“Halt! What are you two doing?” A weasel as tall as a person stood like a human, blocking Gu Zhaoyan and Bailang with its outstretched paws. Its pair of sickly green eyes sized the two of them up from head to toe.
Gu Zhaoyan’s originally indifferent face instantly bloomed with a brilliant smile as he handed over the wooden box in his hand. “Our two brothers are just passing through and happened to hear that the master of this place is celebrating a wedding, so we thought we’d come join in the festivities. This is a wedding gift. Might the two of us brothers go inside and share a cup of wedding wine?”
The weasel first opened the box and took a peek inside, whereupon its green eyes lit up. With a snap, it closed the lid and grinned from ear to ear. “Of course, of course! Our Patriarch loves lively gatherings the most. Please, come right in!”
Patriarch? It seemed the one getting married belonged to the older generation of weasels, and all these weasels were her descendants? Word had it that weasels held deep grudges and loved nothing more than huddling an entire family together. Gu Zhaoyan muttered inwardly as he walked inside with Bailang.
In the four-courtyard compound, various weasels scurried back and forth. The guests were quite numerous as well, and combined with the host weasels, four or five tables were packed tight. Taking a glance, Gu Zhaoyan noticed that among them sat some demons who had not yet fully devolved back into human forms—such as roe-deer heads, rabbit faces, and snake tails—all mixed in together, chatting away animatedly.
As soon as Gu Zhaoyan and Bailang walked over, they found a slightly uncrowded table and sat down. Seated right next to them was a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked man who looked distinctly rat-like.
“Are you two brothers newcomers?” The rat demon sized up the companion sitting beside him, noting that he only revealed a pair of furry ears through his hair, and remarked with envy, “Judging by how the only trace of your beastly form left is a pair of ears, you must be able to fully transform into a human shape before long.”
Catching the envy in the rat demon’s voice, Gu Zhaoyan raised an eyebrow slightly and replied with modest humility, “Ah, it is merely some beginner’s luck. The elders in my clan bestowed their cultivation upon me before their lifespans reached the end, otherwise who knows how many years it would take for me to fully transform into a human.”
Hearing this, the rat demon felt even more envious. Why was there never such a fortunate elder in his own family? Out of his entire household, only he had managed to stumble upon some fortune to escape a beastly fate and awaken his spiritual intelligence. Yet even after a full century, he was still utterly unable to shed his demonic features. With his lifespan fast approaching, he feared he would miss out on this chance entirely in this lifetime. Feeling depressed, he picked up the wine cup on the table and downed its contents in a single gulp.
Gu Zhaoyan glanced left and right, and seeing that the rat demon had opened up, he asked with curiosity, “I am new to these parts. May I ask what immortal blessed land this place is? I never imagined our two brothers would arrive at such an opportune moment to catch such a joyous occasion.”
“Ha! A joyous occasion?” The rat demon laughed with ambiguous meaning, lowering his voice. “If you call this a joyous occasion, I suppose you could consider it one.”
Gu Zhaoyan picked up the wine pitcher to pour a cup for the rat demon, smiling as he said, “Please enlighten us, Elder Brother.”
Seeing how cooperative he was, the rat demon smiled with satisfaction. He lifted his cup, downed the wine, and slowly explained, “This place is called Huangjia Slope, and it is the territory of Seventh Granny Huang. Though she calls herself an immortal, it is nothing more than gilding her own face. This Seventh Granny has some skill and counts as a regional lord within a hundred li. She has no other particular hobbies aside from a fondness for young men from the mortal realm with handsome features. Every few years, she has her descendants snatch a few such men back to marry her. Once she grows tired of them, she eats them—waste not, want not, you could say.”
Gu Zhaoyan furrowed his brows and turned to look at Bailang. Marrying every few years? And several at a time on each occasion? Who knew how many people this Seventh Granny Huang had murdered? At this point, he was certain that Yan Wenqing must have been abducted here as well.
“Sigh, come to think of it, ever since I arrived here, I’ve paid wedding gifts some seven or eight times. If this keeps up, my already modest little treasury is going to run completely dry,” the rat demon muttered resentfully under his breath. Perhaps once this banquet was over, he should just pack up and move away. With his muttering finished, he picked up his chopsticks to stuff his face with food, while urging Gu Zhaoyan and Bailang to eat. “Though Seventh Granny is getting married, she won’t come out to perform the wedding bows, so we’re just here to grab a meal and leave.”
Gu Zhaoyan smiled, picked up his chopsticks, and made a show of picking up food, but his gaze shifted to Bailang, who nodded back in agreement. Under the circumstances, rather than moving rashly, it was better to startle the snake in the grass and draw it out so they could fish in troubled waters.
At that moment, Bailang was thoroughly in sync with Gu Zhaoyan. Concealing his hand beneath the table, Gu Zhaoyan quietly gathered a ball of spiritual energy in his palm and flung it toward a nearby wall. The silent action went completely unnoticed until that cluster of spiritual energy blasted a massive hole in the wall with a thunderous roar, instantly causing a commotion.
The rat demon was so startled he nearly revealed his original form, staring dumbfounded at the wall blown through with a giant crater. The weasels scurried over in a panic to investigate.
Yet this bit of commotion was not nearly enough. Gu Zhaoyan repeated the trick several times, blasting the courtyard into a chaotic mess. The visiting guests fled helter-skelter in a panic, scattering in all directions, and some even started brawling due to the trampling and collisions. The already chaotic courtyard instantly grew as lively as a bustling market fair, driving the weasels—who couldn’t find the culprit—into frantic circles until someone reminded them to rush to the back courtyard to find Seventh Granny.
Meanwhile, Gu Zhaoyan had already followed the weasel who ran off to report and slipped into the back courtyard, leaving Bailang behind to wait for that Seventh Granny to appear.
While the front courtyard thundered with noise, the back courtyard was dead quiet, and not a single weasel stood guard here. Following that weasel all the way through, Gu Zhaoyan did not spot a single other weasel. The entire courtyard was silent as the grave, showing just how fiercely territorial this Seventh Granny was.
“Patriarch! It’s terrible! Some unknown demon broke into the front courtyard and ruined your wedding banquet! The banquet area is in complete chaos now, and since the little ones couldn’t find the culprit, we had no choice but to come ask Patriarch to go take a look.” The weasel stood before a door plastered with double-happiness characters and called out loudly.
“Useless trash!” Before long, a dainty young woman clad in crimson opened the door and strode out. Having her affairs interrupted naturally left her in a foul mood. Yet she did not take it lightly either; anyone who knew of her dared not stir up trouble at her wedding banquet. For a demon to dare make trouble at her wedding feast now meant they were deliberately targeting her. Whether for the sake of her own pride or her juniors out front, she could not remain indifferent. Otherwise, if word of this spread and she did nothing, how would she manage her territory across a hundred li from then on?
Watching Seventh Granny lead her weasels away aggressively toward the front courtyard, Gu Zhaoyan quickly approached the bridal chamber. He checked with utmost caution, and upon confirming there were no hidden dangers, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Gazing at the four figures wearing bridal veils and wedding robes while sitting in a neat row along the edge of the bed, Gu Zhaoyan’s lips twitched slightly. Was this Seventh Granny planning to entertain four husbands in a single night?