On this extrely quiet, even deathly silent street, a piercing suona sound suddenly rang out, followed imdiately by the beating of drums and gongs. The lody was exceptionally loud and lively, unmistakably the tune for a wedding procession.
Sure enough, at the street corner ahead, a wedding procession slowly erged. Leading the way was a groom riding a tall horse. The groom was dressed in bright red attire, with a hat adorned with gold and jade, and a smile spread across his face.
Following him were attendants, also on horseback, chatting and laughing with the groom, presumably friends and relatives. Behind them were people carrying flags, holding parasols, waving fans, all gathered at the front half of the wedding procession.
In the middle was the band of drumrs and gong players. At the very end was the bridal sedan chair, carried by eight n.
Such a display surely indicated a wealthy family’s wedding.
"Strange, who would hold a wedding procession at dusk?"
Fan Wubing grew suspicious and retreated to the side with Fu Manman, watching silently as the wedding procession passed by.
Apart from the odd timing, the wedding procession was impeccable in every other respect. As they passed by Fan Wubing and Fu Manman, they even handed out red envelopes as tokens for allowing them to pass.
Fu Manman remarked,
"That groom, his makeup looks a bit odd."
Fan Wubing nodded,
"Too heavily adorned, not quite like a man’s makeup. And his smile, it seems fake."
"It gives the feeling of looking at a portrait."
These words sent an inexplicable chill down Fan Wubing’s spine.
At this mont, another piercing suona sound ca from behind. The two hurriedly looked and saw that at so unknown ti, on the road they had just walked, a funeral procession had appeared. Judging by the scale, it was a grand affair, led by "path-clearing ghosts" holding banners, followed by a pair of cymbals, a group of musicians, several official plaques, a red ceremonial hall, a soul-returning bridge... All the underworld paraphernalia were present, followed by relatives and friends of the deceased, guests, paper effigies, mourners... And then the coffin-carrying team, a luxurious coffin borne by 48 n.
This scale also suggested a family of wealth and status.
The two processions, one red and one white, collided just like that.
Usually, when a wedding and a funeral procession intersect, the funeral procession would make way for the wedding. But judging by the scale, the funeral family seed wealthier than the wedding family. Neither side was willing to give way, thus they blocked each other on the street.
"A collision between a wedding and a funeral?" Fu Manman felt uneasy.
Fan Wubing furrowed his eyebrows,
"Sothing’s wrong, this isn’t normal. Both weddings and funerals are supposed to take place in the morning, not dusk. Funerals at dusk are only for those who died a violent death, but they wouldn’t parade so openly."
"What about those having a wedding at dusk?"
Fan Wubing swallowed hard,
"A wedding at dusk is ant for a yin marriage. But even yin marriages wouldn’t be this ostentatious."
Suddenly he felt an extrely unfamiliar, extraordinarily oppressive "qi", his pupils contracted sharply, and he said urgently,
"Manman, we must leave here quickly!"
"Alright!"
The two hastily moved, but just as they sped up.
The tension between the red and white processions suddenly erupted. What followed was an intense quarrel and shoving match. People shouted, horses neighed, the sedan chair swayed, and the coffin shook. The musicians in both processions played with greater fury, the mix of the wedding and funeral tunes echoed, casting a bizarre and terrifying ambiance on the entire street.
At monts like this, it seed even the distant sun found it unbearable to witness, hurriedly setting beyond the horizon.
What was twilight a mont ago now descended into the dark of night.
The street was not wide, and as the commotion ensued, both the way forward and back were imdiately blocked. Fan Wubing and Fu Manman were pushed into the crowd, and upon contact with the people in the red and white processions, they instantly felt a chill.
"They have no body temperature, no body temperature at all!"
Fan Wubing shouted to Fu Manman,
"Get out quickly!"
Fu Manman did not panic and was about to use her spells to disperse the crowd.
"Cold wave!"
As soon as she invoked her divine technique, before the immortal qi within her could be stirred up, she was suddenly grabbed by the hand. At the mont she was grabbed, dizziness overtook her mind, nausea swirled in her abdon, as if she had spun around hundreds of tis. The qi within her imdiately scattered.
"No, they’ve caught , there’s a strange feeling, I can’t control my qi!"
"They’re targeting us. We must break free quickly."
Fan Wubing’s Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill was still operational, and from his perception, these people, every single one of them, were shrouded in a "black aura", identical to the "black aura" on the grass carp that tortoiseshell cat stole earlier. This "black aura" was also felt on the Umbrella Demon.
Demons? Are all these people demons?
Each was heavily made up, with only two colors on their faces, extre white and extre pink. Their clothes were impeccably clean, with not a speck of dust. They all reached out, tightly grabbing Fan Wubing and Fu Manman.
Fan Wubing forcibly used the "Blood Burning Skill" to convert his cultivation, but soon discovered that the converted cultivation, like Fu Manman’s, couldn’t operate.
After sensing for a mont, he realized it was the "black qi" causing trouble! These people had attached the "black qi" to his and Fu Manman’s body surfaces, preventing the celestial qi within from moving outward.
Without relying on cultivation, rely the strength of the physical body was not enough to break free from them.
Oh no!
Fan Wubing clenched his teeth... What on earth is going on with these guys?
At this mont, the master of ceremonies in the bridal procession suddenly shouted,
"The bride has been welcod, set off now!"
Bride?
Who is the bride?
Struggling, Fan Wubing lifted his head to look and was startled to find Fu Manman being pushed into a grand sedan chair by a crowd.
He hadn’t reacted yet when he heard the master of ceremonies in the funeral procession shout,
"The deceased enters the coffin, set off now!"
Imdiately after, he was pushed into a coffin that had been opened in advance. The coffin lid was covered, and a hamr was taken up to nail in the coffin nails forcefully, sealing it shut.
The entire process took no more than two or three breaths of ti.
As Fan Wubing was sent into the coffin and Fu Manman into the grand sedan, the two red and white processions seed to imdiately reach an understanding, not making noise or fighting, each taking their own path along the Bright Way and across the Bridge of Helplessness.
It was pitch black, cold, like lying in a pool of rotting mud.
Inside the coffin, it was extrely cramped. Fan Wubing couldn’t stretch his limbs, couldn’t exert much strength, let alone push open the coffin lid.
And that "black qi" within the coffin was even denser, filling every corner, suppressing his cultivation completely, preventing him from using qi.
At this mont, it was as if he had been bound by chains, restricting all his ridians.
"Hey! What’s wrong with you guys!"
Fan Wubing shouted towards the outside.
But what responded to him were only the sounds of suona, drums, and the wailing of mourning descendants.
Damn! What on earth is happening?
Fan Wubing gritted his teeth tightly. He rembered he still had a Profound Level low-quality Substitution Talisman, which he received after completing the Lake Demon’s commission. It was his only life-saving asure now. If it really doesn’t work... he’d have to use it.
But to use it so inexplicably, there was so reluctance.
He used the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill to force himself to calm down, then checked his own condition.
He hadn’t lost blood, and the "tongue lust" didn’t react, indicating that he hadn’t entered any abnormal state. Yet, he couldn’t manifest the cultivation converted by the Blood Burning Skill.
That "black qi" seed able to stop the functioning of cultivation.
Could he use "Swallowing Stars and Chewing Moon" to absorb this "black qi"? He tried and found it impossible! Because this "black qi" belonged to soone, and this "master" wasn’t weak, holding the "black qi" tightly, making it difficult to directly absorb.
He had no choice but to use the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill to further sense and observe.
He closed his eyes, focusing all his senses on the qi perception of the Unwarranted Qi Creation Skill.
Besides the "black qi" pervading around him, making him uncomfortable and wanting to escape... he didn’t sense any other qi.
But this result actually made him realize sothing.
Every person, regardless of being alive or dead, has a "qi chanism." The living have life qi, the dead have cold death qi.
But the people outside the coffin had neither life qi nor death qi.
They were like stones randomly found along the roadside.
Recalling that they had no body warmth, heavily painted faces with white base and powder, no blood color, and their unusually clean and strangely tailored clothes.
Could it be?
Fan Wubing suddenly rembered so picture storybooks he had read on Enlightennt Peak when he was idle.
They said there were all kinds of bizarre spells in the mortal world, including the so-called "Paper Folding Technique." A mortal folds paper into paper figures, while an immortal can fold paper that can pass for real.
Could it be that this mysteriously appearing so-called red and white procession was actually transford from paper figures?
Fan Wubing suddenly realized.
This kind of explanation did make all those strange features understandable!
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