At that moment, a young man suddenly emerged from the crowd, full of energy and looking like a leader. He raised his arm and shouted, “Listen to me, listen to me! This is useless! How many times have we run around these past few days? Has that ghost groom been lured out?”

The group of burly men all chimed in with complaints. The young man said, “In my opinion, we might as well go all the way—let’s just charge straight into Yujun Mountain, search the mountain, and drag that freak out to kill him! I’ll lead the way. Any brave men, follow me! Kill the freak, and we’ll split the reward!”

At first, the men responded half-heartedly, but their voices grew louder and soon everyone joined in, making quite a commotion. William Carter asked, “Freak? Shopkeeper, what’s this freak they’re talking about?”

Dr. Carter said, “They say the ghost groom is a freak who lives in Yujun Mountain. He’s so ugly that no woman likes him, so he became resentful and started stealing other people’s brides, ruining their happiness.”

There was no record of this in the scrolls of Lingwen Hall. William Carter said, “Is there really such a story? Or is it just speculation?”

Dr. Carter replied, “Who knows? They say quite a few people have seen him—his whole face wrapped in bandages, fierce eyes, can’t speak, just growls like a wolfdog. The rumors are all mysterious and spooky.”

Emma said, “Just because his face is wrapped in bandages doesn’t mean he’s ugly. Maybe he’s too beautiful and doesn’t want anyone to see.”

Dr. Carter was speechless for a moment, then said, “Who knows? I’ve never seen him anyway.”

Just then, a girl’s voice came from the street: “You… you shouldn’t listen to him. Don’t go. Yujun Mountain is very dangerous…”

The one speaking from the street corner was the same girl, Little Emma, who had come to pray at Nanyang Temple last night.

As soon as William Carter saw her, his face started to ache a little, and he unconsciously raised his hand to touch it.

The young man scowled at her, shoved her, and said, “The men are talking—what’s a little girl butting in for?”

Little Emma shrank back from his push, but mustered her courage and said softly, “Don’t listen to him. Whether it’s a fake wedding procession or searching the mountain, it’s all so dangerous. Isn’t this just sending people to their deaths?”

The young man said, “Easy for you to say! We’re risking our lives to rid the people of evil, and what about you? Selfish and unwilling to pretend to be a bride and get in the sedan chair. You don’t even have that bit of courage for the sake of the people here, and now you’re getting in our way. What’s your motive?”

With every sentence, he shoved the girl again, making everyone in the shop frown. William Carter, while lowering his head to unwind the bandage on his wrist, heard Dr. Carter say, “That Little John, earlier he tried to coax the girl into pretending to be a bride, sweet-talking her. She refused, and now he’s showing his true colors.”

On the street, the group of men also said, “Stop blocking the way, move aside, move aside!” Seeing this, Little Emma’s flat face turned bright red, tears welling up in her eyes. She said, “You… why do you have to talk like that?”

The young man said again, “Am I wrong? I asked you to pretend to be the bride, and you’d rather die than agree, right?”

Little Emma said, “I was too scared, but you didn’t have to… cut my skirt…”

As soon as she mentioned this, the young man jumped up as if his sore spot had been poked, pointed at her nose, and shouted, “You freak, stop slandering me! I cut your skirt? You think I’m blind? Who knows if you just wanted to show off and cut it yourself? Who cares about your ugly face or your torn skirt? Don’t try to pin this on me!”

George couldn’t stand it any longer—the teacup in his hand shattered with a crack. Just as he was about to get up, a white shadow flashed beside him. Over there, the jumping Little John suddenly screamed, clutched his face, and fell to the ground, blood dripping through his fingers.

No one had seen what happened—he was already on the ground. They thought maybe Little Emma had lashed out, but when they looked at her, she was nowhere to be seen. A white-robed Daoist was now standing in front of her.

William Carter folded his hands in his sleeves, didn’t even look back, smiled at Little Emma, bent down slightly to meet her gaze, and asked, “Miss, may I invite you inside for a cup of tea?”

On the ground, Little John’s nose and mouth throbbed with pain, his face felt as if it had been whipped with steel rods. But the Daoist clearly had no weapon, and no one saw how he struck or with what. Staggering to his feet, he raised his knife and shouted, “This man used sorcery!”

The group of men behind him, hearing “sorcery,” all raised their knives in response. But behind them, George suddenly struck with his palm—crack! A pillar snapped in two.

Seeing such strength, the men’s faces all changed. Little John was intimidated, but still tried to save face, running as he shouted, “I lost today, but which heroes are you? Leave your names, and we’ll meet again someday…”

George didn’t bother to answer, but Emma said from the side, “No problem, no problem, this is the great—”

George struck again with his palm, and the two of them started bickering quietly. William Carter had wanted to invite the girl in for some fruit tea and snacks, but she wiped her tears and left on her own. He could only sigh as he watched her go, then went back inside. As he entered, Dr. Carter said, “Don’t forget to pay for the pillar.”