Chapter 136 The sound of suona horns brings joy and sorrow to the mountain. This is the decree of the Red and White Lords...

Zhuo Yi also felt that the wedding procession had gone more smoothly.

He recalled that there were many customs associated with picking up the bride, such as blocking the door and asking for favors, which involved making things difficult for the groom and the wedding procession. They also prepared red envelopes when they set off.

But with no opportunity to use his skills, the groom didn't even dismount before the bride got into the sedan chair.

It's possible that the dense fog and the empty trip had already served as obstacles.

Huang Haitao held the Daughter's Red wine in his hands, and the intoxicating aroma of the wine wafted out of the jar. He moved it a little further away, afraid that it might be a potion to bewitch him.

A cold wind blew from behind them, passing through them and carrying them along the road, thinning the snow mist. Villagers had lined both sides of the main road, seemingly waiting for them. Upon seeing the wedding procession, their blank faces were filled with joy.

A long string of firecrackers crackled and popped as they lit up, the flames like the filaments of a gray, grime-covered light bulb. You could see the flames, but not the burning firecrackers; you could see the person covered in red shavings, but not the one who lit them. Everything was indistinct, like being separated from a world that had already perished but had not yet been reborn, hazy and mysterious.

But the joyous sound of the suona horn continued, sharp and high-pitched, as the villagers, shrouded in mist, offered their congratulations, like lyrics being added to the song.

They sang in layers upon layers, like the humming whispers left behind by gods and ghosts in this chaotic world.

Wherever the wedding procession heard congratulations, they would scatter wedding candies. The red flakes stung when they landed on you, and the candies hurt when they landed on you, but it was all for the sake of joy and celebration.

As the procession moved forward in a grand and imposing manner, Zhuo Yi sensed something was amiss. He abandoned the wedding party and stood in the fog ahead, saying, "Guardian of Secrets, listen carefully."

After the test was successful, he heard congratulations echoing from afar, indicating that they had heard the celebratory sounds from their side.

That's not a big deal. The problem is that the "distant place" of congratulations is right in front of the main road, and the distance diminishes all the way down.

But when they reached the intersection and were about to turn south, the joyful sound reached the west.

He brought an hourglass, but dusk had long passed and the auspicious hour was almost over. At their pace of "sharing the joy with the people," they were bound to be late.

He recalled the journey and realized something was wrong. Xiangping's parents had sold their daughter and couldn't possibly go back on their word. The betrothal gifts from the village chief's family were piled up in the yard, visible as soon as you entered the house, to show off their status. But he didn't see them when the wedding was held. He didn't think much of it, assuming they were too eager to spend them.

First the location was wrong, then the time was wrong, and the betrothal gifts were nowhere to be found...

Is Xiangping really the one who's going to marry into the family?

Zhuo Yi turned back as he pondered, and as he passed the bridal sedan chair, he suddenly looked back.

Where is the groom riding a horse in front of the bridal sedan chair?

*

Pu Fengchun walked calmly through the fog. Her navigation check failed. She had been lost in the fog for a while, and hadn't encountered any players or even villagers.

It seemed as if the entire village emptied out the moment the suona horn sounded.

"Are you Miss Pu from the travel agency?"

Pu Fengchun didn't notice anyone was there. She snapped back to reality, only to find it was Qi Sha's peacemaker... Fortunately, the big boss didn't think much of her. What she was most wary of was her chronic illness.

“Yes, I was listening to everyone talking when a fog rolled in and I got separated from the group,” Pu Fengchun said. “I wandered around here several times but couldn’t find the way to the east.”

"Me too. It's probably far from the east. Let's go back to the village chief's house and wait. It would be more troublesome if we missed it."

The two of them went together and made their way to the blacksmith's house. The yard was empty. Just as they were about to leave, the blacksmith returned from outside. He was wearing white mourning clothes and came back to get a torch.

When they finally met the villagers, they went up to ask what had happened and learned that someone had passed away and the villagers were seeing them off in the street.

That was Ah Yun; she was buried today.

It seemed that the fog was too thick for the coffin to enter, so he took a torch to light the way.

They followed the blacksmith to the main road running north to south, where villagers dressed in mourning clothes lined both sides, their expressions blank, like unpainted puppets.

The peacemaker spotted the young man from the Five Poisons Sect in the crowd, and the young man also saw them and came over to join them.

Pu Fengchun, ever the jinx, saw the two players with stubborn ailments and slowed down by half a step, hiding behind the peacemaker.

The group of players followed the blacksmith to the North Gate, wondering why they were going to the North Gate when the tomb was right at the East Gate, so close to A-Yun's house.

The black coffin was parked at the north gate.

Half of them were outside the door, and half were inside. The boy wrapped in cloth stood on tiptoe. Sure enough, there were two rows of paper figures standing beside the coffin, but they were carrying various funerary objects, such as paper ingots, paper gold bars, paper houses, paper beds, and paper pots and pans. There were no hands left to lift the coffin.

The peacemaker found out that it was carried over by God's servants.

But when asked why the coffin was brought here, they got no answer. The blacksmith only said, "It's pitiful. Her parents are honest people, and this is all we can do to help. But for some reason, the coffin can't get in here."

Players can avoid the paper figures and indeed cannot pull the coffin. The mourning belts around the paper figures' waists are tied to the coffin, as if they are fastening it and cannot be untied.

The boy wrapped in cloth touched the coffin wall, closed his eyes, and those around him, seeing that he was probably using supernatural abilities, did not disturb him.

"She's there." The boy opened his eyes. "She's a corpse."

Pu Fengchun was a little distracted.

When they got lost, Pu Fengchun passed several tests. Xue Chao was better at hiding his emotions than she was, but he was also less inclined to do so, so she could still tell that he was a little irritable.

She remembered the investigation team's notes; the dice system would tear apart the host's consciousness, and passing the test was a considerable burden for him, but she always felt that this wasn't the point, that he was troubled by something else.

The investigation into the anomalies and the unannounced main quest were irrelevant to him. There were several formidable players among them, but the conflict in this instance was not strong. Even someone like Lü Lianshan, who loved to kill, wasn't a starving wolf who would bite anyone he saw. They got along fairly well.

So the things that might trouble him are probably the same as hers.

key.

He might be looking for his keys.

He had one more thing to worry about than she did: she knew about his complicated and ambiguous relationship with that person...

Pu Fengchun heard Xue Chao call her "Linggan" and she suddenly had a bad feeling.

The "Inspiration" check result was 99/50, a major failure.

It's okay to fail an inspiration check; what's terrible is a major inspiration failure, which is comparable to a major inspiration success!

She turned around, and the paper figures stared at her, all with identical white faces and red cheeks. But the same face had changed. She had seen this face before—the auspicious little god.

The paper figures, whose facial features had been transformed into auspicious little gods, "opened their mouths" with a hissing sound, revealing their empty interiors, which, when blown by the wind, looked even more like gaping maws.

Sancheck deducted 3 sanity points. She covered her head and backed away. The peacemaker helped her up and put the prop medicated oil she bought at the store in front of her nose. As soon as she smelled it, the mouth that filled her mind slowly disappeared, but she was still dizzy.

"...Snow syrup, they want tolls." She didn't know how to describe their behavior, and her confused mind just picked a similar word at random.

All five players passed the inspiration test. Two failed without any clues, and two succeeded. They only saw the paper doll's face change in an instant. She saw the biggest failure the most and said the most valuable words.

Although snow sugar syrup is not difficult to make, it takes skill to make it well. The best at it is the Chen couple, and even the lucky little god loves to eat it.

But it's their daughter's burial, so they can't just set the problem and then make them solve it.

The peacemaker listened to her concerns, but then remembered something. He took out a red envelope from his pocket, which his servant had given him before he left home, to be used if he encountered any "difficulties" during the wedding procession.

The moment I touched it, something felt wrong; the red envelope had become heavier, and the red banknotes had turned into thin sheets of syrup.

He put the red envelope into the paper figure's open mouth, and this time everyone heard a crunching sound as the red envelope was swallowed, and the mourning sash tied to the coffin was untied.

A servant dressed in mourning clothes emerged from the villagers and, together with several players, lifted the coffin. The paper figures carrying the funerary objects walked at the front. As soon as the mournful sound of the suona horn rang out, the servants grabbed the paper money from the baskets and scattered it into the sky, like snowflakes falling against the heavens, only to be blown down by the wind and splattering all over the people.

The villagers on both sides showed their expressions; some lowered their heads and wept, while others couldn't stand and slid down, as if they had lost their own loved ones, all of them were crying.

The cries, loud or soft, sorrowful or heartbroken, all blended into the melodious suona music, pushing forward like a torrent.

They pushed it all the way to the village chief's house on the south side.

Even the slowest person would have realized it by now. Pu Fengchun felt a chill run down his spine when he recalled the "bad luck" fortune slip he received this morning.

Red silk ribbons, red lanterns, and the character for "happiness" were hung on the gate. Approaching it was like seeing a patch of red emerging from the mist. A large brazier stood at the entrance, the charcoal burning bright red and sparks flying.

The first thing a bride does upon entering a house is step over a fire basin to cleanse herself of impurities and ensure a prosperous future... But what they're really welcoming isn't the bride! It might just be this "impurity"!

The attendants carrying the coffin stopped, but did not put it down. Several players were exchanging glances when the paper figures stepped forward with funerary objects, one after another, and threw them into the brazier.

Pu Fengchun watched as the paper burial objects were quickly crushed by the flames, and he got goosebumps all over his body. No wonder they were so well prepared... It's like they've already prepared their wedding chamber in the underworld!

The swirling smoke disappeared into the fog, choking people and creating an air of mystery. Through the fog, they could only see the firelight, like watching the smoke signals of an impending doom.

After everything had burned and the smoke had dissipated, the mourners carried the coffin in a grand procession. The black coffin floated over the fire pit, its bottom reflecting a reddish light that flowed to the walls like flames being lifted up.

The paper figure followed last into the house. When it started burning things, it attracted the village chief's family. Apart from the village chief and his wife, the rest of the family stood in the yard in fear.

The banquet filled three courtyards, and the villagers, who were the guests, were all smiles. As the black coffin was carried through door after door, passing by in the light of red candles and lanterns, congratulations were offered repeatedly, creating a lively and bustling atmosphere.

Finally, they stopped at the main house in the third courtyard. The village chief and his wife sat in the high hall, their faces stiff, looking at the black coffin that had stopped where the bride was standing.

The village chief now understood everything.

How could they possibly let go of the grudge of killing their daughter so easily? Taking Sun Er's life would be too good for them; this was an act of revenge!

The birthday plaque that was brought home probably wasn't Xiangping's, but Ayun's.

The wedding procession will never return.

Apart from the outsiders, everyone in the procession was a servant of God, and those who carried the coffin back were also servants of God.

this……

This is the decree of Lord Hongbai...

The village chief sighed, making a final attempt to persuade: "The second son hasn't returned yet, so this marriage..."

A sharp neighing horse interrupted him.

The crowd followed the sound toward the gate. The sound of horses' hooves grew closer in the mist. As they approached the main hall, they could see clearly that a paper figure was leading a white horse, with Sun Er sitting on it.

The groom's face was numb and confused. When he saw a group of mourning servants in the hall and a black coffin with the word "offering" on it, he suddenly became alert, opened his eyes wide in terror, grabbed the reins, and ran away.

This is insane! They're all insane! A bunch of lunatics, actually trying to arrange a ghost marriage for him!!

The paper figure was pulled to the ground and lay still, but with the wedding ceremony imminent, the guests could not bear to see the groom openly run away from the marriage, so they closed the courtyard gate first.

The horse reacted immediately and turned to the side, causing Sun Er to slam against the door and fall off. He cried out in pain as he got up, but as soon as he grabbed the doorknob, his knees throbbed with pain, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

The mourning attendant who had started the shovel retrieved it, while two other mourning attendants dragged him to the front of the hall.

The coffin was placed beside him. The mourners pushed open the coffin lid, revealing A-Yun's face, which was cold and peaceful.

Sun Er's knees were shattered, and he was supported by two servants, half-kneeling, with his crippled feet dragging on the ground.

He cried out in agony, but now, seeing the corpse beside him, it turned into a piercing scream that shattered the heavens, nothing could be more tragic.

Several players' hearts skipped a beat when he called them.

Two servants pressed down on his twitching body, almost shoving him into the ground. His knees shattered even more completely, his vision went black, and he instinctively screamed.

He strained to look up, and through the double image, he met the portrait hanging in front of the high platform. The auspicious little god sat in the festive red, looking down at him, and the expressionless paper face slowly stretched into a slight smile.

He shook his head, opened his eyes again, and stared blankly at another attendant who pulled a golden thread from the suona on the little god's chest and slowly approached him.

...

My lips suddenly stung.

...

Everything fell silent.

Amidst the mournful strains of the suona horns, the mourners broke into long, joyful cries:

"First bow to Heaven and Earth—"