The young girl had been tortured for a long time. Finally, she escaped from the abyss of suffering and died silently on a rainy night. The rain washed over her disfigured cheeks. On closer inspection, one could still vaguely discern her former beauty.
The girl, who should have blossomed like a flower, was forever left in the mountains by them. She once had a promising future, just like every other daughter - in - law here.
Women had no dignity in this village. The obedient ones would stay here, living a poor and hopeless life, while for the disobedient ones, the corpses in the jars were a cautionary tale.
The illusion gradually faded away, just like the end of a movie. Everyone became increasingly transparent until they disappeared, leaving only the jars standing there. Shen Weixun hugged Nian Nian and fell into a long silence.
After a while, he sighed and slowly said, "Let's go. Let's go back first. The illusion should have finished telling its story."
Nian Nian remained silent. She stared intently at the jar on the ground, lost in thought. After a long time, she also sighed and lay on Third Senior Brother's shoulder. She looked listless and completely devoid of energy.
Shen Weixun looked back at the poor girl one more time. His heart was filled with mixed emotions. Finally, he started to leave the area around the jars.
Back in the room, Meng Xiaoming was huddled in the corner, shivering under the quilt. When he saw Shen Weixun and Nian Nian return, his eyes lit up as if he had seen a savior.
"You're finally back!" Meng Xiaoming exclaimed excitedly.
"What happened to you?" Nian Nian asked in confusion.
"Not long after you left, someone kept knocking on the door. I didn't dare to open it, so I could only hide inside and keep quiet." Meng Xiaoming felt goosebumps all over his body just thinking about the terrifying situation.
He was only good at feng shui. Exorcising ghosts was far beyond his area of expertise!
He was so scared! Waaaaa...
Just as he finished speaking, the sound of a child knocking on the door came from outside again. The illusion was still on a loop. This time, no matter how much noise there was outside, Shen Weixun and the others didn't open the door. After a while, it quieted down.
"This illusion should be formed by the bride's obsession. This bride must have a great deal of resentment," Shen Weixun said, frowning.
"How can we get out then?" Meng Xiaoming asked.
"So far, we haven't seen any ghosts. Dong Qing has been here for so long without any problems. The illusion probably doesn't mean to harm people. There should only be the bride's obsession left here. As long as we find the bride's remains and bury them properly, it should be fine," Shen Weixun analyzed.
"The bride's remains should still be in the center of the village. But we're in an illusion, and everything is fake. We don't know if that jar is real or not," Nian Nian continued.
"Let's go and take another look. It's better than being trapped here," Shen Weixun said. Then he and Nian Nian left the room again, leaving Meng Xiaoming alone in the room, still shivering.
The illusion outside had jumped back to the moment when the bride was being put into the jar. Shen Weixun didn't know what to do when he saw the still - breathing bride. This time, the illusion had changed. Different from the previous cold - heartedness of the villagers, a young man walked over from the village entrance.
This young man looked very unfamiliar. In the bride's tragic past, Shen Weixun and Nian Nian had witnessed the atrocities of all the men in the village, but they had never seen this young man before. He squatted down, rummaged in his bosom for a long time, took out a steamed bun, broke off a small piece, and stuffed it into the bride's mouth.
"I can't do much for you. I can only bring you some clean food. I know you're in great pain, but my brother - in - law, sister - in - law, and I are all outsiders. We can't help you. I'm sorry," the young man said guiltily as he fed the bride.
"Drink some water too. I have to go back. If I'm seen, my brother - in - law and sister - in - law will be in trouble," the young man took out a kettle and carefully gave the bride a few sips of water before hurriedly leaving.
Shen Weixun looked in the direction where the young man disappeared, which was the house they were staying in.
"Waaaaa~~Waaaaaa~~" The bride in the jar suddenly started crying. Without a tongue and teeth, the crying sounded extremely strange.
"Waaaaaaa~~Ah!~~" As the bride was crying, a shrill scream suddenly came from her mouth.
The scream was like a blade scraping through the brain, making people feel dizzy. Shen Weixun and Nian Nian quickly frowned and covered their ears. Along with the bride's scream, the houses around them started to burn. In an instant, the fire was raging, lighting up the night like day.
Seeing this, Shen Weixun quickly pulled Nian Nian back to the house where Meng Xiaoming was. The whole village was on fire, but only this house remained intact.
"Outsiders! Outsiders are all heartless! Come out and attend my wedding! My wedding!"
The child who had been inviting them to the wedding at the door had red - eyed. He rammed into the wooden door desperately, trying to get in, but the door was as immovable as if it had been welded. The child's voice had turned into a rough male voice.
The fire was still burning, and the cries of men and women filled the air. After a while, the fire finally disappeared, and the child ramming the door also vanished. Shen Weixun looked at the blackened houses and his mind raced.
"We were wrong. This isn't the bride's obsession at all. It's the groom's!" Shen Weixun finally figured out the key to the matter.
No wonder the whole illusion had been repeating the bride's tragic experience, and no one had come to help her throughout. They had originally thought this was an obsession formed by resentment, but they had forgotten one thing. Resentment that didn't harm people was unheard of.
The one who really wanted to harm people was the groom. He had been insisting that they attend his wedding. The whole illusion came from the groom's resentment. The scene they had seen at the end was the bride's obsession. She had killed all those in the village who had harmed her and had been protecting this house because there had once been someone in this house who had helped her.
Everyone in the village had died at the bride's hands, except for this family of "outsiders." The groom hated the "outsiders" so much that he was extremely hostile to the living people in this house.
The moment they chose this house, they had chosen the bride's side. The bride had been preventing the groom from breaking into the house to kill Dong Qing, while the groom had been constantly luring them. Whether it was the food at the banquet or the scene of the bride being abused, they were all baits set by the groom.
If they had eaten the food, they would have been assimilated by the village and would never have been able to get out. When the bride was being abused, if they had been overly sympathetic and helped the bride, they would surely have been attacked and devoured by the villagers in the illusion.
"Is the groom's coffin always in the village head's main hall?" Shen Weixun asked Nian Nian.
"Yes, it didn't move in the illusion just now," Nian Nian recalled and nodded.
"Go to the village head's house and open the coffin."
Shen Weixun narrowed his eyes slightly. The child just now should have been the groom's ghost. As long as they destroyed his remains, the groom's illusion would collapse on its own.
How dare he set a trap for them! Take him out!