The game comes true, starting with the wandering spirits and gods.

Wow, that's a quick change of expression!

No wonder it's a fox that's become so clever.

Zhang Wenhao expressed his approval of her ability to change her expression so quickly.

Wei Hongyao snapped out of her daze and began to understand.

This statue is the true form of the Earth God; that jade disc is probably an evil spirit or demon that was suppressed.

If I hadn't accidentally broken the statue when I was a child, I probably would have been suppressed by the local earth god for thousands of years.

Once her thoughts were clear, she scrambled toward the statue, trying to grab his leg tightly.

Zhang Wenhao stared at the screen, now also facing a dilemma.

Although he had stepped forward to intimidate, he was still in the form of a statue and could not express his own thoughts.

The situation reached a stalemate.

Although the fox demon was polite, it did not retract its claws, but instead looked the statue up and down.

Suddenly, his gaze fell upon the broken blue lamp in the corner, and he realized what was going on.

The statue of this land god is incomplete; even with immense divine power, it would be difficult to unleash its full potential...

However, we should be wary of the girl in front of us.

During her turbulent life, she had heard that the worshipped deities would descend upon the temple keeper.

The girl's identity is still uncertain, so we cannot act rashly.

In any case, the source of her fate was the scholar who had saved her.

Simply find and remove it to offset the fate of being saved.

How the jade ended up in the little child's hands, and what its connection was with the local earth god, is not important.

"Little girl, I'll give the Earth God face today and won't make things difficult for you."

Her voice softened again, carrying a hint of confident languor.

Wei Hongyao sobbed as she stared intently at her, clutching the statue tightly in her arms, not daring to relax her grip for even a moment.

The fox demon stood up, looked around, and asked, "Are you trapped in this dilapidated house?"

The nailed-together windows, the locked doors, the room full of red candles and the dowry chests decorated with double happiness characters, and the weeping girl beside them—one only needs a few glances to guess the gist of it all.

"I understand," she said slowly, her tone carrying a hint of knowingness. "You were forced into marriage? Sold to this family as a concubine?"

Wei Hongyao bit her lip and didn't speak, but her trembling shoulders said it all.

"Little girl, I do have a way to get you out of this predicament."

Wei Hongyao looked up at her, her eyes blurred with tears.

"What...what method?"

Zhang Wenhao, though watching from behind a screen, became interested.

He wanted to see what tricks this fox demon was planning to play.

The demon did not answer immediately, but instead raised his hand and made a light sweeping motion in the air.

An illusion appeared.

He wore a blue robe, carried books, had a slender face, and gentle eyes and brows.

Zhang Wenhao was surprised.

It was the same scholar who was besieged by bandits on the dirt road and rescued by Zhao Cai back then.

The fox demon was looking for him... Just now she was muttering something like, "If I find him and destroy him, I can offset the fate of being saved by fate."

Zhang Wenhao's mind raced.

Now that the fox demon has escaped from the jade, her first thought is not to repay the debt of gratitude, but to kill the scholar.

Is the "destiny entanglement" formed by the debt of saving a life only able to be severed by killing the benefactor?

Fortunately, the scholar was not lusting after the beauty, or perhaps he was not interested in the fox demon, and gave away the jade, thus escaping a calamity by chance.

Wei Hongyao knew nothing; she was just a pitiful girl who accidentally opened Pandora's box.

"Find this person for me." The fox demon's voice became serious, no longer carrying the frivolity and murderous intent of before.

"I'll arrange the marriage for you, enter the bridal chamber for you, and deal with the entire Huo family for you. How about it?"

She hesitantly replied, "Okay..."

Outside are relentlessly pursuing elders, inside are powerful demons.

Do I really have the ability to refuse?

The fox demon sneered, thus establishing the contract.

"Then it's settled." Her figure began to fade, turning into a wisp of white smoke, and disappeared back into the jade.

Only one sentence lingered in the air: "Tonight at midnight, I will enter the bridal chamber for you. Take advantage of the chaos to escape, and with that broken piece of wood, go find the person I want you to find."

The room suddenly became quiet and deserted.

Wei Hongyao collapsed to the ground, hugging the statue of the deity, panting heavily.

After an unknown amount of time, there was a knock on the door.

She is the wedding attendant during the day.

"Girl, I've brought you your food."

A sharp sound flashed by, and a small hole at the bottom of the wooden door was opened, allowing a wooden box to be pushed in.

Inside, there was a heavy load of food.

After experiencing the shock of the dramatic ups and downs, Wei Hongyao was exhausted and starving.

He didn't care about love or romance anymore; he grabbed the bowl and chopsticks on the ground and started eating heartily.

They didn't stop until they were completely full.

Then, he lay down on the bed, embracing the statue of the god.

She whispered, as if talking to herself, yet also as if pleading for help, "What...what should I do?"

As he was talking, he fell into a deep sleep.

Zhang Wenhao's perspective is that of the statue; he can only see a large mass of white substance enveloping him.

This girl's level of trust in the idol is not high enough to make her a purveyor of incense?

Probably not, they're all sleeping with their idols in their arms.

She was probably terrified by the fox demon that suddenly appeared in front of her.

Zhang Wenhao only glanced at it and didn't pay much attention to it.

On this journey, I will mostly remain an indifferent spectator.

You might as well look at Ah Yun and see what Zhao Cai is doing now!

Thinking of this, he activated the Transformation skill, his finger hovering over A-Yun.

......

Outside Cangling Village, the highest mountain is called Wanggui Peak.

The name was chosen by A-Yun herself.

The village of Qingdeng at the foot of the mountain was brightly lit, with the sound of firecrackers coming intermittently, mixed with children's laughter and dogs' barking.

Every household is staying up late to welcome the New Year, eating reunion dinner around the stove, the steam turning the windows into a blurry, warm yellow.

Ayun did not go down the mountain.

She sat on a large rock atop Wanggui Peak, with the dim, lifeless statue of a deity resting on her lap.

It's very windy.

On the mountaintop in December, the wind cut like a knife against her face. She wore a thin white dress, the hem fluttering in the wind, her long hair disheveled, a few strands of silver gleaming coldly in the moonlight.

Those are traces left by the temple gods' blessing a hundred years ago.

Her appearance remained forever, but her hair gradually turned white over the long years.

She did not use magic to keep warm.

She likes this kind of cold.

The cold makes you sober; the cold reminds you that you are still alive.

"Temple God-sama."

She spoke softly, her voice carried away by the wind, as if she were speaking to herself.

"New Year's Eve is almost here, Ah Yun misses you so much."

Under the moonlight, a few snowflakes landed on the stone.

It's going to snow.

She suddenly remembered that a hundred years ago, on the day the temple god manifested his power, the sky was also this color—a hazy gray, like an unfinished sheet of rice paper.

"Temple God," she said softly, "Ayun is waiting for you."

The white skirt gradually disappeared into the wind and snow, like a flower withering away.

Behind her, the statue lay quietly in her arms, dim and without light.