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

Finally, in the funeral procession, a woman who looked the youngest, with red and swollen eyes, knelt down with a "plop".

She kowtowed repeatedly in the direction of Jiang Dusheng and Xie Jinchen, her cries filled with anguish:

"My lord! Master! Please, save my sister! She's not dead! It's...it was our master who forced us to do this!"

Jiang Dusheng's gaze softened slightly, and he stepped forward to offer a slight helping hand, "Get up and let's talk."

"I have temporarily returned your elder sister's soul to the coffin, but her physical body has been corrupted by evil spirits and is in imminent danger."

"Now you, her closest relatives, need to open the coffin immediately, take her out to breathe, and use the life force of blood ties to guide her soul back to its place and stabilize it."

Her gaze swept over the girl and several men beside her, who looked grief-stricken and were presumably relatives. She emphasized:

"The coffin was sealed, and evil spirits lingered within. If outsiders opened the coffin, they might disturb her last glimmer of life or attract the remaining evil spirits to retaliate."

"Only blood relatives, whose breaths are connected, can resonate with her faint life force when the coffin is opened, thus protecting her heart. This is her last chance."

Upon hearing this, the woman and several men who were probably her uncles or brothers changed their expressions drastically. Their eagerness to save their loved ones instantly overwhelmed their fear.

"Open the coffin! Yes, open the coffin!"

A dark-skinned man said urgently, but his face immediately fell. "But...but we came in a hurry, and that old woman was watching us. We didn't bring an axe! The coffin is nailed shut very tightly..."

Seeing them pacing anxiously, Jiang Dusheng was about to signal his guards to use their daggers for help when Wang Dazhuang's cautious voice suddenly came from the side:

"B-Master, if you're talking about prying open a coffin, may I...may I try?"

Wang Dazhuang got off the carriage and walked over somewhat nervously.

He stretched out his paper hand, and the paper fingers suddenly hardened, transforming into two sharp paper blades in the astonished gazes of the crowd.

Although it looked somewhat eerie, it faintly emitted a ghostly light belonging to the spirits.

"I...I used to work as an assistant to a carpenter in my previous life, so I remember some tricks of the trade. This paper body can actually be quite useful sometimes," Wang Dazhuang stammered, trying to control his hand, which had turned into a paper blade.

"Exactly, I need to stay away from the coffin. I'm afraid the residual evil energy inside will affect me..."

Jiang Dusheng's eyes flashed with admiration, and he suddenly felt that Wang Dazhuang wasn't so stupid after all.

Paper figures are spiritual beings, possessing yin energy. When they transform into blades, they are indeed less likely to disturb the delicate balance of life and death within the coffin than ordinary tools.

She nodded: "Okay. Just break open the mortise and tenon joint of the coffin lid, you don't need to lift it completely, just leave a gap. Be gentle."

"Okay!"

Having received permission, Wang Dazhuang's spirits lifted, and he walked toward the black coffin.

He carefully inserted the paper blade precisely into the gap between the coffin lid and the coffin body. With a surge of yin energy, only a faint "click" sound could be heard as the key tenons that had been nailed shut were loosened one by one.

They quickly pried open a crack in the coffin lid, and surprisingly, not much residual malevolent energy escaped during the entire process.

"It's open!" Wang Dazhuang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ran away.

Seeing this, the relatives were so eager to save him that they overwhelmed everything else.

They dared not hesitate any longer, exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth and stepped forward.

With the help of several people, they carefully and slowly pried open the loosened coffin lid along the gap, revealing the scene inside the coffin.

By the dim light of the lantern, they could see the woman inside the coffin. Her eyes were closed, her face was bluish-purple, and her lips were bloodless, but her chest was still rising and falling slightly.

"Sister!"

"Da Ya!"

Cries and shouts immediately rang out.

Several people hurriedly reached in, supporting the woman's head, shoulders, waist and legs, and together lifted her out of the narrow and cold coffin, laying her flat on a layer of dry thatch that had been hastily laid out on the shore.

Jiang Dusheng immediately stepped forward, gathering spiritual power at his fingertips, and pressed several acupoints on the woman to protect her heart meridian and help her dispel the cold and evil energy that had invaded her body.

The woman's body trembled slightly, and she let out a gasp, like a drowning person finally surfacing.

Although his complexion was still extremely pale and his breath was so weak that it was almost imperceptible, the bluish-black tinge on his face seemed to have faded slightly, and his tightly furrowed brows had relaxed a little.

Jiang Dusheng withdrew her hand, fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead, but her eyes remained calm. She stood up and said:

There's still hope.

These three words are like heavenly music.

"But she's only been kept alive temporarily. Her life force has been severely depleted, and the cold has seeped into her bones. She needs to see a doctor immediately and be carefully treated with warm and nourishing herbal medicine. She will need to rest quietly for several months to slowly recover her vitality."

Upon hearing this, the woman who had been kneeling and pleading quickly wiped away her tears, and hope rekindled in her eyes:

"My lord, master, let's find a doctor for my sister first! Once she's settled, I'll tell you everything I know!"

Upon hearing this, the old woman suddenly raised her venomous eyes and glared fiercely at the woman.

Seeing this, Wang Dazhuang walked up to the old woman, deliberately bringing his paper-faced face close, making an extremely fierce expression, and said in a low, menacing voice:

"You old hag! If you dare glare at me again, believe me, I'll gouge your eyes out and stomp on them right now!"

The old woman was frightened by him, and then caught a glimpse of Xie Jinchen's cold gaze. She finally wilted completely, lowered her head, and dared not make any further moves.

Without delay, the group quickly took the unconscious Chen Daya, the old woman, and the female ghost bound by the bone flute chains, and arrived at Pingqiao Town.

On the way, Jiang Dusheng learned more information.

The weeping woman was named Chen Erya, and the woman in the coffin was her older sister, Chen Daya.

The old woman who was captured was a high-ranking housekeeper in the household of Magistrate Zhou in Pingqiao Town, known as Granny Zhou.

The group found a pharmacy that was still open in town and settled Chen Daya inside.

The experienced doctor on duty saw that although Chen Daya's condition was dangerous, her chances of survival were not yet gone, so he quickly administered acupuncture and medicine and got busy.

Seeing that their elder sister's life had been temporarily saved, Chen Erya and the family members who had come to the funeral could no longer hold back. In the small courtyard outside the pharmacy, they all knelt down in front of Xie Jinchen and Jiang Dusheng with a "plop".