The Ghost Insists on Giving Me a Beautiful and Powerful Wife! - Chapter 36.1

Yu Ruoyin secretly kept Zhuang Huaishu’s words in mind.

Zhuang Huaishu disliked the Hallowancer, yet she hadn’t treated her harshly. As they neared the Wannan Courtyard, she even tossed her a peace talisman: “Little girl, be careful.”

“Mhm!” Yu Ruoyin softly replied, tucking the peace talisman into her pocket.

She stretched her arms back, her hands hidden beneath the red cloth pressing tightly against the coffin lid.

Jiang Huaining brought her more peace than the talisman. Her strength was too weak; if she added impatience to her flaws, she would definitely run into trouble. Yu Ruoyin could only try her best to remain calm and composed.

The closer she got to the Wannan Courtyard, the faster her heart beat. The cowardice in her bones made her want to retreat.

But she had to grow up eventually.

Not for herself, but to avoid burdening the person in the coffin too much.

Once the resolve was made, her steps became much firmer.

She gradually walked to the front. Only when she got closer did she notice a sitting paper figure in the guardhouse, with a ledger on the table. It was lowering its head, recording something in the ledger—it seemed to be… a list of gifts.

The paper figures also noticed them and looked up in unison.

Their gray-white eyeballs slowly rotated, making a rustling sound that was both creepy and chilling.

Yu Ruoyin felt her legs suddenly go weak under their gaze. She quickly glanced back at Zhuang Ciyue, who hastily took out her wallet.

Zhuang Huaishu stopped Zhuang Ciyue and handed over a stack of hell bank notes.

Zhuang Ciyue smoothly handed the hell bank notes to the paper figure. The leading paper figure bent down and slightly curled its lips: “Four guests from the Underworld, welcome!”

Yu Ruoyin noticed it secretly pulled out two of the hell bank notes, before handing the remaining ones into the guardhouse. After secretly pocketing the two notes, the smile on its face became even more exaggerated. The paper figure in the guardhouse also copied it, secretly pocketing two notes before counting the amount and entering it into the account.

Yu Ruoyin was surprised by the paper figures’ intelligence.

According to the knowledge she had crammed, for paper figures to be this intelligent, there were only two possibilities: one was that the paper craftsman had innate abilities and deliberately enhanced the paper figures’ power, and the other was that the ghost entity they followed was very powerful, and they had absorbed a lot of Yin energy from the ghost entity to develop sentience.

The other paper figures didn’t act this way; they simply followed the leading figure and loudly announced: “Four guests from the Underworld, welcome!”

Four guests.

That meant they hadn’t sensed Jiang Huaining’s presence.

Was it Zhuang Huaishu’s doing, or was Jiang Huaining’s own power protecting her?

Regardless of which it was, this was good news.

Another paper sedan chair flew out of the Wannan Courtyard, still accompanied by a wedding chaperon in red. She grinned at Yu Ruoyin: “Please follow me, everyone.”

The paper sedan chair did not look sturdy. Souls didn’t weigh much, but they were different.

Especially with the coffin she was carrying.

Yu Ruoyin was still hesitating when Zhuang Huaishu pushed her onto the sedan chair.

A thin layer of Yin energy enveloped Yu Ruoyin. She entered the sedan chair but didn’t step on the bottom.

She was floating inside the sedan chair, not directly touching the paper chair.

Fortunately, though the paper sedan chair looked small from the outside, it had a lot of space inside—enough to hold her, not to mention the coffin that was much taller than her.

Next, Zhuang Huaishu was pushed in by Zhuang Ciyue. The wheelchair and Zhuang Ciyue were also floating. The last one to enter was Nan He, who simply floated in.

Accommodating five people at once, the spacious paper sedan chair became cramped.

Zhuang Ciyue was about to complain when Zhuang Huaishu shot her a sharp look.

Perhaps because she was friends with Zhuang Ciyue, facing her elder made Yu Ruoyin also feel nervous. With just a look from Zhuang Huaishu, she didn’t dare to speak up and ask anything.

She and Zhuang Ciyue exchanged glances. The two stood close together, simultaneously shrinking their heads, like two quails.

Nan He silently lowered her gaze with them, wishing she could hide her head in her collar.

Zhuang Huaishu chuckled, but didn’t speak. She just reached out a hand, signaling Zhuang Ciyue to help her stand up.

Zhuang Ciyue was standing behind the wheelchair, and changing positions in the small space was extremely difficult.

Zhuang Ciyue secretly poked Yu Ruoyin’s arm. Yu Ruoyin immediately reached out her hand, somewhat afraid that Zhuang Huaishu wouldn’t want her to help.

Luckily, Zhuang Huaishu was a sensible person and did not lack a sense of the bigger picture.

She knew Yu Ruoyin’s position was more convenient, so she placed her hand on Yu Ruoyin’s. Using Yu Ruoyin’s strength, she stood up. Unlike them, Zhuang Huaishu’s feet landed on the bottom of the paper sedan chair. Strangely, a living person like her did not step through the obviously paper-made chair, not even leaving a footprint.

The hand resting on her wrist felt almost weightless.

Yu Ruoyin looked down. The tendons faintly visible under Zhuang Huaishu’s skin were actually dark red.

She lightly walked to the very inside and sat on the sedan chair’s bench.

A faint dark red also hovered around Zhuang Huaishu’s neck, and her skin gained a transparent quality. Yu Ruoyin wasn’t so unobservant as to fail to recognize the signs of physical ghost transformation.

Presumably, this sedan chair had the power to verify the guests’ identities. Aura could be changed, but weight could not. That’s why they were all floating. Only Zhuang Huaishu, whose body was completely ghost-transformed and whose weight was reduced, could sit, allowing the sedan chair to identify her.

Yu Ruoyin had a very clear understanding of this issue, but at the same time, she was a little curious.

Zhuang Ciyue had said that top Hallowancers had partially ghost-transformed their bodies. After all, the more ghost energy a Hallowancer contained, the stronger they became, and partially ghost-transforming the body was undoubtedly the best way to contain more ghost energy. However, complete ghost transformation meant they were no longer human. No matter how powerful Zhuang Huaishu was, she should have only partially ghost-transformed her body. To completely ghost-transform still required witchcraft, yet she didn’t even have a witch mark on her face.

Was it because she was so powerful that she didn’t need witch marks to completely ghost-transform, or was there another hidden reason?

Yu Ruoyin was somewhat different from Zhuang Ciyue.

Zhuang Ciyue didn’t like to use her brain; Yu Ruoyin’s brain never stopped working.

“Jie—” A cold, chilling laugh sounded outside the paper sedan chair. After a gust of wind blew through, the paper sedan chair carrying them floated up. Since Yu Ruoyin and the others were already floating, the obvious rocking made them involuntarily lean forward. Yu Ruoyin was bumped on the left arm by Zhuang Ciyue and lost her balance slightly.

Seeing the coffin getting closer and closer to the sedan chair roof, Zhuang Huaishu quickly reached out and pulled her.

She used some force, and with the heavy coffin on Yu Ruoyin’s back, she couldn’t catch her breath and the coffin bent her whole body over.

Yu Ruoyin almost fell into Zhuang Huaishu’s arms, her chin hitting her shoulder.

A completely ghost-transformed body was extremely hard. Yu Ruoyin’s teeth were nearly shattered.

“Hiss…” She gasped, quickly steadying herself to stand up. Her gaze swept over Zhuang Huaishu’s profile and she froze again.

Looking closely, Zhuang Huaishu’s face actually had layers.

The extremely thin skin was hard to see clearly even this close. If Yu Ruoyin hadn’t had spiritual energy now, she might not have been able to see it at all.

Zhuang Huaishu noticed Yu Ruoyin’s gaze. She said coldly, “Look again, and I’ll gouge out your eyes.”

Yu Ruoyin was startled. Helped by Zhuang Ciyue’s pull from behind, she hastily straightened her body.

Zhuang Ciyue was very displeased with Zhuang Huaishu: “Grand-aunt, why are you afraid of our little Yu looking? It won’t hurt a bit.”

“Heh heh.” Zhuang Huaishu still brushed Zhuang Ciyue off: “The little girl is quite interesting, not looking at her beautiful wife, but staring at this old woman instead.”

Zhuang Ciyue pouted: “Grand-aunt, Boss Jiang is in the coffin.”

“Oh, she can open the coffin and look.” She lowered her head, indifferently fiddling with her fingers.

Zhuang Ciyue ignored her and grabbed Yu Ruoyin’s arm: “Little Yu, if your eyes are bored, look at me, or look at Nan He—I’m not as pretty as her, but I’m younger!”

“Sister Yue, my eyes aren’t bored.”

Yu Ruoyin pulled away from Zhuang Ciyue’s hand, her gaze falling on Zhuang Huaishu again.

It wasn’t that she wanted to look, but it was too strange.

Zhuang Huaishu seemed to have more than one face.

To be honest, Zhuang Huaishu was indeed a good-looking elderly woman. Her bright eyes were not cloudy and dim like those of typical old people. There were wrinkles gathered on her face, but this did not affect her fair and translucent skin. Her eyebrows were ink-black like distant mountains, and her hair was gray but still fluffy and thick. The signs of aging did not diminish the original refinement of her features.

She wasn’t fat, but she didn’t appear gaunt and withered either.

She must have been very beautiful when she was young.

Even in her old age, she was an elegant and dignified old woman. Why did her face have layers?

Confusion pressed heavily on her heart, filling her mind.

This was unlike Jiang Huaining’s matter; she didn’t need to avoid conjectures, so she couldn’t help but keep thinking about it.

Zhuang Ciyue couldn’t help but cover her eyes: “Little Yu, what are you doing?”

“Sister Yue, Grandma Zhuang, she…” Yu Ruoyin pulled down Zhuang Ciyue’s hand, wanting to voice the doubt in her heart, but before she could speak, she met Zhuang Huaishu’s warning gaze.

Immediately after, she found her throat was wrapped by a gust of air.

That air was very cold and icy, identical to ghost energy.

Yu Ruoyin shifted her gaze and closed her mouth.

The air wrapped around her neck quickly dispersed. Yu Ruoyin clutched her throat and secretly took a breath. Zhuang Ciyue sensed something was wrong: “Grand-aunt, why are you bullying Little Yu?”

“Quiet.”

Zhuang Huaishu was not only telling Zhuang Ciyue to shut up but also implying that Yu Ruoyin should.

Yu Ruoyin understood Zhuang Huaishu’s hint and subconsciously touched the coffin.

Zhuang Huaishu hadn’t applied the Hallowancer’s runes, and her face still lacked any.

No wonder Zhuang Huaishu and the others dared to chase after the Jade Puppet; they really were very capable. If Xia Yu hadn’t interfered at the time and attacked them with a barrier, they might not have been injured that badly.

Yu Ruoyin gave up the idea of voicing her confusion, especially since she couldn’t speak even if she wanted to.

The paper sedan chair fell silent again until the outside suddenly became noisy.

A burst of clamor flooded her ears. Yu Ruoyin instinctively covered her ears, but still, a lot of sound seeped in.

“Drink! We don’t usually get wine this good!”

“Taste this piece of meat, it’s fragrant!”

“Sister Zhan is generous! How else could we have such a good life, haha!”

“If something goes wrong…”

“Shut your crow’s mouth! What could go wrong? The Ghost Messengers of Yin City are all in our hands! This barrier is…”

“Don’t worry, people outside won’t find out. Even if they do, hehe, they won’t have a good time. None of those Daoists have managed to spread the word. By the time the Underworld reacts, Sister Zhan will have already married her new bride.”

“…”

Yu Ruoyin and the other three exchanged worried glances, sensing that something was terribly wrong.

Bang!

With a loud noise, the paper sedan chair suddenly shattered.

Yu Ruoyin and the others could now see the situation outside. The path leading through the Wannan Courtyard was stacked with tables and wooden chairs. Fresh fruits and incense candles were placed on the tables. What drew Yu Ruoyin’s attention the most were the tables laden with meat. Just one look made Yu Ruoyin’s stomach churn.

The tables were piled with human flesh!

Human flesh!

The meat on some tables was neatly cut, sliced into thin strips with sharp tools and placed on clothing.

Other parts were chopped into chunks. Yu Ruoyin could clearly see intact arms and legs.

Invariably, a human head was placed in the center of every table. Hair mixed with flesh and blood dripped fresh blood downwards. They looked like prime meat for selection, with the central head symbolizing the person’s identity in life, serving as one of the criteria for choosing.

The two tables closest to them held meat that hadn’t been cut yet. Their heads hadn’t been severed, and their clothes had been completely stripped off and laid beneath them on the table. They lay naked on the table, their palms and ankles pierced by long nails, locking them onto the surface. The people were already dead, but their wide-open eyes were still oozing blood.

Upon closer inspection, the cloth beneath them was actually a Daoist robe.

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