Having devoted myself to guiding souls, I was surrounded by them after my death.

"You really are... beyond my expectations." Her gaze towards Chen Shi turned to admiration.

"Keep it down, keep it down." Chen Shi didn't stand on ceremony and wiped his sweat.

"Hey, junior, how did you figure out which one was its true form?" Su Yining asked curiously.

"About this..."

Chen Shi explained:

"This evil spirit is indeed very good at hiding, but that is also its biggest weakness."

He looked at the dust-covered swimming pool and said:

"At that moment, I thought, how could a vicious spirit that relies on objects to attack and whose attack methods are all sneak attacks, expose itself so easily?"

"At first, I thought it was a drowned spirit, and water was its weakness. If I thought that, I would assume the figure in the pool was an illusion and naturally assume the one on the shore was the real one. But..."

Chen Shi blurred the "information obtained through death rewind," and instead took out Jiang Liu's business card, showing the back:

"Jiang Shijie's survival guide states that 'the state of the Ling Cage will indicate the cause of death of the evil spirit.' Although the Ling Cage venue is a swimming pool, there is no indication of drowning."

"On the contrary, all the other facilities in the swimming pool were normal, except that the lifeline was conspicuously shaped like a hanging ring. If you get out of the 'drowning' misconception, you will find that the implication of strangulation is actually very obvious."

“Once this is realized, the idea that ‘water is the weakness of evil spirits’ naturally no longer holds true. On the contrary, the pool becomes the best hiding place for evil spirits.”

After explaining, Chen Shi turned the business card over and smiled with relief.

"So, junior, everything you just did..." Su Yining realized.

“That’s right, it’s all to lure the snake out of its hole. This Leling is very cunning, I have to give it the illusion that I’m in a trap.”

Chen Shi nodded and said:

“Since the figure in the pool is the real body, we must lure it out. Only by looking deep into the water will the real body of Le Ling rise to the surface. But once we look directly into the water, the bait will appear from behind. At that point, whether we turn around or not, we will die. Someone must hold back the fake body behind us so that I can concentrate on dealing with the real body.”

"I see." Su Yining finally understood why this younger student with a thing for older men had approached her.

Beside him, Jiang Liu clapped his hands:

“Excellent. I thought you were just a reckless and impulsive young man.”

She looked at Su Yining, her beautiful eyes brightening slightly:

"And who is this?"

Oh no… Chen Shi’s heart sank.

Jiang Liu is a ferryman who specializes in exorcising spirits, while Su Yining is a spirit herself.

He was still unaware of the ferryman's style of doing things, and it would be troublesome if Jiang Liu fired him without saying a word.

Chen Shi quickly stepped in between them, and was about to say something when Su Yining spoke first:

"I am his senior."

With a touch of nonchalance, Su Yining put her arm around Chen Shi's shoulder and said:

"Like him, I've had the ability to see ghosts since I was a child, so we're quite close. Since my junior is in trouble, of course I, as his senior, have to help."

She has a quick mind.

Jiang Liu's aura was clearly different from Chen Shi's. Although she only showed a little of her skills, it was obvious that Jiang Liu had been exorcising spirits for a long time and was very decisive in her actions.

Her good attitude towards Chen Shi doesn't mean she'll treat her the same way.

Moreover, as a dead person, Su Yining felt very uncomfortable with Jiang Liu's aura.

In this situation, it's best to avoid it if possible to prevent further trouble.

"Oh right, I definitely need some outside help to dare to fight the evil spirit with my bare hands."

Chen Shi saw through Su Yining's intention and followed her lead.

"I see."

Jiang Liu stared at Su Yining with alluring eyes for a moment, then smiled faintly and said:

"Then, could I speak with your junior brother alone for a while?"

"Okay, junior who likes older men, I'll wait for you outside."

Su Yining didn't linger. She seized the opportunity to slip away, ruffled Chen Shi's hair before leaving, and skipped away from the swimming pool, her hair swaying up and down.

Jiang Liu glanced at that radiant figure, crossed her arms, and with her bleeding middle finger, wrote a few strokes in the air. With a flick of her fingertip, the characters flew out silently and imprinted on Su Yining's back.

"Alright, let's talk about what happened next."

Jiang Liu's beautiful eyes shifted, finally settling her gaze back on Chen Shi:

"Are you into older men?"

"Yes, especially a beautiful and mature woman like Senior Sister Jiang."

Chen Shi rolled his eyes: "Do we really have to talk about this?"

"Hehe, I couldn't resist teasing you."

Jiang Liu's lips curved into a smile as she said:

“I admit, little guy, you really surprised me.”

"So, Senior Sister Jiang, as we agreed before, now that I've dealt with this Ling, can you teach me how to cross over to a spirit?" Chen Shi went straight to the point.

"Hmm? Did I promise you that?" Jiang Liu tapped her chin with her index finger.

Hey, don't try to renege on your debt, you cunning woman.

"Alright, sister, I mean what I say. Although it wasn't my intention, since you succeeded, I can mentor you."

Jiang Liu chuckled, a hint of pride in her voice, and said:

"A top-tier ferryman, huh? Lots of people want to become my disciples. I miscalculated this time, so you'd better cherish this opportunity, understand, junior brother?"

"Okay, Senior Sister Jiang!"

Chen Shi answered loudly.

"However, succeeding once with bare hands doesn't mean you can do it every time. If you want to be a ferryman, you need your own magical artifact."

Just as Jiang Liu finished speaking, the ashes on the ground suddenly rose up, the dust disappeared, and something emerged from the ashes.

Upon closer inspection, it was a hanging rope.

It wasn't a lifeline, but a thick brown rope with dark, scarlet patterns that resembled runes.

"This is... a magical artifact dropped by that Le Ling?" Chen Shi was overjoyed and picked it up.

The next moment, several pieces of information surfaced in my mind:

[Strangulation rope]

[Effect: Can suppress the target and inhibit supernatural effects]

"Once you obtain a spiritual artifact, the method for using it will automatically appear in your mind. You should have already seen it, right?" Jiang Liu asked.

"I saw it."

“Very good. The stronger the evil spirit, the stronger the magical artifact. That demon is very troublesome, so this magical artifact must be quite effective. We must make good use of it,” Jiang Liu said.

Chen Shi nodded, looked at the rope in his hand, and tightened his grip slightly.

This is his first magical artifact.

It was also his first step.

With this magical artifact, he now officially possessed the power to fight against evil spirits.

One day, he will find that three-faced evil spirit again and deal with it.

As he pondered, Jiang Liu's voice interrupted his thoughts:

"Alright, we have the magical artifact and our strength has been proven. Now there's only one thing left."

She asked, "Tell me, why do you want to be a ferryman?"

"To sacrifice our lives for the peace of the world and end the era of the supernatural!" Chen Shimiao replied.

"Stop talking nonsense, talk properly." Jiang Liu tapped his forehead.

"actually……"

Chen Shi told Jiang Liu about the three malevolent spirits and his own goals.

"A three-faced evil spirit with a face on each of its left, center, and right sides?"

Jiang Liu's eyes sharpened—isn't this the super-grade evil spirit that Crow said recently revived in Nanhai City?

Taking this as a goal is likely to lead to more bad luck than good.

She frowned and looked into Chen Shi's eyes, which held the vigor and determination of youth, as well as that irreplaceable youthful spirit.

Jiang Liu took a deep breath, made a knife-like shape with her hand, and tapped Chen Shi on both shoulders:

"From now on, you are the ferryman. I'm here to guide you. If you encounter any difficulties while you're out and about, just tell me your name."

She stuck out her tongue:

"Whether a report is useful or not is another matter."

"Senior Sister Jiang, you were actually quite cool if you hadn't said the second half of that sentence," Chen Shi said helplessly.

There's always this feeling that something's not going to work, isn't there?

"Alright, enter your phone number." Jiang Liu unlocked the phone and handed it over.

Chen Shi obediently entered the phone number and handed it back.

"So, Senior Sister Jiang, what should I do now? Should I go and help other spirits to gain experience?"

Chen Shi put the rope away.

"It's not that simple."

Jiang Liu's expression turned serious, and she pointed with her toe to the spot where Le Ling had disappeared:

“The evil spirit is born from people’s resentment; to put it simply, it’s born from people’s death. The way you just killed it was by strangling it.”

Having said that, Chen Shi understood:

"It wasn't an accident, it was murder."

"Moreover, in my opinion, it was a murder with an ulterior motive."

Jiang Liu crouched down, her fingertips brushing the ground, and said coldly:

"Nanhai City has been very turbulent recently, with even top-tier evil spirits showing signs of resurgence. At this time, the appearance of another evil spirit in the school is too much of a coincidence."

"Moreover, my senior said that the victim died two years ago, but the evil spirit is now starting to cause trouble."

A terrifying thought popped into Chen Shi's mind.

To put it dramatically, this person was murdered two years ago, and now the vengeful spirit has appeared; it's very likely that everything was planned in advance.

"Senior Sister Jiang, are you saying that someone deliberately set a trap behind the scenes?"

"uh-huh."

Jiang Liu took a deep breath, reattached the violin case, and hoisted it onto her shoulder.

"If all of this is not a coincidence, then there is only one possibility: someone is nurturing a malevolent spirit at Nanjing University."

"And the murderer usually returns to the crime scene, but now the evil spirit has been exorcised..."

Chen Shi was quick-witted; he exchanged a glance with Jiang Liu.

"The perpetrator will likely return to Nanjing University to investigate the situation."

"That's right, I need you to wait here and wait for the rabbit to run into the tree stump."

Jiang Liu said, "Cast a long line to catch a big fish. Now that the top-level evil spirits in Nanhai City are starting to resurface, I did receive a notification that the three-faced evil spirit you mentioned has appeared in Nanhai City."

"Really?!" Chen Shi exclaimed excitedly upon hearing this.

"Don't rush. We don't have any information right now. If all of this is connected, if there really is a force behind it all, it's very important to find out who the first person is."

Jiang Liu remained calm, her intellectual face still captivating even in the shadows.

"As long as there is a thread end, you can slowly pull out a thread."