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

Jiang Dusheng didn't bother to look at Zhou Mama, who was lying on the ground like a lump of mud, again, as if even looking at her would taint his vision.

She turned to Chen Erya and the others and said gently, "You should go back and rest first. Don't tell anyone about what happened tonight, so as not to cause any trouble, and also for your own safety."

"Your sister will stay here for treatment. I will leave some calming talismans to help stabilize her condition. As for your brother..."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over Xie Jinchen. Seeing him nod slightly, she continued:

"Don't worry too much. That person will find a way to investigate and will definitely bring your brother back safely so that your family can be reunited."

Upon hearing this, Chen Erya and the others were overjoyed and grateful.

The group knelt down again, kowtowing several times towards Jiang Dusheng and Xie Jinchen, expressing their deepest gratitude. Then, supporting each other and dragging their exhausted bodies, they slowly disappeared into the night.

After dealing with the living, Jiang Dusheng turned his attention back to Ke Chunhua.

She approached slowly, the night breeze ruffling her hair. Her gaze was clear and peaceful, devoid of the fear or aversion that most people have towards ghosts.

"Ke Chunhua, do you still have any unresolved obsessions or unfinished business?"

Upon hearing this, Ke Chunhua slowly shook her head. "No... really no more. All the hatred, all the scheming, all the hopes, I've said them all just now, I've seen through them all."

Her gaze fell on the room where Chen Daya was, her voice filled with bitterness and guilt: "But I feel unbearably guilty towards that Chen family girl."

"I also selfishly wanted to borrow her body to be resurrected and prolong my miserable life."

"If I hadn't met you, seen through this scheme, and stopped this substitution plot, I would probably have already committed an irreparable mistake, harming another completely innocent life. My sins would be even deeper and impossible to atone for."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Dusheng remained silent for a moment before speaking:

"One thought can lead to heaven, another to hell. In life, you were bound by family ties; in death, you are tormented by resentment and the desire for resurrection—all because of your obsession."

"However, those who realize their mistakes and turn back are worthy of praise; those who rein in their horses at the edge of an abyss are worthy of repentance. Although you once harbored evil thoughts, you ultimately did not bring about any evil consequences, and you were awakened by the truth and confessed your sins."

"The grudges and favors of this world are like a ring without beginning or end. If you lay down your butcher's knife today, you may not instantly become a Buddha, but you can earn yourself a chance for liberation."

Ke Chunhua listened quietly. The hatred surging in the ghost's eyes seemed to gradually subside. The face that had been twisted and ferocious due to resentment also relaxed a little, as if it had been washed by clear water. One could vaguely discern some of the handsome features of the person in life.

After a long silence, she suddenly chuckled softly. The laughter held no resentment, only an endless desolation born from a profound understanding of the coldness and indifference of the world.

"What the master says is true. It's ironic that life is already difficult for women."

"Being born into poverty is bitter, but being born into wealth is also a cage. It's already difficult enough to be born a woman, yet many times... women are forced, trampled on, and even pushed into a fiery pit of eternal damnation..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaningful gaze drifted towards Granny Zhou, whose mouth was gagged and whose face was ashen.

Immediately, she suppressed the desolate smile on her lips and solemnly curtsied to Jiang Dusheng:

"Master, please send me to the underworld."

Her voice was calm and firm.

"I hope I can go to where I belong as soon as possible and receive the punishment I deserve, so that I can cleanse myself of all this sin and filth. Whether it's a mountain of knives or a sea of ​​fire, or a cauldron of boiling oil or a hellish ordeal, it's all what I deserve."

"I only ask..."

She raised her ghostly eyes, gazing at the dim moonlight in the sky, a last glimmer of hope remaining in her eyes, belonging to Ke Chunhua:

"I only pray that in my next life, if I am fortunate enough to be reborn into the cycle of reincarnation, I can be born into an ordinary alley, with simple clothes and plain food, loving parents, and harmonious siblings."

"I no longer need to see such treacherous people, nor do I need to be anyone's pawn or substitute."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Dusheng nodded and said no more.

She formed a mudra with her hands, chanted the mantra for rebirth, and with a faint, spiritual light guiding her fingertips, she made a single, almost imperceptible stroke.

The gates of the underworld are wide open.

Ke Chunhua's ghostly figure became even more transparent.

She bowed deeply once again in the direction of Jiang Dusheng and Xie Jinchen.

Then, she slowly turned her head and took one last look at the person on the ground who gave her life, raised her, and ultimately destroyed her.

That glance was fleeting.

There was no hatred, no tears, not even much emotion; it was like looking at a complete stranger.

Finally, she turned around, as if she had unloaded a thousand-pound burden, and drifted into the gates of hell.

Xie Jinchen lowered his eyes and glanced at the bone flute he had been holding steadily in his hand.

The golden chains that extended out automatically lost their binding target after Ke Chunhua stepped into the gates of hell.

With a slight flick of his wrist, the chains transformed into a bluish-white stream of light and retracted into the bone flute. He then handed the bone flute back to Jiang Dusheng.

Jiang Dusheng took it, and the bone flute still carried the warmth of his palm.

Xie Jinchen looked at her, then suddenly stretched out his hand, palm up, his voice steady, revealing no particular emotion:

"Shall I hold your hand?"

Jiang Dusheng looked up at him, somewhat surprised. "How did you know my spiritual energy was depleted again?"

"I could tell." Xie Jinchen said succinctly, his gaze sweeping over her slightly tired brows and unsteady breathing.

Jiang Dusheng didn't stand on ceremony and readily placed her hand in his palm.

His hands were a size larger than hers, and they firmly enveloped hers.

The next moment, a pure purple aura slowly flowed from his palm into her somewhat weak meridians.

Although it couldn't immediately replenish his spiritual energy, it greatly alleviated the emptiness and chill caused by excessive consumption.

"Let's go," Xie Jinchen said, naturally taking her hand and turning to walk outside. "I've had someone find a clean inn for us to rest for now."

Wang Dazhuang, who was still somewhat melancholic after being immersed in Ke Chunhua's story, felt a strange harmony as he watched the two walk away hand in hand.

Two words suddenly popped into his head: Perfect match!

He quickly shook his head, dismissing the strange thought.

Seeing that the guards had already swiftly lifted up Granny Zhou, who was ashen-faced and powerless to resist, and followed them away.

He dared not delay any longer, and quickly manipulated the paper body to chase after it in a flash, shouting as he did so:

"Master! Young Master Xie! Wait for me!"

The group arrived at the largest inn in town. Although it was not as luxurious as the one in Changling, it was still clean and tidy.

Compared to the deserted inn where we hastily stayed last night, it's like heaven and earth.

As they approached the door of an upper room, Xie Jinchen paused slightly, making a move to loosen his grip on Jiang Dusheng's hand.

Jiang Dusheng immediately noticed that his five fingers not only did not loosen, but subconsciously tightened even more.

She glared at him, and demanded defiantly, "What are you doing?"

Xie Jinchen remained calm, only slightly raising his chin to indicate the room diagonally opposite, which also had a "superior room" sign, and said in an ordinary tone, "Go back to my room."

"No way!" Jiang Dusheng refused decisively, pulling him towards her room. "My spiritual power hasn't recovered yet."

Seeing her matter-of-fact expression, Xie Jinchen's eyes flashed with an almost imperceptible smile.

Intending to tease her a little, he raised an eyebrow slightly and said:

"Miss Jiang, if I remember correctly, our original agreement was only for the nights of the full moon each month, wasn't it?"

Even so, he let her pull him along, and moved his feet in cooperation.