Chapter 18
However, Xie remembered that Lu Jueqiu said that the ghost marriage was not completed and unmarried men could not be buried in the ancestral tomb after death. He was afraid that these paper figures were his work.
But could a single soul really manage to manipulate so many paper figures? Xie pondered, gazing at the portrait of the God of Death on the wall. Only highly skilled spirits could leave their own death site, and the further they traveled, the weaker they became. Would a ghost really choose to build a ghost town ten hours' drive from their own death site and lure them deeper into it instead of leaving?
"There are too few clues, don't think about it." Jing Xiebai spoke to comfort Xie Que.
Jing Xiebai walked to the window with a candle. The night was as dark as insoluble ink. There was no moon, and the candlelight alone was not enough to dispel the darkness. The wind was sharp, and the rustling of leaves could be vaguely heard in the distance.
"Have you noticed anything wrong?" Jing Xiebai put the candle on the bedside table, sat down beside the bed, and stared at the portrait of the God of Death.
In order to quickly improve their cultivation, evil spirits can kill not only humans but also ghosts. Since ghosts are yin beings, killing ghosts is actually more beneficial to their cultivation than killing humans. In other words, ghosts cannot tolerate each other. So, if it's a man's spirit that's causing the trouble, why hang a portrait of the Door God of Funeral?
Jing Xiebai frowned, stood up, and wanted to take a closer look at the portrait.
The moment he stood up, the candlelight suddenly went out, and the whole room fell into darkness. The sound of the wind gradually weakened, replaced by the sharp sound of wooden boards rubbing against the ground.
"They're coming." Xie Que reached out in the darkness and accurately grabbed Jing Xiebai. "What should we do now?"
Everything they just discussed was just speculation. The paper man might not send them to Tongjinggou, but might come to take their lives.
Jing Xie Baihui held Xie Que's hand, and a light golden thread appeared, connecting the two together.
"Hold still for now, hold on to the talisman paper, and run away if you find anything wrong..." Before he could finish his words, a strange fragrance suddenly appeared in the room. Jing Xiebai's face changed, and he hurriedly pinched Xie Que's philtrum and made a gesture at his brow.
Xie felt his body lighten, as if floating in the air. He felt dizzy and could no longer smell the fragrance.
Xie opened his mouth and wanted to ask Jing Xie what was going on.
"Don't make a sound!" Jing Xiebai put Xie Que on the bed and lay down beside him. He said quickly, "That incense can make you unconscious. I pinched a spell for you. You will be back to normal in half an hour. Don't do anything strange during this time!"
After saying that, he pinched his eyebrows and pretended to faint.
Xie Que: “…”
The door was opened a crack, the paper man didn't light the lamp, and the room was still dark, but Xie could see his eyes.
The red pupil occupied the entire eyeball, red like blood, and still flowing slowly.
After confirming that Xie Que and Jing Xiebai were unconscious, the paper man curled his eyes and pushed the door open completely.
Only then did Xie realize that there was more than one paper man outside the door. There were clusters of red eyes piled up outside, and there were at least one or two hundred paper men.
The paper man could not speak. They entered the room, approached Xie Que carefully, and gently carried him out of the room and placed him on a chair that had been prepared.
Xie Que: “?”
What is this doing?
After the paper man carried Xie Que out, he did not take him away. Instead, he took out a bunch of rouge and smeared it on Xie Que's face.
The paper figure was not made very delicately, and the bamboo sticks scratched Xie Que's face through the white paper, causing blood to flow.
After smelling the blood, the paper man became extremely excited and his hands moved much faster. However, Xie felt the paper man's hands moving continuously downwards and took off his clothes in just a few seconds.
Xie didn't know what they were going to do, so he could only endure it all.
The paper man took out a wedding dress and put it on Xie Que. The bamboo sticks scratched his body, leaving blood marks.
The wedding dress was complicated and difficult to put on, but the paper doll was very skilled and had arranged everything in less than five minutes. She also put a phoenix crown on Xie Que's head and then carried the chair out.
Xie wanted to look back at Jing Xiebai, but then he remembered Jing Xiebai's instructions and forced himself not to look back.
They were still in the hotel, but Xie could feel himself going down.
Just now, when the paper man was taking off his clothes, Xie took out the talisman paper and held it in his hand. He was not sure whether he should escape.
In ancient times, ghost marriages were typically performed for betrothed young men and women who had died. It was rare to find a living person after death, and the few instances in history involved marrying someone who was already dead. Furthermore, ghost marriages were only affordable for the wealthy and powerful, and they were only performed for unmarried men in the family. They wouldn't allow a woman married to a deceased person to live in their home. This meant the bride would inevitably die, and Xie didn't want to sacrifice her life to a deceased person in vain.
Xie Que was calculating the time to escape in his mind while looking for Jing Xiebai's trace while the paper man was not paying attention.
A ghost marriage only requires a bride. Since Xie Que was chosen as the bride, what about Jing Xie Bai?
The fact that there was no fight just now meant that Jing Xiebai was not in danger, and Xie felt relieved. If something happened to Jing Xiebai, he would really have no choice but to wait for death.
The paper figures moved very slowly, as if they were in slow motion. Although there were only a few paper figures carrying the chair, Xie did not feel it shaking.
When they arrived at the hotel lobby, Xie Que felt pain in his shoulder as if a paper figure had pinched him hard.
Xie Que: “?”
The paper man's hand quickly touched Xie Que's brow, and Xie Que felt his soul fall to the ground, and his vision became clear again.
Jing Xiebai? How did he turn into a paper figure?
Xie frowned. It was true that Jing Xiebai brought a few paper figures with him, but Xie remembered that they were all placed in the car. Jing Xiebai didn't have time to get them, and he didn't have any magic weapons in his hands. So how did he turn into paper figures?
Paper people are connected to Yin, and Jing Xiebai has such a strong Yang energy, how can he turn into a paper person?
Xie Que has read a lot of books recently, but he doesn't know of any magic that can turn people into paper people. Could it be the magic of the Jing family?
At once, many questions flooded into Xie Que's mind, but he did not panic. Jing Xie Bai turned into a paper man and mixed into the wedding procession, which meant that Xie Que should go ahead with the wedding.
Thinking of his current appearance, Xie Que's face turned dark. The paper man was very skilled at dressing himself, but his makeup skills were average. The blood flowing into Xie Que's mouth caused him to feel nauseous, but he could only endure it silently.
There was a circle of paper people gathered outside the hotel. The moon appeared at some point, and the dim moonlight shining on the paper people made them look even more eerie.
Xie was lifted off the chair and placed into an exquisite sedan chair. Paper figures nailed the sedan chair shut with wooden boards, so Xie could not see the scene outside the sedan chair.
Paper figures lifted the sedan chair, played suona, scattered paper money, and beat gongs and drums along the way.
They were walking on a small mountain path, and the sedan chair was swaying from side to side, so Xie could only kneel and sit to keep his balance.
This was too passive. There was no light in the sedan chair, and Xie could only grope in the darkness, trying to find a loose board.
After searching for ten minutes without any results, Xie could no longer bear it and took out some talisman paper to burn a hole in the bottom of the sedan.
He did it right away. Xie Que pulled out a piece of talisman paper. The blue flames shone on Xie Que's face. The blood had stopped flowing, and red marks remained on his face, making him look even scarier than the paper man outside.
Just as he was about to approach the wooden board with the talisman paper, the sedan chair suddenly stopped. Xie's heart tightened, and he extinguished the talisman paper and sat down obediently.
The door panel was pried open from the outside, and the paper figures huddled together, staring at Xie Que.
Xie didn't dare to move. The paper man's gaze was glued to him, making him feel very uncomfortable.
At least ten minutes passed before the bridge was lifted up again. Light shone on Xie Que's eyelids. He opened his eyes and found that the paper man had not nailed the sedan chair shut, but had left a small gap for them to keep an eye on Xie Que.
This made things convenient for Xie Que. He breathed a sigh of relief and moved to the side calmly.
They were walking in the wilderness, with deep mountains in the distance. The road was bumpy and in disrepair.
Xie rolled his eyes and wanted to look behind him, but suddenly, a paper man appeared.
Under the moonlight, the paper man's face appeared a strange blue color, with blood-red pupils occupying one-third of the face, and the corners of his mouth were grinning, as if he was joking with someone.
Xie stood there in a daze, cold sweat running down his face and mixing with his blood.
He didn't dare to act rashly. The paper man stared at his face carefully and left after a long time.
Xie breathed a sigh of relief and quietly moved away from the crack, making sure that no paper man was paying attention to him before looking outside again.
The scenery was still the same as before, nothing had changed, the only difference was that a vague figure was approaching them.
The figure moved very quickly and appeared next to the sedan chair almost in the next second, but the black shadow did not continue to approach. Instead, it stared at them coldly.
The figure was dressed in mourning clothes, with black hair flowing behind him. Blood was constantly flowing from his stomach, and some intestines fell out, covered in dust.
However, Xie recognized the other person as the woman in the portrait posted in the hotel room.
The woman was beautiful, but her eyes were cold, which made Xie feel uneasy as if she was going to rush up and chop people at any second. However, she just followed the wedding procession and did not make any other moves.
The God of Death was outside, but Xie didn't dare to look outside. He kept an eye on the woman while thinking about a solution.
It is impossible to get married. This wedding dress is beautiful, but it also restricts Xie Que's movements. She has to find a time to take it off.
The phoenix crown was heavy, and after pressing on Xie Que for so long, his head began to feel dizzy. Xie Que had no doubt that he would die from lack of blood flow to his brain.
Fortunately, the paper man moved much faster after he got on the road, and he arrived at his destination soon.
Xie Que tidied up her wedding dress, hid the talisman paper in a convenient place, and looked out through the seam.
The God of Death left at some point, but Xie didn't feel relieved.
The God of Death never returns empty-handed, so tonight was likely to be a bad night. But Xie had no time to ponder where the God of Death had gone. The sight before him made him want to turn around and run.
Unlike ordinary weddings, ghost marriages are held in places with strong negative energy, such as cemeteries.
A group of paper figures surrounded a coffin. When they discovered the bride had arrived, they all dispersed, revealing the tablet behind it.
There was a banquet in the distance, two corpses were placed next to the altar, and paper fruits were placed on the table.
The paper man pulled Xie Que to the tablet, handed him a handful of paper money, and motioned him to kneel on the ground and burn the money for the groom.
Xie took the talisman and took the opportunity to look behind him.
The paper figures are exactly the same in length, and it is impossible to tell which one is Jing Xiebai.
Xie sighed, knelt down with paper money, and looked around quietly.
There is only one coffin here. After the wedding, Xie Que will lie in it if nothing unexpected happens, and then the paper man should bury the coffin in the ancestral tomb.
The ghost marriage is over after completing the process, the wedding is over, and the body is buried in the ancestral tomb. Why does this ghost keep trapping people here and performing ghost marriages?
Unlike ordinary ghosts, fierce ghosts have their own thoughts. Ordinary ghosts may repeat their actions before death, just like the hanged ghost Xie Que encountered at home before. It was for this reason that it kept clinging to the windows and harassing the residents. However, at the level of fierce ghosts, they usually do not repeat their actions before death, but just go around looking for people to kill.
Xie Que stopped burning the paper. The paper figures stopped at some point and stared at Xie Que's every move.
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