The Soul-Snatching Square Dance

The moment Xia Yi stepped into the residence, the once clear sky immediately plunged into darkness. It was as if night had fallen in an instant, and in the previously empty foyer, two rows of vivid red candles flickered to life. The crimson candles formed a path leading directly into the main hall, their dim, orange glow casting an eerie luminescence upon a shadowy corridor that seemed to stretch into an abyss of endless darkness.

The abrupt shift in environment did not overly startle Xia Yi; white streaks of light shimmered in his eyes as he merely cast a discerning gaze towards the distant end of the passage. After a brief moment of contemplation, he proceeded down the candle-lit corridor, making his way towards the main hall.

No sooner had Xia Yi advanced roughly a zhang, than shadowy figures seemed to materialize from thin air all around him. Though their forms remained indistinct, Xia Yi could unmistakably sense their gazes fixed upon him.

As Xia Yi traversed a third of the passage, the surrounding figures slowly coalesced into clearer forms. Observing their attire, Xia Yi surmised they were likely the original inhabitants of this village.

As he pressed onward, faint, almost imperceptible whispers began to reach Xia Yi’s ears, undeniably present despite their hushed quality. With each step Xia Yi took, the murmurs intensified, swelling in volume.

Moreover, the figures that had initially lingered around the candlelight had, at some unknown moment, rearranged themselves to line both sides of the corridor. A grotesque smile was plastered across each of their faces, as though their lips had been forcibly stretched into that eerie grin by an unseen hand. From either side, the residents, their voices decayed and hoarse, sounding utterly unlike those of the living, strained to utter two words:

“Great joy!”

“Great joy!”

“Great joy!”

………….

Only then did Xia Yi finally discern the words the voices were chanting. Following this, Xia Yi appeared utterly bereft of his soul, moving forward with stiff, deliberate steps, much like a puppet whose strings were being manipulated.

Upon reaching the halfway point, figures attired as cultivators began to emerge on either side. They comprised both men and women, ranging from the Qi Condensation stage to the Foundation Establishment stage. Yet, without exception, each displayed the same unsettling, grotesque smile as the villagers before them, uttering “Great joy!” to Xia Yi, their lifeless eyes fixed upon him with an unwavering, corpse-like intensity.

During this progression, Xia Yi even walked past the very ordinary disciples of the Azure Feather Immortal Sect whose disappearance they had been tasked to investigate. Xia Yi, however, appeared utterly oblivious to their presence, simply staggering past them in a daze.

As he reached the two-thirds mark, a vibrant red groom’s robe materialized upon Xia Yi’s form, and a stiff, unnatural smile inadvertently spread across his face.

In the main hall ahead, a coffin, draped with large crimson flowers, had appeared at some indiscernible moment. As Xia Yi drew nearer, the coffin, adorned with its vibrant red flowers, began to slowly unseal its lid.

Xia Yi, as if completely oblivious to the unsettling spectacle, merely continued his dazed advance. As he reached the entrance of the main hall, a figure of extraordinary height and graceful bearing, clad in a wedding gown, slowly floated up from within the coffin.

The towering Bride sang an unknown, celebratory tune, her ‘enormous’ arms spreading wide in a gesture of welcome for Xia Yi, who was now adorned in his ceremonial wedding attire. Xia Yi, in perfect sync, exhibited a look of utter infatuation, as though spellbound by the towering Bride before him, poised to lunge into her embrace.

Though obscured by a bridal veil, the ‘Bride’s’ cracked lips curled into a discernible smile at the corners of her mouth.

However, just as Xia Yi reached the threshold of the main hall, he abruptly halted. This sudden cessation caused the ‘Bride’, on the cusp of success, to falter.

Observing Xia Yi, who maintained his infatuated expression yet inexplicably delayed his lunge, a flicker of confusion crossed her features. She subsequently amplified the volume of the celebratory tune she was singing.

The now clearer, more vibrant celebratory tune indeed caused Xia Yi to lift his foot once more. Just as the ‘Bride’ believed victory was assured, a renewed expression of delight graced her face.

Yet, before her smile could fully blossom, Xia Yi lowered his foot once more. He even took a step backward.

The Bride: “?”

Something was amiss. This individual, who had arrived, was decidedly, perhaps even profoundly, out of place. Still, she was reluctant to relinquish Xia Yi, this potent tonic of vigorous qi and pure spiritual energy. Thus, she resolved to unleash her ultimate technique — the ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’!

As the Bride belted out the celebratory tune at its loudest, and even compelled the surrounding ‘people’ to provide accompaniment, Xia Yi finally, once again, reached the threshold, with one of his feet visibly poised above it.

An boundless surge of delight welled within the Bride’s heart; with this supreme tonic, her ascension to the Golden Core stage would finally be within reach. Once she achieved the Golden Core, she would attain absolute freedom!

Envisioning the beautiful freedom of her future, the Bride perceived the surrounding sounds as becoming joyous. She even felt an urge to dance a celebratory jig. As she listened to the lively music around her, her legs unconsciously began to twitch.

As the Bride pondered when her ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’ had become so exceptionally melodious, the lyrics she herself was singing abruptly transformed into:

“The boundless sky is my love,”

“Flowers bloom at the foot of the endless green mountains,”

“What kind of rhythm is the most swaying?”

“What kind of song is the most joyful?”

………

The Bride: “???”

As the pitch-black night unexpectedly brightened, the Bride finally registered that something was profoundly amiss. But it was already too late; the ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’, originally intended to control Xia Yi, had been brazenly usurped by him and transformed into this utterly bizarre, unheard-of music.

The ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’ operated on a bidirectional principle of soul control: to dominate an opponent, one first had to delve deep into their soul, then, through alluring song, transform them into a puppet.

But how could the Bride have ever conceived that the cultivator before her not only possessed an exceptionally formidable soul but also boasted ‘such profound’ mastery in musical theory? He had actually used her own song to seize control of her! Forcing her to involuntarily dance a peculiar jig with him, a dance that, to her dismay, was surprisingly catchy.

This wasn’t right! How perilous! She had nearly fallen under his control. She needed to swiftly reclaim dominion over the ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’!

With this thought, the Bride valiantly suppressed her instinct to twitch her legs, instead attempting to leverage the celebratory tune’s melody to reassert control over the ‘Soul-Snatching Divine Melody’. But…

The Bride: “The bride who is getting married…”

Xia Yi: “Stay! Here!”

The Bride: “Stay! Here!”

The Bride: “………….”

The Bride: “You are…”

Xia Yi: “You are the most beautiful cloud in my heart!”

The Bride: “Fill the wine cup to make you stay!”

The Bride: “(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻”

Damn it! There’s no way to wrest control back!

In utter helplessness, the towering Bride could only follow Xia Yi, completing an entire, full-length square dance anthem.

The Bride, believing she had finally achieved liberation, was just about to disregard her seals and rip this mere Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator limb from limb, when—

Xia Yi opened his mouth and sang a single lyric: “Who is singing, warming the loneliness~”

Immediately thereafter, the surrounding ‘people’ inexplicably resumed playing that utterly brainwashing rhythm. Under the Bride’s horrified gaze, Xia Yi offered her a subtly provocative look.

And then… there was nothing more. After two songs, the Bride’s yin qi had been almost entirely purged. The potency of this exorcism was terrifying indeed!

Deprived of the Bride’s yin qi control, the surrounding ‘people’ reverted to their original forms. The ordinary residents were now mere skeletons, while the cultivators had all desiccated into mummified corpses. This included the ordinary disciples of the Azure Feather Immortal Sect who had vanished a month prior.