Chapter 187: Breaking the Deadlock |
Wei Yuan’s consciousness plunged into darkness. Then, he opened his eyes again.
He stared at the relief carving on the ceiling while trying very hard to recall the face hidden beneath the veil. But he couldn’t remember. It was as if there was a blank spot in his memory.
He squeezed the quilt; it was damp. His hands must be covered in blood again. The kitchen knife was nowhere to be found; he couldn’t locate it despite searching for a long time. However, Wei Yuan suddenly noticed that a kitchen knife had appeared on the table depicted in the relief carving.
“Husband, you’re awake.”
Hearing the voice, Wei Yuan immediately got out of bed—he was moving much faster than he had the previous times.
The previous times?
Wei Yuan cast aside his slight confusion and immediately stepped before the bride. Only then did he notice that her bright red wedding gown was embroidered with something—it appeared to be two divine beasts, though certainly not phoenixes.
Her hands were very pale and slender. Wei Yuan had been observing them for quite some time. Subconsciously sensing that there was still some time before the next words would be spoken, he took the bride’s hand and turned it palm up.
Her hand was very white, soft, and smooth. Her palm felt pleasantly puffy and supple. It felt indescribably comfortable to hold, and Wei Yuan couldn’t resist touching it a little longer.
That was a little sooner than expected….
A thin veil was drawn over Wei Yuan’s consciousness. Still holding the bride’s hand with one hand, he lifted her veil with the other.
It was Xu Wenwu.
Wei Yuan’s vision went dark.
……
“Husband, are you awake?”
Her voice was still sweet, but Wei Yuan’s heart was as still as water. He leaped straight off the bed, stepped past the bride, and walked toward the space behind her.
“Husband, it’s getting late….”
This time, the bride spoke so quickly her voice turned into a shriek. However, it was precisely those words that cast a veil over Wei Yuan’s consciousness.
He circled back to face the bride, glancing first at her hand. Suddenly, his gaze froze: the bride’s hand was gone, and from beneath the sleeve, he could faintly make out the bloody stump of a severed wrist.
Wei Yuan lifted the veil and saw a sweet, delicate face—but at the moment, it was contorted with pain.
It was Hsu Yi.
Two streams of blood suddenly flowed from her eyes!
Wei Yuan’s vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
……
Wei Yuan gazed silently at the relief carving. Among the seven brides on the table, one was headless, and another had no hands. She was resting her severed wrists on the table, and blood was continuously spreading across its surface.
Wei Yuan felt that he was weakening bit by bit, as if he had repeated the same action too many times—hollow and tedious.
“Husband, are you awake?”
Wei Yuan had been waiting for those words. He rolled off the bed and yanked the bride’s veil off in one swift motion!
Yun Feifei.
“Husband, it’s…”
Wei Yuan quickly lowered the veil, then lifted it again.
Cui Yu?
“... getting late…”
Wei Yuan lowered the veil, then lifted it again.
Xiao Yu.
Wei Yuan lowered the veil, then lifted it again.
Xu Wan’er.
“... we should…” The bride’s voice had long since sped up to a shriek, yet it still couldn’t keep up with Wei Yuan’s movements. He lifted the veil once more.
Sun Yu???
Sun Yu opened his mouth and blew a stream of black smoke into Wei Yuan’s face, causing his vision to go dark.
Just before his consciousness faded, Wei Yuan finally realized just how terrifying his Senior Uncle’s poison was.
……
“Husband….”
Wei Yuan leaped to his feet, appearing instantly before the bride.Then, he froze.
The bride had three sets of arms, and all six of her tiny hands were clutching the veil tightly. Though each hand looked pale, thin, and small, Wei Yuan’s instincts told him that there was no way he was prying the veil from those six hands.
But that was fine. Wei Yuan grabbed the hem of the bride’s wedding gown with lightning speed and tore it apart with all his might!
The gown was surprisingly fragile; the entire garment had been torn into two pieces in an instant!
The body beneath the gown was fair and well-proportioned. Her skin looked smooth and delicate as well. However, it was also devoid of any distinctive features. It looked as if a painter had just finished applying the base color, but hadn’t yet had the time to add the details.
So that’s how it is….
Wei Yuan didn’t lift the veil. Instead, he walked around the bride and tried to get behind her. But just then, the bride spoke up, “Husband, it’s getting late….”
Wei Yuan reached out, and all thirty of the bride’s little fingers immediately tightened around the veil. He didn’t lift the veil, though. Instead, he covered her mouth through the veil and silenced the rest of her words.
Suddenly, Wei Yuan felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. When he looked down, he saw that another pair of arms had sprouted from the bride’s body. Those tiny, pale hands were clutching a kitchen knife, which had been plunged into Wei Yuan’s abdomen. The knife was covered in blood and was notched in many places—it was none other than the one that had been lying on the table.
I let my guard down… Wei Yuan’s consciousness plunged back into darkness.
……
Wei Yuan opened his eyes once more.
Again, he felt himself growing a little weaker. At this rate, sooner or later, he would run out of life force and die in this eerie place.
Yet Wei Yuan’s consciousness remained veiled, and his thoughts were still hazy. He couldn’t calculate how many more times he would wake up before his life was spent. Was it eight hundred times?
The relief carvings on the bed canopy held nothing new, but there was more blood on the kitchen knife on the table. The hand of the bride in the center, gripping the knife, was also stained with blood, no longer pale and clean. The hands of the bride with the severed wrists were also still lying on the table; the blood nearly covering half the tabletop at this point.
Wei Yuan counted them. Aside from the bride holding the knife, there were five other brides whose hands were intact.
“Husband…” The bride with six hands clutching her veil suddenly saw Wei Yuan appearing before her and quickly changed her line, “It’s getting late….”
Wei Yuan neither lifted the veil nor tore the wedding gown. Instead, he stroked each of the six small hands.
“... we should rest now.” As those words left her mouth, the bride’s six hands were reduced to just two. She sat there serenely.
Wei Yuan lifted the veil and saw Xiao Yu.
Before he lost consciousness, Wei Yuan was still wondering: How did he only just appear? Is it his problem, or mine?
……
The moment Wei Yuan opened his eyes, he looked at the relief carvings on the bed canopy. Sure enough, he saw that all four brides were now missing their hands; their severed wrists resting on the table and continuously oozing blood.
Wei Yuan felt that this time, there might be a pleasant surprise—though he didn’t know it would be a pleasant surprise for him, or for the bride.
He lay there pondering for a moment before finally hearing the words, “Husband, you’re awake.”
Wei Yuan took a step toward the bride with six hands and saw that only one pair was clutching the veil. The other four arms were nothing but stumps, blood gushing out of the wound and staining the wedding gown an even deeper crimson.
If it was just one pair of hands, he should be able to lift—wait, no, there was another pair….
Wei Yuan didn’t immediately lift the veil. Instead, he patiently waited for the bride to speak her next line, running his fingers all over her hands as he waited.
Finally, the bride completed the routine, and Wei Yuan lifted the veil.
Fen Hai???
What Wei Yuan received wasn’t a pleasant surprise, but a terrifying shock.
……
Wei Yuan opened his eyes.
All six brides in the relief carving were missing their hands, leaving only the last one clutching a kitchen knife. The ghostly creatures were carrying a tray and intending to place it on the table. The tray was filled with severed hands.
“Husband, you’re awake.”
Wei Yuan stood before her, neither too close nor too far away. It was a distance that allowed her to speak the rest of her words slowly instead of shrieking in panic.
The bride with six arms was clutching her veil with two hands; the other four were severed stumps.
She shouldn’t be able to hold a knife now, right?
Wei Yuan tore open her wedding gown but found no kitchen knife. The bride extended her fourth pair of arms and stabbed futilely at Wei Yuan with her stumps, causing no harm. Still, the kitchen knife was nowhere to be found.
However, a kitchen knife was hardly the only thing that could serve as a weapon. This time, Wei Yuan had prepared more than enough pleasant surprises for the bride, whereas the bride only had two hands.
Wei Yuan tied a knot in the torn wedding gown, then removed his wedding robe and tied it to the end as well. Now, it was long enough. With a powerful swing, the tied-up wedding outfits lashed out like a whip, snagging the candle holder on the table before snapping back.
Wei Yuan casually pulled out the candles and, sure enough, saw sharp spikes on the candle holders. Since he did not step over to the bride, he didn’t trigger her screams.
Wei Yuan watched the burning candle flames, feeling as though he had overlooked something. Suddenly, he reached his hand into the flames!
The flames flared up, but they weren’t very hot. There was a scent within them that felt strangely familiar to Wei Yuan, so he felt around. As expected, he grasped something and slowly pulled a burning immortal sword from the flames.
The bride suddenly shrieked, “... We should rest.”
Wei Yuan lifted the veil, and sure enough, there was a pleasant surprise.
It was Immortal Lord Tinghai.
There was a loud crack, and Wei Yuan’s consciousness… did not plunge into darkness. Instead, it was the room that fell into darkness before shattering into countless fragments.
Wei Yuan’s surroundings had completely changed. The bridal chamber was completely gone, leaving behind only a desolate, twisted landscape. He was standing crumbling ruins, and there was a platform made of piled-up earth behind him. Judging by its position, it was the bed where he had awakened from time and again.
A humanoid body was lying before Wei Yuan. Its skin was pale, and its whole body lacked any distinguishing features. Its face was a blank canvas. There was a massive gash running across its abdomen, nearly splitting the body in two.
Several ghostly creatures were frantically hoisting the body. When they saw Wei Yuan looking their way, they immediately flew into a panic, shrieking and scattering in all directions.
Not far away, Wei Yuan spotted a pile of pale bodies. All of them mangled beyond recognition.
Wei Yuan looked down at his hand, still clutching a flaming immortal sword. Though the Immortal Sword Fake Sun wasn’t particularly powerful, it seemed to possess extraordinary potency in this eerie world. The thin veil shrouding his consciousness was being ignited and consumed by the sword’s flames.
Suddenly, a slender figure emerged from the darkness ahead of Wei Yuan. It was a woman dressed in a long black-and-purple gown. Glaring at Wei Yuan with fury, she shouted, “Scum! Shameless! Lecher! Disgusting!”
Wei Yuan stood motionless, waiting until she had finished her tirade.
After hurling every vile insult she could think of at Wei Yuan, the woman finally calmed down a bit and said, “You’ve passed my test. Now you’ve earned the right to speak with me.”
Wei Yuan asked in puzzlement, “Weren’t you the one who had no choice but to show yourself and negotiate because you couldn’t handle me?”
The woman clenched her teeth and growled, “It would’ve been better if you hadn’t been born with that mouth.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
The woman’s chest heaved violently, clearly on the verge of losing her temper and lashing out. However, after a moment of heavy breathing, she ultimately managed to suppress her anger. Several ghostly creatures carried a chair over, and she sat down gracefully. She began, “This is the realm of Coldbelow. My name is Dream Eater. Your primordial spirit is in this realm at the moment, but your physical body remains in your original world. What you had just experienced is the opening scenario of a dream I created called: Ghost Bride. In my scenario, when you lift the veil, the bride you see is the person you most want to spend the rest of your life with. Do you understand now why I’m cursing you? I’ve dealt with plenty of humans, but I’ve never encountered anyone like you where the bride is different in every iteration! Disgusting!”
It was only now Wei Yuan realized why he had been scolded. After all, what he had seen beneath the veil wasn’t just bizarre—it was downright terrifying.
Wei Yuan asked, “You’re saying that the brides I saw are the people I want to spend the rest of my life with?”
“Of course.”
Wei Yuan replied seriously, “I think you’re full of it.”
Dream Eater practically leaped to her feet, knocking over her chair in the process. She snapped through gritted teeth, “I am the mighty Dream Eater! Countless powerful Shadow Warlocks fear me like the tiger and beg the Ancestor Warlock to protect them from running into me. Do you really think I’d waste my time bragging to a little human like you, whose Dao Foundation hasn’t even fully matured?!”
Wei Yuan replied seriously, “I think you would.”
Dream Eater nearly succumbed to the impulse of lashing out again, but after a moment’s thought, she held back—though it was clearly a struggle. She gritted her teeth and said, “I don’t want to waste my breath on you. I’m going to get down to business now, so you’d better listen carefully! Do you want to get revenge on the Shadow Warlock who captured you?”
Wei Yuan shook his head.
