The two ran back to the Minguang Temple, but the area behind the main hall was empty. Where a group of brides had stood just now, there was only a mess of red veils on the ground.
Seeing this, Xie Lian thought to himself, "This is bad, this is death!" He quickly picked up the veil from the ground. Just as he finished, he heard screams from outside the temple. The two of them peered out the window and saw a dozen women in crimson wedding dresses forming a circle, slowly approaching the group of villagers.
The faces of these women were all blue, with smiles on their faces and their hands raised forward. They were the bodies of the brides!
Watching them approaching, no one could remain calm. They didn't even bother to grab the bandaged boy and took off running. Xiaoying hurried over to help him. Xie Lian said helplessly, "Don't run!" He had said this countless times tonight. Every time something happened, he would say it at least thirty or forty times, but there were always people who ignored him. It was really frustrating. He waved his hand, and Ruo Xie Ling flew into the sky. With a casual gesture, Ruo Xie Ling began to spin in the air on its own, like a fairy dancing wildly, very eye-catching. The brides saw that there was a very active creature spinning happily here, its tail twitching them from time to time. Many of them were attracted over here, and seven were attracted by the smell of blood deep in the forest and slowly jumped over there. Xie Lian said, "Nanfeng, catch up. Don't let them go down the mountain!"
Needless to say, Nanfeng had already caught up. The two brides charged towards Xie Lian, their fingers bright red, their nails sharp. Xie Lian took out the red veil he had just picked up from the ground and suddenly threw it with both hands. The two veils spun out and landed squarely on the brides' heads. Their movements instantly became sluggish.
As expected, the thick red veil obscured the eyes and noses of the brides' corpses, obscuring their presence and scent. Furthermore, due to their stiff bodies, they couldn't bend their arms to remove the veil. They could only reach out and fumble around, as if playing hide-and-seek. The scene was both terrifying and hilarious. Xie Lian stood before them, tentatively waving his hand in front of the two brides. Seeing them fumbling aimlessly in another direction, he thought for a moment, then couldn't help himself. "Excuse me," he said, grabbing their arms and placing their claws on their necks.
The two brides suddenly felt something, their bodies trembling. Unable to see what it was, they began to fight fiercely. Xie Lian quickly ran away, raising his hand again. Ruo Xie Ling, like a white rainbow, also disappeared, landing silently on the ground in a large white ring. He called to the fleeing crowd, "Everyone, get into the circle!"
A group of people ran and hesitated, but Xiaoying quickly helped the bandaged boy stand in. After thinking for a moment, she ran out again and dragged the unconscious Xiao Pengtou in. At this time, a bride jumped to the edge of the white circle and stretched out her claws to grab it, but it seemed as if she was suddenly separated by an invisible wall. Xiaoying found that she couldn't jump in no matter how hard she tried, and hurriedly shouted: "Everyone, come in quickly, they can't get into this circle!"
Seeing this, everyone rushed over again. Fortunately, Xie Lian had allowed Ruo Xie Ling to grow several times larger beforehand, so the circle was wide enough. Otherwise, there was a real worry that someone would be squeezed out. Unable to jump into the circle, the brides knew they couldn't move this side, so they all turned around and rushed towards Xie Lian with screams.
Xie Lian, on the other hand, had been waiting for a long time. He pulled out a handful of scarves from his sleeves, and four or five pieces of red cloth flew up and down, left and right, forward and backward in his hands. His feet and hands kept moving, and he covered each bride one by one, and each time he covered a bride, he began to grope slowly, like a blind man feeling an elephant. His scarves spun with a dazzling speed, tossing them back and forth between his hands with ease, and they flew into several red shadows in the air. Everyone in the white circle couldn't help but cheer: "Good!" "Awesome, awesome, really amazing!" "This skill must have been practiced!"
Xie Lian listened and blurted out his habit, "It's okay, it's okay. Those who have money, please show your support, those who don't, please show your support... eh???" He realized something was wrong as soon as he had said it. He had actually blurted out the words he had said when he was in the acrobatics class, so he quickly stopped talking. As he was speaking, several more brides jumped up, some more than seven feet high, some more than thirty feet away, and instantly arrived in front of him, carrying a foul smell with them. Xie Lian tapped his foot and flew out. In the air, he quickly recited the spiritual command three times and said, "Spiritual text, Lingwen knows everything! Let me ask you a question, do you know if General Mingguang, the Northern Martial God, has any female confidantes?"
Lingwen's voice rang in his ears, saying, "Your Highness, why are you asking this?"
Xie Lian said, “I’m in a bit of a critical situation right now. To be honest, there are over a dozen dead men chasing me.”
Lingwen: "Ah? So miserable???"
Xie Lian: "Not bad. So, is there one? I know this question is rather private and difficult to answer, so I didn't ask it in the spirit communication array. The mission requirements must not be disclosed."
Ling Wen said, "Your Highness, you misunderstood. It's not that this question is difficult to answer, but Old Pei has too many female confidantes. When you suddenly asked me this, I didn't know which one you were talking about."
Xie Lian nearly stumbled as he said, "Alright. Then among General Pei's confidantes, is there a woman who is possessive, jealous, or has some kind of disability?"
Lingwen said, "Now that you mention it, I do remember someone."
Xie Lian sent out two more veils, drawing cheers. He turned around, bowed, and said, “Tell me!”
Ling Wen said, "Before he ascended to heaven, Old Pei was a general. On the battlefield, he met a female general from an enemy nation. She was extremely beautiful and had a fierce temperament. Her name was Xuan Ji."
Xie Lian said, “Yes, Xuan Ji.”
Ling Wen continued, "General Pei is a man who, when he sees a beautiful woman, will fight her even if a knife is held to his neck. This woman led her troops into battle against him, and was defeated by him."
Xuan Ji was taken prisoner and escorted to the enemy camp. Taking advantage of the defenders' unpreparedness, she attempted suicide on the spot. However, she failed and was saved by a general who slashed a three-foot blade with his sword. This elegant general, Pei, was the later-ascending General Mingguang.
General Pei, firstly, had always been a man who sympathized with women. Secondly, the outcome of the war was already decided, and even if the battle continued, there was no chance of a reversal, so he let Xuan Ji go. It was easy to imagine what would happen if this went on again and again. At this moment, a bride grabbed Xie Lian's right leg, her fingers clenched, and the kick nearly pierced the flesh. He was about to kick her, but realized that from this angle, he could only kick her in the face. Thinking that he couldn't hit the girl's face, he changed his stance and kicked her in the shoulder. Then, he backhanded another veil and said, "It sounds like a beautiful story."
Ling Wen said, "It's a beautiful story. But the bad thing is that Xuan Ji insists on being with General Pei for the rest of her life."
Xie Lian leaped onto the roof in two steps, looking down at the five or six brides who continued to advance on him. Wiping his sweat off his forehead, he said, "There's nothing wrong with a woman wanting to be with someone for life."
Ling Wen said, "That's true, but the two countries are at war, and the battlefield is ruthless. Originally, the two of them agreed that it would be a fleeting marriage, one that was consensual and meant to last until tomorrow. They only talked about love and not war. And to be honest, Old Pei is lucky enough not to have a threesome with you."
“…”
"Xuan Ji is a noblewoman from a military family, with an extremely fierce temperament. If she wants something, she will never let it go, even if it means death..."
"Wait a minute!" Xie Lian said, "First, tell me, is Xuan Ji disabled? Where is she disabled?"
"It's her..." Lingwen's voice stopped abruptly at this point.
It was truly agonizing. Every time he heard the crucial point, he'd completely drain the little mana he'd borrowed. It seemed like next time he'd have to barrage him with the key points right from the start. As he leaped and leaped, Xie Lian quickly reorganized his thoughts: If the bandaged boy wasn't the ghost groom, and these villagers had all confirmed there wasn't one among them, then the only remaining place he could hide and infiltrate was the pile of seventeen brides!
When he infiltrated, the ghost groom couldn't immediately detect the discrepancy in numbers. Conversely, when the ghost groom infiltrated, he also couldn't immediately detect the extra body. Think about it carefully: after Ruo Xie Ling injured the ghost groom, he only saw a black mist rolling into the woods, which couldn't guarantee that there was anyone in the mist. In fact, it's likely that when he rushed out of the temple gate to chase, the ghost groom would still be lingering in the black smoke, brushing past him, returning to the back of the temple, hiding in the leaves and trees, and blending in with the bodies of the brides.
Then, the "ghost groom" is not a "groom" but a "bride" - a woman wearing a wedding dress!
Since she's a woman, many things can be deduced. For example, why is there no Mingguang Temple near Yujun Mountain? It's not that the locals don't want to build one, but that they can't. Xiaoying said, "Every time we try to build a Mingguang Temple, a fire always breaks out for no apparent reason during construction." This sounds like more than a coincidence; it could only have been set on purpose. Why would a temple be set on fire? Usually, it's out of hatred. However, there's a Mingguang Temple within Yujun Mountain, sealed off by a maze. No one visits, yet the statues within are exquisitely carved and well-preserved. Why? Why does the ghost bride, herself in her wedding gown, not tolerate seeing women wearing wedding gowns smile when passing by Yujun Mountain?
Connecting all these things, Xie Lian could think of no other explanation than jealousy and possessiveness. And if that strange sound, like a thick cloth wrapped around a stick dragging a heavy object, was truly footsteps, Xie Lian could only think of one possibility!
He had already covered all the brides who had been chasing him with veils. Xie Lian finally landed, took a deep breath, and after calming himself down, he stood up to count.
One, two, three, four... ten.
Seven brides leaped into the woods, pursued by the south wind. Ten brides, whose veils he had re-covered, are all here. But there is one bride who has not yet appeared.
At this moment, he heard the familiar "dong dong" and "dong dong" sounds coming from behind him.
Xie Lian slowly turned around, and an extremely short figure came into his sight.
He took a deep breath and thought to himself, "As expected."
The short woman in front of me, wearing a red wedding dress, did not show any joy, but only sadness.
But the reason why she was short was not because she was short, but because she was kneeling on the ground.
Her leg bones were broken, but her calves were not amputated, so she walked on her knees using her two kneecaps.
The strange "dong dong" sound he heard was the sound of her jumping and walking on the ground with her two broken legs.
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