Chapter Sixty-Four: The Bride's Tears 34

As he spoke, he lifted his hand, and the formation in the sky descended with crushing force. “My puppet warriors, come forth! Fight for me! Anyone who stands in my way is the enemy!”

He laughed wildly, his voice brash and arrogant. “All the villagers nearby will become my fighting puppets. You will be the first souls to fall beneath their blades, the final nourishment for my resurrection ritual! Hahaha! Ha—”

His laughter was abruptly cut off. The world around him was silent, not a single sound answered his call. “What’s going on? What’s happening?” For the first time, unease flickered across his face—something had slipped out of his control.

The only answer was the crackling sound of fire carried by the wind.

“What’s burning? Why is there no one here? Where are my puppet warriors? Where are the people?”

The crackling of the flames only grew more intense in reply.

Su Man could already see five coils of black smoke drifting from the rooftops, and the scent of roasting meat wafted to her nose.

It seemed her earlier efforts had not been in vain—the fire had caught well.

“It looks like your puppet warriors are burning. I doubt they’ll be coming,” Su Man said honestly, pointing at the black smoke.

“Impossible, impossible! How could ordinary fire burn those corpses? Unless… unless it was the incense from the ancestral hall…” he shouted, turning to glare at Su Man. “Was it you? Did you use the candles from the ancestral hall?”

Su Man was a bit surprised herself, not having expected her luck had landed such a blow by accident.

“It seems the great Celestial Master does not stand with you. Perhaps he does not approve of what you’re doing,” she mused. Since the people of this village all had faith, perhaps invoking the Celestial Master would give the village head pause to reconsider.

But it was clear the village head could not be swayed; in fact, he seemed more deranged than ever.

“No matter, no matter! If not them, then I still have you, Miao Sheng!” Miao Sheng had been a source of dread for years, not easily controlled, and thus had not been seized at once as Chang Gui had hoped. Yet, given enough time, it wouldn’t be impossible to subdue him.

Miao Sheng was in agony, but he knew that if he gave in, all their previous efforts would be for nothing. Summoning every ounce of his strength, he broke free from the formation’s suppression and engaged the village head in ferocious combat.

The two fought fiercely, turning the world upside down around them.

Su Man watched as Chang Gui was thrown aside. She stepped forward and slapped his face, rousing him from unconsciousness. His face swollen, he struggled to form words, “I’m awake, I’m awake—stop hitting me.”

“You went underground just now, didn’t you? What’s down there? How can we stop these formations?”

With these two arrays pressing down on them, it was only a matter of time before they all perished.

“There’s a resurrection formation below! We have to destroy it, and fast!”

His mind clearing, he struggled to his feet, heading toward the underground passage beneath the artificial hill.

But before they could go down, the sky and earth suddenly changed color. With a loud hum, a massive formation rose from below, clinging to the ground.

A red array glowed in the sky, a blue one shimmered on the ground—the atmosphere was suffocating, the air squeezed to a standstill.

“What’s happening? What’s with these formations? Is it too late?” Chang Gui was terrified, completely at a loss.

At the other end, the village head, locked in battle with Miao Sheng, was distracted by the sight. He was struck and sent crashing into the wall, coughing blood, his voice shaking with disbelief. “Impossible! Impossible! How could the resurrection array be dissipating? Who tampered with the core? Who did it?”

He was unraveling, driven to madness. This was the culmination of more than twenty years of effort, on the verge of success—so why was it dissolving now? No one remained who could threaten him, so why was the array falling apart?

Hearing this, Chang Gui staggered—was the array really dissolving? Then what about Shu Yi—what would become of her?

Glancing down, he saw the village head was not lying—the vast blue formation beneath their feet was indeed unraveling, bit by bit.

In that moment, only Su Man retained her composure.

She studied the great array intently, watching as it slowly disintegrated. At last, she smiled and murmured, “They really did it.”

“You knew? It was you?!” Miao Sheng noticed her reaction, his eyes burning with rage. In a flash, he appeared before her and seized her by the throat. “Why did you do this? I only asked you to keep the key person at the core in your grasp—I never told you to destroy the formation! Why would you do this? I told you—I must bring Shu Yi back!”

At that moment, he was like a crazed beast, bloodthirsty and unhinged. Su Man could feel the murderous intent radiating from him—he truly meant to kill her.

She could not utter a sound. With trembling fingers, she reached for her dagger, ready to gamble her life for a chance at survival. But before she could strike, Miao Sheng was attacked from behind, his grip loosening just enough.

Seizing the opportunity, Su Man slashed at his wrist with her dagger and rolled away, regaining her footing. She saw that it was Chang Gui who had attacked Miao Sheng.

He had slapped a talisman onto Miao Sheng’s back and now stood trembling in terror beneath his murderous glare, tears brimming in his eyes as if he might collapse weeping at any moment. “Uncle, please calm down, don’t go any further—Su Man is not at fault. Aunt is still alive…”

Su Man cursed inwardly. There was no way Miao Sheng could listen to reason now—Chang Gui’s words were only making things worse.

“Stop talking, run! He’s lost his mind—he’ll kill you!” she shouted, hurling her dagger at Miao Sheng’s head.

But it was already too late. In an instant, Chang Gui was sent flying by a brutal blow from Miao Sheng, landing like a rag doll, life or death uncertain.

With Chang Gui dispatched, Su Man felt her scalp tingle with dread. Without thinking, she dropped and rolled away just as a deep crater appeared where she’d stood—had she lingered, she would have been dead.

She could have chosen to die once and escape this predicament, but this time she could not afford to die so easily. She needed to buy time. She was sure that Sun Li was on his way with reinforcements; if she could not stall for time and simply fled, Miao Sheng would surely slaughter them all.

Things were already dire, but to her dismay, matters grew worse. The village head, for reasons unknown, suddenly erupted with power. His body swelled to unnatural proportions, like a giant, and he rampaged through the courtyard like a beast gone mad.