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

Xia Ximo entered the courtyard, pushed open the door, and walked directly into the main room.

The wandering spirit in the corner shrank back in fright at the sound.

Without wasting words, she coldly asked, "You should know how he died."

The wandering spirit remained silent, but instead began to weep softly.

Xia Ximo frowned: "What's the use of crying when someone's dead?"

The wandering spirit sobbed, "It was me, I killed him..."

"Good to know."

Xia Ximo glanced at the dilapidated house.

The valuables seemed to have been looted long ago, and there was leftover food on the table, which looked like it had been sitting for days.

The windows were sealed shut, making it almost impossible to see any sunlight.

It's hard to imagine that a living person could survive in such an environment for half a year.

"What exactly happened last night?"

As observed yesterday, Zhou Zigui's yin energy was indeed excessive, posing a risk of "soul separation" at any moment.

However, his lifespan has not yet ended. Even if his "soul" leaves his body, he may temporarily lose vital signs, but he will not die immediately.

His soul dared not leave the house at will.

But now, he is indeed dead.

His death was gruesome and unjust.

The wandering spirit in the corner slowly stopped crying, revealing its true form as a woman, and then slowly said, "Last night... someone broke into the courtyard."

"people?"

"No, that's not a person, it's... a demon!"

The wandering spirit Liu's voice trembled, and her face was full of fear.

Xia Ximo's eyes darkened. "Explain yourself."

Thinking of her husband's death, Liu was heartbroken again, and then slowly recounted what had happened the night before.

"Last night, around midnight..."

Zhou Zigui was awakened by a knock on the door.

For quite some time now, no one has dared to step into the Zhou family mansion. Even thieves and robbers have begun to avoid it.

Therefore, the knocking sounded extremely abrupt at night.

Zhou Zigui got up and staggered to the door, asking, "Who is it?"

The person outside the door said coldly, "I need to borrow something."

"I have nothing to lend you, you should leave now."

Upon hearing the sound, there was indeed no further movement outside the door.

Zhou Zigui turned to leave, but by the moonlight, he saw that there was a shadow under his feet.

He turned around abruptly, only to find a faceless monster floating behind him, which terrified his already shaky soul, causing it to spring back into the air.

However, the monster stared intently at his soul, stretched out its palm, and easily captured it.

The soul is inherently fragile when separated from the body, and has no room for resistance.

The monster let out a savage laugh, opened its blood-red maw, and swallowed the soul whole.

Upon hearing this, a slight ripple appeared in Xia Ximo's eyes.

"A monster that eats souls?"

Liu nodded, "Absolutely true."

It seems that the capital city is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface.

There are quite a few evil and sinister things.

Xia Ximo continued, "Yesterday, your husband wanted my help to find the real killer who murdered you. Why did you refuse?"

Faced with this question, Liu seemed hesitant and did not answer immediately.

After a long while, she sighed again.

"The person who killed me is... a very important figure we cannot afford to offend."

"I know that if I tell my husband, he will risk his life to kill the other man and avenge us."

"But...I don't want him to die, I want him to live a good life."

Upon hearing this, Xia Ximo scoffed, "But look closely, what's the difference between him living like this and being dead?"

"No, you don't understand!"

Liu raised her voice to retort, "I see you are still young, never married, and certainly have no one you love, so naturally you wouldn't understand the pain of being separated from your beloved by life or death..."

That day, Zhou Zigui and a group of yamen runners found the bodies of the mother and her two children at the bottom of the cliff.

Her and her child's spirits floated to the side.

But Zhou Zigui couldn't see them at all.

The children cried loudly, "I want my father! Why won't he answer me?"

Liu didn't know how to explain what life was, what death was, and what it meant for humans and ghosts to be on different paths.

They could only follow behind their husbands, watching them grieve inconsolably.

In court, the driver, Ada, took all the blame.

Zhou Zigui lost control of her emotions and grabbed his collar, yelling, "You beast! Give me back my wife! Give me back my child!"

She reached out to grab her husband's arm, but her spirit couldn't grasp anything. She could only helplessly scream from the sidelines, "It wasn't him! The murderer wasn't him!"

But no one could hear it.

She could only watch as Ada, the scapegoat, was escorted to prison by the bailiffs.

The case seemed to have been resolved satisfactorily, but Zhou Zigui returned home like a walking corpse.

He began to lie in bed, refusing to eat or drink, ignoring everything around him, feeling empty and lost, as if he had lost his soul.

Seeing his increasingly haggard appearance, Liu could only stay by his side with the child's spirit.

"My husband, you absolutely cannot be hurt..."

"You must live well."

"The murderer who killed us wasn't Ada; they arrested the wrong person!"

She kept talking to him every day.

After an unknown number of days, Zhou Zigui, who was starving and on the verge of death, suddenly opened his eyes.

He called out with difficulty, "My wife, is that you? I can hear your voice."

Lady Liu was overjoyed and quickly replied, "It's me... my husband!"

Zhou Zigui immediately sat up. There was no one in the room, but he could hear his wife's voice.

He asked, "Why can't I see you? My wife, I long to see you again, to see you and the child!"

Lady Liu felt a pang of sorrow: "My husband, we are already dead..."

Zhou Zigui was not afraid.

The pain of longing for so many days, even if it's a ghost, what difference does it make?

He was still desperate to see them. "My wife, you just said that Ada wasn't the murderer who killed you! Then who is the real murderer? I want to avenge you!"

Liu wanted to reveal the name, but seeing Zhou Zigui so haggard, she was afraid he would be throwing his life away in vain.

"I can't say that we can't get revenge."

Zhou Zigui angrily retorted, "A life for a life, that's only right and proper!"

Lady Liu sighed softly.

That's true.

But since ancient times, in the face of absolute power, human life has been as worthless as grass.

Once you're dead, you're dead.

If you can't pay with your life, how can you pay with your life?

"I don't want him to seek revenge, so I won't tell."

Madam Liu clutched her sleeve tightly, clearly struggling internally. She continued, "After that, my husband began to cheer up a bit, but he still refused to go out."

"He was afraid that if he went out and came back, he wouldn't be able to hear my voice..."

"I promised him that I wouldn't leave, and only then did he agree to go out occasionally to buy food."

"People outside started spreading rumors that he had gone mad, but only I know that my husband's love for me has never changed, even if I were a ghost."

"We spent every day together in this way, and strangely enough, after some time, he gradually began to be able to see me again..."

Xia Ximo then understood what Yan Zhengchu meant when he said that if a person on the verge of death can communicate with their soul, they can break the barrier between yin and yang.

She truly doesn't understand such emotions.

Of course, they wouldn't bother to understand it.

Just as she was about to ask who the real killer was who had murdered her and her two children,

Footsteps sounded outside the door, and the wandering spirits immediately dispersed.

Xia Ximo had already sensed the pure yang energy. She walked to the door, blocked it, and looked at the person outside with displeasure, coldly saying, "Ren Fengjue, you've scared away even ghosts."