I Got My Cheat Skill by Acting My Way into a Horror Protagonist Role Chapter 67

The sky had just begun to brighten when people from both villages started moving about. They clearly took this marriage ceremony very seriously, though occasional flashes of numbness crossed their faces.

There were no festive drums or firecrackers in the village, and neither settlement felt particularly joyful.

Instead, there was a heavy, deathly stillness, as if they were conducting a funeral rather than a wedding.

The tea house door opened, and Liao Fanghua was pushed inside by several middle-aged women, with Grandma Xu following close behind them.

Glancing around the dim, lightless room, the large red bamboo umbrella stood in another corner, concealing the woman in red, with only the hem of her wedding dress visible beneath it.

That chilling sensation seemed to have diminished considerably.

Grandma Xu instinctively felt her method was working and felt a surge of delight. She hypocritically greeted the Ghost Bride, "Did you sleep well last night? You're about to go enjoy your good fortune soon. Why not leave the child behind? We'll look after him for you..."

As she spoke, she approached, her eyes filled with determination to obtain the male infant.

"Speak plainly if you wish to die—"

Hmph, just empty bluster.

Grandma Xu had been genuinely intimidated for a moment and didn't continue forward, a flash of viciousness in her eyes.

Forget it, no need to rush this—

Whether she had resigned herself to fate or something else, Liao Fanghua appeared extremely docile now, allowing the middle-aged women to apply makeup to her face.

These were all the aunts and sisters-in-law she knew well, the people who had watched her grow up.

The bright red wedding dress was naturally extremely beautiful, but when Liao Fanghua wore it, it felt like a blood-stained prisoner's uniform, weighing a thousand pounds.

Her heart was filled only with sorrow and bitter amusement.

But Liao Fanghua soon grew resolute again. She would do as the Ghost Bride had instructed.

She would break this terrifying old custom of feudal superstition, so she could save everyone in the village and ensure such horrifying events would never happen again.

Grandma Xu only left to prepare other arrangements after seeing that both brides were nearly ready.

By almost noon, Liao Fanghua and Xiao Gui'an were escorted out of the tea house by a crowd of people. Since Xiao Gui'an's red veil had transformed into the large red bamboo umbrella, they used the red veil originally intended for the other bride instead.

Once outside, Xiao Gui'an put on quite a performance.

He acted out the drama of a delicate woman unwilling to be separated from her flesh and blood, helpless against the ruthless villagers of this impoverished, treacherous land who forced a woman who had mistakenly come here into marriage, then cruelly snatched away her male infant.

What was in the bamboo basket naturally wasn't the Little Heavenly Master.

Instead, it was an illusion created from hairs Xiao Gui'an had shaved off those well-fed, sleeping foxes last night—taking a little from each one—combined with a white radish.

Foxes who loved to deceive people and use illusions should taste what it felt like to be tricked themselves.

They were surrounded by people from both villages and escorted to the back of the settlement.

Liao Fanghua was pulled aside by Mrs. Liao for a few words.

On the raised platform at the village's rear, Grandma Xu was singing and dancing again, like a shaman conducting a ritual.

The people below stood in bustling crowds, their eyes somewhat vacant, their movements somewhat stiff, as if their souls had been sucked away.

Around ten in the morning, according to the auspicious time they had designated, accompanied by the cry of "Lift the sedan chairs!", two processions grandly set off carrying the bridal chairs.

Most of the sedan chair carriers were middle-aged men from the village, wearing uniform short jackets, fox masks on their faces, and red long silk ribbons tied around their waists.

The bridal chairs were small and square-shaped, making it difficult for anyone sitting inside to stretch their limbs.

A few plump foxes from the village secretly followed along. Even if Xiao Gui'an struggled during daylight hours, dealing with a few miscellaneous fox spirits was more than manageable.

After two or three hours of mountain travel, the wedding procession finally stopped briefly to rest.

Fortunately, they found a relatively shady spot where dense forests allowed almost no sunlight to penetrate.

Waves of yin energy invaded their souls, controlling the entire wedding procession and the few fat foxes, before Xiao Gui'an gently floated out of the small bridal chair.

He thought the bridal chair was actually quite comfortable—completely sealed and dark—though it still couldn't compare to a coffin.

The little Scavenger came bouncing out from beside the forest, its dense tentacles wrapped around the bamboo basket containing the peacefully sleeping Chosen One of Fate.

There was absolutely no way Xiao Gui'an would carry the Chosen One of Fate inside the bridal chair.

Fortunately, the little Scavenger seemed to have recovered quite well and could follow them undetected along the way.

Then the little Scavenger opened its large mouth full of sharp teeth and spat out luggage covered in sticky mucus, with faint tooth marks barely visible.

Xiao Gui'an: ...

He had the little Scavenger obediently hide elsewhere to avoid accidentally frightening Liao Fanghua later.

He raised his hand to clean the young woman's backpack and luggage slightly, though regarding the tooth marks, he could only pray she wouldn't discover them too quickly.

"Swish—"

The bridal chair curtain was lifted, and the red silk threads binding Liao Fanghua were untied.

Liao Fanghua quickly removed the troublesome hair accessories and bracelets from her body, then changed out of her bright red wedding dress and put on sports shoes.

See no evil—

Hear no evil—

Xiao Gui'an turned all the controlled people to face away from Liao Fanghua.

With the red veil covering his head and unable to see anything, Xiao Gui'an silently floated further away, his hearing almost completely blocked.

After she finished changing, Xiao Gui'an snapped his fingers, and eerie ghost flames completely burned the unlucky wedding dress.

"Wow—"

This display brought expressions of admiration and worship to Liao Fanghua's eyes. "Sister, you're amazing."

Xiao Gui'an accepted this praise quite comfortably, then handed Liao Fanghua three cut red paper figures he had made last night, infused with considerable yin energy that could protect her when she encountered danger.

He had gotten the inspiration from the ghostly old woman on the sixth floor, though his cutting skills were somewhat crude.

The three little red paper figures appeared somewhat crooked and lopsided, then twisted their bodies and bounced into Liao Fanghua's pocket.

"They'll protect you until you leave this place."

"Do you recognize this route? Do you need me to accompany you further?"

Facing the Ghost Bride's concern, Liao Fanghua gently shook her head. "No need, I know where this is."

"It's not far from where I usually go to catch the bus. I can make it on my own—"

After experiencing such changes, the young woman seemed to have matured considerably overnight, her expression showing determination.

"You and the baby should leave quickly too! Don't stay in this place!"

Liao Fanghua clearly didn't know the Ghost Bride's true intentions.

After all, foxes definitely gathered together in groups, and a lone ghost bride with a child shouldn't confront them directly.

The girl with the childlike face also understood that after today's parting, they might never meet again in this lifetime. She secretly wiped her tears and tried hard to smile at the Ghost Bride. "Thank you, sister!—"

"Go on, study well." The Ghost Bride replied softly, still appearing gentle and calm as during their first meeting, unlike a cold corpse.

The living always had to walk their own paths. Although she was already a yin ghost who shouldn't be wandering the human world, she still hoped the girl before her could find happiness.

Floating there until Liao Fanghua's figure disappeared from sight, Xiao Gui'an couldn't bear it any longer and immediately shrank back into the enclosed bridal chair. As for the bride in the other sedan chair—

he let the little Scavenger rest there for a while.

As the yin energy dispersed, everyone's consciousness cleared again, feeling as if they had unconsciously dozed off momentarily. They didn't suspect anything amiss and lifted the sedan chairs to continue walking.

After winding deeper into the mountains for quite some time, mist began to spread around them, and the forest grew more secluded and damp, with almost no human trails.

Several sedan chair carriers put down the two bridal chairs and left the area. After a while, numerous foxes emerged rustling from the tall bushes, chattering noisily as they replaced the carriers.

After carrying the bridal chairs for a considerable distance, they arrived at a sealed cliff face. Gently pushing aside the vines growing there revealed a tightly shut stone door.

Their den wasn't simply deep in the mountains, but rather in a special spatial cave, similar to those naturally formed cultivation grottos.

The fox spirits appeared jubilant, swaggering as they carried the bridal chairs inside.

The heavy, ancient stone wall door closed shut with a heavy thud, and the vines automatically drooped down again, leaving no one aware that this was a demon's cultivation grotto.

Down the mountain—

In the incredibly deep black soil, within an enormous underground cavern, a white skeleton wearing tattered armor that had died long ago gently stirred, as if sensing something, its empty eye sockets glowing with an eerie light.

Behind it stood a dense mountain of corpses, so numerous one couldn't see the end at a glance.