133: Chapter 133 Does this sound funny to you?

As the two of them just stepped into the front courtyard, a trace of extremely fine and cold Yin Qi seeped over from the direction of the side rooms behind the main hall.

Xie Feng's spiritual power perception instantly spread out, touching the source of that aura.

It is not Cthulhu Mythos; it is a local anomaly.

Gloomy, damp, carrying an extremely faint stench of corpse decay, it was spreading outward from the location of the bridal chamber at a very fast speed.

"There is an anomaly." Xie Feng slammed his cold crystal blind staff against the ground, causing an extremely fine crack to split across the bluestone slab at the tip of the staff, "Zhao Yuankui hasn't been dead for long; this aura was just generated, a corpse-transformation type, and it hasn't formed yet."

Tu Ziguan had already pulled the colt from his waist, his thumb flicking off the safety, the muzzle pointing toward the moon gate behind the main hall. "I told you the feng shui of this damn place is no good. Holding red and white affairs together, kowtowing to heaven and earth in front of a dead person, it'd be a wonder if no anomaly popped up."

"Go straight in."

Xie Feng had already taken a step forward. As he passed through the main hall, he casually struck the offering table holding Zhao Yuankui's memorial tablet with his staff, splitting it in half. The tablet flew out and smashed against the white silk, tearing it apart with a crisp rip.

Tu Ziguan followed behind and delivered an extra kick, sending a row of empty wine jars blocking the moon gate clattering and rolling all over the floor.

The door of the bridal chamber was tightly shut, and the stench of corpse decay had become so thick that it made Tu Ziguan frown.

"It stinks to death. Did this guy suffocate from holding in a trip to the bathroom?"

Xie Feng poked open the door panel with a single strike of his staff, the latch being broken from the inside as wood chips flew everywhere.

The dragon and phoenix celebratory candles were still burning, and the Hundred Children pattern on the red gauze curtains swayed slightly in the candlelight.

The grayish-white dead person on the bed had already stood up.

Zhao Yuankui was wearing the burial garments from when he was shrouded, and over them wore the bridegroom robe he didn't have time to take off during the ceremony. His complexion was grayish-white with a greenish tinge, his eye sockets were deeply sunken, and his pupils had scattered into two grayish-white dots.

His mouth was open, and a very muffled, very low snoring sound came from his throat, squeezing out from deep within his trachea. The corpse transformation had just begun, and his movements were still extremely stiff and slow, but that cold aura was spreading outward with him as the center.

Cuddled in the corner of the bed was a figure wearing a bright red bridal gown.

Chen Xiaohe's phoenix crown was tilted to one side, and half of the beaded curtain was broken, revealing an extremely young and extremely pale face beneath. Her eyes were wide, filled with pure terror at the moment, and her lips trembled, but she couldn't even let out a scream.

The tendons in her legs had been severed, so she couldn't run. She could only prop herself up against the edge of the bed and desperately shrink toward the corner, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the bedsheet.

Zhao Yuankui's grayish-white eyeballs rolled down by half an inch, and his stiff neck let out a crisp snap as he slowly turned his body toward the corner of the bed.

Xie Feng had already arrived behind him.

"You still don't run when you see me?"

His right hand was withdrawn from his cloak, his five fingers spread open, and this time he gave the back of Zhao Yuankui's head a straighthanded slap.

The physical strength of a Fourth Realm Cultivator slammed solidly against a newly corpse-transformed shell, sending Zhao Yuankui's head flying straight off his neck. It crashed against the wall of the bridal chamber, bounced once, and rolled into the corner, motionless.

The headless torso stiffened in place for a breath, then its knees buckled and it tilted forward.

Xie Feng raised his blind staff to prop against the chest of the headless corpse, pushing it away from the edge of the bed so that it fell flat on its back onto the floor beside the bed.

Tu Ziguan poked half his body in from the doorway, swept his muzzle around to confirm there were no other anomalies, then tucked the colt back into his waist, walked over to the bed, squatted down, and softened his voice:

"Miss, don't be afraid. Those two who welcomed the bride, the ones at the wedding ceremony, and the ones keeping watch at the door—we fought our way all the way in, and no one could stop us. Can you walk?"

He lowered his head to glance at Chen Xiaohe's legs, saw the blood seeping out from beneath the hem of her bridal gown, his mouth twitched, and he swallowed the rest of his words back down.

He planned to pick up this girl and go back to find Lu Mingyuan. The knowledge of the Yithians was enough to perform a minor surgery; reconnecting a tendon was as easy as drinking water for the Great Race of Yith.

Xie Feng stood beside the slightly twitching headless corpse, his left hand's five fingers spread open. Silver-white magical threads poured out from his fingertips, weaving into a patch of black mud in the air.

He opened a palm-sized small hole, just enough for a Formless Spawn to squeeze through from inside.

That gelatinous larva slid out from the Spacetime Gate, glanced at Xie Feng, then lowered its head to look at the remains on the ground that were oozing corpse decay aura, letting out a very muffled, very lazy purring sound.

The Formless Spawn wrapped Zhao Yuankui's corpse and head together into its gelatinous torso and burrowed back into the Spacetime Gate.

A very deep, very slow swallowing sound came from the other side of the gate, followed by Tsathoggua's signature snore.

Xie Feng closed the summoning spell of the Formless Spawn and patted the dust off his hands.

Takeout received and signed for.

"Brother Feng." Tu Ziguan squatted in the corner of the bed, handing a clean piece of fabric torn from the wall into Chen Xiaohe's hands, "Old Master Zhao is gone. Fighting our way in all the way from the front courtyard, we didn't see that old thing. The back door is open; he probably ran as soon as he heard the commotion."

Xie Feng's spiritual power perception spread out; several fluctuations of spiritual power around the Fourth Realm were moving rapidly, with over a dozen fluctuations of the Third and Second Realms following closely behind.

City-guard Cultivators.

Old Master Zhao was indeed fast. From the time they entered the courtyard to solving Zhao Yuankui, it took no more than a few minutes altogether. The old thing had already brought the city-guard Cultivators back from the other end of Fengle City.

"Tu Wu, you take her back to her parents' home first. I'll keep this bunch of grandsons company and play with them for a while."

Tu Ziguan acknowledged with a sound, carefully helping Chen Xiaohe up from the edge of the bed and carrying her on his back. She was as light as carrying a bundle of dried straw.

Xie Feng carried his cold crystal blind staff, turned around to leave the bridal chamber, and walked to the exact center of the Zhao family's front courtyard. Facing the two red lanterns still glowing at the main gate, he stopped and stood still.

"What kind of person dares trespass into my Zhao—"

Before the words were finished, a click sounded.

Boom!

Tu Ziguan looked back and smiled, while Xie Feng frowned.

"Plant fewer booby traps in the future. When erasing memories, it's hard to smooth things over regarding your Brain Matter."

"Received."

The three-petaled flames beneath Xie Feng's veil slowly swept across the group of dusty Cultivators at the doorway.

Tu Ziguan leaned against the moon gate, the colt tucked into his waist, lowering his head to pat away the fragments of the booby trap fuse stuck to his sleeves.

The power of the booby trap wasn't large; it was mainly to vent some anger. Otherwise, if they were all blown to death, there wouldn't be anywhere to ask for intelligence.

Those Cultivators at the door whose faces were covered in soot and ash from the booby trap had already rushed in. Leading them was a middle-aged man wearing a deep cyan city-guard Cultivator robe, just stepping into the Fourth Realm, holding an unsheathed long sword in his hand, followed by two Third Realm and several Second Realm Disciples behind him.

Old Master Zhao shrank at the very back of the crowd, his face turning alternating shades of blue and white, the corners of his mouth still twitching.

As soon as that city-guard Cultivator entered the door, he sternly shouted: "What kind of madmen! Trespassing into a private residence, injuring servants, ruining people's marriages, and destroying a mourning hall—why haven't you surrendered yet!"

Xie Feng and Tu Ziguan just listened with furrowed brows.

Ruin people's marriages and destroy a mourning hall—listen to yourself.

That makes absolutely no sense.