Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The two of them got ready in a hurry, and Xu Muchan grabbed a box of local specialties he'd brought back from Yundong, holding it like a proper gift as they headed to the Xu residence together.

It was already quite late by then, but the Xu household was still lively because they'd invited a group of eminent masters and experts.

Xu Muchan entered carrying the get-well gifts, braving the stares from every direction.

Because guests had arrived, Xu Qingming dragged himself out of bed despite being sick and was downstairs talking with people in the living room. Judging by his haggard appearance, he was indeed unwell—he had to stop and catch his breath every few words. Xu Wangchuan stood beside Xu Qingming, patting his back, looking concerned, to help him catch his breath.

Xu Zhifei sat at the other end of the sofa, still dressed impeccably, but her face was haggard in a way even thick makeup couldn't hide. Her gaze wasn't on Xu Qingming and his son, but fixed on empty space, staring off into space, dazed.

She didn't seem to snap out of it until Xu Muchan stepped forward. When she saw it was him, she looked a little flustered: "Why are you back all of a sudden?"

Xu Muchan trotted out his prepared excuse: "Xu Wangchuan said Dad was sick, so I came back to check on him."

He handed over the gifts he'd brought, pretending to casually look around the room. Once he confirmed Cui Tong wasn't there, he asked, trying to sound casual: "What happened? Why are there so many people here?"

Xu Zhifei set the gifts aside, glanced nervously over at Xu Wangchuan, who was still talking to someone, then turned around and started gently shoving Xu Muchan toward the door, lowering her voice: "Your father is fine. Don't stick your nose into family business. It's late—you should head back and get some rest."

Xu Muchan had come for Cui Tong, and since he hadn't gathered any information yet, he wasn't about to leave just like that.

He didn't budge and asked in a low voice: "Is the God of Joy out?"

Xu Zhifei flinched, her face going even paler, as if she'd heard something horrible. She held her breath and whipped her head around in a panic.

Just then, Xu Wangchuan seemed to notice the ruckus and turned around. When he saw Xu Muchan, he broke into a grin and said: "Muchan, you're finally back."

That smile made Xu Muchan's skin crawl. Xu Muchan frowned and nodded at him, barely going through the motions.

But Xu Wangchuan kept his eyes on him.

Just then, Xu Zhifei suddenly spoke: "Aren't you curious about what's happened at home? It's hard to explain—come with me, and I'll show you."

Earlier, she'd been unwilling to say a word and had urged Xu Muchan to leave quickly. But now she was suddenly willing to talk. Yet her eyes stayed down, refusing to meet his.

She moved stiffly, walking with her head down toward the room Xu Muchan used to stay in, not even bothering to see if he was following.

Xu Muchan traded a look with Wei Xilou and followed.

Xu Zhifei stopped at the door of Xu Muchan's old room. She cracked the door open but blocked it with her body, keeping her head down, she said, "Take a look yourself."

Only after saying this did she step aside.

Xu Muchan stared at the dark crack, barely a hand's width wide, and for some reason, an intense curiosity welled up in him. Without even glancing back at Wei Xilou, he pushed the door open and stepped in, almost eagerly.

The room was pitch-black, no lights on, so dark he could barely see—as if even the faint moonlight from outside had been blocked out.

Xu Muchan took two more steps before he realized why there wasn't a single sliver of light: it was packed wall-to-wall with people. They packed the once-roomy bedroom so full they even blocked the windows, so of course not a speck of light could get in.

These people had been standing with their backs to Xu Muchan, but upon hearing his footsteps, they all craned their heads around a full one-eighty in perfect sync, staring straight at him, they said in unison: "Welcome home, Xu Muchan. I've been looking for you for ages."

Xu Muchan's foggy mind snapped to attention, and he instinctively took a step back.

The room was crammed with people, every single one wearing his exact face.

Xu Muchan spun around and bolted, only then noticing how eerily silent the hallway outside had gone. Xu Zhifei and his brother had disappeared without a trace, and the faint voices from the living room had faded away at some point too.

The pitch-black hallway stretched out like a bottomless, shadowy cave.

"Brother, where'd you go? You were gone the second I turned around."

Xu Muchan came sprinting from one end of the hallway, out of breath, grabbing Wei Xilou's arm, his face pale with fright.

Wei Xilou reached out to brush the sweat-damp hair from the boy's temple, but then stopped, asking: "Why'd you run off again? Where'd you go just now?"

Xu Muchan caught his breath, glancing back at the dark hallway with lingering fear: "I saw a ton of people in that room—all of them with my face. Scared the hell out of me."

Wei Xilou frowned, eyes locked on him: "Must be a hallucination."

Xu Muchan shook his head: "It felt way too real. Didn't seem like a hallucination."

Wei Xilou seemed stumped too: "Take me to look."

Xu Muchan nodded and tugged his arm, heading back the way they'd come. Halfway there, they ran smack into Cui Tong.

Seeing them, Cui Tong hesitated, then came over with a big smile: "You two trapped here too? This place is messed up—I've been going in circles for ages before finally running into two living souls. Why don't we team up? Safer that way."

Wei Xilou glanced at Xu Muchan, a slight smile tugging at his lips, and said: "Sure."

Cui Tong was a real chatterbox. Seeing Wei Xilou agree, he eagerly fell into step and started chatting: "How'd you two end up in this godforsaken place?"

Wei Xilou said: "Madam Xu said she'd show us something, and the second the door opened, we ended up here."

Cui Tong said: "Same here. I went into a room to check for anything off, and next thing I knew, I was here. This villa's full of weird quirks, like a maze—seems like every room can randomly lead somewhere else."

As he talked, he kept watching Xu Muchan out of the corner of his eye. He asked casually: "Why's this young friend so quiet? You look kind of familiar—are you a Xu by any chance?"

Xu Muchan said, "Yeah."

Cui Tong asked again: "Ever been to Yundong, young friend?"

Xu Muchan nodded again.

Cui Tong grew more and more certain this was the Heaven-born child from all those years ago. He'd taken the kid to Leigong Village and was supposed to keep an eye on him, but he'd run into some trouble along the way. By the time he got free and went back, the kid was already in high school.

Before he could come up with a plan, he heard the Xu family had suddenly tracked the boy down and taken him back to Jiangcheng.

Cui Tong decided to deal with the trouble on his hands first before heading to Jiangcheng to find him.

Seeing how openly the young man answered every question, Cui Tong's eyes gleamed with cunning—totally unaware that the other man was watching him with a dark, unreadable look.

Wei Xilou suddenly asked: "You've been to Yundong as well?"

Cui Tong chuckled: "As a cultivator, I'm used to traveling far and wide. I stayed in Yundong for a bit."

With that, he handed Wei Xilou a business card and said: "My surname's Cui, given name Tong. I know a thing or two about ghosts and spirits. If you ever run into trouble you can't handle, feel free to reach out."

Wei Xilou took the card, looked at it for a moment, and said: "Cui Tong. I'll remember that."

Cui Tong nodded, then turned back to Xu Muchan, keeping up the questioning.

Just then, Wei Xilou suddenly said: "I've lost my brother, and I'm worried about him. Why don't you two chat for a bit? I'll go find him first."

This suited Cui Tong perfectly—having an extra person around would just be a nuisance. But to keep up appearances, Cui Tong still made a show of being polite: "Where'd your brother get separated? Why don't we all go look for him together?"

But Wei Xilou didn't even bother to respond, already a good distance away in the blink of an eye.

Cui Tong turned to Xu Muchan and saw him staring hard in the direction Wei Xilou had gone. He patted Xu Muchan's shoulder with a friendly smile and said: "Student Xu, come with me. Your father paid a pretty penny to bring me here—I'll get you out safe. Don't be scared."

*

The corridor was long and deep, and Xu Muchan kept running forward, while those things with the same face as him chased after him like flies, impossible to shake.

Xu Muchan ran while scanning his surroundings, and when he passed a familiar door, he abruptly pushed it open and hid inside.

It was his room again.

Xu Muchan knew the layout here blind. He felt his way in the dark, climbed onto the cabinet, lay down, covered his mouth and nose, slowed his breathing. The next second, those things swarmed in like locusts.

Although they had faces identical to Xu Muchan's, their limbs were far less agile than a human's. If not for that, Xu Muchan couldn't have outrun these monsters even with extra legs.

After entering the room, they started spinning in circles, like they knew Xu Muchan was here but couldn't pinpoint him.

Xu Muchan glanced at the open door, and while most of the monsters crowded the far side of the bedroom, he hopped off the cabinet and bolted without looking back. But he was going too fast and didn't watch the corner, and ended up crashing into someone.

"What's with the reckless running?" Wei Xilou caught him.

His brother's voice rang in his ear, and Xu Muchan abruptly looked up. At the same time, the monsters behind him caught up, and countless identical faces all turned to look at Wei Xilou at once.

Xu Muchan shot a glance back and gritted out, "Brother, I'm the real deal!"

Wei Xilou let out a faint laugh: "Achan, how do you plan to prove you're the real one?"

Xu Muchan stared at him, satisfied that he could tell them apart, and without saying a word, grabbed his arm and took off running. Only after they'd run a long way with no footsteps behind them did Xu Muchan stop, finally catching his breath.

"Where did you go?" Wei Xilou asked.

Xu Muchan said, "After I entered the room, I found it was packed with monsters that looked exactly like me. When I turned around, both my mom and you were gone."

Wei Xilou answered, seemingly off-topic: "Did you make a deal with the God of Joy or something?"

Xu Muchan was stunned: "...I did. I lost a game to it and pulled off its veil. These monsters look like me—is that related?"

Wei Xilou said, "As far as I know, everyone who lifted the God of Joy's veil ended up becoming part of it. Do you even remember what it looked like?"

Xu Muchan shook his head: "I can't remember. Not long after I lifted the veil, I got sold to Cui Tong. I guess that's also why I dodged that bullet."

"So the God of Joy couldn't devour you, so it took your face instead."

Wei Xilou frowned hard, his expression grim: "Let's go find it. Maybe we'll catch a good show along the way."

Xu Muchan let himself be led forward, and when he saw him reach for the door, he quickly spoke up: "These doors lead to who knows where. If we're unlucky, we might run right into those monsters..."

Wei Xilou gave his hand a reassuring squeeze: "Achan, just follow me."

Seeing how sure he looked, Xu Muchan actually shut up and let him lead him through one door after another.

Wei Xilou didn't know this place either, but he seemed to have a way of figuring out where they were. After opening another door and stepping in, he stopped by the door and put a finger to his lips.

The door was left open a crack, about a hand wide, and the two pressed against the wall by the gap, just able to see the corridor through it.

Xu Muchan peeked out and spotted Cui Tong. Beside Cui Tong was someone else—the monster wearing Xu Muchan's face.

Xu Muchan's eyes went wide, but his spot was further in with a limited view, so he pressed his whole body against Wei Xilou, gripping him to stay steady, and stretched his neck to see.

Cui Tong and "Xu Muchan" walked side by side, and as they went, his body stretched thin and long, looking from the side like a thin paper cutout. The top half of the paper cutout kept stretching up, then bent down, its sinister face peering down at the oblivious "Xu Muchan."

After watching grimly for a moment, the paper cutout slowly raised its hand—

But just as it moved, the "Xu Muchan" beside it acted faster. Its neck suddenly stretched, its head spun 180 degrees in an instant, the area where facial features should have been split into four flaps, and a pitch-black gaping mouth in the middle opened to its maximum extent, biting off the paper cutout's head in one go.

The paper cutout's body collapsed limply to the ground like a piece of paper, and the next moment Cui Tong's figure appeared not far away. He stared in shock at the thing before him, nearly gnashing his teeth as he called out its name: "God of Joy?"

And at this moment, the God of Joy finally returned to its original form.

Its body stretched, its color faded, and its slender, elongated body became pure white. The only color was a red fleshy crest on top of its head like a topknot. Apart from that, its entire body was pure white, and a pair of fan-shaped membranes like wings extended and hung down from its shoulder blades. The thin texture made it look as if it were wearing a cloak. From Xu Muchan's angle, it actually had a somewhat sacred, ethereal quality.

But when it turned its head, that pure white head had only eyes and a mouth.

The four-flap mouth was located in the center of the face, while countless eyes were randomly distributed across the blank areas of the face. Those eyes were tightly shut, their narrow slits looking like rows of fish gills.

The God of Joy was clearly furious, opening its huge mouth and roaring at Cui Tong: "It's you."

Over a decade ago, it was Cui Tong who had taken away its prey and used a red veil to seal it again. Clearly it still remembered Cui Tong. Old grudges and new hatred surged up together, and the next instant it lunged at Cui Tong.

But Cui Tong was clearly no pushover either. If he could seal the God of Joy over a decade ago, he naturally wouldn't fear it now.

Just then, Cui Tong tore at his face like tearing paper, and a thin paper cutout was ripped off and thrown at the God of Joy. The thrown paper cutout immediately came to life, its twisted limbs blocking the God of Joy.

And Cui Tong didn't stop, tearing off several more paper cutouts in succession, having them hold back the God of Joy, while he himself took out a brush and a box of cinnabar, rapidly beginning to set up a formation on the ground.

Cui Tong's formation-setting movements were very swift. Just as four of the five paper cutouts had been devoured by the God of Joy, he made his final stroke and simultaneously stepped forward, standing at the center of the formation.

Almost at the same time, the God of Joy swallowed the last paper cutout and lunged at Cui Tong.

The moment it entered the formation's range, Cui Tong's figure vanished. Countless red ropes emerged from the formation, wrapping around the God of Joy's upper body, forcibly dragging its lower half, which hadn't yet entered the formation, inside.

The God of Joy let out a piercing shriek, its sharp fingers tearing at the red ropes binding it.

But the more it struggled, the more those red ropes wrapped around it, until finally it was bound tightly from head to toe.

Cui Tong, who had been hidden somewhere unknown, finally revealed himself and laughed: "A mere spirit, daring to contend with me."

Before he even finished speaking, the God of Joy's arm pierced through his chest.

Cui Tong's eyes widened in shock, and he saw the God of Joy, supposedly bound motionless by the red ropes, use its remaining arms to tear the ropes off its body. Its slender form bent down, bringing its face close to Cui Tong's.

The eyes on its face blinked, as if about to open at any moment, and that huge mouth slowly enveloped Cui Tong's head, as if savoring the process of eating him.

With a "crack," Cui Tong's head was bitten off, blood splattering everywhere.

Xu Muchan watched without blinking, but the next moment he frowned. Cui Tong's collapsed body was much thicker than before, but it was still different from a normal human body.

This was still a paper cutout.

Sure enough, the next moment Cui Tong appeared at a door not far down the corridor. His face was pale, and his body had become much thinner—clearly he was badly injured.

Before the God of Joy could chase after him, he opened the door and slipped through.

The God of Joy grabbed the door, its upper body reaching into the room to search. A moment later, it withdrew, clearly having failed to catch Cui Tong.

Xu Muchan felt a bit regretful and whispered to Wei Xilou, "Truly, bad weeds never die."

Having lost its target, the God of Joy continued to rage in the corridor. Its arms, much longer than normal proportions, slapped continuously against the floor and walls, while the remaining red ropes on its body wrapped around it like blood vessels.

As it slapped, its slender body suddenly began to collapse and shrink like a deflating balloon, until finally, as if crushed by the red ropes, it collapsed into a soft heap on the ground.

Those scattered red ropes covered the top like a red veil.

Xu Muchan witnessed the entire process without making any rash moves. He grabbed Wei Xilou's shoulder, brought his mouth close to his ear, and whispered, "What happened to it?"

Wei Xilou shot him a glance but said nothing.

Xu Muchan's attention was entirely focused outside, totally oblivious to how awkward he looked right now. He stared quietly at the lump in the corridor and whispered in surprise, "It's moving again."

A pair of hands pushed aside the red ropes, and someone scrambled to his feet, looking a mess.

Xu Muchan was even more shocked when he saw who it was: "Xu Wangchuan?"

Xu Wangchuan stood there in the middle of the hallway, looking dazed for a moment, then looked down and saw the red ropes hanging on his body. His face twisted in disgust as he frantically ripped them off.

Midway through, he seemed to remember something terrifying. Without bothering with the rest of the ropes, he bolted toward one end of the corridor.

The bustling corridor finally settled back into silence.

Xu Muchan released Wei Xilou, stepped out of the room, and frowned at the red ropes scattered on the floor. "What's going on with Xu Wangchuan? Was that the God of Joy just now, or was it Xu Wangchuan?"

Wei Xilou shook his head, signaling he had no idea either.

Xu Muchan thought for a moment and said, "Let's follow and see."

The two followed Xu Wangchuan. They hadn't gone far when they saw Yan He and Pei Rong coming down from the second floor with Xu Wangchuan, accompanied by two unfamiliar people who, based on how they were dressed, were also Taoist priests hired by Xu Qingming.

Xu Wangchuan's face was pale, and he was describing what had happened to the group: "I don't know what happened. I was clearly in the living room taking care of Dad, and the next second I appeared in the corridor, covered in a bunch of red ropes."

He clearly found the ropes disgusting. Even after tearing them off, he kept rubbing his skin.

Yan He said, "If I'm not mistaken, these red ropes have to be from Cui Tong's red rope formation. But why would he pull that on you?"

Xu Wangchuan shook his head, clearly displeased: "How would I know? My father hired you all to deal with the ghosts and spirits in the house, but you haven't found a single one, and instead, more weird stuff keeps happening in this house!"

Yan He was about to say something when he suddenly spotted Xu Muchan and Wei Xilou down on the first floor. He immediately called out, "Xu Muchan, how'd you end up in here too?"

Xu Muchan glanced at Xu Wangchuan and said, "There's something off about this house. We got lost inside and wandered around for ages before we heard voices from the second floor. We came over to check and ended up seeing you all."

Xu Wangchuan looked at Xu Muchan with a weird look on his face: "Muchan, have you seen Mom and Dad? I was with them just a moment ago, but next thing I knew, I ended up in this godforsaken place."

Xu Muchan said, "Nope, haven't seen them."

Xu Wangchuan walked up to him, reaching out as if to grab him: "I'm a bit worried about Mom and Dad. Let's go find them."

Xu Muchan stepped back, avoiding his hand, and stared at his face, asking, "Where should we look?"

Xu Wangchuan looked a little disappointed when he missed. He thought for a moment and said, "Mom and Dad should be resting in their room. Let's go check on them there."

Xu Muchan, who'd been standing next to Wei Xilou this whole time, said, "Alright, let's go take a look. You lead the way."

Xu Wangchuan nodded good-naturedly and said to Yan He and the others, "Let's check the second floor again. Mom and Dad might be in their room."

Yan He was about to say, "We already checked all the rooms on the second floor," when Pei Rong gently tugged at his sleeve and shook his head slightly.

Yan He seemed to catch on, glanced at Xu Wangchuan, and followed him with a grim look.

Xu Muchan pulled Wei Xilou along and followed behind Yan He and Pei Rong.

Xu Qingming and his wife's room was at the very end of the second-floor corridor. The corridor seemed to have returned to normal now. Xu Wangchuan walked to the end like he knew the place, pushed the door open, and peeked inside. Then his face lit up: "Dad! Mom! You really are here!"

They were actually here?

Yan He stepped forward, unable to believe it, and sure enough, saw Xu Qingming and Xu Zhifei inside.

Xu Qingming was lying on the bed, and Xu Zhifei was sitting at the bedside. However, for some reason, the couple looked terrified, their eyes kept darting to the side, as if trying to warn them of something.

Yan He, confused, shifted his gaze to the left and saw a person sitting on a chair against the wall.

It was Xu Wangchuan, plain as day.