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

After sending Wang Dazhuang away to make amends, Jiang Dusheng walked to a noodle shop at the alley entrance that looked fairly clean.

She chose a less conspicuous spot to sit down, ordered a bowl of vegetarian noodles, and began to eat slowly and deliberately.

Only when the last glimmer of dawn was swallowed by the night and a few scattered lights lit up the long street did Jiang Dusheng get up and walk towards the Wang family's house.

Just as she reached the alley entrance, a wisp of smoke suddenly shot out from inside the Wang family's courtyard wall, drifting towards her in a panic.

The wisps of smoke faintly coalesced into Wang Dazhuang's still-shaken face.

"Master! Master, save me!!"

Wang Dazhuang's soul was trembling, and before it had fully solidified, it screamed:

"Ew, that scared me to death! The female ghost inside was terrifying! Her eyes were bloodshot, and I... I only glanced at her, and one look from her almost sent this short-lived ghost flying!"

Jiang Dusheng stopped in his tracks, glanced at his trembling soul, and said calmly:

"Stop talking nonsense and get to the point."

Wang Dazhuang was taken aback by her calm tone and quickly forced himself to concentrate, his soul flickering as he rapidly reported:

"Master, after returning home today, Granny Wang immediately hired a half-baked Taoist priest, not to perform a ritual for the deceased, but to suppress the corpse and seal its soul!"

"The Taoist priest pasted talismans on the beam of the room where their daughter-in-law hanged herself, and buried shards of porcelain soaked in black dog's blood at the door, trying to trap her inside and prevent her from ever coming out again!"

Jiang Dusheng's eyes turned cold.

Wang Dazhuang continued, his tone also tinged with indignation:

"As it turned out, the Taoist priest's skills were lacking; he misdrawn a crucial stroke in the talisman, and the placement of the buried porcelain shard clashed with the female ghost's inauspicious birth chart position!"

"Not only did it fail to seal it off, it also stirred up all the grievances the female ghost suffered in life, the despair she felt at death, and the resentment she felt from being cursed after death!"

"That room is like an icebox now, the resentment is so thick it won't melt, and the female ghost's soul is oozing black blood... no, black mist! She looks like she's about to completely turn into a vengeful ghost!"

He took a breath. "That old woman Wang is utterly despicable! Even in this state, she's still scared, but she keeps swearing and cursing her daughter-in-law, calling her a jinx and saying she'll bring misfortune even after she's dead."

Jiang Dusheng listened quietly, his face expressionless, but the atmosphere around him seemed to have become even more oppressive.

The spring night breeze brushed against her plain-colored clothes, carrying a hint of chill.

After listening, she nodded, her gaze falling on Wang Dazhuang's still terrified soul, and suddenly spoke:

"Okay. The information is still useful."

She paused, then announced in a calm tone:

"I forgive you for finishing the pastry."

Wang Dazhuang: "...Huh?"

He was stunned for several seconds before he reacted to this sudden pardon. His soul suddenly lit up, and he almost cried tears of joy:

"Really? Thank you, Master! You are so magnanimous, for you don't hold a grudge against a little devil like me! Please let me play in the human world for a few more days!"

Jiang Dusheng ignored him and turned his gaze to the Wang family courtyard, which was shrouded in resentment.

The Taoist priest drew the wrong talisman, turning the attempt to pacify the soul into a source of resentment.

The old woman was vicious and showed no remorse until her death.

Heaven's sins may be avoided, but self-inflicted sins cannot be escaped.

Wang Pozi's small courtyard.

The courtyard, which was fairly tidy during the day, was now shrouded in an oppressive, chilling aura of resentment.

The pale moonlight could not penetrate this self-contained darkness.

The vegetation withered, the well water froze, and the air was filled with the rusty, bloody, and rotten smells.

In the center of the courtyard, the female ghost in red floated in mid-air.

Her long hair danced wildly without wind, covering most of her face, revealing only a pale chin and a pair of eyes completely filled with crimson resentment, with no whites.

Her posture was contorted and horrifying.

A pair of hands with bluish-black fingernails and bent, twisted knuckles were gripping her slender neck tightly, with such force that it seemed she wanted to snap it.

A long, dark purple tongue drooped out of its gaping mouth, with thick, black gas dripping from its tip.

The resentment emanating from her body almost solidified into a tangible black mist, churning and rising.

"Heh...heh..."

She hissed, each breath accompanied by an even deeper chill.

Granny Wang and her son Wang Fugui had been forced into a corner of the courtyard, their backs against the wall, with nowhere left to retreat.

The two men were deathly pale, their teeth chattering, and their crotches were wet and stinking; they had already lost control of their bladders from fright.

"Ghost...Ghost! Mother! She, she's here! She's really here!" Wang Fugui was terrified and grabbed Wang Pozi's arm tightly, his nails almost digging into her flesh.

"Shut up, you useless thing! We have the master's amulet on us! She can't hurt us!"

Granny Wang's voice was shrill and trembling, her bravado masking her inner ferocity, "You wretched woman! You brought misfortune to our family while you were alive, and now you're still causing trouble even in death!"

"Oh...Grandma..."

The female ghost's gaze suddenly locked onto Granny Wang, and the hand that was gripping her neck slowly loosened, her twisted and deformed fingers pointing straight at her.

"Why are you forcing me?! Why?!"

Before she could finish speaking, the female ghost vanished.

The next second, she appeared directly in front of Granny Wang, almost face to face.

Those blood-red eyes were inches away, and the stench of their breath was blowing on Granny Wang's face.

"ah!!"

Granny Wang let out a bloodcurdling scream, her eyes rolled back, and she almost fainted.

The female ghost did not kill her immediately, but instead turned her head sharply to look at Wang Fugui, who was trembling like a leaf beside her.

She stretched out her twisted hand, her fingertips slowly, little by little, approaching Wang Fugui's cheek.

"My husband..."

Her voice suddenly turned mournful and pitiful, yet even more chilling, "You said you wouldn't be like your father, so incompetent as a live-in son-in-law..."

"You said you would protect me and cherish me! But why! Why did you coldly watch her insult me, humiliate me, and force me?!"

Why?!

Wang Fugui was terrified, stammering incoherently, "It's not my fault! It's not my fault, Xiu Niang! It's...it's my mother! It was my mother who forced you! I tried to persuade her! I really did!"

He actually shifted all the blame onto his mother.

"You wretched child! What did you say?!" Granny Wang exclaimed, both shocked and furious.

Hearing the ugly scene of the mother and son blaming each other, the female ghost's resentment surged again.

She seemed to have completely lost her last shred of reason; her long hair grew wildly like a venomous snake, wrapping around their necks.

The black mist materialized into shackles, lifting their feet off the ground.

A feeling of suffocation washed over me; death was imminent.

Granny Wang finally revealed her fear of impending death, while Wang Fugui rolled his eyes and drooled.

The female ghost's blood-red eyes surged with murderous intent, and the black hair wrapped around her neck was about to tighten.

Just as she was about to end the lives of the mother and child—

"Ding!"

A clear bell rang out, seemingly piercing through layers of resentment and resounding throughout the Wang family courtyard.

The two people and the ghost looked over at the sound and saw a figure in pure white sitting on the roof of the house.

Her skirt draped down, swaying gently in the wind, her posture as leisurely as if she were admiring the moon in her own courtyard.