It wasn't until the entire wedding procession had vanished from Yu Nian's sight that she slowly emerged from the forest.
It was a vast, snow - white clearing. The street scenes all around looked the same, making it impossible to tell the direction.
Several eerie meows came from the forest, as if luring someone to go. Yu Nian ignored them. After calculating with her fingers, she walked resolutely in a certain direction without hesitation.
The road was long and straight, stretching out of sight.
I don't know how much time had passed when a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in the distance.
A tall figure emerged. Feng Chengyuan lowered his eyes and walked out of the mist.
Yu Nian sized him up. Seeing that he wasn't injured, she asked, "Have you seen He Zhiping and the others?"
Feng Chengyuan shook his head. "When I woke up, there was no one around. They must be trapped somewhere else. Let's go look for them."
Yu Nian nodded and walked behind Feng Chengyuan.
They were a bit too close. As their arms swayed, they accidentally brushed against each other. Yu Nian immediately felt a bone - chilling coldness travel from her elbow to her spine.
Yu Nian stopped in her tracks and silently stared at Feng Chengyuan's back in front of her.
As if sensing something, Feng Chengyuan turned his head. "What's wrong, Yu Nian?"
Yu Nian pursed her lips. Her tone was ambiguous. "You must be very cold, right?"
Feng Chengyuan was taken aback and then laughed. "It's summer now. How could I be cold?"
"The drought demon has absorbed the yin energy in the corpse - rearing ground for thousands of years. It's full of resentment. How could you not be cold?"
The face of the "Feng Chengyuan" in front suddenly froze.
"What are you talking about? I don't quite understand."
Yu Nian pointed at the distorted and deformed shadow on the ground and said calmly, "Next time you try to deceive someone, don't forget to change the shadow too."
"Feng Chengyuan": ......
Yu Nian neatly threw out a talisman. As it hit "Feng Chengyuan", she heard a soft hissing sound.
The figure in front suddenly disappeared.
Liu Mo was puzzled. "The drought demon is a zombie that has lived for thousands of years. Is it that easy to disperse?"
"The drought demon won't be defeated so easily. This is just one of its illusory clones."
There should be many such illusions in this dreamland.
Yu Nian continued walking forward until a magnificent temple came into view, a far cry from the shabby Wuxiang Temple they had seen before.
Yu Nian peeked inside through the crack of the door. The interior of the temple was even more exquisitely furnished. Even the placement of the flowers and plants was carefully designed. It was excellent feng shui for cultivating qi and attracting wealth.
Just as Yu Nian was about to reach out to touch the temple door, someone gently grabbed her arm.
"Don't touch it. There are talismans on the door. It will burn your hands."
Yu Nian was taken aback. She turned her head and met Feng Chengyuan's cold eyes. The uneasiness in her heart gradually settled down.
Behind Feng Chengyuan were the people from Qingxin Temple, still in a state of shock.
He Zhiping wiped away his tears. "So close! We just met a group of villagers. The moment they saw us, they went crazy. They were holding sickles and plows and were about to attack us. Fortunately, General Feng reacted quickly and led them away."
Cuicui was also terribly frightened. "Sister Yu Nian, where exactly are we?"
Yu Nian said calmly, "The drought demon has no soul, but it has a powerful ability to create illusions. It uses the obsessions of the souls in the soul - sealing formation to trap us here. Take a closer look. This is Wuxiang Village a few years ago. Don't you have any impression at all?"
Cuicui shook her head blankly.
Yu Nian's gaze swept across everyone. Suddenly, she asked, "Where's Shitou?"
Everyone looked at each other blankly and said that they hadn't seen Shitou since they entered this dreamland.
Feng Chengyuan frowned. "The high - speed female ghost once said that Shitou was buried by the great shaman. Could it be that the illusion we've entered now was formed by Shitou's obsession?"
Yu Nian shook her head. "Shitou's soul is intact. He has no obsession."
As for Shitou's cause of death, there are currently two possibilities.
Either Shitou was originally from Wuxiang Village and was chosen as the general of the drought demon. After becoming a sacrifice to the drought demon, he was discarded in the wilderness and buried carelessly. Or Shitou was the outsider who broke into Wuxiang Village two years ago. After accidentally discovering the secret of the human sacrifice, he was killed by the great shaman and buried here.
Yu Nian walked to the pillar outside the temple and noticed the murals carved on it.
This was not the picture of worshipping the drought demon that she had seen in the Wuxiang Temple before.
The murals depicted many ferocious devils torturing a wandering soul with all kinds of torture instruments.
Yu Nian's gaze was solemn. "This is a picture of the punishments in the eighteen levels of hell."
Cuicui walked to the pillar. Her eyes were in a daze. For some reason, a strong sense of fear welled up in her heart.
After Yu Nian pasted a talisman on the temple door, she tentatively pulled it, only to find that the door was firmly locked from the inside.
Her fingers moved slightly. A red thread nimbly slipped through the crack of the door.
There was a rustling sound inside the door. Before long, the door lock "clanged" and fell to the ground.
The door was slowly pushed open. A gentle breeze blew in, followed by the soft tinkling of bells. Yu Nian nervously held the talisman in her hand.
The next second, everyone was shocked when they saw the scene inside the temple.
It was completely different from what they had seen through the crack of the door.
In the middle of the courtyard were eight neatly arranged vermilion wooden doors, symmetrically placed like mirrors.
He Zhiping was completely confused. "This is just like a death game! There are so many doors. Which one should we go through?"
Yu Nian observed the position of each door and explained, "The eight directions correspond to the eight gates in the Mysterious Dungeon. The east is the Injury Gate, the west is the Fright Gate, the south is the Scenery Gate, the north is the Rest Gate, the northeast is the Life Gate, the northwest is the Open Gate, the southeast is the Obstructed Gate, and the southwest is the Death Gate. The Open, Rest, and Life Gates are the three auspicious gates. The Death, Fright, and Injury Gates are the three inauspicious gates. The Scenery and Obstructed Gates are of medium fortune. To get out of this dreamland, we need to find the Life Gate."
He Zhiping's face lit up. "Then we can just go to the door in the northeast direction, right?"
As he spoke, he stepped forward and confidently pushed open the vermilion wooden door.
Yu Nian's voice was ethereal. "The Life Gate is suitable for marriage."
The scene in front of them suddenly changed.
Under their feet was a dusty cement floor. Large patches of an unknown red liquid were attached to the surrounding walls.
Red candles flickered all around, but there was no trace of joy.
The air was filled with a stench, and countless flies and insects were flying around.
Above the altar was a pitch - black coffin. Although it was sealed with several talismans, it couldn't hide the overflowing evil aura.
Feng Chengyuan looked around and frowned slightly. "Are we back in the Wuxiang Temple?"
Yu Nian gently tugged at his sleeve. "Don't make a sound."
Everyone looked behind them and saw a thin - built woman kneeling in front of the futon. Her red wedding veil was casually discarded on the ground.
Yu Nian recognized that this was the bride on the cart.
She was surrounded by a chilling ghostly aura. Her face with two black holes stared straight out of the door, as if waiting for someone.
"Why isn't he coming? Why isn't he coming yet..."
The cold voice echoed in the temple, making everyone's hair stand on end.