Chapter 7 Chapter Seven — The Wedding Feast

The moment Li Daoxuan stepped into the mist, a chill swept over him, as if the temperature had dropped sharply; a night wind blew, and he could not help but shiver.

He looked back — and to his surprise, along the narrow path, the mountain forest and vegetation were gone, replaced by nothing but pitch black.

Passing through the mist, red light blazed before him, and at last he entered the village.

What met his eyes was a sea of red lanterns.

In the black night, lantern after lantern of dark-red hung at every door, all alike, each bearing the character for "joy." Nearly every household had one.

Yet the village was wholly silent — not even a dog's bark. Li Daoxuan could hear only his own footsteps.

What eased him somewhat was that, since he had entered the village, the serpent demon's voice had not sounded again.

In the eerie red glow, Li Daoxuan walked on slowly. He found the houses all tightly shut, their doors looking worn and old, many with cracks and small holes.

A faint musty smell lingered.

Li Daoxuan tried to peer inside, and found only emptiness behind each door — as if no one lived there.

He could not help but wonder: was this an abandoned, deserted village?

But strange — why would an abandoned village still hang red lanterns, with candles still burning inside?

When he came to the sixth household, a sight that froze his blood appeared.

As he peered through a gap in the door planks, he met a grayish, clouded pupil — cold and rigid.

Someone inside was staring at him!

Cold sweat broke on Li Daoxuan's back. He was about to flee with Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding, when the door creaked slowly open.

The door seemed long unopened; its rasping groan echoed through the silent village, grating on the ear.

Behind it stood a white-haired old woman in black, small and thin, gazing at Li Daoxuan quietly.

Through the red lamplight, Li Daoxuan's eyes narrowed — the old woman's clothes… were burial garments!

A wild mountain village, an old woman in burial clothes, locking eyes with him.

Such an uncanny encounter set Li Daoxuan's whole body taut. One hand behind his back, he pinched a Five-Thunder Talisman, even as he forced a friendly smile.

"Grandmother, might I ask — what place is this?"

The old woman stared at him, and after a long while squeezed three words from her throat.

"Li… Family Village."

The voice was aged and hoarse, unsettling to hear.

NovelPhoenix is where the author publishes this chapter; the version shown here was copied without permission.

Li Daoxuan stepped back quietly and asked again, "Grandmother, can one leave this village by going forward?"

This time the old woman did not answer, only stood there in silence.

Li Daoxuan changed his question.

"Grandmother, where have all the villagers gone?"

The old woman's gray pupil lifted, as if some emotion stirred, and she spoke. "A wedding. They are all… you… should go too…"

The villagers had all gone to a wedding?

Li Daoxuan was about to ask more, but suddenly noticed — at some unknowable moment, one of the old woman's feet had already stepped past the doorway.

His scalp crawled. He smiled. "I have matters to attend to; I'll skip the wedding. Farewell!"

With that, Li Daoxuan worked Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding and was gone in a few blinks. Looking back, he found the old woman had not followed — still standing at the door, as if still watching him.

The dark-red light fell on her aged, deathly pale face, chilling to the bone.

Once he had run far, Li Daoxuan breathed easy. That old woman was no living thing!

Perhaps sensing the Five-Thunder Talisman in his hand, she had not pursued in the end. Had he been an ordinary man, he would likely already have been "invited" inside.

This village reeked of the strange at every turn. Li Daoxuan counted his talismans — ten Six Ding Six Jia Protective Talismans and six Five-Thunder Talismans remained. He must use them sparingly.

He used one protective talisman first.

"Sound-woman Six Ding, protect my body; Sun-bright Six Jia, guard my soul. Swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

The talisman turned to a streak of golden light and sank into his body. Li Daoxuan at once felt less cold; the surrounding yin energy seemed sealed away.

He used only one because, once activated, a protective talisman lasted but a quarter-hour — with the situation still unclear, it was unwise to spend too many.

He walked on, in one direction, eager to leave this village quickly.

Half an hour later.

Li Daoxuan stopped. For he found he was still in the village — back before the old woman's house.

Fortunately, this time she did not open the door.

A ghost-wall?

Li Daoxuan worked Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding and walked on!

He knew not how long he walked — by his reckoning, surely twenty or thirty li by now — yet eerily, he was still in the village.

But this time, he had not returned to the old woman's house. Instead he came before a grand manor.

This manor, too, hung red lanterns. The difference: its great gate stood open, laid with a red carpet strewn with grain, beans, and flower petals.

Within the manor, shadows moved — many people seemed to be inside.

Li Daoxuan recalled the old woman's words: the villagers had all gone to a wedding. Could this be it?

Without a thought, Li Daoxuan meant to leave. Gawkers die first — in how many horror tales did the protagonist, knowing full well something was wrong, just had to go look, and die more wretchedly than the last?

Li Daoxuan did not fancy that six Five-Thunder Talismans could flatten this whole village.

But the moment he turned, a stiff face appeared behind him — a man of about forty in fine silk, smiling without warmth.

"My son weds today; all who come are guests. Might you step in for a cup of wedding wine?"

Li Daoxuan had no wish to enter, but the servants behind the man had quietly closed in, encircling him. These servants, too, had stiff faces and vacant eyes, like puppets.

Li Daoxuan had no choice but to nod. "Since you insist, I shall intrude."

At these words, the middle-aged man's face warmed with a smile, and the servants dispersed.

Li Daoxuan followed them into the manor, and only then saw it was packed with people — five to a table. But eerily, these people sat together without a word, silent to a terrifying degree.

The middle-aged man led Li Daoxuan to a table where four already sat; with Li Daoxuan, it was just full.

The middle-aged man poured Li Daoxuan a cup of wine and smiled. "This is our own-brewed grain wine — clear, cool, bracing. Do have a taste."

The wine's aroma was rich, heady.

But when Li Daoxuan poured mana into his eyes and looked again at that bowl of wine, his pupils narrowed.

The liquid that had been clear and clean now writhed with countless maggots, crawling thick; the wine was foul and turbid, faintly reeking.

"Honored guest, why do you not drink?"

The middle-aged man watched Li Daoxuan and smiled.

"I am a man of the Dao. My school has rules — no wine, no meat. I beg your pardon."

The middle-aged man gazed at him, and the smile on his face faded, bit by bit.

Li Daoxuan gazed back, resolve unshaken — he would die before drinking that bowl, who knew what he'd become if he did.

In the standoff between the two, the air seemed to freeze ever tighter…