrong.

This is not the direction to Zhenxia Temple.

Looking at Xia Ximo ahead, even though there was a considerable distance between them, she showed no intention of waiting for him…

"Miss Xia."

Ren Fengjue called out again, asking, "Aren't we going to Zhenxia Courtyard?"

"No." Xia Ximo said without turning her head, "Du Shi is not in Zhenxia Courtyard."

Ren Fengjue stared at her back for a while, feeling a sense of familiarity mixed with strangeness.

His doubts deepened, so he stopped again.

Seeing this, Xia Ximo slowly turned around, glanced at him, and said coldly, "What? Aren't you going?"

Ren Fengjue tentatively asked, "How did you and Daoist Yan find the soul of the Du family?"

Xia Ximo stared at him coldly, her eyes devoid of emotion and filled with lifelessness: "I told you, you'll find out when you get there."

"You are not Xia Ximo."

Looking at the person before him, Ren Fengjue became even more certain of his thoughts and immediately exposed her, "Are you a human or a ghost?"

Upon hearing his words, Xia Ximo suddenly revealed a sinister smile, and then his entire face began to blur, his features gradually disappearing.

Ren Fengjue was slightly startled. The next second, he felt as if someone was blowing a cold breath on his ear. He turned his head sharply and saw another blank face...

-

Inside the Zhenxia Courtyard, bells rang loudly.

Looking at the scattered souls within the formation, Yan Zhengchu felt a bit of a headache.

"Miss Xia, it seems that only these scattered souls remain in this courtyard..."

This is a somewhat tricky matter.

He understood that the fact that so many spirits lingered there without dispersing showed how deep their resentment was.

Moreover, there is a terrifying possibility behind this—that evil beings have controlled their main souls.

Xia Ximo also had some doubts.

Why are these spirits lingering here? Could it be that something else is hidden in the courtyard?

Just then, there was a sudden, impolite knocking on the door.

This was followed by Zhao Wan's angry shouts: "Xia Ximo, what are you doing in there?"

Xia Ximo remained calm and silently walked to the door, but only opened it a crack.

Outside the door stood Princess Fenghua and her personal maids.

"Why is there such a loud bell sound?"

Xia Ximo glanced at them and said, "I advise the princess to rest early and not to concern herself with matters here."

Zhao Wan got even angrier: "I want to sleep, but your bell is making me so upset, how can I sleep?"

As she spoke, ignoring Xia Ximo's attempts to stop her, she forcefully pushed open the courtyard gate.

"I'd like to see what you're up to!"

The moment the door opened, the bells within the formation rang even more intensely.

At this time, the moon hangs high in the sky, which is the time when yin energy is at its peak.

After Zhao Wan and her maids were hit by the oncoming yin energy, they were immediately able to see the yin spirits in the formation.

They had never seen such a sight before and were so frightened that they stood frozen in place.

Zhao Wan's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.

The spirits within the formation all turned to look at her, and for some reason, they rushed towards her one after another.

Yan Zhengchu was taken aback and was about to use a talisman to stop them when he discovered that the spirits were repelled by a force when they were less than a foot away from Zhao Wan.

Xia Ximo was close by, so he could see everything clearly.

But Zhao Wan couldn't withstand the fright and fainted the moment she saw the ghost rushing towards her.

The maids were terrified and surrounded Princess Fenghua, crying and shouting incessantly.

"Quiet down." Xia Ximo coldly rebuked, stepped forward to check the situation, and then ordered, "She just fainted from fright, carry her back to the courtyard first."

Hearing her words, the maids obediently stopped crying and quickly worked together to carry the princess back to Zhaoyang Courtyard.

Because of the princess's interference, Master Yan had no choice but to quickly disperse the evil spirits and dispel the formation.

When Steward Sun arrived with his men, the two had already quietly slipped back into the guest courtyard.

Yu Lang breathed a slight sigh of relief, but when he turned around, he saw that Ren Fengjue's door was wide open.

He sensed something was amiss. "Has Lord Ren also gone out?"

Curious, he glanced into the room again. The candles were still lit all around, but the young marquis was nowhere to be seen.

Yan Zhengchu asked in confusion, "Isn't the young marquis here?"

Yu Lang shook his head and hurried into the next room to wake up A Xia, who was asleep.

The other person was sleepy-eyed and looked confused, clearly unaware of the situation.

Logically speaking, if Ren Fengjue were to go out, the most likely reason would be to go to Zhenxia Courtyard to find Xia Ximo.

But they had just told him before they left that if they didn't come back, he shouldn't go over there yet.

The three exchanged a glance, and immediately had a bad feeling.

"Let's go and take a look inside Zhenxia Courtyard first."

No sooner had Steward Sun left than there was another knock on the gate of Zhenxia Courtyard.

Before Xia Ximo could even speak after opening the courtyard gate, Yu Lang anxiously asked, "Has the young marquis just been here?"

Xia Ximo shook his head and asked, "Isn't he in the guest courtyard?"

Yu Lang replied, "The door was open and the light was on, but the person was nowhere to be seen."

This is clearly not Ren Fengjue's habit.

Xia Ximo frowned slightly, and immediately made a decision in his mind: "Find the head steward of the manor."

At 11:45 AM, the Prince Wu's residence was brightly lit.

Upon learning of the "disappearance" of Young Master Ren, Steward Sun immediately led the guards of the Prince's Mansion to search the entire mansion.

However, after more than half an hour, and having searched the entire mansion inside and out, they still couldn't find anyone.

Suddenly, it felt like I was back on that night ten years ago…

When Consort Du of Zhenxia Courtyard went missing, it was Steward Sun who led a search party throughout the entire Prince's Mansion.

I searched all night but found nothing.

At this moment, the same thing happened again, and Steward Sun felt a chill run through his body.

He thought, if this only son of Marquis Renxuan really disappeared like this, then his life was over...

On the other side, Yu Lang was extremely anxious. He finally came up with a "soul-finding technique" but when he told Yan Zhengchu about it, he found that it wouldn't work.

Xia Ximo remained calm and carefully searched Ren Fengjue's room before finally finding a crumpled piece of paper in the wastebasket next to the desk.

After thinking for a moment, she picked up the scrap paper, unfolded it, and saw a messy diagram of the relationships between the characters in the Prince's Mansion.

There are King Wu, King Wu's wife, a princess, Consort Du, and some concubines. A timeline and related events are also recorded next to it.

Clearly, Ren Fengjue was also trying to figure out the connection.

However, he clearly spent the most time writing on the name "Princess Yang of the Wu Kingdom".

It is clear that the suspicions about her are the deepest.

In that instant, Xia Ximo suddenly recalled the scene in Zhenxia Courtyard where the ghostly spirit had lunged at Zhao Wan and was suddenly repelled...