Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Wedding Hall Ruckus

“The bride is here!”

Cheers erupted.

A figure in red wedding robes was helped forward, her veil lowering like a curtain over her face.

Bai Meng Jin’s gaze swept the crowd.

Most of the guests carried ordinary, intact souls—but their smiles were stiff, as if their faces remembered how to celebrate while something inside lagged behind.

The people running the wedding—the old man from the gate, the young men who’d barred their way—carried faint strands of black qi, subtle enough to hide in shadow.

And the bride…

Bai Meng Jin’s eyes narrowed.

She was clean.

Too clean.

Huo Chong Xiao’s gaze met Bai Meng Jin’s for a flicker of a second. His judgment matched hers. He signaled with his eyes—quiet, urgent.

Before Bai Meng Jin could decide what the signal meant, the officiant shouted, “Bow as husband and wife!”

Huo Chong Xiao surged forward.

He threw himself into the center of the ceremony like a storm.

“Wife!” he wailed, loud enough to shake lanterns. “Wife, why are you here? Don’t you want me and Yun’er and Meng’er anymore? Come home with us! The kids are waiting!”

Bai Meng Jin’s eyes went wide.

That man sobbing and grabbing at his head like a madman—

Was that Senior Brother Huo?

Was that really him?

Before she could process the shock, Yue Yun Qiao yanked Bai Meng Jin’s sleeve and rushed forward too, crying dramatically as she grabbed the bride’s hem.

“Mother!” Yue Yun Qiao shouted, voice pitched high with practiced misery. “I was wrong! I won’t be naughty again! I’ll be good, I’ll listen—come home with us!”

Then Yue Yun Qiao shot Bai Meng Jin a frantic look.

Bai Meng Jin’s eye twitched.

There was no escaping it.

She rubbed her eyes hard until the corners turned red, tilted her head up toward the bride, and said in the smallest, most pitiful voice she could manage, “Mother…”

For a heartbeat, the entire wedding froze.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

The bride was already a mother of two?

You couldn’t tell at all!

The family elder seated at the main table reacted fast, face flushing with fury. “Where did these thugs come from? Our son’s daughter-in-law is still a proper maiden! What nonsense is this? Beat them out!”

Men stained with black qi shoved their way forward, faces twisted with hostility.

Huo Chong Xiao had acted like a lunatic for a reason.

He needed an excuse to fight openly.

So, clutching his head and running in circles, he “accidentally” tripped one man into another, shoved a shoulder where it would cause the most disruption, and turned the neatly arranged ceremony into chaos.

Hands reached for Yue Yun Qiao and Bai Meng Jin too.

The two “children” screamed even louder and darted around the bride like fish through a net. They didn’t get caught.

But other people did.

“Hey! Who stepped on my shoe? Are you blind?”

“Why are you grabbing my wife? Trying to cop a feel? Get lost!”

“Who shoved me—!”

With so many bodies packed together, one stumble knocked down a row. Shoes were trampled. Hairpins fell. Clothing tore. The hall erupted into a loud, messy disaster.

Not only did they fail to catch anyone—they got tangled up in their own rage.

Huo Chong Xiao judged the moment.

He lunged, seized the bride’s wrist, and ran, still shouting, “Wife! As long as you’ve come back to your senses, that’s all that matters! Let’s go home!”

Pursuers surged after them, only to get tripped by fallen stools and knocked sideways by frantic guests.

Huo Chong Xiao led the charge. Yue Yun Qiao kept close. Bai Meng Jin brought up the rear.

They burst out of the courtyard into the cold night air, barreling down the path as villagers outside scrambled to get out of the way.

“Move,” Huo Chong Xiao snapped under his breath. “The devil qi is spreading. A Devil Creature is about to be raised. We need to draw people away—fast.”

If a Devil Creature fully formed, the danger would multiply.

By then, every mortal in that estate would be doomed.

The bride was dragged along, half-panicked and half-dazed. She struggled, voice sharp with fear. “Who are you? Let me go—!”

No one answered.

They ran out of the estate and chose the most deserted paths, forcing distance between themselves and the crowd.

Halfway through, Bai Meng Jin’s gaze flicked back. A prickle rose along her skin.

Something was wrong.

“The groom caught up,” she said, voice low.

Yue Yun Qiao whirled.

The groom, still in wedding robes, was sprinting after them. His face was twisted—not with anger, but with something feral.

“Damn you!” he roared. “All of you—stop right there!”

Huo Chong Xiao didn’t hesitate. “So the Devil Creature is the groom.”

Something had arrived at the estate by unknown means and latched onto the groom as a host.

The people around him had been corroded by devil qi, turning into accomplices without even realizing it.

The other villagers were affected too, but they hadn’t fully lost their minds yet.

As for the bride—her soul was clean, bright, perfect.

A perfect meal.

“That’s enough.” Huo Chong Xiao glanced around. The fields here were empty. No houses. No travelers.

He flicked out several formation flags.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

The flags rose into the wind, and spiritual light spun in a circle, forming a barrier that sealed the space.

They stopped.

Yue Yun Qiao shoved the bride into a corner of the barrier. “If you want to live, don’t move.”

The bride stared, stunned.

Then she watched the three of them release their puppet disguises and reveal their true faces.

Her breath caught. “Y-you…”

The groom charged into the barrier.

The devil qi around him thickened, and his shape began to warp.

Black smoke crawled over his face like rot. His limbs stretched. His features distorted. Horns pushed through skin with sickening ease. The human shell he wore trembled, as if it might slide off at any moment.

He was no longer human.

The bride screamed, pointing with shaking hands. “Monster!”

No one had time for her.

“Junior Sister!” Huo Chong Xiao shouted.

Yue Yun Qiao answered at once, planting her feet at a formation point. She drew her sword and fixed her gaze on the approaching Devil Creature.

Huo Chong Xiao struck first.

Sword qi roared like thunder as he cleaved down.

The Devil Creature growled low. Thick claws grew from its hands, and it lunged, trying to tear him apart.

Bai Meng Jin assessed quickly.

Huo Chong Xiao was already at the Foundation Establishment Stage, with a solid foundation. This Devil Creature hadn’t fully formed and seemed to lack intelligence.

He could handle it.

So Bai Meng Jin held her formation point and occasionally tossed out a spell, lending support without drawing attention.

Each time Huo Chong Xiao’s blade cut through the Devil Creature, it shaved away devil qi—clean, steady, relentless. He didn’t rush. He simply kept cutting.

Palm. Arm. Horn.

The Devil Creature shrank, its howls turning thin and desperate.

At last, it let out a wailing cry and collapsed, reverting to the groom’s human shape.

The man lay on the ground, barely breathing.

Huo Chong Xiao exhaled and sheathed his sword. He turned to Yue Yun Qiao, voice easing. “Junior Sister. How do you feel?”

Yue Yun Qiao beamed, exhilarated. “Great!”

It was her first mission. She’d followed Senior Brother out to see the world, to learn, to prove herself.

And tonight had been thrilling.

Huo Chong Xiao smiled briefly and took out a Demon-Suppressing Bottle to handle the remnants.

“Senior Brother,” Yue Yun Qiao asked as she gathered the formation flags, “is our mission done?”

“It’s done,” Huo Chong Xiao said. “We just need to hand the item over to Steward Hall afterward.”

He collected the remaining devil qi into the bottle.

The groom’s body on the ground sagged—and then collapsed flat, leaving only a sheet of human skin.

The problem looked solved.

But Bai Meng Jin’s brow furrowed.

She crouched and examined the skin, eyes narrowing.

If the missing people were simply the Devil Creature hunting on instinct, then what about the Charmed Ghost?

A Devil Creature this incomplete shouldn’t have been able to raise one.

“Miss Bai?” Huo Chong Xiao asked. “What is it?”

Bai Meng Jin drew the last trace of devil qi into her fingertip. It flickered like a black spark against her skin.

Then she pointed ahead. “Someone’s coming.”

Huo Chong Xiao looked up.

Hoofbeats thudded on the main road, growing louder.

A moment later, several constables in official uniforms appeared, lanterns raised.

“Who’s there?” the lead constable shouted. “State your names!”

Huo Chong Xiao stepped forward, calm and clear. “Constables. We are disciples of the Cinnabar Cloud Palace—”