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

A fierce, eerie wind howled in the air, whipping up dust from the ground and forming a blood-red vortex that enveloped the wedding hall.

At the center of the vortex, something was vaguely gathering, emanating a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine.

Lin Muxuan burst into maniacal laughter, tears of blood streaming down his face. "Did you see that?! Did you feel that?!"

"Wan Niang... my Wan Niang is about to be reunited! The Nine Yin are gathered, the soul is reshaped! A hundred years of waiting, now is the day!"

"You're deceiving yourself," Jiang Dusheng said coldly. "For your own obsession, you've harmed nine innocent women, imprisoned their souls here, and drained their soul power day and night, ensuring they can never be reborn."

"Lin Muxuan, you are no longer the devoted and loyal scholar you once were. You are now nothing more than a demon consumed by obsession!"

She raised the bone flute and pointed it at the nine agonizing souls on the ground. "Look at them. They also have parents and relatives, and unfulfilled wishes, yet you forcibly abducted them and subjected them to this torment."

Lin Muxuan looked in the direction she pointed.

The nine soul shadows seemed to sense something and let out even more mournful cries.

It was no longer a passive groan driven by the formation, but a spontaneous accusation after being infused with a trace of Jiang Dusheng's clear spiritual power.

This silent accusation struck Lin Muxuan's heart, which was shrouded in obsession, more directly than any words.

His maniacal laughter froze on his face, his vision blurred by blood and tears, and for the first time he truly looked at the souls he regarded as sacrifices, following the direction of the bone flute.

What he saw was no longer an abstract outline of soul light, but a fragmented image briefly reflected by the surge of spiritual energy:

A ghostly figure flashed past the girl's wide-open eyes in her dying moments, her hand still tightly clutching half of an unfinished embroidered mandarin duck handkerchief.

As another soul flickered, the image of an elderly mother, her hunched back gazing out from the village entrance day after day, appeared.

Deep within the third shadowy realm, in the dim light of the warm chamber, amidst laughter and chatter with her sisters, they offered their blessings for her "early redemption and reformation"...

The fourth one...

Nine women, nine lives cut short, nine unresolved attachments and regrets that lingered until death.

They were not cold sacrifices; they were once flesh and blood, with love and fear, and with wishes that were never fulfilled.

Upon hearing this, Lin Muxuan felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow. His soul trembled violently, and the surging Yin energy around him and the frantically activated array both came to a halt.

The bloodshot eyes that had been churning seemed to crack open slightly, revealing a moment of bewilderment...

"No, it's not like that..." he murmured, the madness in his voice lessening, replaced by a chaotic struggle, "I did it for Wan Niang... Wan Niang, she..."

"If your Wan Niang truly knows..." Jiang Dusheng's voice was icy. Seizing the moment when his mind wavered, he made a hand seal with his left hand, and the golden light on the bone flute in his right hand suddenly shone brightly, striking fiercely towards the center of the formation.

"Seeing you pave this so-called path to reunion by using the blood, flesh, and souls of others as stepping stones, I probably wish I had never met you!"

"You have tarnished the meaning of deep affection, and you are not worthy to mention her name!"

These words were like the last straw, breaking the false tower built by Lin Muxuan's obsession.

"ah!!"

He let out a sharp shriek.

As he lost his composure, the condensation of the crimson vortex abruptly ceased, and the newly emerging fluctuations instantly became chaotic.

The cold wind in the air stopped, and the vicious stares on the paper guests' faces also became blank.

Right now.

Jiang Dusheng's gaze sharpened, revealing no further secrets.

She drew a talisman in mid-air and uttered a clear shout:

"Cleansing the soul and purifying the spirit, all evil returns to silence!"

The moment the talisman took shape, it emitted a pure crimson-gold light, which shone brightly alongside the golden light on the bone flute, pressing down on the entire blood-red array.

"boom!!"

Wherever the crimson-gold light passed, the evil array drawn on the ground emitted a "sizzling" melting sound, and the patterns quickly broke apart.

The blood-red chains binding the nine soul shadows crumbled inch by inch.

The grotesque vortex symbol at the center of the array let out a mournful cry, then exploded completely, turning into a sky full of foul-smelling black and red mist, which was then cleansed and purified by the crimson-gold light.

"puff!"

Lin Muxuan's connection with the formation was forcibly severed, resulting in a backlash.

He spat out a mouthful of thick, black soul blood, and his entire soul body instantly became several parts transparent. White light emanated from the cracks, a sign that his soul had been scattered.

Just as Lin Muxuan's soul was about to completely disintegrate into nothingness, at the very last moment...

Jiang Dusheng stepped forward, his right hand shrouded in a faint golden light that warded off evil. With a wisp of his hand, he briefly condensed the last remnant of his consciousness.

Without a shred of pity, she raised her hand and slapped the dissipating ghostly figure hard across the face.

This was a punishment imbued with spiritual power and will, directly affecting its remaining soul consciousness.

"This slap is for the nine women you imprisoned." Her voice was icy, each word clear. "You can't even begin to imagine the suffering they've endured."

The ghostly figure emitted a weak, short, sharp cry, and its dissipation accelerated.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Dusheng swung his hand back and slashed through the air again.

"This slap is for the bumpy ride I took today, my legs are sore and my back is aching." Her tone was calm, but it carried an air of self-righteousness. "If it weren't for you, you wretched creature, I wouldn't have had to suffer like this."

"..."

The ghostly figure seemed to have no strength left to scream. Under the lashes imbued with a touch of personal resentment, its last vestige of consciousness was completely extinguished, turning into wisps of black smoke that were blown away by the night without a trace.

Jiang Dusheng shook his hand, as if he had brushed away something dirty.

In her eyes, all that deep affection and obsession was nothing more than a fig leaf for extreme selfishness and cruelty.

As Lin Muxuan was completely annihilated, the broken blood-red array on the ground let out a final lament, and all the evil patterns broke apart inch by inch.

At the center of the array, the soul shadows of the nine women completely broke free from their restraints and were fully revealed.

Their souls were dim and could vanish in the wind at any moment.

Some had endured decades of torment, their soul power almost completely drained. If the formation hadn't been deactivated at this moment, they wouldn't have been able to maintain even this final moment of manifestation.

Jiang Dusheng's expression turned serious, and he didn't delay any longer.

Her hands swiftly formed the Rebirth Mudra, a spiritual light swirling at her fingertips, and the clear, melodious Rebirth Mantra flowed from her lips:

"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, soul to soul; do not cling to your homeland!"

"The sea of ​​suffering is boundless, but turning back is the shore; may you be reborn in the Pure Land and reach the other shore soon!"

The incantation carried a soothing and guiding power, like warm sunlight, shining on the nine extremely weak soul shadows.

As the incantation continued, the space above the wedding hall rippled slightly, and a ghost gate, an illusory portal, slowly emerged.

The spirits seemed to sense the summons, and the dim light on their bodies stabilized somewhat.

They floated up one by one, slowly flying towards the illusory portal, their figures fading as they gradually merged into the halo of light.

Just as the last soul shadow was about to disappear into the doorway, she suddenly stopped and turned around.

It was the illusory image of a woman with a beautiful face. Her gaze fell on Jiang Dusheng, and even more so on the slightly warm earring in her bosom.