Chapter 1748: What Exactly Happened

Wei Suo stiffly turned his neck to look at the object in his hand. There were no peanuts; instead, a plump, white maggot was wriggling incessantly, clearly full of life.

The mere thought of how much he had just eaten made him unable to hold it in any longer. He let out a retch and vomited beside them, the eruption far more violent than his earlier carsickness.

The others secretly rejoiced, grateful that his earlier nausea had kept them from touching any food on the table, not even a sip of water.

Zu An paid no mind to comforting him; he jumped straight onto the stage and seized the individuals who had just performed the execution.

To his shock, as he grabbed them, the figures instantly shattered, and his vision distorted. There were no actors; instead, they were all paper figures, each with vividly depicted eyes and brows, and thick theatrical makeup, making them look extraordinarily eerie.

A chill ran down his spine. He quickly returned to the table and warned, "Everyone, be careful!"

Just then, he noticed that all the other guests watching the play had turned into paper figures. As if sensing his actions, they no longer looked at the stage; instead, their heads twisted at extremely unnatural angles, turning to stare directly at their group, their hollow eye sockets fixed intently on everyone.

The surrounding candlelight also cast a faint green glow, and gusts of cold wind swept through, making the flames and shadows flicker erratically, creating an extremely unsettling atmosphere.

Qiu Honglei gasped, instinctively moving closer to Zu An. Though a powerful cultivator, she was still a woman. One moment she had been engrossed in the play, the next she saw this horrifying scene, leaving her utterly terrified.

Not only her, but even Jing Teng's face had turned pale. However, being a native of this world, she quickly said, "Be careful, it seems we've stumbled into a haunted house!"

Zu An was startled. A haunted house?

Yet, they had been so careful just moments ago, even specifically checking the surroundings, and there had clearly been signs of living people.

He glanced at the distant horizon, where night had now completely fallen. He mused that everything must have been normal during the day, and these specters only revealed themselves after complete darkness.

The surroundings were silent, making Wei Suo's retching sounds particularly prominent.

The paper figures all turned to stare at Wei Suo, and their paper faces actually contorted into expressions of disgust, as if they felt sucking his blood would taint their mouths.

Zu An roared angrily, "What a charade!"

As he spoke, he immediately unleashed his Flaming Blade, activating the Phoenix Flame, and slashed it out towards the surroundings.

Soon, a brilliant flame erupted outwards from him as its center.

Fire was the natural enemy of paper, and the paper figures were almost instantly set ablaze.

Strange, piercing sounds filled the air, and Zu An's vision blurred. The paper figures had all vanished.

The stage was gone, the seated guests were gone, everything around had vanished, and even Qiu Honglei and the others were nowhere to be found.

Startled, Zu An quickly searched everywhere, even attempting to use his divine sense. However, he found that his divine sense was hampered by the surrounding grayish-blue mist, only able to extend about ten feet around him.

"An illusion, or..." Zu An thought, recalling Jing Teng's explanations about ghosts. His heart calmed slightly. With Honglei's cultivation, she should be able to protect herself for a while.

Even Wei Suo wasn't weak, and given the paper figures' apparent disgust for him, he should be safe for the time being.

As for Jing Teng, she was a demon to begin with, and she controlled ghosts, so there was even less to worry about regarding her safety.

As long as he could break free from this situation soon...

He looked around and found himself inside a large mansion. The area was still decorated with lanterns and streamers, but the light emanating from the big red lanterns was a faint, eerie green, and everything was shrouded in mist, creating a chilling, ghostly atmosphere.

From the looks of it, he seemed to still be within Zhang Family Village.

He pondered for a moment, then began walking, searching the surroundings. He decided to directly seek out the ghost behind this phenomenon; as long as he dealt with it, everything would naturally resolve itself.

Recalling everything since they had entered the village, and how it all revolved around a wedding, it was almost self-evident who the ghost was.

He did not try to escape the village, but instead walked deeper into the manor.

The bride, as a female member of the household, would naturally be found in the inner quarters.

Having visited numerous human and demon royal palaces and various official residences over the years, he was quite familiar with architectural layouts. The style in this secret realm was largely similar, so he quickly set off in a specific direction.

As he ventured deeper, the surrounding mist grew thicker, but Zu An remained calm. His current physique was immune to all poisons, and the Primordial Chaos Scripture he cultivated naturally had the effect of purifying malevolent spirits, so he naturally felt no fear of ghosts.

As he walked, he traversed winding corridors and passed through various elegantly designed courtyards. A small river flowed around the courtyards, and along the way, there were many exquisite rock gardens and flowerbeds.

Unfortunately, there were no flowers within them now, only bare, twisted branches, grotesque and strange. The rock gardens were covered in dust and cobwebs, clearly indicating long-term disrepair.

Observing the intricate stone and wood carvings on the various archways and door lintels, it was clear that Zhang Family Village had been exceptionally wealthy in its time.

After walking for a while, Zu An stopped, his brows furrowing slightly.

He realized the scenery before him looked somewhat familiar; with his current memory, he naturally recognized it as a place he had just walked through.

"A ghostly wall?" Zu An recalled Jing Teng's words about certain ghosts possessing special abilities that, combined with surrounding illusions, could trap people indefinitely in an inescapable labyrinth.

To break free from this, one either needed to be skilled in Qimen Dunjia, or possess a magical artifact capable of pointing the way.

Of course, there was also the most basic method: simply waiting until dawn, when these phenomena would naturally dissipate with the sunrise.

However, inside a ghostly wall, the flow of time might differ, and panicked individuals, consumed by fear, would expend more stamina, potentially collapsing before dawn.

Zu An remembered it had just turned dark when they entered the village. With Qiu Honglei and the others' fates unknown, he certainly had no time to wait for the sun to rise.

He drew his Tai'a Sword and asked, "Empress Master, I'm not skilled in formations. Can you help me figure out how to get out of this ghostly wall?"

Mi Li didn't appear at all, her voice sounding as if she'd just yawned. "Do you need to ask me about such a trivial matter? Isn't your Primordial Qi specifically for countering evil spirits?"

Zu An replied, a headache forming, "Unfortunately, the ghost is currently hiding, so I have strength but nowhere to apply it."

"Why must you follow the path they've set for you, being led by the nose?" Mi Li retorted impatiently. "Can't you break through with brute force?"

Zu An's heart stirred. He looked at the paths within the mansion, realizing he had unknowingly fallen into this labyrinth by simply following them earlier.

"Thank you, Empress Master." He walked directly to a wall, channeled his Primordial Qi, and with a single punch, shattered the wall, passing directly through it.

Since he wasn't skilled in formations, he would simply charge forward.

"The child can be taught!" Mi Li muttered, and then her voice fell silent once more.

Following the theoretical direction of the inner quarters, Zu An no longer followed the existing paths. Instead, he forcibly dismantled obstacles along the way, creating a straight route directly into the heart of the mansion.

His Primordial Qi inherently countered evil forces, and the walls he shattered could not be restored by the ghosts. In this manner, he finally succeeded in reaching the inner quarters.

He had originally wondered if any ghosts would emerge to ambush him, but for some reason, there were no specters along the way, not even the paper figures from before.

The bride's room was not difficult to find; it would surely be the most elaborately and beautifully decorated — though now, enveloped by those sickly green lanterns, it had become the most ominous.

He walked directly towards it. As he reached the doorway, his heart suddenly stirred; he sensed a figure inside.

The bridal chamber door was ajar, not fully closed, allowing him to peer inside through the crack.

Inside, a woman dressed in a large red wedding gown sat before a dressing mirror, combing her hair. From her slender back, and the exceptionally graceful and elegant way she styled her hair, one could imagine she had been a well-educated and refined young lady in life.

Zu An suddenly recalled the ghost bride he had encountered in Yunzhong County, thinking that if she were here, she would surely find much in common with the woman inside.

As Zu An mused, the woman seemed to find a spot behind her head difficult to comb. Then, to his shock, she simply removed her head, placed it on the table, and meticulously continued combing.

Zu An was speechless.

Although he had been transmigrated for many years, he had spent a far longer time as an ordinary person in his previous life. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but feel every hair on his body stand on end in fright.

However, almost instantly, he composed himself, broke through the door, and reached out to seize the female ghost. He didn't want to give her any chance; his priority was to control her first.

Yet, as soon as he reached the bride's side, a ripple like water appeared before his eyes, and everything around him vanished.

In its place appeared a boudoir filled with a delicate fragrance and festive cheer. Zu An found himself on a large bed, adorned with double-happiness characters and a red brocade quilt, all indicating it was a newlywed's bridal chamber.

A sound of sobbing reached his ears. Zu An stiffly looked down and found a bride, her face tear-streaked like pear blossoms, lying beneath him.

Not far away, on a table, a groom was bound, staring with wide, furious eyes towards them, struggling and emitting muffled cries.

Zu An was utterly bewildered.

What in the world was going on!