THIS MASTER GOT MARRIED

Chu Wanning quickly casted a barrier around Shi Mei and Chen Yao, then jumped behind the line of the jade maiden, standing next to Mo Ran. He wanted to shove him awake, but he could not run the risk of being discovered when there were so many ghosts surrounding them. Although Chu Wanning was confident that he could escape unscathed, it would be a lot more complicated if he had to protect Mo Ran as well. And so he closed his eyes and pretended to be one of the marching ghosts.

The procession moved slowly and one by one they entered through a barrier into the courtyard. Chu Wanning held his breath and closed his eyes as he entered safely. A faceless ceremony official stood before them and announced, "The auspicious hour is upon us, the grooms and brides have arrived..!!"

Chu Wanning, "…"

Soon a group of giggling children rushed toward them, each tugging at each corpse, rushing them to rooms at both sides of the courtyard. Still pretending to be a corpse, Chu Wanning let himself be dragged into a room. Mo Ran on the other side also entered a room together with another child.

Inside the room, the little ghost child quickly drew him a bath. Chu Wanning took off his clothes and entered into the bath. The water was littered with rose petals, but the fragrance that permeated the air did not come from the rose petals. It smelled like incense. Sickening.

Golden light emerged from his palm and Tianwen wrapped itself around the unsuspecting little ghost.

Chu Wanning closed his eyes and entered into the Truth Restoration Barrier together with the little ghost. Using this barrier, he was able to interrogate ghosts. They were bound to answer honestly.

He started off with a very basic question, "Where are we?"

"We are at the wedding hall of Ghost Mistress of Ceremonies." came the answer smoothly.

"What are the corpses here for?"

"To undergo posthumous union."

After asking more questions, Chu Wanning found out that they had accidentally entered into the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony's illusory realm to conduct nightly posthumous weddings for the departed. Since it was in accordance with Butterfly Town's tradition, at first it did not strike him as weird. After he understood that these dead people were called back night after night to conduct the same wedding over and over again, he almost felt sick. This Ghost Mistress of Ceremonies sure had some perverse hobby, making use of the power gained from hundreds of years of worship to conduct this kind of shameless act.

"How do I get out of here?"

"…"

Perfect. The little ghost did not know what to answer. It seemed that he and Mo Ran had to actually continue to the end.

After Chu Wanning released the little ghost from Tianwen, it resumed to help him with his wedding preparation as if it had not just been interrogated. Chu Wanning changed into a set of bright red wedding robe it picked up for him. After he was done, he was led back outside, where two lines of brides and grooms had been formed to be married off in pairs. Since he lined up at the same time Mo Ran did, it was expected that in this ghost wedding, he was to be paired up with Mo Ran. Chu Wanning did not think much about it. He had worse experience. If everything went well, after the wedding was completed, he would wait for a good time to break them out of the coffin and go back to finish their mission. No one other than him needed to know about this wedding at all. After waiting for some time, it was his turn to be wed.

"Congratulations my lady…"

Chu Wanning was pissed. He could understand that he was made to play the bride's role in his last life when married to TaXian-Jun, but why was he still the bride when married to a sixteen year old brat?? If he did not know better, this humiliation was enough to make him run berserk and destroy the whole place. He glared at the fearlessly giggling ghost attendant, but still let it cover his scowling face with red veil.

He was led in front of the pavilion, where the wedding took place for the couples one by one, officiated by a ceremony official. Through obscured view, he saw that Mo Ran already waited for him there. Unexpectedly, Mo Ran eyes were open although the stare was blank and unfocused.

Following through with the wedding, Chu Wanning barely heard what the ghost attendant said. Mo Ran lifted his veil when prompted to do so. Chu Wanning took a good look at Mo Ran in his wedding attire. He really was very handsome, even as an immature youth. If he was not under the poison's influence, those blank eyes would shine radiantly, accompanying the bright smile he would have on his face. In the previous life, the one who stood with him before heaven and earth to be husband and wife was the arrogant, mighty TaXian-Jun. He never unveiled him in front of the guests back then. Chu Wanning thought that it was a small kindness that TaXian-Jun bestowed upon him. If he had unveiled him then and there, would it not be a cause of an even greater humiliation?

At this point of time, everything between them was still clean. This wedding too, was not something done to humiliate him. Chu Wanning proceeded through the wedding absent-mindedly. They washed each other's hands in silence. They exchanged wine cups. And then the time to perform the three bows came. Chu Wanning hated being married to TaXian-Jun, but being married to a still untainted Mo Ran was not that bad. During this time in his previous life. Chu Wanning remembered that he still liked this boy a lot. They could never be married sincerely for real, so why not just enjoy this play pretend marriage and treat it as a secret only he knew about?

"First bow, to heaven and earth…"

"Second bow, to parents…"

"Third bow, husband and wife to each other…"

The ceremony concluded after they cut a lock of each other's hair. The two locks of hair were placed inside a brocade pouch and given to Chu Wanning. Chu Wanning tucked it away safely inside his robe.

"The auspicious hour has arrived, enter the bridal chamber…!!"

"…"

What? What bridal chamber? The business was done after the ceremony was done, what followed after the ceremony was seriously none of the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony's business!! And then he realized that the deity had yet to collect its "merits". The bridal chambers that they were referring to could only be… coffins.

Indeed, they were led to the back of the hall where a big, bright scarlet coffin already waited for them. Chu Wanning exhaled in relief.

The corpses would lie next to each other inside the coffin, be "united after death" and be buried together as husband and wife. No matter, Chu Wanning would find a way to escape before the coffin was lowered into the ground.

Chu Wanning the "bride" was allowed to enter the "bridal chamber" first, so he lay down first. Mo Ran followed into the coffin, and only then did Chu Wanning realize that this coffin was still a little cramped for two men to fit into.

After they went in, the ghost children began to sing and place the coffin lid securely on top of the coffin. In the darkness, Chu Wanning and Mo Ran were sealed together in the coffin. Under the poison's influence, Mo Ran did not bother to keep some distance from him. He basically just lay on top of Chu Wanning without any reservation. After the lid was closed, Chu Wanning set a soundproofing barrier inside the coffin and pushed him roughly aside. The coffin really was too small. No matter how he pulled and pushed, a part of Mo Ran would still touch him here and there. When he thought that he could settle with a position, the coffin shook during the trip back to Ghost Mistress of Ceremony's temple and Mo Ran rolled into his arms again, bumping against him here and there. It happened multiple of times until Chu Wanning sighed in frustration and just embraced Mo Ran close to him to save energy.

Chu Wanning thought about the red coffin that was buried at the Chen family's plot of land. It was the exact same coffin. It meant that the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony had a hand in the whole thing. But why? First off, Chen Bo'Huan was not a single unwed man when he died. Second, why was Chen Bo'Huan buried alone in the coffin? Deities could not just act independently. They relied on worships. Someone… something must have asked it to kill the Chen family's sons. The question was.. who was it? While two sons of the Chen family had both been killed, it seemed that since Chen Bo'Huan's corpse was treated specially, the perpetrator must have some kind of connection with Chen Bo'Huan.

The coffin was placed in the ground none too gently, jolting Chu Wanning back into reality. They finally arrived. Chu Wanning cut a slash on the coffin wall to peek at what was happening outside. He saw a lot of coffins lining up in front of the temple ahead of his own.

The ghost children continued their singsong and then the clay statue of the Ghost Mistress of Ceremony actually moved and leaped gracefully in front of the coffins. Graceful was what it aimed to be, but the heavy clay body did not cooperate. A huge crater was smashed on the ground when it landed.

Nevertheless, the ceremony continued. The Ghost Mistress of Ceremony started to bless the coffins and bestow marriage upon the dead, cheered by ghosts and monsters alike from the side. In doing so, they actually opened the coffin and the couple had to get out and kneel in front of the deity. Chu Wanning was not sure if they could continue pretending to be dead right under the deity's nose. Maybe yes, maybe not. He was musing silently when what he saw made his jaw drop to the ground. After the kneeling and blessing, this… this corpse couple actually started mating in front of everyone!!

-You must be kidding me.

Chu Wanning averted his sight out of disgust. The dead corpses made love vigorously and let out sounds that were very much alike to those of living people. Chu Wanning was horrified. When their pleasure peaked, a wisp of green smoke rose from their bodies and the deity inhaled it almost greedily. That was, apparently, the merit.

Satisfied from the merit it just sucked in, it also became impatient. Or it was simply shameless. The Ghost Mistress of Ceremony encouraged all couples to start mating then and there to absorb the merits all at once! Chu Wanning was not prepared for this. He was even less prepared when Mo Ran, who was supposedly in daze, moved and pressed him at the bottom of the coffin.

"…???"

In the darkness with only the small slash at the coffin wall as source of light, he could not make out Mo Ran's facial expression. The youth pinned him down and captured his lips with his own. Chu Wanning pushed at the youth but it was hard doing so in a cramped coffin. Mo Ran's kiss became more and more intense, his tongue ravaged the insides of Chu Wanning's mouth without restraint.

Chu Wanning managed to hiss between the kisses, "Mo Ran, wake up! Wake up! What are you doing!"

As a reply came two words, "Shi Mei…"

Chu Wanning's body froze. This was even worse than what happened in his previous life. He desperately grappled after the bottle of antidote pills inside his clothes. When he found it, he shoved a handful inside Mo Ran's mouth. The delinquent spat them all out and continued kissing Chu Wanning like possessed. Chu Wanning had no other choice. He held a hand against Mo Ran's lips while chewing on the antidotes himself. When he was done chewing, he uncovered Mo Ran's lips and they quickly fell into kissing again, this time with Chu Wanning pushing the chewed up antidote into Mo Ran's throat using his tongue.

"Shi Mei…"

Chu Wanning frowned. After feeding Mo Ran the antidote, he struggled to get Mo Ran away from him. Then he heard the sound of fabrics being torn. Mo Ran had torn open Chu Wanning's wedding robe with bare hands and exposed his chest area. His hand wandered inside his clothes, skin touching skin. Chu Wanning finally lost it. He was about to teach this rowdy disciple of his a lesson before he sensed murderous aura coming from outside of the coffin. Lacking better options, Chu Wanning flipped their positions and shielded Mo Ran under him when five long claws burst through the lid and stabbed right into Chu Wanning's shoulder.