In the darkness, Yan Ning subconsciously took half a step forward, silently blocking Xie Huaiye's path.

Xie Huaiye quickly moved closer to Yan Ning, and the two stood back to back, entering a state of high alert.

At this moment, all senses were heightened to their limits, capturing the slightest movement in the darkness.

The air seemed to freeze.

In the darkness, something invisible seemed to be silently approaching.

"They're here..."

Yan Ning's voice was kept extremely low, so that only Xie Huaiye, who was very close by, could hear it.

Xie Huaiye did not answer, but tensed all the muscles in his body.

Su Muyao felt a chill creep up her spine.

Suddenly, a woman in white appeared before her eyes, her figure blurry, like the image of an old television with a poor signal, gradually becoming clear.

What's even more frightening is the appearance of her body.

His clothes were tattered, revealing pale, bluish skin, and in some places, even bone fragments could be seen.

"Oh my god! It's a ghost!!"

Su Muyao was so frightened that she screamed and turned to run for her life.

"Don't move."

Yan Ning, who was standing nearby, reacted quickly and grabbed Su Muyao's arm.

He pulled her back and forced her to kneel on the ground by pressing her shoulders.

The ground was hard and cold, which made Su Muyao shiver.

"Kneel down, don't run around! Moving around will only make you die faster!" Yan Ning's voice was low and his face was serious.

"Waaaaah... Waaaaah..."

Su Muyao was pinned down and unable to move. The immense fear made her tremble uncontrollably, and tears and snot covered her face.

She could only cower on the ground, sobbing and crying, not daring to even breathe loudly.

On the other side, Xie Huaiye, who hadn't spoken a word, stared intently at the female ghost like a taut string.

He had quietly slipped a few old copper coins, their edges worn smooth and shiny, into his hand.

Before setting off, Xie Heng had specially given it to him, saying it was a family heirloom that could ward off evil spirits in critical moments.

He was a little impatient at the time, but it seems he can really use it now.

Yan Ning paused, clasped his hands in front of his chest, cleared his throat, and respectfully began to speak:

"Madam, I'm so sorry. My friend is young and doesn't know the rules. He kicked over your offerings and offended you."

"We'll leave right away and won't bother you again. Please, have mercy on us and let us go."

"Hehehe..."

The female ghost let out a series of shrill laughs, like fingernails scraping against glass, making one's teeth ache and heart tremble.

"More than ten years... a whole ten years! Not even a mouse comes to this wretched place!"

"We've finally run into a few living people today! You think you can leave? No way!"

Her empty eye sockets locked onto Yan Ning. Before she could finish speaking, her figure blurred, accompanied by a gust of cold wind, and she suddenly grabbed at Yan Ning's neck!

It moved so fast that it left only a pale afterimage!

"Watch out!" Xie Huaiye growled.

Yan Ning had been prepared.

The moment the female ghost lunged at her, she didn't retreat. Instead, she ducked down and nimbly avoided the claws that reeked of decay.

At the same time, she quickly pulled a cloth bag from her bosom with her right hand and flung it in the direction the female ghost was rushing towards without even looking!

"puff--"

The white glutinous rice was instantly scattered out.

"Sizzle!!"

When the glutinous rice touched the female ghost's body, it was like a red-hot iron being branded onto snow, instantly emitting a pungent white smoke.

The female ghost let out a shrill, painful scream, her movements visibly faltered, and her illusory body trembled violently.

"Now!"

Yan Ning's eyes sharpened, and he swiftly pulled a sharpened peach wood nail from his waist with his left hand.

Seizing the moment when the female ghost hesitated, he stabbed fiercely at the location of the ghostly figure in her heart!

The angle was tricky, and the speed was as fast as the wind.

The female ghost was clearly badly injured by the glutinous rice and locked in place by the peach wood nails. She screamed and tried to retreat and float away.

"Don't even think about running!" Xie Huaiye, who had been completely focused, finally moved.

This is the opportunity he's been waiting for!

With a flick of his wrist, several copper coins flew out precisely, not hitting the female ghost, but landing on the ground around her.

The copper coins formed a small circle, gleaming with a faint golden light.

Although the copper coin array was simple, it acted like an invisible barrier, instantly trapping the female ghost.

Yan Ning's eyes lit up:

"Wow! Young Master Xie, you've been hiding such a good thing!"

"Haha, this is..."

Xie Huaiye smiled and was about to say something when Yan Ning rushed directly in front of the female ghost and suddenly waved his hand.

"laugh--"

The peach wood nail was driven into the female ghost's chest, and a thick plume of white smoke instantly rose up.

The female ghost let out a heart-wrenching howl, her entire body twisting violently, her figure becoming even more ethereal, almost dissipating.

"Ouch! It hurts so much! You... damn it..."

The female ghost's voice was filled with resentment, but even more so with a desperate weakness.

She was suppressed by the extreme yang energy of the peach wood nail and the copper coin array, losing her ability to attack and only able to roll painfully on the ground.

However, Yan Ning did not take advantage of the situation, but instead activated the power of the peach wood nails to shatter her.

Yan Ning frowned as she looked at the struggling female ghost; her face still vaguely resembled her delicate features from before her birth.

Yan Ning couldn't help but soften a little; this overwhelming resentment, this mutilated body...

What exactly did she go through?

Yan Ning loosened her magical control over the peach wood nail, allowing it to merely suppress the burning sensation and cease its continued scorching. She shouted:

"Who are you? Why did you become like this? Who harmed you?"

"Is that why you harbor such deep resentment, unable to leave this awful place for over a decade?"

The female ghost's wails gradually turned into sobs, filled with sorrow.

She raised her head, staring at Yan Ning with her empty eye sockets, her voice tinged with hatred:

“I, my name is Cuifen, I’m from… Willow Village. That year there was a famine in the village… my father sold me to a neighboring village, to be a concubine for an old bachelor in his fifties… I refused, and ran away halfway… and ended up in this dilapidated temple…”

Her voice was filled with fear and pain:

"It's him, that hunchback who deserves to be torn to pieces, the hunchbacked temple keeper Zhang..."

"When he saw that I was alone, he had evil intentions and wanted to rape me. I struggled desperately... and scratched his face. He became furious and pushed me into the dry well behind the temple!"

The female ghost's voice suddenly rose, filled with boundless hatred:

"My head hit the rock at the bottom of the well... my bones were shattered! I died a terrible death! I'm not reconciled! I want revenge! I want that beast to pay with his life!!"

A dry well, bones, a shattered skull! What a gruesome death!

Yan Ning, Xie Huaiye, and even Su Muyao, who was half-dead with fright on the ground, gasped in shock and felt a surge of sympathy.

Yan Ning remained silent for a few seconds.

She loosened her grip on the peach wood nail, leaving it suspended there, maintaining a sense of restraint.

Then, she crouched down, looking directly at the ghost's eyeless face, her voice low and clear:

"Cuifen, I will avenge you."