Li Yuheng floated to the other side again, and this time gently blew a breath into Zhao Wuwang's ear.
Zhao Wuwang shuddered again.
A hint of a smile flashed in Shu Bai's eyes, but his expression became even more concerned: "Is the Commander feeling unwell? Could it be that you have sensed some kind of 'evil spirit'? Perhaps my wife could come out and meet with the Commander so we can discern the truth?"
He made a gesture as if to raise his hand.
"No need!" Zhao Wuwang blurted out, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
The Prince of Zhenbei set down his teacup at the opportune moment, his voice booming like a bell: "Commander Zhao, although my daughter-in-law is not of this mortal realm, she was married through proper channels and with His Majesty's tacit approval. If the Zhenling Division insists on investigating—"
He narrowed his eyes slightly: "Why don't we first bring down the plaque inscribed with 'A Perfect Match' by His Majesty's own handwriting, and then discuss official business?"
Zhao Wuwang's face instantly turned pale and then flushed.
That plaque represents the royal family's tacit approval of this ghost marriage; to touch it would be to slap the royal family in the face.
He gritted his teeth and managed to squeeze out, "This humble official takes his leave," before leaving with his men.
Her back view looked disheveled, like a mistress who had been stripped naked by her lover and was fleeing in panic in the cold wind.
At that moment, Li Yuheng flicked a wisp of cold wind at Zhao Wuwang's flustered back.
"Ouch!"
Zhao Wuwang's official hat tilted to one side, and his hair bun came undone, flying wildly in the wind.
He didn't dare look back, and covered his head as he ran even faster.
…
After Zhao Wuwang and his entourage left in a sorry state, the Prince's mansion returned to a superficial peace.
But both Shu Bai and Li Yuheng knew that this matter was not over.
"That guy surnamed Zhao has shifty eyes and a dark look on his face. He's obviously got someone backing him and is deliberately trying to cause trouble."
Li Yuheng crossed his legs and floated in mid-air, playing with a small flame stolen from the candlestick between his fingertips.
"The smell on him is similar to that of those 'ghost servants' who have been lurking around the Prince's mansion these past few days; they all smell like cheap puppet strings."
Shu Bai chewed on two jujubes at the same time: "Hmm. Go on."
"To put it simply," Li Yuheng snapped his fingers, extinguishing the flame, "it's like some scoundrel used evil magic to control a few unlucky ghosts, deliberately letting them out to scare people, trying to pin the blame on your husband, me."
"Can you find the source?"
Li Yuheng did a somersault and landed steadily, standing with his hands behind his back and his chin slightly raised: "You dare to show off your meager puppetry skills in front of your husband? The incantations I attach to the bone scraps that the little devils guarding the gates of the underworld gnaw on are far more advanced than this."
"So, how do you plan to look for it?"
Shu Bai spat out two date pits, then picked up three more winter dates, preparing to stuff them all into his mouth.
Li Yuheng grinned, revealing two rows of dazzlingly white teeth: "Of course, it's with my unique personal charm and a little bit of the tricks that are special to the underworld."
"Hey, don't hog all the food! You were showing off like crazy while I was talking, and there aren't many dates left! You did it on purpose, didn't you!"
"...Are winter dates some kind of good thing?" Shu Bai was speechless.
"Why not?"
"Then I'll spit it out for you?"
"Okay, okay!"
"...I'll beat you on the head twice and you'll behave."
…
That night, Li Yuheng, carrying the water ghost that had almost scared him out of his wits, appeared in the most secluded corner of the Prince's mansion's backyard.
The water ghost trembled like a leaf, its tongue lolling out even longer.
"Look at you, so pathetic!"
Li Yuheng poked its translucent head with a look of disdain.
"I'm not going to eat you. I'm giving you a glorious task: go and summon all the ghosts you know who have been behaving strangely lately and who have a 'scent of thread' about them."
The water ghost trembled and let out a few unintelligible whimpers.
Li Yuheng raised an eyebrow: "Not going? Fine, then I'll apply for a hellish labor camp package for you. Go to the bottom of the River of Oblivion and dredge up the silt. You won't be allowed to come out until you've dredged it up for eight hundred years."
The water ghost stopped shaking instantly and vanished in a flash.
Before long, several dazed and stiff-moving wandering spirits were "invited" over by the water ghost.
As expected, they were wrapped in almost invisible black threads, exuding a sinister aura similar to that emanating from Zhao Wuwang.
Li Yuheng stroked his chin and floated around the "ghost servants" once.
"Tsk, such a crude soul control technique, the brand on the soul looks like it was chewed by a dog."
He extended his finger and gently tapped the forehead of one of the ghost servants.
The ghost servant trembled violently, a flicker of pain flashing in his dazed eyes.
"See that?"
Next, Li Yuheng, the little tour guide, began to explain the sparse white space next to him, which was standing on the side of the wall.
“This brand is connected to the caster’s mind. Usually, the people in the Spirit Suppression Division would try to slowly erase this brand with purification talismans or soul-soothing spells, and then follow the clues. It’s troublesome, inefficient, and easy to alert the enemy.”
"so?"
"So, we need to use a more direct method." Li Yuheng grinned, then suddenly leaned close to the ghost servant, gathered his strength, and roared:
"Your master is a bald, mangy, leprosy, smelly-footed, ulcer-ridden, sleazy, short, wretched monster—!!"
The sound waves, carrying pure ghostly energy, crashed into the ghost servant's soul as if they were a tangible substance.
The black threads on the ghost servant's body trembled violently, and the caster on the other end was clearly disturbed by this sudden and extremely insulting "mental attack"!
The blankness in the ghost servant's eyes was instantly replaced by chaos, and the puppet strings on his body flickered with light.
Shu Bai: "..."
He silently raised his hand to cover his face.
How embarrassing.
Li Yuheng turned around triumphantly: "How about it, wife? This ghost-hunting skill, isn't it a direct hit to the soul?"
"...Don't call me wife. I'm not your wife."
Don't ask.
If asked, just say it's a watch.
Li Yuheng pressed on, beginning his "rap-style" interrogation of the other ghost servants:
"Is your master so poor that he can't even afford long johns, which is why he sends you out to work?!"
"Is he secretly in love with the Prince of Zhenbei but too afraid to admit it, so he takes it out on us juniors?!"
"Does he drool, snore, grind his teeth, and talk in his sleep, and therefore can't find a wife?!"
Every word hits the caster's potential weak points, impacting the stability of puppetry in the crudest way.
Finally, when Li Yuheng shouted, "Is your master impotent?!", the puppet strings on one of the ghost servants snapped.
A faint wisp of backlash, following the broken thread, silently escaped in a certain direction.
"All done!" Li Yuheng clapped his hands. "Three miles to the southeast, there's a house with an aura somewhat similar to that of the Zhao family, but stronger. The mastermind is probably hiding there."
Shu Bai watched for a moment as the ghost servants, whose souls were unstable from Li Yuheng's roar and were almost about to be scattered on the spot, remained silent.
"...Do you usually 'judge cases' like this in the underworld?"
The scene is too beautiful to imagine...
Li Yuheng casually tossed aside his non-existent bangs: "No way. I'm usually quite low-key in the underworld. This kind of small scene is where I can show off a little bit of my true style."
This was just a show for Shu Bai.
Shu Bai decided to skip the topic: "Can you find the exact location?"
“A piece of cake.” Li Yuheng gathered a trace of the caster’s aura that he had forcibly intercepted earlier at his fingertips. “Following this scent, even if he crawls into a mouse hole, I can still pull him out.”
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