Ye Huohuo walked into Li Mohan’s lounge and closed the door. The room was pitch black. She didn’t turn on the lights but lit a candle and walked around the room with it.
Acheng was quite confused by her actions. “Miss Ye, what are you doing?”
“I’m checking if there are any drafts in this room. If there are, I need to seal them with talismans beforehand. Ghosts are ethereal beings; they can transform into a gust of wind and escape. Before dealing with them, I must ensure they cannot flee and harm others. This is the rule!” Ye Huohuo inspected meticulously, especially near the corners of the room, almost inch by inch along the door cracks.
She had just covered the air conditioner in the room with a talisman, also to prevent any connection between here and the outside.
Acheng, feeling a bit bored, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Ye Huohuo’s inspection.
Just then, he suddenly saw the ornament Ye Huohuo had placed on the bedside table seem to move in the candlelight.
Immediately after, an ethereal shadow slowly emerged from it.
He thought he was hallucinating and rubbed his eyes. When he looked again, more than half of the shadow had already emerged from the ornament.
“Miss Ye, something is coming out,” Acheng, usually a very composed person, exclaimed in surprise.
Ye Huohuo had just reached the corner of the door. Upon hearing him, she turned back to look and saw the shadow was only two legs away from fully emerging.
She inwardly gasped and quickly turned, lunging forward.
However, she didn’t notice that in the moment before she turned, the candle flame, which had been steady, flickered…
Ye Huohuo quickly drew a soul-stabilizing talisman in her hand. A golden light flashed, and she slapped at the ethereal shadow. Strangely, although it was a slap directed at empty space, it managed to freeze the dark figure that was about to emerge.
It remained in a posture with two legs like thin threads inside the ornament, resembling a genie’s lamp.
Ye Huohuo finally breathed a sigh of relief. “You are indeed quite formidable. I wrapped you in two layers of talismans, yet you managed to break out so quickly. I truly underestimated you! Now, reveal yourself! Lihua…”
As she spoke, she pulled out a talisman from her chest, held it between two fingers, and flicked her fingertip. The talisman ignited without being lit. After the flames subsided, the ethereal shadow slowly transformed into a human form.
However, it was in a state of near transparency, with crimson eyes radiating a fierce gaze. It bared its teeth, looking as if it were about to devour someone.
Acheng, who had seen many desperate criminals, even those who ate raw human flesh, was chilled to the bone by the sight.
“This… this is… a ghost?” It was his first time seeing a ghost in his life.
Ye Huohuo smiled slightly. “Don’t be nervous. If I hadn’t suppressed your yang fire, with your abundant yang energy, you wouldn’t be able to see these dirty things, and they wouldn’t dare to come near you.”
She turned back, looking at the female ghost with a serious expression. “Lihua, I know you died a tragic death and your resentment has accumulated, but you must understand that if you truly kill someone, you will sever your own reincarnation path. You will only become a lonely wandering spirit, forever drifting in darkness. Moreover, anyone with profound Daoist magic can scatter your soul. Do you really wish to become like that?”
Ye Huohuo intended to persuade her gently, but the female ghost before her was filled with overwhelming resentment and couldn’t hear her words at all. She let out a continuous “桀桀” (jié jié) cackling sound, interrupting Ye Huohuo.
“If you haven’t experienced my suffering, don’t preach goodness to me. You are all hypocrites, false do-gooders. If you had endured my pain, you wouldn’t be saying such cold words. I will make everyone taste my suffering! Everyone… I want to see if you can still maintain your false piety…”
As the female ghost Lihua spoke, she exuded layers of Yin Sha energy. Ye Huohuo quickly retreated, but it was too late. She was enveloped by the Yin Sha energy.
Instantly, countless black Yin Sha energies swirled around her. Ye Huohuo was immediately covered in a layer of frost.
Her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were all coated with frost, turning white. At the same time, her face became deathly pale, like an ice sculpture.
She looked like a snowman in winter.
If it weren’t for the white mist Ye Huohuo exhaled, proving she was still alive, Acheng would have thought she had frozen to death.
“Miss Ye!” Acheng shouted and was about to rush towards Ye Huohuo, his target being Lihua. He knew very well that to save Ye Huohuo, he had to deal with the female ghost.
“Don’t move!” Ye Huohuo stopped him in time.
At this moment, she was so cold that her teeth chattered, and her words trembled.
“Listen to my… command. When I say come… you… come over then!” She struggled to speak the sentence.
Acheng knew he had no experience fighting that female ghost. In this situation, he had to obey Ye Huohuo. He quickly stopped in his tracks, anxiously watching Ye Huohuo’s increasingly pale face and the thickening frost on her. He felt as if she would be frozen into an ice block the next second.
The white mist Ye Huohuo exhaled grew weaker and weaker. Her entire body became stiff; she couldn’t even lift a finger.
Lihua cackled, “Little girl, fighting me? I have the protection of a master’s magic. You can’t hurt me! Since you are determined to oppose me, then come and accompany me!”
After a sinister laugh, she raised her hand and reached towards Qin Yumo’s neck, grabbing her slender neck and lifting her as if she were a small chick.
Her fingers extended into long, sharp nails. The black nails slowly pierced Ye Huohuo’s snow-white skin, and blood flowed from the wounds.
The bright red contrasted with the snow-white, making a shocking sight.
“Miss Ye, how are you! What should I do?” Acheng, witnessing this scene, was so anxious he felt like pulling out his hair.
But he knew he couldn’t act rashly. He could only endure it forcibly, his eyes filled with rage and self-resentment, hating his own powerlessness.
Ye Huohuo’s throat was choked, and she was almost lifeless. However, her lips trembled slightly, as if she were muttering something.
Suddenly, Ye Huohuo, who had kept her eyes slightly closed, opened them. Two beams of golden light shot out, directly into Lihua’s eyes.
Lihua screamed and quickly withdrew her hand, covering her eyes and wailing to the sky. The cry was so loud that Acheng quickly covered his ears.
Seizing this opportunity, Ye Huohuo clasped her hands together and chanted something.
Instantly, the three Five Emperors coins that had been pressing on Acheng’s head and shoulders flew up as if propelled by a force.
At the same time, a fiery light erupted from Acheng’s head and shoulders. His yang fire transformed into visible flames, burning fiercely.
“Grab her!” Ye Huohuo shouted.
Acheng immediately understood. He had been prepared. His pounce was perfect in speed and angle.
It was like a ball of fire rushing towards the female ghost Lihua. Lihua’s eyes had been injured by Ye Huohuo’s golden light. As she was just beginning to recover and open her eyes, she saw a ball of fire rushing towards her. It was too late to dodge.
Amidst piercing screams, the ghost Acheng was holding grew weaker and weaker. The frost on Ye Huohuo’s body also receded.
It was then that Acheng noticed there were no marks on Ye Huohuo’s neck from Lihua’s nails, not even a drop of blood. He couldn’t help but feel confused. “Your neck…”
As soon as he opened his mouth, the fiery yang fire on his body weakened by half. In that instant, Lihua seized the opportunity, transformed into a wisp of black smoke, and escaped his confinement.
“Miss Ye, I…” Acheng looked at the empty space between his arms, the ghost he had just held gone, and stood there stunned. “Where did the female ghost go?”
Ye Huohuo’s expression turned anxious. “You spoke just now and leaked your yang energy. She took the opportunity to escape!”
Acheng immediately became very apologetic. “I’m sorry, Miss Ye. I… I didn’t mean to. I… I didn’t know!”
Ye Huohuo quickly calmed down and shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s not your fault. I didn’t explain clearly before. It’s okay. This room is sealed, and she has already been burned by yang fire, weakening her power. She can’t get away!”
As Ye Huohuo spoke, she chanted a spell. The candle flame suddenly surged several times its size. The room was instantly illuminated as bright as day, and Lihua, having transformed into black smoke, was immediately exposed.
But just as Ye Huohuo took out a talisman to capture her, the black smoke drilled into the door crack and escaped through the gap that Ye Huohuo had almost failed to detect.
“This is bad!” Ye Huohuo stomped her foot in frustration. “If she escapes, someone will suffer!”