Chapter 26: Ghost Marriage

  In the late afternoon, we set up our tents early and retreated inside. To prevent ourselves from falling asleep, Li Shan Yu took out some refreshing oil and fumigated us until we were refreshed and alert, without any drowsiness. "Ye Zi Ke, I have something to tell you, come over here." Ye Zi Ke glanced at her and walked towards her, while Xiao Lu sat down beside me. Just as they were about to start their conversation, a childish voice came from outside: "Clean is dirty, dirty is clean, living is dying, dying is living..."

  The sound came from far and near, Xiaolu tried to open the gap in the tent to take a look, but was pulled aside by Li Xiangyu: "Don't be so curious, okay?" Xiaolu had no choice but to sit back beside me, whispering in my ear: "Xiangyu really likes to bully me! It's so annoying!" After saying that, she grabbed my hand and said: "Ning Hong, let's form a team! I'm very powerful!" I smiled and said: "En en, you're very powerful." The sound outside the tent slowly disappeared, and we all breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. But then, the sound of blowing conch shells, beating gongs and drums came from outside again, which sounded very eerie in this quiet night.

  This time, Li Shan Yu gently lifted the tent flap and we went over to take a look at the scene outside. From deep in the woods, a group of people slowly emerged, blowing trumpets and beating drums. Their faces were stiff, holding white lanterns that illuminated their pale faces, with a large sedan chair in the middle, not covered with cloth, vaguely seeming to see someone lying on it.

  A middle-aged woman with thick makeup next to the sedan chair shouted in a joyful voice, "The young master is getting married, the young master is going to get married!" Suddenly, her head turned towards us and gave us a ghostly smile. Li Shan Yu quickly closed the curtain and said seriously, "We're done for, we've been seen." "What will happen if we're seen?" I asked with lingering fear in my heart, recalling the woman's smile. "We'll definitely be taken away! Didn't you hear her say he's getting married?" Xiao Lü grabbed my hand tightly and said, "I'm just a spirit, so I should be safe. But... what about you two?" Xiao Lü looked at me, then at Li Shan Yu, and the atmosphere suddenly froze.

  Before I could think of a countermeasure, the tent was suddenly lifted up, and that woman smiled at us: "The young master is married, I'll take you away." I hadn't had time to retreat when her hand seemed to stretch out and grabbed my arm: "Don't be afraid, Miss, marrying our young master is a good thing!" Little Green on the other side held me tightly and refused to let go.

  Ye Zi Ke wanted to come forward to help, but Li Shan Yu firmly pinned him in place. The woman turned her head to look at Li Shan Yu: "Miss, you too..." Li Shan Yu sneered and hugged Ye Zi Ke before kissing him, the three of us froze in place, due to Li Shan Yu's powerful hug, they both fell to the ground.

  Li Shan Yu raised her head and looked at the woman with a defiant gaze, saying: "I have a husband." "Ah, then I'm sorry, our young master doesn't want women who have been married before." I and Xiao Lü were forcibly pulled onto the sedan chair, where a dark figure lay. I couldn't help but let out a sharp cry. The woman grabbed my left wrist, took a piece of cloth and tied me to the right hand of the dark corpse-like body. I desperately tried to untie it, but the woman's sharp fingers lifted my chin, her face cold and expressionless, saying: "This is called eternal union! Don't move, or I'll cut off your hand!"

  As soon as she finished speaking, she got down from the sedan chair and shouted: "Let's go!" The sedan chair was lifted up, and I and Xiaolu looked at each other in fear. "What should we do?" Xiaolu asked with tears in her eyes: "Why did I get on it for no reason?" I stared at the tent that was getting farther and farther away from us, feeling a chill in my heart. Why did Li Xiangyu do this? Why were Xiaolu and I taken away without anyone coming to help us? My sadness hadn't lasted long when the woman suddenly covered my head with a red cloth saying: "The bride should look like a bride."

  My line of sight was blocked, I couldn't see the road ahead, all I could do was tightly grasp Little Green's hand beside me, fortunately she was still there. The lively sound of the suona, at this moment sounded unusually eerie... I closed my eyes and calmed myself down to think of a plan to escape.

  Inside the tent, Ye Zikuo glared coldly at Li Shanyu: "Can you let me go now?!" Li Shanyu smiled and said: "Of course." After that, she took out a spell paper from behind Ye Zikuo's back. Ye Zikuo stood up to leave the tent but was stopped by Li Shanyu: "Where are you going?" "To save Ning Xue!" Upon hearing Ye Zikuo's words, Li Shanyu slapped the spell paper onto his body again and said: "Don't look at me with that murderous gaze, it's just a kiss, isn't it?!"

  Ye Zi Ke clenched his fists: "Why did you do that just now?" "Nonsense, I don't want to be taken away! If I'm taken away, I'll lose that ghostly young master and fall into the Ghost Valley together. I'd rather not!" Li Shan Yu calmly took out her nail clippers and trimmed her nails, "Then why does Ning Lie have to go?!" Ye Zi Ke asked coldly, Li Shan Yu looked up at him and said: "If she's smart enough, she wouldn't be taken away! The result is obvious, it just proves that she's stupid."

  "Hey, Yezi Ke, what are you doing standing here?" asked Little Green, panting. After seeing the cursed paper on his clothes, Little Green took it off: "So that's why!" "You're back, where's Ning Hong?!" Yezi Ke asked anxiously. Little Green burst into tears: "I'm scared! I just came back, anyway their target isn't me." Yezi Ke rushed out of the tent, wanting to see the wedding procession, but in the pitch-black night, he couldn't see anything.

  "Now that she's married, it's natural that we won't see her again." Li Shan Yu walked out and said calmly. Ye Zi Ke grabbed Li Shan Yu's shoulder fiercely: "You did it on purpose, didn't you?!" Xiao Lu looked at the two arguing people and couldn't help but feel anxious: "Ye Zi Ke, why are you so angry? Are you really...?" Before Xiao Lu could finish speaking, Ye Zi Ke pointed at her: "And you! You were the one who asked to be in a group with her, what did you do to abandon her?! What kind of teammate are you?!" Xiao Lu was scolded to tears: "Why are you so fierce?! I'm just scared!"

  "You've all died once, what are you afraid of?!" Li Shan Yu slapped a palm on Ye Zi Ke's enraged face: "Enough! Calm down! Everyone calm down! Can we go find it together now?!" Li Shan Yu took out a lantern with a faint green glow from the tent and said: "We'll follow this lantern to search. You guys pack up your things, we're leaving now." Seeing Ye Zi Ke still standing in place, Li Shan Yu let out a sigh and patted his back saying: "This time I won't deceive you." Ye Zi Ke didn't say anything, and went back into the tent to pack up his things. A sly smile appeared on Li Shan Yu's lips...