Wu Xuan "....?"
After entering the house, he only remembered drinking a glass of water. When he awoke, he found himself in an underground dungeon, dressed in groomed robes. Neither his sword nor the cub was near, and he tried to break down the iron door to no avail.
"What the hell happened?"
"Sit down without giving a damn. You have a damn noise." A voice came from a dark corner of the room. Wu Xuan turned around angrily. Like him, someone dressed in red groomed robes was sitting huddled against the wall. His face was not clearly visible due to the darkness, but his short hair was strangely colored.
"Tell me what I want to do, who do you think you are?" Wu Xuan asked, rolling his eyes mockingly. The other man looked up. Even in the gloomy light, Wu Xuan felt accustomed to seeing that face.
"Wait a minute…you," Wu Xuan said, moving closer to him.
"Murong Meng?"
"Tsk," Murong Meng let out an angry voice. He gave Wu Xuan a deathly glare. "Don't call me by that name. I'm Meng Zhi, not Murong Meng."
"Oh, got it, Murong Meng." Wu Xuan rolled his eyes and said. Meng Zhi looked angry, but he swallowed his anger as if he didn't want to fight. "Your hair is so ridiculous, Murong Meng," Wu Xuan said, sitting in the other corner of the booth.
"Is that a compliment? Thank you very much." Meng Zhi also did not forget to launch a fierce counterattack.
"That's an insult, don't you even understand that?"
Meng Zhi "...."
"Forget it, arguing with you will only make me angry." Standing up from the ground, Meng Zhi walked over to the iron bars. "That damned devil woman, damn it!" He growled, sending a quick fist attack at the iron bar door.
"Ziying didn't lie," Wu Xuan muttered to himself. The silver jewelry on him and the cub confirmed to him that the cub was still fine, and Wu Xuan tried to decipher what was happening.
"Oi, do you know how to beat that woman?" Meng Zhi asked, looking at Wu Xuan.
"What woman?"
Meng Zhi ".....?"
"I'm talking about that old lady."
Wu Xuan's eyes lit up. "Ah, tell me a little about it."
Meng Zhi folded his arms across his chest. "I'm no longer in the sect. Who are you to order me around?"
"Well, you're welcome." Wu Xuan said indifferently. Meng Zhi sat down a bit away from Wu Xuan, keeping quiet as if to calm his anger. "That woman is a goddess. Have you heard of the strange personality of the goddess of marriage?"
Wu Xuan had heard a little about it. He had read earlier that the goddess of marriage has several different faces that show different emotions. "This woman represents madness." Meng Zhi said with a sigh. "There were a few people here with me before. They never came back after they went out with her."
"They died," Wu Xuan said. "If this is truly madness, she may absorb their soul essence. But she has conditions."
"She must first complete the marriage rites with them. And then eat them." Meng Zhi completed. "She's absolutely insane."
"Ah, even such a crazy woman would keep you to the end, you look so messed up."
Meng Zhi's eyes lit up. "Shut up!"
"But weren't these personalities of hers sealed?" Meng Zhi asked himself. "Ah, this is such a nuisance."
"But I think this one is a little different, why do I think she follows spider rituals rather than a goddess persona?"
They both fell silent after hearing someone's footsteps. It slowly approached and stopped in front of their cell. Although Wu Xuan thought it was the old lady at first, the person he met was completely different.
"Sha Na Mi????"
The maid signaled him to be quiet. But Wu Xuan did not expect this at all. Why is Shensheng's main disciple a servant here? "What happened?"
"Shut up, Xuan. What the hell are you doing here?" she asked, looking around nervously. "Long story." Wu Xuan gave a short answer.
"After the Lotus War, I came to investigate a case." Na Mi said, still looking around fearfully. The gloomy torchlight of the corridor swayed from side to side, casting shadows on her.
"Who is that? About the old lady, I ask?"
"She is neither human nor demon. She is a local deity." Na Mi said.
Wu Xuan frowned. "A local goddess?"
Na Mi shook her head as if to confirm it. "I don't know too much, but-" She looked around to see if anyone was coming again.
"She's absolutely insane."
"Is she the marriage—"
"No! She's not the goddess of marriage. I thought so too at first. But she's more like a spider." She said, interrupting Wu Xuan.
"I had that feeling too." Wu Xuan said shaking his head.
"Woah, Lingyu said that Zi Feng is bad, he should be taught about gods from scratch." Wu Xuan said with a mocking smile.
"Zi Feng?"
Na Mi gasped and she quickly took a few steps back from the cell. "What about Zi Feng? Oh, dear, you're not dating my groomsmen, are you?" A tall and extremely beautiful young woman walked slowly from the far side of the corridor. Her voice was sweet as honey and she wore a deadly perfume. Meng Zhi wrinkled his nose as if displeased.
"About Zi Feng, I spoke with her and a beauty like you is definitely worthy of a deity like Zi Feng," Wu Xuan said, trying to distract her from Na Mi, offering a smile to the strange girl. "Nice my foot," Meng Zhi hummed slowly. The young lady came walking in fashion. "You think so too?" She said, stopping in front of Wu Xuan.
"Ah, Zi Feng…I want to marry him too. And break his heart in the worst possible way. Then I can slowly eat him." She said with her usual smile. She looked amused.
Wu Xuan, Meng Zhi, Sha Na Mi - She's so crazy.
"Do you love him or hate him?" Meng Zhi asked with a disgusted tone.
"I hate him," she said again, smiling sweetly. "Well, it's unfortunate for him to turn down someone like me."
"Killed, villagers?" This time, Wu Xuan asked in a slightly stern voice. The stranger smiled, narrowing her eyes. "They prayed to me for a good marriage, and I gave it to them, the honor of marrying someone like me."
"It's the Rose Festival coming up, no wonder they want to find a girlfriend and get married. You took advantage of that, devil!" Meng Zhi said, giving her a deadly glare. "Let me out of here and fight face-to-face!"
"There there now, young master Meng, please calm down. If I tell you how much I hate you, I'm going to torture and kill you," she said calmly, clasping her hands behind her back, and showing her sweet smile.
"Damn you, my father won't let you go so easily!" Meng Zhi shouted loudly. "Father? Oh, Lord Hu Ze, I doubt it, Young Master Meng."
Those words infuriated Meng Zhi even more. He was so angry that he could not say another word.
"What did you do to those young men?" Wu Xuan asked.
"I gave them a service, and they must pay me, don't you think so, my dear?"
Wu Xuan tried hard to remember something. He was sure that Han Ziying had said something else about the old lady.
"Well, please rest my love, our wedding is tomorrow." Glancing at Wu Xuan, she slowly walked away with an elegant gait. "And honey," she said, turning back. "Take good care of them."
Na Mi let out a long sigh of relief as she waited until she was completely out of sight. "Did she just say Lord Hu Ze?" she asked, looking at Meng Zhi.
"Demon King Hu Ze," Wu Xuan said as he leaned on the iron bars. "Woah, Murong Meng you were hiding well."
Sha Na Mi was surprised, "Murong Meng? Traitor?"
Wu Xuan nodded as if to confirm it. "Murong Meng, traitor."
"Cut the crap!" Meng Zhi snorted. As the son of Demon King Hu Ze, Meng still looked like a good guy. "Think of a way out of here." He said walking back to the corner of the room. At the same time, someone called Na Mi, waved her hand to Wu Xuan and hurried away. "W-Wait Nami!" He said but it was too late.
He gave a swift blow to the wrought-iron door with his clenched hand. "What the hell did Ziying say, why the hell don't I remember? Something ancient?"
"Ancient?" Meng Zhi sounded eager. Hitting his head, he tried to remember something. "Dad told me one day,"
Glancing at him, Wu Xuan didn't expect much. In his opinion, Meng Zhi was not that important. "Just right!" Meng Zhi shouted, startling Wu Xuan as well. Meng Zhi breathed fast and had a look of hope on his face.
"She is not a local goddess," he said, looking directly at Wu Xuan. "Ancient Poison Sword…" Meng Zhi hoped that it would remind Wu Xuan of something. And he was right. That's exactly what Han Ziying said.
But unfortunately, Wu Xuan did not know more details about it.
"She was a mountain goddess from the past, Jun Jiu…she was a purple spider." Meng Zhi explained. Only for that moment did he appear to be a completely different person. "I've only heard of the Four Mountain Gods," Wu Xuan said with interest.
"That's only fair, and I'm surprised a fool like you knew that," Meng Zhi sneered. "Thank you for understanding, Mr. Ugly." Wu Xuan said.
"What did you say!!!" Meng Zhi burst out in anger. But at the same time, he gave himself a blow and calmed down. "Forget it," he said, slapping the ground. "Initially there were five of them. Jun Jiu is the first mountain god. Her past is even older than Sang Lian."
"Sang Lian, former Demon king?"
"She once proposed to the Wind Lord, Zi Feng." Meng Zhi continued to say. "But she was rejected...she saw it as an insult to her. She lived with hatred for a long time. During that time, she killed countless youths. That was until the Mountain God Yuji came. If it wasn't for him, she would never lose her position."
"No wonder, I heard that the First Mountain God is Yuji…" Wu Xuan said to himself. Meng Zhi shook his head. "After losing her position, she became even more obsessed. Purple spiders are people who follow a strange mating ritual. After the female spider gets pregnant, they eat the male spider. And they are very poisonous."
"Ancient poisonous sword?"
"She got that name after her battle with Sang Lian. Back then, Sang Lian was just an ordinary Water Celestial Demon. Even if he and my father fought together, they had a hard time defeating her."
Meng Zhi really knew more than he needed to know. But almost every time he mentioned his father, he let out a sad sigh.
"After Sang Lian's passing, she came back to the fore. The old woman who eats the young men was known as a notorious demon during Lord Cheng Xin's reign. Damn, I can't even believe I forgot that." He slapped himself.
"Okay, I've heard about it, Mountain Lord Yuji sealed that old lady." Wu Xuan completed. Meng Zhi nodded in confirmation.
"Because she challenged Cheng Xin. Xin didn't want to accept her challenge, so she tried to kill him."
"I see," Wu Xuan said with a sarcastic smile. "The kindest mountain god, Lord Xin. He died because of that kindness." Obviously, he denounced Cheng Xin. He believed that unwarranted kindness was the root of his own destruction. In the end, even Yuji, the strongest mountain god, failed to protect his sworn brother, Cheng Xin.
Wu Xuan glared at Meng Zhi. Lord Xin's killer was none other than his most admired father.
Demon King Hu Ze!