This courtyard was undeniably abandoned. But why would anyone come to repair the doors and windows of such a sinister, derelict place?

Could it be… that someone still lives in this stone house?

Staring at the stone house, the confusion in Li Bai's eyes grew. The stone house was indeed strange, somewhat taller and larger than the surrounding villagers' houses. Though only one story, the roof of the stone house was a full five meters high.

What kind of person would live in such a tall room? As she pondered, a sudden realization struck Li Bai.

Could it be the village chief of Blackwater Village?

Thinking of the subtle relationship between the village chief and the Zhusheng Niangniang (Childbirth Goddess) that the villagers had mentioned, Li Bai felt a chill run down her spine. Just then, a gust of night wind whistled through the cracks in the stones, sounding like someone weeping softly.

"No," Li Bai said, forcing herself to calm down after taking several deep breaths. "If the village chief is inside, then tonight I would face a great crisis, even stronger than the one Yao Shunyu faced. That doesn't make sense. The most dangerous person tonight should be Li Maochun."

"Regardless of whether Li Maochun is a Second Generation Deep Crimson, the situation he faces can be described as desperate."

Li Bai steeled her resolve. Having learned from Yao Shunyu's lesson, she decided that no matter what happened, she would not rashly enter this stone house. She was curious about what was inside, but such curiosity would undoubtedly be fatal.

She could still distinguish what was more important.

Moreover, her mission was different from Yao Shunyu's. Yao Shunyu had to kill people, so he had to enter the house to find his target. But she had to set a fire, and the target was the house in front of her.

Looking around, Li Bai searched for something that could start a fire. Finally, in a secluded corner of the courtyard, she found a large piece of black cloth.

The cloth was thick and oily. When she sniffed it, she could smell a rancid, fishy odor.

Lifting the cloth, she found a neat stack of firewood underneath. Touching it, she found the wood to be very dry and easily ignited.

Li Bai understood. The cloth covering the firewood was to keep it dry, and she believed that the cloth itself was an excellent fire starter.

Without delay, Li Bai carried the firewood, approaching the strange stone house very carefully. She listened intently, but the room seemed quiet. Because of the whistling wind, she couldn't be sure.

She carried firewood back and forth, piling it in front of the door and around the wooden window frames, places that would burn easily. Since the house was mainly stone, it was unrealistic to completely burn it down. Therefore, the act of setting the fire was more symbolic than practical. To be precise, she would have completed the mission as long as she started the fire.

After moving the firewood, she wadded up the oily cloth and stuffed it into the pile of wood in front of the door. Next, she just had to light it.

So she brought the lantern and carefully took out the candle inside. She didn't know what material the candle was made of, but it was very durable. It had already burned for several hours, yet more than half of it remained.

But just as she cupped her hand around the flame and moved the candle closer to the cloth, a gust of cold wind suddenly swept in, causing the flame to flicker and go out.

A chill instantly ran through Li Bai, from head to toe. Not only because she couldn't complete her mission without the candlelight, but more importantly, she felt that the gust of cold wind had come from in front of her, from the crack in the half-closed door!

There was something behind the door!

Li Bai jumped back as if by reflex, immediately putting distance between herself and the door. But the next moment, something strange happened. The door creaked open, opening about two-thirds of the way. Looking through the door, Li Bai was deeply shocked. The room was decorated for a wedding feast, with four Eight Immortals tables inside. Each table had four chairs placed around it, and at the back of the room, near the table furthest away, a candlestick stood on the floor.

A thick, bright red candle burned eerily, casting flickering shadows of a large red "囍" (double happiness) character on the wall.

What was coming could not be avoided. It seemed she had to enter the house to get the red candle. She had noticed earlier that the courtyard gate had closed at some point, so there was no chance to go out and ask Yao Shunyu for fire.

Li Bai hardened her heart and stepped over the threshold. As soon as she entered the house, the surrounding air turned cold. Li Bai tried her best to avoid looking around, but what she saw in the corner of her eye made the hair on her back stand on end.

The wedding feast on the tables… it was all fake. The dishes were just maggots that had been dead for who knows how long. In the center of each table was a plate of dumplings, and these dumplings were all folded from paper. At first glance, she couldn't tell if they were paper dumplings or paper ingots offered to the dead.

At the same time, she discovered something even more terrifying. In front of each chair on the floor was a pair of embroidered shoes.

Red embroidered shoes, very small, the kind that women with bound feet would wear. The two small golden lotus shoes were placed together, toes pointing straight towards the bottom of the table.

Li Bai felt her neck stiffen because she didn't dare to move. She could only stiffly take steps forward.

Finally, she arrived near the candlestick without incident. But just as she breathed a sigh of relief and crouched down, a scene in the corner of her eye sent her plummeting into an ice cave. She saw that under the table next to her, four pairs of legs had appeared.

Four pairs of legs in red embroidered shoes, placed together, sitting as gracefully as young ladies, all dressed the same. They were clearly four brides.

No!

Four bride ghosts!

Li Bai took a deep breath, knowing that she would surely die if she moved rashly. Slowly, she picked up the candlestick, pretending that nothing had happened, and turned around, walking out step by step with her head lowered.

At the same time, the previously silent room began to make strange noises, "Creak… Creak…"

Like something was rubbing against ropes.

Li Bai didn't care about anything else. She just focused on walking out with her head down. It seemed like nothing was happening, but her face was already contorted.

She understood, she understood everything. The candlelight in her hand cast stiff shadows on the surrounding walls.

And these shadows were slowly turning as Li Bai moved.

No wonder… no wonder this house was built so high, no wonder the villagers said this house was haunted. Li Bai clenched her teeth, the hatred in her heart almost tangible. After all, if it wasn't high enough, how could so many people be hanged!

At this moment, inside the house, sixteen corpses wearing bright red wedding dresses hung high in the air, slowly turning as Li Bai moved, always facing her.

Waiting for her to look up.