While in Hollywood, I used Taoist magic to quell American terrorism.

"Whose sofa is this?" Cao Kun suddenly asked.

Peggy paused for a moment: "It...it belongs to the previous owner."

That old man named Bill Wilkins.

He died in this house, right on this sofa.

We didn't have the money to replace the furniture when we moved in, so we left it.

Cao Kun nodded and withdrew his hand.

"Just an old ghost who refuses to leave."

He spoke casually, even with a hint of disdain, "This is just an appetizer."

"Old...old ghost?" Peggy turned pale with fright.

"He's watching us."

Rowling suddenly spoke, her body stiffening, her gaze fixed on the shadows at the top of the stairs.

"I can feel... something there."

"Let's go up and take a look."

Cao Kun turned and headed towards the stairs.

The wooden stairs creaked beneath his feet.

The second-floor corridor was even darker, and the door to a room at the end was ajar.

Cao Kun pushed open the door.

The four children huddled together on one bed, wrapped in blankets, shivering.

Upon seeing the strangers enter, the eldest girl, Jenny, abruptly raised her head.

Her eyes glazed over for a moment, then turned to fear.

"Who are you?" Jenny asked.

Cao Kun didn't answer, but stared at Jenny's shadow.

In Cao Kun's consciousness, within Jenny's shadow, there seemed to be another hunched figure superimposed.

"Come out, Bill."

Cao Kun looked at Jenny, but he was speaking to the thing inside her body.

"Is it fun to occupy a little girl's body?"

Jenny's body jolted violently.

She lowered her head, and when she raised it again, the expression on her face was extremely strange.

His mouth was crooked and his eyes were cloudy.

"This is my house..."

From Jenny's tender throat came a hoarse, aged male voice, like the rubbing of sandpaper:

"Get out...you uninvited guests."

Peggy covered her mouth and let out a suppressed scream.

Ed immediately raised the crucifix: "In the name of God..."

Cao Kun raised his hand to stop Ed.

He stepped forward, his eyes cold, and lightning crackling faintly around him.

"You dare call me an uninvited guest?"

Cao Kun sneered: "An old geezer who refused to reincarnate even after he died."

"I'm asking you, where is that nun?"

"nun?"

Bill controlled Jenny's face, revealing a clear look of confusion before it twisted into a ferocious expression:

"I don't know anything about nuns! I just want to watch TV! I want tea! Get out!"

Cao Kun frowned slightly.

This reaction doesn't seem faked.

This old devil named Bill seems to genuinely be unaware of Valak's existence.

It seems that Varak is hiding even deeper than we thought.

It's like a apex predator, lurking behind these lowly vengeful spirits, using them to create fear and weaken the family's will.

"If you refuse a toast, you'll have to drink a penalty cup."

Cao Kun had no patience to waste words with an old gatekeeper.

He raised his right hand and made a grabbing motion in the air.

"Binding Spirit Rope, rise!"

Several orange-red magical chains appeared out of thin air and instantly bound Jenny tightly to the bed.

"Ah—! Let me go! It's hot! It's so hot!"

Bill let out a piercing scream and struggled wildly inside Jenny.

"Get out here!"

Cao Kun pulled it back with one hand.

A grayish-white, hunched-over old man's silhouette was forcibly pulled out of Jenny's body.

With a "bang," it fell to the floor.

Jenny's body went limp, and she fainted on the bed.

"A ghost! It really is a ghost!"

Peggy stared at the phantom on the ground, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.

The phantom was an old man wearing an old sweater, who was looking at Cao Kun in terror, as if he had seen some kind of monster.

"You...you can touch me?" Bill exclaimed in terror.

Cao Kun stomped on Bill's chest, pinning him firmly to the ground.

He unleashed the full pressure of a seventh-rank Grand Celestial Master.

The temperature on the entire second floor rose instantly, and most of the original chilly atmosphere was dispelled.

"I'll ask one more time."

Cao Kun lowered his head, his eyes flashing like lightning: "Besides you, who else is in this room?"

Bill's soul was almost shattered from being trampled, and it twisted in agony.

"No...nothing else...it's just me..."

No... sometimes... sometimes there's a shadow...

Bill's voice grew even more fearful, even more so than when he was facing Cao Kun.

Bill's voice grew fainter and fainter, and his soul was almost disintegrating under Cao Kun's feet.

"I've never seen its face... I'm too scared to look."

Bill held his head, trembling.

"It was just a huge black shadow, like a nun."

Once it comes, I can't move.

It commanded me to stay here and to frighten the family.

"You're not allowed to leave, you're not allowed to be reincarnated."

Cao Kun narrowed his eyes slightly: "What is the purpose?"

"To lure people over."

Bill pointed to Ed and Rowling beside him, then looked at Cao Kun:

"Bring the couple over."

Later... it said that an even stronger Easterner would come.

It told me to make a big scene, to make sure you stayed.

Ed and Rowling felt a chill run down their spines.

So this was all a setup.

From the Enfield poltergeist incident onwards, all the commotion was designed to lure them here and capture them all in one fell swoop.

Cao Kun sneered, "What a big appetite."

He loosened his grip and looked at the old ghost curled up on the ground.

Where is it now?

"I don't know... I really don't know!"

Bill shook his head frantically. "It's everywhere, yet it doesn't seem to be here."

I'm just a doorman; my job is to scare people...

Master, please let me go. I want to go home. I want to get off this chair.

Cao Kun looked at this pitiful yet hateful old ghost.

"Since you want to leave, I'll see you off."

Cao Kun made hand seals and chanted incantations.

A mysterious resonant force descended from the air and enveloped Bill.

A relaxed and relieved look appeared on Bill's face.

It bowed deeply to Cao Kun, its body turning into specks of firefly light and dissipating into the air.

"Ding! You have successfully liberated an F-level ghost and gained 1000 merit points."

The system notification sounded.

Cao Kun lowered his hand, and the eerie musty smell in the room faded somewhat.

Jenny was still fast asleep on the bed, but her breathing had become much more steady.

"They're gone already?"

The Eds were shocked.

Normally, sending off a ghost requires a great deal of effort and various rituals.

Only by sheer luck could they eventually succeed.

But Cao Kun simply made a hand gesture and chanted a spell, and the ghost disappeared.

They knew that they hadn't just killed them, but had truly sent them away.

This ability is something they can't even dream of matching.

For a moment, their gazes toward Cao Kun held even more reverence.

But Cao Kun's expression did not improve.

He turned around and looked at Peggy Hodgson, who was huddled in the corner.

The mother of four was now tightly covering her mouth, her face even paler than before.

She watched as the ghost of the old man who had tormented her family for months acknowledged an even more terrifying truth and then vanished.

"Ms. Hodgson."

Cao Kun spoke up, "That old devil is gone."

Peggy was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.

Cao Kun continued, "But there's something even more troublesome."

"Wh...what?"

Peggy's legs were trembling, and she could barely stand by holding onto the wall.

"That Bill is just a puppet."

Cao Kun pointed to the floor: "The one who really wants this house is a devil."

It's right here, hidden in some corner, watching us.