After discovering that there was another Xu Wangchuan sitting inside the hospital room, everyone instinctively looked at the Xu Wangchuan standing in the doorway.
Their expressions were horrified, and they cautiously edged backward, putting some distance between themselves and him.
Xu Wangchuan seemed completely oblivious to this.
With a delighted smile on his face, he walked into the hospital room and fussed over Xu Qingming, asking after his health and showing concern.
If there weren’t another person identical to him sitting against the wall on the left, he would have looked exactly like a deeply devoted and filial son.
Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei, who were being watched by him, sat rigidly. Their eyes were filled with terror, and neither dared to move.
Xu Wangchuan continued his performance.
“Dad, Mom, I found Muchan too. Once these masters get us out of here, our whole family can be together again.”
“Mom, you don’t have to cry secretly anymore either.”
Xu Wangchuan looked at Xu Zhifei and suddenly sighed.
“Muchan moved out of the house. You must have been really sad, Mom.”
Xu Zhifei’s face was deathly pale. Her lips trembled, but she could not get a word out.
Xu Wangchuan then turned to Xu Qingming and earnestly tried to persuade him.
“Dad, you shouldn’t be angry with Muchan anymore either. He’s still young and has a stubborn temper. Maybe he already regrets it deep down. There’s no grudge between a father and son that can’t be put aside overnight. Once we get out, why don’t we let him move back home?”
Xu Qingming’s forehead was covered in sweat. His fingers gripped the bedsheet tightly as he stiffly nodded.
“Okay. Okay. We’ll do whatever you say.”
Xu Wangchuan smiled in satisfaction.
He stood up and said, “Dad, why are you sweating so much? I’ll get you a towel to wipe it off.”
With that, he turned around.
And happened to come face-to-face with the person sitting against the wall.
He suddenly froze, like a cassette tape that had abruptly stopped playing.
His entire body stood rigidly in place. The smile on his face gradually twisted into something hideous and terrifying.
At the same time, the Xu Wangchuan sitting in the chair stood up.
Everyone in the hospital room instantly became highly tense.
Yan He gripped the copper coin sword at his waist even tighter. He couldn’t tell which one was real, so he nudged the senior apprentice brother beside him and signaled with his eyes:
Should we attack?
Pei Rong gave a very slight shake of his head.
By now, the two Xu Wangchuans were standing face-to-face.
One had an eerily calm expression, while the other looked extraordinarily vicious.
Nobody understood what was happening, and no one dared to act recklessly. They could only watch and see what the two of them were planning to do.
Under the gaze of several pairs of eyes, the two Xu Wangchuans gradually moved closer and closer.
Then they merged into one.
It was like two melting ice cream bars. Because they were pressed too closely together, their bodies seemed to attract and stick to each other, until each became part of the other and they melted into a single form.
Yet strangely, their heads remained exactly as they had been.
A single body now carried two heads, as though neither one was willing to submit to the other.
The head belonging to the Xu Wangchuan who had arrived first turned slightly in confusion, as if he had only just realized that another head had appeared on his shoulder.
His eyes widened, his expression bewildered and frightened.
“What happened? Why did I become like this?”
He struggled to turn his head and looked toward Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei.
Xu Qingming turned his face away in disgust and fear.
Xu Zhifei covered her mouth and sobbed quietly, equally afraid to look at him.
Unable to get an answer from his parents, he turned toward Yan He and the others at the doorway.
It was as though he had finally found his saviors.
He staggered forward a step and cried out mournfully,
“Master, please save me. I don’t want to become like this…”
“This is so strange… Please save me…”
But no one could save him.
Everyone at the doorway warily took another step backward.
Yan He looked unwilling to abandon him, but there was nothing he could do. He was just about to say something to comfort him when he heard Xu Wangchuan’s voice becoming increasingly twisted and shrill.
He kept repeating,
“Save me, save me…”
But it no longer sounded like he was asking for help.
Ignoring the words themselves, that distorted, shrill tone sounded much more like a vengeful ghost’s curse.
And with two heads perched atop his shoulders, both wearing the exact same venomous expression, he truly looked like a vengeful spirit come to claim their lives.
“What exactly is this thing?”
The two Daoists traveling with Yan He were not from any legitimate sect to begin with. They had only been lured here by the Xu family’s generous reward, hoping to get lucky.
They had never encountered such a bizarre evil entity before. Now, watching Xu Wangchuan slowly approach, they could barely resist the urge to turn and run.
Their words seemed to trigger something in Xu Wangchuan.
The two heads on Xu Wangchuan’s neck turned toward each other and exchanged a glance. Their mouths curled into venomous smiles before both heads turned toward Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei inside the bedroom.
“It was you who turned me into this…”
As he spoke, he turned toward Xu Muchan, his neck twisting at an angle that completely defied human anatomy.
“You… all of you deserve to die!”
Xu Wangchuan’s resentful gaze locked onto Xu Muchan at the very back.
Clearly, Xu Muchan was the person he hated the most.
Xu Muchan met his gaze and narrowed his eyes. Then, without warning, he shoved Yan He aside.
“He’s coming after me. Protect my parents. I’ll lure him away!”
With that, he grabbed Wei Xilou and ran toward the first floor.
Sure enough, Xu Wangchuan ignored everyone else and let out a shriek before chasing after them.
“Xu Muchan!”
“Muchan!”
Yan He and Xu Zhifei called out at the same time, but Xu Muchan was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he had already reached the first floor.
Yan He gritted his teeth and stopped the agitated Xu Zhifei.
“Get them somewhere safe first. Then we’ll go help Xu Muchan!”
Pei Rong grabbed the other two useless companions and hauled them along.
“Move!”
Xu Muchan pulled Wei Xilou and sprinted down the first-floor hallway. He spared a moment to glance back and saw Xu Wangchuan chasing after him, his neck stretched unnaturally long like a snake.
That confirmed Xu Muchan’s guess.
Xu Wangchuan and the Wedding Deity had probably already merged into one.
The only problem was that Xu Wangchuan himself seemed unwilling to accept reality and was still desperately struggling against it.
Whether because his obsession was too strong or for some other reason, the Wedding Deity seemed to have genuinely been affected by him as well.
As he ran, Xu Muchan asked Wei Xilou, “Does the Wedding Deity have Black Taisui inside it?”
When the two Xu Wangchuans had merged just now, he had vaguely caught a familiar scent.
It smelled like Black Taisui.
That was also why he had chosen to lure Xu Wangchuan away.
With other people around—especially Yan He and his senior brother—it was always less convenient to act.
“Yes.”
Wei Xilou confirmed Xu Muchan’s guess.
He pulled Xu Muchan into a nearby room through a door at random, then turned around and pinned him against the wall. Lowering his head beside Xu Muchan’s ear, he asked,
“Do you want me to take it, or do you want to do it yourself, A-Chan?”
Even though Xu Muchan had been dragging him along at a run for so long, Wei Xilou’s breathing wasn’t even the slightest bit disturbed.
By contrast, Xu Muchan, trapped within his arm, was breathing heavily. His chest rose and fell rapidly from the exertion.
Xu Muchan thought their position was a little strange. He reached out and pushed against Wei Xilou, but couldn’t move him.
At that moment, Xu Wangchuan seemed to have caught up and was about to open the door—
Xu Muchan made his decision almost without thinking.
“I want to try it myself. If I can’t do it, then Big Brother can help me, okay?”
He raised his face and looked at Wei Xilou.
In the dim room, his face seemed to glow with a soft, pearly whiteness. Fine beads of sweat slid down from his temple and happened to fall into his eyes, dampening his thick eyelashes.
Wei Xilou gently brushed his fingertip across the wet lashes.
“Okay.”
Xu Muchan opened the door and stepped outside.
He looked at Xu Wangchuan, whose outstretched hand had frozen in midair, and tilted his head with a smile.
“Were you looking for me?”
Xu Wangchuan withdrew his hand and smiled happily as well.
“I knew you were hiding here.”
Xu Muchan calmly shifted his position, moving farther away from the door until he stood in the middle of the hallway.
“What wish did you make to the Wedding Deity to end up like this?”
Xu Wangchuan stared at him coldly.
But his first reaction was to deny it.
“I never made a wish.”
“Is that so?”
Xu Muchan stared steadily at him.
Xu Wangchuan seemed to regain his senses again. His eyes widened as he glared fiercely at Xu Muchan.
There was less than a step between them.
Xu Wangchuan could clearly see Xu Muchan—and those eyes of his that he found so hateful.
In those pitch-black eyes, he could see his own reflection.
He had two heads.
Without warning, Xu Wangchuan screamed again.
“I never made a wish! I didn’t!”
“You all deserve to die! Every one of you deserves to die! Go to hell!”
Amid his ear-piercing screams, Xu Wangchuan’s two heads completely melted together.
Then the Wedding Deity’s head grew back.
The countless tightly shut eyes scattered across its face opened simultaneously. Within those narrow slits, countless resentful eyeballs rolled around, all fixing themselves upon Xu Muchan.
The oppressive presence radiating from Xu Wangchuan and the Wedding Deity was on completely different levels.
Xu Muchan licked his lips and decisively removed the Mountain God Tablet, throwing it through the crack of the open door.
At the same time, the Wedding Deity’s neck stretched out like a snake.
The enormous mouth that had opened across its face lunged toward Xu Muchan.
Xu Muchan, already transformed into a ghostly form, sprang nimbly into the air, vaulted over its shoulder, and landed behind it.
But after landing, Xu Muchan’s first reaction wasn’t to attack.
Instead, he stared at the Wedding Deity in front of him with a strange curiosity.
After transforming into his ghostly form, the Wedding Deity looked completely different through his eyes.
He could see that the Wedding Deity’s white body was formed from countless twisted limbs tangled together.
Those limbs came in all different shapes and forms. Some were still clearly visible beneath the surface of its skin, while others seemed to have completely fused together, requiring careful observation to distinguish even the faintest traces of what had once been there.
And at the very center of those tangled limbs was a much more distinct human figure.
A piece of red cloth—the same kind the Wedding Deity had once covered itself with—was draped over the figure’s head, hiding its face.
But it was wearing Nanming High School’s uniform.
It was Xu Wangchuan.
His body occupied the exact center of the Wedding Deity’s torso, curled up like a baby.
The red lines Xu Muchan had seen before, resembling blood vessels, wrapped around his limbs and torso.
At first glance, they looked like countless tangled umbilical cords.
And now, those umbilical-cord-like tubes were continuously contracting.
Xu Muchan couldn’t tell whether they were drawing nutrients from Xu Wangchuan or supplying him with nourishment.
Xu Muchan suddenly remembered when he was a child.
After he had removed the Wedding Deity’s veil, it had seemed as though the creature had also wanted to cover him with the red wedding veil.
Thinking about how he had almost ended up as something neither human nor ghost like this, Xu Muchan broke out in goosebumps.
He rubbed his arms and dodged the Wedding Deity’s reaching arm, his gaze shifting toward the fleshy crest on top of its head.
The fleshy crest rose like a topknot, its exposed muscle a raw, reddish flesh color.
But in Xu Muchan’s eyes, there was now a mass of Black Taisui moving within the center of that fleshy crest, emitting an enticing scent…
Xu Muchan brought his hand together like a blade and chopped down toward the fleshy crest atop the Wedding Deity’s head—
Yet although the crest looked like a soft mass of flesh, it was far harder than he had imagined.
His strike failed to cut through it, forcing him to immediately retreat and dodge the Wedding Deity’s pursuit.
His gaze swept over the Wedding Deity’s entire body, searching for its weakness.
At that moment, Wei Xilou’s voice suddenly sounded inside his mind.
“Xu Wangchuan is supplying it with nutrients.”
Xu Muchan’s eyes immediately lit up.
This time, he didn’t attack the fleshy crest that looked weak but was surprisingly hard.
Instead, he circled around to the Wedding Deity’s back.
His hand, its fingers tipped with sharp claws, plunged directly into the creature’s back—
Xu Muchan’s arm felt as though it had passed through a mass of soft, rotten flesh.
His fingers touched slippery intestines and organs inside.
Those slippery, intestine-like things were the red lines wrapped around Xu Wangchuan.
Xu Muchan grabbed them tightly and yanked them out in one powerful pull.
Sure enough, the Wedding Deity let out a shriek.
The thin, wing-like membranes on its back vibrated and spread open, covering the large hole that had been torn into its back.
But Xu Muchan had already found its weakness.
Naturally, he wasn’t about to let it off easily.
Compared with the Wedding Deity’s long, slender body, Xu Muchan was much smaller—and much more agile.
Relying on his advantage, he avoided confronting it head-on.
Instead, he began circling around the Wedding Deity, waiting for an opening. Whenever it wasn’t paying attention, he would punch a hole into its body and pull out another handful of slippery red cords.
Before long, numerous scarlet tubes resembling intestines hung from the pure-white body of the Wedding Deity.
Those crimson flesh tubes seemed to bind the Wedding Deity, making its movements even more sluggish and awkward.
At the same time, it became increasingly frantic.
Taking advantage of its frenzy, Xu Muchan once again circled around to its back.
He accurately grabbed both of Xu Wangchuan’s arms and forcibly dragged him out of the Wedding Deity’s body.
Xu Wangchuan’s body slammed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
All the red flesh tubes wrapped around him and drawing nutrients from him snapped at once.
The Wedding Deity let out an angry yet weakened roar.
The pure-white limbs tangled around its body began peeling away like moldy plaster from a wall, revealing the grotesque, foul-smelling rotting flesh beneath.
That pure-white outer shell had been like a false divine garment that the Wedding Deity had draped over itself.
And now, its hideous, ugly appearance, covered in rotting flesh and severed limbs, was its true form.
Badly wounded, the Wedding Deity clearly had no desire to continue fighting.
It dragged its disgusting body around and tried to escape.
But Xu Muchan wasn’t about to let it go.
He gathered his strength and leapt into the air.
With one hand, he grabbed the fleshy crest atop the Wedding Deity’s head.
His other hand came down like a blade—
This time, he effortlessly severed the fleshy crest.
The Wedding Deity let out a strange roar.
The tangled mass of rotting flesh and severed limbs instantly came apart, scattering across the floor in all directions.
Foul-smelling corpse fluid seeped out from the pile of remains.
Xu Muchan was disgusted.
Then he looked down at the fleshy crest in his hand.
It clearly emitted an enticing scent, yet he suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
“Ugh!”
Xu Muchan held it as far away from himself as possible and instinctively looked for Wei Xilou.
“Do I really have to eat this thing?”
He didn’t even know how he had managed to swallow it the previous two times.
Wei Xilou pushed open the door and walked out.
The Mountain God Tablet Xu Muchan had thrown to him was hanging from his wrist.
He took the soft, squishy fleshy crest from Xu Muchan’s hand, peeled away the outer layer of red flesh, and removed a small lump of Black Taisui from the center.
Then he held it to Xu Muchan’s lips.
“Close your eyes. You’ll be able to swallow it.”
Xu Muchan tried closing his eyes and opening his mouth.
But the moment he remembered what the Wedding Deity had looked like at the end, his stomach turned again.
He recoiled two steps in resistance and instinctively raised his hand to cover his mouth.
Then he remembered what that hand had just been touching.
He hurriedly pulled it away.
Another wave of dry heaving immediately followed.
Helplessly waving his hands, Xu Muchan was practically radiating resistance. “No. I really can’t eat it.”
When he had been blind before, he’d had no choice.
But now Xu Muchan felt that wearing glasses was perfectly fine, too.
Wei Xilou seemed unable to understand why Xu Muchan found it so disgusting. After thinking for a moment, he said, “If you don’t eat it, your eyesight will continue to deteriorate.”
Xu Muchan: ???
This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. He immediately looked at Wei Xilou uncertainly, suspecting that Wei Xilou was lying to him.
But Wei Xilou’s expression was extremely serious and solemn. Remembering the helplessness he had felt when he had been completely blind before, Xu Muchan didn’t dare gamble on the possibility. He gripped Wei Xilou’s wrist tightly, opened his mouth, and swallowed the Black Taisui.
The moment the Black Taisui entered his mouth, it turned into liquid and flowed down his esophagus. At the same time, it felt as though a cool current was flowing through every part of his body.
Xu Muchan felt that it wasn’t actually as disgusting as he had imagined.
He looked at Wei Xilou, intending to tell him about the new changes he was experiencing, but the moment he looked at Wei Xilou, he suddenly froze—
Wei Xilou still had a human appearance, but beneath that human shell was nothing but a mass of thick black shadows, writhing and clawing wildly. Within the shadows, Xu Muchan could vaguely make out a single upright, crimson eye, and the sight of it gave him a strange sense of familiarity.
He had seen that vertical eye before, inside the Ascension Tower at the Wei residence.
But at that time, Wei Xilou had just merged with the Five Dread Gods. Although he had also taken on a nonhuman appearance, he looked completely different from how he did now.
By human standards, the Five Dread Gods’ statue-like form, while sinister and otherworldly, was much better-looking.
More importantly, Xu Muchan could vaguely sense that the current Wei Xilou was much weaker than he had been back then.
It was like the Wedding Deity after shedding its outer skin.
Xu Muchan frowned in confusion. “Big Brother… are you hurt?”
Wei Xilou hung the Mountain God Tablet around his neck, then tucked the small wooden tablet that was sticking out into his collar. His eyes lowered as he said calmly, “I am indeed missing a few things, but I’ll get them back sooner or later. A-Chan doesn’t need to worry.”
Xu Muchan studied him suspiciously, but Wei Xilou’s face revealed nothing. Xu Muchan couldn’t tell how much of what he said was true and how much was a lie, so he could only temporarily suppress his doubts and talk about the changes he had experienced.
“When I entered my ghostly form this time, I seemed to be able to see some…” Xu Muchan carefully considered his words. “Some things that are more fundamental beneath the surface.”
“And my mind has remained completely clear the entire time.”
Xu Muchan guessed, “Is it related to the thing you gave me to eat before?”
Only after saying it did he remember that this had happened during the Republican era. The Wei Xilou standing before him now might very well know nothing about it. Xu Muchan paused and secretly glanced up to observe his expression.
As expected, Wei Xilou’s expression was not particularly pleasant. He gave a derisive snort. “You could say it’s somewhat related. But more of it has to do with A-Chan starting to grow up.”
Xu Muchan thought to himself: So it is related.
But what exactly did he mean by “growing up”?
Could he mean that he was about to become an adult?
Xu Muchan asked Wei Xilou again, but Wei Xilou refused to elaborate. Instead, he changed the subject. “Xu Wangchuan ran away.”
Xu Muchan didn’t want to let him change the subject, but when he turned around, he discovered that Xu Wangchuan, who had been lying on the floor, really was gone.
“He didn’t die?”
Xu Muchan glared at Wei Xilou. “Why didn’t you say so just now?”
Wei Xilou said matter-of-factly, “There’s a bathroom in the room. Go wash your hands first, then we’ll go look for him.”
Xu Muchan: “…”
In the bathroom, Xu Wangchuan, who had thrown off the red wedding veil, repeatedly examined his own face in the mirror.
There was no extra head, no extra eyes. His facial features were all in their proper places. Aside from his skin being somewhat pale and waterlogged, there was nothing abnormal about him.
He let out a nervous, almost hysterical laugh.
The Wedding Deity was dead. He had survived.
Xu Wangchuan stared at his reflection for a long while before cautiously pushing open the door and stepping out.
He was just about to move forward when voices suddenly came from the hallway around the corner. He immediately slipped back into the room, leaving the door cracked open as he listened to what was happening outside.
It was Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei, along with the few Daoists.
Apparently, because they had been wandering around in circles inside the villa for so long, the group had begun to disagree. Xu Qingming was already ill and had run out of stamina, so he suggested stopping to rest for a while. Yan He, however, wanted them to find a nearby room to hide in while he and his senior brother went to look for Xu Muchan.
But both Xu Qingming and the other two people traveling with them strongly objected, grabbing onto Yan He and refusing to let the two Daoists leave.
The two sides were deadlocked.
Remembering what had happened earlier, Xu Wangchuan’s cheek twitched several times, and his expression became somewhat twisted.
He had originally intended to find his parents and reunite with them first. But seeing Xu Qingming and the others like this, how was he supposed to explain what had happened if he simply went back?
What would he say if they asked why he had turned into that?
Would they accept him?
No.
They would only regard him as a monster.
The expression on Xu Wangchuan’s face grew increasingly venomous, and his neck unconsciously began to stretch—
As if suddenly realizing something, Xu Wangchuan abruptly froze. He reached up and touched his face.
What his fingers felt was not warm skin, but cool, smooth fabric.
The red wedding veil that had already been thrown into the trash had somehow found its way back onto his head.
When had that happened?
Xu Wangchuan frantically tugged at the red wedding veil, only to discover that it seemed to have grown together with his face. Every time he pulled on it, it felt as though the skin on his face were being peeled away, causing excruciating pain.
Terrified, he rushed back into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
The bright-red veil was firmly covering his head, yet somehow it did not obstruct his vision.
He saw that his neck had become unnaturally long. His fingers were beginning to deform, and his skin was utterly bloodless, white like a freshly painted wall.
Just like…
Just like the Wedding Deity…
Xu Wangchuan let out a scream and bolted out of the bathroom, wanting to find the Daoists and beg them for help.
But after he rushed out of the room, he discovered that the people in the hallway had already found a way out. They were overjoyed to escape the strange place, and no one heard Xu Wangchuan’s cries for help.
Only Xu Qingming suddenly turned around and looked at Xu Wangchuan, a look of terror appearing on his face.
Xu Wangchuan immediately clung to that lifeline. Crawling and stumbling, he chased after him.
“Dad, Dad, it’s me, Xu Wangchuan! I don’t know why I turned into this. Dad, please save me. Tell those Daoists to save me. Dad…”
Xu Qingming shuddered violently as if he had been struck by an electric shock, staggering backward two steps. His terrified gaze remained fixed on empty space.
Yan He followed his gaze curiously, but there was nothing there.
“Mr. Xu, are you all right?”
“Nothing. I was just worried that Muchan still hasn’t come out.”
Xu Qingming shook his head, then turned around and warmly grasped Yan He’s hand, saying gratefully, “We owe our safe escape from that strange place to you two Daoists.”
Yan He pulled his hand back. “Xu Muchan and the others are still inside. My senior brother and I intend to go back in.”
Xu Qingming wiped the sweat from his face and nodded repeatedly. “Then I’ll trouble the two Daoists. We’ll wait here for good news.”
Xu Wangchuan climbed to his feet in disbelief and walked up to Xu Qingming. Tilting his head, he asked, “Dad, you can see me, right?”
“Why are you pretending you can’t see me?”