[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-there-is-a-malevolent-spirit":3,"chapter-there-is-a-malevolent-spirit-there-is-a-malevolent-spirit-chapter-33":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","There Is a Malevolent Spirit",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2263139,4416,"Chapter 33: 32、The Bride in the Sedan Chair","there-is-a-malevolent-spirit-chapter-33",33,"\u003Cp>32、The Bride in the Sedan Chair\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My brother…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Si dared not meet Zhou Chang’s gaze; he felt as if the other’s eyes could suck out his soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swallowed hard, stole glances left and right, saw Qian Chaodong was not looking his way, then lowered his voice and stammered to Zhou Chang: “What… what did my brother say?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hooked…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Wen Si’s words, Zhou Chang knew success was all but assured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His smile deepened as he fixed Wen Si with his gaze and spoke slowly: “You’re not really Wen family—you each have your own homes, yet now you can’t return to them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do you know if your parents still live? Where are your brothers and sisters working?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Look at the scar on your face… you’ve almost forgotten what your real face once looked like, haven’t you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What would you like to say to your parents? Tell me—I’ll deliver your message to them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang’s tone was gentle, coaxing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of his words held no clear direction, vague and ambiguous, yet to a receptive ear, they struck true as if landing precisely on target.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under his voice, Wen Si’s eyes grew slightly red: “I…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scarred man had been swayed by Zhou Chang, yet deep inside, a sliver of caution remained—he cut himself off at the critical moment, lowered his eyelids, clenched his lips, and tried to walk past Zhou Chang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t you believe me?” If Wen Si walked away now, and warned Wen San, Zhou Chang would never pry open their mouths again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He instantly blocked Wen Si’s path and whispered: “Look around you—all those who came here to be cured of madness end up broken!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only me and my companion—we’re still sane, still ourselves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How many years pass before you meet someone like us? If you don’t seize this chance now, are you planning to spend your whole life in this wine cellar?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang studied Wen Si’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He noticed that when he mentioned “among those cured in the cellar, only I and Shi Danshi remain lucid,” Wen Si’s expression flickered with confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang’s heart stirred, and he continued: “We’re the same kind of people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You can help me, and I can help you…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All around are demons and monsters—we’re the same!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only by helping each other can we survive…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Zhou Chang finished speaking, Wen Si suddenly yanked him!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get out of my way!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scarred man snarled at him, shoved past, and walked away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang stared after him, eyes lowered, silent, and kept walking forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who had laughed and flattered Qian Chaodong in the morning now seemed soulless, stumbling in dazed lines along the cellar’s ramp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the head of this procession of walking corpses, Qian Chaodong turned to look back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He saw Wen Si shove Zhou Chang aside; Zhou Chang, as if terrified, lowered his head, silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qian Chaodong sneered indifferently and turned to leave the wine cellar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seizing the momentary gap, Wen Si suddenly turned his head, fixed his gaze on Zhou Chang’s face—his scarred features tight with dread and terror, almost tangible: “Go—go tell my mother—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tell her to run!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wen Ancestor is about to succeed!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wen Ancestor is about to succeed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang memorized the phrase, then asked Wen Si: “Where’s your home?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...” Wen Si froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He suddenly realized—all of Zhou Chang’s words had been lies, meant solely to extract his confession!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now he was already on the thief’s boat—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maoxiu Town, second alley in the East Market, third house—that’s my home!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Si’s voice brimmed with regret.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Wen Ancestor is about to succeed, the Wen Ancestor is about to succeed…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Zhou Chang walked toward “Jade Maiden Pond,” he repeated Wen Si’s words over and over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What did the Wen Ancestor mean to succeed in?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled the hallucination he’d experienced in the cellar, stirred by the scent-wind—could Wen Si’s words mean Wen Yongsheng was about to fully claim a divine banner and become a mortal deity?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had the Wen Ancestor still not claimed that divine banner until now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was that why it had been hiding all this time in the rice mound cellar beneath the winery’s inner courtyard?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If so, then while it had not yet fully claimed the banner, it might still be bound to the rice mound cellar…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then how had it found Bai Xiue? Zhou Chang could not fathom it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world held too many unsolvable mysteries; Zhou Chang never expected to understand them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment’s thought, unable to grasp the truth, he abandoned the puzzle—after all, once he found Bai Xiue and asked her face to face, if she chose to answer, all these questions would resolve themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky neared dusk; brilliant twilight poured from the distant horizon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Walking along the shaded path near “Jade Maiden Pond,” Zhou Chang heard a lively burst of wedding music.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The woods were nearly deserted; hearing such raucous music, Zhou Chang’s expression turned grave. He hid behind several trees, peering through the withered vines and wild grass toward the source.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wild trees gnarled and clawed at the hollows of the hills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the distance, rolling hills stretched like burial mounds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the slope of one such hill, the sunset gilded its outline—a group of musicians, playing various instruments, surrounded a sedan chair, descending the hillside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were far away; Zhou Chang could still hear their music only because his soul was strong, sharpening his senses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wedding procession, bathed in sunset, appeared pitch-black.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bridal sedan chair, caught between light and shadow, flickered between brilliant red and deep black.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Chang focused his gaze, studied the laughing, chattering crowd, and confirmed this was a normal wedding party.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He watched the sedan bearers carry the pole, swaying as they descended the slope—just as he was about to look away, his peripheral vision caught something strange.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath the swaying red curtain of the sedan, two feet in red embroidered shoes protruded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those feet were stretched rigid, the white socks smooth, not a single wrinkle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—Those were the bride’s feet!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What posture had she assumed inside the sedan to stretch them so straight?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the feet beneath the curtain, Zhou Chang’s heart lurched!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he saw the toes of those feet jammed into a crack in the hillside path—yet the bearers and wedding guests, oblivious to the anomaly, kept playing their instruments and moving forward—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The feet lodged in the crack were abruptly snapped off as the sedan moved forward!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though far away, Zhou Chang seemed to hear the wet, bloody “crack!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bearers finally noticed, halted the sedan, and the wedding crowd surged around it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bride’s body, hidden behind the curtain, thudded violently against the sedan’s walls as the bearers lowered it—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When one bearer, emboldened, pulled back the curtain, Zhou Chang saw clearly—the bride’s red veil lay discarded beside her, clad in a crimson wedding robe, her face purplish-red, tongue protruding far from her mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around her neck, two large red wedding scarves were twisted into a noose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bride had tied the two scarves around the wooden pole supporting the sedan’s roof, then thrust her head into the loop and hanged herself.\u003C\u002Fp>",1196,"2026-06-19T18:47:42.084Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","12da0868847dda2861ba38ec21ef669ead5e83a92c60fd9fe6a6048b1eceff2c","there-is-a-malevolent-spirit-chapter-34","there-is-a-malevolent-spirit-chapter-32",209,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthere-is-a-malevolent-spirit-cover.jpg"]