After the ghost-hunting master descended the mountain, his fame spread throughout the capital.

As he spoke, he tried to break free from her support and turned to leave.

After being separated from Jiang Dusheng, Xie Jinchen swayed even more violently, as if he might collapse at any moment, yet he stubbornly refused to rely on her any longer.

"Xie Jinchen." Jiang Dusheng snapped back to reality and instinctively grabbed his wrist to stop him.

She looked up and met his eyes, which were trying to remain calm but couldn't hide his disappointment.

Under the lamplight, his face was pale, but his eyes still held a stubborn light.

Jiang Dusheng saw through his little scheme of feigning weakness and retreating to advance.

Why would he go to wait for the guards outside the temple gate? In his current state, he'd probably faint before he could take ten steps.

He was absolutely certain... she wouldn't really let go.

Jiang Dusheng grasped his wrist and felt the weak pulse beating under his skin.

She pursed her lips, looking at his feigned aloofness that was actually aggrieved, and felt both annoyed and amused. "Xie Jinchen, don't think I can't see through your act of playing the victim."

Xie Jinchen didn't break free as she gripped his wrist. He simply lowered his eyes, glanced indifferently at her tightly clasped fingers, and then looked up at her again.

His eyes no longer held the deliberate show of weakness he had shown earlier; his tone carried a nonchalant air of "what's the use of trying," yet it also subtly hinted at a probing.

He let her hold on, his voice so soft it almost drifted away on the night breeze:

"so what?"

He paused, his gaze locking onto her eyes:

"Did you... fall for it?"

Jiang Dusheng took a deep breath, letting the night wind enter his lungs, but it couldn't suppress the sudden, violent beating of his heart in his chest.

The heartbeat was so clear, as if it were trying to break free from all the rules and shackles built up over the years, just to respond to the person in front of it.

She no longer avoided his gaze, but looked directly into his eyes, where his usually calm gaze clearly reflected his pale and handsome face.

"Xie Jinchen."

Jiang Dusheng slowly spoke, "You once said that you couldn't be a monk because you weren't pure of the six senses."

She paused, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the pulse on his wrist, as if confirming his presence and her own resolve.

"And I, perhaps, will never attain Buddhahood."

Jiang Dusheng's voice carried a sense of composure, "The Buddha said that only by having no self, no person, no sentient being, and no life span can one attain ultimate Nirvana."

She gazed at Xie Jinchen, each word clear and distinct, like the tolling of a Buddhist bell echoing through the silent temple:

"But now, I clearly have your image in my heart. This image of you has become my attachment on the path of spiritual practice."

She shook her head slightly, a hint of self-mockery in her voice, but more so, a sense of resignation:

"It has made it impossible for me to remain detached from worldly affairs, free from attachments, and to view the mortal world as fleeting as water passing by."

"My gaze will follow you, my heart will be moved by you, my tranquility is mixed with your shadow, and I can never go back to the emptiness of the past."

Jiang Dusheng's eyes shone brightly in the moonlight, a tranquility born from recognizing his true self. "They say cultivation is about helping others, but after meeting you, I realize that perhaps I also need to be helped."

"Leave me out of that self-righteous purity and solitude, and let me recognize the truest passion and entanglements in this mortal world."

Jiang Dusheng's grip on his wrist tightened subtly. "So, Xie Jinchen, I've thought it through."

"I have guided so many souls wandering in the world, and witnessed so many obsessions of love, hate, anger and infatuation. I thought I had already transcended them."

"But only today, when I saw you lying in my arms, your life hanging by a thread, filled with murderous intent, did I truly understand that... I also have obsessions that I can't let go of."

"It's you."

"Xie Jinchen, I don't want you to be a ghost forever, sealed by me."

Jiang Dusheng's gaze suddenly sharpened, carrying a hint of possessiveness:

"I want your primordial spirit to be eternally imprisoned, never to enter the cycle of impermanence. Though your form may dissipate, your spirit will not perish; though the eons may end, your consciousness will endure."

"I want your existence to last as long as mine, to be intertwined with my cause and effect."

The air seemed to freeze.

The next moment, Xie Jinchen suddenly pulled her arm and held her tightly in his arms.

His embrace was slightly cool, and his clothes were thin; you could even feel the outline of bandages beneath the fabric.

But the heartbeat emanating from his chest struck Jiang Dusheng's eardrums clearly, one beat after another.

Xie Jinchen's voice rang in her ear, hoarse and dry, yet each word was clear, as if he had used all his strength:

"Jiang Dusheng, are you... sure?"

He relaxed slightly and looked down into her eyes.

The light from the lanterns under the eaves fell into his eyes, revealing a kind of obsession she had never seen before.

"I am..." he began slowly, each word like a dissection of his own chest, revealing his most authentic and ferocious inner self, "madness and stubbornness are etched into my bones."

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice deepened, "Once I've made up my mind, it's for life."

Xie Jinchen cupped Jiang Dusheng's face in his hands, his fingertips icy cold, but his gaze burning hot:

"If you decide to step into my quagmire today, then in the future... even if it means death, I will never leave you alone in this world."

"Whether you're in the netherworld or the heavens, you have to be with me. I'll tie you up if I have to, to keep you by my side."

This is not a sweet vow, but a paranoid warning.

Xie Jinchen laid bare his deepest possessiveness and fear before her.

He was giving her one last chance to change her mind, and in the most extreme way, he was confirming her resolve.

Jiang Dusheng understood.

She looked up at his pale face and the stubbornness in his eyes, without the slightest fear, but instead a smile of unwavering determination bloomed on her face.

She raised her hand, not to push away his hands that were cupping her face, but to hug him even tighter, as if to pull him back from that feeling of utter desolation and fear.

"I'm sure."

"Then we're a perfect match." A hint of a smile flashed in Jiang Dusheng's eyes. "Because what I hate most is the feeling of being abandoned."

She looked up, meeting his stunned gaze once more, and her smile deepened:

"I want you to be with me through thick and thin, even in the netherworld. No one will be left behind."

Xie Jinchen was completely stunned upon hearing this.

He had anticipated many possible reactions from her, but he never imagined that she would so readily accept his most obsessive and dark side and turn it into a bond that bound them together.

A genuine smile slowly spread across his pale face.

That smile brightened his tired eyes, dispelling the last trace of gloom and madness in them.

Xie Jinchen released Jiang Dusheng, took a deep breath, and then extended his right hand to her, palm up.

Jiang Dusheng looked at his outstretched hand and instantly understood what he meant.

Without the slightest hesitation, she raised her left hand, gathering a wisp of spiritual energy at her fingertips, and tracing it across her right palm, as well as across his outstretched right palm.

Two thin streaks of blood appeared, with beads of blood seeping out.

Xie Jinchen grasped her hand, their fingers intertwined, causing their blood to mingle.

He closed his eyes, concealing all outward emotions, his face displaying an unprecedented piety and solemnity, and chanted in a low voice:

"With my blood, I pledge my soul to you."

"Sharing the same fate, bound by life and death."

"Through heaven and earth, we will never be apart."

"Heaven and earth bear witness, my heart will never waver."

"If there is any disobedience..."

He opened his eyes, his still-red pupils gazing intently at her, and uttered his final words, like a curse, yet also a vow:

"Soul vanished, body perished, forever condemned to hell!"