Chapter 57

This jolt was somewhat fatal for Qi Xu. She had used all her strength just to cling to the Ghost Bride and hold it tightly. She was relying entirely on one last breath, desperately hugging the Ghost Bride, waiting only for Xia Zhiming to finish up and come rescue her.

But this jolt was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Qi Xu’s footing gave way, and she directly let go of the Ghost Bride. And she herself… also tumbled forward.

The instant Qi Xu released the Ghost Bride, it swiftly turned into a burst of black fog and darted to the side. Afterward, it tumbled wretchedly to the ground. The red wedding dress on its body was now tattered and torn, as if it had been buried in the soil for many years—not only filthy, but riddled with holes everywhere.

Beneath the ragged wedding dress was a skeletal frame, with bits of human skin dangling from the skull, looking utterly terrifying.

Black fog churned around its body, and its face twisted through various changes. After a while, it finally reverted to the lotus-like visage that Qi Xu had first seen. However, the wedding dress on its body had not yet had time to recover. A look of hatred filled its face. Once its features had reformed, it abruptly whipped around to glare at Qi Xu, intent on killing her outright.

All those words from the fortune-telling Daoist were thrown to the back of its mind. Worship as husband and wife? The wedding ceremony? None of that mattered to it anymore. Right now, the only thing it wanted was to kill Qi Xu to vent its rage.

But—as it turned its head, a shocked expression appeared on its face.

Qi Xu had still transformed into her ghost body.

She stood there in a daze on the ground, with her human body dressed in the talisman wedding dress at her feet. Somehow, that wedding dress had also become as ragged as the one on the Ghost Bride. As a result, the runes on it had loosened, ultimately allowing Qi Xu to turn into her ghost body and break free of the restraints.

She wore a black ceremonial robe, with a jade pendant set hanging at her waist and far more black fog swirling around her than the Ghost Bride had. The horn that had emerged during the Ghost Taxi incident reappeared now. But this horn was much larger than before.

It protruded from the left side of Qi Xu’s head, pointing skyward, shaped much like a deer’s antler. It was entirely blackish-green, seemingly covered in scales, with faint wisps of black energy coiling around it. However, there was only one horn—none on the right side.

That single horn made Qi Xu’s appearance somewhat strange. Her eyes were lifeless, her gaze unfocused. But the Ghost Bride instinctively sensed—trouble. It had to run. Before Qi Xu even looked its way, it had already dissolved into black fog and fled directly.

Qi Xu’s current state was truly not good at all. The talisman wedding dress that had electrocuted her entire body now left her completely unconscious, her eyes clouded over, with only instinct guiding her actions.

And what was Qi Xu’s instinct? She opened her mouth and exhaled a wisp of black qi. She murmured softly, “…Xia Zhiming.” Right, she needed to find Xia Zhiming. She tilted her head, looking toward the direction from which the explosion sounds had come, then glanced at her human body by her feet.

Qi Xu gently flicked her sleeve, and black fog enveloped her human body, lifting it onto her back. She even thoughtfully tucked a little blanket over her human self. Only then did she head that way.

The Ghost Bride’s speed was much faster than Qi Xu’s. It soon arrived at the source of the explosion. Its eyes bulged as it watched the fortune-telling Daoist and a woman in a pink Daoist robe… locked in a fierce battle. Or rather, exchanging blows with their magical treasures from afar.

The pink Daoist robe seemed much stronger than the fortune-telling Daoist, but she had to mind the living humans behind her, so she held back from going all out. When the fortune-telling Daoist saw the Ghost Bride arrive, a joyful expression crossed his face. “How did it go? Did Qi Xu kneel to you?!”

The Ghost Bride hesitated, wanting to curse the fortune-telling Daoist. But now was not the time for that. It could only say directly, “No, she turned into a ghost! She’s very strong! Terrifyingly strong. Now I’m telling you, I’m planning to flee for my life! For the sake of you saving me once before, I advise you to run too!”

After the Ghost Bride finished speaking, it prepared to make a hasty escape. But the fortune-telling Daoist grabbed it. “Running now won’t help! Once she’s in her ghost body, she’s beyond what we can handle. Her suppression of ghosts is far beyond your imagination. Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, she can still find you!”

“…” Weren’t you the one who provoked this monster?!

The Ghost Bride’s gaze toward the fortune-telling Daoist was utterly filthy.

The fortune-telling Daoist’s eyes darted around, and he quickly thought of a plan. “Here’s what we do—you come with me, and we’ll take out that Xia Zhiming first! We’ll figure out the rest later!”

The Ghost Bride glanced at the pink Daoist robe wearer and only now realized she was the illusory Xia Zhiming it had conjured earlier. The Ghost Bride gritted its teeth, prepared to follow the fortune-telling Daoist’s lead and attack. But the next moment, Xia Zhiming ran first. She ran faster than both the Ghost Bride and the fortune-telling Daoist, even calling out to Qi Xu’s roommates as she went. “Run! If you don’t run now, you won’t be able to later!”

Qi Xu’s roommates didn’t know why Xia Zhiming said that, but it was true that Xia Zhiming had just helped them.

They never imagined they would be so unlucky one day. At first, their luck had been great—they got free tickets to the Ghost House and smoothly enjoyed it for a while. But somehow, from some point on, everything went wrong. After passing through one door, the Ghost House suddenly changed dramatically, turning into this real-life horror…

At first, everyone thought, oh, this must be some special Ghost House setup, pretty realistic. But as they played on—it turned out there were real ghosts! Then they were tied up in the hall, forced to watch the Ghost Bride torment their roommate Qi Xu in every way.

When Qi Xu was led away by the paper effigy matchmaker, everyone thought: It’s over, little Xu is done for! What to do, should we rush up to save her?!

As everyone hesitated, they felt their clothes being tugged. Turning around, they saw someone in a fox mask and pink Daoist robe making a shushing gesture at them. The fox mask led the group away, and they were almost safe when that Daoist still spotted them.

Right after, the fox mask clashed with the stinky Daoist, unleashing all sorts of spells in mid-air bombardment.

As they shivered in fear, they saw… this pink Daoist robe figure running faster than them. The roommates were stunned, but at this point, survival came first. They immediately summoned the desperate energy of an 800-meter fitness test and followed the pink Daoist robe in flight.

The bystanders, seeing this, no longer hesitated and chased after Xia Zhiming.

Before the Ghost Bride and the Stinky Fortune-Teller could react, the others had already vanished without a trace. When they first ran, the Stinky Fortune-Teller had thought that if both sides called it quits like this, it would be pretty good. Getting tangled with Xia Zhiming any longer would surely lead to them being caught red-handed by the Spiritual Countermeasures Bureau.

Now that they had run, he—of course—also planned to run.

He turned to the Ghost Bride, ready to flee, when he spotted Qi Xu not far behind. At that moment, the Stinky Fortune-Teller understood why Xia Zhiming had fled. Qi Xu’s appearance didn’t look like anything good!

Black fog enveloped her entirely… or rather, it had expanded, devouring the Ghost Domain that belonged to the Ghost Bride. The Ghost Bride went from preparing to run to being temporarily unable to. Its Ghost Domain was mobile, sure, but it was essentially a flower sedan—nowhere near as good as the Ghost Taxi, which could run on its own. Its sedan required people to carry it, which the Stinky Fortune-Teller had figured out a way to transport here earlier.

To run now, he’d still have to take the Ghost Bride along.

The Stinky Fortune-Teller swallowed hard, prepared to run first and foremost. As for the Ghost Bride… when it was time to ditch it, he would. That was what he thought, and what he planned to do. But the Ghost Bride wasn’t stupid; it had already read his intentions on his face.

The Ghost Bride’s eyes widened, and it unwillingly grabbed the Stinky Fortune-Teller. “You want to run?! What about me?!”

It gripped tightly. By the time Qi Xu reached them, the Stinky Fortune-Teller still hadn’t shaken free. This was his own fault—the Ghost Bride was strong, or he wouldn’t have recruited it as a partner. But now, that former strength had become his own stumbling block.

When Qi Xu arrived before them, they both simultaneously dropped their actions. Qi Xu floated behind them, the hem of her black ceremonial robe undulating like waves. Looking up, they met Qi Xu’s eyes gazing down from above.

Those indifferent eyes, devoid of any emotion, clearly belonged to a powerhouse.

In fact, that was exactly the case. The current Ghost Domain was no longer as it had been under the Ghost Bride’s rule. The pitch-black, empty sky now hung with a flawless full moon, radiating a watery glow.

“Haha…” The Stinky Fortune-Teller let out a dry chuckle. Before he could say a word, a massive hand formed of black fog seized the Ghost Bride.

The Stinky Fortune-Teller could see the yin energy draining rapidly from the Ghost Bride along with the black fog. The lotus-like face it had barely maintained crumbled apart, leaving only a skeletal frame.

But the Ghost Bride was unwilling to dissipate into nothing. Its voice shrill, it screamed, “Qi Xu! Qi Xu! Listen to me, I have intelligence! I know things you want to know!”

The Stinky Fortune-Teller’s heart jolted. He actually wanted to cover the Ghost Bride’s mouth to stop it from blurting everything out. And that Qi Xu clearly took interest in what the Ghost Bride said—she tilted her head, and the black fog hand yanked the Ghost Bride right up to her.

Seizing the chance, the Stinky Fortune-Teller tried to run, but somehow black fog had coiled around his legs like ropes. The black fog creeping on the ground trembled, forming vague ghostly figures. They wore armor and wielded long halberds, like guards flanking an emperor.

—Trying to escape now would most likely get him poked into a sieve by these vicious ghosts.

“What do you know? Speak.”

Ghost-form Qi Xu was always curt and to the point. Those deep, bottomless black eyes exerted endless pressure on the Ghost Bride. Its yin energy was draining away—if it didn’t escape the black fog soon, it would be sucked dry.

The Ghost Bride gritted its teeth, steadied its emotions, and slowly spoke.

Its voice carried fear and a slight tremble, but to Qi Xu, those words were like a bolt from the blue.

“Xia—Xia Zhiming sought you out because she planned it long ago. She wants to use you to replenish her… long-lost life!”