Chapter 56

In the pitch-black mansion, a red lantern floated over, emitting a crimson glow. Strangely, its light seemed to be sealed within the cage, unable to illuminate the surroundings.

The lantern floated to the entrance and stopped in front of Zhang Yuanqing. Only a threshold separated him from the red lantern.

Zhang Yuanqing could clearly sense that there was a ghost behind the threshold, a ghost that was eerie and sinister. However, no matter how intently he stared, he could not see the ghost's appearance in the darkness.

He silently summoned the power of the Great Yin, ready to devour the spirit at any moment.

Night Roaming Spirits naturally suppress spirits, provided that the spirits' level does not exceed their own.

In the darkness, a hand reached out. Zhang Yuanqing, with the faint red light, saw that it was a hand with greenish-black skin and black, sinister nails.

This ghostly hand held a stack of red-covered name cards, seemingly offering them to Zhang Yuanqing.

Zhang Yuanqing did not take them, and the ghostly hand continued to extend them. They were at an impasse, as if they were in a standoff.

After a long time, Xi Shi, with a trembling voice, whispered, "Wang Tai?"

She saw Wang Tai standing stiffly, fearing that he might unknowingly trigger a crisis and be gone.

Sigh, whether he stretches his head or retracts it, it's all the same... Zhang Yuanqing reluctantly took the name cards, and the greenish-black hand immediately withdrew. Then, the red lantern floated away, returning to the depths of the mansion.

Zhang Yuanqing stepped down from the threshold and returned to his teammates, raising the name cards in his hand:

"There are five in total, and they seem to be for us."

He distributed the name cards to his teammates. They unfolded them, and on the red background with black letters, it read the bride's name and her birth date, while the groom's side was blank.

The bride's name was "Bai Lan."

A prompt echoed in their ears:

[Ding! You have received a ghost bride's wedding invitation. Please write your name, and the ghost bride will choose a groom in one hour.]

Write your name, and the ghost bride will choose a groom in one hour?

What would happen if the ghost bride chose someone? The team members held the wedding invitations, their thoughts racing.

Zhang Yuanqing, who had introduced himself dishonestly and used Wang Tai's name, was now conflicted. Should he write "Yuan Shitianzun" or "Wang Tai"?

He couldn't determine if writing a fake name would result in punishment.

As he pondered how to fill in the name, Zhang Yuanqing's mind stirred, and he looked at his companions:

"Do you remember the introduction to the amusement park? An indescribable being came here and asked the spirits in the park to help find a young man, whose name was four characters long."

Xi Shi and the others certainly remembered, but they didn't understand why he mentioned this.

Xie Lingxi, the quickest thinker, glanced at the wedding invitation in her hand, "You mean, there might be a connection between these two..."

The young girl followed this line of thought and her face changed slightly: "The indescribable being asked the ghost bride to find a young man, and she is asking us to write our names. Does this mean the bride in the haunted house is looking for a Spirit Realm Walker?"

"How could that be..." Xi Shi looked stunned.

They had experienced many Spirit Realm instances, and usually, the introduction of the Spirit Realm was just background information, telling you what kind of place it was and what had happened there.

It was just to help Spirit Realm Walkers quickly understand the instance.

Before this, they thought the indescribable being was looking for a character or even a monster in the Spirit Realm, not a "player."

A mere Spirit Realm Walker, how could they change the nature of a Spirit Realm?

"This is just a coincidence, right? Since it's a ghost marriage, it makes sense to write names." Qi Tian Dasheng frowned.

No, it's not a coincidence. The old guide didn't mention wedding invitations, and this appeared only after the Spirit Realm changed. Combined with the introduction, I don't believe there's no connection... Zhang Yuanqing was on high alert.

He couldn't shake the feeling that the information in the Spirit Realm introduction was strangely familiar.

"Zi zi... that day, she came to Jinshui Amusement Park..."

Suddenly, the Cat King speaker in Zhang Yuanqing's pocket made a sound.

Everyone looked at his pocket, but the speaker fell silent.

Why did it stop? This speaker is weird... Zhang Yuanqing waited a few more seconds, but the speaker remained silent. He then said:

"Let's fill in our names."

He unfolded the wedding invitation and tried to write "Wang Tai" with his finger.

He thought, since the spirits in the haunted house required them to write their names, it meant they couldn't see the true IDs of the Spirit Realm Walkers. Otherwise, the wedding invitation would be unnecessary.

Therefore, it was reasonable to assume that the instance allowed Spirit Realm Walkers to disguise their IDs, though it wasn't explicitly stated and required them to deduce it.

Actually, writing "Yuan Shitianzun" would be fine, but it might cause a trust crisis among the team... Zhang Yuanqing thought, and then saw the black characters formed by his finger:

Wang Tai.

Next, he fabricated his birth date and gender, though he didn't lie about the gender.

The four teammates followed suit, using their fingers to write.

Xie Lingxi tiptoed and timidly peeked at Zhang Yuanqing's wedding invitation, then wrote her name and, after a moment's hesitation, filled in "male" for the gender.

After writing the wedding invitations, Zhang Yuanqing put them in his pocket and stepped over the threshold, saying:

"Let's go in, and it's best to follow me."

Seeing his teammates' tense faces, he tried to lighten the mood: "I have a strong birth date, so even female ghosts have to consider maternity leave when they see me."

Everyone: "......" Are you really that brave or just fearless? There's a real ghost bride in there.

Is this joke not funny enough? Zhang Yuanqing glanced at their faces and stopped talking, silently entering the mansion.

Behind the threshold was the outer courtyard, quite large, with a stone path in the middle and corridors along the outer walls.

As they crossed the threshold, the red lanterns under the eaves of the corridors lit up eerily, adding a deep red hue to the dark night. The red lanterns seemed like crimson eyes, quietly watching the newcomers.

At the end of the stone path was a grand hall with upturned eaves, the latticed doors tightly closed, and a dim yellow light shining through.

"Hmm..." Just as they crossed the threshold, Zhang Yuanqing's eyes brightened: "Check if your skills and item slots are sealed."

Fire Demon and the others were taken aback, sensing their skills or checking their item slots, and were pleasantly surprised to find that their abilities and items were not sealed in this mission.

They were both relieved and worried. Relieved because they had some confidence in facing danger, but worried because the openness of items and skills suggested that the haunted house was extremely dangerous.

Led by Zhang Yuanqing, they moved forward slowly, the only sound in the silent night being their footsteps.

"Aah~"

Just as they were fully focused, a sudden scream startled them.

Fire Demon angrily turned around, glaring at Xi Shi, and shouted, "What are you screaming about?"

Xi Shi's face was pale, and she pointed at the corridor about ten meters away, trembling, "T-there, under the lantern, there's a woman..."

Everyone turned abruptly, but saw only the high-hanging lanterns, no ghostly figure.

This incident made the already nervous four even more tense.

Zhang Yuanqing was relatively calm. He had experienced a ghostly instance before and, as a Night Roaming Spirit, no longer felt the deep-seated fear of ghosts.

To him, ghosts were no different from Transformers.

The heavy ghostly aura and pervasive yin energy in the mansion might dull his senses, making it hard to detect weak or distant spirits, but he could now use the Spirit Suppressing Mace, so he wasn't afraid of the ghost bride... While calming the team, he led them forward.

"Have you noticed that the instance only mentioned the ghost bride choosing a groom in one hour?"

Blind fear was meaningless, so he used information to distract his teammates and ease their emotions: "My thought is that our actions and behavior in the next hour will be the criteria for the ghost bride to choose a groom.

"I just don't know if being chosen as the groom means survival or death... Also, the yin energy here is very heavy, harboring many dangers. We might not last an hour."

I wonder if the ghost bride is a beauty seeker. If so, as the most handsome person in the team, I'm under a lot of pressure...

Soon, they reached the grand hall, and Zhang Yuanqing pushed open the tightly closed latticed doors.

"Creak~"

The ear-piercing sound echoed in the night.

Inside the hall, candles were lit, a red carpet was laid on the ground, and red cloth hung from the pillars. At the end of the red carpet were two armchairs, a table with candles and fruits, and a red "喜" (happiness) character on the wall.

On both sides of the red carpet stood about seven or eight paper figures, dressed in ancient servant attire, with lifelike features and crimson, slightly upturned lips.

The most eerie part was that their heads were twisted at strange angles, their hollow eyes staring at the entrance, watching the team as they entered.

Thump thump thump... Xie Lingxi, terrified, stepped back, her hand covering her mouth to prevent a scream.

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill run down his spine.

Not from fear, but because these paper figures were all ghosts...

After a careful sensing, he sighed. They were all minor spirits.

I might be helpless against the ghost bride, but for you minor spirits to act so arrogantly in front of me is too much! Zhang Yuanqing summoned the power of the Great Yin, his eyes darkening. He took a deep breath and shouted:

"Scram!"

The paper figures in the hall fell to the ground, a gust of yin wind blowing, and the faint sound of ghostly wails as they scattered in all directions.

Xi Shi, Xie Lingxi, Fire Demon, and Qi Tian Dasheng were stunned by the sight.