Today was definitely a dark day for the men of Yuhang Town.
Because in the evening, when everyone came in front of The House of Blossoming Spring, in groups or sneakily, they saw a sign hanging on the door telling them that the house was closed.
Those men could not help but feel disappointed.
Inside the House of Blossoming Spring.
It was usually a time of feasting, singing, and dancing at this hour on normal days, but today it was quiet.
The women in the house were gathered into a few rooms on the first floor for protection. They were whispering to each other.
As bad-tempered and socially alienated as Meixiang was, everyone could not help but feel sad about her death, especially when Meixiang might come back as a ghost today.
Inside Meixiang's bedroom, Zhao Liangcai sighed and pressed his lips together. "Meixiang did say that she was pregnant with my child. But how could a woman in a brothel easily get pregnant? She had clearly planned it carefully. I didn't mind marrying her before this. But how could I marry her now without upsetting Miss Gongsun?
"So yesterday morning, she sent someone to invite me to meet her, but I turned her down. I gave her one thousand taels of silver bills and asked her to take care of herself. Was I being unsympathetic? She could have lived a good life for a while with that kind of money irrespective if she wanted to keep the child. I didn't expect that s-s-she would bear grudges."
He faltered, sounding as if he had been wrongly accused.
While speaking, he looked at Li Chu with an earnest expression. "Daoist Li, help me. I know you are powerful enough to ward off Vengeful Spirits."
He might not know who Li Chu was a few days ago. But all that changed after the encounter in the haunted house of the Liu family.
Taking his cousin as an example.
After returning from the Liu family's haunted house, Zhao Liangchen hid in his bedroom and cried all night, talking about things such as "handsome and able to fight" in his sleep.
The next morning, Zhao Liangchen went back to his residence in Hangzhou with reddened eyes, vowing that he would never come out again before he could attain Shenhe realm.
It just showed how impactful Li Chu had on him psychologically.
"Since you feel wronged, it is better to wait for Meixiang to come back, and then you can explain to her. Maybe that would purify her grievances," said Wang Longqi.
"Go away!" Zhao Liangcai glared at him."Stop saying useless things. Can't you think of something better?"
Wang Longqi just shrugged with a smirk.
Li Chu touched his nose, feeling offended.
Casualties were prone to occur in exorcising evil spirits, and occasional accidents were inevitable.
For example, loose cannons such as some of the rich kids.
It was as if Zhao Liangcai had noticed Li Chu's gaze or something. He turned his head and gave Li Chu a servile smile.
Li Xinyi was standing in a corner by herself, squinting at them for a long while before dragging Li Chu aside. "I will handle the exorcism this time. Don't intervene unless I request it."
This was like what she warned Li Chu previously, but the meaning was completely different.
Last time, she was afraid that Li Chu would create trouble for her.
But this time, she was afraid that Li Chu would move too quickly that she would never have a chance to prove herself.
Li Xinyi was upset when she saw the faces of Zhao Liangcai and Wang Longqi. Why did they keep buttering up Li Chu while just giving her a perfunctory smile?
It was as if she was nothing but a suit.
She must rebuild the reputation of the Imperial Administration Bureau.
Li Chu glanced at her, then nodded his agreement.
He had always been mild-mannered and easy-going.
...
It was late into midnight.
Zhao Liangcai was on pins and needles. He wanted to say something, but everyone ignored him. So he could only sit and tremble by the wall.
Wang Longqi had fallen asleep.
Since discovering that the child belonged to Zhao Liangcai, he was relieved. Although the news really upset him at first, it was a blessing in disguise.
At least Meixiang would unlikely vent her anger on him.
He was guiltless.
And so he slept well.
He even snored.
Li Chu was sitting cross-legged, closing his eyes to get some shut-eye.
Suddenly, it got windy.
He opened his eyes as he felt a gust of Yin Qi rising.
He became more sensitive to the changes of Yin Qi in the air after seeing enough ghosts. This Yin Qi did not seem right to him.
The intensity of Yin Qi of normal vengeful spirits was about that of two hundred lantern ghosts.
And this Yin Qi was about the strength of four hundred and forty-three lantern ghosts.
It was a little stronger.
But thinking of Li Xinyi's confident and determined eyes when she told him not to intervene, he thought she had the confidence to win.
It was only slightly stronger than ordinary Vengeful Spirits, and that should not make any difference to the orthodox cultivators of the Imperial Administration Bureau.
He closed his eyes back with this thought in mind.
The lamps in the entire house went out all of a sudden.
There was a series of screams as panic spread like wildfire.
"Don't panic! Her Honorable from the Imperial Administration Bureau is here. Let us stay together!" Chun Sanniang called out and quickly calmed everyone down.
A gust of chilly air blew in from the terrace and forced the windows to open.
It was a freaking chilly wind.
"I'll check it out." Li Xinyi pushed the door open and went out.
People were divided into groups into several adjoining rooms. She could see the situation in the rooms as she came to the corridor.
Immediately across the corridor, she saw a pool of liquid flowing toward her.
The liquid was dark-red and sticky in texture.
It was blood.
She frowned, knowing that things were not so simple.
Sure enough, following the flow of the blood, the shadow of what might look like a baby—or even smaller—was crawling toward her.
It was the Botchling.
Li Xinyi's heart skipped a beat. How could there be such a thing here?
But she quickly realized that Meixiang had committed suicide while she was pregnant. So it was not just the mother who had transformed into a Vengeful Spirit.
Not good.
The Botchling was bright-red with a wrinkled face and a pair of small eyes clouded in white. When the thing saw her, it grinned and giggled at her.
A large flow of blood rapidly swept in at the sound of the giggling. Li Xinyi was in the middle of the corridor at the moment. She had nowhere to dodge so she immediately cast out a talisman.
BANG!
A broad golden phantom appeared out of thin air, intercepting the first wave of blood stream attack.
This talisman also lost its spirituality. It broke apart and fell to the ground.
The Botchling's blood was a bizarre existence. It could contaminate the talisman, which was one of the primary reasons many cultivators were reluctant to exorcise the Botchlings.
But Li Xinyi had no choice. She could only bite the bullet and summon her flying sword.
The famous sword Autumn Rain Begonia appeared in her hand in a flash. She made a gesture with the fingers on her left hand and struck out the sword in her right. "Plum Blossom Sword Qi!"
Whizz-Whizz-Whizz
An invisible sword energy broke away from the sword and split into dozens of pieces like arrows raining down from the sky.
That little Botchling was pierced all over.
"Aah—"
A burst of sword Qi rained on its body, and the Botchling wailed and rolled on the floor. But as the sword Qi fell upon its body, the Botchling's blood burst out. As the blood left its body drop by drop, it would turn into a thicker blood flow and merge into the blood stream.
Li Xinyi gritted her teeth.
This was another nasty thing about the Botchling. As long as you could not kill it, it would make its blood stream stronger, and its attack on you would double in strength.
In short, this was a ghost with lower health and stronger attack power.
Sure enough, the blood stream that came this time was even more powerful.
Li Xinyi performed a sword move with the long sword in her hand. A magical sword glow instantly formed into a round shield, blocking another attack from the blood stream.
She was forced back a few steps, and the glow of the flying sword dimmed.
Had she encountered such a ghost in the wild, her choice was definitely to turn around and run. The contamination to her weapon would increase with each more round of fighting.
But there were so many people in the rooms she had to protect. She could not just run away like that.
So she performed her last move.
"Daoist Li!" She called out in almost a whisper.
She no longer felt ashamed asking Li Chu for help.
She could deal with ordinary Vengeful Spirits.
But first, the Vengeful Spirit formed out of blood money was a level more powerful than the ordinary Vengeful Spirits. She had learned about this before.
Then, this was also a Botchling, the nastiest Vengeful Spirit.
From the inside and out, this Botchling was so powerful that it could be close to a Ghost General.
So what was wrong with asking for reinforcement?
Not that she was weak. She was just being singled out.
"Huh?" Li Chu opened the door as soon as he heard her. He really thought she did not need his help at first.
"Help!" Li Xinyi looked at him and said that as a matter of course.