In Wuming Demon Mountain,
Hua Qiuyuan suddenly felt the cold poison inside his body jolt sharply, and he could clearly sense that the Crystal Orchid poison had disappeared with it.
"This feeling is..." Hua Qiuyuan said in confusion. He tried to summon the demonic power in his hand, but there was no trace of cold left in either his body or his palm.
"The Crystal Orchid poison is gone,"
"Commander, a secret report from the shadow guards."
Hua Qiuyuan took the secret report and glanced at its contents. His eyes trembled uncontrollably, his pupils shrank, and for a moment he forgot how to breathe. He stood there in a daze as the report slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
The front gates of Nangzhe's residence were still decorated in a strange and vivid red. Only, the original wedding character had been torn away and replaced with another word.
"I heard the new bride was killed by an assassin before the wedding chamber was even entered,"
"Anyone who would dare attack Lord Nangzhe's bride must have lost their mind. They must be tired of living."
"Probably someone seeking revenge. They could not kill Lord Nangzhe, so they killed his new bride to vent their hatred."
In the dungeon behind Nangzhe's residence, Mie Xingzhe was kneeling upright on the ground. His hands were bound in chains and suspended behind him, forcing his body to lean forward. His face and body were covered in wounds, and two golden magic spikes in his shoulders glowed faintly with purple light. Even the slightest movement made the spikes twist deeper into his flesh. The fresh blood on both sides of his knees showed the pain he was enduring every moment.
The dungeon door opened, and Nangzhe walked in with a cold and shadowed expression.
Enduring the pain in his spine, Mie Xingzhe struggled to lift his head and look at Nangzhe. Though he was exhausted beyond measure, there was still a thin trace of consciousness left in his eyes.
"Do you like it? This is called the soul-pinning spike. I had it specially prepared for you. No matter how powerful a golden core is, once these soul-pinning spikes are driven in, it cannot use even the slightest bit of strength. You have seen it for yourself. The floating light golden seal cannot protect you every moment of every day. Once its power is exhausted and it falls dormant, that is when I will take your dog life. Enjoy this last stretch of time. Very soon you will understand that this is the most comfortable you will ever feel again." The ghost guard behind him set down a grand chair, and Nangzhe lifted his robes and sat before Mie Xingzhe.
"You... who are you, really?"
"Who I am is none of your concern. But who you are, I know very clearly."
"You... you killed... her" Mie Xingzhe had just begun to speak when the blood in his mouth choked him, and no sound came out.
"Mie Xingzhe, you should understand. If not for you, none of this would have happened." Nangzhe suddenly rose, stepped behind him, and yanked his hair downward, forcing Mie Xingzhe's head high into the air.
"If you have the guts... then kill me!" Mie Xingzhe said.
"Kill you? Do you think I do not know? With the floating light golden seal guarding your body, unless your golden core is shattered, even if you want to die, you cannot. But I have a much more interesting way to play with you. The golden core inside you is a treasure the world has never seen. It would be such a waste to throw it away." Nangzhe patted Mie Xingzhe's cheek in a gesture that was almost insulting, smiling lightly as he spoke.
"I have heard that the floating light golden seal can choose its master. If it is simply ripped out by force, what you get is only an ordinary inner core. The host must willingly give it up from the bottom of his heart before another person can truly obtain it. I want to see how long it takes before you willingly give up that golden core." Nangzhe laughed softly.
"You... dream on."
"A dream? I never dream. But I can give you one. 'Beneath blooming branches, thorns still hide. In the human heart, poison is never far away.' My heart-hidden flower poison suits you perfectly. This poison can drag out all the most shameful, painful things buried deepest in your heart, all the things you fear most and most want to forget, and make them grow without end before your eyes." As he spoke, Nangzhe slowly twisted one of the soul-pinning spikes in Mie Xingzhe's shoulder, then forced his mouth open and shoved the poison inside.
"Just... a nightmare. Do you really think... I would be afraid?" Mie Xingzhe was thrown hard to the ground. He gasped for breath a few times, then spoke with fierce resolve.
"Of course not. But in my dream, you will not only see and hear it. The people inside it will be able to touch you as well. I wonder who will have the honor of meeting you there. Will it be Yun Qingyi, whom you caused to die? Or my bride who never became my bride? Or Li Luoning, the one waiting to make you pay with your life? Enjoy it well. I told you already. This is your last comfortable moment." Nangzhe abruptly pulled the soul-pinning spike from Mie Xingzhe's left shoulder and tossed it aside, delight shining in his eyes as he watched the hot blood spray out before him.
Mie Xingzhe only felt dizzy. The things before him slowly blurred, then everything went black, and after that he knew nothing more.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Hua Qiuyuan rushed into the demon lord's hall, stumbling in his panic.
"Qiuyuan? Why are you in such a panic? What happened?" This was the first time Shentu Zhuojia had ever seen Hua Qiuyuan so shaken.
Hua Qiuyuan handed over the secret report with trembling hands. After reading it, Shentu Zhuojia's face also showed deep shock.
"Go!"
At dawn in Pingyan Land, the streets were eerily deserted. A wicked gust of wind swept fallen leaves into spinning circles across the ground, while from far off came the scattered sounds of people opening their shops for the day.
"Immortal Master Xiaoyi, Pingyan Land may not be large, but trying to find Yun Wannian in this endless sea of people is no easy task," Qingyuan said worriedly.
Li Luoning had just opened his mouth to reply when he suddenly heard a quarrel nearby.
"The wedding feast at Lord Nangzhe's turned into a funeral feast. The congratulatory red robe I prepared did not even get worn, and I still lost more than ten wen on it," a woman complained to the cloth shop owner, holding up the red garment in her hand.
"I am sorry, but the rule was clearly written when you bought it. No returns. Whether you wore it or not, I do not know, but I cannot refund the money," the cloth shop owner said.
"A wedding feast turned funeral feast? What kind of unlucky person could end up in something like that?" Jiagu Qing caught the meaning at once. Curious, he stepped forward, wanting to hear more.
"Hey there, pretty demon lady," Jiagu Qing said, leaning lazily against the doorway of the cloth shop with a blade of grass between his teeth, his tone almost teasing. "That red robe looks quite lovely on you. Why do you not want it anymore?"
"Because on the day of Lord Nangzhe's feast, anyone dressed in red and bright colors was supposed to receive money. That is why I bought it. Who would have thought the new bride would be killed by an assassin before I even went? The wedding feast became a funeral feast, so of course I have no use for this robe now. And in the end I did not even get any money."
"Nangzhe's new bride?"
"Exactly. I heard the new bride was a poison master sent to Lord Nangzhe by the demon lord. She stayed in the residence for some time, and then suddenly it was announced there would be a wedding. Becoming Lord Nangzhe's wife would be a blessing built up over eight lifetimes. We little demons were all hoping to curry favor while he was in a good mood and get some benefits from it. But look what happened. We got nothing, and now who knows what madness Lord Nangzhe will sink into next."
Li Luoning said gently, "Do you know the name of the poison master who was to be married?"
"Oh, that I do not know. I think I heard she was called Ruoying. On the day of the feast the whole Nangzhe residence was in chaos. I heard someone came to seize the bride, and then somehow a fight broke out. There was a terrible amount of screaming in the courtyard. That was the only name I caught. As for her surname, I have no idea,"
"Seize the bride? I thought you said it was an assassin," the cloth shop owner cut in.
"It was clearly someone coming to steal the bride. I was so close , I hear..."
Eagerly discussing the affair at Nangzhe's residence, while Li Luoning and the other two quietly walked away.
"If I am right, the woman Nangzhe was marrying was Hua Ruoying."
"Hua Ruoying? That name sounds like a beauty already. But what does that have to do with your little golden-core disciple?" Jiagu Qing.
"Nian and Miss Ruoying..."
"All right. I understand.Your little disciple was the one who came to steal the bride that day, was he not?"
"If the new bride truly was Miss Ruoying, then knowing the two of them as I do, something like a bride stealing may very well have happened,"
"I get it. Your little golden core failed to steal the bride and got himself caught instead. That is the whole story, more or less. That child, I told him already not to make trouble and not to use spells recklessly, but he would not listen. Now look at him. He has been taken by them." Jiagu Qing shook his head helplessly.
Li Luoning turned as though about to say more.
"Stop right there. Do not expect me to come rescue that little golden core with you. I refuse to lose face over something like this." Jiagu Qing flatly refused.
"This one wishes to ask Senior and War God Qingyuan to return with me to Liao Yin Immortal Realm. With senior's standing, the Immortal Sovereign will surely not make things too difficult for that master and disciple."
"Well now... five jars." Jiagu Qing spread five fingers before Li Luoning.
"Deal." Li Luoning smiled and nodded.
"Deal." Jiagu Qing happily made him confirm it once more, then turned and called to Qingyuan beside him, "Hey you,let us go."
Qingyuan only pointed at himself in confusion. Seeing Jiagu Qing twist his head for him to follow, he helplessly went after him.
Watching the two of them leave, Li Luoning's expression slowly grew grave. Then he turned and walked toward Nangzhe's residence.
In the dungeon, the heart-hidden flower poison inside Mie Xingzhe had already begun to take effect.
"Yun Wannian, give me back my life!" Yun Qingyi, blood at the corners of his mouth and deathly pale, gripped Mie Xingzhe's throat and snarled at him viciously.
"You murdered your own elder brother and killed your fellow disciple. You faithless traitor!"
Though it was only a dream, the sensation was so real that Mie Xingzhe truly could not breathe. He clawed desperately at his own throat, his fingernails dragging bloody marks across his pale skin.
Just as he felt he was about to faint from suffocation, Yun Qingyi suddenly vanished. Mie Xingzhe collapsed weakly to the ground, coughing and gasping for air.
All around him was complete darkness, not a trace of light. The ground sometimes rippled like water, but there was no coldness to touch. A pair of feet in ragged cloth shoes appeared before him.
"Grandpa"
Mie Xingzhe slowly lifted his head. When he saw the old man who had once raised him, all his hidden grievances rushed up at once and made his eyes burn red.
"Ah...!"
Before Mie Xingzhe could understand what was happening, Old Man Mie drove a thin wooden stick violently into his ankle.
"You unfilial brat! You did not even prepare a coffin for me."
As he spoke, he twisted the stick with all his strength. His bony old hands looked terrifying. His furious eyes were now nothing but two hollow pits, and beneath the tattered clothes on his body, white bone could faintly be seen.
"Grandpa, do not, it hurts, I am hurts," Mie Xingzhe cried and begged.
Old Man Mie had been the person closest to him, but the corpse in the ruined temple all those years ago had also been the most terrible nightmare of his childhood. He had been too young then to move the old man's body. All he could do was watch it rot away in one corner of the ruined temple until only white bones remained.
Not long after, Old Man Mie's figure vanished too.
Mie Xingzhe had barely time to catch his breath before he saw a man around thirty years old, dressed in rich robes and bearing the air of a wealthy man. In his arms he held an infant, and beside him stood a handsome boy in the flush of youth.
Both of them were staring at Mie Xingzhe with expressions so strange they made the skin crawl.
The moment he saw the boy, Mie Xingzhe recognized him. It was the young Yun Qingyi.
"If that person is Qingyi-ge, then the other one must be... Father." Mie Xingzhe stared at the father and son in disbelief. He had never imagined that his birth father would be such a wealthy and distinguished man.
But before Mie Xingzhe could think further, the expressions on their faces turned even stranger, enough to send a chill up his spine.
"A useless thing with no spiritual power does not deserve to be my child," the man said. His voice was like the echo from a frozen, dead well, utterly cold and merciless.
"Father, is not one son in the house enough already? Just throw that useless thing away." The young Yun Qingyi's face too was cold as deep winter water. He glanced at Mie Xingzhe as he spoke.
Mie Xingzhe's pupils widened at once, horror filling his eyes, as he watched the two of them lift the baby high in the air and hurl it down.
"No, no, do not do this!" It felt as though something had stabbed straight through his heart. He instinctively ran forward, trying to catch the child, but his legs seemed to lose all bone, and he stumbled hard to the ground.
Li Luoning had already arrived at the gate of Nangzhe's residence.
"To force my way in would not be wise. Though I once met Nangzhe under the name Piaochchen, I never had any grievance with him. Better to come openly and properly, on the pretext of offering condolences. If I enter in full view of everyone, with Nangzhe's temperament, he should not attack me directly at once." With that thought, he looked down at his own appearance, used a spell to change his hair into a tied-up crown, and then stepped through Nangzhe's gate.
"Who goes there?" The moment Li Luoning stepped into the courtyard, a ghost guard blocked his way.
"I must trouble the guard to announce me. This one is Piaochchen, here to seek an audience with Lord Nangzhe," Li Luoning said with an easy smile.
"My lord is in mourning today and will see no one. Get out, get out, get out!" the ghost guard barked. As he spoke, he raised the long staff in his hands, clearly intending to drive Li Luoning out by force.
"Since when does a witless beast like you have the right to interfere in my affairs?"
Nangzhe's voice came from not far away. The next instant there was a crisp crack from the ghost guard's lower leg. He cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground.