Chapter 22
After entering the door, Jing Xiebai did not stop and went straight to the backyard.
It was filled with miscellaneous items, mostly discarded furniture. Paper ingots and fruit were left aside. Jing Xiebai kicked aside the pile of paper gifts, which had long since become unrecognizable, and quickly dug out the unused rice paper and bamboo strips.
He turned to Xie Que and said, "Pick the red flowers from the tree in front of the door and make red pigment. We need to color the paper figurines."
Paint the paper figure red to give it flesh and blood. If you want to perform the show, you have to do it completely. If you want to deceive the God of Death, you have to be extremely careful and not make any mistakes.
Fortunately, the ghost marriage takes place in the middle of the night, and it is just getting dark, so they still have time to prepare.
Xie nodded, without much hesitation, and walked out of the backyard with the mortar that was gathering dust in the corner.
The Yan family, though inherently greedy, loved to emulate the refined art of gardening, planting a circle of precious plants. The wild hibiscus tree outside the door, though not very tall, was all the more lovely because of it. The blossoms covered the entire tree, and the fragrance could be smelled from afar.
But Xie Queke didn't have time to admire the scenery. The air in Tongjinggou had thickened after dark, and a cold wind blew through the village, leaving many unresolved souls wandering. Even though he knew they couldn't find him, Xie Queke still broke out in a cold sweat. He plucked a handful of flowers and hurried back to the backyard.
Jing Xiebai had already built the rough framework of the paper figure and was pasting paper on the bamboo strips.
Xie did not make any noise to disturb him, but walked aside and worked silently.
For a moment, everything was silent. The dull pounding sound mixed with the sharp wind and coincided with the sound of heartbeats, which made people feel inexplicably at ease.
This tranquility did not last long. Jing Xiebai was skilled in the craft and the paper figurine was quickly made.
Seeing that he had finished his work, Xie hurriedly handed him the paint he had just mixed.
Jing Xiebai: "Wait, let me take a Hidden Soul Pill first."
He felt that some wandering souls were attracted by his Yang energy and were rushing towards him. In order to avoid further trouble, it would be safer to take a Soul-Hidden Pill.
Xie was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said, "Doesn't that mean we can't use spiritual power anymore?"
So how do they get the paper bride into the sedan?
Jing Xiebai: "It's okay, we'll wait until the sedan arrives at the cemetery and we're sure there's no bride tonight before sending the paper figurine in."
They couldn't use their spiritual power now, so it was not easy for them to just break into the sedan chair and put down the paper figurine. Besides, none of them was sure whether there was a bride in the sedan chair tonight, so it was not a good decision to act rashly.
Jing Xiebai: "I still have two eye-blocking talismans. Once the paper figurine is finished, just soak the talisman paper in cold water and drink it."
After observing last night, Jing Xiebai discovered that these paper people had no autonomy, or were like robots with set programs. They would only react to matters related to ghost marriages and would not care about other irrelevant matters. Even if the God of Death was right next to them, they would not react. This made it convenient for them to sneak in. When the sedan door opened, they could push the paper bride in, and the rest would be much easier.
Without further ado, Jing Xiebai seized the opportunity to paint the heart of the paper man.
Xie Que: "Not all over the body?"
Jing Xiebai: "How can that be? We must not forget the rules of red men and green women. If we paint the whole body red, we won't be able to send this paper figurine away."
If he leaves the paper figurines to cause trouble in the world of the living, will Jing Xiebai still have the reputation of a master of exorcism?
Jing Xiebai: "Alright, alright, I've finished the finishing touch."
With no other paint on hand, he used the remaining red to paint the eyes of the paper figurine. The moment the pigment touched the rice paper, it immediately spread outward, a single drop filling the entire pupil. Xie, staring at the paper figurine's eyes, was inexplicably reminded of the blood moons he'd read about in folklore novels as a child—equally dangerous and beautiful.
The eyes of a paper figure cannot be painted, otherwise the paper figure will come alive.
The bride twisted her neck unskillfully, her eyes rolling towards Jing Xiebai.
When Jing Xiebai's eyes met the paper man's, his heart trembled suddenly. He picked up the remaining bamboo sticks and quickly poked a small hole in the paper man's eyes. Only then did the paper man stop moving.
"The tree at the door has been here for too long and has been contaminated with negative energy." Jing Xiebai wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear.
It was his fault for being so careless that he didn't notice that something was wrong with the tree at the door, and rashly used an evil object to open the eyes of the paper man. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been killed by the paper man by now.
People always say that the working people are great. The rule that paper figures cannot have their eyes painted has continued for thousands of years. If a paper figure maker had not discovered that poking holes in the eyes of a paper figure could hold the figure down, who knows how many people would have died from painting eyes on paper figures.
Wait, that’s not right. Hibiscus doesn’t bring in yin energy, and the village doesn’t have a lot of yin energy. How could it be contaminated with yin energy?
Jing Xiebai's face changed and he suddenly grabbed Xie Que's wrist.
A light golden thread was faintly visible in the darkness. Fortunately, Xie was not possessed by a ghost. Jing Xiebai finally felt relieved.
"What, what's wrong? Is there something wrong?" Xie Que was a little scared. Was Jing Xie Bai afraid that he would be swapped?
Jing Xiebai glanced at him. Although he confirmed that Xie Que was still Xie Que, his expression was not good. "I think I know why there is not much Yin Qi in the village, but there are so many wandering souls."
Xie Que: "Ah? Why?"
After Jing Xiebai said this, Xie also found something wrong. There were so many wandering souls, but there was no sense of yin energy in the village at all. This was obviously unreasonable.
Jing Xiebai picked up the paper figurine and explained to Xie Que as he walked out, "There's a soul-binding formation, and the center of the formation is the locust tree at the door."
Use the soul-binding formation to trap the wandering souls in the village, making them stay here and never be able to be reborn.
This must be Chen Shan's work.
The bodies of the deceased parents are still there, the wandering souls in the village have not left, and even the groom's coffin has not been closed. All of this reminds the bride that she was so pitiful in her life. She cannot keep her child, cannot make her own decision on marriage, and is forced to marry a dead person simply because of her horoscope.
The bride suffered torture day and night, with only resentment in her heart. She had long lost her own thoughts and could only repeat the ghost marriage to torture the man-eating monsters in her life.
Walking to the door, Jing Xiebai looked at the dead locust tree outside and laughed secretly. This Chen Shan was really scheming.
Xie Que looked at the locust tree in front of him, his eyes widened, and he said in surprise: "This, this, this, why is it a locust tree? Where is the hibiscus?"
There was no hibiscus at all. There was only a dead old locust tree with dead branches of all sizes scattered all over the ground, forming a strange pattern.
Wandering souls kept crawling out from under the locust tree, as if they couldn't see Jing Xiebai and Xie Que at all, and walked straight into the courtyard.
Suddenly, a faint suona sound was heard in the distance, and the wedding procession was coming.
Jing Xiebai held up the paper figurine and handed Xie Que a blinding talisman: "It's too late, just put the talisman in your mouth."
"Ah? Okay." Xie did as he was told and folded the talisman paper into a small square and put it into his mouth.
It has a very strange taste, like eating a bag of unbrewed tea leaves, slightly bitter.
Xie's expression was a little distorted. He didn't like bitter food and rarely even ordered coffee, let alone eating talisman paper raw. It felt like countless ants were crawling in his mouth.
"Bear with it, it will be fine soon." Jing Xiebai comforted him. He also felt uncomfortable when he ate this thing for the first time, but he got used to it after eating it more.
He held the talisman paper in his mouth without changing his expression and led Xie Que to the cemetery.
Today happens to be the sixteenth day of the lunar month. The full moon hangs in the sky, and the cold moonlight shines on the mountain path. Combined with the rustling sound of leaves, it adds a bit of horror.
Jing Xiebai was walking on a wild road. No one was talking and it was very quiet, so quiet that he could hear the sound of gurgling water.
When Xie passed by the stream, he subconsciously looked down at the river surface. The surface did not reflect his and Jing Xiebai's original appearance, but the image of paper figures.
It seems that this talisman paper is really powerful. It can even hide the river water that can make all evil things appear.
Jing Xiebai calculated the time, and when they walked out of the mountains, the wedding procession happened to pass by, so they followed the procession directly.
Although they now look like paper people, they are not allowed to speak, as their identities will be exposed if they speak.
Jing Xiebai glanced at Xie Que, silently quickened his pace, and ran to the front of the team.
Xie did not follow him. He walked to the side of the sedan chair, looking for the small gap from yesterday while keeping an eye on the God of Death.
I don’t know if it’s because Jing Xiebai injured the God of Death yesterday, but the God of Death didn’t follow us today.
Xie Que took one last look around, and after making sure there was no trace of the God of Death, he began to concentrate on finding the location of the small crack.
Strange, it's clearly here.
Looking at the intact sedan chair, Xie felt a little annoyed. He couldn't be sure whether there was anyone in the sedan chair. They could only wait until they arrived at the cemetery and opened the sedan chair to decide whether to put the paper bride in.
Xie did not give up and looked at the sedan chair a few more times, even secretly pushing the wooden board with his hand. After confirming that he could not see inside, he returned to his original position.
As soon as Xie Que returned to his original position, he felt someone was peeping at him. His breathing paused for a moment, and he slowly lowered his head and saw a paper man following him, staring at him intently.
Xie Que: "..."
He recognized the paper figure as the one that was staring at him through the crack last night. He just didn't know why the other party could still be suspicious of him in his current state.
Although Xie was very confident in Jing Xiebai's plan, he did not panic. Instead, he turned his head, pretended nothing had happened, and continued to move forward.
The paper figure seemed to be curious and moved closer to Xie Que, giving Xie Que goose bumps. He recited the Heart Purification Mantra in his mind to suppress the urge to smash the paper figure with one punch.
However, the paper man did not stay with Xie Que for long and soon returned to the team.
Xie loosened his clenched fists and breathed a sigh of relief. If the paper man didn't leave, he would really punch it.
Xie adjusted his breathing, and seeing that they were about to reach the cemetery, he quickened his pace and walked to the front of the team.
Jing Xiebai glanced at him, silently made an "OK" gesture, and told Xie Que to get ready to take action.
After such a long time, there was no movement in the sedan. If there was someone inside, he was either a master who was so powerful that he didn't even take the paper man into consideration and was waiting to kill the ghost in the cemetery, or he was a rookie who was so weak that he couldn't even resist.
If it was the former, they would not release the paper figure as a bride, but would directly join forces with the other party to resolve the matter; if it was the latter, Jing Xiebai would prepare to knock the other party unconscious to avoid ruining his plan.
Thinking of this, Jing Xiebai silently slowed down his pace, kept approaching the sedan door, and was ready to take action as soon as the door opened.
If you use force next time, be careful not to beat someone to death.
Jing Xiebai thought to himself that he didn't want to be caught by the four major families for hurting ordinary people after he got out.
The closer we got to the cemetery, the quieter it became, until finally all we could hear was the soft rustle of wind blowing through papers.
A paper man holding an axe approached the sedan chair, but Xie Que and Jing Xiebai looked at each other, and they both moved closer to the sedan chair door, blocking the view of the other paper men.
As the wooden boards were continuously removed, Xie Que's heart beat faster and faster. When the curtain was halfway lifted and he could see that there was no one inside, he was so nervous that he subconsciously snatched the paper mannequin from Jing Xiebai's hand and stuffed it into the sedan chair.
Jing Xiebai was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect Xie Que's hand speed to be so fast. Just as he was about to send the paper man in, Xie Que snatched it away.
Xie Queke, who was standing aside, had no time to pay attention to Jing Xiebai. He stared at the paper figure, fearing that something unexpected would happen.
"Don't let any accidents happen, don't let any accidents happen, don't let any accidents happen..." Xie didn't say anything, but kept repeating this sentence with his lips moving slightly.
Fortunately, goddess of luck finally favored them for a while. When the paper figurine completely opened the curtain, the paper bride was already sitting in the seat. The paper figurine had a strange smile on its face, and its blood-red eyes stared straight ahead, but because of the small hole, it didn't look creepy, which made Xie feel relieved.
Fortunately, no accidents occurred.
Xie relaxed and took a deep breath of fresh air. He was so nervous that he forgot to breathe.
The paper people did not notice that something was wrong with Xie Que, but swarmed over, pulled the paper bride out of the sedan chair, and took her to the coffin to burn paper money for the groom.
The paper bride was much more obedient than Xie Que. She burned paper money quietly and did not worry the paper man.
Just like last night, the more paper money burned, the lower the temperature became. A cold wind blew and the god of death appeared quietly.
She didn't seem to notice the presence of Xie Que and Jing Xie Bai, but just stared at the paper bride with unspeakable resentment in her eyes.
Thinking that the God of Death was staring at him viciously while he was burning paper money, Xie shuddered all over, cold sweat kept dripping down his face, hitting the ground without making a sound.
I don’t know when it started, but Xie became more and more disgusted with other people’s gazes. No matter what the nature of the gazes was, it made him feel nauseous.
Xie opened his mouth, wanted to say something but held it back.
Jing Xiebai noticed that something was wrong with Xie Que, reached out and patted Xie Que's arm, signaling him to come back to his senses quickly.
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