Chapter 51: Getting married in the middle of the night, what kind of ridiculous custom is this!

In an instant, every hair on Liu Wenchang’s body stood on end. A chill surged straight from the soles of his feet to his brain, and he once again experienced that profound, shuddering dread.

He hurriedly rubbed his eyes and, gathering his courage, looked back toward the narrow path.

With just a single glance, a trace of confusion flashed through his eyes.

This time, the hazy, fog-like illusion had vanished. Everything appeared crisp and clear, illuminated by the firelight in a way that no longer seemed jarring or out of place.

The first to come into view were two figures dressed in coarse cloth garments, their faces painted with festive makeup—bright red rouge on white powder bases. One of them held a suona, blowing into it with all his might, while the other brandished a pair of gongs, striking them vigorously.

Joy radiated from both of their faces; their mouths were stretched wide in exaggerated grins, and their eyes were narrowed into mere slits.

Right behind these two walked another figure.

Wearing a goose-feather hat and a red silk robe, this person wore an expression of undisguised delight. With a wide grin and narrowed eyes, they walked at a steady, unhurried pace, looking entirely relaxed, at ease, and brimming with irrepressible joy.

Following behind them was a procession of people wearing caps and red garments, walking in pairs. Each pair used both hands to carry a rack, the contents of which were draped in red cloth.

Every single one of these people had their mouths stretched back in grins, their eyes narrowed into slits, and their faces overflowing with happiness.

Wait, could I have been mistaken before? This is clearly just a wedding procession heading out to fetch the bride.

Yet why had I perceived them as "animals" just now?

Still, this was undoubtedly a wedding party.

Those walking at the front were naturally playing the suona and gongs, the person following closely behind was the groom, and the ones bringing up the rear were carrying the betrothal gifts and wedding supplies.

However... venturing out to fetch a bride in the dead of night?

And deep in the mountains, no less. What kind of bizarre custom was this?

He had never heard of any region where brides were fetched after dark.

Then again, perhaps there was. Just because he had never heard of it didn't mean such places didn't exist. Maybe certain localities had a tradition of night weddings, who could say for sure?

Liu Wenchang narrowed his eyes, standing rooted to the spot in deep thought.

He wondered if this marrying family lived in the mountains year-round. If they did, they likely hadn't heard that he was a wanted murderer, and thus would naturally have no way of recognizing him.

That would make things much easier to handle.

But if they did recognize him, things would become complicated indeed...

Therefore, should he follow them to take a look? It was a terribly difficult decision to make.

Just as he stood hesitating in his tracks, he raised his eyes to look at the wedding procession once more, and his expression abruptly froze.

***

Under the illumination of the firelight, along the narrow path where the wedding procession was marching, the wild mountain forager he had been tracking earlier was standing quietly, as if waiting for the arrival of the wedding party.

Immediately afterward, Liu Wenchang saw the man bow slightly toward the procession in a traditional salutation of respect.

Instantly, one of the members of the wedding party stepped out of line, went forward to help the man up, and then, beaming with smiles, enthusiastically guided him to the very end of the procession.

Yet, the forager’s face remained entirely devoid of a smile, maintaining a constant, rigid tension throughout.

So... this fellow had suddenly stopped moving because he was waiting for this wedding party?

*Hoh.*

Liu Wenchang let out a long breath, and the heavy stone that had been weighing on his chest finally dropped.

Then, his eyes darted around. Frowning, he stared fixedly at the wedding procession and the wild mountain forager who had just joined its ranks.

***

*Gulp.*

Zhang Hao swallowed hard, feeling fine beads of sweat welling up on his forehead. Every hair on his body remained on end, and he was acutely aware of the nervous anxiety pounding in his chest.

Looking at the wedding procession marching toward him along the narrow path, he still found it impossible to fully control his terror.

After all, the things walking toward him were not human beings, nor were they a normal wedding party!

The two foxes holding the suona and gongs were still blowing and striking them with fierce dedication.

Their mouths were split wide open in uncanny grins, their cunning eyes narrowed into slits, and their unsuited bipedal legs stood somewhat stiffly and rigidly, unable to completely hide the fur covering their bodies.

The fox bridegroom behind them was exactly the same: dressed in a festive red wedding robe and wearing a goose-feather hat, his mouth stretched almost to his earlobes, his hands swinging wildly, his legs bent, and his back unable to straighten.

As for the foxes following behind the groom—those carrying the betrothal gifts and wedding articles—they were even more so.

They were simply foxes. Foxes!

Yet they acted so much like people, mimicking human weddings and performing identical actions down to the letter.

No, Zhang Hao still struggled to accept it. The sight of it filled him with a sense of the uncanny—yes, an unprecedented, nauseating sense of the uncanny and deep discomfort.

Even so, he forced himself to rein in his racing thoughts and took a deep breath.

Sensing that only a tiny shred of vital *yang* energy remained within his body, having been almost entirely saturated by gloomy *yin* energy, he looked back at the pack of foxes.

At that moment, he turned his head slightly to glance behind him, his eyelid twitching imperceptibly.

***

He hoped the person who had been following him all this way would leave this place as soon as possible.

If it weren't for the fact that he had been absorbing *yin* energy into his body—meaning he could neither come into contact with living people nor converse with them—he would have driven that person away by any means necessary.

For one simple reason.

When foxes took a bride, living mortals must not approach, let alone participate. Anyone who stumbled into it by mistake would inevitably fall gravely ill or even perish.

"Wait, no..."

Zhang Hao suddenly realized something, his expression freezing as he detected an anomaly.

The fox wedding procession had already appeared. From the perspective of the person tracking him, that pursuer should be able to see the procession as well.

Yet... that person showed no intention of fleeing at all.

Granted, it was possible that the pursuer hadn't looked this way yet and hadn't spotted the fox procession.

But upon seeing it, anyone would naturally scream out in terror and run away.

After all, anyone who witnessed such a bizarre and eerie scene in the wilderness would be frightened out of their wits and flee, rather than staying put to watch.

Yet that person had neither screamed nor left...

"Then there is only one possibility."

Zhang Hao fell into deep thought. The person tracking him had most likely been bewitched by the foxes—no, there was a hundred percent certainty that he had been bewitched.

He remembered corresponding records within the *Illustrated Chronicles of Mountain Journeys*:

*When foxes take a bride, they harbor no intent to harm, unless they encounter evildoers.*

Simply put, the foxes meant no harm and would not bewitch ordinary people for no reason. Especially on an auspicious day like a fox wedding, they would absolutely never choose to harm anyone.

Though these creatures might not possess human-like cleverness and intelligence, they possessed their own unique, innate system for distinguishing good people from bad ones.

This was doubly true for foxes.

Besides, these foxes were entirely unlike ordinary animals. Since they were capable of getting married, how could they possibly be normal beasts?

A fox wedding party would only choose to actively bewitch someone under a single condition:

When they encountered a villain. Only then could the foxes bewitch the evildoer without suffering any karmic backlash.