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

Xia Ximo glanced at the bead, and in terms of appearance, it was indeed the same as the one from yesterday.

Similarly, there's nothing strange about it.

To confirm whether there was a "hidden secret" inside the bead, Ren Fengjue was about to let go and smash it when a voice came from the roof.

"Wait!"

Xia Ximo and Ren Fengjue looked up at the same time and saw a Taoist priest in tattered clothes sitting on the roof opposite.

He asked with a smile, "Does the young marquis know the name of this bead?"

Ren Fengjue recognized the other party at a glance as Yan Zhengchu, the Taoist priest who had appeared at the Yuwang Mansion earlier, and he was slightly surprised.

Why are you here?

"I said, we'll meet again if we're meant to."

"..."

As Yan Zhengchu answered, his gaze kept drifting back to Xia Ximo beside him.

He suddenly exclaimed in surprise, then quickly pinched his fingers and calculated, muttering, "This is really strange..."

"This young lady's life was destined to end half a month ago!"

A rare look of surprise flashed in Xia Ximo's eyes, but he did not reply.

She scrutinized the Taoist priest carefully, a few memories that didn't belong to this body flashing through her mind...

"Junior Sister Mogu, the most important thing in life is to be happy. You see, even though Master punished me, he still loves me in his heart..."

"My junior sister will always be my junior sister. Even if she leaves the sect, she will still be my junior sister..."

"Everyone calls you a female demon, but in your senior brother's heart, you'll always be your junior sister..."

……

Chaotic memories swirl in my mind, just as they're about to become clear, they gradually blur again...

When I tried to recall it later, there was no trace of it.

Xia Ximo snapped out of her daze, her palms sweating.

"Miss Xia, are you alright?"

Ren Fengjue, who was standing to the side, noticed that her expression was off and couldn't help but ask her a question.

"fine."

Xia Ximo gave a casual reply, suppressing his doubts, and asked the Taoist priest, "Do you know the origin of this bead?"

Yan Zhengchu did not answer, but suddenly leaped and nimbly jumped through the window, showing remarkable agility.

He walked two steps closer to the two with his hands behind his back, glancing at the lantern spirit floating in mid-air, which startled Wuyou so much that she quickly shrank back into the soul-ferrying lamp.

"This bead is called the 'Soul Nourishing Bead.' As the name suggests, it contains a soul and originally belonged to my Yunhe Mountain."

Ren Fengjue's expression hardened, and he asked, "Then why are you here?"

Yan Zhengchu explained, "Half a year ago, an evil creature sneaked into Yunhe Mountain and stole twelve 'Soul Nourishing Pearls.' Before my master went into seclusion, he ordered me to go down the mountain to retrieve them."

"But that evil creature is extremely good at concealing its tracks. In the past six months, I have only found it once, in a small town in the south."

As he spoke, he took out a bead from his waist, which was indeed the same as the one in Ren Fengjue's hand.

Yan Zhengchu continued, "However, when I arrived there, the situation was the same as here; the 'Soul Weapon' had also been hollowed out."

Upon hearing this, Ren Fengjue knew that this matter involved a wide range of people and was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.

He asked, "What is a Horcrux?"

Yan Zhengchu replied, "Humans are like Horcruxes."

Xia Ximo suddenly spoke up, "It must be the girl who died in this room, right?"

"good."

Yan Zhengchu's eyes showed admiration, and he said, "She died long ago, and even her soul has been scattered, but her body is still being controlled by evil beings."

"This evil entity used her body to absorb the malevolent energy within the 'Soul Nourishing Pearl'."

"But a Horcrux is still just a person. When a person dies, it becomes an empty shell. The body will decompose, and it will be detected when the body has completely decomposed."

"At this point, the evil entity will have to find a new 'Soul Weapon'."

After he finished speaking, Ren Fengjue and Xia Ximo had different expressions.

However, compared to Ren Fengjue, Yan Zhengchu seemed more interested in Xia Ximo.

He looked her over carefully again and asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

Xia Ximo stared at him coldly, "What are you afraid of?"

Yan Zhengchu laughed and said, "Your body is not as yin as the young marquis next to you. He has too much yin energy and is most likely to be targeted by ghosts and monsters."

"How about it? Would you like me to draw you a couple of talismans to ward off evil? You're so beautiful, I'll just take one ingot of gold."

Xia Ximo ignored him completely and instead turned around to observe the furnishings in the room.

Suddenly, his gaze fixed on a spot, as if he had discovered something.

Yan Zhengchu wasn't annoyed by being ignored. Instead, he turned to look at Ren Fengjue and changed his tone: "But you two are quite a good match. One has a pure yang body, and the other has an extremely yin body, plus you're destined to be together..."

Ren Fengjue knew the details well and had already figured them out. At this moment, no matter what the other party said, he was not very surprised.

Even when he was trying to think of something else to ask, Yan Zhengchu was able to speak first.

"Regarding your connection with Yunhe Mountain, it would be better to go home and ask your father, Marquis Renxuan. Forgive me for not being able to say more."

"..."

Lord Ren had no choice but to swallow his words.

Suddenly, he glanced down at the "Soul-Nourishing Pearl" in his hand, as if he had thought of a solution, and asked, "The Taoist priest said that evil creature stole twelve 'Soul-Nourishing Pearls,' how many have been found so far?"

"Including yours, that makes two."

Yan Zhengchu looked quite troubled, and as he spoke, he reached out to take the bead from his hand: "Perfect, now you can return it to its rightful owner."

Ren Fengjue quickly put away the Soul Nourishing Pearl and took several steps back, instantly widening the distance between them.

Seeing his impressive skills, Yan Zhengchu couldn't help but ask in surprise, "What does the young marquis mean by this?"

Ren Fengjue smiled slightly and said, "I forgot to tell you, one of them was already broken when it was in the palace."

"Including that one, there are exactly three, so you still need to find at least nine more."

"Master, how about we cooperate? I'll help you find the 'Soul-Nourishing Pearl,' and you answer one question for me, okay?"

Yan Zhengchu was slightly annoyed: "I see you're still not giving up..."

Ren Fengjue immediately bowed his head and said, "I only hope that the Daoist Master can answer one question for me, which is very important to me."

Yan Zhengchu sighed deeply, somewhat helplessly: "Didn't I tell you to go home and ask? If I could tell you, I would have already."

"It's not about my business..."

Ren Fengjue looked up at him, his eyes filled with expectation, "Daoist Master should know someone else."

"My uncle—Ren Yao, is he dead?"

Upon hearing this name, Yan Zhengchu's expression changed.

The silence grew cold, and after a long while, the Taoist snorted coldly, without replying. Just as he had come, he flickered and jumped away from the windowsill.

Watching the Taoist priest leave, Ren Fengjue couldn't catch up and stood there stunned for a moment.

Xia Ximo subconsciously turned around and glanced back, and for the first time, she saw the word "disappointment" in his back.

A strange feeling swept through her heart, and she couldn't help but take a few steps closer to him.

"Does it really matter whether someone lives or dies?"

Upon hearing her voice, Ren Fengjue realized with a start that she was talking to him.

But faced with this problem, his heart was clenched tightly, and he couldn't help but clench his fists.

He slowly turned his head, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

"It's very important to me."