Nanfeng gestured for them to continue. Xie Lian said, “He’s singing.”

Fuyun asked, “What’s he singing?”

Listening carefully to the child’s voice, Xie Lian repeated it slowly, word by word: “New bride, new bride, new bride in the red palanquin…”

In the quiet night, his slightly delayed voice was crystal clear. It was clearly him reciting, but the eight officers heard a childish voice singing this strange little song along with him, making their hearts tremble with fear.

Xie Lian continued, “Tears streaming, over the mountain pass, under the veil, don’t… let your smile show… ghost groom… ghost groom? Or something?”

He paused, “No. It’s laughing, I can’t hear clearly.”

Nanfeng frowned, “What do you mean?”

Xie Lian said, “Literal meaning. It’s telling the bride in the palanquin to cry, not laugh.”

Nanfeng said, “I mean, what does this thing mean by reminding you?”

Fuyun, as always, had a different opinion. “It might not be a reminder. It could be doing the opposite, that laughing is safe, but its purpose is to trick people into crying. Perhaps previous brides fell for this trick.”

Xie Lian said, “Fuyun, an ordinary bride hearing this on the road would be scared to death, let alone laugh. Besides, whether I cry or laugh, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Fuyun said, “Being abducted.”

Xie Lian said, “Isn’t that our purpose tonight?”

Fuyun snorted but didn’t argue further. Xie Lian said, “Also, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Nanfeng said, “What is it?”

Xie Lian said, “I’ve been smiling since I got into the palanquin.”

“…”

As soon as he finished speaking, the palanquin suddenly lurched!

The eight officers outside were suddenly in an uproar. The palanquin came to a complete stop. Nanfeng shouted, “Don’t panic!”

Xie Lian slightly raised his head, “What’s wrong?”

Fuyun said calmly, “Nothing much. Just encountered a pack of beasts.”

As soon as he finished, Xie Lian heard a series of piercing howls tearing through the night sky.

A pack of wolves blocking the path!

Xie Lian found this unusual. “Is it common for wolf packs to appear in Junshan Mountain?”

A bearer outside replied, “Never heard of it! This can’t be Junshan Mountain!”

Xie Lian raised an eyebrow, “Hmm, then we’re in the right place.”

The wolves couldn’t defeat Nanfeng and Fuyun, nor the battle-hardened officers. They had been pondering the eerie song, so they were caught off guard. Pairs of green wolf eyes lit up the dark forest, and hungry wolves slowly emerged from the forest, surrounding them. But compared to the unseen and intangible thing, these visible and tangible beasts were much easier to deal with. Everyone prepared to fight. However, the best was yet to come. Following the wolves, a strange sound, neither beast nor human, arose.

An officer exclaimed, “What… what is that?! What is it?!”

Nanfeng cursed. Xie Lian knew something was wrong. He tried to stand up, “What’s wrong now?”

Nanfeng immediately said, “Don’t come out!”

As Xie Lian raised his hand, the palanquin shook violently, as if something had grabbed onto the door. Without lowering his head, he slightly lowered his gaze, and through the gap in the veil, he saw a black nape.

It had climbed into the palanquin!

The thing crashed into the door, but was immediately pulled out by someone outside. Nanfeng cursed in front of the palanquin, “Damn it, it’s a bì nǔ!”

Hearing “bì nǔ,” Xie Lian knew it was trouble.

In Lingwen Temple’s judgment, bì nǔ were things that didn’t even deserve an “evil” rating.

It was said that bì nǔ were originally human, but now, even if they were human, they were deformed. They had heads and faces, but they were blurry; they had hands and feet, but they couldn’t walk upright; they had mouths and teeth, but they couldn’t bite people to death. However, if given a choice, people would rather encounter a more terrifying “evil” or “severe” than this.

Because bì nǔ often appeared with other demons and ghosts. While the prey was fighting the enemy, they would suddenly appear, using their clinging limbs, sticky fluids, and endless companions, like chewing gum, to entangle the prey. Although their combat power was low, they were extremely tenacious and often appeared in groups, making it impossible to shake them off or quickly kill them. Gradually, the prey would be exhausted, tripped, and at some point, become careless, giving the enemy a chance to strike.

After the prey was killed by other demons and ghosts, the bì nǔ would happily pick up the leftover limbs and eat them.

This was truly disgusting. Celestial officials, with a flash of divine light and a wave of their weapons, could naturally scare them away, but for mid-level officials, these things were very troublesome. Fuyou said disgustedly from afar, “I hate these things the most! Lingwen Temple didn’t mention these?”

Xie Lian said, “No.”

Fuyou said, “What’s the use of knowing!”

Xie Lian asked, “How many are there?”

Nanfeng said, “Over a hundred, maybe more! Don’t come out!”

The more bì nǔ there were, the stronger they became. More than ten were difficult to deal with. Over a hundred? They could easily drag them to death. They usually lived in densely populated areas. Xie Lian didn’t expect so many to be in Junshan Mountain. He paused, slightly raising his arm, revealing a small section of his bandaged wrist.

He said, “Go.”

As soon as these two words came out, the white cloth suddenly slipped from his wrist, as if alive, flying out from the palanquin curtain.

Xie Lian sat calmly in the palanquin, saying softly, “Strangle.”

In the darkness, a white shadow darted out like a venomous snake.

The white cloth, disguised as a bandage on Xie Lian’s wrist, seemed only a few feet long, but as it flew like a ghostly lightning bolt among the fighting crowd, it seemed endless. With a series of crisp sounds, dozens of wolves and bì nǔ had their necks instantly strangled!

The six bì nǔ clinging to Nanfeng were instantly killed and fell to the ground. He struck down a wolf with a palm strike, but he wasn’t relieved, and unbelievably said to the palanquin, “What was that?! You said you didn’t have spiritual power to control magical artifacts?!”

Xie Lian said, “There are always exceptions…”

Nanfeng was furious and slapped the palanquin door, “Xie Lian! Explain, what was that?! Is it…”

His slap nearly broke the palanquin. Xie Lian had to hold onto the door, slightly stunned. Nanfeng’s tone reminded him of Fengxin’s anger. Before Nanfeng could speak further, cries of the officers came from afar. Fuyou said coldly, “Deal with this first!”

Nanfeng had no choice but to go to help. Xie Lian quickly recovered, “Nanfeng, Fuyun, you go first.”

Nanfeng turned back, “What?”

Xie Lian said, “If you surround the palanquin, more things will keep coming. It’s endless. Go first. I’ll deal with the groom.”

Nanfeng was about to scold him, “You alone…” but Fuyou said coldly, “He can control that cloth, he won’t be in danger for a while. It’s better to deal with these first, then come back to help. I’m going.”