She never expected that the always cowardly William Brooks would dare to take a concubine against her wishes, and even have the nerve to drive her to the side courtyard for the sake of that concubine.

　　Just as her resentment was boiling over, that person appeared...

　　That's right!

　　Mrs. Carter suddenly opened her eyes wide—she had something she wanted to tell this little Daoist!

　　But she could no longer speak. When a vengeful spirit loses its last breath of resentment, it simply dissipates into nothingness.

　　Henry Thompson watched as Mrs. Carter faded away while flying toward him, blinked, and let out a sigh of relief.

　　Then, he touched his own face.

　　Although he often heard others say he was handsome, he actually didn't have a clear concept of it in his mind.

　　In fact, he always thought his looks were quite ordinary.

　　Because he was face-blind.

Chapter 7: Blame Your Own Bad Luck (Grinning)

　　People joke that when someone is ugly, they say he looks like he can ward off evil.

　　But ghosts aren't afraid of ugly people. No matter how ugly a person is, can they be uglier than a ghost?

　　Today, Henry Thompson proved with his own experience that only being handsome can ward off evil.

　　After dealing with the vengeful spirit, he didn't linger in the empty The Brooks Family residence, but walked straight out.

　　As soon as he stepped out the main gate and onto the street, he heard a commotion from across the road.

　　David Parker led a group of constables out from a small alley opposite, hurriedly calling out, "Little Henry, where are you going?"

　　Henry Thompson didn't answer, but instead looked them over curiously.

　　After a moment's thought, he guessed that these officials hadn't actually slipped away—they were all too scared to go in, so they just watched from the alley.

　　Now that he came out, they probably thought he was about to slip away too.

　　As he approached, David Parker felt his face burn under Henry Thompson's gaze, and with an awkward laugh said, "I just gathered the brothers back, wanted to come help you out. Now we can get started!"

　　Henry Thompson shook his head. "It's already over."

　　"Huh?" The group of constables were all surprised.

　　David Parker was also shocked. "Little Henry, you... dealt with Mrs. Carter... already... so fast?"

　　"Yeah, it went pretty smoothly," Henry Thompson said calmly.

　　Looking at the constables' faces, he decided to gloss over the exorcism process in a single sentence, to spare their feelings.

　　"So where are you headed now?" David Parker knew Henry Thompson wouldn't lie, so he relaxed and smiled again.

　　Henry Thompson said, "It's still early, so I'm planning to head back to Shilipo first."

　　It was just after nightfall. If he went back to grind monsters now, he wouldn't miss his daily progress, which made him quite satisfied.

　　After a pause, he added, "But since I exorcised the vengeful spirit ahead of schedule, the bounty should still be paid as agreed, right?"

　　"Don't worry, the bounty's no problem." David Parker waved his hand, then leaned in and tugged Henry Thompson's sleeve, whispering, "How about we guys celebrate tonight and go have some fun at Huahuacao?"

　　"Huahuacao?" Henry Thompson was puzzled.

　　A constable nearby grinned mischievously, "That's Spring Full House—spend some money, have some fun..."

　　Henry Thompson was embarrassed and politely declined, "No, thanks."

　　Another constable laughed, "Little Henry, are you shy? Don't worry, you'll get used to this kind of thing."

　　"I just think..." Henry Thompson looked up at him and said slowly, "there's no need to spend money on that sort of thing."

　　With that, he nodded to everyone and turned to leave.

　　Watching his straight back, an old constable snickered quietly, "Who would've thought this little Daoist is a penny-pincher. Tch, no flowers, no grass."

　　But as soon as he said it, he felt something was off.

　　Thinking of Henry Thompson's face, it seemed... even if the girls at Spring Full House had to pay him, no one would refuse.

　　Thinking about it that way, no wonder he felt there was no need to spend money.

　　The group of constables exchanged glances, suddenly feeling the night breeze was a bit chilly.

　　"Damn it!" someone cursed in frustration.

　　Though he didn't really know what he was angry about.

　　...

　　A cool summer night, with bright stars and moon.

　　From Yuhang Town to Shilipo was just ten li; even if Henry Thompson walked at a leisurely pace, he'd arrive in a short while.

　　Although the road was a wide official path, both sides were wild woods, with not a soul in sight.

　　The curfew in the Heluo Dynasty wasn't very strict, but the city gates were still tightly controlled. What's more, this was a world plagued by evil beings—unless there was an urgent matter, normal people wouldn't leave the city at night to walk the roads.

　　Of course, cultivators were an exception.

　　As he walked, near the Banjiang Pavilion halfway, Henry Thompson sensed something was wrong.

　　It was too quiet around him. On a summer night in the wild, there should be plenty of living creatures—the frogs in the puddles, the mice and birds in the woods, the cicadas in the trees, the howling beasts in the mountains—usually all noisy, but now all had vanished.

　　And a stench began to waft to his nose.

　　Among the four types of evil beings—demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters—demonic energy is foul and nauseating, making mortals dizzy if they smell it for long. Devilish energy is acrid, causing mortals to feel irritable. Ghostly energy is cold and chilling, making mortals nauseous and want to vomit.

　　Monsters, as a collection of all kinds of strange creatures in the world, are bizarre and don't actually belong to the same category, nor do they have a unified type of aura.