Thinking of this, Xiaoxiao also grasped Siling’s hand and said solemnly: “Please rest assured, Madam. As long as I’m here, I absolutely won’t let him repeat the same mistakes…”

Siling nodded. Her hair had turned completely white—if she didn’t return to the Ghost Realm soon, she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

Sadly, her journey to the human world—though she met her true love- she couldn’t stay with him forever, and they were now separated by life and death.

And because hatred had blinded her eyes, she had failed to fulfill a mother’s responsibilities to her son.

This journey through the mortal world left her with nothing but white hair, a heart full of unresolved regrets, and a soul riddled with holes.

Siling no longer looked back, only hoping her son would have better fortune than her, and that he and that warmly smiling Miss Xiaoxiao could fight for a happiness that fate wouldn’t allow…

After seeing Siling off, Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie discussed and decided to leave Qilao Mountain as well.

Now, besides that fake King of Changshan, another master was gradually surfacing. Someone who could lead living beings directly into the Underworld absolutely couldn’t be an ordinary person.

What exactly was the background of Princess Yongning’s fiancé, to have such an ability to communicate directly with the underworld? Or was he just another chess piece being manipulated?

After bidding farewell to Madam Siling, they came down from Qilao Mountain and headed toward Luoyi City.

Xiaoxiao remembered she had originally received Princess Yongning’s distress letter and was preparing to return to find her.

Unfortunately, she and Yu Ling’er had been tricked into the Underworld, delaying them for some time. She wondered what changes had occurred on Princess Yongning’s side.

As it turned out, arriving early wasn’t as good as arriving at the right time. When they entered the city, they heard people discussing how the King of Changshan’s wedding date had been moved up—the wedding was today.

But strangely, wealthy families usually married their daughters during the day, with grand processions and ten li of red dowry decorations.

However, the King of Changshan was marrying off his daughter at night. He had even contacted officials to clear the roads early, forbidding idle citizens from coming out at night to watch the excitement and disturb the procession. The city gates were opened wide at night to let the wedding procession leave the city.

Though night weddings were a local custom in some places, they weren’t popular in the Luoyi area.

Especially among the Xia royal family, there was no tradition of night marriages. Yet when the King of Changshan married off his daughter, he chose to do exactly this. It was said Princess Yongning had a strange temperament, disliking the noise and bustle of daytime streets and people peering at wedding sedan chairs, so she specifically chose the night when streets were empty of people, avoiding the interference of onlookers’ gazes.

Since the four major sects had caused havoc at Lord Can’s mansion, resulting in Lord Can’s “tragic death,” Luoyi City had been under curfew. Combined with daytime official proclamations clearing the streets, by the second watch, the streets were empty.

When the watch drum sounded, the palace gates slowly opened. Red wedding carriages formed a line in the empty streets. Under the cold moonlight and rows of swaying red lanterns, the originally bright red wedding cars appeared blood-deep red, making observers’ hearts tremble slightly.

All four members of the Talismonger Sect had applied Invisibility Talismans, hiding their traces as they watched the wedding procession from afar.

The high horse that should have carried the groom walked forward unhurriedly—except the horse’s back was empty, with only a groom’s crown placed on the saddle.

Xiaoxiao felt somewhat puzzled. Though the Ye family held marquis rank, their status was far inferior to the Xia imperial relatives.

Their previous use of stones to substitute for gold and silver in betrothal gifts was already greatly disrespectful. Where did they get the audacity to use a crown instead of the actual groom when marrying a noble lady?

Moreover, this bridal procession was far too quiet. Having walked out of the King of Changshan’s mansion for so long, the wedding party had neither suona nor silk and bamboo music, much less matchmakers leading congratulatory words.

Those bridal attendants, though dressed in red, all kept their heads half-lowered, burying their faces in the shadows of lamplight, walking silently and slowly.

What should have been a joyous wedding procession instead walked through the night with a bone-chilling, ghostly atmosphere, completely lacking the breath of the living.

The matchmaker with a painted red face lifted her head, and every three steps would call out stiffly: “Wedding! Wedding!”

That somewhat shrill voice echoed in the night sky, making listeners’ eardrums ache.

After watching for a while, Yu Ling’er felt all her fox fur was about to stand on end. She whispered, “How can a prince marrying off his daughter be so eerie and terrifying?”

Tang Youshu, beside her, saw the trick and said urgently: “This… doesn’t look like marrying off a daughter, but rather ‘soul marriage’!”

So-called soul marriage was an ancient, lost evil technique.

It referred to finding someone whose birth date and time matched those of the deceased, allowing soul exchange. The living person’s soul would be sent to the Underworld while the dead person’s soul returned, commonly called “possession.”

However, this method couldn’t be used lightly. Besides the difficulty of finding someone with identical birth charts, the returned soul often had defects.

If done poorly, what would be returned would be an idiot.

So, even though this was a method of resurrection, who would want an idiotic relative returned?

Because of this, such evil techniques weren’t widely practiced.

Now, around those red sedan chairs, talismans were everywhere. Tang Youshu recognized at a glance that they were evil talismans left by the Ghost Sect’s Wan Lian Shi.

These sedan chairs looked bright red, but were red cloth soul-summoning banners to attract wandering spirits.

What the matchmaker was shouting wasn’t “wedding” but “soul marriage”!

This slowly moving wedding procession had become a formation to gather yin souls the moment it set out, with that fiery red bridal sedan as the formation’s eye. After such ritual movement for some time, it would naturally open the passage between yin and yang.

This was precisely the three days after the red moon, when the Wei family’s grandmother had said the River of Forgetfulness’s water level would drop. If souls were lingering in the underworld, this formation could exchange them.

Such soul-swapping evil techniques naturally had to be performed at night, because such formations attracted various living souls. If the streets were crowded with spectators, many people’s souls would be absorbed by these sedan chairs.

Just like the four Talismonger Sect members invisibly following behind the sedan chairs—after walking only briefly, they felt heavy steps, as if their whole beings were about to be sucked into the sedan chairs.

Wei Jie’s symptoms were milder. He immediately stopped the other three, saying quietly: “We can’t get any closer. Look at those sedan chair bearers—they’ve already lost their souls, each one just walking corpses…”

Xiaoxiao looked carefully and suddenly discovered these bearers were all walking on tiptoes, their heels not touching the ground at all, moving forward as if blown by the wind. Their backs all had puppet talismans attached. Even after having their living souls stripped away by this domineering evil formation, they could still be mechanically driven forward.

Occasionally, stray cats or dogs from the streets would approach the procession. In just an instant, those animals would stiffen and fall straight to the ground—their living souls had also been absorbed and stripped away by the formation.

Xiaoxiao frowned, wondering who the sacrificial bride in the sedan chair might be. Could Princess Yongning be inside?

They wanted to investigate, but couldn’t approach the sedan chair. However, Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes and thought of a solution.

She again took out the little paper figure Princess Yongning had used to send her messages. After writing a Heavenly Eye Talisman and a Communication Talisman on the paper figure, she silently chanted incantations. The little paper figure was blown by a gust of wind, floating and swaying around the bridal sedan, then guided by another breeze into the sedan chair.

By this time, the strange bridal procession had left the city gates and reached the desolate wilderness.

Xiaoxiao had connected her Heavenly Eye with the paper figure, so what the paper figure saw inside the sedan chair was presented before Xiaoxiao’s eyes.

The bride sitting in the sedan chair wasn’t wearing a red veil, nor was she dressed up. She just wore red clothing, hair disheveled, sitting pale-faced in the sedan chair.

Through the paper figure, Xiaoxiao immediately recognized this woman as Princess Yongning.

However, the originally spirited and bold princess now sat like a wooden chicken, staring straight ahead in the sedan chair.

The little paper figure jumped around on Princess Yongning’s shoulders and arms, quickly discovering five silver needles on Princess Yongning’s neck and behind her ears, sealing her five senses. That’s why she sat motionless like a wooden person.

Controlling the paper figure to remove the needles would require considerable effort.

Fortunately, Xiaoxiao was no longer the novice who had just entered the Talismonger Sect. Since the Five Phoenix possession, she found her ability to control spirit talismans had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Previously, techniques in Tang Youshu’s secret manual that could only be understood intuitively but not expressed in words now seemed naturally comprehensible when recalled.

After confirming that needles had sealed Princess Yongning’s acupoints, Xiaoxiao moved her hands as if pulling puppet strings.

The little paper figure in the sedan chair wrapped its body around a needle, wound around several times, then, with a lift of qi, the needle popped out from the acupoint.

The paper figure repeated this method, quickly removing all five needles.

The moment the five needles were removed, Princess Yongning immediately gasped in shock, suddenly returning to the world.

But before she could make a sound, the little paper figure stuck to her mouth like a plaster, sealing all her words back in her mouth.

Princess Yongning recognized this paper’s figure. When she indicated she wouldn’t speak, the paper figure came down and crept to her ear to whisper, transmitting Xiaoxiao’s words to her.

Though Princess Yongning didn’t know how she ended up in the sedan chair, she clearly remembered the fake father bringing several Ghost Sect disciples to seal her acupoints with needles.

Compared to that father of unknown identity, Princess Yongning trusted the sincere-eyed Bliss Sect Leader Cui more.

So after hearing the paper figure’s message, Princess Yongning immediately acted.

Xiaoxiao had just instructed her to tear down all the talismans inside and outside the sedan chair to destroy the soul-summoning formation’s eye.

Otherwise, once the sedan chair attracted enough yin energy from the wilderness, it would probably open the gates to the Underworld.

Princess Yongning looked at those human skin talismans in the sedan chair and immediately tore them down, then scattered them out of the sedan window.

Then she stuck her head out and began tearing at the talismans on the sedan chair’s exterior.

But just then, whoever was controlling the soul-summoning talismans seemed to sense the abnormality in the sedan. They controlled the bearers to set down the sedan chair in unison and lunge toward Princess Yongning.

Princess Yongning was so frightened she dropped the talismans in her hand, retreated into the sedan, and asked the paper figure: “What should I do?”

The paper figure was even more cowardly than her, actually darting into her hair to hide.

Just then, the sedan curtain was torn down by the lunging puppet people. As those people stretched out their blackened fingers toward the princess, someone suddenly leaped onto the sedan roof, brandishing a sword and sending all these people flying.

It turned out that after the sedan’s talismans were removed, the soul-absorbing evil energy dissipated. Wei Jie was the first to leap onto the sedan with his sword, repelling these controlled attendants and bearers.

The Heaven’s Punishment Sword Wei Jie wielded could subdue demons and eliminate evil. Wherever the sword edge passed, it immediately repelled these demon-possessed puppet people.

However, such actions strained his damaged vital energy. He couldn’t help covering his unusually painful chest with his hand.

When Princess Yongning climbed out of the sedan chair, she looked up and saw Wei Jie wielding his sword. In that instant, she was again dazed as if her five senses had been sealed by needles, staring blankly.

She had never seen Wei Jie before. Seeing him now, she was astonished as if seeing a celestial being.

Only when Xiaoxiao also ran over and pulled her out of the sedan chair did Princess Yongning recover and sigh in relief: “Sect Leader Cui, you finally came!”

At this moment, the thunder and lightning in the sky suddenly stopped due to the formation’s eye being destroyed, and the fierce wind finally ceased.

Those bearers and guards knocked unconscious by Wei Jie all woke up, also bewildered about how they appeared in this desolate wilderness.

Princess Yongning had long since disappeared with the Talismonger Sect group.

Princess Yongning had never known what hunger and cold felt like in her entire life.

Unexpectedly, on what should have been her wedding day, she truly experienced it.

After Princess Yongning escaped with the Talismonger Sect group, she had no time to describe her experiences over the past few days before weakly crying out in hunger.

She had just compared dates with Xiaoxiao—shortly after sending Xiaoxiao that paper figure message, she was discovered and lost her memory.

That meant after having her five senses sealed, she hadn’t eaten for three whole days.

When they sought lodging in a nearby village, as soon as the gate opened, the disheveled princess saw moldy bacon and ham hanging under the eaves. Like someone possessed, she rushed over, hugged it, and began gnawing, frightening the homeowner, who retreated repeatedly, thinking a man-eating female demon had arrived in the middle of the night.

Tang Youshu quickly took out silver to calm the homeowner while requesting hot food and wine that could be served immediately.

The princess ate rice mixed with scallion-fried eggs, plus stewed fish in red oil. After wolfing down two large bowls, she finally became composed again.

However, looking at the leftover stewed fish, she suddenly remembered using a dish of stinky mandarin fish to test her father’s authenticity. Sadness overwhelmed her: “My father has been replaced by someone unknown. His life or death is uncertain, and I’ve wandered here… Sect Leader Cui, can you help me capture that thief and find a way to rescue my father?”

Xiaoxiao asked: “I originally thought that the fake prince found you troublesome and randomly found a wastrel to marry you off to. But seeing how he used you as a formative eye today, it doesn’t seem like that. What exactly does he want to do?”

Princess Yongning said, “After discovering father had been replaced, I carefully observed this imposter’s daily actions. Before they knocked me unconscious, my fiancé Ye Yi had visited the palace. I was curious—after all, I’d never seen this person before. I thought if I could meet him and reason with him about the benefits and harms, perhaps I could persuade him to break the engagement. Later, I learned they were discussing something in the study. I hid outside the study to eavesdrop. I heard the impostor saying the red moon wouldn’t appear again, and if they didn’t seize this opportunity, it would be hard to find another chance. He knew the method of substitution and had found a woman with matching birth charts. Why not take advantage of the once-in-ten-years drop in the River of Forgetfulness’s water level to exchange someone from the underworld?”

At this point in Princess Yongning’s account, Xiaoxiao stopped eating and held her bowl tensely: “Then what?”

Princess Yongning blinked, struggling to remember: “That Young Master Ye Yi remained silent for a long time. I wanted to secretly peek at the study’s situation, but before I could stick my head out, I felt someone prick me with a needle, and then I lost consciousness. Next thing I knew, I found myself sitting in the bridal sedan.”

Xiaoxiao was disappointed as she pondered the princess’s words again.

At least she could determine that Young Master Ye Yi seemed to be conspiring with the fake King of Changshan. And what he wanted to find in the Underworld seemed to be a person.

Remembering Ye Yi saying he used flowers to mourn his deceased wife, Xiaoxiao didn’t know if this was true or false.

Confirming that Young Master Ye Yi indeed harbored ill intentions was quite lamentable—she felt a flawless piece of jade had been ruined. A gentleman like jade, yet why become a thief? Young Master Ye, why must you do this?

Wei Jie was also considering the princess’s words. He seemed to have gone out briefly and now said, “I’ve already contacted the crown prince’s secret agents to investigate the fake King of Changshan’s background.” This matter involved the King of Changshan, which meant it involved Xia family descendants. They were the imperial family blessed by deities. Even if Wei Jie wanted to avenge his mother and ruthlessly kill this thief, he still needed to report to the crown prince and explain the circumstances of the King of Changshan being replaced.

However, Young Master Ye’s background was also quite puzzling. Though Wei Jie hadn’t yet met the man, he was already certain he was a tough opponent.

They mention that the red moon wouldn’t appear again—he didn’t know what they meant. But it was certain they had reached a desperate situation, so even if the soul-exchange technique could only return incomplete remnant souls, they were willing to risk trying.

Unfortunately, at the crucial moment, this soul-exchange technique was destroyed by Xiaoxiao and Wei Jie. Not knowing how they would react to their plans repeatedly failing, or what sinister moves they might use next.

After eating her fill, Princess Yongning finally had the leisure to ask about Wei Jie. When she first met Xiaoxiao and the others on Spirit Mountain, Wei Jie happened to be absent, so Princess Yongning had never seen him.

Suddenly seeing such an otherworldly handsome gentleman, the young lady’s heart couldn’t help but be stirred somewhat.

Unfortunately, Little Fox poured cold water on her: “He’s good-looking, but has a foul temper and poisonous tongue. Don’t get close to him unless necessary.”

Ah? Princess Yongning hadn’t expected that such a stunningly handsome and devilish man would receive such terrible reviews from his people. Looking at Wei Jie gently talking to Xiaoxiao with his head lowered, she still didn’t believe it.

Little Fox only gave this kind warning because she had a good impression of Princess Yongning. However, Wei Jie’s foulness needed to be personally experienced to be understood.

His gentleness and understanding were always reserved for Cui Xiaoxiao alone.

Princess Yongning wasn’t stupid either. She quickly saw that Wei Jie’s treatment of Cui Xiaoxiao far exceeded the master-disciple relationship.

Moreover, his temper was indeed as Yu Ling’er described—quite bad. Even his disciple Tang Youshu seemed to always slink around when he saw his master.

However, Wei Jie’s cold face immediately bloomed like spring when facing Xiaoxiao. When he used a wet cloth to wipe his master’s face, it was like wiping a little girl’s face.

Princess Yongning suddenly understood—no wonder Sect Leader Cui had changed her sect to the Leisurely Bliss Sect! If she had taken such a handsome, strong disciple, not taking him to bed for some practice would truly be a waste of heavenly gifts!

Unfortunately, as an imperial princess, she had to maintain elegant propriety and could never enjoy such freedom and happiness as Cui Xiaoxiao. Even if she were the Bliss Sect’s leader, no matter how beautiful Wei Jie was, she couldn’t favor him exclusively—she’d need to take in others of various types to taste all human beauty.

In any case, it was much better than being forced to marry some worthless wastrel.

Hearing this, Yu Ling’er said: “Your fiancé indeed has bad intentions, but his appearance is truly celestial. I worry that if you see him, you’ll be mesmerized by his beauty and tricked into the bridal sedan again to have your soul exchanged.”

Princess Yongning thought of her ordeal and felt deeply humiliated. That person impersonating her father was truly detestable, actually using her as a sacrificial tribute!

Thinking this way, she was anxious and wanted to quickly capture that fake King of Changshan to find out her father’s whereabouts.

But Wei Jie said there was no rush—wait until the crown prince’s side had news.

After the four major sects independently raided Lord Can’s mansion last time, they were instead calculated against by Lord Can, ending up on the court’s elimination list. Secular disciples were too frightened to join the sects, and the four major sects still hadn’t recovered their strength.

With the appearance of the mysterious Young Master Ye Yi, they needed to be even more cautious to avoid falling into enemy traps again.

Moreover, Princess Yongning’s birth chart was special, seemingly an indispensable sacrifice. Now that the three days after the red moon were almost over,

If Young Master Ye truly wanted to exchange someone back from the Underworld, he couldn’t do without Princess Yongning. That person should be more anxious than they were.

Being so, rather than acting rashly, they might as well remain calm and composed, quietly cultivating in place while seeing what moves the other side would make.

After all, Wei Jie couldn’t overuse his vital energy now. Unfortunately, when rescuing the princess, fearing that the sedan chair would be ambushed, he wouldn’t let Xiaoxiao approach and acted himself, using his vital energy.

Arriving at this farmyard, eating was fine, but when wiping Xiaoxiao’s face after the meal, Wei Jie again covered his chest, his blood deficiency symptoms flaring up as he softly collapsed against Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao had to help him into the borrowed farmhouse and onto the bed to rest quietly.

However, when she was supporting Wei Jie, he pulled her along, and she also ended up on the bed.

Xiaoxiao now blushed slightly, thinking of their foolishness when gathering herbs in Qilao Mountain’s valley.

No matter how old this man was, when he started being unreasonable and pestering, he was like an unweaned baby, clingy and sticky…

Thinking this, she quickly protected her chest with clothing, whispering: “This farmhouse is crude with thin walls. Don’t embarrass yourself by letting Tang Youshu and the others hear!”

Wei Jie blinked his purple eyes very innocently, slowly lowered his head, then drew out the ancient text she had brought from the Wei family from Xiaoxiao’s sleeve.

“I thought this place was quiet, and lying together reading would be quite comfortable. Tell me, what did you think we’d do that would be loud enough to disturb Tang Youshu and the others?”

Damn scoundrel disciple, always doing this kind of teasing while shifting blame!

Wei Jie watched his master’s pretty face puff up into a bun shape again, finding her extremely adorable. He couldn’t help grasping his master’s slender wrist and pressing her into the bedding for a kiss.