This matter was originally not supposed to reach the heavens, because although seventeen brides had gone missing, there were still hundreds and thousands of brides who were safe and sound. In any case, they couldn’t be found, nor could they be protected, so people could only make do as best they could. It just meant that fewer families dared to marry off their daughters in this area, and local newlyweds didn’t dare to hold grand weddings anymore. But it just so happened that this seventeenth bride’s father was an official. He doted on his daughter, and upon hearing the rumors in this place, he carefully selected forty exceptionally brave military officers to escort his daughter to her wedding, yet his daughter still disappeared.

Now, this ghostly groom had really stirred up a hornet’s nest. The official, unable to do anything with the people he could find in the mortal world, flew into a rage and joined forces with a group of official friends to perform a frenzy of rituals. He even opened the granaries to help the poor as advised by a master, causing a great commotion in the city, and finally alarmed a few divine officials above. Otherwise, the faint voices of mere mortals would almost never reach the ears of the gods in heaven.

William Carter said, “That’s basically how it is.”

Because the two of them looked extremely uncooperative, he didn’t know if they were even listening. If they hadn’t taken it in, he’d just have to repeat it again. George did look up, frowned, and said, “Is there anything in common among the missing brides?”

William Carter said, “Some are rich, some are poor; some are beautiful, some are ugly; some are wives, some are concubines. In short: there’s no pattern at all. There’s simply no way to determine what kind of taste this ghost groom has.”

George grunted, picked up his teacup and took a sip, seemingly starting to think. Emma, however, didn’t even touch the tea William Carter pushed toward him. He just kept methodically wiping his fingers with a white handkerchief, and while doing so, said coolly, “Your Highness, how do you know for sure it’s a ghost groom? That’s not certain at all. No one has ever seen it—how do you know if it’s male or female, old or young? Aren’t you making assumptions?”

William Carter smiled and said, “The scroll was compiled by the civil officials of the Lingwen Hall. ‘Ghost groom’ is just a term used among the people. But what you said makes sense.”

After a few more words, William Carter realized that these two junior martial officials were quite clear-headed. Although their expressions were unfriendly, they were very straightforward when discussing matters, which made him feel rather gratified. Seeing that it was getting late outside, the three of them left the small shop for the time being. William Carter put on a bamboo hat and walked for a while, then suddenly noticed that the other two hadn’t followed, so he turned back in confusion, only to find the two of them looking at him in confusion as well. George asked, “Where are you going?”

William Carter said, “Looking for a place to stay. Emma, why are you rolling your eyes again?”

George asked again in confusion, “Then why are you heading into the wilderness?”

William Carter was used to braving the elements and sleeping on the streets, just spreading out a piece of cloth and lying down for the night, so he naturally intended to find a cave in the mountains to make a fire. But with this reminder, he realized that both George and Emma were martial officials under the martial gods. If there was a Nanyang Temple or Xuan Zhen Temple nearby, they could just go in—why sleep out in the wild?

After a while, the three of them found a dilapidated earth god shrine in a most inconspicuous corner. The incense was broken, the offering plates were shattered, and it looked very desolate, with a small, round stone earth god enshrined. William Carter called out a few times. This earth god had not been worshipped or called upon for many years, so when he suddenly heard someone calling, he opened his eyes and saw three people standing in front of the shrine. The two on either side were shrouded in a nouveau riche-like spiritual glow, their faces completely obscured, which startled him so much that he jumped up in fright and stammered, “Do the three immortal officials have any orders for me?”

William Carter nodded and said, “No orders. Just wanted to ask if there’s a City God Temple nearby dedicated to General Nanyang or General Xuan Zhen?”

The earth god dared not be negligent and said, “Th-th-this…” He calculated with his fingers and said, “There’s a City God Temple five li from here, dedicated to—to—to General Nanyang.”

William Carter put his hands together and said, “Thank you very much.” The earth god, his eyes dazzled by the two balls of spiritual light beside him, quickly disappeared. William Carter took out a few coins and placed them in front of the shrine. Seeing some scattered incense nearby, he picked it up and lit it. During this, Emma rolled his eyes so much that William Carter almost wanted to ask if his eyes were tired.

After five li, they did indeed see a City God Temple, brightly decorated by the roadside. Though small, the temple had everything it needed, and it was bustling with people coming and going. The three of them concealed their forms and entered the temple, where the main hall enshrined a clay statue of the Nanyang Martial God, armored and holding a bow.

As soon as William Carter saw the statue, he couldn’t help but think, “Hmm…”

It was a rural temple, and the statue’s sculpting and painting were both crude. Overall, it looked quite different from William Carter’s impression of Thomas himself.

However, for the divine officials, poorly made statues were nothing unusual. Sometimes even their own mothers wouldn’t recognize them, and some officials couldn’t even recognize their own statues. After all, few craftsmen had ever actually seen the divine officials in person, so the statues were either distorted by excessive beauty or ugliness, and could only be identified by specific poses, magical implements, or attire.

Generally speaking, the wealthier the place, the more the statues matched the officials’ preferences. The poorer the place, the worse the craftsmen’s taste, and the more hideous the statues became. Nowadays, only the statues of General Xuan Zhen were generally well made. Why? Because if his statue was ugly, he didn’t care—he would secretly break it so people would have to remake it, or send a dream to subtly express his dissatisfaction. Over time, the devout followers learned that they absolutely had to find a skilled craftsman to make a good-looking statue!