The waiting time always seemed to pass exceptionally long, so Fu Mingxu simply started chatting with them quietly.
During the conversation, in addition to the information he had already obtained, he also learned that this was a small mountain village located on the mountainside of Tianxuan Mountain, named "Xuan Village". Although the villagers did not possess immortal qualities, they were skilled at cultivating spiritual plants and were affiliated with the Tianxuan Sect, so their lives were quite prosperous and peaceful.
For some unknown reason, half a year ago, the villagers here were brutally murdered overnight, killing each other in a single night. The Tianxuan Sect sent people to investigate, and in the end, they could only say that they had cultivated the Illusionary Spirit Grass, but because they did not preserve the Illusionary Powder of the Spirit Grass properly, it led to this tragedy.
Genmura's disappearance was silent and did not cause a stir after the "culprit" was identified.
Until the appearance of the Heavenly Mystic Beast, some disciples, while searching, discovered that the village was surrounded by white mist. After entering to investigate, none of them could come out. However, there were too many disciples who went into the mountains this time, and after they were scattered in various places, no one could notice the disappearance of any particular disciple.
They only realized something was wrong when the chains started kidnapping people everywhere.
Previously, Zhang Hengbo and his fellow disciples had received a message from their fellow disciples and went there, but unexpectedly they were kidnapped together to be guests at the ceremony.
Of course, those captured were all below the Golden Core stage.
Fu Mingxu sorted through the information he had obtained in his mind, and his doubts deepened.
So, the music and music that he saw earlier being dragged by chains were also brought in as guests to watch the ceremony?
Thinking about what the other person had gone through, he suddenly felt that the itching and pain in his waist was nothing.
Soon, the tranquility of the night was broken by the sound of gongs and drums, and Fu Mingxu followed the others out.
Apart from the sound of footsteps, the silence in Xuan Village was unsettling.
The thought that a village of people once died tragically here sends chills down my spine.
Fu Mingxu secretly glanced at the people who had been captured and saw that, apart from being a little pale, they were relatively calm.
Following the group under the moonlight, he arrived at a brightly decorated place. Looking up, he saw that it was the ancestral hall of Xuan Village.
The ancestral hall of a commoner's family is very important, but I've never heard of anyone holding a wedding in the ancestral hall.
The group leaped in, and Fu Mingxu followed. The first thing that caught their eye was the densely packed ancestral tablets on the altar table in the ancestral hall. The tablets were painted with red dye and shimmered with an eerie red light under the bright candlelight.
In a daze, Fu Mingxu felt that many eyes were staring at him.
All of this was too strange, and he couldn't help but doubt Zhang Hengbo's claim that they could leave after the wedding.
Fu Mingxu dared not let his guard down, his slender fingers gripping his black coat tightly, the tips of his fingers turning slightly white.
The sound of gongs and drums was irritating, so he stood with the crowd on both sides of the ancestral hall, pretending to be a guest of honor.
"The new bride has arrived!" As a loud voice rang out, a gust of wind rushed in through the ancestral hall's main gate, causing the ancestral tablets on the offering table to flutter in the wind, yet none of them fell over.
Fu Mingxu quietly looked up at the entrance of the ancestral hall, but stood there stunned.
He didn't pay much attention to the crowd when he arrived, assuming that Yue Chao was just like himself, hidden among the crowd.
But to everyone's surprise, Le Chao was dressed in wedding attire, his face covered in makeup, looking as if he had been carefully dressed up.
He moved forward stiffly, like a puppet on a string, his eyes filled with fear when they fell upon the memorial tablet.
The bride here is actually Le Chao! And the other end of the red silk he's holding is actually the person who held the chain earlier.
The man's face still wore a half-smile, which looked even more eerie in the bright light.
Fu Mingxu truly hadn't expected things to develop this way. The moment his eyes met Le Chao's, his sense of foreboding reached its peak.
The others were also greatly disturbed by the bizarre scene and just hoped the wedding would end soon.
The memorial tablets on the offering table returned to calm, as if they were watching quietly.
"I bow to Heaven and Earth!"
Le Chao was as if he had been pressed down hard, stiffly bending over.
"Bowing to the parents twice!"
The two bowed to the memorial tablet on the offering table. Even with his face covered, it was clear that his complexion was as pale as paper.
"Husband and wife bow to each other!"
The loud voice startled everyone awake, and the moment they entered the ritual of couples praying to each other, they felt an urgent desire to leave.
Fu Mingxu's sense of foreboding grew stronger. The chaotic energy in his dantian was fighting against the restrictions imprinted on the forbidden land of the dragon clan. The two forces were pulling at his sea of consciousness, causing him a splitting headache.
After a loud shout, Le Chao did not bend his back.
He suddenly let out a sharp cry, and his two colorful feathers broke free from the restraints of flesh and blood. Holding a white feather in his hand, he fiercely thrust it at the person opposite him.
"Xuan Zhong, I want you dead!"
Boundless hatred swept away with the strong wind, as if time had stood still at that moment.
Fu Mingxu's heart skipped a beat. The memorial tablet on the offering table emitted a strong red light, which slowed down Le Chao's movements. He could even see the trajectory of the white feather.
A jet-black chain appeared in Lin Chong's hand, instantly binding Le Chao. With a pull, the colorful feathers that had just unfolded suddenly retracted.
Le Chao let out an extremely painful scream, and then the two colorful feathers were severed at the base by the chain and fell to the ground.
The bloody scene made Fu Mingxu instinctively vomit, and he barely managed to hold it in by closing his eyes.
Lin Chong's lips parted into a wider grin, and a sinister glint flashed in his eyes.
He seemed oblivious to Le Chao's pain, bent down to pick up Cai Yu and threw her outside the ancestral hall, tightened the chain, and said in a ghostly voice, "Now, you can't escape."
"Didn't you say you would help me cultivate and become my Daoist partner, never to be separated?"
He reached out and patted the broken part of Yuechao Caiyu's feather, feeling his trembling with satisfaction.
"What? Are you going to back out in front of my people?"
Le Chao was filled with remorse. He felt a deep hatred for his brother's tragic death. When he was unable to break free of the chains, a vicious thought suddenly came to mind.
His expression suddenly softened, and he said gently, "Of course I won't go back on my word, but there is a lowly mortal among our guests who I don't like."
He endured the pain in his back and pointed to Fu Mingxu's location, saying, "Kill him, and I'll obediently complete the final ritual."
Fu Mingxu never expected that the fire would so easily spread to him; it was as if disaster had struck out of the blue.
Le Chao was filled with resentment, but he knew this was his only chance to escape.
How could a mere mortal appear here? He was certain that Han Tao was nearby. As long as Fu Mingxu died at Xuan Zhong's hands, the other party would definitely find out. At that time, he could not only use Han Tao's hands to kill Xuan Zhong, but also take the opportunity to escape.
As for the others, they were just unlucky souls who were buried with them.
When Fu Mingxu saw him staring intently at him, he knew that this kid was up to no good.
The others were shocked, fearing that this strange person would go on a killing spree in the wedding hall and affect them.
Fu Mingxu shook his head at Zhang Hengbo, who was about to draw his sword, and stepped forward unhurriedly.
His gaze swept over the memorial tablets on the offering table and finally landed on Le Chao.
The memorial tablet behind him was somber, yet his eyes were clear and bright, as if he were simply asking, "Do I have a grudge against you?"
Just as Yue Chao was about to speak, he changed his tone again: "Are mortals so lowly and worthless? Are they not as good as you, born with a demonic body and destined to soar?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Le Chao's expression changed instantly, and he realized that he had spoken out of turn in his nervousness.
"Xuan Zhong...I..." For a moment, he couldn't explain himself.
Xuan Zhong tightened the chain in his hand, his expression unusually sinister: "Mortals are indeed useless."
Fu Mingxu's eyebrows furrowed as he felt the chaotic energy in his dantian gradually breaking through the restrictions.
Before Le Chao could even breathe a sigh of relief, he heard him say, "Mortals are naturally useless; mortals cannot catch the colorful phoenix."
"Thanks to the cultivation technique you gave me, I am no longer an ordinary person." His hand landed on Le Chao's shoulder, and the caress felt like a venomous snake, sending chills down one's spine.
"Therefore, I must repay this kindness properly."
Le Chao's heart sank further. Looking at Xuan Zhong's inhuman, ghostly appearance, he knew there was no solution. But it was too late for regrets now. He gritted his teeth, unwilling to give up.
"I will never leave you again." Le Chao's face showed a look of infatuation, as if the person standing in front of him was his lover.
Xuan Zhong didn't know whether he believed it or not, but the truth or falsehood in Le Chao's words was useless to him, because his chains would never be loosened.
Fu Mingxu remained unmoved by the scene of the two "loving and killing each other." He felt as if many eyes were glued to him, as if evil spirits hiding in the shadows were coveting his flesh and blood.
Soon, it turned out that his hunch was correct.
The eerie red light emanating from the memorial tablets grew increasingly intense. As the first guest collapsed, someone finally couldn't help but shout, "Weren't you told we'd be let out after the wedding?"
Among these people were not only disciples from various immortal sects, but also rogue cultivators who came into the mountains in search of opportunities.
Le Chao suddenly burst into laughter: "You people actually believe that? Don't you know he's a demon?"
"I can't leave, and you'll only become nourishment for these ghosts!"
This is what it means to be full of nonsense.
The book *Ghost Records* states that the soul of a dead person does not perish and becomes a ghost; those with resentment who enter evil spirits become demonic ghosts. The words of demonic ghosts bewitch people's hearts, hence the endless ghost stories.
Fu Mingxu recalled the record he had read and understood.
Sure enough, as soon as Yue Chao finished speaking, Zhang Hengbo shouted sharply, "Form the formation!"
Zhang Yanran gave Fu Mingxu an apologetic look. They hadn't been sitting idly by, but they couldn't tell Fu Mingxu about the plan, lest he expose it in a panic.
Upon catching a glimpse of her eyes, Fu Mingxu immediately understood.
He didn't move; the pain from the chaotic energy breaking through the restriction caused fine sweat to bead on his forehead.
Fortunately, he was able to sense the dragon flames within his dantian.
The conflict was about to erupt. Zhang Hengbo and the others quickly formed a battle formation and rushed towards Xuan Zhong with a sweeping sword light.
"Overestimating yourself." Xuan Zhong swung the chain, and Le Chao fell to the ground, writhing and trembling in pain.
White light clashed with dark green light, spiritual energy surged within the ancestral hall, and ancestral tablets on the offering table fell to the ground in disarray.
This greatly provoked Xuan Zhong's ferocity. The chain was almost a blur as it was swung around, and the sound of it tearing through the air was deafening throughout the ancestral hall. The others dared not watch the spectacle and retreated from inside.
As the red light gradually enveloped them, Zhang Hengbo and the others seemed to be stuck in the mud, unable to move.
It's unclear who fell first, but they landed right at Fu Mingxu's feet.
Seeing that the man's face was covered in gold leaf, clearly indicating that he had suffered a serious injury, he quickly took out a pill from his storage bag and inserted it into the man's body, barely managing to save his life.
When Gu Yuanya slowly woke up, a pair of bright eyes appeared before him. He only had time to realize that the person in front of him had saved him, and when he caught sight of what was behind him, he struggled to shout, "Watch out!"
Bai Yu transformed into a sharp weapon and arrived. Seeing that the immortal disciple was no match for him, Le Chao could only make one last attempt.
He knew all too well how to provoke a dragon, and he was certain that Han Tao would sense Fu Mingxu's death.
Fu Mingxu felt a strong gust of wind coming from behind. He turned around at Gu Yuanya's reminder and instinctively dodged to the side when Bai Yu attacked his heart.