The Azure Dragon statue looked clumsy, but it was incredibly fast, disappearing from sight in no time.
Yan Qing stomped her foot on the spot and returned to the cave with great resentment.
The cave seemed quite large, but due to the dim light, she could only vaguely see that the cliff she was on did not appear to be naturally formed.
The entire edge of the cliff was smooth, clearly having been meticulously polished. Also, she hadn't noticed before that the cliff face nearby was scattering scattered specks of green light.
Yan Qing's scalp began to tingle. There was phosphorescence here?
As for the source of the phosphorescence, she had no interest in knowing at all.
As she walked deeper into the cliff, she repeatedly stepped on bone-like structures, which made her feel extremely uncomfortable with the place.
There was only one path inside the cave, and it looked incredibly long. Yan Qing deliberately released Lingxi to scout the way, but as soon as Lingxi appeared, it immediately lay down on the ground, its body showing signs of disintegrating.
Yan Qing was quite frightened. "Lingxi, what's wrong with you?"
“Master—” Lingxi now had to use all her strength to even speak, “The strange forces here are too strong against us, I can’t maintain my human form for long at all.”
Yan Qing quickly put away the spirit rhinoceros and told her to rest and recuperate. As for the Netherworld Brocade Fox, she also inquired about it.
Compared to Lingxi, Youming Jinli can at least communicate with her normally, but it is unlikely that she can find out the secrets of this cave.
It seems she has to rely on herself for everything.
It took Yan Qing almost an hour to walk out of the cave. Although she didn't encounter anything strange along the way, she kept getting bone fragments under her feet.
This road is almost entirely paved with human bones, which is quite horrifying to think about.
An hour later, she finally saw a light in the distance, accompanied by voices, as if some kind of lively activity was taking place.
Yan Qing hid near the cave entrance and secretly peeked out from a high spot.
There were at least several hundred people gathered outside the cave, all dressed in red and green, banging gongs and drums, looking like they were celebrating a wedding.
However, she looked left and right, but apart from the bride, she didn't see the groom at all.
Moreover, something seemed very off about the wedding. The bride was dressed in red and stunningly beautiful, but her mental state seemed off.
Yan Qing focused her attention on the bride, who looked as if she were on drugs, dazed and confused, not at all like a normal person. And what's more, she was actually singing during such a solemn ceremony?
Aside from the bride acting strangely, everyone else seemed a bit odd as well.
The bride's bridesmaids on either side of her were both dressed in white. It looked more like a funeral than a wedding.
The person presiding over the ceremony was an elderly man in his fifties who still had an old-fashioned goatee from the Qing Dynasty. He was muttering something to himself, and she couldn't understand what he was saying.
As for the onlookers, things were even more awkward. Everyone seemed to want to get as far away from the bride as possible. They were all desperately trying to push their way back, but under the old man's glare, they stood trembling in place, too afraid to move.
The ceremony continued, and the old man shouted something she couldn't understand. Then the two "bridesmaids" began to help the bride, dressed in red, walk towards the entrance of the cave where she was.
Yan Qing quickly stepped back, afraid that she would be discovered.
When they looked again, the bride had been helped to kneel on a huge stone slab in front of the cave entrance.
The stone slab is entirely black, polished to a glossy and clean finish, and looks quite old.
A strange thing happened: ever since the bride knelt on the stone slab, she suddenly became lucid. She stopped singing, she stopped being dazed, and her eyes shone with a dazzling light, making her even more beautiful and charming.
"Tsk tsk tsk, what a stunning beauty! She's much prettier than those celebrities on TV." Yan Qing exclaimed sincerely. Apart from the woman lying in the crystal coffin in the Azure Dragon Coffin, this was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
At this point, the ceremony seemed to officially begin.
The old man took something that looked like a duster and tapped it on the bride's forehead, then began to chant words she couldn't understand.
Then, the white-clad "bridesmaids" beside them brought out a red box containing a bright red, unidentified substance called "paint".
The old man dipped his finger in the red "paint" and then applied it directly to the bride's forehead.
Throughout the entire process, the onlookers nearby seemed terrified until the crimson dot appeared on the bride's head, at which point everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.
Then, the ceremony was complete. For the first time, a genuine smile appeared on the bride's face, as if she had finally fulfilled a long-held wish.
She turned around, smiled at the old man, and said, "Uncle, thank you."
The old man's expression was very serious. "Now that you're married, you don't need to worry about your family anymore. You just need to do your duty."
"I've learned a lot, thank you, Uncle." The bride sincerely kowtowed to him.
Yan Qing observed that there was a faint glimmer of tears in the old man's eyes, which disappeared completely in the blink of an eye.
"Could I have seen wrong?" Yan Qing was still wondering how this stone slab could be so magical, that a person would wake up as soon as they knelt on it.
As if to confirm her suspicions, the old man turned around and shouted.
"The ceremony is complete!"
These words seemed to have a magical power; all the onlookers instantly turned and ran, so fast that they seemed afraid someone was chasing them, and they disappeared in no time.
Only the old man, the guards holding spears, and the bride and her two companions remained.
"Alright, you two, help Xinxin up. Let's go home."
The old man sighed, put his hands behind his back, and slowly walked back. The spear-wielding guards followed behind him, silently queuing up.
Finally, the two bridesmaids in white began to help the bride, who was kneeling on the stone slabs.
Strangely enough, after the bride was helped up, she immediately returned to her previous dazed state, completely different from before.
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