Chapter 126 The Sound of Suonas Brings Joy and Sorrow to the Mountain "...This is someone who has been captured and sent to the underworld..."
Amidst the vast expanse of snow, only the woman's wedding dress stood out strikingly red.
Her hands, white to the point of purple, lay crookedly in the snow, exposed outside her wedding dress. The two paper figures dared not get too close. They opened the box and began to look at the tattered pages of sorcery containing the method of transporting corpses.
Xue Chao was drawn over, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a page full of scribbles. His head throbbed even more, and he almost threw the mahjong dice with his eyes closed.
The "Occultism" test result was 32/50, successful.
The bizarre knowledge forcibly entered the minds of the player and the unfortunate host. He hid in a corner, clutching his temples, which throbbed with pain.
The two paper figures first checked whether the corpse was intact.
At first glance, it was a complete human figure, except that the wedding dress was a bit strange.
It wasn't that anything about the dress was out of style; they didn't understand it anyway. They just felt that the wedding dress was very grand, with three layers of exquisite embroidery, plus embroidery, dark gauze, pearls, gemstones, and phoenixes embroidered in varying shades of gold thread, making it five or six more layers in total. It was simply extremely gorgeous.
The strange thing was the veil. The veil was very long, almost reaching the knees, and it was sewn onto the wedding dress, so it didn't look like a veil anymore. It looked like a delicate and gorgeous red burlap sack with gold thread covering the face.
What's even stranger is that, unlike the phoenix embroidered on the wedding dress, the veil has no visible embroidery pattern; the dark and light gold are interspersed, like a random embroidery.
But if you position it correctly and look at the whole picture from a distance, you can see the clues—the light gold is the base, and the dark gold is used to embroider a person's facial features.
...There's a human face embroidered on the veil. Is that A-Yun's face?
Did she suffocate?
If the body is intact, there is no need to stitch it up.
The paper-figure boy was chanting incantations from the tattered pages. As soon as he opened his mouth, the words flowed naturally from his lips without him having to think, as he read them in a low voice.
The paper figure, made by the male, took out cinnabar and placed it on seven points on her forehead, back, chest, palms, and soles. Each point was covered with a talisman, and then bound tightly with five-colored cloth strips to seal the seven souls of the deceased. [1]
Ah Yun's head was covered by a veil, and he smeared the veil on her forehead and face.
Then cinnabar is poured onto the "ears, nose, and mouth" of the veil, and the cinnabar slowly sinks into the red cloth, sealing the three souls of the deceased.
Cinnabar and talismans were applied to her neck, which was then tied tightly with strips of cloth and buried in red cloth again. The couple had not prepared bamboo leaves and bamboo hats for them, so they had to come like this. She had a veil, so perhaps she really didn't need a bamboo hat.
Having finished everything, the paper doll boy also completed his incantation, and whispered, "Rise!"
The corpse slowly began to move, and the heavy wedding dress rustled.
She stood upright like a plank, the two paper figures with cool foreheads, whether from the wind and snow or from their souls sweating, they didn't know, but they still breathed a sigh of relief after succeeding.
However, as soon as she stood up, her legs gave way, and she fell straight down again.
The paper figure man B was so frightened that he stepped back. The paper figure boy frowned and chanted the incantation again. A-Yun's corpse stood up straight again, but fell down again at the moment it was fully upright.
It fell down, but the half-arm sewn into the veil was moving, and the upper body was like a struggling fish, twitching slightly. The neck and head inside the veil were also turning slightly—this didn't seem like someone who didn't have enough magic power to revive a corpse.
"...Could she still be alive?" the paper figure said, a chill running down his spine. "Could she still be alive? Sealing her soul and spirit like this isn't the end of the world, is it? We're just killing her!"
"Not breathing."
Upon hearing his teammate's calm voice, the paper figure man B went to observe again. The veil was pressed against the tip of her nose, and the wedding dress was draped over her chest. There was no movement, only a stiff, unnatural movement. She was not a living person; she was indeed in a state of resurrection.
She didn't get up for a while, and then she became quiet again.
"Then how come you can't walk?"
The paper doll boy thought for a moment: "...legs."
The paper figure, now reminded, also remembered that it wasn't that she lacked strength or didn't want to walk; she simply couldn't stand.
He lifted the heavy skirt and rotated the woman's legs through the fabric. He noticed something was wrong and pressed on her knees: "Her knees are shattered. Her legs have been broken."
He frowned as well: "What do we do now?"
The paper-figure boy thought for a moment, then looked at the face on the veil with his two cinnabar-like eyes: "Ask her?"
As he spoke, he took out the scissors from the mahjong box and slowly cut open the seams of the veil and wedding dress above the knees.
The paper figure, watched with trepidation. Those who could enter the Five Poisons were all somewhat spiritual and had a talent for mystery. His intuition told him that the veil was sewn shut to seal or suppress something... Should it be opened like this? What would be seen was still unknown.
The paper-figure boy cut the thread and slowly lifted the long red veil, all the way down to her neck. Just as she was about to reveal her chin, the woman's hand suddenly rose and grabbed his wrist.
His wrist, now made of paper, was crushed in an instant.
The paper figure man was startled and tried to pick up another talisman, but the woman's hand fell limply and landed back in the snow.
The paper-doll boy shook his wrist, which was as flat as paper, and used his other hand to lift her veil.
There was no ferocity as I had imagined, nor did it suddenly open its eyes to scare me. It was a pale, beautiful, quiet face—a dead face.
She was very young, not even twenty years old, yet her face was already that of a dead person.
The cinnabar that had settled left a mark on her forehead. The cinnabar in her ears and nose had been absorbed, but the cinnabar in her mouth had not been absorbed and instead flowed down her cheeks.
The paper doll boy touched her lips—her lips were sewn shut with a gold thread.
That gold thread was different from the gold thread used for embroidery on the wedding dress and veil. It looked like a line drawn from real gold, but it wasn't as soft as real thread and had a metallic sheen.
Paper figure, male B: "Break her legs so she can't escape, cover her head to confuse her five senses, she can't find her way, she doesn't know life or death, yin and yang, seal her mouth so she can't complain to the ghosts and gods... She's been captured and forced into a ghost marriage."
The paper doll boy nodded, carefully removed the gold thread with scissors, and the paper doll boy pried open her mouth and poured cinnabar back in.
This time, the three souls and seven spirits were completely sealed.
But she couldn't walk; the corpse-driving trick wouldn't work. The two paper figures couldn't carry a real person with a physical body either; they were crushed as soon as they got on.
He couldn't help but feel worried, but the paper doll boy chanted the incantation again.
A-Yun slowly raised her hand and pointed to a snow-capped mountain not far away.
They painstakingly circled around to the back of the snow-capped mountain, where they found an inconspicuous cave.
Inside the cave grows a white tree with thick roots that extend from the cave ceiling like a disc. Its branches, covered in ice and snow, cascade down like rays of light, intricately dominating the cave floor.
The branches were very long; two could be cut off, strung together to form a veil, and placed under her to barely drag her back.
Because he turned into a paper doll, his "strength" value was reduced by 30 points. Worried, the paper doll man B swung a wrench and smashed it against the thinnest branch.
The "Strength" check result was 1/30, a critical success.
A throw result of "1-5" is a great success, while "96-100" is a great failure.
A crisp "snap" rang out as the branch broke, but before he could joyfully press his advantage, a series of "crack" sounds filled the entire cave.
"!"
"..."
He grabbed his teammates and turned to run. The entire cave collapsed with a loud "boom," but they dared not stop, fearing that the collapsed trees would damage the cave and, if they were unlucky enough to cause the snow mountain to collapse as well!
What a huge failure turned into a huge success!
They ran a long way, falling several times along the way, before returning only after confirming that the mountain hadn't collapsed.
Fortunately, it was a great success in the end. The cave was safe and sound, but all the trees were broken. They collected a pile of wood, tied it with a veil, made a wooden plank, and dragged A-Yun back.
Just as they were about to drag him away, the boy's arm was completely severed. The wind blew him up like a small balloon, and his teammates quickly tied his arm back up.
The paper's lifespan is shortened due to continuous exposure to wind and snow.
They could stall for time; they'd already been out for more than half a day and could probably get back around midnight. But if the snow didn't stop, the paper figures probably wouldn't make it back.
They struggled to drag A-Yun's body, and the paper boy tripped and fell again. A silver-striped black centipede poked its head out from their paper collars, staring intently at A-Yun's legs, and moved its hundred legs, as if considering whether to crawl inside.
Suddenly, the centipede sensed something, raised its head, and then burrowed back into the paper figure's body.
The paper doll boy also sensed something, looking at the snow-covered sky: "It's gotten smaller."
The paper figure, the second male, also noticed that the wind and snow weren't blowing as hard anymore... it did seem to be getting smaller.
So they hurried and dragged the person back.
*
"Is this okay?"
To the east, the travel agency group placed the syrup that the Chen couple had prepared into the hillside, and after waiting for a while, nothing happened.
"Will this really work?"
"We haven't been scammed, have we?"
"One should not speak while eating or sleeping. Can't even the immortals have a quiet time to cook for themselves?"
"Exactly, maybe it's stuck to my teeth..."
Xue Chao's consciousness was drawn from the snow-covered mountains, and he heard several people whispering to each other. With a headache, he chose the only quiet one, Pu Fengchun, and said, "Listen carefully."
The "Listening" test result was 91/45, a failure.
Pu Fengchun said calmly, "Find another job."
"..." Xue Chao coldly interrupted the chatter of the group, selected the team leader, and said, "Listen carefully."
The team leader suddenly heard a crunching sound, a series of sharp, intermittent sounds, like someone slowly chewing something hard and crunchy... The cold, white syrup that had been brought over had indeed solidified a bit.
When his two teammates saw him shut his mouth and look into the mountains, they followed his gaze and met a pair of dark eyes that shone eerily in the snow before disappearing again.
The bowl of syrup was gone, but the sizzling sound in the leader's ear never stopped, followed by the sound of gulping... It must be that Xiao Shen was drinking the syrup that hadn't solidified yet.
He silently retreated, afraid of making eye contact with the little deity in the mountains again, and pretended to be busy looking at the sky, only to find that the snow seemed to have lessened.
And it got smaller and smaller until the strange and irritating chewing sound stopped, and the snow fell sporadically, as if it were about to stop.
He carefully leaned back, and the empty bowl had already been put back in its place.
But the cool, sweet taste of the snow syrup didn't dissipate; not only did a little residue waft from the mountains, but he also felt the sweetness rising from the ground...
“Draw!” Pu Fengchun exclaimed.
The team leader looked down and saw that he was still holding a picture of the auspicious little god. The expressionless little god's eyes flickered, met his gaze, and a fake smile appeared on his lips, revealing his sharp little teeth.
Xue Chao felt as if he had been bitten on a nerve synapse from a distance, and then the entire small mountain turned blood red in his eyes. He immediately shouted, "Everyone, use Agility!"
...This is practically testing his reflexes! He's the one who should be incredibly quick!
Xue Chao didn't shout, but his voice was cold and stern, instantly waking the dazed group up. They heard a "crack" from Little Snow Mountain—this time it wasn't someone chewing candy, it was Little Snow Mountain really about to collapse!
They scrambled away, and Pu Fengchun reacted without Xue Chao's prompting, running almost the instant Xue Chao shouted. So, although he failed the test, his quick reaction allowed him to escape.
Two teammates successfully navigated the collapsing snow, but the team leader wasn't so lucky; he was buried by the falling snow.
All the snow and red soil flowed through the cracks, sank down, and rolled over the rocks. The rocks seemed to be crushed by someone, turning into red soil as well, and then rolled down.
In the end, they all turned into grains of sand, which were then gently smoothed into a gentle hillside by an unseen hand.
As the snow mist cleared and the dust settled, the group quickly looked for their leader. Two teammates raised iron bars and tried to poke at the snow with all their might, but it didn't work. They then knelt down and turned over the soil. Pu Fengchun, sweating profusely, stood calmly in place, surveying the area.
"The keeper of secrets, through reconnaissance."
The "Detection" check result was 55/30, which failed.
Pu Fengchun pursed his lips, his heart beating faster.
But the test failed, and Xue Chao lost contact with her, unable to provide any hints.
She knew this in her heart, but when she thought of Xue Chao, she followed her train of thought and remembered what she had said: "Don't rely too much on the certification."
Now that he has unearthed it, Pu Fengchun seems to be reminded by his past self. He bends down and walks around smelling the aroma.
The auspicious little god ate the syrup in the mountains, but the mountains had many holes and gaps formed by collapses, so the flavor didn't last long, and it dissipated as he ate it.
But He will leave a scent on Him.
Following the sweet scent, Pu Fengchun suddenly caught a glimpse of blue, a deep, opaque blue.
She immediately called her companions to dig together. Sure enough, it was the leader, curled up in a ball, covered under the image of the little god.
As soon as they dug it open, a sweet-smelling wind blew up, causing them to instinctively close their eyes. When they opened them again, the little deities in the portraits were gone, leaving only a multitude of mascots.
The team leader was pulled out with tears in his eyes, and collapsed weakly onto his teammates. He looked up at the sky—the snow had completely stopped.
*
Walking on snowy roads with paper figures is incredibly difficult, taking half a day to get there, and the return journey is even more challenging with the addition of a flesh-and-blood person.
Fortunately, the snow gradually lessened and eventually stopped, allowing it to last a little longer.
Although the snow had stopped, the thick clouds on the horizon did not dissipate, as if it might snow again at any moment. Not a trace of the sun, moon, stars, or clouds could be seen. Even with the dungeon open and the distinction between day and night established, it was as if there were none at Xibei Mountain.
They didn't know how long they had walked, and by the time they returned to the village, there was no one left to see; it was probably nighttime.
Naga stood at the doorway, with a man in a cloth-wrapped armor behind her. Beside her was a black coffin with the character "奠" (meaning "offering sacrifice") pasted on it.
Like a marathon sprinter, the two paper figures dragged the plank and stumbled towards the door. The plank went in halfway, but the two soaking wet paper figures were completely blown apart by the wind and left outside the door.
Naga bent down, grabbed the edge of the wooden board, and gently dragged it in. Two silver-striped centipedes "whooshed" out of the tattered paper figure, quickly crawled into the door, and went all the way into the dye house, crawling into the mouths of the cloth-wrapped man and the cloth-wrapped boy.
Their hair flowed down their throats.
The two men's eyes widened instantly, and they sat up abruptly, clutching their throats and gagging, spitting out the centipede.
It's difficult for a person to turn into a paper figure, and it's also a bit awkward for a paper figure to turn back into a person. They helped each other and returned to the North Gate to reunite with their teammates.
"...What is this coffin?"
Naga walked slowly past them and led the way to the coffin: "Put the coffin in, and send the body away."
Side Quest 1-2 "Returning Home" has been completed.
[Side Quest 1-3 "Returning Home": A-Yun has been afraid of the dark since she was little. Her mother would pat her and hum a little tune to her. Sometimes her father would sing a few lines, but he was off-key... She heard her parents singing.]
[Mission Details: Please take A-Yun's body home.]
*
Nothing particularly unusual happened along the way to the south; people were simply hanging white lanterns and making offerings to the future young priest.
After understanding the situation, they entered the village chief's house, which was located in the center of the village, slightly to the south.
The village chief was quite nice, but after a few words, he claimed to have a headache, entrusted the matter of the landslide at Dongmen Mountain to them, and then went back to his house to sleep, and arranged guest rooms for them.
Zhuo Yi asked one more question: indeed, there was another person who had come before them, namely the host.
"Going to the East Gate?" the peacemaker uncle asked.
“I’m not going. Shouldn’t that be the task of the eastern team?” Zhuo Yi put his hands behind his head and leaned back casually in his chair. “This mansion, with four courtyards, looks more impressive than a landslide.”
The group strolled around the yard, but apart from a few scattered "gods' servants," they didn't see anyone else from the village chief's family.
"Is he an old bachelor who occupies such a big house by himself?" Zhuo Yi complained. "He must be a high-ranking member of the Red and White Sect, maybe even the village leader, to be able to occupy the house left by the mountain god in the human world."
The peacemaker uncle joked, "Does believing in that person mean you'll grow old alone and be a bachelor for life?"
"I'm afraid it's more than that. It's not some legitimate sect. Don't cults all have ulterior motives?" Zhuo Yi joked. "Maybe it's because that person can't find love and is annoyed by others finding love."
The truth is, the mountain god has a free-choice attitude towards his villagers, and the village chief already has a grandson.
He has three sons and one daughter. His eldest brother and sister are already married. His eldest sister married someone from the town, while his eldest brother lives at home.
The second son was of marriageable age, but he was a disgrace. He spent his days chasing after cats and dogs, drinking and womanizing. He would associate with any scoundrel, and even his parents couldn't catch him.
There is also a younger son who is intellectually disabled and doesn't like to talk. He is twelve or thirteen years old, but he is like a seven or eight-year-old child and needs to be watched wherever he goes.
The village chief also had a married younger brother who worked odd jobs in an opera troupe, but he is now dead.
"How did he die?" the peacemaker asked, noting that "death" is often a clue in dungeons.
However, he was disappointed. His brother's family simply died in an avalanche, just like the natural disaster in Dongmen, which was beyond human control.
Moreover, they have been dead for a long time. The village chief's ancestors have all died, some of them dying of old age, and others dying in natural disasters or man-made calamities. These are some of the village chief's "family backgrounds".
Zhuo Yi felt he had guessed correctly. Wasn't this the prelude to "dying alone"? It was also possible that the village chief would die first, and every generation would not live long, a hereditary family curse.
Where did everyone go?
Although they were set up as lodgers, not special guests, the fact that a large family was staying there and never went out made it seem like an empty house. Something just didn't feel right.
Zhuo Yi silently surveyed the scene. Could this house actually be a tomb? Or is its current appearance an illusion?
"With the continuous snowfall, everyone has caught a cold and is resting indoors," said Qingxue's servant. "This illness is easy to come by but hard to go away. The village chief's wife has been complaining of headaches for several days, and the second young master hasn't even left the house!"
The short man narrowed his eyes: "Aren't you serving God? Why do you call the village chief's second son 'young master'?"
How strange! This is a mansion of a wealthy family, with a bunch of servants calling people "Madam" and "Young Master." How could this be a village chief or a local tyrant?
The servants exchanged glances and said helplessly, "If we don't bother him, he'll be unhappy! It'll only cause more trouble. It's better not to let him bother us! He's unreasonable!"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and then the servant changed his tune: "But the second son is also lucky. He just didn't go out and fool around these past few days, and he escaped a disaster. All his cronies were buried in the avalanche at the East Gate!"
Upon hearing this, the group glanced towards the depths of the courtyard, in the direction of the ancestral hall, and fell silent.
So it's the mountain god protecting the second son of this family?
"But the snow stopped today, so everyone should come out for some fresh air. We'll have dinner together in the main house in the second courtyard tonight, so remember to come!"
As Qi Sha and his group walked away, they all headed deeper into the courtyard without saying a word.
The last gate was locked, but that didn't stop them. Two climbed over the wall, and the other two pried open a side gate and entered the courtyard.
Zhuo Yi glanced across the courtyard, his eyes lowered, and a look of disappointment crossed his face: "I thought the Keeper of the Secret was hiding here! Where is he?"
This is indeed a good place. The boss's shrine is here, and normal players would stay away from it. The most dangerous place is the safest place.
The short man scoffed, "You overestimate him."
The fox-eyed man kept an eye on things all the way south, but to no avail. The three of them were also nearby—the host wasn't in the south; he was deliberately avoiding them.
The peacemaker smiled, then saw the tall, imposing man staring indifferently at the vermilion palace gate: "What's wrong? The keeper of secrets isn't hiding here, is he?"
"Old Lu probably doesn't even know the host, has he? Have you ever seen him curious about someone he doesn't know? This ancient relic still knows to go on forums and proactively message people privately, all because of the painful shadow that person left on him—"
Zhuo Yi deftly dodged the flying stones, and the pillar behind him was pierced with a "thud".
"Oh, your temper," Zhuo Yi patted his shoulder. "You just got played by that guy? I haven't even had a chance to lose to him yet!"
"Too much nonsense." Lu Lianshan said expressionlessly, clenching his fist and smashing it against the locked vermilion gate. However, with a "bang," half of his arm went in, and he stopped.
The short man frowned: "What's inside the door?"
Lü Lianshan did not answer, but slowly pulled out his fist.
The three of them realized that there was no "door" at all.
This is not a door, it is a solid wall... and it can't even be called a "wall" because it may be as thick as the entire main house.
"This...is a fake ancestral hall?" the peacemaker said. "Is it just something displayed in the open to intimidate people?"
Zhuo Yi stroked his chin: "Missing conditions? That one will only appear after the boss battle is activated."
The short man sneered, "It might be fake. Those idiots in the village still bow to this family when they mention evil gods. They've all given their prayers to this family, and they live comfortably here, acting like emperors."
"...Who are you people?" The courtyard gate was opened, and someone asked from behind them.
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