While John was hunting for Ghost Servants,

  Han Yu and Lu Ming had already reached the deepest depths of the river.

  Neither of them had a support-type Bound Spirit capable of locking onto the Ghost River’s core, but they could trace its general location by following the heaviest suppressing aura in the water.

  Han Yu’s expression was calm, her black greatbow gripped tightly as she scanned for the river’s true form.

  How many people must have died here…

  She stared down at the riverbed, where thick layers of white bones piled up on the mud, sending a chill down anyone’s spine.

  No way to tell how long this ghost has been alive…

  They were early-generation Spirit Wardens, and the Peace River ghost had most likely awoken at the start of the paranormal outbreak, just like them.

  Right at that moment,

  her gaze sharpened, locking onto something ahead.

  Above the mountain of bones stood a figure draped in bright red. The stark contrast between the blood-red cloth and the pale white bones was jarring and terrifying.

  “Hm?”

  Han Yu’s face turned grave. Her extraordinary eyesight had already made out the shape of the red-cloaked figure.

  It was the corpse of a woman, her eyes tightly shut.

  A blood-red dress, a standing corpse at the bottom of a haunted river—this thing had every terrifying trope stacked to the max.

  What shocked Han Yu even more was that just by staring at it for a few seconds, her mind began to blur.

  The paranormal energy surging from her black bow jolted her back to her senses, and she knew for certain:

  this corpse was the Vengeful Spirit ruling the Ghost River.

  Moments later, Lu Ming picked up on Han Yu’s flaring energy and rushed over quickly.

  This was a deal between the Lu Family and the higher-ups, so he would hold nothing back.

  “?!” Lu Ming’s body jolted. “What a vicious, ferocious ghost!”

  His eyes were filled with gravity, just like Han Yu’s.

  Han Yu said nothing, only clenched her right hand around her bowstring.

  The string was as sharp as a blade, slicing open her palm at once. Thick blood gushed out, but instead of mixing with the river water, it condensed slowly into a single arrow.

  At the sight, Lu Ming knew she was going all out.

  In the paranormal world, Han Yu was also known as the Blood Maiden…

  Lu Ming stayed quiet and slipped quietly behind the female corpse.

  He squeezed his butcher’s blade, and shadowy wraiths began to coil around it, an evil, oppressive aura spreading outward.

  The female corpse’s eyes remained closed, her aura calm and unthreatening—clearly, she was still in slumber. Midnight was when she truly woke!

  They would have to force her awake.

  Soon, Han Yu drew her bow fully, the blood-formed arrow nocked and ready to fire.

  In an instant, a deafening tearing screech exploded across the riverbed, so sharp it sounded like a roaring train ripping through the dark.

  The blood arrow blasted forward.

  At the same time, Lu Ming raised his butcher’s blade high and slashed horizontally at the corpse’s neck!

  Both attacks landed almost perfectly in sync.

  At that exact moment, the once-still female corpse sensed the threat. Her pale, milky-white eyes snapped open.

  A bone-freezing wave of energy erupted outward, and the surrounding water churned violently.

  But for all her monstrosity, Han Yu and Lu Ming were no weaklings either.

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  The blood arrow sliced through the obstructing river water and pierced straight through the female corpse’s skull. Lu Ming’s butcher’s blade sank deep into her neck.

  For a split second, everything seemed to freeze.

  Then, the female corpse slowly twisted her head—a full 180 degrees—staring straight at Lu Ming, who had just struck her.

  Han Yu was a long-range attacker; she would deal with the closest threat first.

  The second Lu Ming met those milky, dead eyes, his mind went blank, his thoughts grinding to a halt.

  In the next heartbeat,

  searing pain in his chest jolted him back to his senses.

  “You—”

  Lu Ming looked down slowly. The female corpse’s right hand, sharp as a blade, had pierced straight through his heart!

  Swish!

  Another blood arrow slammed into the female corpse’s back.

  “Are you just going to lie there and die?! Get back!” Han Yu shouted coldly. Blood continued to pour from her palm, forming a new arrow.

  Lu Ming didn’t hesitate. He leaped backward, putting distance between himself and the corpse.

  With a thought, the butcher’s blade embedded in her neck trembled and flew back into his hand.

  “Huff… huff…”

  Lu Ming gasped for breath, channeling his paranormal energy.

  The wound over his heart began to close at a visible speed.

  In a way, Spirit Wardens were no longer fully human—they were half-human, half-ghost existences.

  The female corpse stared at the two of them with her cold, dead eyes. Then her body seemed to melt away, vanishing into the dark water.

  A strange, eerie giggle echoed all around them.

  The pair’s minds fogged over again, slipping into a daze.

  The female corpse reappeared right in front of Lu Ming, ready to strike—when a sudden, clear bell tone rang out.

  “Huh?!”

  Lu Ming snapped awake instantly. He slashed at the corpse on instinct, then retreated another dozen meters.

  A crack split across the female corpse’s body, but it sealed shut in the blink of an eye. She lifted her dead gaze toward the water’s surface.

  Dong! Dong! Dong!

  One after another, bell chimes reverberated through the river. They not only jolted Han Yu and Lu Ming back to clarity, but also suppressed a portion of the female corpse’s power.

  Clearly, Wei Feng on the boat knew they had found the Ghost River’s core.

  The three experts fought the female corpse in unison.

  At their level, this was no longer a battle of wits or mind games—it was pure, unfiltered paranormal combat.

  None of them were trash-talking masters; they had no idea how to break the ghost’s spirit with words…

  Time ticked by.

  The sky dimmed, and dusk fell.

  The battle at the very bottom of the river gradually quieted.

  The red-cloaked female corpse was covered in wounds, her once-smooth skin now wrinkled and withered, like old, dead tree bark.

  “Let’s see you survive this!” Han Yu snarled viciously.

  Her face was deathly pale, her body swaying unsteadily—she had lost far too much blood.

  Lu Ming was covered in cuts and blackened scars, marks left by the corpse’s curses.

  But he paid them no mind, his eyes lighting up with excitement. “How do we split what’s inside her once she’s dead?”

  By agreement, the core loot was theirs to keep!

  “Normal split. I take nine, you take one.”

  “?!”

  Lu Ming whipped his head around. That’s what she called a normal split?!

  As the two bickered, the female corpse stared at them with her dead eyes.

  Her paranormal energy was nearly drained, but she was not beaten yet.

  A blood-curdling shriek burst from her throat.

  In an instant, the entire Peace River began to boil.

  Every severed head floating in the water went limp, their power sucked dry in an instant. The remaining Ghost Servants disintegrated, their bodies crumbling away.

  At the final moment, all the power she had scattered was returning to her.

  “No!!”

  Han Yu and Lu Ming’s faces paled. They knew they were in grave danger—and they were in no condition to stop her.

  Neither had imagined the corpse had this trick up her sleeve.

  “What do we do?”

  The two exchanged a glance. Both were already thinking of retreat.

  They had made a deal with the officials and their clans, but if they were about to lose, they would run.

  “So we’re going to lose after all?”

  Wei Feng’s face was ashen above the water. His Curse Power was almost completely exhausted.

  Bitterness burned in his eyes. He had never expected this ghost to be at such a terrifying threat level.

  “Everyone, pull back!”

  After a moment, he sighed in defeat, sending a message to all Spirit Wardens underwater. The evacuation was on.

  They had failed, but at least there had been no casualties so far.

  Right at that moment,

  Wei Feng’s body jolted. A brand-new paranormal energy had surged up from the river.

  Han Yu and Lu Ming, already preparing to flee, froze as well.

  A tattered, rusted corpse hook suddenly plunged deep into the riverbed, wrapped in terrifying paranormal power. It shot straight through the female corpse’s skull!

  “?!”

  Both stared upward toward the water.

  A middle-aged man stood there, holding the corpse hook, his expression calm as he looked down at them.

  “Yan Qing the Corpse Retriever?!”

  Lu Ming’s eyes narrowed. He recognized the man at once. “I didn’t expect to see you here. The Paranormal Department really pulled out all the stops.”

  Yan Qing smiled faintly. “I’m just passing through.”

  But his expression shifted in the next breath. He stared back at the female corpse and muttered under his breath:

  “What a vicious, murderous ghost…”

  Yan Qing and the corpse locked into a paranormal clash.

  One by one, the severed heads in the Ghost River collapsed. Yan Qing’s Curse Power burned rapidly as well.

  Let’s see how long you can hold on, Yan Qing thought.

  The heads and Ghost Servants in the river had already been slaughtered in droves. They could no longer feed her power.

  Sure enough, the female corpse quickly weakened.

  She stared at the three of them with dead eyes, and a flash of desperate resolve appeared in her gaze.

  In an instant, her body tore apart violently, splitting into separate limbs that fled in all directions.

  “You think you can run?”

  Yan Qing’s gaze sharpened. His corpse hook shot through one of her arms in a blink. He chased after another arm at once.

  Seeing this, Han Yu and Lu Ming abandoned their retreat. Greed flashed in their eyes.

  There was great treasure inside that female corpse…

  Han Yu’s face hardened. She squeezed out one last blood arrow, piercing both of the corpse’s legs and pinning them together. She gave chase immediately.

  As for Lu Ming,

  he locked onto the fleeing head and torso. Without hesitation, he charged after the torso.

  The head had been run through by the corpse hook—there would be nothing good left inside it. That was why neither of them chased it.

  All three were high-level Spirit Wardens. They had reached this rank by being smart, not stupid.