Chapter 168: Sending Invitations

Successfully applied makeup to the Ghost Bride, and looking at her appearance at that moment, Zhang Hao was momentarily stunned.

Not that he was enchanted, but he simply didn't know what to do next.

The Puzzle of the red room has been completed, the Ghost Bride's makeup is also finished, yet nothing changed in the room.

"Hao~ Light the Candle!"

Fortunately, at this moment, the Ghost Bride spoke again.

Perhaps because of the touch‑up makeup, she not only could call Zhang Hao's name but also seemed to understand how to express other things in words.

"Zhang Hao, I'm coming!"

He Yuelian heard the Ghost Bride speak, eyes filled with surprise, and walked toward the Red Candlestick where a Red Candle and a White Candle were placed.

The Red Candle and White Candle were lit, and the room glowed with a dim green light and a pitch‑black light.

As that special Black Light appeared in the room, the Ghost Mirror on the dressing table reflected many eerie human silhouettes.

Each of these silhouettes was a terrifying Fierce Ghost, drawn by the Black Light to enter the red room, but the Ghost Mirror's restriction prevented them from actually leaving, so they crowded in front of the mirror.

Possessing the ability to see in darkness, Zhang Hao could even see the Ghost Mirror imprinting one grotesque, terrifying face after another.

"Madam, what should we do next?"

Since it was the Ghost Bride's own Puzzle, Zhang Hao thought she should know the next step, and being too lazy to use Precognition, he asked directly.

"Hao, fetch the bride."

Hearing Zhang Hao's question, the Ghost Bride slowly stood up and whispered to him.

It seemed she was trying to steady her voice, or perhaps worried Zhang Hao might not understand her meaning; after standing, the Ghost Bride looked toward He Yuelian.

"Zhang Hao, the Ghost Bride says to send her out the door, then carry her onto the Flower Sedan Chair."

He Yuelian wore a smile, and deep in her eyes was an uncontrollable excitement.

Earlier, in Da'ao City, she had imagined having a deep conversation with Zhang Hao, but he never gave her a chance.

This time, Zhang Hao couldn't refuse her again, could he? After all, he was now also a part of the Ghost Bride.

"Um, okay then."

Zhang Hao nodded, walked to the doorway, and raised his hand.

As Zhang Hao waved, a red Flower Sedan Chair was summoned out of the darkness.

Within the red Flower Sedan Chair were many silhouettes wrapped in red cloth; they lifted the chair, some holding double-reed horn, beating drums and gongs as they walked toward the ancient mansion.

"Hmm, that should be about right."

Zhang Hao gave a rough survey: the drummers were present, and the double-reed horn players as well.

These Fierce Ghosts were ones Zhang Hao had consumed during his later ghost‑eating process, but they offered him little advancement, so he never considered developing their supernatural abilities.

Unexpectedly, merely by summoning the chair, the ghosts themselves gathered onto it.

Yet at that moment Zhang Hao examined himself again; his pallid, ghostly complexion seemed rather unsuitable for an actual wedding.

But thinking carefully, there seemed no need to deliberately change.

Because in Zhang Hao's prior speculation, completing a wedding with the Ghost Bride was mainly to let each other's supernatural abilities transfer to the other.

If he deliberately swapped Funeral Clothes for a Groom's Robe, it would contradict his desire to merge his own supernatural with the bride's.

While pondering, Zhang Hao walked back to the red room.

Inside the room, the Ghost Bride sat before the dressing table, doing something unknown.

When Zhang Hao approached, he finally saw that the Ghost Bride held a stack of Red Letter Paper in her hand.

"Hao~ Invitation!"

The Ghost Bride noticed Zhang Hao entering, picked up the Red Letter Paper in her hand and said.

"The Ghost Bride says that these are the invitations she made; we can send the invitations into the Ghost Mirror, and the Ghost Mirror will deliver them to their corresponding places in reality."

He Yuelian explained, "However, some places are too terrifying; we still need to go there ourselves."

"I see, I understand."

Zhang Hao nodded and looked at the invitations beside the Ghost Bride.

The number of invitations was considerable; they were essentially thin sheets of red paper, with no writing on them—just plain paper.

This thick stack's exact count was unknown.

The Ghost Bride now took most of the invitations and placed them into the Ghost Mirror.

The Red Paper touched the Ghost Mirror, which rippled like a Lake Water surface, drawing the red paper inside.

As the Red Paper was fed into the Ghost Mirror, Zhang Hao saw the terrifying silhouettes in the mirror scramble to seize the red paper.

After obtaining the red paper, some silhouettes took one or two sheets, others four or five, and then vanished on the spot.

Yet deep within the Ghost Mirror, after those silhouettes disappeared, new silhouettes quickly surged forward to vie for the red paper.

This kind of red paper seemed to carry an extremely peculiar supernatural aura, drawing the Fierce Ghosts to take it away.

The Ghost Bride watched the pile of red paper in the mirror thin out, and soon produced another stack of fresh red paper to feed in.

As more Fierce Ghosts obtained the red paper, the endless stream of silhouettes in the Ghost Mirror finally ceased.

"Hao! Carry!"

Seeing that no Fierce Ghost shadows appeared in the Ghost Mirror any longer, the Ghost Bride ignored the small pile of red paper left in the mirror, stood up, and said to Zhang Hao.

He Yuelian, hearing this, looked at Zhang Hao, about to speak the Ghost Bride's meaning.

However, Zhang Hao had already lifted the Ghost Bride onto his back.

Seeing this, He Yuelian shook her head helplessly.

Zhang Hao understood the Ghost Bride too well; her worry that he might not grasp her thoughts was unnecessary.

Nevertheless, He Yuelian was also a bit curious at this moment.

The first time she saw the Ghost Bride, she seemed unintelligent, acting only on instinct.

The second time he saw the Ghost Bride, she already had her own way of acting and could make judgments.

This time he saw the Ghost Bride, she had even learned to speak and engage in simple communication with Zhang Hao.

Could it be that the Ghost Bride later can be revived? Or perhaps, like a human, possess true intelligence and be able to speak and converse?

"He Yuelian, come out, we're leaving."

Zhang Hao carried the Ghost Bride out of the red room, looked at He Yuelian who was still standing there, and called out to her.

"Alright, I'm coming."

He Yuelian heard Zhang Hao call her, lifted her head, showed a surprised expression, and hurriedly followed.

The Ghost Bride gave no news, so she thought she didn't need to follow this time, but unexpectedly the wedding party could also take part.

Zhang Hao carried the Ghost Bride to the Flower Sedan Chair and led her up.

"Hao, send out the invitations."

The Ghost Bride stepped into the Flower Sedan Chair and said a word to Zhang Hao. He Yuelian, who at that moment also caught up, hurriedly said:

"Zhang Hao, the Ghost Bride has sent you to various Spiritual Realms; we will now summon the ghosts from those Spiritual Realms to the Ghostly Mansion."

"Hmm, I understand." Zhang Hao nodded.

He walked to the front of the group, thought for a moment, and summoned the Ghost Coffin to sit on.

Since the Ghost Bride is sitting on the Flower Sedan Chair, I'll sit on the Coffin then.

As Zhang Hao sat on the Coffin, the troupe produced the sounds of gongs, drums, and double-reed horn; Zhang Hao inexplicably felt his Ghost Power being enhanced.

"Is this a Puzzle variation belonging to some kind of ritual series?"

Zhang Hao felt his own change and recalled a question he had once thought of.

Why does the Republic Era like to represent various Supernatural Artifacts with related Puzzles?

And now, Zhang Hao understands that this should be some special Puzzle concept.

This Puzzle concept is not the traditional kind where two ghosts complement each other, but a Mind-Only Concept Puzzle.

It's like hand and foot; they aren't directly a Puzzle relationship, but within the concept of a body they are a Puzzle.

Similarly, door and window; from a direct relationship perspective, these two ghosts have no connection.

But when door is the primary concept, the two ghosts can serve as each other's Puzzle.

Even if this Puzzle relationship lacks a ghost that can directly link them as the primary.

In fact, when Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride had just left the bus, Zhang Hao had also fashioned the Red and White Double Evil, though it was somewhat crude.

But at that time it truly gave Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride a certain boost.

This should also be a conceptual Puzzle relationship; between Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride, because they are two separate entities.

Even Ghost Slave and Ghost Master can have Ghost Power that works like a true Puzzle, enhancing each other, at most borrowing part of the other's Ghost Power.

But after Zhang Hao forged the Flower Sedan Chair and the Coffin, even though they didn't hold hands, within the Red and White Collision concept they have already become the two protagonists of the Red and White affair.

In short.

Puzzle one is the Ghost Bride, Puzzle two is Zhang Hao.

And when one person sits on the Flower Sedan Chair and the other sits on the Coffin.

Between Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride a Mind-Only Puzzle, Red and White Collision, will arise.

The Mind-Only Puzzle does not truly exist, yet it will complement the two ghosts, who cannot complete each other, in a Mind-Only way, thereby enhancing the upper Ghost Power.

This situation is like the fierce ghosts of the hand‑and‑foot type instinctively possessing a human corpse.

Humans cannot even resist the weakest Ghost Power; for a Fierce Ghost, there is essentially no boost.

But as a ghost resembling a severed hand or foot, once it has a human corpse, it will think it has a body.

This is a Mind-Only misjudgment; the Fierce Ghost mistakenly believes it has a complete body, thereby raising its Terror Level.

If a severed leg and a severed hand are both attached to one person, a Ghost Tamer might not be able to endure.

But if it is a corpse, that hand and that foot have already formed a Puzzle, and their Ghost Power has been complemented.

However, whether human or these ordinary pieces of furniture, they are merely Mind-Only Puzzles, offering at most a misjudged boost for a Fierce Ghost.

Once they truly encounter a Fierce Ghost‑shaped Puzzle, those Fierce Ghosts will naturally discard these Mind-Only Puzzles and prioritize completing the real Puzzle.

Now Zhang Hao and the Ghost Bride are in this situation.

The Red and White affair itself cannot generate a connection.

However, because both sides share the Ghost Seeking Kin foundation, and Zhang Hao's original role was the Ghost Bride's Ghost Slave.

Now that both sides' Terror Levels have stacked, they can rely on the basic link, combined with the Mind-Only Puzzle, to mutually complement each other's Ghost Power.

Yet the Mind-Only Puzzle is still just Mind-Only, so this boost isn't very large.

"Perhaps we still need to wait until the wedding is truly completed before our mutual complement can advance further."

Zhang Hao sat atop the Ghost Coffin, watching the bus travel on the Highway, and couldn't help to ponder.

"Tap tap tap!"

As Zhang Hao was pondering, footsteps came from behind.

Zhang Hao turned his head, saw that He Yuelian, at an unknown moment, had stepped down from the Flower Sedan Chair and was briskly running toward him.

"What's happening?" Zhang Hao asked.

"Nothing." He Yuelian noticed Zhang Hao's gaze, shook her head.

"It's just that the Ghost Bride asked me to come ahead and keep you company."

He Yuelian walked to the side of the Coffin, vaulted in a flip, and sat on the coffin lid behind Zhang Hao.

"Are you still worried I'm bored?" Zhang Hao couldn't help but feel a bit helpless.

I'm a ghost, even though I've devoured many Fierce Ghosts, I can now have emotions no different from a living person.

But boredom doesn't appear in my heart.

"Of course not; the Ghost Bride just wants to stay by your side," He Yuelian, who also knew Zhang Hao's situation, shook her head and said.

"However, the Ghost Bride now must sit inside the Flower Sedan Chair and cannot come out, so she can only let me come over."

"Alright," Zhang Hao heard that and did not refuse.

For He Yuelian, she herself is an independent individual.

But for the Ghost Bride, He Yuelian is merely a part of her.

This relationship depends on how one views it, if seen from a human perspective.

It's hard to accept that one's own doppelgänger considers itself an independent individual.

But from a ghost's perspective, the doppelgänger is an independent individual, yet also a part of oneself, and there is no conflict.

After all, the Fierce Ghost's viewpoint is bizarre.

Including Zhang Hao himself, his perspective also encompasses his own self, his doppelgänger, and even those Black and White Photos, which he can use as his own eyes.

Even others' memories of him exist within his perspective.

"Hehe!" Hearing that Zhang Hao did not refuse, He Yuelian let out a silly laugh.

However, she didn't rush to speak, but first attended to the proper business.

A stack of red paper appeared in He Yuelian's hand, and she casually surveyed the surroundings.

When the procession moved into areas that were rather strange and seemed like places where Fierce Ghosts might exist, He Yuelian would take out the red paper from her hand and casually scatter it around.

The red paper, scattered by He Yuelian, drifted with the wind in all directions.

In the dark, seemingly deserted Wilderness, as the red papers fluttered, they suddenly seemed to be grasped by unseen hands, pausing midair.

After a short while, in this wilderness, a few silhouettes emerged, holding red paper and following at the back of the marriage procession.

(End of Chapter)