Chapter 354 |
The eerie white light of the lantern flickered and dozens of people stood neatly on the high bed covered with red gauze. They were standing together as if they were going to take a group photo with their backs facing Bai Liu outside the bed curtains.
These brides wore bright red dresses and trousers of different styles, standing motionless like wax figures with red veils on their heads and embroidered shoes on their feet. The bright red, thick veils were embroidered with an exquisite dragon and phoenix.
These veils seemed to have been soaked in water with droplets dripping from the pale yellow willow fern around them, pitter-pattering onto the sheets of the bed.
The water seeped through the bedding and slowly spread throughout the tomb.
A strong smell of water and blood wafted through the air.
What’s even more bizarre was that, although these brides were facing away from Bai Liu, the toes of their embroidered shoes pointed backward and the heels were forward, as if their heads were twisted 180 degrees, which sent chills down people’s spines.
Bai Liu lowered his eyes and searched among the group of brides.
The group of brides were standing in the lower right corner. Bai Liu saw a bride wearing black sneakers. This “bride” had long, broad, pale hands with distinct veins.
These were obviously a pair of men’s hands. The fingernails on these hands had already turned greenish-black and very long, with water dripping from the fingertips.
Bai Liu stared motionlessly at the “bride” wearing sneakers.
According to Mu Sicheng himself, his evil spirit was playful and arrogant. After stealing something, he would not carefully hide it. He would definitely take it out to show off to them and tempt them to steal it like a naughty child.
So what is the worst way to tempt them into robbing?
Naturally, it was to put it in the midst of the most dangerous spirits to be stolen.
Apart from the zombie Taoist priest, the most dangerous spirits in this tomb are the brides who died on the road with heavy resentment.
Bai Liu bent one knee, stepped on the edge of the bed and climbed up. Mu Sicheng was so surprised that he let out a gasp.
This wooden bed that could carry more than thirty people shook with a creaking sound when Bai Liu stood on it.
The brides standing on the bed swayed slightly as the bed shook. Their heels, originally facing inward, shifted and slowly turned towards Bai Liu.
During the rotation, the upper bodies of the brides remained motionless, as if their feet were separated from their torsos. Their veils seemed to be fluttering in the wind as the sound of a woman’s light, coquettish giggle came from under them.
Mu Sicheng stood beside the bed. He had wanted to pull Bai Liu off the bed, but stopped when he saw the situation. He asked nervously, “Bai Liu, what are you doing on there?! Shouldn’t I be the one going up there?!”
“Your body is among these thirty or so brides.” Bai Liu was about to move forward. He turned back and looked down at Mu Sicheng who was pulling the hem of his shirt, signalling him to let go. “What you need to do now is not to pull me, but to quickly find your body in the chase ahead and then jump in.”
Mu Sicheng pointed at the bride in sneakers in confusion, “Isn’t my body that one? I just need to jump in, right?”
“Although you are not very smart,” Bai Liu said indifferently, turning back and pulling out a wedding pole from his waist, “I don’t think you would brazenly expose the results of stealing and hiding things, which you like and are good at.”
Mu Sicheng was confounded and asked, “Where did you get this wedding pole?!”
“Took it from the coffin at the temple last night. I think it can be used. We can’t just lift the veil. Otherwise, when Kong Xuyang tried to stop us from lifting the veil, he should have said not to let us lift it, instead of stopping the bride from lifting it.”
Before Bai Liu finished speaking, he reached out and pulled the veil of the bride in front of him.
Bai Liu pulled the bride’s head back, but the veil did not fall off as if the veil had grown firmly on her scalp.
Mu Sicheng watched with stunned eyes as Bai Liu let go, and the bride slowly straightened her head back. Bai Liu turned his head and looked at Mu Sicheng indifferently, “Sure enough, as I guessed, this veil can only be uncovered with a wedding pole or by the bride herself.”
Before Mu Sicheng could react, Bai Liu stretched out the wedding pole and without hesitation, aimed it at the veil of the burly bride in sneakers before lifting it.
The water-soaked veil fell and blood spilled everywhere.
Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu were silent for a moment as they looked at the bride whose veil had been lifted.
There was no head under the veil of this bride. There was only a cross-section of the back of the neck above the shoulders. The flesh was pale and bleeding faintly. The bulging lump that was pushing up the veil and looked like a head was actually a mass of messy black hair growing from the back of the neck.
Mu Sicheng couldn’t help but let out a fucking cry.
Bai Liu was still able to remain calm, “This is not your body. These sneakers are a decoy.”
“What should we do now?” Mu Sicheng looked at Bai Liu, “Remove their veils one by one?”
Bai Liu calmly lowered his eyes and looked at the bed, “I don’t think your spirit would be so kind as to let us remove the veils one by one.”
The moment the veil of the headless bride fell to the ground, the giggles of the remaining thirty or so brides suddenly became much sharper and the speed of their toes suddenly increased, almost instantly aiming at Bai Liu’s position.
As they turned, their upper bodies swung violently and after a series of crisp sounds of bones crisscrossing, their torsos were aligned with their toes as they moved swiftly towards Bai Liu.
“Run!”
Bai Liu jumped down the bed without hesitation and the brides followed closely. After Bai Liu looked back, he pulled Mu Sicheng and started to circle around the bed before throwing the wedding pole to Mu Sicheng, “You lift.”
Mu Sicheng hurriedly took the wedding pole. He ducked to avoid the bride approaching from behind and asked in confusion, “Why am I lifting them?”
“Among one of these thirty-plus brides right now is definitely your body.” Seeing that Bai Liu was about to be caught up by the bride, he dived diagonally under the bed, took a short cut and came out from the other end of the bed.
Bai Liu got out from under the bed and knelt on one knee, looking up at Mu Sicheng, “I can’t tell the difference between these brides for now, so lifting their veils is like opening blind boxes. I vaguely recall my luck being atrocious; hence, I’m unsuitable for doing these kinds of things.”
“Or are you afraid and must have me do it?” Bai Liu smiled and pretended to take the wedding pole from Mu Sicheng’s hand. “If you don’t mind me uncovering all 30 or so of them and chasing us then I don’t mind.”
Mu Sicheng cautiously took back the wedding pole and climbed up the bed frame a little desperately as brides chased him on tiptoe. He lay on the bed curtain, took a deep breath then turned around and used the wedding pole to hook open the bride’s veil.
“It’s not this one either!” Mu Sicheng was a little overwhelmed.
Bai Liu leisurely reminded him, “Be careful. The bride whose veil you have uncovered will probably run after you.”
Mu Sicheng was dumbfounded, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?!”
Bai Liu shrugged innocently, “What I uncovered was a headless bride. It seemed that her movements were irregular because she had no head. I just discovered that she was chasing me.”
“I suggest you uncover them quickly.” Bai Liu dodged the headless bride who was following him like a stroll. He was indifferent, but his tone was full of sympathy. “It’s almost twelve o’clock.”
Mu Sicheng nimbly climbed up a pillar on the side of the tomb chamber with two feet. He clamped his feet around the pillar and looked at the group of brides crowding and piling up underneath. He gritted his teeth, bent down and used the wedding pole to hook open the veils of six brides.
“Shit! Not these six!” Mu Sicheng was furious. “That spirit isn’t playing tricks on me, is it??! There’s no way my body isn’t here, right?!”
Bai Liu squatted lightly beside the bed as the headless bride circled the bed to search. He smiled and looked up at Mu Sicheng hanging on the pillar, “I think your body is in here.”
“But which one is it?” Mu Sicheng was dizzy from picking, “It’s just like Tang Bohu picking Qiuxiang– except I’m picking twice as many ‘Qiuxiangs’ as Tang Bohu!”[1]
“You flatter yourself. Tang Bohu got a wife after picking Qiuxiang, but you don’t have a wife after picking.” Bai Liu added calmly, “You can only find your own corpse.”
Mu Sicheng: “…”
I may not be a real person, but Bai Liu, you really are not human.
“But you have a wedding pole.” Bai Liu held his chin lazily, “You are still more skilled than your [spirit]. Continue lifting the veils quickly. The body is still yours. It can’t beat you.”
Mu Sicheng was sulking as he bent down to lift the veils.
Bai Liu’s gaze was always on the brides below. He saw that one of the brides bent her fingers and raised them when Mu Sicheng’s wedding pole fell.
This was a subconscious [hooking] action, commonly seen when thieves see stolen goods they like — a gesture Mu Sicheng would use.
Bai Liu slowly raised the corners of his mouth.
It seems that under his instigation, there was a restless “bride” who wanted to steal the wedding pole.
Bai Liu spoke very quickly, “Mu Sicheng, the third one at nine o’clock.”
When Mu Sicheng heard Bai Liu’s words, he didn’t think at all. He hooked his hand and lifted the veil almost reflexively. His movement was so fast that it was invisible to the naked eye.
The veil was lifted, revealing a “Mu Sicheng” with a hateful face, black eyes and fangs more than an inch long. He glared fiercely at Mu Sicheng who was hanging on the pillar, his knees straightened, and he opened his mouth to bite Mu Sicheng.
Mu Sicheng subconsciously wanted to fight back.
Bai Liu ordered coldly, “Don’t counterattack, let him attack.”
Mu Sicheng halted his action. The flesh on his neck was bitten fiercely by the “Mu Sicheng” who flew over, but what was sucked was not blood — it was his soul. Mu Sicheng’s face was so pained and hideous that he almost vanished. Finally, he completely disappeared on the pillar.
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[1] The Romance of Tang Bohu and Qiuxiang tells the story of Tang Bohu, a talented scholar of the Ming Dynasty, who disguises himself as a servant named “Hua An” to enter the Hua household in pursuit of Qiuxiang, a maid. Using his wit and intelligence, he overcomes numerous challenges and eventually wins Qiuxiang’s heart. This most likely references how Tang Bohu picked Qiuxiang out of all girls that Madam Hua offered to him for her beauty.
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