Fu Yao noticed that Xiao-Ying had shrunk into the crowd, and he frowned. "Why is there a woman here?"
While his tone wasn't furious, it didn't mean well either. When Xiao-Ying heard him, she bowed her head. Xie Lian explained, "She was worried, so she came here to look."
Fu Yao questioned the others, "Did you all come up with her?"
The crowd was a little uncertain at first, but then they replied:
"Don't remember."
"Can't tell."
"No, when we came up she wasn't here, right?!"
"Either way, I didn't see her."
"Me neither."
Xiao-Ying quickly said, "It's because I was following secretly…"
Xiao-Pengtou immediately cut her off. "Why did you follow in secret? Are you guilty of something? Are you the ghost groom in disguise?"
With such an accusation, the space near Xiao-Ying immediately cleared out, and she waved in a fluster, "No…no, I'm Xiao-Ying, I'm real!" She turned to Xie Lian. "Young master, we just saw each other! I helped you put on rouge, did your hair and your whole makeover…"
Xie Lian could not find the words to reply to that. "…"
Everyone turned their eyes on him, and some started to whisper among themselves. He vaguely heard the words "hobby," "abnormal," "unbelievable," and he cleared his throat.
"This was a mission requirement. Mission requirement. Nan Feng, Fu Yao, you…"
Xie Lian looked around, and only then did he notice that Nan Feng and Fu Yao had been staring at him oddly the entire time. They very rigidly pulled some distance away from him.
The way they were staring at him gave him goosebumps from head to toe. "…Is there something you wish to say to me?"
How could he have known that this girl's makeover work was so gifted that his brows were shaped elegantly, his face was fair as jade powder, and his lips were touched with rouge? If he didn't open his mouth, then he was entirely a gentle, demure, and beautiful young lady. This gave the two a huge shock and mired them in disbelief, making them question their lives and feel uncomfortable all over. The face was still the same face, but they no longer knew who they were talking to.
Fu Yao turned to Nan Feng. "Was there something you wanted to say?"
Nan Feng immediately shook his head. "There's nothing I want to say."
"…Why don't you guys just say something?" Xie Lian asked.
Just then, some men from the crowd spoke up:
"Hm? This is the Temple of Ming Guang?"
"There's a Temple of Ming Guang on this mountain? Amazing, I've never seen it before."
The crowd looked over in wonder. Xie Lian, however, suddenly said, "That's right, the Temple of Ming Guang."
Nan Feng could tell something was off about his tone. "What is it?"
Xie Lian replied, "The north is clearly General Ming Guang's
territory. It's not like his worship isn't flourishing, so how come there is only the one Temple of Nan Yang at the foot of Mount Yujun?"
It was easy to understand why the lord official had prayed to the Heavenly Emperor. The Heavenly Emperor was the number one martial god of the past thousand years, and his status was higher than General Ming Guang; naturally, the higher up you prayed, the more guarantee there was. However, General Ming Guang and General Nan Yang were equal in status, with not much difference. If it must be debated, then General Ming Guang possessed nine thousand temples, over a thousand more than Nan Yang. So it was really hard to imagine why they would seek from afar and forgo what lay close at hand.
Xie Lian wondered, "Technically, even if this Temple of Ming Guang on Mount Yujun was overtaken and people couldn't find it, they could've simply built another Temple of Ming Guang. Why build the martial temple of another god?"
Fu Yao could understand. "There must be another reason."
"Right, there must be another reason that would make the people in the Mount Yujun area never build another Temple of Ming Guang," Xie Lian said. "Can either one of you lend me a bit more spiritual power? I'm afraid I'll have to go ask…"
Just then, someone made a commotion. "Whoa, there's so many brides!"
That voice had come from inside the temple, and Xie Lian whipped around. He told that group to properly stay in the open ground in front of the temple, but they ignored him completely and went in!
Nan Feng shouted, "The situation's dangerous, don't run around!"
However, Xiao-Pengtou rebuked him. "Don't listen to him, guys, they won't dare to do anything to us! We're good citizens, as if they'd actually dare kill us! Get up everyone, get up, get up!"
He was certain Xie Lian and company wouldn't actually do anything to them, so he started to riot. Nan Feng cracked his knuckles, looking like he was holding back his curses. As a martial officer of the Palace of Nan Yang, how could he break the limbs of mortals whenever he wished? If any supervisory heavenly officials were to report him, it wouldn't be funny.
Xiao-Pengtou sneered. "Don't think I don't know what you guys are thinking. Aren't you just tricking us into not moving so you can steal the credit and go claim the reward for yourselves?"
With him egging people on, over half of the group actually started to move, and they ran into the temple along with him.
Fu Yao waved dismissively and said apathetically, "Let them be, those unruly people." He sounded extremely disgusted, not wanting to care anymore.
However, there came a shriek from inside the Temple of Ming Guang.
"They're all dead!"
Xiao-Pengtou was also alarmed. "All dead?!"
"ALL DEAD!"
"What is this wickedness? This one looks like she's been dead for decades, but she still hasn't rotted?!" He quickly got over it, however. "Doesn't matter if they're dead. Transport all the corpses of the brides down the mountain; their families will still have to pay up anyway."
Xie Lian's eyes slowly darkened. The group gave the idea a thought, and it certainly made sense. Some sighed, some grumbled, and there were those who were cheerful again.
Xie Lian stood at the temple entrance. "Why doesn't everyone come outside first? The air in the back of this temple is heavy with death. Without any ventilation for years, there'll be issues if you folks were to breathe it in."
This sounded very logical, and the group didn't know whether they should listen. Xiao-Ying begged in a small voice, "Everyone, let's not be this way? It's so dangerous here, why don't we listen to this young master first and go out to sit…"
But this group didn't even bother to listen to Xie Lian, so why would they listen to her? No one paid attention. Xiao-Ying didn't give up, however, and repeated herself a few times.
Xiao-Pengtou directed them: "Go for the fresh corpses, guys. Who knows if the families of the ones that are too old are still alive; don't waste your energy hauling those."
There were even those who praised him for being clever and able. Xie Lian really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this, and when he saw there were people touching where they shouldn't, he warned aloud.
"Don't remove the veils! That veil can separate the qi of the corpse and the qi of the living. There's a lot of you, and the living qi is too abundant; if they suck it in, it's hard to know what will happen."
However, in order to pick out the freshest corpses, the group of men had already pulled off pretty much all the veils. Xie Lian exchanged a look with Nan Feng, who had come to the door, and shook his head, knowing they couldn't stop them. After all, it wasn't like they could beat the men to
a bloody pulp and render them immobile; otherwise, if something happened, wouldn't they lose the ability to run? A very hopeless situation.
Just then, one of the burly men removed the veil of one of the brides and exclaimed, "My god, this little hussy is super cute!"
The men all came to surround the corpse.
"She wasn't even married yet, right? What a waste to just die like that."
"Her clothes are a bit tattered, but she's the prettiest!"
This bride probably hadn't been dead for too long; the skin of her face was still rather supple. Someone said, "I dare you to feel her up."
"What's there to be scared of?" Xiao-Pengtou said.
Then he pinched the corpse's face a couple of times. It was so silkysmooth that it made his heart itch, and he reached out, ready to touch her again. Xie Lian couldn't bear to watch anymore and was about to stop him when Xiao-Ying rushed over.
"Don't do this!" she exclaimed.
Xiao-Pengtou gave her a backhanded shove and yelled, "Don't get in men's way!"
But Xiao-Ying climbed to her feet again and cried, "You're going to incur Heaven's wrath like this!"
Xiao-Pengtou was furious now, and he cursed. "Goddammit! You ugly freak, you're so nosy!"
He swore as he moved to kick her, but Xie Lian easily lifted the back of Xiao-Ying's collar with one hand and pulled her away. Unexpectedly, however, they heard a THUD.
Xiao-Pengtou yelled, "WHO HIT ME?!"
Xie Lian looked back. Xiao-Pengtou was bleeding from a gaping wound on the head after having been hit, and there was a bloodstained rock on the ground.
Xiao-Ying was stunned for a moment before quickly apologizing. "Sorry, sorry… I was scared and accidentally threw it…"
However, even if she was eager to take the blame for it, no one would believe her, because the direction was completely wrong. This rock was hurled from a window behind Xiao-Pengtou. When Xiao-Pengtou yelled, everyone had turned to look in that direction, just in time to see a flash of a shadow outside the window.
Xiao-Pengtou hollered, "IT'S HIM! That ugly freak with bandages on his face!"
Xie Lian stuffed Xiao-Ying into Nan Feng's hands and strode a couple steps forward. Propping his right hand on the window lattice, he hopped over and ran toward the forest in pursuit. A few of the bolder ones who had their eyes on the bounty followed him and leapt out the window as well. However, when Xie Lian reached the edge of the forest, he suddenly caught a whiff of blood. Sensing something off, and with alarm bells ringing in his head, he came to a sudden halt.
He warned, "Don't go in!"
He had shouted his warning, but those people thought, I'll give chase even if you won't, and charged into the forest without stopping. The others who had originally gathered in the temple swarmed out too, and when they saw that Xie Lian stopped at the edge of the woods, those who weren't as bold crowded around to watch. Before long, they heard screams, and a few shadows stumbled out from the forest. They were the few who had barged in first earlier, and now they were staggering out. When the crowd saw them after they stepped under the moonlight, they were instantly scared out of their wits.
They were still living humans when they had entered, how did they become blood-soaked humans when they came out?
From their faces to the clothes on their bodies, these people were stained with red, the blood gushing forth like a spring. If someone bled this much, it meant certain death. However, those men were still making their way toward them, step by step. Terrified, everyone retreated uniformly until they were behind Xie Lian.
Xie Lian raised his hand. "Calm down. The blood isn't theirs."
Sure enough, those men said, "Yeah! The blood isn't ours. It's…it's…"
Even when drenched in blood, the horror on their faces could not be concealed. The group followed the eyes of those men and looked into the forest; it was pitch-black, so they could not see exactly what lay within. Xie Lian took over a torch, took a few steps forward, and then raised it to probe ahead. Something in the darkness dripped onto the torch, giving off a sizzling sound. He glanced at the torch before looking up. After composing himself for a moment, he raised his hand and then tossed the torch up.
Although the hurled torch only illuminated the area overhead for an instant, everyone still got a clear look of what had been above the trees.
Long black hair, deathly pale faces, tattered military officers' uniforms, and arms dangling in the air.
The swinging corpses of more than forty men were suspended upside down at varying heights on the trees. No one knew how long their blood had flowed, but they had yet to dry up. They dripped and dripped, forming a terrifying scene: a forest of hanging corpses amidst a falling rain of blood.
This group of people outside the forest were all strong, burly men, but they had never seen such a sight before. They were petrified into silence. When Nan Feng and Fu Yao came over and saw this scene, their expressions froze.
After a moment, Nan Feng said, "Green Ghost."
"Indeed," Fu Yao agreed. "It's his favorite trick."
Nan Feng turned to Xie Lian. "Don't go over there. It'll be a bit of a problem if it's him."
Xie Lian looked back and asked, "Who are you talking about?"
"A 'near-supreme.'" Nan Feng replied. Xie Lian asked, puzzled, "'Near-supreme'? You mean, close to the power level of a supreme?"
"That's right," Fu Yao said. "The 'near-supreme' Green Ghost is a malicious creature who has been evaluated by the Palace of Ling Wen as close to the level of a supreme. He adores games like this forest of hanging corpses. You could say he's infamous."
Xie Lian thought, That's really unnecessary. If you're a supreme, you're a supreme. If you aren't, then you aren't. Just like there's only "ascended" and "not ascended," there's no "nearly ascended" or "about to ascend." Adding a "near" only makes it awkward for everyone.
He recalled when that young man led him all the way here; there had been the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the surface of his umbrella. Could he have held it up to shield him from the blood rain of this corpse forest?
He let out a soft "ah," and the other two immediately asked, "What's the matter?"
He thus gave a brief account of how he had met a young man while he was in the sedan and how that young man had brought him here. When he was done, Fu Yao said skeptically, "I noticed the enchanted array on this mountain when I came up. It was immensely tough, but he broke it so handily?"
Xie Lian thought, Rather, he crushed it under his heel without even noticing the feat. He said, "That's right. This 'near-supreme' Green Ghost you speak of, could that be him?"
Nan Feng considered it briefly, "I've never seen the Green Ghost before, so I can't say. Does that young man you saw have any distinctive features?"
"Silver butterflies," Xie Lian said.
Earlier, when Nan Feng and Fu Yao saw the forest of hanging corpses, they remained considerably composed. But the instant those two words left Xie Lian's mouth, he could clearly see the drop in their faces.
Fu Yao exclaimed in disbelief, "What did you say? Silver butterflies? What kind of silver butterflies?"
Xie Lian realized that he had probably said something significant and explained, "They're like silver, yet also like crystal. They don't seem to be living creatures. But they look quite pretty."
He saw Nan Feng and Fu Yao exchange looks with expressions so grim their faces were almost green.
After a while, Fu Yao said darkly, "Leave. Right now."
"We haven't settled the case of the ghost groom yet, how can I leave?" Xie Lian said.
"Settle?" Fu Yao said. He turned back and sneered. "Seems like you have really tarried too long in the Human Realm. This ghost groom is merely a wrath. Even the Green Ghost of this hanging-corpses forest is merely a 'near-supreme,' as pesky as he might be."
After another pause, he suddenly said in a stern voice, "Do you know who the master of those silver butterflies is?"
Xie Lian replied honestly, "I don't."
"…Even if you don't, there isn't time for me to explain now," Fu Yao said stiffly. "In short, he isn't someone you can handle. You'd better hurry back to the Heavenly Realm and ask for reinforcements."
"Then you head back first," Xie Lian said.
"You—"
"The master of those silver butterflies never showed any hint of malice," Xie Lian said. "If he does harbor malice, if he really is as terrifying as you claim, then no one within the perimeter of Mount Yujun would be able to escape his clutches. All the more reason someone has to stand guard here right now. So why don't you go back first and help me seek reinforcements?" He could tell Fu Yao didn't want to remain here and deal with so many troublesome matters. If that was the case, then Xie Lian wouldn't force the issue. Fu Yao was a straightforward person, so he really did leave on his own with a toss of his sleeves. Xie Lian turned toward Nan Feng and was about to inquire further about that young man when there was another commotion in the crowd.
Someone shouted, "We caught him! We caught him!"
Now Xie Lian didn't have the time to ask anything anymore either. "Who did you catch?"
Two more bloody figures emerged from the forest. One was a burly fellow who had charged into the forest earlier, and who was one of the few who was not scared off by the blood rain in the corpse forest. The other one was a young boy being dragged along by him in a firm grip, his head and face messily wrapped with bandages.
Xie Lian still remembered what the tea master he had met earlier in the little shop had said: "Apparently, the ghost groom is an ugly creature living on Mount Yujun, and because it's so ugly, no woman loves it. Which is why it grew hate in its heart and began robbing others of their brides to ruin their happy occasions."
They thought that might have been a rumor at the time. Who would have guessed that there was really such a person?
Be that as it may, whether he was the ghost groom was a different matter altogether. Xie Lian was just about to take a closer look at the bandaged boy when Xiao-Ying rushed over.
She yelled, "You've got the wrong person! This isn't the ghost groom. He isn't!"
Xiao-Pengtou shouted back, "He was caught red-handed, and you still say he isn't? I…" He paused, as if something had suddenly dawned on him, then he continued, "Oooh, I was wondering why you're always acting so strange, always insisting 'he isn't, he isn't.' So you're in cahoots with this ghost groom?!"
Stunned, Xiao-Ying hurriedly waved her hands. "No, no, I'm not. He's not, either. He hasn't done anything. He's just an ordinary… ordinary…"
Xiao-Pengtou pressed on aggressively, "Ordinary what? Ordinary ugly freak?" He yanked at the bandaged boy's hair a couple of times and said, "Then why don't we take a look at how this 'ordinary' ghost groom looks, since he loves stealing others' women so much?!"
His random grabbing made a mess of a few strips of the bandages, and the bandaged boy instantly held his head and screamed. His cries were full of fear, incredibly mournful and pitiful.
Xie Lian seized Xiao-Pengtou's arm. "Enough."
When Xiao-Ying heard that young boy's screams, her tears tumbled down, and when she saw Xie Lian stopping Xiao-Pengtou it was akin to seeing hope. She hurriedly grabbed his sleeves and begged, "Young… young master, help me, help him."
Xie Lian cast her a look, and Xiao-Ying let go of his sleeve in embarrassment, as if afraid he would scorn her touchy-feely hands andbwould not want to help her anymore.
Xie Lian comforted her, "It's fine."
He took another look at the bloody-headed, bandaged boy, and realized that he was also peeking at Xie Lian with wide, bloodshot eyes through the gaps in the bandages under his hands. The boy only stole a glance before quickly lowering his eyes, and he hurriedly secured the bandages again. Although he did not reveal his face, a patch of skin was exposed, and that bit was already horrifying, as if it had been burned by fire. It was not hard to imagine how scary the face that laid under the bandages was, and the others sucked in a breath while the boy shrank even more.
Xie Lian noticed that the way those two cowered was exactly the same. It was as if they were afraid to step into the light, afraid to see other people. He sighed inwardly.
Next to them, Xiao-Pengtou was alarmed. "What are you scheming? We are the ones who caught the ghost groom."
Xie Lian let go of him. "I'm afraid the ghost groom won't let you catch him so easily. My friend searched around here earlier, but he didn't find him. It's possible this boy came much later. The real ghost groom should still be here."
Xiao-Ying also mustered up her courage. "You want the reward money…but you can't just catch anyone at random to make up the numbers…"
Xiao-Pengtou clearly wanted to hit her again after hearing this. He had been causing trouble since earlier, and Xie Lian finally couldn't endure it anymore. He waved his hand and Ruoye flew out to give Xiao-Pengtou a slap with a THWACK that knocked him over. Nan Feng seemed to have reached his limit too and immediately followed up with a kick. The youth finally toppled to the ground and remained still. This person was the lead instigator, so once he became immobile, the crowd didn't know who to take aim at and settled down. There were a few scattered outcries here and there, but the commotion was over.
Xie Lian thought, Finally, we can get down to business.
He sized up the young boy on the ground for a moment, then asked, "Were you the one who threw the rock in the window earlier?"
His voice was gentle. The bandaged boy, who was trembling uncontrollably, peeked at him again and nodded.
Xiao-Ying explained, "He doesn't want to harm anyone. He just wanted to help me when it looked like Xiao-Pengtou was going to hit me…"
Xie Lian asked the boy again, "Do you know what's with all those corpses hanging in the forest?"
Xiao-Ying answered, "I don't know what's going on, but he's definitely not the one who hung them up…"
The bandaged boy trembled nonstop, but all he did was shake his head repeatedly. Nan Feng, who had been staring at him, suddenly said, "Who is the Green Ghost Qi Rong to you?"
Xie Lian gave a slight start on hearing this name. The bandaged boy, however, just looked blank. He showed no reaction when the name was uttered, and he was too scared to reply to Nan Feng.
"He…he's too scared to talk…" Xiao-Ying explained.
All this while, she had been trying her best to protect this strange boy. Xie Lian implored gently, "Miss Xiao-Ying, what exactly is the matter with this child? Tell me everything you know."
Xiao-Ying seemed to summon up a little courage at the sight of Xie Lian. Firelight shone brightly on her face, but she was no longer avoiding it.
Wringing her hands, she said, "He really didn't do anything bad. This child simply lives on Mount Yujun. Sometimes, when he's too hungry, he'll run down the mountain to steal some food. There was once when he happened to steal from my house… I saw that he couldn't really talk and there were injuries on his face, so I found some cloth for him to bandage
himself with. I'd also give him food sometimes…"
Xie Lian had initially thought them to be a couple, but now that he learned of all this, Xiao-Ying's reciprocal protectiveness was more like that of an older sister, or even an elder taking care of him.
She added, "Later, there were many who thought he was the ghost groom. I couldn't convince them, so I could only hope that the real culprit would be quickly captured… I thought, since you're so capable, prepared to act as a bride to catch the ghost groom and everything, then at the very least you wouldn't catch the wrong person, because he would never, ever hijack the wedding sedan. But the moment I headed out, I heard that Xiao-Pengtou and the rest wanted to search the mountain today too. I was really worried, so I secretly came up to take a look."
She stood as a shield before the boy like she was afraid the others would hit him again, and defended him further. "He really isn't the ghost groom. Look at him, it's taken so few to beat him like this. How in the world could he defeat so many military officers escorting the bride's sedan…?"
Xie Lian and Nan Feng exchanged glances, both equally finding this to be a headache.
If it was as she said, then wasn't the boy completely unrelated to this incident?
The bandaged boy, the "wrath" ghost groom, the "near-supreme" Green Ghost, and that powerful, influential master of the silver butterflies, who made all heavenly officials turn pale at the mere mention of his name. To think this small Mount Yujun would see a never-ending flow of strange guests. This was truly a tough case to deal with. Who was who? What was the relationship between who and who? Xie Lian felt his headache intensify several times over. He rubbed his forehead and temporarily stopped thinking about how much truth there was in Xiao-Ying's words.
Something else suddenly came to mind that he'd been meaning to ask, and he said, "Miss Xiao-Ying, have you always lived near Mount Yujun?"
Xiao-Ying replied, "Yes. I've always lived here. I can guarantee that he has never done anything bad here."
"No, I wanted to ask you something else," Xie Lian said. "Are there no other Temples of Ming Guang built in the vicinity of Mount Yujun, other than the one on this mountain?"
Xiao-Ying was taken aback. "Um…" She thought about it, then said, "There should have been others, I think."
At her response, Xie Lian suddenly had the vague feeling that he'd grasped something important. He asked, "Then why did I only see a Temple of Nan Yang at the foot of the mountain but not a Temple of Ming Guang?"
Xiao-Ying scratched her head. "They tried to build one before, but I heard that every time construction of a Temple of Ming Guang was in the works, there would always be a fire for some reason halfway through… Some people said that it probably meant General Ming Guang could not protect this place for some reason, so they switched to General Nan Yang…"
Nan Feng noticed Xie Lian's frozen expression and asked, "What's the matter with you?"
Xie Lian suddenly realized that it was all too simple.
The brides who could not smile, the temple that caught fire for no reason, the temple of Ming Guang locked away by the enchanted array in the mountain, the majestic Martial God statue of General Pei, the ghost groom who had disappeared into thin air after being wounded by Ruoye—
All too simple!
It was only because there was always something else interfering and diverting his attention that he hadn't realized such a simple truth right from the start!
He forcefully seized hold of Nan Feng and exclaimed, "Lend me some spiritual powers!"
Nan Feng was startled but hurriedly struck a palm with him in midair. He asked, "What's the matter?"
Xie Lian dragged him and ran. "I'll explain later. Think of a way to subdue the corpses of those eighteen brides first!"
Nan Feng said, "Have you lost your senses? There are only seventeen brides' corpses. You are the eighteenth!"
Xie Lian said, "No, no, no."
He explained: "There were only seventeen before, but now there are eighteen. Among the eighteen brides' corpses, one is fake: the ghost groom is hiding among them!"
***
The two dashed back to the Temple of Ming Guang, however the back of the great hall was already completely empty. There was only a pile of messily strewn red veils where the brides stood earlier.
Seeing this sight, Xie Lian cried mentally, This is bad, this is bad, darn it, darn it.
He quickly picked up the veils on the ground. After he did so, he heard alarmed cries coming from outside the temple. The two looked out the window and saw that a mob of women in scarlet wedding dresses had formed a circle and were slowly closing in on the group of villagers.
Each of the women had a pale, greenish face wearing a smile, her arms raised straight out. They were the corpses of the brides from earlier!
No one could remain calm while watching helplessly as they slowly closed in. The crowd didn't care to accost that bandaged boy anymore and fled. Xiao-Ying immediately rushed over to support him.
Xie Lian called out helplessly, "Don't run!"
He had lost count how many times he'd said that tonight. Whenever something happened, he'd have to say it at least thirty to forty times, yet there was always someone ignoring him. What a helpless affair.
He waved his hand and the silk band Ruoye flew out toward the sky. He made a casual hand sign, and Ruoye began whirling in the air on its own like the mad dance of a celestial being, incredibly eye-catching. When those brides saw that there was something over this way, lively and spinning rapidly with its tail whipping at them, a good number of them were lured over. There were also seven that were attracted to the scent of blood in the deep of the forest, so they slowly hopped in that direction.
Xie Lian exclaimed, "Follow them, Nan Feng! Don't let them go down the mountain!"
He didn't need to worry; Nan Feng had already gone off to chase them. Two of the brides came and attacked in Xie Lian's direction, their fingers bright red, their nails sharp. Xie Lian took out the red veils he had collected off the ground earlier and hurled them out with both hands. Two of the veils spun as they shot out, squarely covering the heads of those two brides. Instantly, their movements stalled.
As expected, when the heavy, bright red veils covered the eyes and the noses of those corpses, they could no longer see the shadows of mortals nor smell their scent. And since their dead bodies were stiff, they couldn't bend their own arms to remove the veils; they could only grab randomly at the air with their extended arms as if they were playing blind man's bluff. This was truly both a horrifying and silly sight. Xie Lian stood in front of them and tentatively waved his hand in front of the two brides' eyes, and when he saw they were grabbing cluelessly in another direction, he contemplated for a moment. But, in the end, he still couldn't help but say, "Please forgive my impropriety," before seizing their arms and placing their claws on each other's necks.
When the two brides suddenly felt something in their hands, their bodies shook, and since they couldn't see anything, they started strangling each other viciously. Xie Lian then quickly ran off with a wide wave of his hand, and Ruoye followed him like a streak of white rainbow before landing on the ground to form a large white circle.
Xie Lian called after the people who were fleeing in all directions, "Everyone, get into the circle!"
The group hesitated as they ran, but Xiao-Ying immediately helped the bandaged boy over to stand inside. After some thought, she ran out again and dragged Xiao-Pengtou, who was passed out on the ground, into
the circle as well. Right then, one of the brides hopped to the edge of the white circle, and her claws shot out to grab for them, yet it was as if there were a transparent wall that forcibly divided the space.
Xiao-Ying noticed the bride couldn't hop in no matter how she tried and quickly shouted, "Everyone, come in, quick! They can't enter this circle!"
When the men saw this, they hurried back like a swarm of bees. Thankfully, Xie Lian had Ruoye burst to a great length beforehand, and the circle was big enough, otherwise he would be worried there would be people squeezed out because it was too cramped. The brides couldn't hop into the circle and knew they couldn't do anything to this group, so they uniformly spun around and, shrieking, lunged in Xie Lian's direction.
However, Xie Lian was already waiting for them, and from his sleeve he pulled out a large bundle of veils. The many red cloths in his hands spun, up, down, left, right, flying in all directions, both his hands and feet moving nonstop, covering each one as they came, swift and precise. With every bride veiled, the bride would begin to slow and feel around like a blind person. The veils in his hands were spun to blurs as they were thrown with ease, forming countless red silhouettes flying through the air. The people inside the circle actually started cheering in spite of themselves.
"NICE!"
"Amazing, so amazing!"
"You trained for this, right?!"
When Xie Lian heard them, he blurted out of habit, "Thank you, thank you. Please support my act with money if you have the means, or with applause if you haven't… Wait?!"
He only noticed something wrong after the words left his lips. He'd gotten caught up and let slip the speech he used to say when he busked and hurriedly stopped himself. While he was talking, several more brides jumped up; jumps that were surprisingly over two meters high and ten meters long, and in the span of a second, the stench of rot came before his nose.
Xie Lian pushed off with the tip of his foot, his body sweeping past them, and while in the air, he mentally chanted the verbal password to a certain private communication array.
"Ling Wen, Ling Wen the all-knowing! I have a question: do you know if the Martial God of the North, General Ming Guang, had any intimate female friends?"
Ling Wen's voice rang in his ear. "Your Highness, why do you ask?"
"I've got a bit of a situation here right now, kind of urgent," Xie Lian said. "Not gonna lie, there are a dozen dead people chasing me right now."
"Huh? That awful?!" Ling Wen was shocked.
"Not too horrible," Xie Lian said. "So, did he? I know this question is more personal in nature and it's not easy to answer, which was why I didn't ask in the general communication array. It's necessary for the mission, and the information will never be divulged."
"You've misunderstood, Your Highness," Ling Wen replied. "It's not that this question isn't easy to answer, but it's that Ol' Pei really has had too many intimate female friends. Your question is so sudden, I don't know which one you're referring to at the moment."
Xie Lian almost slipped in his step. "All right. Then, among General Pei's female friends, is there one who is possessive, extremely jealous, and has some form of disability?"
"Now that you've mentioned it, I do recall someone," Ling Wen replied.
Xie Lian sent two more veils flying, causing another round of applause, and he spun around, cupping his hands at the audience in thanks. "Tell me!"
Ling Wen began, "Before Ol' Pei ascended, he was a general. He became involved with the female general of an enemy state on the battlefield, someone extremely beautiful and fierce in character. Her name was Xuan Ji."
"Okay, Xuan Ji," Xie Lian acknowledged.
Ling Wen continued, "General Pei is someone who, hmm…when he sees a beautiful woman, he'll have to go and entangle himself even if there's a blade to his throat. This woman led an army and crossed swords with him, and she was defeated."
Xuan Ji became a prisoner of war and was taken to the enemy camp. While the guards weren't paying attention, she was planning to end her life on the spot. But she did not succeed: a general cut her verdant sword in half with one swing of his blade and saved her. And this dashing General Pei of the enemy state was the General Ming Guang who later ascended.
As for this General Pei, one, he was always someone who cherished beauties, and two, the result of the war was already determined, so even if the fighting dragged on, the situation was already impossible to flip. And so, Xuan Ji was released. However, with all this frequent contact and back and forth, it was easy to imagine what would come of it.
Just then, one of the brides caught Xie Lian's leg and dug her fingers in, almost sinking her claws into his flesh. He wanted to kick out at first but realized at this angle he could only kick her face.
Well, you can't hit a lady's face, Xie Lian thought, so he changed his position and kicked her shoulder instead while sending another veil flying. "Sounds like a beautiful tale."
"It was a beautiful tale at first," Ling Wen said. "But what killed it was that Xuan Ji was adamant about being General Pei's lover for the rest of his life."
Xie Lian ran a couple of steps and leapt, scaling up the roof, then looked down at the five or six brides who continued to close in on him down below.
He wiped away his sweat. "There isn't anything wrong for a woman to want to be the only lover in a lifetime."
"There isn't," Ling Wen said. "But when two countries clash, the battlefield is heartless. Those two had originally agreed willingly that it was going to be a short-lived affair, that today would exist but not tomorrow, and to speak only of romance and not of war. But with someone like Ol' Pei, I'll be honest, it's already pretty good if he doesn't cheat on you."
"…"
"However, Xuan Ji was a dignified lady general and intense in temperament. If it was something she wanted, she'd clutch on firmly without ever letting go…"
"Hold on, hold on!" Xie Lian interrupted. "Tell me first, is Xuan Ji disabled? And how so?"
"It's her…" Ling Wen's voice abruptly came to a stop.
For goodness' sake! Every time, when he got to the most important part, the bit of spiritual power he'd borrowed would run out. It seemed next time he'd have to get straight to the point right from the start. In between flying and jumping, Xie Lian rapidly reorganized his thoughts. If the bandaged boy wasn't the ghost groom, and this group of villagers had also confirmed that the ghost groom wasn't among them, then the only place left to hide was among the seventeen brides!
When Xie Lian snuck into the fold, the ghost groom couldn't immediately tell that the numbers were wrong. On the flip side, when the ghost groom mixed in with the brides, Xie Lian also couldn't tell there was an extra corpse at a single glance. Now that he thought about it closely, after the silk band Ruoye had injured the ghost groom, he only saw a ball of black mist stealing for the forest, but he couldn't say for sure that the ball of black mist contained a person. What probably actually happened was that when he rushed out the temple entrance to give chase, the ghost groom remained in the temple full of black mist, brushing past him and returning to the back of the hall—hiding itself like a leaf among the trees and mixing in with the corpses of the brides.
Then the "ghost groom" wasn't a groom but a bride: a woman dressed in a wedding dress!
Since it was a woman, many things could now be explained. For example, why there was no Temple of Ming Guang on or around Mount Yujun. It wasn't that the locals didn't want to build the temples, it was because they couldn't. Xiao-Ying had said, "I heard that every time construction of a Temple of Ming Guang was in the works, there would always be a fire for some reason halfway through…" This didn't sound like a coincidence at all and could be nothing but arson. Why set fires to burn temples? Under normal circumstances it would happen because of hatred. So then why would there be a Temple of Ming Guang on Mount Yujun that was locked within an enchantment to keep out visitors, yet the maintenance and the craftwork of the divine statue within the temple were so exquisite? Why was the ghost bride all decked out in a wedding dress herself but couldn't bear to see other brides in wedding dresses smile when passing through Mount Yujun?
When every dot was connected, Xie Lian couldn't think of any answer besides jealousy and possessiveness. And that odd sound, like cloth-covered rods dragging something heavy—if it was truly the sound of footsteps, then Xie Lian could only think of one possibility!
Every bride that was chasing him had been veiled. Xie Lian finally landed back on the ground, let out a light sigh, steadied himself, and then straightened up to count.
One, two, three, four…ten.
Seven brides had hopped into the forest and Nan Feng had gone to chase them. He veiled ten brides and they were all here. That meant there was one more who hadn't shown her face.
Right then, he heard that familiar sound of THUMP THUMP,
THUMP THUMP, coming from behind him.
Xie Lian slowly turned around, and an extremely short, small form entered his field of vision.
He drew in a small breath and thought, I knew it.
This short, small woman before his eyes was dressed in red wedding robes, but there was no air of joy, only sorrow. The reason she was short wasn't because that was her natural stature but because she was kneeling onthe ground.
The bones of both her legs were broken, but the legs remained, and she had been using her knees to walk all this time. The odd THUMP THUMP sound he heard was the sound of her dragging her two broken legs to hop across the ground.
That female ghost bore a handsome oval face, her brows high and arching; she was truly exceedingly beautiful. No wonder the men had spoken of her so much before. While her beauty was initially laced with three parts heroism, it was now stormy with resentment, as if she had been trapped in a small, confined space for years, barred from the light of the sun. She was kneeling on the ground, and the bridal robe was tattered and frayed below the knees.
Xie Lian and the ghost stared at each other unyieldingly for a while before he spoke up. "Xuan Ji?"
It seemed it had been many years since anyone called her by that name. It was a long time before the resentment on her face quietly faded some, and a flash of light shone in her eyes.
"…Was it he who sent you to find me?" she asked.
Xie Lian supposed that this "he" naturally referred to General Pei.
Xuan Ji then pressed on, "What about the man himself? Why won't he come see me?"
That passionate expression and hopeful tone while she spoke made Xie Lian feel that he'd best not say "he didn't." Seeing that he hesitated to respond, Xuan Ji slumped onto the ground.
Her back leaned against that handsome, tall martial god statue. Her bright red bridal robe spread about her on the ground like a giant flower of
blood. Her hair was disheveled, and her face filled with agonizing torment, as if she was suffering from extreme misery.
"…Why won't he come see me?"
Xie Lian couldn't answer this question either, so he could only remain silent. Xuan Ji raised her head to gaze upon that divine statue and moaned sorrowfully.
"Pei dear, oh Pei dear, I've betrayed my kingdom for you, abandoned my everything and become like this. Why won't you come see me anymore?"
She pulled at her own hair, demanding, "Could your heart be made of iron?"
Xie Lian didn't react to any of this, but when he heard her, he silently pondered. Xuan Ji said she betrayed her kingdom for General Pei. Could that mean that this General Pei she spoke of cajoled her into divulging enemy secrets while the two were in the heat of their passion, causing Xuan Ji's kingdom to fall into a disadvantage on the battlefield? She also said that it was because of General Pei that she'd become this, and by "this" she naturally meant this tragic, broken-legged form. Xuan Ji was a female general; upon the battlefield, there was no way she would be disabled, so those legs of hers could only have been broken later. Could that have something to do with General Pei too? Was it General Pei deserting what he started that led to such deep and severe resentment?
Xie Lian felt everything he thought of was rather vulgar. However, with Xuan Ji having such profound resentment to the point where she was harming innocent lives, as vulgar as it was, Xie Lian could only force himself to think in that direction. Just then, the sound of a girl screaming suddenly came from outside the temple.
"Help! Help!"
Xie Lian and Xuan Ji both looked out of the window at the same time. Where Ruoye had formed the white circle, a man was trying to drag that bandaged boy out while Xiao-Ying clung to the man's leg, not letting go.
The man started yelling curses; it was Xiao-Pengtou. "Fuck off! You dumbass, what if you call that female ghost over?!"
Xiao-Ying shouted, "If she comes, she comes; you're scarier than any ghosts! I…I'd rather see a female ghost instead!"
Turned out that Xiao-Pengtou, who Xie Lian had knocked out with one whip of his silk band, had come to. When he saw the sluggishly fumbling brides all around, he first jumped in surprise, but soon realized none of them could detect humans. He was exceedingly gutsy, hotheaded, and foolhardy, and he planned to drag the bandaged boy down the mountain to collect his bounty while no one else dared to move. He didn't care at all whether or not this boy was really the ghost groom; everyone down the mountain said he was, so he was. Yet unexpectedly, Xiao-Ying pounced over screaming and shouting, alerting all the drifting brides in the surrounding area, including Xuan Ji inside the Temple of Ming Guang.
Xie Lian saw that it was him again and mentally grumbled that he should have whipped harder earlier; best if the man was whipped so hard he didn't wake for three days and three nights.
He shouted, "Go back into the circle!"
Xiao-Pengtou saw that a stream of black mist had come lunging at him and hastily retreated. However, the bandaged boy was still in his grip, and Xiao-Ying was still clinging onto his leg, so in the end, he was still too slow by a beat. Instantly, the black mist enveloped him, and he was then sucked back to Xuan Ji's hand. He turned his head to look; wasn't this
disheveled, long-haired, haunting, chilling woman the beautiful corpse he had touched among all those brides lying on the ground earlier?
It wasn't until that moment that he finally learned what fear meant. He shrieked at the top of his lungs while Xuan Ji curled her five fingers, digging them deep into the back of his head. In an instant, his skull was pulled out through the heavy layer of flesh on his scalp.
The skull that was just pulled out was still steaming hot, its mouth still wide open and screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAHH—!!!!"
The people within the white circle also had their mouths open wide and screaming, so terrified that their souls had left their bodies. "AAAAAAAAAAHH—!!!!"
Xiao-Ying was also thoroughly terrified, pulling the bandaged boy into the circle as she screamed. Xuan Ji reached her fingers out at them again, but Xie Lian dashed over and blocked her.
"General, please refrain from committing further murderous sins."
He called her "General" in hopes of reminding her that she was once a heroine who fought bravely on the front lines to protect her kingdom. Yet Xuan Ji crushed the head that was screaming in terror in her grip, that gorgeous face now seven parts twisted.
She sneered. "Is he too scared to see me?"
Xie Lian couldn't think of any other way, so he wondered if he should pretend to be someone sent by General Pei to smooth things over first. But Xuan Ji didn't need his response at all. She laughed heartily and whipped around, pointing at the divine statue.
"I burned your temples and caused havoc in your land, just so you'd come to take one look at me! I've waited for you for years!"
She stared at that martial god statue in a long trance, then suddenly leapt up, strangling its neck and shaking it like mad.
"But you still won't come to see me! Is it because you know you wronged me? Won't you look at my legs?! Look at how I am now! This is all for you! For you!! Is your heart made of iron?!"
As a bystander, Xie Lian didn't want to comment on who was right or wrong, but in his opinion, he really couldn't help but think, If you wanted to see him, could you not have used a saner method? In any case, if someone did all this because they wanted to see me, I would have zero desire to show up.
On the other end, Xiao-Ying and that bandaged boy finally returned to the circle anew. Looking his way, she whispered in concern, "Young master…"
Hearing her, Xie Lian gave her a smile, indicating that she needn't worry. Yet unexpectedly, the moment he smiled, Xuan Ji's face instantly contorted, and she lunged over from the divine statue.
"Since you won't look at me and prefer to look at those girls who love smiling, I'll let you look to your heart's content!"
Although the one she was strangling was Xie Lian, her words were directed at General Pei. At first, Xie Lian had thought that Xuan Ji's heart was full of jealousy for those happily smiling brides in their sedans because she herself couldn't marry the one she loved. He hadn't expected that it was because this General Pei liked girls who smiled, so she, in her distorted mind, connected that to brides who were about to marry their lovers. No wonder she burned all the Ming Guang temples around the mountain. Now that he thought about it, it was probably because she couldn't stand having
to share this one divine statue with all those women who'dvisit Ming Guang temples day in and day out.
This female ghost was indeed a wrath. Even with both legs broken,her movements were fast as a devil's, and even after being beaten by Ruoye, her strength was still formidable. Xie Lian couldn't keep going with her strangling him like this, but just as he was about to summon Ruoye, there was a loud cry.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
That girl Xiao-Ying saw that he couldn't hang on anymore, so she picked up a branch and came charging over; she was yelling as she charged, seeming to pump up courage for herself. But Xuan Ji didn't even need to lift a finger. She only gave a chilling look, and before Xiao-Ying had even gotten close, she was sent flying meters away and crashed heavily onto the ground headfirst.
The bandaged boy croaked out a loud "AAAH!" as he ran over. Xie Lian was shocked too, but right as he sat up, he felt a chill on the back of his head. Xuan Ji's five fingers were already in place, like she was going to yank his skull from his skin just like earlier. In this dire situation, Xie Lian's right hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.
He shouted, "Bind!"
A sharp WHOOSH sound echoed through the air, and the white silk bandage heeded the command, circling and twisting about Xuan Ji, trussing her up. Xuan Ji's legs were broken, so she couldn't dodge in time. Thus, with a heavy thud, she fell to her knees and started rolling on the ground, trying to break free of the white silk band. Yet the more she struggled, the tighter the bindings became. The instant he was set free, Xie Lian didn't even take a moment to catch his breath before he immediately got to his feet and ran to where Xiao-Ying landed.
Even with Ruoye having been recalled, most of the crowd still didn't dare to move rashly, but there were also a number of daring villagers who had gotten used to those fumbling brides and went circling. The bandaged boy was kneeling next to Xiao-Ying's sprawled form, not knowing what to do, so anxious he was like a small insect on the rim of a boiling pot. No one dared touch her, afraid that she had broken something critical and if she should struggle the injury would worsen. Xie Lian gave a quick once-over and knew that no matter how careful he was it'd be pointless. There was no way she'd survive after such a fall.
While he hadn't interacted much with this girl Xiao-Ying, hadn't even spoken with her much, Xie Lian still knew that she was a kindhearted girl despite her ugly appearance. Such an ending for her truly made the heart heavy.
At least Xuan Ji shouldn't be able to struggle free of Ruoye. Xie Lian thought, Even if it's pointless, Xiao-Ying shouldn't be left in this position right before her death.
And so, he very carefully flipped her over.
Xiao-Ying's face was covered in blood, and the crowd around clicked their tongues and sighed as they watched.
However, she still had breath left, and she whispered, "Young master…have I made things worse…?"
Although she didn't make anything worse, she didn't actually help either. Xie Lian was already going to summon Ruoye at the time and didn't require anyone else's help. Besides, with that single branch of hers, even if she had managed to hit Xuan Ji, it wouldn't have done anything, never mind that she wouldn't have been able to get near the female ghost's body in the first place. With all that, this could be said to be a completely meaningless death.
Xie Lian answered, "No. You've been a great help. You see, the moment you came over, the female ghost's attention was diverted, which was how I had the chance to subdue her. Thank you so very much. But you can't do that again next time, all right? If you're going to help, you have to tell me first. Otherwise, if I don't pick up on it, things will go downhill fast."
Xiao-Ying chuckled. "Hahhh, young master, you don't need to comfort me anymore. I know I wasn't any help, and that there won't be a next time."
Her words were jumbled and unclear, and when she spat out a mouthful of blood, there were even a few broken front teeth mixed in. That bandaged boy was shaking with panic, woo woo-ing, trying to speak.
Xiao-Ying turned to him. "In the future, don't go down the mountain to steal food anymore. If you're discovered, you'll be beaten to death."
"If he ever gets hungry, he can come to me," Xie Lian said.
Xiao-Ying's eyes lit up hearing this. "…Really? Then, thanks so much…"
She smiled and smiled, until suddenly, two lines of tears streamed down from that pair of tiny eyes.
She whispered, "I feel I haven't lived through many good days in all my life here in this world."
Xie Lian didn't know what to say, so he gently patted her hand.
Xiao-Ying then sighed. "Never mind. Maybe I'm just…born
unlucky."
Her jumbled words certainly did sound a little odd. With a bent nose and slanted eyes and an appearance so ugly it was silly, her bloodied, tearstreaked face was almost funny to behold.
With tears still rolling down, she choked, "But, even then, I still…I still…"
Her breathing stopped, and she passed with those words. The bandaged boy saw that she had died and started to weep quietly while hugging her dead body. His face was buried in her belly, like he had lost his only pillar of support, and he didn't dare to raise his head no matter what.
As for Xie Lian, he reached out and helped close her eyes. He spoke to her mentally, You're stronger than me.
Right then, the sound of a bizarre bell tolled.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Three booming tolls, and all of a sudden Xie Lian felt his head go dizzy. He wondered out loud, "What's going on?"
Then he looked all around. All the brides had collapsed to the ground, only their arms still up and reaching toward the sky. The crowd of villagers had also slumped, as if they were all knocked out by the sound of the deafening bells. Xie Lian himself felt his head become rather heavy, and though he forced himself to stand with his hand supporting his forehead, his legs went weak and he fell with one knee to the ground. Fortunately, someone helped support him. When Xie Lian looked up, it was Nan Feng.
Turned out, the moment those seven brides entered the forest, they immediately spread out. Nan Feng had run all over almost the entirety of Mount Yujun before he managed to capture all of them, and had only just returned.
Seeing him quite calm, Xie Lian immediately asked, "What's with that bell?"
"Don't worry, it's reinforcements," Nan Feng replied.
Xie Lian looked over, following his gaze. Only then did he notice that, before the Temple of Ming Guang, a row of soldiers had appeared, standing there since who knew when.
These soldiers were outfitted in armor, emitting sharp and awe-inspiring auras, and their bodies were enveloped in a thin sheen of spiritual light. In front of the soldiers there stood a poised, elegant, and tall young military general, obviously not a mortal. That military general approached with his hands clasped behind his back and came before Xie Lian, bending
slightly at the waist, giving a quick bow.
"Your Highness."
Xie Lian hadn't yet opened his mouth to make inquiries before Nan Feng whispered next to him.
"This is General Pei."
Xie Lian instantly took a glance at Xuan Ji, who was on the ground. "General Pei?"
This General Pei didn't quite match what he had imagined and was also grossly different from the divine statues. That divine statue's heroic form was vivacious, its eyes spirited and energetic, with a handsomeness that was aggressive and invasive. While this young military general was also handsome, his complexion was pale, and his countenance was as calm
as cool jade. There was no sense of a murderous aura, only an unrippled tranquility. He was a military general, but he could also be said to be a tactician.
General Pei noticed Xuan Ji on the ground, and spoke: "The Palace of Ling Wen informed us that this incident at Mount Yujun might be related to our Palace of Ming Guang, and so this servant has come. I didn't expect that it really did have something to do with us. We have troubled Your Highness."
Xie Lian thanked Ling Wen mentally. He wondered, how in the world was the Palace of Ling Wen inefficient?
He replied, "General Pei is working hard too."
Xuan Ji, who was still vaguely struggling, heard the words "General Pei" and suddenly looked up. She demanded enthusiastically, "Pei dear, Pei dear! Is that you? Have you come? Have you finally come?!"
She was bound by Ruoye, and as overjoyed as she was, she could only rise into a kneel. Yet unexpectedly, her face immediately blanched the moment she saw that military general.
"Who are you?!"
On his end, Xie Lian had already given Nan Feng a general account of just what the ghost groom affair was about. When he heard her, he wondered, "Isn't this General Pei? Could she have waited for too long and doesn't recognize him anymore?"
"This is General Pei," Nan Feng answered. "But it's not the one she's waiting for."
Xie Lian was confused. "And there are two Generals Pei?"
Yet Nan Feng replied, "That's correct. There are indeed two of them!"
Turned out, the General Pei this female ghost Xuan Ji was waiting for was the main god of the Temple of Ming Guang. The one before them now was the deputy god of the Palace of Ming Guang, a descendant of the senior General Pei. In order to differentiate the two, everyone addressed this one
as "General Pei Junior." In legitimate Ming Guang temples, both must be worshipped, one facing the front and one facing the back. General Pei was the principal god of the main hall, so his divine statue faced the entrance of the temple hall, whereas General Pei Junior's divine statue was set up behind. While he was of a later generation than his ancestor, by looks they appeared no different than brothers. Two ascendees from one household was certainly considered a beautiful tale.
Xuan Ji scanned the area and didn't see the one she wanted to see among the soldiers either. She cried bitterly, "Where's Pei Ming? Why hasn't he come? Why won't he come and see me?"
General Pei Junior inclined his head and replied, "General Pei has important business to tend to."
Xuan Ji muttered, "Important business?"
Tears streamed beneath the long hair draping over her face. "I've waited for him for hundreds of years, what important business could he have? Back then, in order to see me, he would cross half the border in one night, so what important business could he have now? So important that he can't even come down to spare me a glance? Is there something important? I don't think there is!"
"General Xuan Ji, please be on your way," General Pei Junior said.
From the troop, two soldiers of the Palace of Ming Guang approached and pulled Ruoye from Xuan Ji's person. After it affectionately wrapped itself back around Xie Lian's wrist, he gently patted it twice to comfort it. Xuan Ji allowed herself to be grabbed by those two soldiers, briefly dazed before she suddenly started struggling with force, cursing while pointing to the heavens.
"Pei Ming! I curse you!"
This screech was sharp, and Xie Lian was taken aback, thinking to himself, Isn't this cursing the ancestor in front of the descendant?
General Pei Junior, however, didn't react at all. He said impassively, "Please excuse us."
Xuan Ji screamed until she went hoarse. "I CURSE YOU! You'd best never fall in love with anyone, otherwise if that day should come, I'll curse you to be just like me: to burn with the fire of love unceasingly, forever and ever! The fire of love will burn your body, scorch your heart and your insides!"
Right then, General Pei Junior greeted Xie Lian and the others,"Excuse us. Please wait a moment."
Then he raised his middle and index finger and lightly pressed them against his temple. This was the spell to activate the spiritual communication array, so he had to be communicating with someone. A moment later, he enn'd and dropped his hand, clasping it behind him again, and turned to Xuan Ji.
"General Pei wants me to tell you: 'That's impossible.'"
Xuan Ji screeched, "I curse you—!!!"
General Pei Junior waved his hand slightly and ordered, "Take heraway."
The two soldiers carried Xuan Ji, who was struggling like crazy, and dragged her off.
Xie Lian spoke up. "General Pei Junior, might I ask, how will Xuan Ji be handled?"
"Sealed under a mountain," General Pei Junior replied.
To use a mountain as a seal was certainly the usual way the Heavenly Realm dealt with monsters and ghosts. After a brief moment of hesitation, Xie Lian continued. "General Xuan Ji's resentment is quite strong; she couldn't let go of the hatred that stemmed from betraying her kingdom for General Pei. Perhaps sealing isn't the right long-term solution."
General Pei Junior, however, only inclined his head. "She said she betrayed her kingdom because of General Pei?"
"She certainly did say so," Xie Lian said. "And that it was because of General Pei that she became like this. Whether that's the truth, though, I don't know."
"If it must be said that way, it's not altogether wrong," General Pei Junior said. "She did betray her kingdom for General Pei. However, the details might be different from what bystanders might imagine. After she and General Pei separated, in order to keep him, General Xuan Ji offered up military intelligence of her own volition. General Pei was unwilling to win unfairly, so he didn't take the offer."
…Well now, he never expected that the whole "I betrayed my kingdom for you" thing was actually something like that.
Xie Lian replied, "Then when she said both her legs being broken was also because of General Pei, it was…?"
"She broke those legs herself," General Pei Junior answered.
…Broke them herself?
General Pei Junior replied emotionlessly, "General Pei doesn't like forceful women, but General Xuan Ji has a strong character, which was why they couldn't be together for long. General Xuan Ji couldn't accept it and told General Pei that she was willing to sacrifice for him and change herself. Thus, she ruined her own martial skills and broke her own legs.
"With that, she basically destroyed her own wings to tie herself to General Pei's side. General Pei didn't abandon her to her own devices and kept her around to take care of her, but he never intended to marry her. General Xuan Ji's wish was never fulfilled, and so she killed herself out of resentment. Not for anything else, but just so General Pei would be sad. However, pardon my bluntness…" The way he spoke had always been polite and overly calm. "…That would never happen."
Xie Lian rubbed his forehead and didn't speak, thinking to himself, Who the heck are these people?
General Pei Junior continued, "I don't know the right and wrong of all this either. I only know that if General Xuan Ji was willing to let go, things wouldn't have to be this way. Your Highness, I will take my leavenow."
Xie Lian also cupped his hands and sent them off.
Nan Feng commented, "Weirdos."
Xie Lian thought, he himself was the laughingstock of the three realms, an infamous weirdo, so he'd best not comment on anyone else. This was something between General Pei and Xuan Ji, so for bystanders, there was no point in discussing who was right or wrong. Their sympathies only went out to all seventeen of those innocent brides, and the military officials
and sedan drivers who escorted them but suffered a terrible fate for no reason.
Having brought up the subject of the brides, Xie Lian instantly turned his gaze to look and saw that the seventeen corpses of the brides had started to show various stages of deterioration. Some had already dissolved into white bones, while some were starting to rot, emitting waves of foul odor.
The stench roused the people lying on the ground and they gradually came to, but when they saw the scene, they jumped in shock and terror once more.
Xie Lian used this opportunity to nag at them to spread the philosophy of good and bad karma, advising them to pray a lot for each of the brides once they went back down the mountain, and to think of a way to contact the families of those brides to come and collect their corpses. He also cautioned that they must never commit the same deeds as those corpsesellers, and they shouldn't commit any wrongdoings either. After such a thrilling night, and with the lead instigator gone, no one else dared to speak against Xie Lian. They each acknowledged him apprehensively, all of them feeling like they'd just had a nightmare. Only then did they realize they had acted as if possessed. Why were their minds filled only with money when there were so many dead people around? Thinking back, they all found it horrifying. The night before, everyone was doing the same thing, relying on
the fact that their numbers were great and they had a leader, and they all rushed in without thinking. Now that they harbored fear in their minds, they very earnestly repented and prayed for blessings.
The day hadn't yet broken. Fearing that there might be wolves and others stirring up trouble, even though Nan Feng had just run a huge circlearound the whole mountain, he now had to lead this large group of people back down. He didn't complain, however, and arranged with Xie Lian to discuss afterward what was to be done with that Forest of Upside-Down Corpses.
When the bandaged boy woke up, he sat next to Xiao-Ying's corpse once more, hugging her, not saying a word. And so, Xie Lian also sat down next to him. He spent a while coming up with a script, but just as he was about to speak to comfort him, Xie Lian suddenly noticed that the boy's head was bleeding.
If it was blood from the Corpse Forest then it would've dried, but this blood was still dripping, so it could only be from an injury.
Right then, Xie Lian told him, "Your head is wounded, take off your bandages and let me have a look."
That boy slowly looked up, and those bloodshot eyes glanced at him like he was scared and hesitant. Xie Lian smiled gently.
"Don't be afraid. If there's a wound, then it must be dressed. I promise I won't be scared off by you."
The boy hesitated for a moment, then turned around, and circle by circle he slowly unwrapped the bandages. His movements were very slow, but Xie Lian waited for him patiently and was already pondering the issues that would come after.
This boy for sure can't stay on Mount Yujun anymore, but where can he go? He can't come back to the heavens with me, and I don't even know where my next meal is coming from. I'll have to think of a reliable way to settle him. And the Green Ghost, Qi Rong…
Just then, the boy finished removing the bandages and turned around.
And just as Xie Lian saw that face in its entirety, he felt like all the blood in his veins had drained completely.