Next, they found Fire Demon beside an opera stage on the western side of the inner courtyard.

The stage had been abandoned for years. Tattered curtains hung in strips, and dust blanketed every surface both on and off the platform.

He was sitting motionless on a bench, staring at the empty stage with vacant eyes, as if a grand performance were playing out before him on the deserted platform.

Zhang Yuanqing's expression darkened. In his vision, he could see yin energy coiled densely around Fire Demon's body. He was already near death, and his soul was on the verge of departing his body.

He rushed over and placed a hand on Fire Demon's shoulder as darkness surged in the depths of his eyes. He drew the yin energy into his palm in a ceaseless stream, devouring and digesting it.

Fire Demon shuddered. A spark of life returned to his hollow eyes, and he blurted out instinctively, "So cold, so cold..."

The Fire Sage shivered as he looked around, saw Zhang Yuanqing beside him and Xie Lingxi nearby, and shouted, "Damn, where did you all go?! The second we left the hall, everyone disappeared—!"

Zhang Yuanqing waved away the accusation. "We all got separated. How did you end up here?"

"After we were separated, I just sort of wandered here without realizing it, and then I heard someone singing opera," Fire Demon said as he dredged up the memory.

"I followed the source of the sound and saw this stage. There was a woman performing up there. I watched her for a bit, and then... I don't remember anything after that."

At those words, he shuddered violently, eyeing the decrepit stage that had clearly been abandoned for years. Where would a singing woman have come from?

He looked at the Nocturnal Specter beside him with deep gratitude. "You saved me?"

Zhang Yuanqing smiled. "Obviously."

Fire Demon exhaled in relief, dispelling the wave of dread that had washed over him as he recalled what he'd experienced. "My skills and items are completely useless against vengeful spirits. Thank you, Bro Tai."

While every class had its own strengths, the fact that a vengeful spirit could silently take control of Fire Demon was most likely due to suppression. Supernatural "monsters" were strange and unpredictable. Without the right specialization, dealing with them was a nightmare. Their weakness, however, was that they lacked truly direct methods of harming people.

Slowly draining away a soul was much less efficient than simply stabbing someone with a knife.

The three of them found a golden hairpin in the cobweb-covered dressing room beside the stage.

With the hairpin in hand and a betrothal gift of his own secured, Fire Demon's heart finally settled back into his chest. Only then did he ask, "What about Xi Shi and Great Sage?"

Xie Lingxi shook her head. "We haven't found them yet. Hopefully they're as lucky as you."

Fire Demon shot her a look. "Are you hoping they die?"

She put on her most pitiful, aggrieved expression. "How can you say that? We're teammates~"

Fire Demon roundly ignored her. They had clashed before, and this girl's saccharine act grated on his nerves. He had no fondness for her.

Of course, it was also because the girl wasn't his type. Otherwise, it might have been a different story entirely.

The three left and moved to another courtyard. The estate was larger than expected, and its rear grounds were divided into individual courtyards—some serving as gardens, others housing stages.

After walking for a while, Zhang Yuanqing's night vision picked out a figure in the distance, stumbling toward them.

The person wore loafers and skinny jeans, a trendy outfit for youths of the modern age. It was Great Sage.

He approached them with delighted surprise and called out, "How did you guys appear here?"

Darkness churned in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes as he studied the newcomer for a moment, confirming it was really him.

The four compared notes on what they had each experienced. After getting separated, Great Sage had wandered into a courtyard where one of the rooms was glowing with candlelight. He'd pushed open the door to investigate.

The room was empty, but a wedding quilt lay neatly folded on the bed. He suspected it was one of the betrothal gifts, but following the will of his heart, he quietly backed away.

That was when he ran into Zhang Yuanqing's group.

Fire Demon stared at him in disbelief. "The biggest coward ends up being the safest?"

"What kind of talk is that? I'm cautious, not a coward," Great Sage declared, defending his dignity.

Fair point, Zhang Yuanqing conceded. Sometimes the ones who survive aren't the smartest or most capable. They're the most cautious.

He cut short their pointless argument and looked at Great Sage. "Where's the wedding quilt?"

Great Sage looked back the way he had come. He took the lead, retracing his steps, and the four arrived at the courtyard where they saw the room glowing with candlelight.

Noticing his teammates' fearful expressions, Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "I'll go get it for you."

This was the Nocturnal Specter's home turf.

He entered the room without hesitation. The moment he stepped over the threshold, the lattice door swung shut on its own.

Outside, Xie Lingxi and the others watched "Wang Tai's" figure vanish the instant the door closed. Dim candlelight flickered within, yet his shadow was not cast anywhere on the walls. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After several agonizing minutes of waiting, the lattice door was slammed open with a bang, and "Wang Tai" burst out clutching a wedding quilt.

He looked somewhat battered. His clothes were torn in several places and stained with blood.

"Great Sage, catch!"

Zhang Yuanqing tossed the quilt to the Great Sage, who caught it with surprise and hugged it tight. He was about to ask what happened inside, but Zhang Yuanqing cut him off.

"Let's go find Xi Shi."

The Great Sage thought better of pressing him for answers and followed his teammates as they continued exploring the inner courtyard.

The night sky hung heavy overhead, devoid of stars or the moon. The only light came from the red lanterns beneath the eaves, painting the dead and silent world in shades of crimson. Occasionally, a gust of ghostly wind set the lanterns swaying, making everything look even more terrifying.

A soft, seductive voice drifted from up ahead. "Come here, I'm over here..."

Zhang Yuanqing and the others looked and saw Xi Shi standing beneath a lantern at the corner of an eave, waving them over.

She stood there, her body rigid as a clay sculpture, waving stiffly. The smile on her face was equally stiff, carrying a touch of the uncanny.

"Xi Shi!"

The Great Sage relaxed at the sight of her and was just about to walk over to her when Fire Demon clamped a hand on his shoulder.

At the same time, Zhang Yuanqing's voice reached his ears. "Look at her shoes."

Her shoes? Great Sage stared harder, and his eyes narrowed.

She was wearing a pair of red embroidered shoes.

That wasn't Xi Shi!

"Come on, come over here," she called, still waving, that rigid and eerie smile fixed on her face.

"Walk past her. Ignore it!" Zhang Yuanqing said in a low voice.

Seeing the gravity on the Nocturnal Specter's face, Great Sage quickly averted his gaze, too nervous to cast another glance.

They walked on for a while longer before Zhang Yuanqing spoke, his eyes fixed ahead. "Do you all remember what Xi Shi said when she entered the estate? That she saw a woman standing under a red lantern?"

At those words, Fire Demon couldn't help glancing back. He could vaguely make out the woman still standing there, no longer waving, but silently watching them.

"It's creepy as hell," The Fire Sage spat.

Xie Lingxi looked confused. "Why did she take on Sis Shi's appearance?"

Zhang Yuanqing gazed toward something ahead and sighed. "Go see for yourselves and you'll understand."

What did he mean? The three didn't understand at first, but after walking a short distance further, they could make out a figure hanging beneath the eaves ahead.

"Sis Shi?" Xie Lingxi cried out in alarm.

It was Xi Shi. She had hung herself beneath the eaves. Her alluring face was mottled in blue and white, twisted in the pain of suffocation, her eyes bulging wide and laced with bloodshot veins, her lips slightly protruding outward.

It was a wretched death.

The Great Sage and Fire Demon were both shocked and horrified. They never expected her to have died here so silently.

With his night vision, Zhang Yuanqing had spotted her long ago and had already moved past the initial shock. He led the three, who were wearing complicated expressions, closer to the body.

Xi Shi hung motionless in the air. Zhang Yuanqing touched her hand. It was ice cold. She had been dead for at least half an hour.

Xie Lingxi pointed to the ground near the body's feet, where a red booklet lay. "It's Sis Shi's wedding invitation."

Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the wedding invitation but left it alone. Darkness surged in his eyes as he communed with the lingering spirit within Xi Shi's body.

He needed to verify whether she had been killed by a vengeful spirit or by something else.

He felt a sudden swelling behind his forehead, and memories that were not his own flooded in.

He saw fragmented scenes from Xi Shi's past.

She was a Level 2 Water Ghost, a Spirit Realm Walker from Nanhang City in Tong Province. She was not affiliated with any official organization, but belonged to a civilian Walker group.

In real life she worked as a nurse, while simultaneously maintaining relationships with several men, including a department head, a wealthy businessman, and the manager of her Walker organization. A fervent non-believer in marriage, she saw no value in love. Men were just resources in her eyes. She was a socialite who had done quite well for herself.

At the end of her memories, Zhang Yuanqing saw a spectral figure in a wedding dress appear, and the vision cut off abruptly.

He opened his eyes, face blank with shock, a chill racing down his spine. She was killed by the Ghost Bride?!

That was impossible. Why would the Ghost Bride strike early? Wasn't she supposed to be waiting to choose a groom? If the Ghost Bride could attack whenever she wanted, how was anyone supposed to play this?

And if the bride had personally killed someone, why only Xi Shi? Why not the rest of them? Or had she simply not gotten around to it yet?

Just then, he overheard Xie Lingxi and the Great Sage talking.

"Why is her gender crossed out?"

"I don't know. Maybe everyone's gender gets crossed out after they die?"

Zhang Yuanqing gave a start. "Let me see that."

Xie Lingxi handed over the wedding invitation.

He examined it closely. The gender which Xi Shi had written down in her invitation had been struck through with a thick line of ink.

Xie Lingxi blinked her bright eyes. "Bro Tai, what did you see in Sis Shi's spirit?"

The Great Sage and Fire Demon immediately turned to look at him.

"She was killed by the Ghost Bride," he revealed.

"What?!"

All three went pale with terror and looked around warily.

If the Ghost Bride was going to strike, no one present would likely survive. But surely it wouldn't come to that. Even an S-rank mission, however difficult, had to offer them at least a sliver of hope.

"I have a theory, but the logic doesn't quite hold."

Zhang Yuanqing paused to think, then turned to Xie Lingxi, who was alert as a deer. "Can I see your wedding invitation?"

"Oh!"

She was cooperative enough, pulling out the invitation tucked into her waistband.

Zhang Yuanqing took it, unfolded it, and his expression turned strange. "Gender: Male?"

Fire Demon and the Great Sage leaned in and saw that she had indeed written down "male" as her gender.

Great Sage clapped his hands to his head in anguish. "You look so pretty and delicate, but you're actually packing?!"

"What are you talking about~" Xie Lingxi squealed.

Her face flushed a bright crimson and she quickly explained, "I figured the Ghost Bride is looking for a husband, and a husband has to be male. If I wrote "female," that wouldn't fit the criteria, and I'd be eliminated outright, wouldn't I?"

Fire Demon and the Great Sage fell into deep thought.

What Zhang Yuanqing saw confirmed his theory.

Xie Lingxi entered "male" as her gender. My guess was right. In the original version, females could clear this stage automatically, but in the new version, females are killed outright. This is an S-rank Spirit Realm after all. There's no such thing as a cheap, automatic clear.

Xi Shi had been eliminated by the Ghost Bride because she didn't fit the groom criteria.

He laid out his reasoning, and after hearing it, Xie Lingxi said sadly, "I was only guessing and wasn't sure, so I didn't say anything. If I'd known, I would have warned Sis Shi."

The same thought surfaced simultaneously in all three men's minds. Sure, whatever you say!

Now the party was down to four. The Ghost Bride could still claim one more, but only one more at most. That was tolerable.

Out of respect for their brief acquaintance, Zhang Yuanqing cut Xi Shi's body down and laid her gently on the ground, then surveyed his three remaining companions.

"Time is running out," he said. "We need to find the bridal chamber."

Though he hadn't been counting the minutes, he roughly estimated that nearly an hour had passed since they entered the estate.

Xie Lingxi, Fire Demon, and the Great Sage quickly pushed Xi Shi's fate from their minds and steeled themselves.

The four of them pressed deeper into the estate, each holding a betrothal gift, moving in silence through garden after garden with only the red lanterns for company.

After searching for what felt like ages with no sign of the bridal chamber, they suddenly spotted a courtyard ahead. The building had upswept eaves, with double happiness characters pasted on the windows and doors, and warm candlelight spilling out from within.

A crimson carpet lined the path from the courtyard's gate to the main room.

"Right on time. The bridal chamber appeared the moment the hour was up."

Zhang Yuanqing looked at his teammates' tense faces and said softly, "Let's go."

He had been about to crack a joke, something like, "don't be so nervous, the Ghost Bride might turn out to be a gorgeous, voluptuous older beauty." But seeing the grim expressions on his three companions, their faces like prisoners marching to the gallows, he wisely abandoned the attempt at levity.

Up to this point, they still did not know how the Ghost Bride would choose. One out of four, or all of them?

None of them knew if they would survive.

They entered the courtyard and walked along the red carpet. Zhang Yuanqing stopped before the door, drew in a deep breath, and forcefully shoved the lattice doors open.

Both doors swung inward, slamming into the walls with a loud bang. He stepped over the threshold, every muscle in his body coiled tight, and swept his gaze across the room.

The entire chamber was decorated in a festive red, and double happiness characters adorned the walls. A round table stood in the center. Two candlesticks sat on top of it, holding flickering red candles half an arm's length tall. There were also a few celadon dishes arrayed below them, holding longan, peanuts, and similar items.

Pushed against the eastern wall was a large bed, its curtains and sheets all colored a celebratory red, though there was no quilt.

There was nothing by the bedside. No bride in a wedding dress with a red veil over her head, as he had imagined. The Ghost Bride was not there. The tension in Zhang Yuanqing's chest eased slowly, and he exhaled hard. He turned to speak to his teammates behind him, only to discover that the entire bridal chamber contained him and him alone.

His three teammates had vanished again.

Was I the only one who entered the bridal chamber? He wondered suddenly. A jolt of alarm ran through him, followed immediately by understanding.

"The Ghost Bride really knows how to play. She arranged a bridal chamber for each of us," he muttered.

The current situation matched the second prediction he'd made earlier: the four betrothal gifts corresponded to four grooms. Anyone else would die.

Now I just have to wait for the bride to grace me with her presence! The question is, who will she choose?

Zhang Yuanqing turned around to close the door, quietly summoned Little Goofball, and perched the infant spirit on top of his head. To your battle stations, everyone!

He patted the infant spirit on the head and gazed at the festive scene around him.

Unbidden, an internet joke came to mind. The Ghost Bride just married, and she already has a husband and a son. She has truly reached the pinnacle of life! And the kid isn't even dark skinned. (TL Note: I think we probably should remove this... but I’m not sure)

The room was bright and warm, thanks to the blazing candlelight. Zhang Yuanqing had planned to track the passage of time by watching the candles burn down, only to realize that they were strangely supernatural. No matter how long they burned, they never diminished.

An unknown amount of time passed before the door was blown open with a bang by a gust of ghostly wind. The candles went out instantly, and frigid air howled through every corner of the bridal chamber.

The room was plunged into darkness, and Zhang Yuanqing's heart lurched. The infant spirit atop his head began trembling violently, gripped by a primal, apocalyptic terror.

He turned his stiff neck toward the open doorway. Inky-black darkness lay beyond. With his night vision, he could just barely make out a figure draped in a wedding dress and a red veil over her head walking along the crimson carpet toward the bridal chamber.