He called three times, but the sleeping figure on the bed remained as before.

Xie Zhifei lowered his eyes, as if speaking to Li Buyan, and also as if speaking to himself.

“She must be exhausted. How about we wait for her a while?”

Li Buyan’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Third Master, Tangyuan said she has no breath—that she’s dead.”

Xie Zhifei: “Nonsense. Just the day before yesterday she specifically had Mingting deliver a message, asking me to come today, saying she had something to say.”

Li Buyan: “She’s always been someone who keeps her word.”

“Her word is her bond.”

Xie Zhifei seemed to smile. “She’s also a spirit medium.”

Li Buyan: “Spirit mediums don’t die, right, Third Master?”

“Definitely not.”

Xie Zhifei’s face showed utter certainty. “She’s a ghost fetus. The fifteenth of the seventh month, when the gates of the ghost realm open wide—her soul is shallow. Perhaps some unclean thing has hooked her soul away.”

Li Buyan slapped the bed frame. “Why didn’t Young Master Pei keep his word? Where are those eighteen monks and Daoists? Not a single shadow to be seen.”

Xie Zhifei shouted loudly, “Zhu Qing, go find Pei Mingting for me. How did that kid handle this?”

Zhu Qing’s scalp went numb.

He had followed Third Master into the room, his gaze fixed continuously on Miss Yan.

No breathing. From start to finish, no breathing.

“Third Master.”

Tears welled in Zhu Qing’s eyes. “Miss Yan has truly died.”

That one word “died” made the shock and fury Xie Zhifei had been suppressing in his eyes completely erupt. Like a leopard, he charged forward, forcefully ramming his body into Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing was knocked backward, stumbling repeatedly.

“Third Master, Third Master…” Ding Yi quickly wrapped his arms around him from behind.

Xie Zhifei’s gaze looked viciously at Zhu Qing, his peach blossom eyes full of murderous intent.

“Is it because she caught you that you’re hoping she’d die? Let me tell you—even if I died, she’d still be alive. Let go of me!”

How could Ding Yi dare let go?

“Let go of me!”

Xie Zhifei was like a beast trapped in a cage. After one heart-wrenching roar, he tried to ram Zhu Qing again, his strength so great that he dragged Ding Yi along.

Zhu Qing lunged forward and fell to his knees before Xie Zhifei, his hands reaching to embrace his legs.

Behind him, Ding Yi also fell to his knees, embracing him tightly from behind.

Tears streamed down Xie Zhifei’s face in torrents.

He was like a lonely ghost that had run out from the gates of the underworld on the fifteenth of the seventh month, watching others’ happiness and reunion, unable to help but cry his grievances to the King of Hell.

“You can’t treat me like this, you can’t treat me like this…”

You can’t send her to my side, then have her inexplicably leave.

You can’t make me experience a living death once, then make me experience it again.

You can’t bully people like this.

You can’t!

Zhu Qing and Ding Yi had been by Third Master’s side for so long—they had never seen him cry so brokenly.

Thinking of Miss Yan’s kindness in the past, the two couldn’t help but feel grief welling up, and they too began wiping tears.

When Pei Xiao came flying in, this was the scene he witnessed. He stood frozen in shock.

He had been dragged out of bed by Lu Da.

Lu Da said Yan Sanhe had no breath. Pei Xiao was so angry he spat at him, cursing Lu Da bloody.

You damned old bastard, just because you’re good at martial arts doesn’t mean I won’t curse you. Can jokes be made like that?

So… it wasn’t a joke?

Yan Sanhe truly was dead!

Pei Xiao rushed into the side room in a daze, charged to the bedside. Without even looking at the person, he directly pressed his fingers against Yan Sanhe’s pulse.

Huh?

“She’s not dead—there’s still a pulse, isn’t there?”

Li Buyan raised her head in disbelief.

Xie Zhifei rushed in like a gust of wind.

Zhu Qing, Ding Yi, and Lu Da who had followed close behind… rushed in one after another.

Pei Xiao released her hand and went to check Yan Sanhe’s breathing. After freezing for a moment, he checked her pulse again.

After checking, he went back to test her breathing…

Finally, Pei Xiao turned his head, producing a smile uglier than crying.

“I, I also don’t know if she’s dead or alive anymore. How about… you go get my father?”

Lu Da, ahead of everyone else, asked, “Young Master Pei, what do you mean by that?”

“Her pulse still has a faint throb, but her breathing has definitely stopped. If you don’t believe me, you can…”

Before the words were finished, Li Buyan and Xie Zhifei pounced forward like two fierce tigers.

Li Buyan grasped Yan Sanhe’s left hand; Xie Zhifei grasped Yan Sanhe’s right hand.

Li Buyan’s expression showed some panic mixed with excitement. “Third, Third Master, she truly hasn’t died.”

Xie Zhifei’s lips trembled abnormally. “I, I told you—spirit mediums don’t die. Her soul is just shallow and was hooked away by some unclean thing.”

Hearing this, Pei Xiao thought to himself that summoning his own father wouldn’t be enough—they’d need to summon one more person.

“Zhu Qing, go ask the eldest master from the Zhu residence to come.”

Zhu Qing wiped his tears. “Yes!”

Pei Xiao: “Ding Yi, go summon my father.”

Ding Yi’s voice choked. “Yes!”

Pei Xiao: “You go see where those eighteen monks and Daoists are—why haven’t they arrived yet?”

Huang Qi broke into a smile through tears. “Yes!”

…

The eighteen monks and Daoists arrived and began chanting sutras and performing rituals outside the side room.

Imperial Physician Pei arrived. After taking Yan Sanhe’s pulse and checking her breathing, his soul seemed to have also been snatched away by a malicious ghost. He stood motionless.

Zhu Yuanmo also arrived. He had cast copper coins, examined the hexagrams, and even brought out his compass for several demonstrations.

After all this bustle, Zhu Yuanmo walked before Xie Zhifei, his expression grave, as if wanting to speak but hesitating.

Still hesitating?

Xie Zhifei’s heart was on tenterhooks. “Elder Brother Zhu, I beg you—just speak plainly!”

“Then I’ll speak plainly.”

Zhu Yuanmo coughed. “A few days ago, Young Master Pei and Miss Li came to find me to divine fortune and misfortune for Miss Yan. Actually, there was something… I concealed.”

Xie Zhifei: “What was it?”

Zhu Yuanmo: “Dead people cannot have their fortune or misfortune divined, and hexagrams cannot be cast for them.”

Xie Zhifei suddenly raised his hand, gripping Zhu Yuanmo’s shoulder in a death grip, his eyes vicious. “What do you mean?”

Zhu Yuanmo’s pupils constricted. “Miss Yan is dead, and moreover…”

“You’re talking absolute shit!”

Before Zhu Yuanmo could finish, Imperial Physician Pei leaped out of his chair, shaking his fist at Zhu Yuanmo.

“Dead people have no pulse. Yan Sanhe has one—she’s still alive.”

“Moreover!”

Zhu Yuanmo turned his head and looked coldly at Pei Yu, emphasizing his tone. “She didn’t die today.”

What did that mean?

What exactly did that mean?

Everyone looked at each other—the expressions on their faces one more bewildered than the next.

“I believe…”

Zhu Yuanmo took a deep breath, forcing out each word with extreme difficulty.

“She. Was. Already. Dead. Long. Ago!”

Xie Zhifei laughed with a snort. “Elder Brother Zhu, what nonsense are you spouting?”

Li Buyan cursed outright: “Damn it, you’re the one who’s dead. You died eight hundred years ago.”

Pei Xiao rolled his eyes so hard they could pierce the heavens. “Elder Brother Zhu, have you gone senile?”

Zhu Qing sneered coldly. “Can dead people eat and drink, walk and move?”

Ding Yi said angrily, “Can dead people dissolve obsessions and dispel demons?”

Huang Qi straightened his chest. “Master Zhu, Miss Yan is someone who helped your Zhu family. Without her, your Zhu family would have been finished long ago. You should speak more honorably.”

Zhu Yuanmo: “…”

No words in response!