The two of them quickly got ready. Xu Muchan brought along a box of local specialties he had brought back from Yundong, carrying it in his hand to make their visit look convincing. Together, they went to the Xu residence.
It was already very late, but the Xu household was still bustling because they had invited a group of supposedly powerful masters and experts.
Carrying the gift for the sick, Xu Muchan entered under the gazes of people from every direction.
Since guests had arrived, Xu Qingming had forced himself downstairs despite his illness and was talking with several people in the living room. Judging by his haggard appearance, he was genuinely unwell. After only a few sentences, he had to stop and rest for a moment. Xu Wangchuan stood beside him with a concerned expression, gently patting his back to help him catch his breath.
Xu Zhifei sat at the other end of the sofa. She was still dressed impeccably, but even her heavy foundation could not conceal the exhaustion and drawn look on her face. Her eyes were not on Xu Qingming and his son. Instead, she stared blankly into space.
It was not until Xu Muchan approached that she seemed to suddenly come back to herself. When she realized it was Xu Muchan, a trace of panic appeared in her expression.
“Why did you suddenly come back?”
Xu Muchan used the excuse he already had prepared. “Xu Wangchuan said Dad was sick, so I came back to see him.”
He handed over the gift and pretended to casually survey the room. After not seeing Cui Tong anywhere, he asked as though making idle conversation, “What happened? Why are there so many people here?”
Xu Zhifei set the gift aside. Somewhat nervously, she glanced back at Xu Wangchuan, who was talking to someone, then turned back and gently pushed Xu Muchan toward the door.
In a lowered voice, she said, “Your father is fine. And don’t get involved in family matters. It’s so late already, so hurry home and get some rest.”
Xu Muchan had come because of Cui Tong. Now that he had learned nothing, he naturally had no intention of leaving just like that.
He remained where he was and lowered his voice as well. “Did the Wedding Deity come out?”
Xu Zhifei’s body shuddered. Her face grew even paler, as though she had heard something terrifying. She held her breath and hurriedly looked back.
Just then, Xu Wangchuan seemed to hear the commotion and turned around. Seeing Xu Muchan, he broke into a grin.
“Muchan, you’re finally back.”
His smile made Xu Muchan uncomfortable. He frowned and gave him an indifferent nod.
But Xu Wangchuan continued staring at him.
Suddenly, Xu Zhifei said, “Aren’t you curious about what happened at home? I can’t explain it properly to you. Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
She had been unwilling to say anything before and had even urged Xu Muchan to leave as quickly as possible. But now she suddenly seemed willing to explain.
Her eyes remained lowered, however, and she no longer looked at Xu Muchan.
Her movements were somewhat stiff as she lowered her head and walked toward the room where Xu Muchan used to live. She did not even check whether Xu Muchan was following.
Xu Muchan exchanged a glance with Wei Xilou and followed her.
Xu Zhifei stopped outside Xu Muchan’s former bedroom. The door was open just a crack, but she blocked the opening with her body. Lowering her head, she said, “See for yourself.”
Only then did she step aside.
Xu Muchan stared at the pitch-black crack in the door, barely the width of a palm. For some reason, an overwhelming curiosity suddenly rose within him. He did not even look back at Wei Xilou before eagerly pushing the door open and walking inside.
The room was unlit, so dark that he could barely see anything. It was as though even the faint light from outside the window had been shut out.
Xu Muchan took another two steps forward before realizing that there was not a single ray of light in the room because it was packed wall-to-wall with people. They filled the once-spacious bedroom, even blocking the window. Naturally, not a trace of light could enter.
The people had originally been standing with their backs to Xu Muchan. Upon hearing his footsteps, they all turned their heads in perfect unison, rotating them a full 180 degrees, and stared straight at him.
In one voice, they said, “Welcome home, Xu Muchan. I’ve been looking for you for such a long time.”
Xu Muchan’s dazed mind suddenly cleared. Instinctively, he took a step backward.
Every single person packed into the room had exactly the same face as him.
Xu Muchan spun around and ran outside. Only then did he realize that the hallway outside the room was unnaturally quiet. Xu Zhifei and his brother had disappeared at some point, and even the faint voices from the living room had vanished.
The pitch-black hallway was like a deep, bottomless cave.
“Brother, where did you go? You disappeared the moment I turned around.”
Xu Muchan came running breathlessly from one end of the hallway and grabbed Wei Xilou’s arm. His face was pale from fright.
Wei Xilou reached out, intending to brush the sweat-dampened strands of hair away from the side of the young man’s face, but suddenly stopped.
“How did you run off again? Where did you go just now?”
Xu Muchan caught his breath and glanced fearfully back at the dark, seemingly bottomless hallway.
“I saw so many people in the room. They all had faces exactly like mine. It scared me to death.”
Wei Xilou frowned, his gaze fixed on him. “It was probably a hallucination.”
Xu Muchan shook his head. “It felt very real. It didn’t seem like a hallucination.”
Wei Xilou seemed unable to figure it out either. He said, “Take me there and let me have a look.”
Xu Muchan nodded and pulled him along by the arm. As they headed back the way they had come, they unexpectedly ran into Cui Tong halfway there.
When Cui Tong saw them, he paused briefly before approaching with a broad smile.
“Are the two of you trapped here too? This place is incredibly strange. I’ve been wandering around inside for ages, and you’re the first two living people I’ve finally encountered. Why don’t we stick together? It’d be safer that way.”
Wei Xilou glanced at Xu Muchan, the corners of his lips curling slightly.
“Sure.”
Cui Tong was extremely talkative. Seeing that Wei Xilou had agreed, he immediately joined them and opened the conversation.
“How did you two end up in this ghostly place?”
Wei Xilou said, “Madam Xu said she wanted to show us something. But the moment we opened the door, we somehow ended up here.”
“Same for me,” Cui Tong said. “I went into a room to check whether there was anything unusual, but as soon as I stepped inside, I ended up here. This villa is full of strange things. It’s like a maze. It seems that every room can randomly lead to a different place.”
As he spoke, he kept watching Xu Muchan from the corner of his eye. Casually, he asked, “Why isn’t this little student saying anything? You look rather familiar to me. Is your surname Xu?”
Xu Muchan said, “Yes.”
Cui Tong asked again, “Have you ever been to Yundong?”
Xu Muchan nodded again.
Cui Tong became increasingly certain that this was the Heavenly Womb child from all those years ago.
Back then, after he had sent the child to Leigong Village, he was supposed to stay there and keep watch over him. But he had run into some trouble along the way. By the time he managed to free himself and returned, he discovered that the little boy was already in high school.
Before he could figure out what to do, he heard that the Xu family had suddenly come looking for the child and taken him back to Jiangcheng.
Cui Tong had simply dealt with the trouble he was facing first, then came to Jiangcheng to find him.
Seeing how Xu Muchan answered every question without the slightest hint of caution, a sharp glint flashed repeatedly through Cui Tong’s eyes.
He completely failed to notice that another person beside him was watching him with a cold, unfathomable gaze.
Wei Xilou suddenly asked, “You’ve been to Yundong too?”
Cui Tong smiled. “People who practice the Dao travel all over the place. That’s nothing unusual. I lived in Yundong for a short while.”
As he spoke, he handed Wei Xilou a business card and introduced himself.
“My surname is Cui. My given name is Tong. I know a little about ghosts and supernatural matters. If you ever encounter trouble you can’t resolve, feel free to contact me.”
Wei Xilou took the business card and stared at it for a moment.
“Cui Tong. I’ll remember that.”
Cui Tong nodded, his gaze returning to Xu Muchan as he continued trying to draw information out of him.
At that moment, Wei Xilou suddenly said, “I got separated from my younger brother, and I’m worried about his safety. Why don’t you two keep talking? I’ll go look for him first.”
This was exactly what Cui Tong wanted. Having another person around would only get in his way.
But to maintain his friendly persona, Cui Tong still put on a polite expression and said, “Where did you get separated from your brother? Why don’t we go look for him together?”
Wei Xilou completely ignored him. In the blink of an eye, he had already gone a long distance away.
Cui Tong turned back toward Xu Muchan and saw him staring fixedly in the direction Wei Xilou had left.
With a kindly smile, Cui Tong patted Xu Muchan on the shoulder.
“Student Xu, come with me. Your father paid a great deal of money to hire me. I’ll get you out of here. Don’t be afraid.”
The hallway was deep and endless.
Xu Muchan kept running forward while the things with his exact same face chased after him like swarms of flies. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake them off.
As he ran, Xu Muchan watched his surroundings. When he passed a familiar door, he suddenly shoved it open and hid inside.
It was his room again.
Xu Muchan knew the layout so well that he could recognize it with his eyes closed. In the darkness, he climbed onto the top of the cabinet and lay flat, covering his mouth and nose while slowing his breathing.
The next second, those things swarmed inside like locusts.
Although they had exactly the same faces as Xu Muchan, their movements were nowhere near as agile as a human’s. If they had been, Xu Muchan might not have been able to outrun these monsters even if he had grown several extra pairs of legs.
After entering the room, they began spinning around in place. They seemed to know Xu Muchan was there, but couldn’t figure out where he was hiding.
Xu Muchan glanced at the open door. When most of the monsters had gathered toward the inner part of the bedroom, he lightly jumped down from the cabinet and ran outside without looking back.
But he was moving too quickly and failed to notice the corner.
He ran straight into someone’s arms.
“Why are you charging around like that?”
Wei Xilou caught him.
The sound of his brother’s voice beside his ear made Xu Muchan immediately look up.
At the same time, the monsters behind him caught up.
Countless identical faces lifted their heads at once and stared at Wei Xilou.
Xu Muchan glanced back, gritted his teeth, and said, “Brother, I’m the real one!”
Wei Xilou seemed to let out a very soft laugh.
“How are you going to prove that you’re the real one?”
Xu Muchan stared at him. Once he was certain Wei Xilou could tell them apart, he said nothing and simply grabbed his hand and ran.
They continued running until they had gone a long distance without hearing any footsteps behind them. Only then did Xu Muchan stop and finally catch his breath.
“Where did you go?” Wei Xilou asked.
Xu Muchan said, “After I went into the room, I found it was full of monsters that looked exactly like me. Then when I turned around, Mom and you were both gone.”
Wei Xilou’s answer had nothing to do with what he had said.
“You made a deal with the Wedding Deity?”
Xu Muchan froze.
“…I did. I lost a game to it and removed its veil. Are these monsters that look like me related to that?”
Wei Xilou said, “As far as I know, everyone who removes the Wedding Deity’s veil eventually becomes a part of it. Do you still remember what it looked like?”
Xu Muchan shook his head. “I can’t remember. Not long after I removed its veil, I was sold to Cui Tong. I guess that’s why I managed to escape that fate.”
“It probably couldn’t devour you, so it took your face instead.”
Wei Xilou’s brows furrowed deeply, and his expression became grim.
“Come on. Let’s find it. We might even get to watch an interesting show while we’re at it.”
Xu Muchan followed as Wei Xilou led him forward. When he saw Wei Xilou reach for a door, he hurriedly told him what he had discovered.
“We don’t know where these doors lead. If we’re unlucky, we might open one and run straight into those monsters…”
Wei Xilou reassuringly squeezed his hand.
“Just follow me, Ah Chan.”
Seeing how certain he looked, Xu Muchan actually fell silent and let him lead him through one door after another.
Wei Xilou was unfamiliar with this place too, but he seemed to have some way of determining where he was.
After opening yet another door, he stopped beside the doorway with Xu Muchan and gestured for him to be quiet.
The door was open only a palm’s width. The two of them pressed themselves against the wall beside the crack, giving them just enough of a view of the hallway outside.
Xu Muchan peeked out.
To his surprise, he saw Cui Tong.
Someone was walking beside Cui Tong.
It was the monster disguised as Xu Muchan.
Xu Muchan’s eyes widened.
But because he was farther inside the room, his view was obstructed and he couldn’t see clearly. So he practically draped himself over Wei Xilou, gripping his body to steady himself while stretching his neck as far as possible to look outside.
Cui Tong and “Xu Muchan” walked side by side.
As they continued forward, Cui Tong’s body suddenly became thin and elongated. From the side, he looked like a thin paper cutout.
The upper half of the paper figure continued stretching longer before bending downward.
That sinister, cunning face hung above the completely unsuspecting “Xu Muchan,” staring down at him.
After watching ominously for a moment, the paper figure slowly raised a hand—
But just as he was about to make a move, “Xu Muchan” moved even faster.
Its neck suddenly stretched out.
Its head instantly rotated a full 180 degrees.
Where its facial features should have been, the flesh split into four sections, revealing a pitch-black maw in the center. The enormous mouth opened to its limit and bit the paper figure’s head clean off in a single bite.
The paper figure’s body crumpled lightly to the ground like a scrap of paper.
The next instant, Cui Tong’s figure appeared some distance away.
He stared in astonishment at the thing before him, almost gnashing his teeth as he called out its name.
“Wedding Deity?”
At that moment, the Wedding Deity finally returned to its original form.
Its body elongated as its color faded. Its thin, lengthy body became pure white. The only color on it was the red fleshy crest atop its head, resembling a tied-up hair bun.
Other than that, its entire body was completely white.
A pair of fan-shaped membranes resembling wings extended from its shoulder blades and hung downward. Their thin texture made it look almost as though the creature were wearing a cloak.
From Xu Muchan’s angle, it actually possessed a strange, almost sacred, otherworldly beauty.
But when it turned its head, there were only eyes and a mouth on that pure-white head.
A four-petaled mouth sat in the center of its face, while countless eyes were randomly scattered across the otherwise blank surface.
All those eyes were tightly shut. Their narrow slits looked like rows of fish gills.
The Wedding Deity was clearly furious.
It opened its enormous mouth and roared at Cui Tong.
“It was you.”
More than ten years ago, Cui Tong had taken away its prey and then resealed it with the red wedding veil.
Clearly, it still remembered Cui Tong.
Its old hatred and its new hatred surged together, and in the next instant, it lunged at him.
But Cui Tong was clearly no pushover either.
If he had been capable of sealing the Wedding Deity more than ten years ago, he naturally wasn’t afraid of it now.
Cui Tong tore something from his own face as though ripping paper.
A thin paper figure was torn off and thrown toward the Wedding Deity.
The paper figure immediately sprang to life after being thrown, its twisted limbs blocking the Wedding Deity.
Cui Tong did not stop.
He tore several more paper figures from himself in rapid succession, sending them forward to hold the Wedding Deity back.
Meanwhile, he took out a brush and a box of cinnabar and began rapidly drawing an array on the floor.
Cui Tong’s movements were extremely swift and practiced.
By the time the Wedding Deity had swallowed four of the five paper figures, Cui Tong had already drawn the final stroke.
At the same time, he stepped forward and stood in the center of the array.
Almost simultaneously, the Wedding Deity swallowed the last paper figure and lunged toward Cui Tong.
The instant it entered the range of the array, Cui Tong’s figure disappeared.
Countless red cords burst out from within the formation, wrapping around the Wedding Deity’s upper body and forcibly dragging its lower half—which had not yet entered the formation—inside as well.
The Wedding Deity let out a piercing scream, its sharp fingers tearing at the red cords wrapped around it.
But the more it struggled, the more tightly the red cords wound around it. In the end, they bound it firmly from head to toe.
Only then did Cui Tong emerge from wherever he had been hiding, laughing. “You’re nothing but a mere ghost god, and you dare fight me?”
Before he could finish speaking, one of the Wedding Deity’s arms pierced straight through his chest.
Cui Tong’s eyes widened in shock. He saw that the Wedding Deity, despite being bound and unable to move, was using its other arms to tear apart the red cords wrapped around its body. Its slender body bent down, bringing its face close to Cui Tong’s.
The eyes scattered across its face blinked, as though they might open at any moment. Its enormous mouth slowly began to engulf Cui Tong’s head, as if it were savoring the process of eating him.
With a sharp crack, Cui Tong’s head was bitten off, blood spraying everywhere.
Xu Muchan watched without even blinking, but in the next instant, his brows furrowed.
Cui Tong’s slumped body was much thicker than before, but it was still different from an ordinary human body.
This was still a paper figure.
Sure enough, the next moment, Cui Tong appeared in front of a door not far away in the hallway. His face was pale, and his body had become much thinner. Clearly, he had been badly injured.
Before the Wedding Deity could catch up, he opened the door and slipped inside.
The Wedding Deity grabbed the door and stuck its upper body into the room, searching for him. After a moment, it withdrew again, apparently unable to find Cui Tong.
Xu Muchan felt a little disappointed. He whispered to Wei Xilou, “Some people really do live to cause trouble for a thousand years.”
The Wedding Deity, having lost its target, was still raging in the hallway. Its unnaturally long arms kept slamming against the floor and walls, while the remaining red cords wrapped around its body like blood vessels.
It kept pounding and pounding, until its slender body suddenly began to collapse and shrink as though the air had been let out of it.
In the end, as if it had been crushed beneath the weight of the red cords, it collapsed into a limp heap on the floor.
The scattered red cords fell over it like a red wedding veil, covering the top of the heap.
Xu Muchan witnessed the entire process but did not act rashly. He grabbed Wei Xilou by the shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, “What happened to it?”
Wei Xilou glanced at him but said nothing.
Xu Muchan’s attention was completely focused on what was happening outside. He had no idea that his current position was somewhat inappropriate.
He stared quietly at the heap in the hallway and suddenly whispered in surprise, “It’s moving again.”
A pair of hands pushed aside the red cords, and someone struggled up from the floor.
When Xu Muchan saw who had gotten up, he was even more astonished.
“Xu Wangchuan?”
Xu Wangchuan stood dazedly in the middle of the hallway for a while, seemingly confused. Then he lowered his head and noticed the red cords hanging from his body.
He immediately made a disgusted face and frantically tore the red cords off himself.
Halfway through, he seemed to remember something terrifying. He instantly stopped caring about the remaining cords, turned, and sprinted toward one end of the hallway.
The noisy hallway finally fell silent again.
Xu Muchan released Wei Xilou and walked out of the room. Looking at the scattered red cords on the floor, he frowned.
“What’s going on with Xu Wangchuan? Was that thing just now the Wedding Deity, or Xu Wangchuan?”
Wei Xilou shook his head, indicating that he did not know either.
Xu Muchan thought for a moment and said, “Let’s follow him and see.”
The two of them followed Xu Wangchuan. They had not gone far when they saw Yan He and Pei Rong bringing Xu Wangchuan down from the second floor.
Two other people they did not recognize were accompanying them. Judging by their appearance, they seemed to be Daoists whom Xu Qingming had hired as well.
Xu Wangchuan’s face was pale as he described what had happened to him.
“I don’t know what happened. I was clearly in the living room taking care of Dad, but the next second, I suddenly appeared in the hallway with a bunch of red cords wrapped around me.”
He seemed extremely disgusted by the red cords. Even after tearing them off, he kept rubbing the skin on his body as though trying to get rid of the sensation.
Yan He said, “If I’m not mistaken, these red cords should be Cui Tong’s Red Cord Array. But why would he use it against you?”
Xu Wangchuan shook his head, clearly displeased.
“How would I know? My father hired you to deal with the ghosts and evil entities in this house. You haven’t even found the things haunting this place, and instead, more and more strange things keep happening to my family!”
Yan He was about to say something when he suddenly spotted Xu Muchan and Wei Xilou on the first floor.
He immediately called out, “Xu Muchan, why are you in here too?”
Xu Muchan glanced at Xu Wangchuan and said, “There’s something strange about this house. We got lost inside and wandered around for a long time. Eventually, we heard noises coming from the second floor, so we came over to take a look and ran into you.”
Xu Wangchuan looked at Xu Muchan, his expression becoming somewhat strange.
“Muchan, have you seen Mom and Dad? I was with them just now, but in the blink of an eye, I ended up in this haunted place.”
Xu Muchan said, “No, I haven’t.”
Xu Wangchuan walked straight up to him, seemingly reaching out to grab his hand.
“I’m a little worried about Mom and Dad. Let’s go find them.”
Xu Muchan took a step backward, avoiding his hand. His eyes remained fixed on Xu Wangchuan’s face.
“Where are we supposed to look?”
Xu Wangchuan failed to catch his hand and looked slightly disappointed. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Mom and Dad should be resting in their room right now. Let’s go check their room.”
Xu Muchan stayed beside Wei Xilou and said, “Then let’s go take a look. You lead the way.”
Xu Wangchuan nodded agreeably and said to Yan He and the others, “Let’s go upstairs again. Mom and Dad might be in their room.”
Yan He was just about to say that they had already searched all the rooms on the second floor when Pei Rong gently tugged at his sleeve and shook his head slightly.
Yan He seemed to realize something. He glanced at Xu Wangchuan, his expression turning solemn, and followed behind him.
Xu Muchan pulled Wei Xilou along and followed behind Yan He and Pei Rong.
Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei’s room was at the very end of the second-floor hallway.
The hallway seemed to have returned to normal again. Xu Wangchuan walked confidently to the end, as though he knew the place by heart. He pushed the door open and glanced inside.
Then his face lit up with delight.
“Dad! Mom! You really are here!”
They were actually here?
Yan He stepped forward incredulously and looked inside.
Sure enough, he saw Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei.
Xu Qingming was lying on the bed, while Xu Zhifei sat beside him. But for some reason, both of their expressions were extremely terrified. Their eyes kept shifting toward the side, as though they were trying to warn them about something.
Confused, Yan He shifted his gaze to the left.
He saw another person sitting on a chair against the wall.
It was none other than Xu Wangchuan.