Chapter 176
Chapter 176: Rules can be changed
Unlike the first two processions, this one had a strange composition.
Aside from the 3 towering paper figures responsible for carrying the palanquin.
A petite girl wearing a black cloak had slipped into the procession.
At the moment she stepped through Soul-Return Town's gates and shed her disguise.
This cloaked figure did not rot into decaying flesh and blood or bleached-white bones like the other townsfolk.
Her skin simply turned even paler, completely drained of color.
Moreover, her way of moving was somewhat peculiar.
Legs pressed together, hopping forward one bounce at a time.
It was obvious—this was a zombie.
When the procession passed by Tang Sirui's solitary grave, the cloaked figure suddenly stopped her hopping steps.
“Grr...”
She let out a hoarse growl from deep in her throat.
Upon hearing that sound, the head of the wedding procession—
A rotting corpse dragging half a skeletal broken leg—came stumbling over, and warily growled back: “Grr?”
The cloaked figure skipped the pleasantries and directly produced a thick stack of silver banknotes.
A full 50 taels!
“Grr!!!”
The rotting corpse captain saw this and let out an excited growl.
It snatched the banknotes in one grab, pulled out half, and divided them among the ghost constables standing nearby responsible for escorting the carriage.
Money makes even ghosts grind the mill—this rule applied equally in the Savage Realm.
The rotting corpse captain, now paid, waved its bony claw, signaling the wedding procession to temporarily halt.
Then it made a cross gesture with its fingers toward the cloaked figure.
Meaning: for the money's sake, you get 10 minutes only!
The cloaked figure nodded.
Then she hopped stiffly over to Tang Sirui's tombstone and rigidly crouched down.
The night wind blew back her hood.
In the moonlight, the cloaked figure revealed a head of long hair, and atop it—a pair of fluffy rabbit ears.
Rabbit-Ear Girl.
Trembling, she reached a hand into her chest and once again produced a large stack of silver banknotes—a full 200 taels!
She then arranged the banknotes before Tang Sirui's grave, opened her mouth...
And murmured a sentence in human speech.
“Resurrect... my beloved.”
The instant those words fell!
Those 200 taels of silver banknotes burst into flames, transforming into a beam of white light that plunged into the earth below!
Bang!!
The next moment, the burial ground shook violently—a pale hand broke through the soil!
Immediately after, a figure crawled out from the grave.
It was a man covered head to toe in mud.
His lips had been sewn shut with black silk thread, and there was a ring of suture marks around his neck.
As if his head had once been completely severed and then forcibly reattached.
In his right hand he gripped a bamboo pole tightly.
And on his slightly drooping left hand, his middle finger and ring finger each bore a ring.
If Zhao Yan were standing here right now, he would have been shocked beyond all measure.
Because inside that space ring worn on the middle finger was nearly half of Huaxia's Second Base's entire arsenal!
And this mud-covered man was none other than the real Tang Sirui!
Tang Sirui slowly opened his eyes.
But those eyes held not the slightest vitality of a living person—gray and hollow.
Like a walking corpse.
Looking at her resurrected beloved, Rabbit-Ear Girl's eyes instantly reddened.
Two streams of clear tears slid down her pale cheeks.
She hurriedly wiped her tears with her sleeve, stepped forward, took Tang Sirui's hand, and led him back into the wedding procession.
The suona rang out once more, and the wedding procession continued forward...
Time passed in the blink of an eye...
……
2:04 AM.
Scholar's Dojo.
Jiang Nan sat atop a collapsed massive stone pillar.
Guo Shuai held Quanquan, and Han Fei—the 3 of them stood beside him in a triangular formation.
Quietly waiting for this wedding procession to arrive.
While on the cliff highland behind them, Confucius gripped his massive axe, standing guard before the motorhome.
Inside the vehicle were the rest of the squad.
This was the tactical arrangement Jiang Nan had carefully deliberated over.
He had no intention of bringing his harem into Soul-Return Town.
On one hand, it was because the danger level was extremely high—he had yet to personally probe the depths of a Yellow-level zone.
Bringing too many people inside could easily become dead weight, triggering an uncontrollable total-wipe crisis.
On the other hand...
And most importantly, according to what Confucius had said, the Phoenix Sovereign who commanded Soul-Return Town—
Had an obsessive, improper fixation on him, this Dragon God.
A disease-crazed female ghost wielding 2 suspected Special-Grade spirit instruments.
With unfathomable power, who had been waiting for him for several thousand years.
If at this critical juncture, she saw him sauntering in to get married while leading a group of beautiful women...
That image was too vivid—Jiang Nan dared not think about it.
No matter how arrogant he was, he would not gamble on a lovesick woman's sanity.
The moment the Phoenix Sovereign flew into a rage on the spot, unleashing the Special-Grade spirit instruments in an indiscriminate barrage—Chen Tong and the others would absolutely be in mortal danger.
So, leaving the women in the relatively safer Dojo ruins, guarded by Confucius as a powerful external asset.
While he brought several core combat forces to probe Soul-Return Town's depths.
It was simply the best strategy with no downsides.
At this moment, Jiang Nan toyed with the token in his hand—neither gold nor wood in material.
The front of the token was engraved with an ancient 【儒】character, while the back bore the 3 characters 【Confucian Alliance Token】.
This had been given to him by Confucius.
It could unconditionally command Confucius's 3,000 disciples within the Confucian Alliance inside Soul-Return Town!
With this thing, he was effectively conjuring a loyal private armed force out of thin air inside the town.
Extremely useful.
“Boss!”
Guo Shuai beside him narrowed his eyes, pointing at the thick fog at the far end of the wilderness ahead—”Looks like something's coming over!”
Quanquan also waved his little hands.
“Big bro! Big bro! There's something! Something's coming to pick us up!”
Han Fei, hearing this, immediately pulled out a stocking from her pocket and pulled it over her head.
She squinted her eyes, peering toward the red light in the distance and the suona music drifting over with the wind.
“From the looks of it... seems like a wedding procession?”
Han Fei tightened her fists.
Jiang Nan stopped toying with the token.
“It's finally starting.”
He rose from the stone pillar, the God-Slaying Spear spinning a full circle in his palm.
Then...
He pulled out that invitation card from his pocket.
In the distance, the outline of the wedding procession grew clearer and clearer.
12 ghost constables led the way, horse-cleaving blades flickering in and out of the dark.
Over a hundred bizarre figures played instruments and made merry—rotten faces still wearing smiles.
The flower palanquin sat at the center of the procession, red silk swaying, golden bells tinkling.
At the front of the procession, that rotting corpse captain dragging half a skeletal broken leg came limping forward.
It fixed its gaze on the invitation in Jiang Nan's hand, then respectfully bent at the waist and made a welcoming gesture.
Pointing toward the large red flower palanquin at the center of the procession—one that could only fit a single person.
“Boss, we'll follow behind.”
Guo Shuai pulled Quanquan and stepped forward, Han Fei followed close behind.
The 3 of them walked straight toward the wedding procession, ready to fall in together.
Clang!
Two horse-cleaving blades crossed in an X formation before Guo Shuai and Han Fei.
Blocking their path.
“What's the meaning of this?”
Han Fei's gaze turned cold—Plunder was already primed and ready.
The rotting corpse captain turned around. Its hollow eye sockets fixed on Guo Shuai and the others as it raised one finger and wagged it.
Then it pointed at the invitation in Jiang Nan's hand, then pointed at the flower palanquin.
It made the shape of a crown above its own head with both hands, then waved dismissively.
This whole series of body language was one step short of writing it on its face.
‘Rules are rules!’
‘He's just a candidate here for the selection—not a true groom yet. He has no noble privileges!’
‘The palanquin takes him alone. Bystanders, scram!’
Watching the rotting corpse captain's arrogant gestures, Guo Shuai's anger inverted into a laugh.
“Hey, you crumbled bag of bones who can't even talk—quite the airs you're putting on?”
Just as both sides were at daggers drawn, and the ghost constables were about to directly move in and suppress them.
Jiang Nan, who had been sitting on the stone pillar all along, slowly stood up.
He did not reach for his notepad. He simply gazed arrogantly at the strange figures before him.
When he looked at people with this kind of gaze, the 3 who knew him immediately and wordlessly retreated half a step in tacit understanding.
Another person—oh, not a person—another ghost was about to have a bad time!
Jiang Nan raised his right hand, index and middle fingers pressed together in a sword-pointing gesture.
His gaze looked directly into the rotting corpse captain's hollow eye sockets.
“Rules.”
Jiang Nan spoke—his voice very light, as if speaking of something inconsequential.
“Can be changed.”
The rotting corpse captain tried to refuse, but had just raised its hand when it stopped again.
Because Jiang Nan's eyes lit up.
Within those pitch-black pupils, an endless brilliant divine radiance suddenly erupted.
“By the Divine Word, let the soul bear my decree!”
Hum!
The radiance lasted only an instant—so brief that even Guo Shuai and Han Fei barely noticed it.
They only felt that things suddenly brightened for a moment before their eyes, like a camera flash going off.
But every single strange figure in the wedding procession saw it.
In that instant, they saw a pair of eyes.
Those eyes held no fury, no killing intent—only one thing: rules.
Not a request, not a negotiation—a declaration.
A declaration of how things had always been.
As if from a very, very long time ago, rules had simply been this way.
The rotting corpse captain lowered its head, its hunched body bending even deeper.
And in its mind, one more thing had taken root: compliance.
Rules, could be changed.