The female ghost

"Come in." Ye Fan opened the door and invited Jiang Hailin and the others to sit down.

Jiang Hailin briefly explained the situation.

"A Peace Talisman can only keep you safe and ward off minor misfortunes. An Illness-Expelling Talisman can only cure ordinary ailments. Neither does much against ghosts, though there's some overlap, so they should help a little. Still, I reckon these talismans can only keep Song Bohui alive for now." If the female ghost possessed him for too long, Song Bohui was doomed.

Ye Fan could not help feeling a little sheepish. Ultimately, his cultivation was too low. If he could reach the fourth layer of artifact refining, a single Peace Talisman would be enough to reduce that female ghost to ashes.

Jiang Hailin said excitedly, "I came to ask whether you have a way to exorcise ghosts, Young Master Ye."

"Have you consulted an Exorcism Master?" Ye Fan asked.

Jiang Hailin nodded. "Yes. The Exorcism Master said she was a Millennium Vengeful Ghost, far too powerful to mess with."

Ye Fan paused. "A thousand years? Then she really would be difficult to deal with." The longer a ghost existed and the more she experienced, the more abilities she would develop. There were so many frauds in this world that he did not know whether to believe it.

Ye Fan grabbed a row of milk cartons and started drinking.

"How many days has Song Bohui been possessed?" Ye Fan asked.

"Three days."

"Oh." If she really were a thousand-year-old female ghost, he'd already be dead.

Watching Ye Fan drink his milk, Jiang Hailin could not help frowning.

Ye Fan noticed his gaze and blinked. "Would you like some milk too? There's more here."

Jiang Hailin hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no."

Ye Fan smiled at his reaction. "No need to be polite. It's really cheap."

Jiang Hailin: "..."

Jiang Hailin looked at Ye Fan. "Young Master Ye, what do you think?"

"You want me to exorcise her? That means risking my life. How much are you planning to pay me?" Ye Fan asked.

Qian Yu quickly said, "How about ten million?"

Ye Fan blinked. Now that's money! "Sure. Pay a one-million deposit first. I'll ask you for the rest once it's settled." Ten million would be enough to keep him going for a while.

"Young Master Ye, did things fall through between you and Liao Tingting?" Qian Yu looked at Ye Fan. No matter how he looked at him, the man before him did not quite match the one he remembered. Was this really Ye Fan?

"You mean Liao Tingting? That woman has the face of a husband's bane. Whoever marries her is in for bad luck." Ye Fan hastily shook his head.

Qian Yu: "..."

Qian Yu's phone rang. As soon as he answered, his expression changed.

Ye Fan looked at Qian Yu. "What happened?"

"Boss hanged himself!" Qian Yu said.

Ye Fan: "..." Hanging? That wasn't a method of suicide people often chose these days. Jumping off buildings and taking sleeping pills were more popular!

"He's not dead, is he?" Ye Fan asked.

Qian Yu shook his head. "No. They used another Illness-Expelling Talisman to suppress the ghost."

Jiang Hailin turned to Ye Fan. "Young Master Ye, we shouldn't delay!"

Ye Fan grabbed a handful of chips and a bag of chicken feet. "Let's go."

Jiang Hailin: "All right..."

Ye Fan followed Jiang Hailin into the room. Song Bohui was tied up securely.

Looking at Song Bohui, Ye Fan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master, what is it?" Jiang Hailin asked when he saw Ye Fan's expression.

"Nothing. Just as I suspected, she isn't a thousand years old. She's only a little over a hundred. She was probably an opera performer during the Republican era."

As soon as Ye Fan entered, he saw the Red-Clothed Female Ghost possessing Song Bohui. Perhaps sensing the danger he posed, Song Bohui-or rather, the Red-Clothed Female Ghost-let out a series of threatening sounds at him.

There were Ghost Cultivators on the Azure Mystic Continent who devoted themselves to subduing vengeful ghosts and refining them into magical artifacts, among other things. Most souls dissipated after death; only a tiny minority became ghosts. To Ghost Cultivators, ghosts were equivalent to spirit stones. Whenever one appeared, everyone fought over it. After all, cultivation resources in the Cultivation World were limited. Anything useful was worth fighting over.

Jiang Hailin frowned. He had the feeling that Ye Fan was communicating with the female ghost, but he could not tell what they were discussing.

"Young Master Ye, what are you doing?" Jiang Hailin asked.

"I'm talking to her. She was an opera performer during the Republican era. A wealthy young master bought her as a concubine, but she fell out of favor soon afterward. His principal wife accused her of having an affair with a servant, cut out her tongue, and forced her to hang herself."

"Why is she haunting our boss?"

Ye Fan shrugged. "Your boss is unlucky. He looks like the man who betrayed her!"

Qian Yu: "..."

"Song Bohui" stared at Ye Fan, his expression alternating between calm and madness.

"But it was the wife who hurt her! Besides, our boss isn't the man who betrayed her!" Qian Yu said.

Ye Fan nodded. "Yes. I'm trying to appeal to her reason and emotions, but she's convinced your boss is the man she's looking for. She won't listen."

Suddenly, Ye Fan's expression turned cold. He formed several hand seals, sending spells into Song Bohui. "Song Bohui" screamed, and the Red-Clothed Female Ghost was forced out of his body.

"A ghost!" Jiang Hailin could not help screaming. Ordinary people could not see ghosts, but under certain conditions, they occasionally could. Ye Fan's spells had made the Red-Clothed Female Ghost manifest, allowing Jiang Hailin to see her clearly.

Ye Fan was rather speechless. Jiang Hailin, you idiot. With so little courage, you actually dared go looking for ghosts in the middle of the night?

Using the Ghost-Capturing Art was still somewhat difficult for Ye Fan. "Capture!" he shouted.

The female ghost turned and fled. The lights in the hospital room exploded all at once.

Seeing her try to escape, Ye Fan used the Ghost-Binding Art. Once she was immobilized, he took out a talisman and stuck it onto her, sealing her inside.

"Young Master Ye, where's the female ghost?" Jiang Hailin asked cautiously.

"Want her? I can give her to you. She's a beauty!" Ye Fan said.

Jiang Hailin hastily shook his head. "No, no. You keep her. You keep her."

Qian Yu asked anxiously, "Young Master Ye, is our boss all right now?"

Ye Fan shook his head. "He's fine for now. Get a doctor to examine him. He should wake up in a little while, but..."

"But what?" Qian Yu asked.

Ye Fan shook his head. "Nothing."

Of all the things these wealthy young masters could have done for fun, they had insisted on seeking out ghosts. The female ghost carried such heavy yin energy, and this young master had been possessed by her for so long that he had lost at least two or three years of his lifespan. Still, Ye Fan could hardly say that. After all, nobody would be happy to be told out of the blue that they had several fewer years to live.

Qian Yu nodded. "All right, all right."

"I'll head back now."

Jiang Hailin quickly said, "Young Master Ye, I'll take you home."

Ye Fan nodded. "All right."