Xie Lian and his companion rushed back to the Bright Light Temple, but found the main hall empty.
The place where a group of brides had been standing was now just a mess of red veils scattered on the ground.
Seeing this, Xie Lian thought to himself, "This is bad, really bad."
He quickly picked up the veils from the ground. Just as he finished, they heard screams coming from outside the temple.
Looking through the window, they saw a dozen women in blood-red bridal gowns forming a circle, slowly closing in on the villagers.
These women had faces tinged with blue and wore eerie smiles, their hands stretched out in front of them.
They were the corpses of the brides from before!
Watching them get closer and closer, it was impossible for anyone to stay calm.
The villagers didn't even bother to hold onto the bandaged boy; they just ran for their lives. Xiao Ying hurried over to help him.
Xie Lian helplessly shouted, "Don't run!"
He had said this countless times tonight, always repeating it three or four dozen times whenever something happened, but it seemed no one ever listened.
Frustrated, he waved his hand, and the Ruoye ribbon flew into the sky.
With a simple gesture, the ribbon began to spin in the air like a dancing fairy, catching everyone's attention.
The brides, seeing something lively and moving, were drawn to it, while seven of them were attracted by the scent of blood from the forest and slowly hopped in that direction.
Xie Lian said, "Nan Feng, follow them and don't let them go down the mountain!"
Without needing further instruction, Nan Feng had already chased after them.
Two of the brides attacked Xie Lian, their fingers red and nails sharp.
Xie Lian took the red veils he had picked up earlier and threw them with both hands.
The veils spun through the air and landed perfectly on the heads of the two brides, instantly slowing their movements.
As expected, the thick red veils covered the eyes and noses of the bride corpses, blocking their sight and smell.
Their stiff bodies couldn't bend their arms to remove the veils, leaving them to blindly fumble around as if playing hide and seek.
It was both terrifying and absurd. Xie Lian stood in front of them, waving his hand in front of their eyes to test them.
Seeing them groping in the wrong direction, he hesitated but couldn't resist saying, "Pardon me."
He grabbed their arms and placed their hands on each other's necks.
The brides, feeling something, were startled and began to strangle each other viciously.
Xie Lian quickly ran away and with a flick of his hand, the Ruoye ribbon formed a large white circle on the ground.
He called out to the fleeing villagers, "Get inside the circle!"
The group hesitated as they ran, but Xiao Ying quickly helped the bandaged boy inside.
Thinking it over, she ran out again and dragged the unconscious Little Peng inside too.
At this moment, a bride jumped to the edge of the white circle, trying to grab them, but it was as if an invisible wall blocked her.
Xiao Ying noticed she couldn't get in and shouted, "Everyone, come inside! They can't get in here!"
Seeing this, the others rushed over in a frenzy.
Fortunately, Xie Lian had made the Ruoye ribbon extend several times its length, making the circle large enough to hold everyone.
The brides couldn't jump into the circle and, realizing they couldn't reach the people inside, turned and shrieked as they attacked Xie Lian.
But Xie Lian was already prepared.
He pulled out a handful of veils, and four or five pieces of red cloth spun around him, covering any bride that approached.
His movements were so precise and fast that he covered each bride with a veil as soon as they came near, leaving them to grope around blindly.
The veils spun so dazzlingly in his hands that the people inside the circle couldn't help but cheer, "Amazing!" "Incredible, truly incredible." "He must have practiced this!"
Xie Lian, hearing this, instinctively replied, "Not bad, not bad. If you have money, give some money, if not, just cheer..."
He suddenly realized he was repeating lines he used to say in the acrobatics troupe and quickly stopped himself.
While talking, more brides jumped up, some leaping seven feet high and three yards far, bringing a stench of decay as they reached him.
Xie Lian pushed off the ground, leaping into the air, and quickly recited the Spirit Communication Array command three times, saying, "Ling Wen, Ling Wen, know-it-all! I have a question: do you know if the Northern Martial God, Bright Light General, has any close female friends?"
Ling Wen's voice sounded in his ear, "Your Highness, why are you asking this?"
Xie Lian replied, "I'm in a bit of a situation here, slightly urgent. To be honest, I have a dozen dead people chasing me."
Ling Wen exclaimed, "What? That's terrible!"
Xie Lian said, "It's not too bad. So, does he have any? I know this is a private question and not easy to answer, which is why I'm not asking in the Spirit Communication Array. It's for a task, and I won't leak it."
Ling Wen said, "Your Highness, you've misunderstood. It's not that the question is hard to answer, it's that General Pei has too many female friends. When you ask suddenly like this, I don't know which one you're referring to."
Xie Lian almost stumbled, saying, "Alright. Among General Pei's female friends, is there one with a strong possessive nature, a jealous streak, and a physical disability?"
Ling Wen replied, "Now that you mention it, there is indeed someone like that."
Xie Lian threw another veil, drawing more cheers, and turned to say, "Tell me!"
Ling Wen continued, "Before General Pei ascended, he was a general.
He met a female general from an enemy country on the battlefield, very beautiful and fierce, named Xuan Ji."
Xie Lian said, "Ah, Xuan Ji."
Ling Wen continued, "General Pei, when he sees a beautiful woman, even if there's a knife to his neck, he can't help but get involved. This woman led troops against him and became his defeated opponent."
Xuan Ji was captured and taken to the enemy camp.
She tried to kill herself but was stopped by a general who broke her sword with a single strike, saving her.
And that elegant enemy general was the future Bright Light General.
General Pei, being a man who cherished beauty, and with the war situation settled, released Xuan Ji.
One thing led to another, and it's easy to imagine what happened next.
At this moment, a bride grabbed Xie Lian's right leg, her fingers digging in deep.
He was about to kick her but realized the angle would hit her face. Thinking it was inappropriate to hit a girl's face, he adjusted his position and kicked her shoulder instead, sending another veil flying. "It sounds like a romantic story."
Ling Wen said, "It was a romantic story. But the problem was, Xuan Ji wanted to be with General Pei forever."
Xie Lian leaped two steps onto the roof, looking down at the five or six brides still closing in on him, wiping his sweat, "A woman wanting to be with someone forever isn't wrong."
Ling Wen said, "It's not wrong, but in war, there's no room for sentiment.
They agreed it was a fleeting affair, mutual consent, enjoying the moment without thinking about tomorrow. And General Pei, to be honest, not having a threesome with you is already good."
"..."
"But Xuan Ji was a noblewoman from a military family, very intense in nature. What she wanted, she wouldn't let go of..."
"Wait, wait!" Xie Lian interrupted, "First tell me, is Xuan Ji disabled? Where is she disabled?"
"It's her..." At this point, Ling Wen's voice abruptly stopped.
It was really frustrating, every time he got to the crucial part, the borrowed power would run out.
Next time, he should ask the key question right at the start.
As he flew and leaped, Xie Lian quickly reviewed his thoughts: if the bandaged boy wasn't the ghost groom, and the villagers confirmed there was no ghost groom among them, then the only place left for hiding was among the seventeen brides!
When he mixed in, the ghost groom couldn't immediately notice the wrong number.
Conversely, when the ghost groom mixed in, he couldn't immediately notice an extra corpse.
Thinking back, when the Ruoye ribbon injured the ghost groom, he only saw a black mist rolling into the forest, but couldn't guarantee someone was inside.
In fact, the ghost groom probably stayed in the smoke-filled room, passed by him, returned to the back of the hall, and hid among the brides' corpses.
So, the "ghost groom" wasn't a "groom" but a "bride"—a woman in a bridal gown!
Since it was a woman, many things could be deduced, like why there was no Bright Light Temple in the Yu Jun Mountain area.
It wasn't that the locals didn't want to build one, but that it couldn't be built. Xiao Ying said, "Every time they tried to build a Bright Light Hall, it mysteriously caught fire during construction."
This couldn't be a coincidence; it must have been deliberately set on fire. Why burn the temple?
Usually, it's out of hatred, yet there was a Bright Light Temple hidden in the Yu Jun Mountain, sealed by an illusion, with no visitors, but the statue inside was well-carved and preserved.
Why?
The ghost bride herself wore a wedding dress but couldn't stand seeing smiling brides pass by Yu Jun Mountain.
Why?
Putting everything together, jealousy and possessiveness were the only explanations Xie Lian could think of.
And the strange sound of thick cloth wrapping wood and dragging something heavy, if it was footsteps, Xie Lian could only think of one possibility!
The brides chasing him were all covered with veils. Xie Lian finally landed, caught his breath, calmed himself, and started counting.
One, two, three, four... ten.
Seven brides had jumped into the forest, with Nan Feng chasing them. Ten brides were covered with veils again and were all here. So, one more was still missing.
At that moment, he heard the familiar "thump, thump," coming from behind him.
Xie Lian turned around slowly, and a short figure came into view.
He took a deep breath, thinking, "As expected."
The short woman in front of him wore a red wedding dress, not joyful but fierce.
But she wasn't short because of her stature; she was kneeling on the ground.
Her leg bones were broken, but she hadn't amputated her lower legs. She walked on her knees.
The strange "thump, thump" sound he heard was her dragging her broken legs on the ground as she moved.