“The road he chose has Ghost energy.”
Daji gave Li Nianfan a shoulder massage in the horse carriage. She said, “He seems to be struggling and frightened.”
“Ghost energy?”
Li Nianfan slightly arched his eyebrow. He asked curiously, “Is the rider going to hurt us? Can you girls defeat this Ghost energy?”
Daji replied, “It’s a puny Ghost. Don’t worry, Sister Fire Phoenix and I are here. No one can put you in danger.”
Li Nianfan smiled with relief. He thought it was interesting. “Whatever then. Let’s see it as an adventure.”
He was not ashamed of being protected by his wives at all. ‘Only youngsters don’t understand the benefits of having dominant wives.’
Moreover, his dominant wives were truly beautiful. It was all-around beneficial…
Clop! Clop!
The horses kept going. There were no other sounds on the way. Soon, they reached a milestone. The milestone was engraved with two words, ‘Qingshan Village’.
There were always towns near villages. A city would always be built in the center, while villages were built around the city. Most of the Immortal Realm was constructed like that. It was popularized by the Xia Kingdom. After all, Humans were social beings. They lived in a community, especially in the Immortal Realm. There were not a lot of villages that were on their own.
The horse carriage stopped in front of the milestone. The old man was a bit dazed. He fell into some sort of hesitation. He shouted at the horse carriage, “Young man, Qingshan Village is upfront. Shall we head inside?”
Li Nianfan replied, “Continue onward.”
“Alright.”
The old man instantly looked less troubled. He sighed in relief and felt less guilty.
‘You’re the one who said we should head in. Don’t blame me if anything happens.’
The horse carriage moved past the milestone.
Li Nianfan opened the curtains and looked outside. He saw a lively river with green mossy grass along the way. There were a lot of trees, too. The environment looked quite nice.
They could see rows of houses in the direction that they were moving. There were a lot of shadowy figures, too. It looked like a cursed village.
Li Nianfan thought something was creepy. There were a lot of people gathering in front of the village gates.
Moreover, they were mostly ladies.
They all looked beautiful.
The ladies all looked up like they were searching for their husbands.
Someone was guarding the village gates, too, but the guards ignored the passersby. Li Nianfan wondered what they were there for.
The old man had a slightly trembling voice as he said, “Young… Young man, we’re here.”
Li Nianfan got off the carriage with Daji. He casually said, “Thanks, how much?”
“Ah! So pretty!”
The crowd at the village gates suddenly squealed and screamed, especially the ladies. Previously, they looked troubled and worried.
However, they were suddenly cheerful. They were flushed with excitement. They stared at Daji without blinking as if they were obsessed.
If the ladies were reacting like that toward Li Nianfan, he would be very pleased. However, they were reacting like that toward Daji. It was very odd.
Li Nianfan had to frown. He silently hid Daji behind him. ‘Compliment me instead.’
“No, no need to pay!”
The old man still had his head down. This time, it was because he did not dare to look at Li Nianfan.
He went to the guards at the gates and was mysteriously rewarded with an expensive sack of silver.
“Farewell, young man.”
The old man hurriedly left on the horse carriage before Li Nianfan could ask him anything.
Li Nianfan and Daji walked to the guards. He asked curiously, “Did that old man just accept a sack of rewards?”
The leader of the guards was a middle-aged man. He looked at the two of them with mixed emotions. He nodded and replied, “That’s right. It’s the reward for bringing you guys here.”
The nearby ladies looked at Daji with excitement, but the nearby guys looked at Daji with sympathy.
A man came up to them and said, “Pal, bring your wife to our village for a good meal. Feel free to eat. It’s free.”
Li Nianfan frowned. He thought it was out of the blue. Suddenly, he heard a lady’s voice coming from behind—
“I heard that there’s a reward of ten silvers if we bring a beautiful woman here, and we can eat for free. Is it true?”
He turned around. He saw a lady in a pastel green chiffon dress. She had shoulder-length hair. There was a Huadian on her forehead which made her more attractive.
She had very few clothes on. A breeze went by and blew her chiffon dress up. Her long, snow-white legs were revealed. She also had a red silk belt tied on her skinny waist.
A young man stood behind the lady. He was troubled and disturbed by what the lady said.
The siblings walked to the guards. The lady said, “Give me the silver then.”
The guard was kind of dumbfounded. He gave her the sack of silver. “Here.”
The lady took the sack of silver and inspected it. She satisfyingly chuckled.
Li Nianfan was weirded out. “Free money for beautiful ladies? Really?”
That was discrimination in looks and discrimination in gender.
“What? This is life-risking money!”
The lady pouted. The ordinary Li Nianfan was not as attractive as Daji. The lady was instantly distracted by Daji.
She smirked and mysteriously said, “I don’t mind telling you this. In Qingshan Village, the most beautiful woman in the village will die every three days!”
Li Nianfan was slightly taken aback. “The most beautiful woman will die?”
“Yikes. Scary, right?”
The lady shook her head. She smiled and said, “That bunch of women all felt like they were beautiful. So, they were worried that they’d be the next one to die. But, when they saw this lady over here, they naturally sighed in relief. They were cheering because at least someone’s more beautiful than them.”
“I see.”
Li Nianfan nodded. No wonder the ladies were so excited but the men looked sympathetic.
‘As long as beautiful women keep coming into the village, the women villagers don’t have to die. No wonder they rather give out free money.
‘In other words, Daji and I have been swindled by the old man? How treacherous.’
The lady continued, “But it’s fine now because I’m here. Her curse naturally transferred to me.”
The young man said without a second thought, “Sis, I don’t think the curse transferred at all.”
Bam!
The young man instantly had a swollen head. He felt dizzy from the bruises.
The lady stopped. She said calmly, “Excuse me, my little brother likes to talk nonsense. Please, forgive him.”
‘Is that nonsense?
‘It’s clearly the truth!
Everyone looked at her fists and swallowed their words. ‘Forget it. The truth is in our hearts. There’s no use saying it out loud.’
“Guys, let’s have a meal together. I’m buying,” the lady laughed. She acted generously, but in reality, it was a free meal anyway.
The four of them went to eat at a restaurant.
The villagers knew what would happen to Daji, so they were very friendly and polite toward her. They served her the best wine and food.
It was a promise of the entire village, together with the sympathy and guilt toward the dead.
Through conversation, Li Nianfan found out the names of the siblings, Qin Chuyue and Qin Yun. He also found out some information on Qingshan Village.
It used to be an ordinary village until a month ago. They had Ghosts after the death of one lady.
Qin Yun looked serious. He said, “According to what we know, this dead lady was naturally ugly, which was why she was rejected and bullied by everyone. No man would like her. She had a lot of loneliness, pain, grief, and hatred in her heart.
“She committed suicide a month ago! According to someone who saw the body, the lady died horrifically. She used a knife to carve her chin into a V-shaped face while she was alive. She also sliced her eyes and nose. It was a horrifying sight!”
Li Nianfan sighed heavily. “So, she turned into a Ghost to seek revenge?”
Qin Yun nodded. “Apparently. Otherwise, she wouldn’t target the pretty ones.”
Qin Chuyue smiled and said, “She’ll strike tonight. I carefully compared our looks, this lady and I are equally as beautiful. For safety measures, you guys should stay close to me. I’ll fight this Ghost! Leave it to me!”
Li Nianfan and Daji looked at each other. They smiled and said, “No problem.”
The night was dead silent.
The villagers generously let them stay at a spacious and luxurious villa.
Li Nianfan and the others did not sleep. They all waited in the living room with the candles on.
Qin Chuyue was the only one who was busy. She had a Bi disk and a bell. She also stuck stickers of ritual runes everywhere. From the looks of it, she seemed to be a professional. Li Nianfan felt that it was very interesting to see something that looked like it was from a horror movie.
He had never seen anything like that before in the Immortal Realm. ‘Perhaps the siblings are outsiders?’
The night gradually turned dark.
Whoosh—
The wind blew.
Candlelight started to sway with the wind. Lights flickered like they could go out at any moment.
The yard door that was shut suddenly shook. Then, there was a loud creak sound! The door was wide open!
It was pitch-black outside. Nothing was there. A sudden strong wind blew out the candlelight. The room was fully dark. The moonlight could not reach them.
“Being ugly is a sin!
“I’ll kill you.
“Your eyes are mine.
“Your nose is mine.
“Your whole face is mine!”
The voice was as chilling as the cold wind. It echoed and sent shivers down their spines.
Qin Chuyue cast a spell.
Flames instantly appeared. She ignited the rune papers and cast away the darkness.
A white shadowy figure suddenly appeared outside the yard door. She slowly floated inside.
“She came to look for me!”
Qin Chuyue looked serious. She instantly ran out.
However, the white shadowy figure did not look at her at all. She floated right past her.
Qin Chuyue blocked her again.
“Tell me now. Am I the prettiest lady in the village?”
The white shadowy figure steered away from her. She coldly said, “Clearly not.”
