Marriage

Why is there such a thick fog around us?

The bus slowly came to a stop; it couldn't move forward any further. The fog was so thick that visibility was less than a meter.

(I encountered this once; it was less than a meter away, and I couldn't see anything at all, not even the traffic lights. It scared me to death...)

Malfoy had already huddled his whole body in Pansy's arms, but he still stubbornly insisted that he wasn't scared, he was just a little cold. Pansy had no choice but to hug him even tighter, feeling both annoyed and amused.

Yellowed old red paper drifted down from the sky, its corners stained with dried black ash, while an old, hoarse voice drifted in from all directions:

"Visitors from afar, our village's ghost opera invites you to join us."

In the Yamanaka, operas are performed at midnight, haunted by wandering spirits and evil lurking in the shadows. Each challenge is governed by the life-and-death rules set by the ancestors.

Passing through the seven gates of the underworld can avert calamities in this life; if one escapes halfway, one will be forced to take the place of the deceased and be trapped here forever, performing for the actors.

The mountain gates were immediately opened wide; if you dare to come, please come in and have a chat.

"Ah!!!"

A scream rang out from young Master Malfoy —what he feared had come true! He had just been muttering, "Please don't encounter a ghost, please don't encounter a ghost," and now he actually had one...

"Don't be afraid... don't be afraid... I'm here for you..." Pansy had no choice but to keep coaxing the trembling Malfoy in her arms. Goyle and Crabbe stopped eating and stood beside Malfoy to protect him.

Kurama excitedly opened the car window and craned his neck to look outside. A cold wind blew in through the window, making Malfoy shudder.

"Su Yu! Su Yu! Can I give him Tailed Beast Bomb?!"

Kurama shouted excitedly, turning back to wait for Su Yu's reply.

"You're crazy! If you unleash Tailed Beast Bomb and it hits, great, but what if it misses and hits someone instead..."

Su Yu grabbed Kurama Fox by the collar and dragged her back, closing the window as he did so. Didn't you see Malfoy was about to wet his pants, strutting around like that?

"Alright, what should we do now? Let's all share our thoughts."

Su Yu carried Kurama back to his seat, looking at Ka-jie and Hermione who were observing the situation outside.

Zhang Qinwan felt that everyone should just wait for rescue. After all, Hogwarts Academy Witchcraft and Wizardry didn't major in exorcism, so sending these kids down to explore was a bit risky.

However, the rescue team arrived very quickly. Before everyone could finish discussing, a six-person team arrived at the bus.

"We are cultivators from the Lake Province Cultivation Bureau Branch. Is anyone in the vehicle? Please get out immediately for inspection!"

A young monk knocked on the bus door. The windows of the bus were all tinted with sun film, making it difficult to see inside from the outside. With the thick fog, visibility was even worse.

Ma Jin is a talisman master from Chenzhou, belonging to the Spirit-Tuning Sect of the Outer Eight Gates. He specializes in drawing talismans to suppress souls and transporting corpses to ferry souls. According to the calculation method of the British Ministry of Magic, he is equivalent to an Auror.

At this moment, Ma Jin's compass was spinning rapidly, proving that there was a very terrifying creature inside the bus.

"It should be right, the evil spirit is hiding in the bus."

Ma Jin spoke to the team members beside him, and then they took out their respective magical artifacts, preparing to forcibly break open the bus to see what kind of monster was hidden inside.

"I have a feeling they're about to attack us?"

Kurama blinked, looking at Su Yu with a puzzled expression. "Why are they attacking us for no reason? Haven't they cleaned up the ghosts in the mountains?"

"Is it possible that they came to cleanse you? That they mistook you for the biggest evil spirit in the mountains?"

"You're the evil spirit!" Kurama grumbled and nuzzled against Su Yu.

Zhang Qinwan quickly opened the car door, revealed her identity, and went to explain the situation to the people from the Cultivation Bureau below.

"Fellow Daoist Su, I am extremely sorry. I mistook your spirit beast for an evil spirit. It was my oversight, and my words and actions were inappropriate. I hope you will forgive me."

After understanding the situation, Ma Jin bowed slightly to Su Yu with his hands clasped in respect.

"It's nothing, Brother Ma, you're too kind."

Su Yu waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care. They were very polite and apologized as soon as they realized their mistake. He couldn't just kill them all because of that.

"Friends who have come from afar, please wait here for a moment. We still need to go ahead and investigate the situation. Logistics personnel will arrive shortly to take you away."

Ma Jin and his group bowed to Su Yu and the others again before heading deeper into the mist.

"I can sense that the thing inside is extremely troublesome. They may not gain anything from this trip and will likely suffer heavy losses."

Kurama looked at the six people from Ma Jin who had already walked away and spoke to Su Yu.

"Let's go and see what's going on. Nobody's stopping us or telling us not to go. Let's just treat it as watching a show."

Su Yu looked down at the Kurama in his arms and beckoned the others to follow.

(Don't say my writing is toxic. Why didn't you say you wanted to go with them from the beginning, and now you want to go with them? Rules can be broken, but you have to take responsibility for them. If Su Yu tells them he wants to go with them, their first reaction will definitely be disagreement. How can an outsider go with them? Who will be responsible if something happens? Shouldn't they bear all the responsibility? So don't say that. Wait until they leave, and then you can go with them. Even if something happens, at most they will be held responsible for negligence, and there won't be any big responsibility or arguments. Don't be so thoughtless...)

The stone road leading into the village is covered with slippery black moss, and ancient trees intertwined with their branches on both sides. A weathered stone monument stands at the entrance of the village. The writing is blurry, except for the word "Feng Jue" which is still eye-catching.

"Sealed... extinction... village?" Cho Chang looked at the eerie and sinister scene and hid behind Su Yu in fear. Su Yu patted her on the back to show that she was alright, and then looked into the village.

The village was filled with old stilted wooden houses, most of the doors and windows were tightly closed, and the few open doorways had bottomless openings, like empty mouths staring at visitors.

There was no sound of insects chirping or birds singing all around; it was as if all life had been extinguished here. The wind whistled through the cracks in the wooden building, making a mournful sound that was hard to distinguish from the whispers of people. The air was filled with a bone-chilling cold, mixed with the smell of rotten wood, mud, and a faint, almost imperceptible fishy odor.

"Let's go in."

Su Yu took the first step and entered Fengjue Village.

The moment my toes crossed the edge of the stone tablet, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.

The once desolate village, silent and deserted, was no more. The gray sky had not yet cleared, but the entire village was suddenly filled with people. Dark red wedding ribbons were wrapped around the wooden beams of the stilted houses, strings of lanterns hung under the eaves, and long tables were set up in the alleys, indicating that a wedding ceremony was being prepared in the village.

People bustled about, busy setting up the banquet, creating a seemingly grand and lively atmosphere.

The entire village was silent; everyone moved in repetitive, stiff, and expressionless ways, their faces devoid of any joy that should accompany a wedding.

In the distance, the suona continued to play, its melody monotonous and repetitive, the dull music blending into the hazy air.

The endless stream of people moved like puppets on strings, with no one paying any attention to Su Yu, the outsider.

Su Yu suddenly turned around and looked.

The stone-paved mountain path that had led into the village had completely vanished, replaced by a thick gray fog that blocked the view behind them, leaving only a vast expanse where no trace of their origin could be found.