Chapter 501: Human Head Treasure Banner

"He wouldn't be the groom coming to pick a bride, would he?" Zhu Bajie looked at the one examining the evil ghost in the second row.

Tang Luo had already walked over, but did not act.

Both sides were still observing.

"It's possible..." Ao Yulie said.

As they spoke, the evil ghost seemed to have finished observing, reaching out to grab the stiff, trembling-less man before it.

Tang Luo also reached out at the same time, grabbing the man and pulling him aside.

He sat down simultaneously, taking the man's place.

The evil ghost's reaching motion stopped, it slowly straightened up, ignored Tang Luo, and walked toward the next row.

"Huh?"

"What's going on?" Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie, who had been observing, both felt puzzled.

Did the evil ghost get scared?

Could this be an evil ghost with reason? That would truly be a rare breed.

However, the evil ghost's subsequent behavior was not what Zhu Bajie and the others had imagined.

The evil ghost continued observing the person sitting on the next chair, and after observing, seemingly not finding a suitable target for its "bride," it walked toward the next row.

If this evil ghost truly had reason and realized Tang Luo's danger, the correct reaction at this moment should have been to run away.

"Master, you should have destroyed the evil ghost's necessary condition for killing just now." Zhu Bajie spoke up.

"The number of people?" Tang Luo stood up.

"It should be the number of people." Zhu Bajie said.

The long bench the evil ghost first observed and contacted had four people sitting on it, the second long bench had two people.

The third long bench had five people sitting on it.

If nothing unexpected happened, as long as the number of people was less than three, the evil ghost would take one—or possibly more—from above.

Tang Luo had seemingly taken that person's place just now.

In reality, the true reason was to add one person to the bench, so the evil ghost stopped.

On the following benches, the number of people was all greater than or equal to three, so the evil ghost also did not act.

So...

"Master, does the dog count as one?" Ao Yulie raised a philosophical question.

Because the evil ghost had already come to their side and began observing.

"Nonsense, of course it counts." Tang Luo said.

Sure enough, after looking, the evil ghost stiffly straightened up, like an old machine, and walked toward the next row.

On the bench behind Tang Luo and them, only one person was sitting.

At this moment, that person had their mouth wide open, face completely devoid of color.

Tang Luo walked over, threw that person onto another bench where several people were sitting, and then also "tidied up" the others with fewer than three people.

In this way, except for himself, all benches had three or more people sitting.

After doing this, one could feel the power of merit in the Merit Jade Lotus increasing noticeably faster, suddenly increasing by a large amount.

Standard life-saving behavior.

But this was still not enough.

Tang Luo walked to the bench the evil ghost was heading toward next, sat down: "I'll go out with him to take a look."

"Master, be careful."

The evil ghost quickly came before Tang Luo, observed, confirmed the "person" count on the bench was only one, and reached out toward Tang Luo.

At the moment it touched Tang Luo's shoulder, Tang Luo's body involuntarily moved, standing up, standing beside the evil ghost.

However, besides this, there was no other further attack.

Even if an ordinary person was chosen by the evil ghost, they would not die temporarily, currently only being controlled in body.

Having chosen the "bride," the evil ghost turned and walked out of the sedan, Tang Luo stiffly followed behind, offering no resistance.

"..."

Zhu Bajie and Ao Yulie sympathetically glanced at that evil ghost.

Young man, you will never know what you are taking out.

Hmm... sometimes ignorance is also a kind of happiness.

The evil ghost lifted the red curtain in front, and Tang Luo left with it.

The suffocating yet non-lethal sense of fear inside the ghost sedan instantly vanished, replaced by a feeling of joy.

The group that had just been scared witless immediately broke into smiles, seeming to have completely forgotten what had just happened, eagerly anticipating the upcoming journey.

At the same time, the powerful suppressing force returned.

Zhu Bajie and them could not rise.

Besides them, others did not even have the thought of standing up.

The ghost sedan swayed slightly, began to rise and fall regularly and rhythmically, obviously having resumed its journey.

As to whether it was returning to the human world or continuing deeper into hell, no one knows.

Tang Luo's side.

He followed the evil ghost out of the ghost sedan, behind him was an ordinary red sedan, small in size, barely able to seat one person.

Four sedan bearers stood beside the sedan, with a guide in front.

Around them was the "band," all motionless, standing stiffly, faces dark as iron, eyes wide open, each a rigid corpse.

Their location was a country lane, the ground beneath their feet solid yellow mud.

In the darkness to the left, a row of withered trees could be vaguely seen; farther away, it was completely dark.

Nothing more could be seen.

On the right side of the road stood a large mansion.

Ancient-style architecture, with vermilion double doors, bearing a plaque with illegible characters.

The double doors were tightly shut, and two "people" stood outside.

One man and one woman, around sixty years old, nearing retirement age, both dressed in ancient attire, with a faint smile on their faces.

Like in-laws eagerly coming out to welcome the bride.

The son wore modern clothing, while the parents wore ancient attire, which was rather strange.

Each held a lantern—white lampshade, red candle—identical to the red-and-white lanterns Tang Luo had seen before.

The two bearers in front pressed down the crossbar, allowing the evil ghost and Tang Luo to leave together.

Then, the band beside them resumed beating drums and gongs, and the leader began singing an eerie tune.

The entire procession swayed as it continued forward along the small path.

"There's still another stop ahead," Tang Luo thought to himself, not chasing after them, but first checking the situation at the ancient mansion before him.

The wedding procession, but clearly not escorting the bride.

The three evil ghosts opened the mansion's main gate, with no wedding ceremony whatsoever, and Tang Luo and the others walked in like that.

Upon entering the mansion, the previously enveloping darkness dissipated.

Tang Luo saw that in the spacious courtyard, countless "people" stood packed together.

Everyone shouldered shoulder to shoulder, occupying every inch of the courtyard's space.

The three evil ghosts obediently walked to the very front of the crowd and stood still.

Tang Luo also stepped forward and stood there, motionless.

The moment Tang Luo stood still, an invisible attack struck him, similar to the lethal attack of the hide-and-seek ghost.

It was more ferocious and intense than the hide-and-seek ghost's attack.

Moreover, this attack instantly triggered a chain reaction.

Around Tang Luo, hundreds of ghosts appeared and launched the same attack against him.

Tang Luo stood firm as a mountain, unmoving, while the evil ghosts behind him suddenly collapsed in large numbers, their piercing wails echoing throughout the mansion courtyard.

This time, the evil ghosts seemed to have produced a strange reaction among themselves.

Previously, although their attack timing had gradually synchronized, they actually had no effect on each other; if anything, it was merely an additive effect, a "benign influence" making their attacks more intense.

But this time, with the Hundred Ghosts Entangling the Body manifesting, the attack actually reached the evil ghosts behind him.

A special change had occurred.

The scene of the Hundred Ghosts Entangling the Body vanished, Tang Luo regained freedom, and turned to look.

Those fallen evil ghosts showed no signs of injury whatsoever, each like a section of withered wood, lying motionless on the ground.

Including the one who had just entered the ghost sedan to escort people away—it was unknown whether they would rise again later.

The only two still standing were the ghosts holding the red-and-white lanterns, their faces still bearing that faint, bone-chilling smile.

Ignoring those two ghosts, Tang Luo stepped forward and walked into the interior of the mansion.

The evil ghosts behind him that had not fallen and stood motionless blocking the way were easily pushed aside by him, falling to the ground, behaving just like ordinary corpses.

If it weren't for Tang Luo, the person drawn out of the ghost sedan would surely have become one of them.

Perhaps, the next time someone is chosen from the ghost sedan, it will be this very one who was selected this time.

Walking toward the interior of the mansion, the tightly closed main door was slowly pushed open by Tang Luo.

The sensation upon contact was extraordinarily heavy; without the strength to move mountains, shifting this seemingly ordinary wooden door even slightly would be impossible.

Tang Luo forcibly pushed open the wooden door, and a wave of yin qi poured out.

The evil ghosts behind him reacted, one by one rising from the ground and walking toward this place.

The evil ghosts holding the two lanterns also turned around; the steady red light of the red-and-white lanterns began to sway.

"Get lost!"

Tang Luo didn't look back, striking backward with his palm.

The Glazed Nirvana Great Hand Seal appeared, descending from the heavens, crashing down with a thunderous boom.

All the evil ghosts filling the courtyard were completely "evaporated" by this palm strike, leaving only the two red-and-white lanterns fallen to the ground, their red light instantly extinguished.

Unfortunately, it had no effect.

However, Tang Luo's attack only temporarily made these evil ghosts retreat; they would reappear before long.

Inside the house ahead, a heavy darkness hung over everything.

Only a small area in the center could be seen clearly—there lay a black coffin.

Tang Luo walked around the coffin once, tapping it twice: "Anyone there? Is anyone in?"

"Thud-thud-thud!"

A dull sound transmitted through the coffin; after Tang Luo tapped twice, it seemed to be a response.

"There really is a 'person' after all," Tang Luo said, tapping twice again.

But this time there was no response. After looking a while longer, Tang Luo saw nothing unusual, and decisively lifted the coffin lid.

Compared to the earlier door, which was impossibly heavy, this coffin lid was light—indeed, it should be of normal weight.

After lifting the coffin lid, no evil ghost or zombie suddenly jumped out.

All was calm and still, yet the yin deathly aura grew even heavier by a few degrees.

Tang Luo peered inside; the coffin contained a severed hand, cut off at the elbow, lying quietly within.

The severed hand lay across the middle of the coffin, still gripping a treasure pestle; the top of the pestle resembled a human head in shape.

A pile of human heads.

This pile of human heads was stained with blood and filth, in stark contrast to the nearby severed hand that at first glance appeared warm and lustrous like jade, bearing no trace of solemnity; on the contrary, it exuded a strange, evil aura, a demonic presence.

"Human Head Treasure Pillar..."

Tang Luo narrowed his eyes slightly, "Is it you? Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!"