14. marrying her

---in town---

"Sister in law, you'll deal with that case by yourself and I'll be with disciple Yufeng, while disciples Zhenyi and Ke La will figure out more cases through village to village and inform us. If nothing goes wrong, we will meet here by midnight. You all got it? In case anything happens your teacher and me will find out by the firework signal."

Teacher Xiao Xiao, Yufeng, Ke La and general Xie Hun were on a misson together in a different location from other teams. Only few well trained disciples were chosen accompanied with their skilled teacher.

Xiao Xiao had her disguise on, she had her jet black hair turn into pure white, her face scars temporarily fading with the help of a spell.

On the other hand Xie Hun, a well known general throughout the land, had to somehow entirely put himself in a disguise so he chose to be in his teen form. Fresh and innocently clean, almost unrecognizable. Compeletely different from the full of cuts and scars adult, who has been fighting for his life in wardaily.

They all went their separate ways, Xiao Xiao being the oldest and with the most experience of dealing with corrupted demonic spirits, obviously had to go on a more dangerous life-death mission compared to the other two missions of her companions.

"I've been keeping a marine spirit in my house for 10 years already, everything went so well so how could he suddenly become like that?

I hope I wasn't too harsh on him, I understood that was uncalled for...will he despise me even more now?

He's obviously not like the other corrupted demons, but it's not impossible for him to turn into one, especially with what he's done today.

Tasting and feasting on human flesh is the first step into triggering the inner beast, once you start there's no way turning back...

Although this child's father was a human therefore his son shouldn't turn out as dangerous as fullbred merfolks would, now wouldn't he?  It's still the beginning, it's not too late to have him back to normal-"

Xiao Xiao shakes her head, trying to focus.

"Forget it, I shouldn't think about this right now. There are other corrupted demons that should be dealt with at the moment."

Xiao Xiao tries to stop worrying as she travelled to her destination.

Not long after, in the middle of nowhere, strangely in front her appeared an inn.

"This place reeks of dark corrupted energy, I must have come to the right place."

Just as Xiao Xiao was preparing her divine weapon to burn this whole place down and get this over with quickly, an unexpected presence appears, opening up the door and greeting her.

"Finally! You've arrived! We've seriously waited so long for you. Just what on earth took you so long? Where were you?"

A young girl goes up to Xiao Xiao, hugging her.

What?

She's acting as if she knows me, she must be mistaken. Or is she faking? Should I just strike or- no that would be too risky...

This one definitely isn't human, her body was as hard as stone when she hugged me. Never mind, I might have to play along and find the correct timing to plan an ambush.

"Come in quickly, your groom is already waiting for you. We have to get you dolled up quickly!"

What the...a groom?

Could it be Xie Hun had come here before me? As far as I know he's the only one who has the information! So that must mean- Is he playing along too? He must have.

Xiao Xiao deeply analyzed as they dragged her along. Weirdly it made her relaxed knowing Xie Hun was here so she's not all alone, and that they'll deal with this together.

Just as I thought, this is a wedding banquet.

I definitely don't sense a normal human being, seems like all of them must be lost demons, at most dead souls floating around.

Crap, this is creepy but am I going to be the bride in this depraved demonic residence?

Xiao Xiao carefully looked around, when the girl talks she only kept silent to which the demon didn't have a problem with.

Xiao Xiao occasionally smiles as a response.

She was looking innocent for them not to suspect her as they proceeded to dress her up and do her wedding make up.

"Now we shall cut some of your hair into a knot and keep it wrapped in a small pouch for you to later exchange with your soon to be spouse."

The girl styles the jade rabbit's hair, placing golden flower shaped hairpins here and there complimenting with a huge shiny headcrown.

"I've already done that, so there's no need to bother you even further."

Xiao Xiao claims, bringing out the pouch from her sleeves to show the demon.

Good thing this low class corrupted demon isn't very smart because I prepared beforeband. If she cuts my hair and sees that they're not originally white, I will be in trouble!

Xiao Xiao heaved a sigh of relief, though she kept her face firm and confident.

Joining of Hair was their traditional culture, one's hair represents one's self. At a traditional wedding, the bride and the groom both cut a lock of their hair which is then tied in a knot and put in a bag to keep.

This small ritual towards the end of the wedding signifies the tying of the knot and becoming one in flesh and blood to live happily-ever-after

Once make up and hair, wedding dress all set up it was time to go through the ceremony.

The demon girl held her excitingly as they both walked out of the room to go through the red carpet. Soon meeting the officiant who supposedly will announce their wedding.

Right, and where exactly is my fake 'groom'?

I don't sense Xie Hun's presence!

Xiao Xiao worried, she had her face covered with a veil thick enough for her to not be able to see the front but only the bottom.

While she steadily walked, she began realizing that this mission doesn't seem as easy as she thought it would, there's no normal human being around here nor was there guests. It was only the staff and the officiant.

It seems like these corrupted demons target forbidden lovers, who want to easily escape to an isolated inn to wed each one other. Without a single guest nor without their parents acknowledgement and blessing.

Only the two of them in a completely private banquet. The night of their wedding is the night of their disappearance, parents not realizing that they were eaten to the bone, thinking that the lovers escaped far away.

I get it, that's a smart way to trick all these people.

Xiao Xiao theorized to herself, stopping to soon meet her groom.

It's making me nervous now that I can be sure that it's not Xie Hun that's playing along, what if this one's a real corrupted demonic spirit that's marrying himself off to me!? It would not be easy to get rid of him...

She fidgeted a little, feeling a man's sudden presence in front of her as well as seeing his feet through the open gap of her red veil.

No, I have to be confident, I won't mess this up!

"Judging by the figure of her body when she walked, now I don't have a doubt that this is teacher Xiao!"

The man on the other side thought inside with a relief, examining her body closely through the covered face of hers.

Before entering the bridal chambers, the bride and groom exchange nuptial cups and perform the following ceremonial bows,

first bow - Heaven and Earth

second bow - ancestors

third bow - parents

fourth bow - spouse

"My congratulations! Now the both of you are spouses, husband and wife! The ceremony is complete! Now as the final you may exchange your hair knots."

Xiao Xiao and this mysterious man followed all the instructions as they were supposed to in silence, as said at the moment exchanging their pouch of hair knot.

Nothing of the sort of negative energy is flowing out of him, just who might this person be!?

She wondered inside while her hands meets his, who flinched at the sudden skinship before proceeding nervously.

What, never touched a middle aged woman before? You seem awfully tense and timid for a man that's a demonic spirit marrying a jade rabbit human like me before feasting on her!

Xiao Xiao refers to herself, compaining inside. The rabbit failed to see his hand lest she would have at least, a little, make a guess on how this person might turn out to be.

"Now we may escort you to your honored bridal chambers!"

I am not planning on sleeping with this man so I'll just start off with slaying him first once we get there. When the two of us are completely alone, without anyone knowing.

Or so she thought, because apparently these little demons had other plans.

"JUST WHEN ARE YOU CORRUPTED DEMONS LEAVING ALREADY!???"

she innerly yells, getting stressed. Xiao Xiao knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but not to this extent!

Yes, corrupted demons think diffently than normal human beings, they have their own icky nature so did they plan to watch the bride and the groom till the very end!???

You're making it so hard to plan a murder!!

That girl and the officiant dared to accompany them all the way to the inside and had the audacity to just stand there watching and waiting!

I can't question them, I can't, I can't-

Oh, I have to act like I knew this was gonna happen hence I signed up for this!

"You may now lift up the veil of your spouse."

I don't need you to freaking tell us that!!!

She spat at this outrageous tradition, on the other hand anticipating to see who she got paired up with.

Who's this lucky guy to die in the hands of mommy?

While the sweaty hands of the man slowly lifted the red veil up, nervously shaking, Xiao Xiao hoped this wasn't real.

Lucky indeed. So freaking lucky.

"!!!!!!!!"

Her jaw dropped, mouth hanging agape. Thankfully mind clear enough not to scream out the name she feared most at the moment.

WANG YI!?????

And the boy gasped in delight, as if seeing his bride all beautiful and dolled up for the first time. What a great actor indeed. Later he just kept a fake warm smile on with a hint of fear, that was only noticeable to her eyes.

"Wife, you're stunning."

Good thing the veil was thick enough for the corrupted not to see her reaction, it was as though Wang Yi on purpose hid the side of her face so they wouldn't see her deadpanned face. At least he was trying to make this realistic, right?

It was called for.

Then he gently holds her hand as he stares at her closely, who in response gave him an expession of mixed feelings between death threat and surprise.

Her mouth moving yet no words were coming oit but the teen knew very well what she was trying to pronouce.