Shen Weixun and Niannian trotted all the way to the yard of the village head's house. Sure enough, there was a coffin right in the middle of the main hall. Most ordinary coffins were painted black, but this one had a dark red tinge beneath the black paint, exuding an air of danger and eeriness at every turn.
The hot - blooded young man was about to open the coffin without a second thought, but just as he was about to touch it, Niannian stopped him in time.
"Wait!"
"What's wrong?"
Shen Weixun turned around, looking puzzled.
The little girl didn't respond immediately. Instead, she stood still on the spot, silently waiting for something, saying nothing.
She just had an intuition that if they got closer to the coffin now, something very bad would happen. They had to wait, just a little longer.
Moments later, the coffin that had been lying quietly suddenly started to shake. It was as if there was something struggling inside. Wisps of black smoke slowly drifted up from the cracks of the coffin. The color of the silk in the mourning hall kept changing between white and red.
"Gurgle, gurgle... Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle..." Sounds came from inside the coffin, like someone with a foreign object stuck in their throat, struggling to speak.
The coffin shook for a long time before finally coming to a stop. As the coffin calmed down, the surrounding illusions were gradually torn apart. The charred - black houses returned to the way they were when they first entered the village, covered in thick dust. Only the coffin remained as if brand new.
"Is the illusion broken?"
Shen Weixun suddenly paused and asked.
"Not yet. This is just temporary. It was the bride who protected us and suppressed the groom's malevolent aura. Come on, Third Senior Brother, let's open the coffin now."
Niannian glanced around. The black smoke had disappeared into the air, and everything around them became clear.
The lid of the coffin was nailed down tightly. It took Niannian and Shen Weixun a great deal of effort to pry it open. The groom's body was exposed in front of them. His clothes had rotted away over time, but one could still vaguely recognize that it was the wedding suit he had worn on his wedding day.
However, the groom's body showed no sign of decay. Apart from his pale and bloodless face and a large hole in his head caused by a blunt - force blow, he didn't look like a dead man at all.
Niannian's gaze slowly moved downward, and there, at the foot of the body, stood a Buddha statue.
The lotus seat on which the Buddha statue sat was filled with blood, and above the blood, there was a layer of dark, oily liquid floating. Shen Weixun frowned in disgust and said, "Corpse oil with an evil Buddha, nourished by evil spirits. How vicious! No wonder nothing has grown here for so many years."
"You're in bad luck for running into us. Your end has come."
With that, Shen Weixun took out a fire talisman from Niannian's small satchel.
Then he threw it into the coffin without hesitation.
The corpse oil in the lotus seat caught fire immediately when it touched the flame. The fire gradually climbed up the corner of the body's clothes, and the scorching red light destroyed everything.
"My body, my body! No! Aaaaah!!!" The groom's soul suddenly appeared at the door of the yard. He roared like a mad dog, his eyes bulging like copper bells.
On his shoulder, a woman with disheveled hair was sitting tightly. She had no hands or feet, and there were only two dark holes in her eye sockets. She struggled with all her might to hold back the groom's steps as he tried to move forward, pressing down on his back like a heavy weight.
The groom took a difficult step forward and howled in despair. Thanks to the corpse oil, the fire burned extremely fast. Before long, everything in the coffin was burned to ashes.
Seeing the coffin turn into black charcoal, the bride let out a sigh of relief. She slowly slid off the groom's body onto the ground, tilted her head back, and opened her mouth to laugh silently. She had fought against this village until her death in life, and had been entangled with this man for decades after death. Finally, on this day, she was able to avenge herself.
Two lines of bloody tears flowed from her empty eye sockets. It was hard to tell whether she was crying for her miserable life or crying out of joy.
The groom slowly turned his head. His eyes were full of fierce and venomous light. In order to vent his anger, he grabbed the bride's hair and lifted her up, opening his blood - filled mouth to devour her soul. Seeing this, Niannian leaped forward and kicked out. The groom was caught off guard and his soul instantly scattered.
"Thank you." The groom's soul had already scattered. Shen Weixun walked up to the bride's soul, slowly squatted down, and said gratefully in a soft voice.
The bride shook her head. She couldn't speak, so she just bent down and kowtowed to Shen Weixun. Her wish had been fulfilled and her obsession had dissipated. There was no longer any reason for her to linger in the world. She slowly raised her arm, pointed at the house that had imprisoned her for so long, and then disappeared on the spot.
"Third Senior Brother, what's wrong with you?"
When the little girl turned around, she saw Shen Weixun standing still on the spot, with his eyes closed, looking a bit pained.
Shen Weixun came to his senses.
Just now, it seemed that there were many more memories in his mind.
The memories of his past life that he had awakened before were incomplete. Just now, many images suddenly flashed through his mind.
Without exception, all these images had the shadow of that Buddha statue.
"I'm fine. Let's go and see what's in the house the bride pointed to. She should be asking for our help." Shen Weixun stood up and changed the topic.
He just felt that he shouldn't tell the little girl about this.
Seeing that Third Senior Brother had returned to normal, Niannian didn't think much and followed him to the place the bride had indicated.
The small house was filled with sundries. In the corner of the room, a pink backpack with a pattern of a flower fairy on it was casually thrown on the ground. It looked out of place in this house. Shen Weixun picked up the backpack and patted the dust off it.
Inside the backpack were a yellowed admission notice, a diary, and a few pens. There was also a leather wallet in the interlayer. The admission notice was from Imperial Capital University, one of the best universities in the country. The name of the admitted student was Chen Xiaoxiao.
There was an ID card in the wallet. In the photo, a beautiful and innocent girl was smiling with pursed lips. Her clothes looked clean and tidy.
Chen Xiaoxiao, born on August 17th, 1968, with a home address in the Third Ring Road of the Imperial Capital.
Opening the diary, it was filled with words. It could be seen that the owner of this diary was a lively and cheerful girl. She was kind, beautiful, top - notch in her studies, and came from a well - off family. She also had a childhood sweetheart.
The diary stopped on March 6th, 1987. On that day, the girl's high - school classmate invited her to go on a trip. The girl had no suspicion of her friend and set off on the journey full of expectation and joy. She would never have imagined that this journey would mark the beginning of her tragic later life.
Shen Weixun sighed, put these things back into the backpack, and said to Niannian, "Let's collect her remains. There's her home address on this. If we have a chance in the future, we'll take her home."
Niannian nodded. The two of them came to the place in the center of the village where the urn had been placed in the illusion. Sure enough, the urn hadn't been moved. The skeleton of the body was lying quietly at the bottom of the urn. Shen Weixun and Niannian stood still, bowed three times slowly to the urn, and then closed their eyes to mourn in silence. This was the respect the girl deserved.
That night, light snow began to fall slowly on Nanshan. The night outside the window was hazy. The snowflakes fell on the roof tiles, bringing boundless dampness and coldness.
In such extremely cold and harsh weather, a little green sprout suddenly emerged from the withered Nanshan soil that had been barren for years. After the illusion disappeared, the yin energy also dissipated.
Without a doubt, Nanshan should be full of spring vitality next year.
Although the night is long, dawn will eventually arrive.