Chapter 65 But those who stand in my way shall die! With the death of the immortal, all ceases…
After leaving the tomb, Bitao did not go far. Instead, she grabbed the wall next to the entrance of the underground tomb and jumped into the courtyard.
Bitao followed Wei Danxin and the others into the underground tomb and passed through here, thinking that this courtyard was a temple.
It was only from Bingjing's words that I learned that this was the ancestral hall of Kangquan City.
In towns and villages, ancestral halls are built only when there are a large number of people with the same surname. The ancestral halls enshrine direct ancestors and collateral ancestors.
Family ancestral halls are built in the family's gathering place, and some are even in their own backyard.
These ancestral halls, built on the outskirts of the city, were mostly used to enshrine famous people who were revered and commemorated by the people, or meritorious officials, or living people who made great contributions to the people of the city.
However, no matter what kind of ancestral hall it is, it will not be built on top of a tomb.
The tomb where the monks lived was not an ancient tomb. Bitao not only did not see any corpses, but its interior layout was also very strange.
Especially the coffins stacked together in the main burial chamber.
The blue bricks used in the tomb passage are no different from those in this courtyard.
Bitao had memorized the surrounding environment, the location of the scattered tomb chambers, and the location of the main tomb chamber while she was underground.
After jumping into the courtyard, Bitao followed the underground tomb passage towards the main burial chamber.
The ancestral hall features dougong brackets and flying eaves, giving it a solemn and dignified appearance.
It was past midnight, and all was quiet except for the night wind whipping the funeral banners with a loud thud.
In Kangquan City, funeral banners fluttered with red silk at the doorways of every household, and this ancestral hall was no exception. Every house that Bitao passed by had funeral banners hanging at its door.
Bitao easily found the direction of the main underground tomb chamber, where one wall was filled with countless eternal lamps and memorial tablets.
Above the ancestral hall, on a plaque, are written neatly in gold lettering on a black background: Wanlie Hall.
However, what was hanging above the Hall of Ten Thousand Martyrs was not only funeral banners, but also red silk.
Bitao stood in the darkness and observed for a while. Finding no one moving around, she stepped out of the darkness and into the ancestral hall.
The light from the ever-burning lamps was weak, but when stacked together, it was enough to illuminate the entire hall as brightly as day.
Bitao walked to the offering table, glanced down at the still fresh offerings placed on it, and then looked up carefully at the memorial tablets.
—The memorial tablet of Zhang Jiqi, who died young.
—The memorial tablet of Wei Yucheng, who died young.
—The memorial tablet of Li Dayong, a member of the Li family who died in battle.
—The memorial tablet of Qu Men Qu Tan, who died in battle.
...
Bitao glanced at the memorial tablets.
Died young, before reaching adulthood.
To die in battle also means to die a violent death.
Bitao glanced at the birth and death dates on these memorial tablets and raised an eyebrow slightly.
The walls of this Hall of Ten Thousand Martyrs are covered with images of martyrs who died in battle, some of whom were even minors.
However, some of these memorial tablets have small characters engraved on the right side.
Bitao simply took down a memorial tablet and looked at it closely.
—Ming Hezuo Linmen Yanran.
Yin and Yang, as witnesses, unite our hearts forever.
Bitao ran her hand over the small characters that had been carved later; the knife was sharp, but the writing was very hasty.
She looked around and saw that almost all the memorial tablets in the Wanlie Hall had the words "Mourning Marriage" written on them.
Even the memorial tablets for those who "died young" are no exception.
She showed "disrespect" to the dead, casually picking up another piece to compare with the one in her hand.
It was confirmed that the engraved characters came from the same person, and that each of these memorial tablets had a line of words at the end: "Qu Fenglin weeps and stands."
Bitao slowly raised her head, her peach blossom eyes suddenly looking at the wall full of loyal and brave men.
The myriad chaotic thoughts in my mind are now clearly laid out and finally converge into a single line.
She opened her lips, a sneer escaping her lips as her crimson lips curled up.
Then he turned and walked away, throwing the two memorial tablets behind him.
A memorial tablet fell face down on the ground with a "thud".
A piece of wood split open with a "crack," and the crack was precisely where the inscription "冥配" (meaning "parting in the underworld") was carved.
As dawn broke, the sky began to brighten.
The fire at the Yuanyang Tower, which had burned all night, was finally extinguished completely.
Boss Qu was in a sorry state, half of his gray hair had been burned away, his hunched back trembled, and beneath his sunken eyelids, his eyes reflected the mandarin duck building that had been burned to nothing but "skeletons". He looked more terrifying than a living evil ghost.
He shouted and directed the crowd to search inside the building for valuables and move them to the carriages parked at the entrance.
His men also suffered heavy casualties in this incident. What's most hateful is that those "brides" who escaped together have only been captured so far!
There are still several "weddings" tonight, and he has already received the wedding gifts. If he cannot hand over the bride on time, the reputation of Yuanyanglou will be destroyed in this fire.
Boss Qu's gloomy gaze swept over the mess before finally settling on his men.
Their cloudy eyes rolled over their figures and features, calculating where to cut to fit the bride's delicate figure, and whether the carefully drawn eyebrows and eyes could pass for the real thing.
Just then, Boss Qu's thoughts were disturbed by a group of people walking towards them.
"Behave yourself, or I'll break your other leg too!"
A woman was tied up, dragged, and pushed by several "old men" and brought to Boss Qu.
Her clothes were charred, her face was covered in soot, her hair was disheveled, and she looked utterly panicked.
Upon seeing Boss Qu, she trembled with fear, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head repeatedly, washing away the black ash and leaving two ridiculous white marks.
She looked utterly devastated; one leg was dangling, clearly twisted and unable to touch the ground. If someone hadn't been supporting her, she would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.
"Boss Qu, we've caught another one for you!"
"We caught her at the ancestral hall last night. She must have run away there to hide and even damaged the memorial tablets in Wanlie Hall! When we went home to rest last night and came back to guard the ancestral hall, we happened to catch her breaking the tablets and trying to run away!"
"We finally managed to persuade Old Zhao and his gang not to kill the man on the spot, so we thought we'd bring him here since he might still be of some use to you."
Boss Qu frowned as he stared at the woman, recognizing her as one of the "brides" who had escaped from the Yuanyang Building during the fire.
Hearing that she had gone to sabotage Wanlie Hall, he became even more furious.
"Put her in the carriage!"
"Thank you all. If you have any weddings to hold in the future, just come to Yuanyang Tower. We will make sure to make it a grand and glorious affair for you."
"Hey, hey, thank you so much, Boss Qu!" The men beamed, rubbing their hands together as if they were about to get married, watching the woman being carried away by two men.
Boss Qu instructed his men, "Send him to the Anning Hospital and have them take good care of him!"
The woman was thrown into a pile of charred vases and ornaments, looking even more broken and pitiful than the other broken items.
The immortals high above, witnessing this scene through the Milky Way, were speechless.
"Is this really the Fairy of the Peach Blossom? Have I followed the wrong person?"
"Wasn't she just laughing like a devilishly wicked woman in the ancestral hall a moment ago, throwing down two memorial tablets and acting like she had everything under control? I was curious to see what she had finally figured out, how did she suddenly become like this... I just went to eat a meal, what did I miss?"
"Hahahaha... It's the Fairy of Peach Blossoms, you're not mistaken, she's faking it."
"It doesn't seem like she's faking it. Is she really that convincing? She looks so guilty, like she's terrified when she gets caught. You'd think she ordered the Mandarin Duck Pavilion..."
"Tao Tao must have her own strategy, otherwise she wouldn't have come out at this critical moment."
"What a pity, was it all an act? I'll just wait and see when she finally falls flat on her face!"
"Isn't it all over now? I've been watching the whole time. She was calm and collected inside the ancestral hall, but as soon as she stepped out, she ran into the spirit guarding the hall and was caught on the spot. It wasn't an act; she couldn't escape!"
“She was the one who was captured. I saw it too. She had the upper hand at the beginning of the conflict, but there were too many living souls. She didn’t expect there to be so many people in the ancestral hall in the middle of the night. In the end, she was pinned down and her leg was broken, so she couldn’t break free.”
"Hahahaha, I've finally waited for this day! I see her tied up like a pig, how is she going to run away now!"
...Except for her feet, Bitao's entire body was tightly bound with hemp rope. In her current state of being unable to use her spiritual power, she had no chance of breaking free.
Soon the carriage was almost full of things, and Boss Qu ordered his men to send all the "things" to the other courtyard.
Bitao was anxious the whole way, struggling several times, but apart from breaking a vase and being kicked by the escort, she couldn't even move her seat.
The carriage was filled with too many things, and some of the bronze ornaments were so long that they had to be leaned out of the windows because there was no room inside.
The carriage was traveling on the road, and the windows that couldn't be closed kept rattling.
Bitao was breathing rapidly, tears streaming down her face, and kept turning her head to look out the car window, as if hoping that someone would come to save her.
But apart from those living souls, there wasn't a single familiar figure on the street.
Bitao was sent to Boss Qu's villa, Anning Courtyard, hoping that if there were other brides who were being persecuted along with her, they might be able to join forces to resist.
But once bitten, twice shy, Boss Qu's painstakingly built Mandarin Duck Tower was burned down by these brides who conspired together. The brides he sent to other courtyards were scattered in different courtyards, making it impossible for them to meet again.
Bitao was thrown into a dilapidated courtyard. Soon after, a group of people surrounded her. Instead of treating her injuries, they wiped her dirty face, roughly combed her hair, applied makeup, and several people grabbed her to change her clothes.
She quickly changed into a wedding dress, during which she broke free from the crowd twice, but because one of her legs was too weak, she was caught again before she could run out of the courtyard.
"Let me go! I need to see Boss Qu!"
"I want to see Boss Qu!"
Bitao shrieked, her freshly applied red makeup now a mess, smeared all over the ground.
In the end, they actually managed to get Boss Qu to come over.
"Boss Qu, Boss Qu!"
As soon as she saw Boss Qu enter the courtyard, Bitao immediately shook off the person who was holding her and limped forward, but she lost her balance and fell in front of Boss Qu.
She simply grabbed Mr. Qu's boots in that position and sobbed, "Mr. Qu, you promised my parents that you would arrange a marriage for me with a stranger!"
Bitao tilted her head back, her eyes moist, tears streaming down her cheeks, looking like a pear blossom in the rain, pitifully beautiful.
Boss Qu looked down at her and chuckled, saying, "I did promise... and your birth date and time do match that person."
Bitao immediately stopped crying and smiled, wiped her face, and nodded hurriedly, saying, "I knew Boss Qu would keep his word, thank you Boss Qu!"
As long as you marry a stranger, no matter what kind of person they are, you still have a chance to survive.
Boss Qu looked down at her relieved expression, and after a moment he spoke: "But... what should we do?"
“That Mr. Yuan came to help me put out the fire last night when my Yuanyang Tower was on fire. But because he was too old and his legs were weak, he couldn’t dodge in time and was crushed to death by a collapsing beam.”
The smile that had just appeared on Bitao's face froze.
Boss Qu reached out and grabbed Bitao's chin, his eyes revealing a cruel look.
"However, the Yuan family has not yet called off the engagement, so you can still marry Master Yuan."
However, she wasn't marrying a "living" Master Yuan, but a dead Master Yuan.
"Be a good girl and wait to get married!"
"No...no no no!"
Bitao shook her head frantically, repeatedly saying, "No, no, you can't do this! You promised my parents, you promised you'd marry me off to a stranger! I don't want to marry Master Yuan, I don't want to..."
"You don't want it? Who do you think you are!"
Boss Qu kicked Bitao away and said sternly, "You actually dared to offend the spirits of the heroes in the ancestral hall! It's too good for you to live until tonight."
Bitao shuddered violently at the shout: "I, I didn't mean to... I really didn't mean to! I was just looking for something to eat, and I accidentally bumped into it..."
“They’ve already broken my legs, I’ve already gotten my just desserts.”
"Boss Qu, Boss Qu..."
Boss Qu had already turned and walked towards the gate of the courtyard. Bitao wanted to chase after him again, but she was once again lifted up and dragged into the house.
Bitao cried out in a mournful voice, calling out to the gate of the courtyard, but Boss Qu's steps never stopped.
Seeing that he had already left the courtyard, Bitao cried out at the top of her lungs, "Lord Qu! Prefect! Spare my life!"
Boss Qu, who hadn't turned his head back, suddenly stopped when he heard Bitao call him that.
He turned back to look at Bitao in astonishment, his expression momentarily blank, as if no one had called him that in a long time and he had forgotten who he was.
"I know where those runaway brides are. If you spare my life, Your Excellency, I can tell you!"
Boss Qu turned around and came back.
The thugs who were pulling at Bitao stopped when they saw Boss Qu return.
Bitao braced her hand against the door, one foot dangling in the air, barely managing to stay upright.
Boss Qu was old and decrepit, and when he walked to Bitao's side, his gaze towards her was as if she were a dead object, devoid of any warmth.
"Where are they hiding?" Boss Qu stared intently at Bi Tao.
Bitao's body began to tremble slightly, but this was her only chance to escape, so she didn't rush to speak.
He then appealed to emotions, saying, "Your Excellency, I am also a citizen of Kangquan City. My parents were unkind and sold me into the Yuanyang Brothel. But... Your Excellency, you are the benevolent official, please have pity on me!"
"The fire at Yuanyang Tower last night really had nothing to do with me. Although I jumped off the building in the chaos, it was because I was afraid of being burned to death."
“I followed those people… those people are the outsiders, they are ‘corpse people,’ they are homeless people without a fixed abode, those people are the most suitable to be brides!”
"As long as the governor promises to spare my life..."
Bitao swallowed hard and said, "I'll tell the governor where they are..."
"Spare your life?" Boss Qu chuckled softly, his voice like the cawing of a crow.
However, he quickly nodded and promised Bitao, "I can spare your life, as long as you tell me where those people are, I will let you leave."
"good……"
Bitao nodded heavily, her breathing labored, so excited she didn't know what to do. She scratched at the door frame with her fingers.
She looked around anxiously, as if trying to make sure she was safe.
Seeing this, Boss Qu raised his hand, and the thugs surrounding Bitao quickly retreated.
Bitao took a deep breath, her body still trembling with fear, and the breath came out as a choked sob.
Then, as if making a desperate gamble, he gripped the doorframe tightly and looked at Boss Qu, saying, "Your Excellency, those people are hiding in..."
Her lips trembled, and her eyes were brimming with tears, clearly showing her immense inner turmoil and pain.
But in the end, to save his own life, he said, "...he's hidden in the tomb chamber beneath the ancestral hall!"
Boss Qu's triangular eyes, with their folded eyelids twitching violently.
The Milky Way, high in the heavens, trembled violently at this sight, as if struck by thunder.
"...Is this really the Fairy of the Peach Blossom? I feel like I don't recognize her at all..."
"She betrayed her fellow cultivators so easily?"
"Didn't you say it was an act?"
"I already said it wasn't an act. She really got caught because she ran around at an inopportune time. Hmph, is it strange that she would betray a cultivator? She clearly didn't want to die and wanted to live."
"I knew it! She always puts on such a righteous act, but when it really comes down to it, she's no different! Now that I think back to when she passed through the first dream, I can't help but maliciously speculate that she used Lü Youcai to try and break through the dream first, and only after he disappeared did she cut off her own finger and eat it..."
"It's terrifying to think about."
"But I find it strange, Tao Tao would never be that kind of person!"
"I also think it's impossible for Peach to betray us. Could it be a scheme set up between her and the other immortals?"
"What kind of scheme are you setting up? Stop being stubborn and admit it. I just checked the perspectives of the other immortals, and she didn't consult with anyone at all. Look how terrified she is! She's practically crawling on the ground!"
"But didn't Fairy Bitao tell Fairy Binglun that she would spray her with her heart's blood when they met again?"
"That's right. She betrayed everyone. Given Binglun Tianxian's righteous and indignant nature, even if she didn't say anything, she would still spit blood in her face."
"But she called that Magistrate Qu, and he didn't deny it. So what's going on now? Is the Magistrate of Kangquan City condoning the rampant ghost marriages among the people of Kangquan City?"
"It's not just condoning it; he's clearly the culprit. The Mandarin Duck Tower belongs to him. Prefect Kangquan of the city clearly ordered people to arrest famine refugees and arrange ghost marriages for them, treating human life like dirt!"
"I don't care about all that nonsense. I just want to know what those cultivators are going to do now that the Fairy of the Peach Blossom has betrayed them! They were so close to sealing away the Evil Demon!"
"It's one thing to run away at a crucial moment, but to get caught and still betray everyone, I was so blind to think she was so capable!"
"If she runs back now and tells those people to move their positions as soon as possible, I can forgive her."
...
After revealing the location of everyone's hiding place, Bitao began to limp towards the courtyard gate.
No one stopped her. After reaching the courtyard gate, she was overjoyed and, disregarding her leg injury, quickened her pace and ran towards the gate.
Boss Qu stood there with a deep gaze, and all the thugs obeyed his orders. He didn't make a move, so no one stopped him.
Bitao finally ran to the gate, pushed it open, and outside was the street, a symbol of freedom and survival.
There were no living spirits on the streets at this time, and no one would bring her back.
A smile spread across her face.
But just before she was about to run out, the thugs standing on either side of the gate suddenly moved.
They grabbed her arms from both sides, and one of them quickly covered her mouth.
Bitao struggled and kicked frantically, but to no avail. Soon the door closed again, and she was pulled back inside.
She was sent back to that courtyard, her mouth stuffed shut with a rag, and she was bound tightly from head to toe. She was then thrown onto the bed to await the night's arrival, to be married to the now-dead Master Yuan.
Meanwhile, the cultivators she betrayed were completely unaware that their hiding place had been exposed, and were still practicing the Nine Revolutions Soul Refining Array in full swing.
"Didn't you hear where my third senior sister said she was going?"
This was the third time Lin Xuantu had questioned Du Man, the only one who had spoken with his third senior sister for a long time.
Du Man also looked anxious: "Fellow Daoist Lin, Fellow Daoist Le really didn't say she wanted to go out. She just kept asking me questions."
"When she asked me about the current situation, I told her that everyone was preparing to seal away the evil spirit Xi."
"When she asked me what this tomb was, I told her it was under the ancestral hall in Kangquan City, and it was very hidden."
"Fellow Daoist Yue asked me again whether there is such a place as Kangquan City outside the Ghost Realm. I said yes, the sect leaders and elders of each sect will activate the array at the same location so that the inside and outside of the array can be connected to break the Ghost Realm."
“Besides…” Bingjing reached up and covered her head, trying hard to recall, “We really didn’t say anything else…”
Lin Xuantu had heard this explanation three times and did not press the female cultivator any further.
He searched every corner of the tomb, inside and out.
They had even opened all the coffins that could be opened, confirming that the person had definitely gone out, and their anxiety grew.
Yesterday they burned down that wicked place, the Mandarin Duck Tower. Today, all the souls possessed by evil spirits will search for them everywhere, making the outside world extremely dangerous.
That Long Banfan, relying on being the fiancée of the Pavilion Master of Wenxin Pavilion, has been oblivious to his fate and has not returned to this day.
Third Senior Sister finally managed to reunite with everyone, so how did she run away at this critical juncture?
"I must find my third senior sister before my eldest brother returns!"
As he spoke, he grabbed his weapon and turned to leave.
If we don't find the person, not to mention whether the senior brother will be so enraged that he might slap him to death for not keeping an eye on him.
Lin Xuantu dared not imagine what would happen if her third senior sister were really captured by those living souls...
Upon seeing this, cultivators from other sects immediately stepped forward: "Fellow Daoist Lin, let us go with you. The situation is critical. If we can find Fellow Daoist Le and Fellow Daoist Long this time, it will put Senior Brother Liuxing and Fellow Daoist Wei at ease!"
Lin Xuantu did not refuse, and the group quickly set off from the tomb passage. However, before they could even emerge from the passage, they heard footsteps gathering from all directions above.
“There are footprints! Boss Qu, what the captured bride said is true, the group that set fire to the Mandarin Duck Tower is indeed hiding here!”
"This is it! This is where we go down into the tomb."
"The reason why the brides haven't been placed in the cemetery all these years is because it's too close to the ancestral hall. The stench from the rotting corpses was unbearable, so it was abandoned and no one has come here for a long time. I never thought that these brides would use it as a hiding place!"
"Everyone, some of you stay and come down into the tomb with me to catch the people, and the rest of you block this exit. We'll trap them like turtles in a jar!"
The footsteps outside grew louder and louder. Lin Xuantu and the other cultivators standing below the tomb passage exit all changed their expressions upon hearing this!
"Damn it, our hiding place has been exposed!"
Lin Xuantu reacted quickly, turning back to the crowd and saying, "Go back quickly! The Nine Palaces Spirit Locking Array can still hold out for a while."
He was the first to turn back, giving orders as he walked.
"Have everyone get ready and be prepared to move at any time."
"All the cultivators who are too badly injured to fight have gathered in one place."
"All lightly wounded cultivators who are still able to fight, take your weapons and follow me to hold the position!"
"Right now, all the living souls are still 'mortals.' We have spirit stones that can stimulate spiritual energy and restore some of our cultivation. We may not be without the power to fight back. We must delay until Senior Brother Meteor and my eldest brother return!"
This is the optimal location for setting up the Nine Revolutions Soul Refining Array, determined by the Meteor Pavilion Master and Senior Brother after several visits and re-entries into the dream world, and further calculated by the Taixu Tower Master.
The group first located the underground tomb by finding its way. They would not easily abandon this place unless absolutely necessary.
Everyone subconsciously followed Lin Xuantu's instructions and soon each of them had several Heavenly Grade Spirit Stones in their hands, which they would normally be reluctant to use or would never have the opportunity to come into contact with.
After they were all activated, they felt the spiritual energy surging through their meridians, which had been stagnant for a long time, as if water had been poured into a parched field.
The withered seedlings have come back to life, turning lush and green in the blink of an eye. A long-lost sense of lightness swept through their limbs and bones, and everyone was completely captivated.
Unfortunately, these top-grade spirit stones, which would be enough to fill a cultivator's body with just one outside, are mostly consumed when activated in this ghost realm once they are taken out of the array that preserves them.
That's such a waste.
But now they can't help but feel sorry for them.
Fortunately, the cultivation realm of cultivators, although initially called the realm of humans, is not something that ordinary people can truly compare to.
The reason their fellow disciples died so tragically in the dream was simply because their power was suppressed, and they were not used to being ordinary people who were "powerless".
Now that their power has returned, even if all the living souls of Kangquan City gather at the gate, even if there are only a few dozen of them, they have nothing to fear.
However, some people quickly recovered from the satisfaction of awakening this power and asked with concern, "But these spirit stones are used to activate the array... What if we use them to deal with these living souls and there aren't enough to activate the array?"
After absorbing several Heavenly Grade Spirit Stones, Lin Xuantu felt the fire spirit flowing through his meridians, his whole body burning hot, and his eyes turning slightly red.
Turning his head to comfort her, he said, "Fellow Daoist, rest assured. My senior brother and the Meteor Sect Leader have traveled back and forth to the dream realm many times. They not only brought back the spirit stones needed to activate the array, but also prepared enough spirit stones for us to protect our lives."
The group felt a little relieved. Some people had already gone to the entrance of the underground tomb to replenish the Nine Palaces Spirit Locking Array with several Heavenly Grade Spirit Stones.
The noise outside was like boiling porridge. Unable to open the entrance to the underground tomb directly, they scattered and began digging in all directions.
This tomb is very close to the surface. Lin Xuantu looked up and could hear footsteps running around and the sounds of digging and shoveling outside.
"Everyone, split into teams and guard the nine positions of the formation. Digging tunnels won't be easy, and they won't be able to break through the formation easily either."
“We cannot go out easily. Once the Nine Palaces Spirit Locking Array is broken, the concealment array will also dissipate. We have already activated our cultivation, and if we are exposed, we will be immediately detected by the evil spirits.”
"But I just heard someone in that group say that it was a captured bride who betrayed our hiding place!"
"It must be Long Banfan!"
In this situation, some people who had long been dissatisfied with Long Banfan were filled with righteous indignation: "That's right, she's more trouble than she's worth. Every time the Wenxin Pavilion goes on a mission, she insists on going along to collect spirit stones. If it weren't for the Pavilion Master indulging her and protecting her, she would have died under the claws of evil spirits long ago! Now she's even plotting against us..."
For a moment, everyone was criticizing Long Banfan for not only causing trouble everywhere, but also for breaking his promise.
It seems everyone has already concluded that she was the one who exposed their hiding place.
Finally, someone couldn't help but speak up: "How can you make baseless accusations without even seeing it with your own eyes?"
"Among our group now, Long Banfan is not the only one who left after arriving at this hiding place!"
"Tianhua, are you crazy? You usually hate Long Banfan the most and argue with her all the time, so why are you speaking up for her now?"
In the previous round, Tianhua accompanied the Pavilion Master of Wenxin Pavilion through the dream realm to transport spirit stones, but because he was injured in the dream realm, he did not join in this round.
He sat amidst a group of seriously injured people, his handsome brows furrowed.
"It was because I argued with her all the time that I came to understand that even though she was lazy, arrogant, frivolous, and spoke without restraint, she would never be an ungrateful or treacherous person!"
The monk was speechless, unsure of what to say.
As a result, Lin Xuantu was not happy that Tianhua spoke up for Long Banfan.
"The only people who are not among us now are Long Banfan and my third senior sister."
"It couldn't have been my third senior sister who revealed our hiding place!"
"Why wouldn't it be your third senior sister? If she were captured by those living souls, you all must have personally experienced and witnessed the terrible fate that would befall her."
“At the critical moment of life and death, I was once pushed to the brink by my own fellow disciples. At this time, there is no need to mention how I am a person in general.”
"No, it's not just Long Banfan and your third senior sister. There are also several other people who went to look for Long Banfan. They haven't come back since they went out last night. Maybe it's them?"
"Stop talking nonsense. Those were sent by Senior Brother Meteor from the Heart-Questioning Pavilion to find Long Banfan. They were all strong and healthy and couldn't possibly have been captured. Besides, those people were shouting about the captured bride. Those were all male cultivators from various sects!"
"You're a male cultivator, yet you were mistaken for a bride and almost married off to a male ghost! These people don't distinguish between men and women anymore!"
Before they could even connect with the living souls outside, the group began to fight amongst themselves over who had betrayed them.
There was also an argument on the Milky Way high in the sky, an argument even more intense than that of the group of people.
They did know who had betrayed them, but some of them refused to believe that the Fairy of the Peach Blossoms would abandon everyone else to save herself.
Zhu Ming, who was constantly looking at Yin Hangu, rested his hand on the table and rubbed his chin.
Pointing at the silver net, he said to Bitao, the attendant who had come to see him less than a day earlier because someone was shouting and cursing at the entrance of the Cangsheng Palace, "Guess what she wants to do?"
Taiji glanced at the silver Han Gu, his Yin-Yang eyes swirling like a vortex for a moment, before saying, "This must be the work of the Peach Blossom Immortal, who wanted to lure out the evil ghost."
Zhu Ming looked at Taiji, who seemed to revere Bitao as a goddess and wished he could worship her, and clicked his tongue, saying, "What if she's just simply afraid of dying?"
Taiji frowned, his handsome face turning cold. He had forgotten the proper etiquette of asking Zhu Ming for help. He straightened up and said coldly, "Absolutely not!"
Zhu Ming's head buzzed from the shout, and he raised an eyebrow at him: "If you have that kind of voice, go and argue with those people shouting and cursing at the entrance of the Cang Sheng Palace! Why are you yelling at me!"
"She just turned the Ministry of War and the Ministry of War upside down, and now the prison is full. The officials in charge of pardons are so busy with sentencing that their hands are cramping from holding the punishment slips."
"Even the five great gods of the mortal realm have been investigated, and several lewd dragons who had illicit relations with mortals have been captured from the heavens, causing the heavens to be shrouded in continuous rain."
“People will definitely criticize her. She’s not here, and it’s just a bunch of rabble like you guarding the palace. It’s no wonder the palace gets smashed. You keep coming to me, what can I do?”
"Am I, the dignified Immortal Supervisor, supposed to go and kill all those people?"
Tai Chi was scolded, his brow furrowed slightly, and he bent his back again, but his expression showed no respect whatsoever.
Unlike Bitao, he couldn't discern from Zhu Ming's complaints that he was currently happy and gloating.
They didn't even understand his real meaning—that Tai Chi didn't need to be managed, and that if this palace was destroyed, a new one could be built.
Tai Chi is stubborn; it's not about being obstinate to the extreme or going to extremes, nor is it about letting someone cut itself up to force itself to ascend.
So he bowed to Zhu Ming, but ultimately didn't say, "It was the Fairy of the Peach Blossom who told me to come to you; otherwise, what do you think I would have done?"
He turned and left the Jade Bone Palace, then immediately got into a fight with those who were shouting at the entrance of the Hall of All Living Beings.
Even a dignified Immortal Supervisor can't kill them with his bare hands, but he can.
Having just ascended to the rank of Immortal of Merit, he could barely be considered a Supreme Immortal. He beat several junior Immortals of the Ancient Immortal Clan so badly that they were covered in blood. He even used his pair of Yin-Yang Eyes to make their minds confused and incoherent.
At this critical juncture, where even spitting at a fellow immortal could be twisted into harming them, Zhu Ming was dumbfounded when he received the news.
Although Bitao was no longer in heaven, Zhu Ming still had to tirelessly clean up her messes.
Naturally, there was no time to look at what Bitao on the silver net had done.
At this moment, Bitao was bound tightly from head to toe, her mouth gagged, and sitting in a bridal sedan chair, being carried to the outskirts of the city for her "wedding".
She kept struggling and begging the sedan chair bearers, which rubbed her veil off.
But it was no use; nobody paid any attention.
The sedan chair bearers kept walking, and next to the sedan chair were several tall and strong men who were specially assigned to "escort the wedding and funeral." They held various tools for digging and filling soil, and each of them looked cold and solemn, with a frightening appearance.
Halfway there, a series of chaotic footsteps and shouts suddenly came from outside the sedan chair.
"Catch them! Damn it, she ran into my backyard, set fire to my house, and tried to steal someone. I caught her, and I'll tear her to pieces!"
Two figures moving at lightning speed on the street, like two butterflies fluttering in the air, ran hand in hand ahead.
A group of people huffed and puffed as they chased after them, shouting in unison, "Stop!"
"These two girls... how come... they're running so fast?"
"Is this the bride who ran away from the tomb?"
"Bullshit! I don't know where that woman came from, she's some kind of savage! But the one in the wedding dress is my brother's bride!"
Several spirits helped him chase after him, and one of them couldn't help but ask him, "Isn't your brother just sick and not dead yet? Why is a ghost marriage already arranged?"
The one who was chasing the others the most, looking old and frail, shouted with a surprisingly strong voice: "I'm about to die! These days, it's so hard to find a bride for the underworld... I... kept her in the yard a few days in advance, so that we could be buried together when my brother died, how... what happened?!"
"Chase! Chase! Chase!"
The group ran past the bridal sedan chair, and the wind they created stirred up the curtains on the side of the sedan chair, causing Bitao to look outside.
Funeral banners and red silk ribbons were hung in the streets, and after nightfall, red and white lanterns were naturally hung high.
The streetlights were eerily bright; the white lanterns shone brightly, while the red lanterns swayed in the night wind, their colors turning blood red.
The two people, hand in hand, ran wildly down the long street where the clear light and the crimson blood mingled.
The person running in front was slender, with an inexplicably relaxed smile on his face.
He would occasionally glance back at the tall, muscular figure in his wedding attire behind him, and wink at her large, somewhat eerie eyes, saying, "My beauty, can you still run?"
"Hang in there and run two more laps, those old guys behind us won't make it!"
As he spoke, he turned at the next intersection and actually ran back!
Before they even reached the intersection, they were caught off guard by a sudden "return attack." Not only did they fail to intercept the two people, but the "old man" who tried to stop them was also shoved on the buttocks by the petite woman who was leading the group.
He nearly broke his tailbone, and watching the two run away, he helplessly shouted, "Stop! You two, stop right there!"
Those old guys behind them were indeed on their last legs, especially after hearing the conversation between the two people carried by the night wind, they were so angry that they almost fainted on the spot.
The tall, muscular man did not respond, but he was indeed a beauty.
Moreover, she is the kind of stunning beauty who, with just a fleeting glance, evokes phrases like "the most beautiful woman among all" and "a beauty of unparalleled grace."
He was clearly a man at a glance, yet his exquisite red makeup didn't seem out of place or eerie at all.
Elegant and luxurious, adorned in a rosy skirt and moon-shaped shawl.
He glanced at the woman who was running easily with him, and licked his bright red lips.
With a mere movement of her eyes and brows, she exudes a captivating charm, like a peony in full bloom, its jade branches swaying in the wind.
He gritted his teeth, lifted his skirt, and strode after her.
The group quickly rushed over.
Through the curtain of the bridal sedan chair that had been blown open by the wind, Bitao saw a familiar figure and immediately struggled to stick her head out, calling for help with "uh uh uh".
That "familiar figure" was none other than Long Banfan, the fiancée of the Pavilion Master of Wenxin Pavilion.
That is, Zhan Kui.
Unfortunately, Zhan Kui is currently too busy taking care of himself to do anything else, as he's busy taking old men for a walk all over the streets.
Moreover, she was completely absorbed in the beautiful bride she had just stolen from a family's backyard, and did not notice that the person in the bridal sedan chair was her "newly made" good sister, Yue Qingyao from the Supreme Sword Sect.
As they passed the bridal sedan chair, they even turned their heads and smiled.
But instead of addressing Bitao, he called out to the beautiful woman she was leading, "Wow~~ Don't you think the night is beautiful tonight?"
After the sedan curtain fell, Bitao's face was blood red from her unsuccessful pleas for help. Her complexion was like that of a spring peach, but her face was full of despair.
Soon the bridal sedan chair was carried to the outskirts of the city, where the deceased "Master Yuan" and the ghost marriage procession hired by Master Yuan's family were already waiting.
The entire cemetery was filled with an eerie atmosphere, and ghostly lights and fox cries could be heard.
Moreover, it's clear that this isn't the only family having a ghost marriage at this cemetery tonight.
Before the peach blossom sedan chair even landed, joyful and mournful tunes, overlapping from near and far, began to rise and fall.
Some people supported paper-mache children to kowtow in place of the couples in the ghost marriage.
Someone held up a scarecrow and hid behind it, sobbing and imitating a bride crying before her wedding.
Some people string together a red thread to make a wedding cup, pouring one end into the dead person and the other into the living bride, thus completing the marriage ceremony.
Then they pushed the "bride," who was bound hand and foot, into the coffin, placing her in the same chamber as the corpse, and began to fill the coffin with soil.
—This ghost marriage involves burying the bride alive!
Bitao was pulled off the bridal sedan chair, and the veil that had been removed earlier was put back on her face.
The jarring music rang in her ears, and her vision was restricted; she could see nothing but a small patch of ground beneath her feet.
There were footsteps moving around, and it was unclear what kind of ritual those people were performing. No one spoke throughout the entire process.
Only alternating sounds of joy and sorrow could tear people's hearts apart.
She was manipulated by several large hands, her head pressed down, and she bowed to heaven and earth with Master Yuan, who was being lifted out of the coffin.
Then the gag was torn off, and strong liquor poured down her throat. Before she could swallow, her mouth was gagged again.
Ignoring her desperate struggles, they placed her in a narrow coffin, closed the lid, and plunged her into complete darkness, with no light left.
Bitao never gave up struggling, and even when her mouth was gagged, she didn't stop calling for help.
However, under the suppression of many burly men who were "escorting her to the wedding," all she could do was "do as she was told," and her resistance and struggle seemed utterly ridiculous.
Someone is sealing her coffin; the "thump, thump, thump..." sound will be the last sound she hears in her life.
The air was beginning to thin, but Bitao stubbornly bent her knees and kept kicking the coffin lid, ignoring the excruciating pain in her wrists and tearing at the ropes binding her hands.
She continued until she was drenched in sweat, struggling to breathe, and completely exhausted.
She was carried down to the side of "Master Yuan's" coffin, and someone started chanting a marriage "congratulatory message" in a distorted and off-key manner.
"Joy and sorrow resound together, yin and yang unite in harmony."
"Our bond was thin in life, but our souls linger after death—"
The chanting gradually faded away, leaving only the rustling sound of soil being filled into the coffin in Bitao's ears.
Her breathing became more and more rapid, while the air grew thinner and thinner. She was drenched in sweat, and tears streamed down her face inside the dark coffin.
At this moment, the immortals on the Milky Way high above the nine heavens, who witnessed this scene, went "mad" with genuine emotion.
"My goodness, I can't even look at the Peach Blossom Fairy's perspective, I feel like I can't breathe..."
"She wasn't the only bride buried alive, how pitiful..."
"Could the real Kangquan City be like this? If the prefect of Kangquan City really leads the way in arranging ghost marriages, then everyone in Kangquan City should die and not be saved!"
"How come they actually put him in a coffin? Wasn't it just an act? Where are the reinforcements? Aren't they coming?"
"There are no reinforcements at all, she's about to die, hahaha! Just thinking about her passing away and being stripped of her divine status, returning to the realm of immortals, makes me want to laugh!"
"But if she dies here, she'll never come back..."
"They're here! Immortal Mingguang has broken through his cultivation realm and returned! He also knows that his junior sister has been captured, and he's leading people this way!"
...
At the same time, Bitao could no longer hear anything.
This narrow coffin, filled with some soil, could easily separate a living person from the world, forcibly pressing them into the underworld.
She was slowly, gradually, in unbearable agony and irreversible loss of life in her grave.
Outside the tomb, a group of cultivators were using spirit stones to activate spiritual energy, which caused a conflict with the living souls who had not yet completed their ghost marriages.
The person in the lead was none other than Wei Danxin, who had just returned from breaking through the cultivation realm and rushed over to save her junior sister as fast as lightning.
After Wei Danxin returned from breaking through her cultivation level, before she could even get back into the tomb, she discovered that their hiding place had been discovered, and the tomb had been dug up in a mess, with countless souls leaping into the collapsed areas—
Wei Danxin was extremely anxious. As she went down the collapsed tomb, she came face to face with Lin Xuantu, who was leading people to break out from inside.
When Lin Xuantu saw Wei Danxin, there was no joy on his face; instead, he was extremely anxious.
He immediately exclaimed, "Senior Brother! Third Senior Sister has been kidnapped!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Danxin paused, and after a moment, she was utterly terrified.
He disregarded everything else, using a top-grade spirit stone to boost his cultivation, and quickly seized Boss Qu, the leader of the group, demanding to know Bi Tao's whereabouts.
While Boss Qu was directing the living souls to break through the tomb chamber, he himself was wiping the memorial tablets in the ancestral hall. When Wei Danxin rushed in, he didn't even show any panic.
Even with a long sword pressed against his neck, seeing Wei Danxin display extraordinary abilities, he still appeared fearless and undaunted.
In particular, through Wei Danxin's description, he learned who the woman he was looking for was.
Boss Qu revealed a twisted, gleeful smile and said, "That's a real pity. You'll probably never see her again in your lifetime."
"To be honest, she's quite sensible; she's the one who told me where you guys are hiding."
The cultivators who followed Wei Danxin changed their expressions upon hearing this.
It turns out that it was indeed the cultivators from the Supreme Sword Sect who betrayed them!
Wei Danxin seemed not to hear her, pointing her long sword directly at Boss Qu, her voice fierce: "If you don't tell me where my junior sister is, I'll kill everyone outside!"
He was actually going to slaughter living beings for the safety of one person.
Boss Qu, however, remained completely unperturbed and continued to say leisurely, "Unfortunately, I can't delay any longer with the marriages I'm handling, so I have to use her to make up the numbers."
"But Master Yuan's family is very wealthy and powerful, so even if she were to be sent to a lower-class position, it wouldn't be considered a mistreatment for her."
Wei Dan was extremely worried and furious.
With a sweep of his longsword, the golden spirit blazed fiercely. His intention was to slice off half of the boss's skull and see if he would still be so stubborn once a "mouth" was opened on it!
Boss Qu was standing in front of the memorial tablets when Wei Danxin made a move that instantly swept away most of the memorial tablets in the ancestral hall, and even cut the offering table in half!
Upon seeing this, Boss Qu was immediately terrified and screamed as if he were being tortured.
He collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face, clutching the memorial tablet as he tried to piece it together.
Wei Danxin saw that he didn't care about the living people outside, but cared about the memorial tablets of the dead.
Several more sword strikes followed, the golden spirit crashing wildly, leaving the entire ancestral hall in ruins, with broken wood scattered all over the ground.
Boss Qu was furious, but in the end he had no choice but to reveal Bitao's whereabouts.
"She's having a ghost marriage tonight in the cemetery on the outskirts of the city. If you get there early... she might still be alive..."
Wei Danxin moved with lightning speed, leading his group straight to the cemetery, where they engaged in combat with the people holding a ghost marriage.
But with each coffin lid opened, Wei Danxin's heart grew colder.
It felt as if what flowed through his body was no longer blood, but terrifying lava that would incinerate him if he couldn't find his junior sister tonight.
However, the cultivator's use of spiritual energy in the ghost realm had clearly alerted the evil spirits.
The ghostly realm began to tremble, as if a giant turtle were turning over. The earth shook, mountains swayed, the ground cracked, and houses collapsed.
Upon seeing this, the cultivators hesitated in their digging and excavation of the graves.
Someone shouted at Wei Danxin, who had gone mad, "Fellow Daoist Wei, the Ghost Realm is in turmoil, it's too late! We must return as soon as possible to set up the Nine Revolutions Soul Refining Array!"
“Yes, Fellow Daoist Wei! If this realm collapses, it will be like walking on water without oars; we will no longer be able to locate the evil spirit!”
"The lives of over 20,000 people are in our hands. Fellow Daoist Wei, quickly come with us back to form the array!"
"Fellow Daoist Le has been missing for a whole day and there is absolutely no chance of him surviving. What the owner of the Mandarin Duck Tower said may not be true!"
"Moreover, she revealed our hiding place to the evil spirits of this realm, causing our many days of planning to fail. Such a treacherous person is not worth our time!"
"Fellow Daoist Wei, are you truly determined to remain obstinate?!"
Wei Danxin was in a newly dug grave pit where a coffin had been exposed when he heard this and looked up at the cultivators who were speaking.
His beautiful, bright golden eyes were now a bloodthirsty crimson.
The way he looked at the crowd was as if he were their mortal enemy, wanting to devour them and slaughter them all.
Everyone was intimidated by his gaze and fell silent for a moment.
Wei Danxin glanced at everyone, then inserted his longsword into the gap between the coffins and pried open the lid with brute force, saying, "If you want to leave, you may do so."
Wei Danxin pried open the long nails in the coffin and flipped the longsword over, inserting it into the ground.
He gripped the gap in the coffin lid with both hands, then lifted it up sharply—
At the same time, he said fiercely, "Anyone who blocks my way shall die!"
Inside the coffin was a woman bound hand and foot, her eyes bulging and her face swollen purple from suffocation; her death was extremely gruesome.
When Wei Danxin saw this scene, she felt as if she had been pierced by a thousand arrows for a moment.
But after he calmed down and realized that it wasn't his Tao Tao, he mustered his last bit of energy, grabbed his longsword, and flew off towards the next new grave.
Seeing that Wei Danxin had clearly "gone mad," some of the cultivators turned and left to help the cultivators struggling at the cemetery.
Several cultivators, though their faces were extremely grim, exchanged glances but only paused for a moment before continuing to help Wei Danxin dig the next grave. "Junior Sister! Junior Sister! Where are you? Answer me!"
Wei Danxin activated his five senses to the fullest, but being in the realm of evil spirits, even though the spirit stone stimulated his cultivation, his cultivation was still less than two or three tenths of what it was outside.
The earth and sky were shaking, and countless screams, like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts, came from all directions, making it impossible for him to discern the source of the cries for help.
But Wei Danxin continued to shout, her voice like tearing silk, her voice shaking the trees.
"Junior sister! Tao Tao—"
"Tao Tao, where are you? Answer me!"
"Peach—"
The souls in the city screamed and fled, some falling into cracks in the ground, others being crushed under collapsed buildings.
Some people helped each other up and pulled each other away from the danger zone, thanking each other with tears of joy.
In the face of imminent death, when the sky is falling and the earth is collapsing, some people suddenly regain their senses, their rationality returns, and they remember what they have done during this time. They squat on the ground, hug their heads and cry bitterly.
"How could I have done such a beastly thing as sending my own daughter to a ghost marriage?!"
“I buried a woman alive, but I have no dead son to marry her…”
...
The kindness that arises between people in times of crisis should absolutely not appear in this realm of demons.
The sudden realization of profound remorse at the brink of death is a deadly poison to the malevolent spirits that feed on malice.
Thus, wherever goodwill was stirred, the area where remorse spread immediately resembled flesh corroded by a deadly poison, revealing a dark abyss.
These openings quickly swallowed up the living souls, but could not stop the corruption from spreading.
All of this is frantically accelerating the shaking and tearing apart of the Ghost Realm.
On the other side of the tomb—the reinforcements have arrived, and the leader of the Wenxin Pavilion, Zhuo Xing, has finally returned just in time for the collapse of this dream, bringing people and the most important array plate!
He quickly learned what had happened and helped the group repel the living souls. He did not utter any accusations against Bitao, who had betrayed them, or Wei Danxin, who was now completely insane and refused to form an array.
Instead, they immediately organized everyone to begin forming the Nine Revolutions Soul Refining Array!
In the mountains and fields, the cultivators who were helping Wei Danxin dig up graves staggered several times due to the tremors of the earthquake and the falling of trees.
However, they led the way in visiting graves and searching for new graves.
With everyone working together, they finally managed to dig up all the new graves.
Only two or three coffins remained to be pried open. Wei Danxin was so eager to save lives that he didn't even bother to use his sword to pry open the gaps in the coffins. Instead, he simply used his fingers to forcefully lift the coffin lids open.
At this moment, all ten fingernails were broken, and blood mixed with dirt soaked his plain white robes, making him look utterly wretched.
His jade-like face was contorted, his starry eyes blazing with fire. As if he felt no pain at all, he frantically dug into the soil, lifting one coffin lid after another.
"Junior Sister!"
"Peach—"
In such a short period of time, his voice became hoarse and his throat sounded like a broken gong.
Finally, they reached the last coffin, but no matter how strong Wei Danxin was, he couldn't open it in one go!
His fingers were almost broken, and when he had no other choice, he grabbed his sword and pried it open little by little.
Why?
This is the last coffin!
The brides who were buried alive had their hands and feet bound, so even without the nails driven into their coffins, they had no way to escape.
This coffin had a total of eighteen nails driven into it on all four sides!
What kind of deep-seated hatred could drive so many nails into a coffin, condemning the deceased to eternal damnation?
"Tao Tao—hold on a little longer!" Wei Danxin's voice trembled with panic.
The last coffin, but too much time had passed.
He was both afraid that it was his junior sister inside, and afraid that it wasn't...
He didn't even dare to imagine what he would see.
Bitao was inside the coffin. In a daze, she heard someone calling her, the voice so anxious.
She used her last bit of strength to open her mouth, but she couldn't utter a single word because she was suffocating.
He wanted to reach out and touch the person outside the coffin. He had finally managed to break free of the ropes. In order to escape, he struggled to lift his hand, which, like the person outside the coffin, had his index fingernail curled up.
But before the coffin lid was pried open, his last breath, along with the corner of his mouth that curled up at the sound of a familiar voice outside, was squeezed out of his chest, and his bloodied and mangled fingers fell limply to the ground.
The image of tracking the Fairy of the Jade Peach Tree above the Milky Way stopped playing as the fairy died.
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