Jing Teng’s expression grew cold. She was about to say something, but in the end, she didn’t and continued to watch silently. She wanted to see what kind of reaction the others would have.

Qiu Honglei looked at the ghost and asked, “Why do you only want her?”

When she heard that, Jing Teng’s expression became even colder.

“That’s not something you need to worry about,” the ghost said with an eerie tone. “I’ll let you all go if you leave her behind. Otherwise, all of you will be trapped here forever.”

Qiu Honglei sighed and said, “Even though your suggestion is quite enticing, abandoning a comrade isn’t something we would do.”

Jing Teng was stunned. At first, she had thought that their relationship couldn’t be that good because of their first meeting. She hadn’t expected this woman to actually make such a choice.

Zu An couldn't help but nod in appreciation when he heard that.

The ghost shrieked, “You might not understand your current predicament, but you’ve already been eternally bound here! Unless I agree to it, none of you will ever leave again!”

“Is that so? I refuse to believe you have such great power,” Zu An said with a sneer. He directly drew his blade.

The residence had been filled with ghostly energy, and endless gray fog had covered everything above them, so they hadn’t been able to see the sky at all. It was impossible to see the stars in the sky. Now, however, it almost seemed as if the group could see a resplendent celestial stream that was dazzling and enchanting, yet full of danger.

When met with such a sword, the ghosts that surrounded them turned into dust on the spot before they could even react.

Jing Teng’s expression changed slightly. Just how powerful was this sword? Most importantly, it seemed as if Zu An had just casually slashed outward!

And that sword seems to be…

Zu An walked up to the ghost bride. He had left her alive on purpose. The ghost was restrained by his sword ki and couldn't move an inch. He said calmly, “Your experiences are really tragic, so I’ll give you one last chance. If you let us leave, I will spare your life.”

The ghost replied sinisterly, “Do you think you can defeat me?” As soon as she said that, she exploded into smoke, clearly ending her own life. As long as the vessel wasn’t destroyed, she would be reborn again.

Zu An reacted quickly and took the red veil. Judging from the density of ghostly energy around her and her malicious appearance, just how many people had she harmed already? He no longer held back and used the Primordial Origin Sutra to blast the veil to pieces.

However, he looked up and saw that the surroundings hadn’t changed. He said, “It looks as if this wasn’t her vessel.”

As such, the group once again walked toward the rear residence, following the path to the bride’s room. However, the ghost wasn’t there; she had clearly been scared away. She knew she wasn’t their match, and had decided to just hide instead. This was her home territory, after all. The house was extremely large, so if she really hid carefully, it would be nearly impossible to find her.

Jing Teng extended her vines to remove the comb and shears. However, she didn’t look happy at all as she said, “If  she left these here, they’re most likely not the vessel that holds her.”

“Could it be that she just died and needed a bit of time before resurrecting?” Qiu Honglei asked probingly.

“That is also a possibility,” Jing Teng said with a slight nod.

The group quickly destroyed the two items. However, the surrounding ghostly energy was still incredibly dense; there weren’t many changes. The ghost clearly hadn’t been truly destroyed yet.

Jing Teng looked in the bridal room’s direction. She said gravely, “Unfortunately, according to what you said before, this room seems to contain a special formation. It isn’t too easy to take anything from it.”

This had been the bridal room of the ghost when she was alive. If she really had a vessel, it would probably be inside.

“Isn’t that simple enough? Since we can’t go inside, we’ll just destroy it completely,” Zu An said, then took out the Tai’e Sword. Resplendent sword radiance appeared before the others’ eyes.

A formation clearly flickered, but it was no match for the power of the sword. It was completely destroyed after struggling for only a moment.

When they saw the empty expanse before them, Wei Suo swallowed with difficulty. He remarked, “Boss, isn’t this sword of yours a bit too strong?”

After the sword swept out, not even a hint of rubble had remained. Everything was completely erased. The entire room had been wiped away, as if it had never existed before.

However, Zu An said unhappily, “But that ghost doesn’t seem to have disappeared.” He sighed inwardly. No wonder Jing Teng had told him that the ghosts of this world were really hard to deal with.

The group looked around and saw that they had returned to the area in front of the stage again. All of their expressions immediately became extremely unpleasant.

Zu An said gravely, “I feel as if we’ve overlooked something somehow. I’ve faced that ghost head-on. She shouldn’t have such ridiculous powers.”

They had already killed the ghost several times. Even though some of it was because his Primordial Origin Sutra had restricting effects on her, it was also because she wasn’t all that strong herself. How could such a ghost have the ability to throw them into illusions like this?

Zu An thought back to how they had been sent into the illusion as soon as he approached the ghost. That made no sense!

“Then it seems as if things might be different from how they seemed. We might have fallen for a certain technique used by that ghost,” Jing Teng said.

“Technique?” the others asked, puzzled.

Jing Teng explained, “Some special ghosts are capable of mystical techniques that far exceed the usual limits of their strength. However, these techniques’ activation conditions are really strict and often need some tools or certain information about the targets to activate.”

“What special things did we do after entering this manor?” Zu An asked.

“Could it be because of the food I ate before…” Wei Suo began, but he suddenly remembered what those things really were. He ran to one side and began to throw up again.

“Could it be because we listened to that play?” Qiu Honglei suggested.

“There is a chance,” Jing Teng said with a nod. “However, we destroyed that stage, and yet weren’t able to break free of the technique.”

Qiu Honglei frowned when she heard that. She continued to think about where the problem could lie.

Zu An said, “If there’s anything unusual that we did, apart from watching the play, we did one other thing.”

“What did we do?” the others asked, perking up their ears.

“We gave a present!” Zu An replied. He didn’t continue deeper into the inner rooms, and instead headed to the front gate.

The others were startled. Right! When they had come in, the butler had told them to give a gift, then written down their names in the registry. If he were a human, such behavior would be completely normal. But if there were only ghosts here, their actions were worth reconsidering.

“But we didn’t use our real names,” Qiu Honglei said in confusion.

Jing Teng said with a frown, “But our fake names all had one character of our real names. That might be how they were able to succeed.”

Zu An was a bit embarrassed. It was all his fault for coming up with a bad example, so everyone else had followed suit.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance. The door was already tightly shut. The butler and some waiters were bringing away the gifts, clearly about to leave.

“Oh my, why did you come out? Could it be that you want to leave? It’s quite dangerous outside at night, you know?” Uncle Wang asked, quickly inviting them over when he saw them.

Zu An chuckled and said, “We aren’t leaving. It’s just that we’ve received such hospitality that we feel as if we gave too little even though so many of us are here, so we wanted to add some more.”

“Oh my, you’re too polite! Since you’re already our guests, why would you have to add more?” Uncle Wang quickly said.

Zu An sneered inwardly. This guy was so greedy earlier, and yet now, he’s refusing when we’re giving more. There’s definitely something strange here.

As such, he didn’t waste any time and reached out, instantly pulling the gift registry into his hand. He saw that their names were there as expected, but that it wasn’t some normal paper; rather, it was a rather special object made of metal. It gave off an incredibly sinister aura.

“Give it to me!” Jing Teng said, her expression cold. She took the registry from his hand.

Zu An looked at her in confusion. He didn’t know what her intentions were.

Jing Teng’s hands quickly joined together and she chanted, “The valiant join the formation for victory, begone!”

A profound rune appeared in the air. Several golden dragons faintly materialized, then passed through the registry. The special material it was made of actually vanished in a puff of smoke!

“Nooo!” A miserable scream emerged from the darkness.

The others looked at Jing Teng in surprise. They had even been able to sense her killing intent just then.

“That ghost made me suffer a huge loss. She’s unforgivable!” Jing Teng hissed through clenched teeth.

The others were confused. Only Zu An felt a chill around his neck.

Countless translucent departed spirits dispersed from the manor. They were probably all people who had been trapped for a long time after accidentally giving a gift. The surroundings distorted as well. The group looked around them and saw that they were in a ruined building. What decorated lanterns and festivities?

“Why didn’t that ghost come out to stop us at the crucial moment?” Qiu Honglei asked in confusion.

“It’s because he’s too strong,” Jing Teng said, looking at Zu An. She recalled his heroic appearance when he had brandished his sword. “That ghost fought against him several times and knew she wasn’t his match, so she decided to feign confidence instead. She was betting that we wouldn't notice that there was something wrong with the registry, but she lost.”

“So that was it,” Qiu Honglei said, although she still felt lingering fear. “We definitely have to be careful in the future, or else we might not have such good fortune next time.”

They had been able to find the vessel, but who could say for certain that they would be able to do it again next time? Such ghosts’ abilities really were hard to defend against. Thus, the others nodded. Wei Suo secretly vowed that he definitely couldn't randomly eat things again in the future!

After all that had happened in the night, the sky was already starting to reveal the first glimmers of dawn. They decided not to rest and to just continue on.

…

Meanwhile, in a certain king city to the north, a gorgeously-dressed prince hurriedly knocked on a door.

A while later, the door opened. A woman in blue walked out. She asked with an unhappy expression, “Prince, why have you come looking for me so early in the morning?”

Even though this wasn’t their first meeting, a dazed expression still flickered through the prince’s eyes when he saw her stunning beauty. He said, “Miss Chu, we already have some clues regarding the people you have entrusted me to investigate.”