Jiang Xuxu froze in her tracks.
She had told him to dodge out of instinct, but it wasn't because she thought the Resentful Infant could actually hurt Chu Beihe.
Given that Chu Beihe was shrouded in a Golden Light of Merit that repelled all things dark and wicked, an ordinary ghost throwing itself at him would be no different from a moth flying into a flame.
Rather than worrying about Chu Beihe being struck, she was more concerned that the Resentful Infant would be blasted into nothingness upon impact.
But the reality was quite different.
The Resentful Infant hadn't been turned into dust; instead, it had been caught right in Chu Beihe's hand.
Caught?
Jiang Xuxu looked at Chu Beihe instinctively. She saw his brow furrowed as he stared with a cold, piercing gaze at the mass of black energy struggling in his palm.
Jiang Xuxu was bewildered.
"You... you can see that thing?" she couldn't help but ask, her own brow knitting together.
Chu Beihe turned to look at her with a strange expression. His dark eyes were deep and clearly questioning: What is this thing?
His palm didn't feel like it was holding a solid object; rather, it felt like he was gripping a ball of condensed, thrashing gas. Seeing that the black mist was about to squirm out of his grasp, Chu Beihe instinctively tightened his grip.
Jiang Xuxu was just about to take over, but when she saw his movement, she shouted out a warning, "Don't!"
It was too late.
Jiang Xuxu watched as the Golden Light of Merit surrounding the man surged with his effort, instantly flooding the Resentful Infant within his palm. Only one thought crossed her mind: it seemed the Resentful Infant was destined to vanish into thin air.
However, in the next second, as the golden light submerged the creature, the black malice that had originally swaddled the infant vanished completely, as if driven away by the golden radiance.
Remaining in Chu Beihe's palm was a white, chubby little spirit that looked exactly like a Ginseng Doll.
The tiny, plump figure was pinched between Chu Beihe's fingers, its small limbs waving and struggling wildly.
Even Jiang Xuxu had never seen anything like this before.
Her almond-shaped eyes widened slightly, her expression reflecting a rare moment of surprise and confusion.
This... was that Resentful Infant?
Chu Beihe also saw the Ginseng Doll clearly after the black mist dissipated. A rare tremor shook his usually calm and indifferent dark eyes.
He didn't seem to understand what on earth he had just caught.
Instinctively, he looked toward Jiang Xuxu, seeking an answer.
Seeing her staring blankly at the "thing" in his hand, his frown deepened, and he spoke up to snap her out of it.
"Jiang Xuxu."
Startled by his low, slightly strained voice, Jiang Xuxu snapped back to reality. Without hesitation, she stepped forward and pulled out a Yellow Talisman to wrap around the little creature in Chu Beihe's hand.
The little thing tried to slip away, but Jiang Xuxu's movements were lightning fast. She looped the Yellow Talisman around it, bundling it up in a few quick motions.
She then produced a red string and tied the little Ginseng Doll into a tight bundle, dangling it from her hand like a wrapped dumpling.
Chu Beihe remained silent.
Even then, his face didn't betray any obvious signs of shock or disbelief, though a slight twitch at the corner of his eye gave away his internal state.
After a moment, he regained his composure and asked calmly, "Is this another one of your pets?"
Last time it was a Little Fox, and this time it was a strange entity that didn't seem to belong to realitynot to mention the Spirit Silk he had seen vanish before.
Chu Beihe was beginning to believe that this young lady recently brought back to the Jiang Family truly possessed some extraordinary abilities.
Jiang Xuxu hadn't expected that question. Her mouth twitched, but she answered calmly, "No."
She wasn't into raising ghost children.
"This is the Resentful Infant I caught earlier on the roof of the Abandoned Teaching Building," Jiang Xuxu explained. "It accidentally escaped just now."
Chu Beihe looked at the "bundle" swinging in her hand, still wiggling restlessly, and was left speechless.
Since he could see it, Jiang Xuxu saw no reason to keep hiding things from him. Moreover, she had been looking for a chance to test him regarding the three bolts of Purple Lightning from before, and this was a perfect opportunity.
"If you don't mind, should we go inside to talk?"
Jiang Xuxu lifted the bundle and gestured toward the Chu Family Villa behind him.
Chu Beihe's face was cold. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't dream of inviting someone into his personal territory.
However, he was indeed curious, so he gave a slight nod and turned to walk inside.
Jiang Xuxu followed him, spirit bundle in hand.
This wasn't her first time at the Chu residence, but her previous visits had been brief, and she had never seen the interior properly.
Unlike the Jiang residence, the interior of the Chu house was decorated in a relatively ancient, classical style, exuding a sense of low key Chinese luxury.
The overall atmosphere was solemn and grand, yet it gave her a faint sense of emptiness.
It wasn't until she followed him up to the second floor study that Jiang Xuxu realized where that sense of emptiness came from.
The Chu Family Villa was simply too empty.
Although she could sense the "human presence" of the household, she hadn't seen a single person from the moment she entered until they reached the stairs.
Recalling Chu Beihe's strange obsessive-compulsive traits, it wasn't hard to guess that he likely disliked seeing people wandering around in front of him.
The servants in this house had probably been specially trained to remain out of the master's sight.
That wasn't entirely unheard of; Jiang Xuxu knew that some elite families had similar rules.
But aside from the staff, she found it even stranger that she hadn't seen any other members of the Chu Family, either this time or the last.
Were they dead? Or had they all moved out?
While lost in thought, she followed Chu Beihe into the study.
Jiang Xuxu didn't speak immediately. First, she took the spirit bundle and hung it on the door handle of the study. Only then did she walk in and head toward the sofa.
Chu Beihe watched her actions in silence before sitting down on the sofa across from her.
"You can speak now."
His deep voice was devoid of emotion, as calm as if he hadn't just caught a Resentful Infant with his bare hands.
Jiang Xuxu didn't mince words. She concisely explained her "profession" and the events at the Abandoned Teaching Building.
This naturally included Lin Ruirui and the "baby" she had accidentally lost.
Chu Beihe listened in silence, his expression unchanging.
Wealthy and influential families generally had a higher degree of acceptance for things like Xuanmen and Feng Shui. Coupled with some of his own childhood experiences, he had already suspected as much.
Today, however, was the first time he had truly seen it for himself.
Well... more than just seeing it, he had caught it.
"Had you never seen them before?" Jiang Xuxu asked.
She knew the answer in her heart, of course. With a constitution like his, overflowing with the Golden Light of Merit, it was perfectly normal for no ghost to appear within ten meters of him.
Ghosts usually ran for their lives the moment they sensed him.
Sure enough, Chu Beihe shook his head. "Never."
Jiang Xuxu's eyes flickered. She suddenly reached out and swiped the air around him. When she opened her palm, two glowing sparks of the Golden Light of Merit she had just "plucked" from his aura were sitting there.
She held out her hand and asked him, "Then, can you see this?"
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