Xianyin Village.
Lu Changxue, a ghost, never imagined being dragged by a human could make her nauseous.
"Slow down! Slow down! I'm gonna puke... Ugh!" Lu Changxue clutched the huge scholar tree, retching.
"How can a ghost be this weak?" Zhou Benxin gasped, sweat pouring off his brow, drenching his t-shirt and highlighting formidable muscles.
Lu Changxue's lip twitched. Thank goodness she wasn't alive; one punch from him would send her straight to her own afterlife.
The kneeling villagers stared at Zhou Benxin and Lu Changxue, expressions bewildered and wary.
Old Fifth Zhou's piercing gaze fixed on Lu Changxue. He couldn't see the churning maelstrom of resentment around her, only long black hair obscuring her face. "Fifth Gong," the floral-shirted woman hissed, her back crawling, "Didn't we sacrifice the girl? Who is this one?"
"No matter who the outsider is," Fifth Zhou snapped, cane striking the ground hard, "Drive them both away now!" His eyes darted anxiously to the candles on the altar, burning only a third of their length. The ritual wasn't complete; it couldn't be interrupted.
Lu Changxue raised a spectral finger, pointing at herself. "Drive me away? You made my Stinky Baby vanish, and now you want me gone? How infuriating!"
The sturdy women surged forward. Lu Changxue didn't move. They lunged, hands passing right through her intangible form.
The women screamed, faces blanched white as paper. "Ghost! She's a ghost!"
"Fear what?!" Fifth Zhou barked, seemingly unfazed. "She's a ghost, but she can't break the ritual! Hold them off! When the sacrifice ends, the Twin Gods will destroy her!"
Zhou Benxin had reached the wooden altar platform. With a grunt of effort, he slammed a heavy kick into one of its support legs.
Crack!
Splinters flew.
He drew back for another kick. Several older men tackled him, grappling his limbs to pin him down.
"He's too strong! Hold him tight!"
Zhou Benxin strained, muscles bulging, face flushing crimson. But against overwhelming numbers, he was forced face-down into the dirt.
A man in his fifties snarled. "Traitor! You're village-born! Helping outsiders sabotage us?!"
"Bullshit! You're practicing feudal superstition!" Zhou Benxin spat dirt. "I'm following government policy to stop you! Using my living senior as an undead bride – how could you?!"
He yelled towards Lu Changxue. "Ghost lady! A little spectral help?! They're killing me!"
The men paused, then rained blows down harder. "Feudal superstition? Calling a ghost isn't?!"
Lu Changxue drifted over. Spectral hands shot out, flinging two men aside like ragdolls. Zhou Benxin scrambled free.
"You keep dismantling. I'm unleashing," Lu Changxue declared, her crimson eyes now pools of glowing blood-red. Her form trembled; her fraying sanity screamed for Yun Jianyue.
She unleashed a torrent of pure, palpable resentment, engulfing over a hundred villagers in an icy shroud of despair.
A piercing scream tore through the night.
"Li Qingqing! She's back!"
"NO! Get away! I didn't kill you! I didn't pick you! I only tied your hands! Blame Fifth Gong! It was all his plan!"
"Wan Min! I see Wan Min!"
"Zhang Meng, please! Don't kill me!"
Pandemonium erupted. Trapped within the fog of Lu Changxue's power, villagers shrieked and scattered wildly, confronted by their deepest, darkest fear—the vengeful spirits of the girls they'd forced into red bridal gowns and condemned to the altar.
Zhou Benxin, pausing his demolition only to flash Lu Changxue a thumbs-up and mouth 'Holy shit, amazing!', returned with renewed fury to his task. He tore into the wooden structure like a rabid bulldozer.
CRUNCH!
BOOM!
With a deafening crash, the altar platform collapsed in a cloud of splinters and choking dust.
The twin candles, still burning defiantly, flickered violently and died within the roiling debris.
***
Simultaneously... Underground Chamber.
The coiling mass of condensed Yin energy, shaped into a monstrous serpent by Mo Chen's will, lunged. Its fanged maw gaped wide, stinking of decay and ancient malice. It surged towards Yun Jianyue with unnatural speed, defying gravity itself.
Yun Jianyue stood her ground, no escape possible. She braced the humming chainsaw, gritting her teeth to meet the titanic force head-on.
Impact came... Or almost.
When the serpent's maw was mere inches away, a sudden, powerful suction yanked Yun Jianyue violently upward. She didn't even have time for a final curse. The vortex swallowed her whole.
The serpent of pure Yin energy slammed into empty space where she'd stood.
Mo Chen stared at the vacant chamber. His gaze lowered to his wrist. The shimmering red marriage thread remained faintly visible. He stared for what felt like an eternity. Then, silent, he slammed his fist onto the stone throne.
BOOOOM!
The throne exploded into a cloud of pulverized rock.
Regaining a sliver of composure, Mo Chen lifted his wrist. He delicately hooked the intangible red thread with a fingertip. A wisp of his Divine Power, dark and potent, flowed into it.
"Tell me," he commanded, his voice echoing with ancient authority. "What is my... bride's... name?"
The shimmering thread instantly coiled and twisted. Above his wrist, it formed three characters against the dark air: 云见月 - Yun Jianyue.
Then, inexplicably, it wiggled again, shaping a large, glowing pink heart.
Within the heart's outline, another name began to form: 墨沉 - Mo Chen.
Mo Chen's face instantly darkened, a thundercloud descending. The fragile hold on his fury vanished. What manner of unholy, irreverent bond was this?!
He withdrew his power. The thread lost its luminosity, sagging back into its faint, shimmering state.
***
"Cough! Cough! What the hell? Dirt storm?" Yun Jianyue gasped, sprawled amidst rubble, choking on thick dust, eyes streaming.
A blur charged through the settling debris.
"SENIOR YUN! YOU OKAY?" Zhou Benxin's roar preceded him. He scooped Yun Jianyue up without ceremony and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, dashing out of the wreckage.
"Put... me... down..." Yun Jianyue groaned, utterly helpless. Honestly, being throttled by her undead "husband" hadn't left her feeling this utterly defeated.
Hearing the weakness in her voice only spurred Zhou Benxin on. He ran faster, bouncing her mercilessly. "Don't worry, Senior! We'll break through!"
Yun Jianyue's right hand still clutched the chainsaw. With supreme effort, she lifted the buzzing tool and pressed it firmly against the side of Zhou Benxin's sweaty head.
"Put. Me. Down. Or else?" she rasped, voice weak but the chainsaw's Whirrrrr! carrying the threat loud and clear.
Zhou Benxin stopped dead and gently set her on her feet. It wasn't fear of the chainsaw, obviously. Just concern for his frail senior.
Right. That was it.
Lu Changxue, maintaining the shroud of vengeful illusions over the villagers, spotted Yun Jianyue. Relief washed over her spectral face. She flew towards her, arms outstretched. "STINKY BABY! YOU'RE ALIVE!" She enveloped Yun Jianyue in an ectoplasmic hug.
Whirrrrr!
"...What is that sound?" Lu Changxue pulled back slightly, looking down.
She saw the chainsaw gripped firmly in Yun Jianyue's hand.
The next moment, the ghost's shrill scream ripped through the night sky, easily audible over the panicked cries of the villagers trapped in their personal hells:
"WHERE IN DAMNATION DID YOU GET A CHAINSAW?!?"