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

The incense in the Xu family's flower hall was fragrant, yet it couldn't dispel the invisible heaviness in the air.

Madam Xu, Chen Baojuan, sat upright at the head of the table. Her well-maintained face carried the poise and vigilance characteristic of a matriarch of a noble family, and her gaze swept over the unfamiliar young girl in the hall.

This face is so striking that you'll never forget it once you've seen it.

Jiang Dusheng stood in the hall, his back straight, letting that heavy and inquisitive gaze scrutinize him from head to toe.

The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, with only the occasional bird song outside the window.

Chen Baojuan picked up his teacup, the celadon lid lightly scraping the rim, breaking the silence:

"Forgive my poor eyesight, but I don't know which family's daughter you are, young lady? And... how do you know my Yishuo?"

Jiang Dusheng spoke slowly, his voice clear and melodious, "Junior Jiang Dusheng, please trouble Madam to dismiss everyone else."

Upon hearing this, Chen Baojuan hesitated for a moment, but still gestured for the maids to leave.

Then, looking at Jiang Dusheng, he asked, "Can we talk now?"

Jiang Dusheng calmly met Chen Baojuan's suddenly sharp gaze and slowly said, "Xu Yishuo asked me to pass on a message—"

"Mom, I want to go home."

"Clang!"

The teacup slipped from Chen Baojuan's hand and fell with a crisp sound.

"Mother, I want to go home..." she repeated in her sleep, her body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.

This sentence... is a secret between her and her daughter!

Just before his daughter, dressed in a magnificent red bridal procession, was about to board the sedan chair bound for Tianshui City.

She dismissed everyone, held her daughter's hand tightly, and, fighting back tears, said:

"Yi Shuo, remember this. Tianshui is far away, and people's hearts are unpredictable. If... if one day you really regret it."

She took a deep breath, as if using all her strength:

"Just have someone tell your mother this: 'Mother, I want to go home.' Then, even if it costs me everything, I will definitely send someone to bring you back."

Chen Baojuan suddenly stood up from her chair, her face drained of color.

She practically stumbled over, stopping a few steps in front of Jiang Dusheng. "Yi Shuo... what happened to her?!"

"She's dead."

Jiang Dusheng's answer was completely uncompromising.

Chen Baojuan's voice was hoarse and shrill as he stared intently into Jiang Dusheng's eyes, trying to find even the slightest trace of a lie or joke.

"No...impossible!"

Chen Baojuan recoiled as if burned, his body swaying precariously as he shook his head frantically, the gold hairpin in his hair swaying violently.

"If something really happened, why didn't the Wang family announce the death?! Why?!"

She clutched at the last straw, screaming incoherently:

"No way! I received a letter from Yi-shuo at the end of last year! She said... she said she was doing well in Tianshui!"

"She also said... she also said that when her husband, Wang Rui, returns to Beijing at the end of next year to report on his work, they will come back together to visit their family!"

Jiang Dusheng looked at her on the verge of collapse, his gaze remaining calm:

"Three months ago, she accidentally discovered that Wang Rui was keeping a mistress. During the argument, Wang Rui accidentally pushed her, and her head hit the wall, causing her to die on the spot."

"No...no, I don't believe it!!" Chen Baojuan's last psychological defenses completely collapsed, and his whole body felt as if his bones had been instantly pulled out.

He collapsed limply to the ground, his eyes vacant, as if his soul had been ripped away.

Jiang Dusheng looked down at her, a trace of pity flashing in his eyes.

She did not offer to help him up, but continued her narration in a steady voice:

"After Xu Yishuo died, Wang Rui claimed to the public that she died of illness, while pretending to be affectionate, he spent every day on the bed in the outer room."

Jiang Dusheng's gaze swept across a certain spot in the void. "Two months ago, when I passed through Tianshui City, I encountered her wandering spirit."

"Because of their deep attachments, they find it difficult to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and thus remain trapped in the human world, neither rising nor falling."

Upon hearing this, Madam Xu felt as if she were a dying person grasping at a last straw.

She struggled to her feet, her tear-streaked face filled with a cautious desire to verify:

"Miss Jiang, what do you mean...?"

Jiang Dusheng nodded slightly, confirming her guess.

"Her spirit is right here."

As the last word fell, Jiang Dusheng formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest.

A faint golden light swirled around his fingertips. "Heaven and earth are boundless, the universe borrows its power, the true form manifests!"

As her clear, cold incantation fell, the temperature in the entire flower hall suddenly dropped.

In the reflection of Chen Baojuan's gradually widening pupils, a slender figure dressed in a plain white ruqun slowly materialized from nothingness.

At first it was translucent, then it became clearer and clearer, showing what Xu Yishuo looked like when she was alive.

Its complexion was transparent, and its body radiated a hazy, clear glow.

She stood there, gazing at her mother, her eyes filled with unspeakable sorrow and longing.

Chen Baojuan covered his mouth tightly, but tears streamed down his face.

"Yishuo... my son..."

Chen Baojuan, tears streaming down his face, futilely opened his arms, trying to embrace his daughter, but each time he missed.

She turned sharply to Jiang Dusheng, her voice hoarse and pleading:

"Miss Jiang! Immortal Master! I beg you! Let me touch her... let me hold her one more time, just once, just once!"

Jiang Dusheng silently watched his heartbroken mother, and finally let out a soft sigh.

She did not stop Madam Xu's actions, but simply drew her fingers in the air, and a gentle soul-stabilizing talisman was injected into Xu Yishuo's soul, allowing her to maintain her form more stably.

At the same time, he took out another amulet folded into a triangle from his sleeve and handed it over: "Wear this amulet on your body to protect you from being corrupted by yin energy."

After doing all this, she turned and walked out of the flower hall, leaving the mother and daughter alone.

Her voice drifted on the wind, "Xu Yishuo, I'll give you half an incense stick's time to talk."

After saying that, she gently closed the door.

Soon, suppressed sobs came from inside the door, along with the endless regretful lament of Xu Yishuo's spirit:

"Mother! I was wrong... I shouldn't have been so stubborn and ignored your advice to marry Wang Rui..."

Chen Baojuan shook his head desperately, tears streaming down his face:

"No! It was your mother's fault... It was your mother's fault for being useless. Knowing that Tianshui City was far away and difficult to reach, I still softened my heart and let you marry him. It was your mother who ruined you..."

Heartbreaking cries and regretful outpourings intertwined.

Jiang Dusheng stood under the corridor, the warm spring sunshine unable to dispel the chill emanating from the underworld around him.

About half an incense stick later, Jiang Dusheng pushed the door open and entered again.

Xu Yishuo's spirit turned to Chen Baojuan, her words filled with unprecedented resolve and disgust:

"Mother, please, you must send someone to bring my body back from that filthy place. I don't want it left in the Wang family's ancestral graveyard; just thinking about it makes me sick!"

Chen Baojuan readily agreed, her heart aching beyond measure: "Alright! Don't worry, I'll have your elder brother handle this personally, and I'll definitely bring you home!"

At this point, she suddenly snapped out of her grief and realized that she had not yet told her husband and son the news.

She quickly raised her voice towards the door and ordered, "Someone come here!"

A maidservant entered in response to the call, and upon seeing the lady's swollen, red eyes and the mess on the floor, she was so frightened that she dared not breathe and quickly lowered her head.

"Immediately send someone to fetch the master and young master back to the manor, and tell them..." Chen Baojuan's voice trembled with pain, "...tell them that something terrible has happened at home!"