The night was deep.

Y City, Xu Family Village.

After learning about the Hand of Death from the phone call Chen Hao made, Ren Deshan immediately called the leaders of the Y City Police Department and the Transportation Department. It did not take long for the police and traffic officers to arrive at the northeast side of Xu Family Village, where they sealed off the section of road that had experienced several car accidents over the past two days.

At this moment, in the hills east of Xu Family Village, a man dressed in black and a woman ghost in white stood under a tree, looking at the police, who had closed off both ends of the section.

"What a bunch of fools!" the white-clad female ghost said with a fierce gleam in her eyes, "They sealed off this section of road but never thought that we could go somewhere else?"

"It's not the same!" cold light twinkled in the narrowed eyes of the man in black, "If a car accident happens elsewhere, it would just be an ordinary accident; but if another accident happens here, it will arouse the suspicions and panic of the people. Their superiors worry more about this than they do about people dying in traffic accidents."

"No! I want to kill them all!" the white female ghost exclaimed angrily, her pale green face so livid with rage that white smoke seeped out, "We'll find a big truck and drive it directly into these idiots—kill them all!"

The man in black shook his head and lifted his right hand, intending to pat the white female ghost on the shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" the white female ghost roared at the man in black. With that, tears streamed down her face. More than two thousand years ago, she had watched her emperor father and empress mother die at the hands of this man, and she had died because of him, too.

Toward this man, she felt both love and hate. She hated him to the bone, yet loved him just as deeply.

The man in black heaved a sorrowful sigh and said softly, "Will you still not forgive me?"

"If I were not willing to forgive you, would I still be standing before you now?" the white female ghost sobbed, "I just can't forget that it was you who personally killed my emperor father and empress mother!"

This white-clad female ghost was named Xinyu, a princess born to the last emperor of Chen Country more than two thousand years ago.

Princess Xinyu was eleven years old when Zi Que, the general her father most trusted, took advantage of a war between Chen Country and Wu Country and the desolation of the capital, leading his troops to breach the city gates overnight, capture the imperial palace, and kill her emperor father and empress mother in the grand hall.

Zi Que was the man in black.

Xinyu, who had been hiding in a corner of the grand hall, witnessed her parents die with just a pat on their shoulders from Zi Que's left hand. Seeing this, she burst into hysterical weeping.

Upon hearing her cries, Zi Que approached her. However, he did not kill her at that time but ordered her imprisonment in her own chambers.

Soon after, Zi Que ascended to the throne as emperor, while Xinyu became a princess held under soft detention from the former dynasty.

After becoming emperor, Zi Que never took a wife or concubine and never visited any palace maids, yet he visited Xinyu's chambers daily. He would just stand outside the door, silently watching her for a long while before leaving.

Years passed, and by the time Xinyu was fourteen, she had grown into a graceful young lady, proficient in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

Over the years, Zi Que continued his daily visits to see Xinyu, still standing quietly at the doorway. On her fourteenth birthday, as Xinyu played the zither in the palace, she saw Zi Que at the door and invited him in to listen.

When Xinyu did this, it was only to bewitch Zi Que's heart and avenge her emperor father and empress mother at the earliest opportunity.

From that day on, Zi Que punctually entered Xinyu's chambers daily, sometimes to listen to her play the zither, other times to watch her dance or to compose poetry with her.

Two years later, Xinyu turned sixteen, and Zi Que took her as his empress.

On their wedding night, after a night of passion, Xinyu removed the jade hairpin from her head and stabbed it into the chest of Zi Que, who was deep in sleep.

In that moment, Xinyu realized that she had fallen in love with the enemy she had spent years with.

When Zi Que opened his eyes, he looked at her with disbelief. Xinyu, ashamed, laid her head on Zi Que's chest and cried, "I'm sorry, I can't forget that day, the day you killed my father the emperor and my mother."

Zi Que lifted his hand and gently caressed Xinyu's long hair, his voice hoarse, "It was also on that day that I first saw you, and I liked you from that moment. I knew you wanted to kill me to avenge your father the moment you first invited me into your palace to listen to music! But I liked you too much to refuse your invitation."

"Really?" Xinyu said with a laugh, "Fortunately, I have avenged my parents and can now stay by your side with peace of mind!"

"No!" Zi Que quickly sat up, only to find that Xinyu had already plunged the hairpin into her own abdomen. "You don't understand, I'm different, different from you!"

Zi Que shed silent tears as the wound Xinyu inflicted on his chest slowly healed.

Before long, Xinyu's Yin Soul left her cold body, and seeing Zi Que unharmed, she asked in shock, "Zi Que, weren't you just stabbed through the chest by me?"

"Silly girl, I am different," Zi Que said somberly. After a pause, Zi Que revealed his true identity to Xinyu.

After hearing what Zi Que said, Xinyu was astonished and sighed, "Zi Que, you said you have lived for more than forty thousand years!"

Zi Que nodded, then embraced Xinyu's Yin Soul and said, "Xinyu, promise me you'll always stay by my side, okay? I'm willing to give up this throne for you and live with you in the deep mountains for the rest of our lives."

"If you are willing to give up the throne for me, why did you kill my parents and take the throne in the first place?" Xinyu suddenly left Zi Que's body.

"Xinyu, I'm sorry, I was just carried away at the time and was obsessed with taking the throne!"

"Because of your whim, my family was destroyed, and I was left alone!"

"I'm sorry, Xinyu, let me make it up to you with the rest of my days, okay?" Zi Que said, reaching out his hands slowly toward Xinyu.

Remembering that her father the emperor and her mother had died at the hands of these very hands, Xinyu suddenly cried out in pain and screamed, "Don't you dare touch me with those hands!"

Zi Que immediately withdrew his hands.

After a long silence, Xinyu looked at Zi Que and said, "I can agree to stay by your side forever, but you have to promise me two things. First, return the throne to my brother, and second, promise never to touch me with those hands of yours!"

After some thought, Zi Que agreed to Xinyu's requests.

Half a month later, Zi Que abdicated in favor of his brother-in-law and then took Xinyu's Yin Soul to live in seclusion in the deep mountains, where Xu Family Village is located today. Later, to maintain the integrity of her Yin Soul, Xinyu had no choice but to absorb people's Yin Souls.

More than two hundred years later, Xinyu became addicted to soul consumption, needing to feast on at least three Yin Souls a day. Subsequently, a Chen family Onmyoji from the vicinity discovered them, and after a battle of magical powers, they were eventually sealed by the Onmyoji. It was only recently, when Wang Chuan activated the Five Elements Reincarnation Formation, that they were released from the seal.

The Onmyoji of the Chen family who sealed them was an ancestor of Chen Hao, and the first author of the Book of Yin and Yang Exorcism.

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