The Female Ghost sized up Gu Shi Yi, and upon realizing something, her voice trembled as she asked,
"Are you... could you be... a Great Cultivation immortal master..."
Seeing that Gu Shi Yi did not deny it, her face changed immediately, her rotten flesh turned inside out to reveal her original, attractive face, full of pitiful charm,
"Immortal master, great immortal, please save this lowly woman!"
Gu Shi Yi replied,
"I can't help you with this matter. Why don't you ask the Spirit Clearing Guard for help? There's a Spirit Clearing Guard right here in Xuancheng City!"
Sometimes, the functions of the Spirit Clearing Guard were akin to those of the City God Temple, capable of granting the Unjustly souls their justice.
The Female Ghost gave a wry smile,
"This lowly one cannot leave the vicinity of the flower boat..."
Gu Shi Yi rolled his eyes,
"Then there's nothing I can do for you!"
The Female Ghost broke down crying, prostrating on the ground before Gu Shi Yi, pleading,
"Immortal master! The immortal saves those in suffering and difficulty. This lowly woman is indeed in great pain. I was sealed inside the flowerbed, tormented daily by the chilling winds, only able to leave at midnight. But the flower boat is bustling with people, a chaotic mix of the living and the dead, so I only dare to seek out lone passersby on this pier. If this continues for long, I'm afraid I'll turn into a fierce ghost, harming both others and myself!"
Gu Shi Yi let out a sigh upon hearing this and asked thoughtfully,
"Do you have any silver? If you do, I can help you this once..."
The Female Ghost exclaimed with joy and pondered,
"I worked on that flower boat for three years and did earn some silver. However, I suspect that following my death, she must have taken all of my silver..."
She saw that Gu Shi Yi's expression turned cold as he made a move to leave, so she quickly added,
"But I secretly saved some personal silver at the city's money house... it requires a seal to retrieve..."
After a pause, she continued,
"My seal is a ruby ring. I suppose by now it must have fallen into her hands, yet she likely doesn't know its purpose, probably regarding it as a common ornament. If you can just get her to hand over that ring..."
"How much silver have you stored at the money house?"
"There is... around four to five hundred taels!"
This piqued Gu Shi Yi's interest,
"Four to five hundred taels of silver, with that I could take a boat to Huangjing. It would be so much more comfortable than the arduous journey by land!"
And this task didn't seem hard!
So, he asked,
"What do you plan to do?"
Noticing his tone soften, the Female Ghost joyfully kowtowed again, saying,
"Thank you, immortal master! Thank you, immortal master! I ask for nothing more but for the Immortal Sect to release me from there, to allow me to reincarnate..."
She paused before adding,
"If... if you could take revenge for me, that would be even better!"
Having said that, she looked up to gauge Gu Shi Yi's reaction. Seeing his expressionless face, giving neither a nod nor a shake of the head, she hurriedly whispered,
"If it cannot be done... never mind!"
Gu Shi Yi regarded her for a long time before saying,
"For her to deal such a deadly blow, it seems you two must have been at odds for some time. Being a ghost is a bit different from being a human. Once you become a ghost, if your Cultivation isn't deep enough, you mostly can't lie. Your explanations of past events are usually straightforward; you were being evasive, so I suspect you're no saint yourself!"
As expected, the Female Ghost hesitated a bit before admitting,
"That... all I did was mix some face-corroding powder into her powder box, some croton seeds into her bird's nest soup. I... I never intended to take her life!"
Gu Shi Yi nodded,
"I understand now! This is the result of your own actions. It's true that you were wrong, but she shouldn't have killed you either. She planted this misdeed herself and will eventually reap its consequences. And she should not have suppressed you in the flowerbed, denying you reincarnation. That's a debt that will result in severe punishment if you end up in the Underworld. I can't interfere too much. I'll help raise your remains and find a place for burial, that's all!"
"Thank you, immortal master!"
Gu Shi Yi grunted in acknowledgment,
"Go back for now. When the time comes, I will act!"
"Yes!"
The Female Ghost acknowledged and vanished in a flash of red light!
It was then that Li Yaner asked Gu Shi Yi,
"Shiyi, why wouldn't you help her take her revenge?"
Gu Shi Yi replied,
"As I've told you before, our realm has its own natural laws. Just as the Demon Clan must not harm the Human Race without justification, as it would incur karmic debts making Great Cultivation advancement extremely difficult, so too does our Human Race have a set of rules for its internal conflicts. With the Female Ghost, first, she already had a grudge against her enemy; second, the two of them might have had entanglements in past lives. Such matters of vengeance and sentiment are governed by karma. I can't intervene arbitrarily. However, that woman is quite ruthless; the saying goes, 'When a person dies, their debts are cleared.' Whether debts of the living are settled in the mortal world or debts of the dead in the underworld, preventing someone from being reincarnated is like creating eternal animosity. Even the Underworld would act upon learning this..."