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

Jiang Dusheng didn't stop walking. He just tilted his head slightly, glanced at the food box, and raised his chin at Wang Dazhuang, who was staring at him expectantly.

Wang Dazhuang immediately understood, and happily stepped forward to take it. It felt heavy in his hand, and the aroma of the pastry was faintly wafting out.

After completing his mission, the guard bowed again and silently withdrew.

Wang Dazhuang, carrying the food box, followed Jiang Dusheng and couldn't help but ask, "Master, can I... eat this?"

Ghosts don't need to eat, but they can't resist their cravings!

"Okay," Jiang Dusheng said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhuang immediately used his free hand to lift the lid of the food box, took a deep breath, and showed a look of ecstasy on his face.

The food inside instantly turned dull.

"tasty!"

After walking for a while, Wang Dazhuang realized that the route was wrong. It was neither the way back to the Jiang residence nor the way to any bustling market.

Holding the food box, he asked curiously, "Master, where are we going? Aren't we going back to the manor?"

Jiang Dusheng gazed ahead, his clean profile standing out clearly in the spring sunshine, a touch of cinnabar between his brows.

She succinctly uttered two words:

"Ghost hunting."

"Huh?" Wang Dazhuang was taken aback, his mind racing. "Now? In broad daylight?"

Don't ghosts all come out at night?

Jiang Dusheng walked through the streets and alleys in the west of Changling City, seemingly casually, but in reality, his spiritual sense was firmly connected to the aura of that old woman Wang from today.

Finally, she stopped in front of a small courtyard with a red gate.

The lintel was still quite tidy, indicating that it had once belonged to a well-off family. However, the door was now tightly closed, and what emanated from the crack in the door was not the lively atmosphere of an ordinary household, but rather an unsettling, cold, and oppressive feeling.

Before Jiang Dusheng could do anything, Wang Pozi's shrill, fearful, and boastful curses came clearly from inside the door, audible even through the door panel:

"You short-lived wretch! You were tired of living and hanged yourself! What does it have to do with us?!"

"Even in death you can't rest in peace, causing trouble every day! Let me tell you, if you dare to make any noise to scare me again, I'll go and invite the master from Jinshan Temple tomorrow to beat you until your soul is scattered and you're never reincarnated!"

There was not a trace of remorse in the insults, only annoyance at being harassed and a blustering but cowardly threat.

Jiang Dusheng stood outside the door, his gaze suddenly turning cold, as if covered with a thin layer of ice.

Unrepentant.

The fear she felt during today's fortune-telling session did not seem to evoke any genuine remorse in her; instead, it only intensified her resentment.

Wang Dazhuang, listening intently, leaned closer and whispered, "Master, are we going to help this wicked old woman take her daughter-in-law away?"

There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, even though the master had just clearly stated that "evil people should not be saved."

Jiang Dusheng didn't answer him. He turned around and walked to an old locust tree across the alley. The tree's dense shade blocked out the afternoon sun.

She leaned against the tree trunk, looked at Wang Dazhuang who had followed her, and extended her fair hand.

"Bring the food box."

Wang Dazhuang was taken aback, and subconsciously hid the empty food box behind him: "W-what's wrong, Master? Didn't you say I could eat whatever I wanted?"

"I'm hungry, let's grab something to eat before it gets dark," Jiang Du said matter-of-factly, looking at him calmly.

Wang Dazhuang immediately felt guilty, his paper-thin eyes darting left and right, unable to look Jiang Dusheng in the eye, and his voice even stammered:

"I...I...I've...finished it all..."

The last three words were as thin as mosquitoes or flies.

"..."

Jiang Dusheng looked at him silently, at the food box that had no aroma, and then at Wang Dazhuang's cowardly look that said, "I know I was wrong, but I just couldn't help it."

Suddenly, a very kind smile bloomed on her face, her eyebrows and eyes curving like the first melting of snow.

But when Wang Dazhuang saw that smile, it made his very soul tremble.

"Wang Dazhuang," Jiang Dusheng said softly, with a hint of admiration, "you're very good."

"Huh?" Wang Dazhuang was confused. Why was he suddenly being praised?

"You're the first one," Jiang Dusheng's smile deepened, enunciating each word clearly, "the one who dared to steal my food."

Before the words were even finished, Wang Dazhuang's paper doll body, driven by a strong will to survive, suddenly leaped backward, turned around, and tried to run away, all the while screaming and trying to reason with them:

"Master! I'm innocent! You yourself said I could eat it!! You didn't say I couldn't finish it!!!"

"I let you eat, but I didn't let you finish it."

As Jiang Dusheng spoke casually, a faint light flashed at the tip of his right finger, and a light yellow talisman, as if it had its own life, was pasted onto the vital point on the back of Wang Dazhuang's paper figure.

"Aww!"

With a strange cry, Wang Dazhuang's soul was suddenly ejected from the paper doll's body. Like a kite that had been flung away, it spun around in mid-air several times before finally regaining its balance, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

The exquisitely crafted, alluring paper figure lay limply on the ground, its luster gone.

Wang Dazhuang's spirit floated in mid-air, patting his chest in shock, looking at Jiang Dusheng with a pitiful expression, and then looking at his body on the ground with heartache.

Jiang Dusheng didn't even glance at the paper figure's remains, but beckoned to Wang Dazhuang's soul with his finger:

"Come here. Go inside before dark."

She pointed to the Wang family's courtyard wall, "Keep an eye on it. See the state of that vengeful spirit and the sincerity of this family. I'm going to get a bowl of noodles."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhuang's soul trembled, and he was on the verge of tears: "B-Master, I don't have a body, I'm a soul now, and it's broad daylight..."

Although the spring sun is not extremely strong, it still has an effect on wandering spirits.

Jiang Dusheng glanced at him and casually tossed something over.

Wang Dazhuang caught it in a flurry; it was a small black pebble tied with a red string, and it was icy cold to the touch.

"Take this. It will help shield you from some of the yang energy, enough to last until sunset," Jiang Dusheng said. "Go, this is your chance to make amends."

Wang Dazhuang knew this was an order, and also a punishment for his gluttony. He could only wear a mournful face, clutch the pebble tightly, and let it turn into a wisp of light smoke, passing through the courtyard wall of Granny Wang's house and slipping inside.