Chapter 2: Three Clowns, Night Discussion on the Palace of Tremendous Masculinity

N Ever since then, things had gone out of control. Less than one hundred years after that first incident, there had been a total of seventeen brides who went missing in the Mount Yujun area. Sometimes there'd be a couple of decades of peace, and sometimes two would go missing in the short span of one month. A horrific legend quickly spread of a ghost groom who lived on Mount Yujun, and if a woman caught his eye, he would kidnap her on the road and devour the marriage procession.

Ordinarily, this affair wouldn't have been reported to the heavens. Although seventeen brides had gone missing, there were thousands more who were perfectly fine. Either way, the girls couldn't be found, and they couldn't be protected even if everyone wanted to do so; they could only make do with the status quo. Now there were fewer families willing to marry their daughters into this area, and the locals didn't dare make a fanfare of their weddings, that was all. But it just so happened that the father of the seventeenth bride was a lord official who doted on his daughter. When he heard of the local legend, he meticulously selected forty valiant and capable military officials to escort the marriage procession of his daughter. But the daughter was spirited off anyway.

This ghost groom had really stirred up the hornet's nest this time. No one this old lord official sought in the Mortal Realm could do anything about it, so in a fit of outrage, he assembled a group of government friends and conducted a wave of crazed religious services. He even followed the guidance of a great master and opened his stores to feed the poor, among other similar deeds. It was a huge uproar that shook the city, until finally this alerted a few heavenly officials above. Without going to such ends, it was practically impossible for the voices of insignificant mortals to reach the ears of gods in heaven.

"That's the gist of it," Xie Lian said.

Since those two still looked very uncooperative, he couldn't tell if they had actually been listening. If they didn't listen, he'd have to tell the story again. Nan Feng looked up though, and frowned. "Are there any similarities between the missing brides?"

"There are those who are poor and those who are rich, those who are beautiful and those who are ugly, there are lawful wives and there are concubines. In short: there's no pattern," Xie Lian said. "We can't determine at all what this ghost groom's preference is."

Nan Feng mn-ed and picked up his teacup to take a sip, seeming to be thinking now. Fu Yao, on the other hand, never touched the tea Xie Lian had pushed in his direction and had been languidly cleaning his fingers with a white handkerchief this entire time.

He said coolly as he wiped, "Your Highness, how would you know that it must be a ghost groom? This can't be certain, since no one's ever seen it before. So how can we know if it's male or female, if it's old or young? Aren't you a little too quick to judge?"

Xie Lian grinned. "This scroll is a summary provided by a civil official from the Palace of Ling Wen. The ghost groom is just the common name for it. However, what you've said makes a lot of sense."

They spoke a bit more, and Xie Lian realized that these two junior martial officials' reasoning and logic were quite coherent. While they didn't appear very friendly, they weren't muddled at all when discussing important matters. Xie Lian felt relieved. Looking out the window, the hour was getting late, so the three left the small shop for the time being. Xie Lian put on his bamboo hat and walked for a bit before abruptly realizing the two behind him weren't following, so he looked back, puzzled. Turned out, the other two were also watching him in equal bemusement.

Nan Feng asked, "Where are you going?"

"To find some place to settle for the night," Xie Lian replied. "FuYao, why are you rolling your eyes again?"

Nan Feng continued his questions, still puzzled. "Then why are you heading to the wild bushes?"

Xie Lian often camped out in the wild and slept on the streets, and he could lay out a cloth on the ground and spend the night just like that. So naturally, he was ready to find some cave to start a campfire in as he'd always done. But it was with Nan Feng's reminder that he suddenly realized that Nan Feng and Fu Yao were both martial officials under a martial god; if there were any Nan Yang temples or Xuan Zhen temples around, then they could enter directly, so what need was there to sleep out in the wild?

A short while later, the three found a broken-down Tudi shrine in an incredibly inconspicuous little corner that worshipped a round, small, stone Lord of the Soil and Ground. With incense residue and shattered platters, it looked exceedingly desolate. Xie Lian called out a few times. This Lord of the Soil and Ground hadn't been worshipped or called by anyone for years, so when he suddenly heard the call, he snapped open his eyes and saw three people standing before his shrine. The two on the left and right respectively were both enveloped in a sheen of spiritual light abundant like some nouveau riche, their faces barely visible. The deity jumped in alarm.

His voice trembled. "Do the three heavenly officials have anything to command of this humble one?"

Xie Lian inclined his head. "No commands. I just wanted to ask if there are any local temples that worship either General Nan Yang or General Xuan Zhen?"

The Lord of Soil and Ground didn't dare to affront him and replied, "Um um um…" Then, in a quick divination with the pinch of his fingers, he answered, "There's a local town temple about two-and-a-half kilometers from here, and the one worshipped is…is…is the General Nan Yang."

Xie Lian put his hands together in prayer. "Many thanks."

However, that Lord of Soil and Ground was blinded by the two balls of spiritual power on both sides of Xie Lian, so he quickly vanished. Xie Lian fumbled out a few coins and placed them in front of the altar shrine, and when he saw there were fallen remnants of burned incense sticks on the ground, he picked them up and relit them. Throughout the entire thing, FuYao was rolling his eyes so hard that Xie Lian almost wanted to ask if his eyes were tired.

About two-and-a-half kilometers later, they indeed spotted a local town temple standing fiery red by the roadside. While the temple was small, it had everything. People were going in and out, extraordinarily lively. The three concealed their forms and entered the temple. The one worshipped within the hall was a clay divine statue of the martial god Nan Yang, bedecked in armor with a bow in hand.

When Xie Lian saw this divine statue, he hummed inwardly.

In a small temple in the countryside, the craft and painting of divine statues could be expected to be rough. But on the whole, this statue was still significantly different from Xie Lian's own impression of Feng Xin.

However, distorted divine statues were something that every heavenly official had long since gotten used to. Never mind that their own mothers wouldn't recognize them sometimes, there were heavenly officials who didn't even recognize themselves when they saw their own statues. After all, there weren't many artisan masters who had actually seen the real forms of the heavenly officials, so the statues were either distorted beautifully or hideously. One could only rely on the posture, spiritual apparatus, attire, and crown to determine which heavenly official it was.

Usually, the more affluent the area, the more the divine statue would please the heavenly official. The more impoverished a place, the worse the taste of the craftsmanship, and the more tragic the sculpture became. To speak of the present, there was only General Xuan Zhen whose divine statues were in a better situation. Why? Because for everyone else, if their statues were ugly, then whatever, leave it be. But when Mu Qing saw that his statues had been hideously sculpted, he would either secretly destroy them and make people start over, or appear in dreams to express his displeasure. This went on for a long time until the grand believers all learned that they had to find an artisan master who could sculpt beautifully!

All the temples of Xuan Zhen were exactly the same as their general: particular and tasteful. But after Fu Yao entered the Temple of Nan Yang, for two whole hours he thoroughly criticized the statue of Nan Yang from head to toe: how the design was deformed, the colors tacky, the craftsmanship crude, the taste bizarre. Xie Lian watched as the blue veins

on Nan Feng's forehead slowly popped out, and thought he best quickly find another topic of conversation.

It just so happened that there was a girl who entered to pray, and she very sincerely knelt. Xie Lian said warmly, "Speaking of, Nan Yang-zhenjun's main domain is in the southeast. I never imagined you guys would have such a following in the north too."

When people constructed temples, they were imitating the divine palaces of the Heavenly Realm, and divine statues were reflections of the heavenly officials' venerable selves. Temples attracted worship and were where believers gathered, becoming an important source of spiritual power for heavenly officials. And due to various reasons—such as geography, history, and customs—people of different regions often worshipped different gods. A heavenly official's spiritual power would be maximized on their own turf, and this was the main advantage of having a domain. Only to a heavenly official like the Heavenly Emperor, who had believers from all over the world and possessed temples everywhere, was the notion of a main domain meaningless. It was a good thing that the holy temple of Nan Feng's own general was so popular even outside his main domain. He should have been proud, but judging by his expression, this was very much not the case.

On the side, Fu Yao gave a light smirk. "Yes, yes, he's deeply loved."

Xie Lian said, "But I just have a question that I don't know if…"

"If you're going to say 'you don't know if it's appropriate,' then don't say anything," Nan Feng interrupted.

No, I was going to say "don't know if anyone has the answer," Xie Lian thought.

But he had a feeling that it'd be bad if he said it, so in the end, he decided to change the subject again.

Yet unexpectedly, Fu Yao languidly said, "I know what you want to ask. You must be wondering why there are so many female believers coming to worship?"

That was indeed the question Xie Lian had in mind.

There had always been fewer female believers than male in the martial gods' stream; only Xie Lian himself was an exception, eight hundred years ago. However, the reason for this exception was very simple, and it was also only two words: good-looking.

He knew very well that it wasn't because he was distinguished or because he had extraordinary spiritual powers. It was merely due to the fact that his divine statue was good-looking, and his palace temples were handsome too. Practically all of his palace temples were constructed by the royal family, and the highest-skilled experts and artisans of the kingdom were summoned to sculpt the divine statues exactly in accordance with his face. Besides, because of that phrase "Body in the abyss, heart in paradise," the artisans liked adding flowers to his divine statues and planting seas of flowering trees at his temples. Thus, at the time, he had another title: "The Flower-Crowned Martial God." The lady believers liked that his divine statues were good-looking and that his palace temples were filled with flowers, and due to that alone, they were willing to casually enter to pray.

The usual martial gods were too heavy in killing aura and often had their faces sculpted to be serious, savage, and cold, so when lady believers saw, they would rather pray to the bodhisattvas instead. While this statue of Nan Yang had none of the killing aura, it was far from good-looking, and

yet there still seemed to be more female believers praying than male. Nan Feng obviously didn't want to answer this question either, which was making Xie Lian even more curious. It just so happened that right then, that girl finished her worship. She rose to her feet to reach for the incense, then spun around.

While she was turned away, Xie Lian nudged the other two. They were already very annoyed, and with his nudge, they looked, and whoosh, both their faces dropped.

"Too ugly!" Fu Yao exclaimed.

Xie Lian choked for a moment, then chided, "Fu Yao, you can't talk about girls like that."

If he had to be honest, what Fu Yao said was true. That girl's face was incomparably flat, looking exactly like someone had leveled it with a slap. It would almost be an insult to say her features were plain; if they must be described, then only "crooked nose and slanted eyes" could be used.

However, Xie Lian didn't register whether she was beautiful or ugly at all. The main thing was, when she spun around, there was an enormous tear on the back of her skirt, and he really couldn't pretend he didn't see it.

Fu Yao was startled at first, but he quickly regained himself. The popped veins on the corners of Nan Feng's forehead also instantly vanished.

Seeing his face change colors so drastically, Xie Lian quickly soothed, "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous."

The girl took incense and knelt down anew, and said as she prayed, "May General Nan Yang give his blessings. This believer Xiao-Ying prays for that ghost groom to be captured soon, so no other innocents will be harmed by him…"

She was sincere and devout in her prayers and didn't sense anything peculiar going on behind her at all, nor was she aware that there were three men crouching next to the foot of the divine statue she was praying to.

Xie Lian fretted. "What do we do? We can't let her walk out like this. Everyone on her way home will see."

Besides, judging by that tear on the back of her skirt, it was obvious someone had intentionally ripped it with a sharp object. She probably wouldn't just be seen by a crowd of onlookers, she would also be publicly laughed at, and that would truly be considerable humiliation.

Fu Yao was unconcerned. "Don't ask me. The one she's praying to isn't my General Xuan Zhen. 'Do not look at what is improper.' I saw nothing."

Meanwhile, blood was draining from Nan Feng's handsome face. He only knew to wave, not talk; a perfectly fine, unbridled, strapping young man was forcibly rendered mute, completely hopeless. And so Xie Lian had no choice but to take action himself, taking off his outer robe and throwing it down below. The outer robe flapped in the air for a moment and drifted down onto the body of that girl, blocking the very inelegant tear on the back of her skirt. The three sighed a breath in unison.

However, that breeze was strange, and it startled the girl. She looked around, took off the robe, and hesitated briefly before she placed it onto the altar. She was completely unaware, and after sticking the incense in the burner, she made her way out. If they let her out to walk around like that, the little maiden would probably not have the face to look at anyone ever again. The two on Xie Lian's right and left were either frozen or frozen, completely useless however you wanted them, and he sighed. Nan Feng and Fu Yao felt the space beside their bodies empty suddenly. Xie Lian had already taken form and jumped down.

The lamplight inside the temple was dim, and a small gust rose from his leap, causing the firelight to flicker. The girl Xiao-Ying only saw a blur before a man suddenly emerged from the darkness, reaching out to her with his upper body bare, and she was scared out of her wits right then and there.

As expected, she screamed. Just when Xie Lian was about to speak, the girl's slap already struck out in a flash, and she yelled "harassment!"

Thwack! And Xie Lian was slapped just like that.

The slap was clear and crisp, and the two crouching on top of the altar both felt the side of their faces twitch at the same time.

Xie Lian wasn't mad at the strike, however, and only forcefully stuffed the outer robe into her arms, swiftly whispering something. The girl was greatly alarmed, felt her behind, and suddenly flushed red in the face. Tears welled up in her eyes; who knew whether it was anger or indignation.

She clutched the outer robe Xie Lian gave her and dashed out covering her face, leaving Xie Lian standing there half-bare. With the girl gone, the temple was now deserted. A cool breeze wafted through the hall, and it was suddenly a little chilly.

He rubbed his cheek, and with that red hand-mark on half of his face, he turned to the other two. "All right, everything's resolved."

Nan Feng pointed at him. "Did…you tear your wounds?"

Xie Lian looked down and oh-ed.

After undressing, what was revealed was a body smooth and fair likejade. Except his chest was heavily wrapped in layer after layer of white cloth, firmly bound. Even his neck and wrists were wrapped in bandages. Innumerable small cuts crawled out from the edges of the white bandages,

truly a startling sight.

He figured his sprained neck was pretty much recovered by now, so Xie Lian started unbinding his bandages. Fu Yao glanced at him, then questioned, "Who was it?"

"What?" Xie Lian asked.

"Who fought you?" Fu Yao demanded.

"Fought?" Xie Lian was confused. "No one?"

"Then all those injuries on your body…" Nan Feng was hesitant.

Xie Lian looked at them blankly. "I fell on my own."

"…"

Those were indeed the injuries from when he tumbled down from heaven three days ago. If it were from a fight with another person, then he actually might not have been hurt so badly.

Fu Yao grumbled something, but it wasn't clear. Either way, it definitely wasn't praising him for his fortitude, so Xie Lian didn't bother to ask, focusing only on removing the heavy layer of bandages from his neck. The next second, Nan Feng and Fu Yao's gazes hardened as their eyes fell on his throat.

A black collar encircled his snow-white neck.

Sensing their stare, Xie Lian gave a light smile and turned around. "First time seeing a real cursed shackle?"

Cursed shackle. Like its name implied, it was a shackle formed by a particular curse.

Heavenly officials who were banished from heaven would have the mark of sin, forged by the wrath of heaven, branded onto their bodies. This brand formed a fetter that sealed spiritual powers away, never to be freed. Just like a brand on the face, or chains shackling hands and feet, this was a form of punishment, and a warning. It was both terrifying and humiliating.

As the laughingstock of the three realms who was banished twice, of course Xie Lian had such a cursed shackle on his body. It was impossible for those two junior martial officials not to have heard of this before, but there was still a little difference between having heard and seeing it personally. Thus, Xie Lian could understand why they would react the way they did.

He figured this might be making the two junior officials wary and uncomfortable. After all, it wasn't like those shackles were a good thing.

At first, he used the excuse of going out to search for clothes in order to get a chance to step outside, but he was stopped in his tracks by Fu Yao's eyeroll and his comment: "It'd be incredibly indecent for you to go out in the street looking like that."

In the end, it was thanks to Nan Feng, who tossed him a temple attendant's robes that he'd grabbed from the back of the building, that Xie Lian was able to stop being so indecent. However, even after they'd settled back down, it felt like the incident earlier had caused the mood to become somewhat awkward. And so, Xie Lian took out the scroll given by the Palace of Ling Wen.

He said, "Do you guys want to take another look at this?"

Nan Feng raised his eyes and gave him a look. "I've looked through it already, I think he's the one who needs to take a better look at it."

"What do you mean I'm the one who needs to take a better look at it?" Fu Yao countered. "That scroll isn't detailed at all, completely worthless, and you think it's worth another look?"

Hearing him say the scroll was worthless, Xie Lian couldn't help but feel a little sad for the ashen-faced junior civil officials at the Palace of Ling Wen who put this together.

Fu Yao then continued, "Oh yeah, where were we? The Temple of Nan Yang—why does Nan Yang have so many female believers, right?"

All right. Xie Lian put the scroll away and rubbed his pulsing forehead. He understood now. No one would be able to look through it tonight!

If they weren't going to focus on the real business, then why not see what the side business was all about? Turned out, other than the Royal Highness who spent centuries collecting scraps in the Mortal Realm, every deity knew that there was a period of time when Nan Yang-zhenjun—Feng Xin—was called "Ju Yang-zhenjun." The man himself deeply detested this title, and everyone only had one word for his experience: injustice!

The original correct writing used the characters "Ju Yang," which meant "Perfect Sun." The incident that warped them happened many years ago. During that time, a king was constructing a great number of temples and palaces. To demonstrate his faith and sincerity, he personally drafted the titles for every temple or palace's establishment plaque. But when it came to the Palace of Ju Yang, for some reason, he used characters for "Ju Yang" that meant "Tremendous Masculinity."

This gave the officials responsible for the construction much grief. They just couldn't figure out whether His Majesty changed it intentionally or if it was an accident. If it was intentional, why wasn't there a clear decree that indicated yes, this is what We want to change to? If it wasn't intentional, why would their king commit such a low-level mistake? It wasn't like they could say "Your Majesty, you're wrong." Who knew if His Majesty would mistake them for being sarcastic about his carelessness? That they were hinting that his knowledge was shallow? That his heart was insincere? This was His Majesty's royal writing; were they going to trash it

if they weren't going to use it?

Divine beings had hearts most difficult to discern, and the officials were in pure agony. After much deliberation, instead of causing grief for His Majesty, they thought they might as well cause grief for Ju Yang-zhenjun.

It had to be said that they made the right decision. When the king discovered that Perfect Sun had become Tremendous Masculinity, he didn't make any statements, but instead invited a bunch of scholars to scour the ancient texts with great vigor to find countless miniscule reasons and compose many essays to painstakingly prove that it should've been Tremendous Masculinity in the first place, and that Perfect Sun was wrong. In any case, every Palace of Perfect Sun in the country became a Palace of Tremendous Masculinity overnight.

Feng Xin, whose divine title changed so randomly, didn't find this out until decades later. He basically had never bothered to look closely at the signs of his own temples, but one day, he suddenly felt rather baffled. Why were there so many women coming to pray in his temples, each of them flushed with shyness on her cheeks? And what in the world were they praying for when offering incense?!

After he figured it out, he charged up to the peak of the ninth sky and shouted his curses to the scorching sun and the vast skies.

He shocked every heavenly official.

After he was done cursing, there was nothing he could do, so he could only relent. It wasn't like he could pick on those women who were praying so sincerely, so he forced himself to listen for many years. It wasn't until a decent ruler came along who thought Tremendous Masculinity was horribly obscene that it was changed to "Nan Yang," for "Southern Sun." Nonetheless, no one forgot what else he could grant beyond his duties as a martial god. However, everyone also upheld an unspoken rule: never call him by that name. At the same time, they also upheld a general consensus: how to evaluate this Nan Yang-zhenjun? With one word: good!

Don't let him open his mouth to yell at people and everything should be good!

Nan Feng's face was already as dark as the bottom of an aged wok, yet Fu Yao was suddenly feeling poetic, and he recited demurely:

"Friend of woman

A trusty companion;

Ask for a son

Most powerful is he,

The secret formula

To bolster masculinity,

A son in your prayers

Nan Yang delivers.

Aha ha, aha ha, aha ha ha ha ha ha…"

Xie Lian very kindly held back his laugh, leaving a bit of face for Nan Yang in front of his divine statue. Nan Feng, however, was outraged. "Don't you act all sarcastic here! If you're really that bored, go sweep the floor!"

The moment those words were spat, Fu Yao's face also darkened to the color of a pot bottom. If the Palace of Nan Yang couldn't stand to hear the words Tremendous Masculinity, then the Palace of Xuan Zhen couldn't stand to hear people bring up the term "sweep." This was because, when Mu Qing was still an errand boy at the Royal Holy Temple, all he did all day was serve tea, deliver water, sweep, and change the sheets for Xie Lian at the Palace of the Crown Prince. One day, Xie Lian saw him silently reciting training incantations while sweeping. He was thus moved by his spirit for learning and hard work under such harsh and difficult

circumstances, and persuaded the state preceptor to take him in as a disciple.

How to best describe this incident? It could be considered grand or insignificant, it could be humiliating or a compliment; it depended entirely on the individual in question. Obviously, the individual in question had taken it as the humiliation of his life, since Mu Qing and every martial warrior under his command would flip out whenever they heard the word "sweep."

Sure enough, Fu Yao steadied himself, then after throwing a look at Xie Lian—who was waving his hand, appearing fully innocent—he sneered.

"Listening to you, those who don't know would think your Palace of Nan Yang sides with the Palace of the Crown Prince and fights hard to right the injustices against him."

Nan Feng sneered too. "Your general certainly is the ungrateful one that bites the hand that feeds him, what more can I say?"

"Um…"

Xie Lian was just trying to intercept when Fu Yao aha ha-ed and said, "The kettle is calling the pot black, what right do you have to point fingers?"

"…"

Listening to them turn him into the mallet with which they took turns to beat the heavenly official standing right up there on the altar, Xie Lian finally couldn't take it any longer. "Wait, hold up. Stop, stop."

Of course no one paid him any mind, and they even started throwing fists. Who knew who threw the first punch, but either way, the altar was split in half just like that, and platters of fruit rolled all over the ground. Seeing how there was no way he could stop this fight anymore, Xie Lian sat

himself in the corner and heaved a sigh.

"What a sin."

Then, he picked up a small steamed bun that had rolled to his feet. He dusted off its skin and was about to bite down when Nan Feng saw him from the corner of his eye and immediately slapped it away.

"DON'T EAT THAT!"

Fu Yao stopped too, and appeared shaken and disgusted. "How can you eat it when it's rolled in the dirt?!"

Xie Lian used this chance to raise his hand. "Stop, stop, stop. I have something to say."

He separated the two and said, looking amicable, "First, That Highness the Crown Prince you two speak of happens to be me. This Highness hasn't even said anything, so don't sling me around like a weapon to attack each other." He paused for a moment, then added, "I don't think your generals would ever behave like this. If you two act so indecorously, you'll ruin their reputations."

When those words were spoken, the faces of the other two changed to something indiscernible. Xie Lian continued, "Second, you two are here to help me, right? So is it you who listens to me, or is it me who listens to you?"

It was a moment before the two replied, "We listen to you."

While their faces looked like they were saying "Listen to you? Dream on," Xie Lian was already very satisfied. Then, pah! He put his hands together in prayer.

"Good. Now thirdly, the most important thing: if you must throw something, then please throw me instead of food."

Nan Feng finally pried away the steamed bun that Xie Lian had clutched in his grip hoping for a chance to eat it. He said, looking like he couldn't take it anymore, "If it's fallen to the ground, don't eat it!"

***

The next day, back at the Little Shop of Chance Encounters.

The tea master was once again by the entrance relaxing with his leg up when he saw the three approaching from a distance. The cultivator in light, simple white robes with a bamboo hat hung on his back led the way, while two tall, black-clad youths trailed behind him.

That cultivator strolled up languidly with crossed arms, and he spoke equally languidly, sounding more idle than the old man. "Shopkeeper, three cups of tea, please."

The tea master smiled. "Coming!"

Then he thought to himself, Those three silly guys are here again. What a shame, each looks sightlier than the other, but each of their brains is more damaged than the next. What god, what ghost, what heavens? When you're crazy, what good is a decent face?

Xie Lian still picked the spot next to the window, and after they settled, Nan Feng spoke up. "Why do we have to come here to discuss things? You sure there won't be people listening in?"

Xie Lian replied warmly, "It's fine. Even if other people hear us, they won't care, they'll only think we're insane."

"…"

"In order to avoid the three of us continuing to waste each other's time like this, let's lay it all out," Xie Lian said. "Now that we've calmed down overnight, have you guys thought of any ideas?"

Fu Yao's eyes flashed, and he said coldly, "Kill it!"

"No shit!" Nan Feng said.

"Nan Feng, don't be so rude. Fu Yao didn't say anything wrong," XieLian said. "The way to solve this problem is to kill the creature, but the bigger issue is, where do we go? What are we killing? How do we kill it? I suggest…"

At that moment, the sound of gongs and drums came from the main street, and the three looked out the window.

It was that bleak and tragic wedding procession again. This party of men and horses blew their instruments to the utmost, hollering and cheering as if they were afraid people couldn't hear what they were about.

Nan Feng frowned. "Isn't it said that the people around Mount Yujun don't make spectacles of these rituals anymore?"

This procession consisted of large, strong, buff men. Their expressions and muscles were both taut, and cold sweat oozed from their foreheads. It was like they weren't carrying a festive and cheery bridal sedan but rather a guillotine that'd end their lives early. It made one wonder just what sort of person was seated in that sedan.

After hesitating for a moment, just as Xie Lian was thinking of going to check things out, a sinister wind blew past, raising one of the curtains on the side of the sedan.

The figure behind the curtain was lying slumped in a very strange position inside. Her head was bent in an awkward angle, and underneath the bridal veil there were bright red lips curled in an overly exaggerated smile. The sedan tipped and the covering fell, exposing a pair of bulging eyes staring their way.

From the looks of it, this was clearly a woman who'd had her neck wrung, and who was now laughing at them uproariously but soundlessly.

Perhaps it was because the sedan carriers were shaking too hard, but that bridal sedan wasn't steady in the least, so the woman's head bounced along with the bumps. They bumped and bumped, and THUD, the head fell off and rolled onto the street.

The headless body sitting inside the sedan also fell forward with a bang, and the whole person crashed out of the sedan.