Chapter 33: Luring the Snake into the Jar
Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Luring the Snake into the Jar
Zhu Ge shouted toward the bridal chamber, "Open the door! Time to get married!"
Meanwhile, a few people appeared on the road ahead, their faces wreathed in festive smiles.
"Groom, it’s time to get married!"
"The bride can’t wait any longer!"
"A blissful marriage and children soon!"
There were only six of them, but they carried various festive instruments, beating gongs and drums.
In the distance, the bridal chamber stood quietly, the "囍" character on its main door as crimson as blood.
A smile appeared on Zhu Ge’s face at the sight.
"Brother Zhu, you can’t possibly think a mere First Realm Ghost can do anything to me, can you?"
Hua Liusha rapidly closed the distance, completely ignoring Ma Laizi, who was fighting a zombie, and the others who had just been roused from their stupor.
"Xigui can’t stop you, but what if we add Yu the Scholar?" Zhu Ge grinned. "Your so-called third shrine... you intend to make it out of Yu the Scholar, don’t you?"
At Zhu Ge’s words, Hua Liusha’s expression changed abruptly. She picked up her pace, and the mushroom on her head grew even more vibrant and sinister.
Zhu Ge’s Martial Dao might have been useless in a fight, but it was more than enough for escaping.
Zhu Ge swiftly dragged the dazed Yu the Scholar toward the bridal chamber, yelling:
"Hua Xiaomei! Quick, devour Yu the Scholar’s soul! Don’t leave his living body behind!"
"The Fungus God can’t use a dead body as a shrine! And there isn’t a single body in the entire village that can contain it!"
"The Shrine Prison Realm! A prison that weak can’t confine a powerful god!"
"My body is also on the verge of death! We have to kill Yu the Scholar, who is in the Cultivation Realm! Otherwise, the Fungus God will turn him into its shrine, enter the Third Realm, and neither of us will survive!"
As he spoke, he hurled Yu the Scholar’s body toward the bridal chamber.
CREAK.
The door to the bridal chamber flew open, revealing an empty interior.
Yu the Scholar’s body flew straight through the doorway and slammed onto the floor.
THUD!
The moment Yu the Scholar was inside, the door to the bridal chamber slammed shut again.
"No!!!"
Hua Liusha charged forward, and the ground beneath Zhu Ge’s feet began to ripple like water, as if some colossal creature were moving below.
But by now, Zhu Ge had already reached the wedding procession.
"Lift the sedan! Get married! Begin the ceremony!"
Zhu Ge didn’t get into the sedan chair. Instead, he made a hand gesture and sprinted forward.
The wedding procession stood frozen in place, only to be smashed to pieces a moment later by Hua Liusha as she stormed past.
However, Zhu Ge had already reached the bridal chamber and was standing right beneath the "囍" character.
A face of bloody water instantly surged out from the "囍" character. It hovered there, half-emerged, and opened its mouth to let out a frenzied roar at Hua Liusha.
If one listened closely, they could make out two words—
"Give back!!!!"
"Give it back to you?" Despite claiming not to fear a First Realm Ghost, Hua Liusha stopped and sneered.
"Your corporeal soul is too full of resentment! It had already left this body. If I hadn’t taken possession of it, your flesh and blood would have long since turned to pus."
"If it’s pus you want, then I’ll turn your precious lover into pus and give him back to you!"
’Taken possession of this body?’
Zhu Ge’s eyes narrowed at her words, but he said nothing more. Instead, he turned, bowed to the heavens, and cried out, "First, we bow to heaven and earth!"
Next, he bowed toward the spot where his parents had just died. "Second, we bow to our parents!"
Then, with incredible speed, he spun around and bowed deeply to the "囍" character above. "And third, the couple bows to each other!"
"The ceremony is complete! Hua Liusha, you and I are now husband and wife!"
In this world, many of the current rituals had been simplified.
Things like the proposal, the procession, the dowry, and the bridal chamber games were largely unimportant, to say nothing of the bride price.
The most important part was the wedding ceremony itself—the three bows.
Once the bows were complete, it meant that heaven and earth, the parents, and the couple themselves all acknowledged the union.
The ceremony was the equivalent of getting a marriage certificate.
In other words, he and Xigui were now husband and wife!
WHOOSH!!!!!
It was as if a tidal wave had erupted from within the "囍" character above the bridal chamber. Countless red threads materialized from it, winding themselves around Zhu Ge.
After binding Zhu Ge in layer after layer, they sank into his body and vanished.
For a moment, a red glow filled the sky, like a fiery sunset illuminating half the heavens. The entirety of Jianshan Village was bathed in a crimson hue.
And beneath this spectacle, a monstrous wave of resentment radiated from the "囍" character on the bridal chamber.
It was the agony of death.
It was the anguish of dying while betrothed.
It was the bitterness of having one’s entire family slaughtered.
And all of it was the fault of that Fungus God!
"Give it back!"
"Give me back my body! Give me back my life! Give me back my mother’s life!"
Xigui’s shrill roars shook the heavens.
Meanwhile, in front of the bridal chamber.
In a daze, Zhu Ge felt a bond with the "囍" character before him, a connection that felt even deeper than blood.
ROAR!!!!
The face within the "囍" character coalesced once more, roaring and struggling frantically like a fish caught in a net.
After a brief moment, the face seemed to break through some kind of shackles and peeled itself directly off the "囍" character.
It fell to the ground, its form rippling before Zhu Ge until it solidified into a figure.
This figure emanated a thick aura of resentment. It gradually solidified, taking the form of a young woman clad entirely in blood-red.
Xigui!
This was the soul of Xigui!
Sensing that Xigui’s aura was stronger than before, Zhu Ge felt an inexplicable sense of joy.
The next moment, Xigui appeared right in front of Zhu Ge, raised her hand, and slapped him across the face.
SMACK!
A crisp sound, and then, total silence.
Zhu Ge was stunned. Over on the side, the Fungus God-possessed Hua Liusha raised an eyebrow.
"Brother!" Xigui’s voice was identical to Hua Liusha’s—or rather, it had originally belonged to Hua Xiaomei, Hua Liusha. "You heartless man!"
"Huh?" Zhu Ge was dumbfounded. "Could it be..."
"It’s one thing if you didn’t want to get married! You heartless man!" Xigui’s voice was clear and crisp, and it rang directly in Zhu Ge’s mind.
"Everything you said about liking me was a lie! Mr. Jian Chong witnessing our betrothal was a lie! You heartless man!"
’So there really was a betrothal,’ Zhu Ge realized.
Actually...
Whether or not he had been betrothed to Hua Liusha didn’t matter. After all, it didn’t affect his marriage to Xigui.
Because Xigui was a being formed after a living creature’s death, she couldn’t marry a living person.
And Xigui’s nature meant that marriage was the only way to enhance her power.
Who could she marry?
The entire village was full of living people who possessed spiritual souls but lacked corporeal ones. The only exception was Zhu Ge, who was considered "already dead."
That was why Xigui was so desperate to marry Zhu Ge.
Only by doing so could Xigui grow stronger.
That night with Mr. Jian Chong, the voice he had heard and the shadow he had seen had belonged to Xigui, the ghost of Hua Liusha.
At the time, Xigui had been trying to warn him about the Fungus God’s identity.
But Xigui hadn’t tried to bewitch him, for fear of causing him harm.
Otherwise, if she had bewitched him, what if he had simply died on the spot?
A person can live without their corporeal soul, but they die instantly without their spiritual soul.
After the Fungus God stole their spirits, the villagers were still alive.
If Xigui were to use her bewitchment, the villagers would all be wiped out instantly.
This was also why Xigui was at a disadvantage in her struggle against the Fungus God.
That’s why the information Xigui had provided to Zhu Ge back then was so limited.
At the time, Zhu Ge hadn’t made these connections.
But now that Zhu Ge understood, he naturally had no objections to getting married.
’It’s just a marriage,’ he thought. ’If it doesn’t work out, I can always get a divorce later.’
’In his past life, marriage had been a joke.’
’Marriage wasn’t a guarantee of love, and love didn’t require marriage.’
’So, to survive... let’s get married!’
He just hadn’t expected Hua Liusha’s personality to be as straightforward as he remembered, even as Xigui.
"Forget it! Brother, I still have to thank you! I’m stronger now!"
As she spoke, Xigui’s voice grew clearer, and the bewitching red haze filling the sky began to pour into her body like oil through a funnel.
"Brother, you were willing to share your soul with me, to live and die as one, and to trust me. I will surely repay you well!"
Live and die as one... Zhu Ge fell silent.
’I had no idea that was part of the deal!’
But then he remembered he only had twenty years to live anyway, so it wasn’t a loss. With that, he felt a sense of relief.
Besides, this wasn’t the time for chatting. "Liusha, this is urgent! We need to fight the Fungus God together, take back your body, and lay it to rest! Then we can save the whole village!"
With that, he and Xigui turned to face the Fungus God together.
"A mere little Ghost," the Fungus God said coldly. "Just wait until I destroy your Spiritual Tablet and make you dissipate completely!"
BOOM!!!
Just then, a thick mycelium strand burst from the ground and shot toward the "囍" character above the bridal chamber door.
Zhu Ge knew without thinking that this "囍" character was Xigui’s dwelling place.
The dwelling place of a god is a shrine; the dwelling place of a Ghost is a Spiritual Tablet.
If the "囍" character were destroyed, it would mean Xigui would dissipate!
But at that very instant, the door to the bridal chamber suddenly opened.
"Hmph!"
Yu the Scholar’s figure stood tall in the doorway. A startling white light shot from his eyes, and the character for "Scholar" on his chest pulsed powerfully like a heart.
He faced the mycelium strand rising from the ground, a writing brush in hand. He swiped it fiercely at the fungus, leaving a trail of black ink in its wake.
At the same time, he shouted coldly:
"A scholar cannot but be strong and resolute!"
An invisible, righteous power erupted from the ink mark and washed over the mycelium strand.
The mycelium let out a screeching cry, and then the solid-looking strand dissolved into a wisp of green smoke.
Yu the Scholar had recovered!
From the very beginning, Zhu Ge had known that the Fungus God’s target was never Yu the Scholar. Yu the Scholar was just a decoy!
The Fungus God’s true goal was to eliminate the only two who could resist it: Zhu Ge and Xigui!
Once those two were gone, the Fungus God could easily parasitize Yu the Scholar and turn him into a shrine.
Unfortunately for it, Zhu Ge and Xigui had been cautious, and the Fungus God’s true form was inherently weak, so it could only plot things out slowly.
So, although Zhu Ge had told Xigui to devour Yu the Scholar’s soul, his real objective was to have Yu the Scholar wake up at the moment Xigui powered up.
His previous unresponsiveness had been nothing more than a ruse.
It was a ploy he and Yu the Scholar had arranged long in advance.
It was all to lure their foe out into the open and trap it!