Chapter 4

Jiang Zhuochen pressed the doorknob, and the female ghost lying on the bed was face to face with him.

The man on the bed slept soundly, shrouded in layers of black mist. The female ghost's head hung above the man's forehead, her eyes, devoid of whites, turned and stared directly at Jiang Zhuochen after hearing the noise, her limbs slowly probing forward like a reptile.

Jiang Zhuochen watched the female ghost's every move warily, and quickly dodged to the side the moment she pressed down. Seeing her surprise attack fail, the female ghost stopped pretending and stood up, revealing her true form.

"Ha!"

The female ghost placed her hands in front of her chest, her long fingernails gleaming ominously in the moonlight.

Just as the ghost charged at him, Jiang Zhuochen used his spiritual power to create a sword, cleaving through the black mist and stabbing at the female ghost. However, the surrounding spiritual energy was too thin, and he only managed to block it for a moment. He took a few steps back, took out a suppression talisman from his pocket, and threw it at the female ghost.

"You should not remain in this world."

"Why aren't you dead yet!" The female ghost staggered backward from the scalding heat, her anger materializing as she raised her hands, causing her ghostly energy to rapidly condense.

Jiang Zhuochen frowned, pondering the meaning of the female ghost's words, and dodged to the side and back, arriving at the man's bedside. Unexpectedly, the female ghost became even more malevolent upon seeing the man, each attack carrying the power to obliterate him.

This room has become the lair of the female ghost, its power greatly amplified by the ghostly energy. Jiang Zhuochen's strength was already greatly diminished due to insufficient spiritual energy, making it even more difficult for him to confront her head-on.

He took out a talisman and drew a spirit array to trap the female ghost, then burned the tracking talisman to ashes and sprinkled it on the man. Since he couldn't eliminate her immediately, he had to find another way. The man used some method to prevent the female ghost from directly taking his life, which gave him time to find a solution.

This ghostly aura is too strong. If the female ghost loses her mind and cannot be exorcised, she will bring disaster to the world. Therefore, she must be eliminated.

Seeing that the female ghost's black eyes were about to turn red, Jiang Zhuochen left the house after scattering the tracking talisman to avoid further escalating the situation.

After returning to the hotel via the route he had come from, Jiang Zhuochen locked himself in his room to meditate. He chewed the pills like candy, propped his head up, and pondered silently. It seemed that after resolving this matter, he would need to find a place with abundant spiritual energy to cultivate.

He took the longevity lamp out of his mind and placed it in front of him. Compared to its state of being completely extinguished in the original world, this lamp automatically lit up slightly after arriving here.

However, if one uses spiritual power to search for souls, this lamp will light up completely, clearly indicating that the souls are present in all directions, making them virtually impossible to find.

But at least Heaven hadn't lied to him; his master was indeed in this world. He stared at the longevity lamp for a while, then silently put it away.

The next day, Jiang Zhuochen calculated the location with her fingers and, like an ordinary person, took a taxi to an office building. After being stopped by the access control gate in front of the elevator, she had no choice but to sit down in a secluded corner of the coffee shop on the first floor, keeping an eye on the man's movements.

Jiang Zhuochen waited until lunchtime, his cup of coffee, bitter and burnt, completely ruining his appetite, before finally seeing the man emerge. His expression remained as grim as ever, and the person behind him stood trembling, silent.

There were quite a few people around the man, so Jiang Zhuochen had no choice but to hold back for now. He pushed the cup of coffee away in disgust, originally planning to find a place to have lunch first, but unexpectedly, two women sat next to him, ordering and complaining.

"What's wrong with Mr. Li lately? His complexion is getting worse every day."

"Yes, I get chills every day at work, afraid of being scolded mercilessly."

"Didn't they say that Mr. Li has had a lot of trouble at home recently? I guess it's because of this."

"Wife dead, son missing?"

"Shh!! Are you out of your mind? Stop talking!"

Seeing that the two seemed to know something, Jiang Zhuochen stepped forward with a smile. "Hello, sisters."

The two women who were resting felt a little better when a handsome young man came over and struck up a conversation with them.

The short-haired woman stopped stirring with her spoon, turned to him, and asked, "What's wrong, handsome young man?"

Jiang Zhuochen hesitated for a moment before slowly speaking: "Were you just discussing that man in black with a somewhat square face?"

The long-haired woman nodded. "Yes, do you know him?"

"That's right." Jiang Zhuochen looked somewhat sad. "I'm Uncle Li's nephew. We had arranged to stay for a few days, but I haven't been able to get in touch with him. Could you tell me what happened to him?"

Seeing the sincerity in Jiang Zhuochen's words, the short-haired woman didn't sense anything wrong, so after much deliberation, she pulled him over.

"Since you're his relative, let me tell you something. Mr. Li has recently had a major family crisis. His son went missing a few months ago, and his wife went insane. They still haven't found the child. I heard that his wife couldn't take it anymore and committed suicide a while ago."

"Oh dear, you poor thing, the company has been so busy lately, I guess you've forgotten about me."

There's also a son...

Have you seen his wife and children?

The two women shook their heads. "We're not qualified to meet his family."

Jiang Zhuochen thanked the two women and left, then followed the GPS to Changxiang Pavilion again. He rubbed his forehead in frustration at the entrance; he couldn't get to the second floor. Besides, he had caused a scene here yesterday, so the staff inside would inevitably remember him.

Why is it so difficult to create a suitable venue?

Jiang Zhuochen looked around and then spotted a spot and headed there.

Li Hui's company's cooperation with Xu Xing is about to expire these days, and he can't tell whether the other party is willing to continue the cooperation. Therefore, he is very busy and keeps bowing and scraping.

I finally managed to get someone to meet me at noon today, hoping to sound them out, but that old fox remained completely unfazed. Unfortunately, I couldn't compete with him; even with my explosive temper, I had to hold back.

After lunch, seeing that the other driver hadn't arrived yet, I offered him a few words of advice and offered to take him back to his company in my car. Just when I felt that Xu Xing was being relatively easy to talk to today, and that I might be able to win him over in one fell swoop, I almost got into a car accident after leaving the underground parking garage.

Li Hui nearly crushed the steering wheel. What was wrong with that damn Taoist priest? Didn't he say that changing the talisman would keep him safe for a while? He was about to get into a car accident, and he was supposed to be safe!

He quickly apologized to the person in the back seat and only got off the bus after receiving a signal from them.

As soon as he got out of the car, his face darkened. He tried to recall where he had seen Jiang Zhuochen's somewhat familiar face before, but then he felt it was a waste of time and didn't want the people in the car to hear him, so he lowered his voice and lashed out.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Jiang Zhuochen was focused on the man in front of him and didn't notice that there was someone else sitting in the car. "Mr. Li, I need to talk to you."

Li Hui paused, "You know me?"

Jiang Zhuochen shook his head. "I don't know you, but I want to say a few words to you. You must have sensed it yourself; you're about to face a bloody disaster."

Li Hui's pupils contracted as he recalled the same rhetoric used by the Taoist priest a few days ago. His heart pounded. "I don't know what you're talking about. If you have nothing else to say, get lost."

Jiang Zhuochen felt uncomfortable with his tone and frowned slightly. "I'm trying to help you. The dark aura between your eyebrows is even stronger than yesterday. If I'm not mistaken, your appearance has already changed somewhat, hasn't it? If you don't stop it, no one will be able to save you in the end."

Seeing Jiang Zhuochen's serious expression, Li Hui felt a little uncertain. But compared to the other person, the Taoist priest seemed more reliable than this little kid, so Li Hui impatiently waved him away.

"Where did this swindler come from? Get out of here!"

Jiang Zhuochen saw that he was not cooperating. If it were in the past, he would have taken action directly. However, he was unfamiliar with the place and people, and he did not want to do anything that might cause trouble for himself.

He figured if the man still didn't believe him, he'd tell him everything he'd calculated, at least to convince him for now. His mouth had barely opened when he caught a glimpse of the car door being pulled open and someone getting out.

Upon seeing this face, Jiang Zhuochen instinctively wanted to step forward, but after taking two steps, he remembered what the person in front of him had said, so he quickly stepped back, just in time to be one step behind Li Hui.

To Xu Xing, this scene looked like a desperate plea for protection, and a sense of unease inexplicably rose within him. Wasn't she so eager to find him yesterday? And now, seeing that she hadn't succeeded, she's so impatiently throwing herself into someone else's arms?

Xu Xing remained expressionless and gently closed the car door. "You two have been chatting for so long, what, do you know each other?"

Li Hui immediately shook his head, "I don't know him, I just asked him a few questions to see if he had bumped into anything."

Jiang Zhuochen hadn't expected to run into Xu Xing here. Fearing that the man would actually do what he said and have him thrown out, he had no choice but to abandon the operation. "I usually hang out in the neighborhood; I didn't come here on purpose. Sorry for disturbing you."

Before leaving, he glanced at Li Hui, hoping he would think it over carefully. He also mentioned that he would stay in the vicinity if needed.

However, this glance takes on different meanings depending on the perspective from which it is viewed.

Xu Xing was angered by the disregard for others' gaze and chuckled cryptically. "Looks like President Li has been having a good time lately."

Li Hui broke out in a cold sweat, instantly remembering where he had seen the boy who had just left. He hurriedly waved his hand, "No, Mr. Xu knows about my family situation, um... I'm not in the mood for that."

Xu Xing didn't answer, but just glanced at him before sitting back in the back seat of the car.

Li Hui breathed a sigh of relief, wiped away the cold sweat with trembling hands, and dutifully took on the responsibility of being the driver.

When Li Hui got home that evening, he ripped off his tie and threw it on the sofa with a gloomy expression. He tapped a few times on his phone screen to enter the dial pad, and finally exploded after the phone automatically hung up for the third time.

He flung his phone onto the sofa, muttered a few curses under his breath, and then called the housekeeper.

"Go, go and find that Taoist priest for me."

The butler replied respectfully, "Yes, sir."

Li Hui looked around his house. It seemed no different from before, but for some reason, he always felt a chill whenever he came back.

Unlike the blast of cold air, this felt chilling to the bone. Each time, he couldn't help but look back, only to realize he was being overly suspicious when he confirmed there was nothing behind him.

So, amidst constant questioning, his room, which was covered with many talismans, became the safest place he could find.

He rushed back to his room, closed the door, and saw the talismans on his bedside table. Miraculously, his heart calmed down.

It did have some effect. Li Hui decided that he would give that Taoist priest a friendly welcome when he saw him again.

Li Hui slumped onto the bed, glancing up and seemingly seeing a black vortex on the ceiling, but when he looked closer, it was gone. He rolled over and muttered, "I've been a bit tired lately..."

After his breathing gradually stabilized, the black mist on the roof condensed into a vortex and slowly pressed down, with a withered hand extending from the center of the vortex.