I followed Jin Xishan inside, and her grandfather was lying on the bed. When he saw us, he was about to get up, but Jin Xishan quickly urged him to lie back down and rest. She then casually said that she was just showing me around. As she spoke, she glanced at me, her eyes silently asking if there were any ghosts here.

I glanced around. The room felt cold, with a faint trace of yin energy, but there were no ghosts in sight. I kept looking, and my eyes fell on the head of the bed. There, a black-and-white photo was placed—a portrait of what looked like a sixty-something-year-old elderly woman. My brows furrowed. Keeping a memorial photo on your headboard? That’s definitely not a good sign.

I was about to walk over for a closer look when I suddenly noticed something chilling—the eyes of the woman in the photo seemed to be staring directly at me.

If it were a real ghost, I wouldn’t have been afraid to fight it head-on. But the way this photo was watching me sent shivers down my spine. Jin Xishan noticed me staring at the photo and explained, “That’s my grandma. She and my grandpa had a deep bond. After she passed, he put her photo here so he could see her every day.”

My heart skipped a beat. I held back the urge to say anything and subtly shook my head at Jin Xishan. Then I turned to her grandfather and said, “Grandpa, Xishan hasn’t been back in a while. Why don’t you take her out for a walk?”

This was prearranged. If anything strange was going on, we’d first get Grandpa Jin out of the room. After all, scaring an elderly person with ghosts wouldn’t end well. Jin Xishan’s face turned a little pale, clearly understanding that something was amiss in the room. Though visibly scared, she summoned her courage, walked over to her grandfather, and helped him up. Fortunately, Grandpa Jin seemed to want to go out anyway. With Jin Xishan supporting him, they headed out.

Once they were gone, I quickly shut the door. I still had two Fire Talismans on me, enough to deal with ordinary wandering spirits. I knew Jin Xishan would find Brother Xiang and Han Sifan to back me up. For now, I stuck a warding talisman on the window to stop any ghosts from escaping.

Then, holding a Fire Talisman in hand, I cautiously asked the photo, “What kind of ghost are you? Why are you haunting Grandpa Jin instead of moving on?”

The photo remained silent. Carefully, I stepped closer and took it down. The moment I held it, a chilling sensation spread through my hands. This must be it, I thought to myself.

I respectfully placed the photo on the table in the center of the room. After all, it was a memorial photo of Jin Xishan’s grandmother. Still, I slapped a Fire Talisman onto the picture and shouted, “If you don’t speak up, I’ll burn you and the photo together!”

“Don’t, don’t!” Suddenly, a voice came from the photo, and an elderly woman’s figure appeared, looking at me with fear.

I looked at her closely. She was the spitting image of the woman in the photo. “Are you Jin Xishan’s grandmother?” I asked.

The elderly woman nodded frantically, fearfully replying, “Yes, yes, please don’t hurt me.”

Grandma, you’re the ghost here. Shouldn’t I be the one saying that? I thought to myself. Aloud, I asked, “Didn’t you pass away years ago? Why haven’t you moved on? Why are you hiding in this photo?”

“I wanted to move on, but I couldn’t bear to leave my old man behind. I just wanted to see him one more time,” she said, looking a little aggrieved.

“Don’t you know that staying in this room every day, with all your yin energy, is harming Grandpa Jin’s health?” I asked. Finally, it all made sense. The elderly woman had been lingering in this room. As the saying goes, humans and ghosts don’t mix—it’s not just a phrase. Ghosts carry heavy yin energy. If a living person spends too much time around one, they’ll fall seriously ill within half a month. Stick together any longer, and they might end up reporting to the Underworld themselves.

So, no one was trying to harm Grandpa Jin after all? Were we just overthinking it? But wait—what about the spirit-summoning bell? There’s no way Grandpa Jin just happened to find that lying around.

“I’ve been hiding in the photo for years without causing any trouble. But ever since that ghost arrived, my old man’s health has been deteriorating,” the elderly woman said.

Before she could finish, a chill ran down my back. My heart dropped. There’s another ghost behind me! I quickly turned and slapped a Fire Talisman in its direction.

It was a male ghost, looking to be in his twenties, dressed sharply in a black suit. He’d been trying to grab my neck from behind. At a glance, I could tell he was just a wandering spirit. Ghosts come in all types—hanged ghosts, drowned ghosts, you name it. They also have ranks. The weakest are wandering spirits, which can be banished with a drop of tongue blood. Then there are malicious spirits, much more dangerous and hard to deal with. Beyond them are vengeful ghosts, like Menma and Yao Hong, the ones we’ve dealt with before.

Vengeful ghosts are already rare nowadays, capable of wreaking havoc wherever they appear. And finally, there are ghost demons. Anything that lingers too long can evolve into a demon. These ghost demons have physical forms. They lose the ability to phase through walls but are monstrously strong. At this stage, calling them ghosts doesn’t quite fit—they’re better classified as demons.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Seeing that this was just a wandering spirit, I felt more at ease. I tossed a Fire Talisman at it and was about to chant a spell to finish it off. But then, the ghost, sensing its impending doom, suddenly knelt on the ground with a loud thud and looked at me pitifully. “Spare me, please, great hero!”

I froze for a moment. What the heck? Ghosts can beg for mercy too? Ghosts exist purely out of willpower. For example, Menma and Yao Hong lingered to seek vengeance, while Jin Xishan’s grandmother stayed out of love. The young man before me, in his clean black suit, didn’t seem to harbor any resentment or hostility.

I asked, “Who are you? Why are you haunting Grandpa Jin?”

“Unjust! Great injustice, big brother!” the ghost cried, and then he started explaining his story.

Turns out his name was Zhao Yuehua, a rich second-generation kid with a fascination for paranormal phenomena. A month ago, he’d heard about the mysterious Mei Hou monkeys in these mountains and came to see for himself. Unfortunately, he ran into a group of them at a ruined temple. Naturally, he couldn’t fight them off and ran for his life. He said he didn’t even know how long he’d been running before he accidentally fell into a cave. He passed out there and eventually died, becoming a ghost.

Zhao Yuehua’s unfulfilled wish was to receive a proper burial. As a wealthy young man, he didn’t expect a grand ceremony, but at least a decent coffin would do. Clinging to this desire, he refused to move on and awaited someone to discover his body in the cave.