Bride

Chen Shi hid behind the broken temple's window, taking in the entire scene.

In the span of an instant, dozens of Divine Embryo Realm cultivators had been wiped out completely. It truly shocked him.

Under the moonlight, the little girl met his gaze and looked straight at him. Her expression was indifferent, devoid of the slightest human emotion. She raised a hand to take a bite of her apple, then turned and left.

Grandpa's voice came from behind Chen Shi. "No need to envy her. With your current body, you can defeat those constables too."

Chen Shi was slightly stunned, then asked in surprise and delight, "Am I as formidable now as Godmother from Fangdian Village?"

Grandpa tended the fire and patiently brewed the medicine without even raising his head. "Godmother could kill you with a single twig. Those constables may not look strong, but one spell could kill you too."

Chen Shi did not understand.

"Did you notice? Once those Divine Embryo Realm cultivators were approached by the branches, they were doomed to die. They had no time to resist at all. Their Divine Embryos may be powerful, but their physical bodies are too weak. As long as you get close before they use their spells, you can beat them to death."

Grandpa stirred the medicine and said blandly, "Cultivators of the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art generally cultivate only the spirit, not the body. Your physique is already strong enough, and it is becoming stronger by the day. Of course, if they strike first, even the lowest-grade spell can easily kill you. You have no true qi now to contend against spells. When facing enemies like this, what you need to do is seize the initiative and deny them any chance to act!"

Chen Shi nodded.

The constables outside all came from scholarly backgrounds and cultivated the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art. The Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art was a method for qi refinement and Foundation Establishment, and it did not strengthen the body all that much.

But the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art he cultivated was different. The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art sought to forge the Sacred Embryo Dharma Body. The so-called Sacred Embryo referred to the Divine Embryo, meaning a body refined to resemble a Divine Embryo. The Dharma Body referred to dharma power and true qi, meaning dharma power so vast and mighty that it was one with the body.

Chen Shi had no Divine Embryo, so even if he cultivated dharma power, it would dissipate. But if he poured all his effort into tempering his body, his progress would be more than twice as fast as that of ordinary cultivation!

Added to that were the medicine Grandpa brewed and the strange "meals," making Chen Shi's cultivation advance even faster!

Before long, the medicine was ready. Chen Shi drank it and continued cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art. Without realizing it, he entered a meditative state, forgetting both self and world.

Moonlight spilled in through the doorway, passing through the window lattice and falling upon the floor, quiet and mysterious.

Grandpa avoided the moonlight and sat in the corner, his body trembling without cease.

"Hungry, so hungry... So fragrant, so fragrant, the scent of human flesh..."

Beneath the bamboo hat, a pair of blood-red eyes fell upon Chen Shi. The bonfire in the broken temple suddenly turned an oily green, and the air temperature plummeted as though snow might begin to drift.

Black Dog could not help shivering. He sprawled on the ground, not daring to move.

In the dark corner, Grandpa had risen at some point and was staring fixedly at Chen Shi as he cultivated.

"I'm truly so hungry. I want to eat people so badly!"

Suddenly, a window flew open. Grandpa had already vanished from the broken temple and appeared outside it.

He paid no heed to the corpses on the ground. After several swift leaps, he disappeared into the moonlit night.

When Black Pot saw the open window, he hurriedly raised his head and barked twice.

The noise woke Chen Shi. He quickly went over and shut the window.

"Grandpa went out again?"

Chen Shi was slightly startled. Finding no trace of Grandpa in the temple, he hurriedly looked outside and saw bright moonlight shining over dozens of constable corpses and the white horses' bodies.

Suddenly, one corpse twitched a few times.

Chen Shi rubbed his eyes and looked closely. Sure enough, one corpse was slowly climbing to its feet beneath the moonlight.

Chen Shi's heart lurched. "A corpse revival?"

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than corpse after corpse on the ground began to sway, slowly rising one by one.

Even the eight dead horses braced themselves on all four hooves and stood up!

Their bodies were riddled with bloody holes. They should have been dead beyond all doubt, yet they were now moving as if they had come back to life!

Chen Shi's heart pounded wildly. At that moment, Black Pot crept over too, propping his front paws against the windowsill to peer outside.

Faint music drifted through the moonlight. The corpses swayed along with it, as though drunk.

Man and dog were tense beyond measure, straining to locate the source of the music. After a while, the sounds of horns and suonas grew clearer and clearer. Two rows of performers actually emerged from the mountain woods, dancing and gesticulating!

Chen Shi had seen many wedding processions before. They were always lively affairs, with the host family hiring performers to play music in celebration.

The sight outside resembled a bridal procession coming to fetch a bride, except that the performers were foxes. They stood like people on their hind legs, puffing out their cheeks as they blew with all their might into reed pipes, horns, and suonas.

Other foxes clutched cymbals in both paws and clanged them together with deafening force, while several more had drums tied around their waists and beat them fiercely, the drums booming and rumbling.

They swayed as though dancing beneath the moonlight.

Behind them floated a large scarlet sedan chair. No one carried it; it simply hovered in the air, swaying with the music.

The dozens of corpses before the temple also danced to the rhythm, unspeakably eerie beneath the moonlight.

"This isn't an evil thing. It's a Sui!"

Chen Shi sucked in a cold breath. He had heard Grandpa say that a Sui was more formidable than an evil thing; even a village's Godmother could not ward one off!

Whenever a Sui appeared, several villages would be exterminated. Villagers and Godmothers alike would all die cleanly in a single night!

"Grandpa's Peachwood Talismans probably can't stop a Sui!"

Chen Shi looked toward the wedding procession. The curtains of the scarlet sedan chair fluttered, and within it he vaguely saw a woman wearing red wedding robes. Her hand was pale and delicate, while her face and head were hidden beneath a bridal veil.

"Invite the groom—"

The foxes suddenly turned their heads and looked in Chen Shi's direction in unison. Stretching their necks and lifting their heads, they spoke in human voices. "Invite the groom into the sedan chair—"

The corpses dancing to the music all turned to look at Chen Shi as well. Their gray-white eyes stared fixedly at the youth in the temple as they spoke with one voice: "Invite the groom into the sedan chair!"

Chen Shi and Black Pot hurriedly ducked down, their hearts nearly bursting out of their chests.

Outside, the wedding procession played and sang, while the scarlet sedan chair drifted and swayed toward the broken temple to fetch the groom!

Chen Shi retreated rapidly, his gaze locked on the Peachwood Talismans hanging from the doors and windows.

Though talismans were carved upon the Peachwood Talismans, those talismans formed the shape of door guardians. A Peachwood Talisman drawn by a cultivator who had formed a Divine Embryo could drive away ordinary evil things.

Chen Shi's Grandpa was even more extraordinary. Though old, his cultivation remained. The Peachwood Talismans he drew had never failed to ward off evil things!

Outside, everything suddenly fell silent. Not even a crow or sparrow made a sound.

Black Pot stood in front of Chen Shi, crouching low and staring straight ahead. He bared his teeth and emitted a low, threatening growl.

Suddenly, the Peachwood Talismans hanging from the doors and windows caught fire, turning to ash in an instant!

The temple doors opened.

A scarlet sedan chair stood directly before the temple entrance.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

Black Pot charged behind the doors, baring his fangs like a mad dog. Then a slender jade-white hand reached out from the sedan chair and gently lifted the curtain, revealing the bride sitting upright within.

The black fur all over Black Pot's body stood on end, and he barked even more fiercely.

"Black Pot really is loyal and righteous!" Chen Shi silently praised. I wronged him before.

The bride's slender hand slowly lowered the curtain. Chen Shi was taken aback. Could this Sui have been frightened by Black Pot and retreated in the face of difficulty?

The instant he thought that, he suddenly saw an extra person beside him.

Chen Shi turned his head. It was the bride from the sedan chair.

Chen Shi froze, then looked around. Everything around him was scarlet.

Seeing the curtain fall, Black Pot also breathed a sigh of relief. But then he saw that someone had appeared inside the sedan chair, likewise dressed in bright red robes—the groom.

In that fleeting glimpse as the curtain fell, he saw that the groom inside had Chen Shi's face!

Black Pot's fur stood on end with terror. He hurriedly turned back, only to find that Chen Shi had already vanished from the temple!

The scarlet sedan chair slowly rose. Countless foxes beat gongs and drums, played and sang, and joyfully escorted the scarlet sedan chair away from the temple.

Black Pot could not spare another thought. He rushed out of the broken temple and raced toward the scarlet sedan chair, determined to save Chen Shi.

At that moment, a startled cry came from inside the sedan chair. Then a gust of yin wind swept over, black as ink and impossible to orient within. Black Pot hurriedly stopped. As the yin wind passed, the scarlet sedan chair, the fox troupe, and all the corpses vanished completely, leaving only Chen Shi sitting on the ground.

Black Pot ran over. Chen Shi wore a bewildered expression, having no idea why he had appeared inside the sedan chair.

The moment he saw the bride, he had discovered that he was already inside it.

As for how he got out, he was equally clueless.

At the time, the bride beside him had torn open his clothes. But she had suddenly seemed frightened, shrinking into the corner of the sedan chair as though afraid he might harm her. She let out a piercing scream, and then he went from sitting in the sedan chair to sitting on the ground.

Man and dog returned to the broken temple, still shaken by the experience.

Chen Shi looked at the open temple doors and the Peachwood Talismans burned to ash. He remained somewhat dazed, then hurriedly shook his head and steadied himself.

He quickly shut the temple doors and dragged over a massive thousand-jin boulder to block them from behind.

Black Pot jumped into the wooden cart and rummaged through it. Soon, he leaped back down, carrying Grandpa's little knife in his teeth. He tossed it before Chen Shi, then raised a front paw and gestured across his own throat, indicating that Chen Shi should stab him there, where a black dog's Blood Yang Qi was strongest.

Chen Shi fetched brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Instead of cutting Black Pot's throat, he carefully took a little black dog blood and imitated what he had seen to draw Peachwood Talismans.

Chen Shi had long committed Grandpa's Peachwood Talismans to memory. Once he had ground the cinnabar, he immediately wielded his brush like a commander's baton.

Drawing talismans required mobilizing true qi. Chen Shi circulated the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art and poured his hard-won true qi into brush and ink. Keeping his mind fixed upon the brush tip, he swiftly completed a Peachwood Talisman in one uninterrupted stroke.

It was already deep into the night, and evil things could come prowling at any moment. He had to draw enough Peachwood Talismans as quickly as possible to seal the doors and windows!

Chen Shi's brush moved as if guided by a god. Before long, he had drawn six Peachwood Talismans, hanging two on the doors and four on the windows.

He had no idea whether the Peachwood Talismans he had written would work. Uneasy and anxious, he found it difficult to sleep.

Black Pot could not sleep either. Man and dog lay by the window and secretly peered outside, lest another evil thing attack them.

"This is truly strange. Why did that Sui let me go?"

The more Chen Shi thought about it, the more baffled he became. A Sui could easily destroy a village and its Godmother. A child like him would probably be sucked dry in a single breath.

Yet that bride Sui seemed terribly afraid of him, abandoning him and fleeing.

No matter how he thought about it, Chen Shi could not understand. So he simply stopped thinking about it and vigilantly watched the movements outside the temple.

After a long while, all was peaceful outside.

Black Pot had both front paws on the windowsill, peering out as well. Just as he was about to lower them and relax a little, Chen Shi's voice reached his ears. "Black Pot, Grandpa may no longer be human."

Black Pot's ears perked up, and he looked at Chen Shi in confusion.

Under the moonlight, several teardrops clung to the youth's face, yet his gaze was somewhat deep and shadowed as he stared into the distance. In a low voice, he said, "More than half a month ago, Grandpa said his final day had come. He needed to hold a funeral for himself to deceive the ghost messengers who had come to seize him and take him into the Underworld. If the ghost messengers saw that he was dead, they would not come to capture him."

Black Pot remembered that.

The old man had been deceiving ghosts and planning this for a long time. He had long prepared a mourning hall for himself, along with his own Spirit Tablet. Needless to say, he had also prepared spirit money, candles, and paper offerings.

"Grandpa said that if he set up the mourning hall, lay in the coffin, and pretended to be dead, then as long as he endured that day and deceived the ghost messengers, he could live several more years. He could not bear to leave me alone."

Chen Shi stared blankly into the distance. After a moment, he continued, "But after that day, Grandpa came out of the coffin and changed. He no longer ate food. Instead, he liked eating candles. He disliked the smell of meals, yet liked the scent of incense. He also liked eating strange things, such as... people!"

He shuddered, then said sadly, "Perhaps after that day, the Grandpa who came out of the coffin was already dead. Maybe he failed to deceive the ghost messengers."

Chen Shi possessed a maturity beyond his years. In a low voice, he said, "He doesn't want me to know. He wants to stay by my side to protect me and watch me grow up. But he is no longer human. He is a corpse, and he always wants to eat people."

Black Pot's expression turned solemn. His brows knit together as he nodded gravely.

"No matter what, he is still my Grandpa. Even if he refined himself into a zombie, even if he has repeatedly wanted to eat me, he is still my Grandpa."

Chen Shi's eyes glistened as he whispered, "He is my only family... Black Pot, go rest first. Come replace me later."

Black Pot lowered his paws and lay down to sleep. At that moment, the youth by the windowsill muttered under his breath, "...Gouzi knows too many of my secrets. What if he tells Grandpa? Should I kill the dog to silence him?"

Black Pot immediately got up and hurried to Chen Shi's side, signaling for him to sleep while he kept watch. He even wagged his tail to show that this was only what he ought to do.

—Thanks to Shijiasuo for the Alliance Leader support! The next chapter will be updated around six in the evening.