Volume 1 Chapter 8 - A demon climbs into the palanquin for the Crown Prince's hand and heart. Part Three

Should he extend his hand or refuse?

Without giving any sign, Xie Lian was still pondering whether he should continue to sit motionless on the spot, or whether he should pretend to be a bewildered bride and withdraw fearfully. However, the owner of the outstretched hand turned out to be remarkably patient as well as well-mannered. Xie Lian did not move. The stranger also remained motionless, as if waiting for his response.

After a while, after giving in to a spontaneous instinct, Xie Lian extended his hand.

As the prince rose to pull back the curtain and get out of the palanquin, the stranger, ahead of him, lifted the red canopy and took Xie Lian's hand, but not too firmly, as if he was afraid of hurting him, creating a sense of extreme caution.

Xie Lian lowered his head and slowly climbed out of the palanquin, leaning on the stranger's hand. Seeing with the corner of his eye the sprawled corpse of a wolf strangled by Zhoe under his feet, the prince thought of something, lightly hooked his foot on the dead body and started to fall forward with a surprised sigh.

The stranger immediately put up his other hand, preventing him from falling.

Accepting the help, Xie Lian also grasped the hand with his free palm, feeling something cold like ice. This something turned out to be the silver wristbands encompassing the stranger's hands.

They were engraved with maple leaves, butterflies, and the mouths of wild beasts. All this left a certain mystical feeling and the realisation that the cuffs did not resemble the craftsmanship of the craftsmen of the central plain. Rather, they resembled the ancient heritage of other peoples. On the stranger's hands, the cuffs looked graceful and neat.

The cold silver, pale skin of the hands, without a single hint of the breath of life, even on the contrary, brought a slight sense of menace and an elusive dark essence.

Xie Lian deliberately pretended to fall down, about to test the stranger. Zhaoye's ribbon was still gently curling around his wrist, hidden by the wide sleeve of his wedding dress, ready to attack at any moment. However, the stranger only staggered forward and led the prince behind him.

Firstly, because of the cover on his head, Xie Lian couldn't see the way, and secondly, the prince was deliberately stalling for time, so he walked as slowly as he could. But his companion, contrary to expectations, matched his extremely slow step, and with his other hand, he even supported the prince from time to time, as if he was afraid that he might fall down again. Despite being extremely wary, surrounded by such care, Xie Lian still couldn't help but think, "If he really was a groom, he would be extremely gentle and courteous."

Suddenly, the prince heard a clear light ringing sound accompanying their every step. Xie Lian was just contemplating what that sound was when a low, suppressed growl of wild beasts was suddenly heard all around.

Wolves!

Xie Lian faintly flinched, a sliver of Zhoe quickly gathered on his wrist.

However, he had no time to do anything when his companion suddenly patted the prince's palm lightly on the back of his hand, as if he wanted to reassure him, to show him that there was nothing to worry about. A couple of touches, light, almost gentle, made Xie Lian freeze for a moment, while the low growling finally subsided. Listening again, the prince found to his surprise that the wolves were now whimpering pitifully.

Such an animal cry could only be heard from an animal on the verge of overwhelming fear, inability to move, or even death agony.

The prince's interest in the stranger's identity was growing by the second. To the point where he even wanted to lift the veil and take a look at his companion, and then decide what to do next. But Xie Lian realised that this was not the right time to do such a rash thing. So the prince only had to peep through the gap under the red blanket below, which is like watching a leopard through a narrow bamboo tube when you can only see a spot on its skin1.

1 The Chinese proverb "Watching a leopard through a bamboo tube, you can only see a speck on its skin" means "not seeing the full picture"

And Xie Lian could only see the floorboards of the red robes and underneath them, a pair of black leather boots leisurely stepping forward.

The black leather boots tightly encircled the straight legs like a calligraphy brush, presenting a very pleasing picture to the eye. The outer side of the boots was adorned with two silver chains of fine weave, which swayed with every step of the stranger, emitting a pure melodious tinkle that caressed the ear.

Such a carefree and easy gait suggested that the wearer was very young. But every step he took was unshakably confident of his own righteousness, as if no one and nothing could stand in his way. And if anyone dared, they would be torn to shreds. All these details made it impossible for Xie Liang to reliably determine what kind of person his companion was.

Suddenly the eerie whiteness of some object on the ground caught the prince's eye and broke him from his musings.

It was a skull.

Xie Lian's step froze for a moment.

One glance was enough for him to determine that the skull's location was not that simple. Obviously, that was the edge of the magic trap, defining its boundaries. Touch it and the entire magical field would strike the intruder in the next instant. But, judging by the young man's gait, it was as if he did not pay attention to the artefact at all. The prince wondered if he should raise his voice and warn his companion, but suddenly he heard a distinct "clack" that cut his ears and saw that the young man's foot had fallen directly on the skull, crushing it into tiny crumbs.

After which, as if he didn't feel anything, the stranger nonchalantly strode right over that bone crumble.

Xie Lian:

- ...

Who would have thought that he would turn an entire magical trap into a handful of useless shards like this with a single movement.....

Suddenly, the young man's footsteps stopped. Xie Lian's heart began to race, and he thought that the stranger was about to act, but his companion continued to lead the way for a few moments. They had walked a couple more steps when a "drop-drop" sound was heard from above, as if large pearls of raindrops were hitting the surface of the umbrella. It appeared that the young man was stopping to open the umbrella over them.

Even though the moment was not the right one, Xie Lian still couldn't help but mentally praise how sensitive and caring his companion was. And yet, something seemed strange to him. The prince thought, "Is it raining?"

The darkness of the silent mountains, the dense thickets of trees. Somewhere in the distance, deep in the mountain range, a pack of wolves howled at the moon. Perhaps because of the bloody battle that had just happened in the mountains, the cold air was filled with the faint smell of fresh blood.

The surroundings possessed a strange yet irresistible demonic charm. At the same time, the young man was leisurely leading the prince by the hand while holding the umbrella with his other hand, which added a seductive charm to the night scenery, as if they were real newlyweds bound by strong feelings.

The unusual sound of the rain disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Pretty soon the clatter of its drops against the umbrella became silent. The young man paused briefly, seeming to put the umbrella away, then finally released his hand and took a step towards the prince.

With the same hand that led the prince behind him, the young man grasped the edge of the wedding coverlet and began to slowly lift it.

Xie Lian had been waiting for this moment since the beginning and now stood motionless, watching the dense red curtain slowly rise in front of his eyes....

The ribbon had come into motion!

It was not at all because the young man had shown intent to harm the prince. It was simply because Xie Lian had decided that he needed to first disarm his opponent, defeat him, and then deal with him!

However, to the prince's utmost surprise, when Joye attacked the young man with a sharp gust of wind, the bridal veil slipped out of his fingers, flew up and came down again. Xie Lian only had time to make out the blurred silhouette of a young boy in red robes, through which Joie scrambled.

Surprising the prince once again, the young man simply shattered into a thousand silvery butterflies, scattered with sparkling sparks, a bright star swirl.

Even though the moment was still not the right moment, Xie Lian could not help but let out a surprised sigh in his heart. He retreated a couple of steps and involuntarily marvelled at this picture, beautiful like a dream. Suddenly the soft glow of a silvery butterfly flashed before his eyes; the prince wanted to get a better look at it, but the little one only spun around him and merged with the whirlwind of her friends again. Together they soared into the night sky, becoming part of the star sparks that covered the firmament.

It was only after a while that Xie Lian came to his senses and thought, "Is this still the evil spirit of the newlywed or not?"

Personally, he felt that the young man didn't particularly look like an evil spirit. After all, if that was the case, then the wolf pack of Mount Yujun must be serving him. But then why did the beasts feel such overwhelming fear at the sight of him? Besides, the magic trap artefact on the way here must have been put up by the evil spirit of the newlywed, and the young man just took it and without even looking... trampled it into dust.

If the stranger really isn't an evil spirit, then why did he decide to kidnap the prince from the palanquin in the first place?

The more Xie Lian indulged in reflection, the more strange the situation seemed to him. As he threw Joey onto his shoulder, he thought, "Okay, it's possible that he was just lucky enough to be in the neighbourhood. Let's put that aside for now, there's more important business at hand." The prince looked around and gasped. It turned out that not far away was a very conspicuous building.

Since the young man had brought him here, and if the building itself was clearly what the magic trap was carefully hiding from view, Xie Liang had no choice but to go inside and take a closer look.

When he had walked a couple of steps, he stopped suddenly. After a moment's thought, he turned back and picked up the wedding veil that had fallen from his head, dusted it off, and took it with him, before heading in the direction of the building.

The tall red walls, cladding and roof were a little shabby. The building looked like an ancient temple of deity worship, and Xie Lian could tell from his experience that it was built in honour of the God of War. The expectations did not deceive Xie Lian. Raising his head, the prince saw three large characters forged from metal above the high gate to the temple:

"Mingguan Temple!

General Mingguan, the War God of the Northern Lands, and also none other than General Pei, of whom Linwen had then said that the fire of his incense in the North burned quite brightly. Not surprisingly, they hadn't been able to locate a Mingguan Temple nearby earlier and therefore had to go to the Nanyang Temple. It turns out that the local Mingguan Temple has long been hidden inside the magic trap on Mount Yujun. Could it be that the evil spirit of the newlywed has something to do with General Pei?

However, General Mingguan was still considered to be quite prosperous and a rather revered celestial. His position in the North was quite stable, so it seemed to Xie Liang personally that such a celestial would not want to get involved with a ferocious assassin in the form of an evil spirit newlywed. Furthermore, a situation where a malevolent creature occupied a celestial's domain while he himself was not even aware of it was by no means uncommon. One could only judge how the situation was really going to play out once they had a definitive understanding of the situation.

Xie Lian walked forward to the closed gate, which had no lock: push it and it would open. But as soon as the gate opened, a strange odour hit his nose, not at all like the stale air of a place that hadn't been inhabited for a long time. It was a faint, putrid stench.

Once inside, Xie Lian closed the gate behind him to make it look as if no one had ever entered, then headed inside the temple. In the middle of the main hall, there was a statue for worship, of course, representing the Northern God of War, General Mingguan. Objects representing humans, such as statues, dolls, portraits, and more, were the easiest for the dark creature to capture, so Xie Lian decided to scrutinise the statue of the God of War first.

The prince looked at the statue for a very long time to conclude: the statue was executed just fine. A jewelled sword in his hand, a belt adorned with jasper plates around his waist, a beautiful appearance and a majestic pose. Not a single complaint, and the stinky smell was clearly not coming from the statue. Therefore, Xie Lian left it alone and turned back towards the main hall.

Immediately, he froze like a dumbfounded man, with his pupils sharply narrowed.

Directly in front of him stood motionless a crowd of girls in bright red wedding gowns and red veils hiding their faces.

That faintly noticeable putrid odour was coming from them precisely.

Xie Lian quickly recovered from his surprise and moved closer to count the girls. One, two, three, four... and so on until he reached seventeen.

The same seventeen brides that had disappeared in the vicinity of Mount Yujun!

The red outfits of some of the girls had already faded and looked outdated and dilapidated. Apparently, these brides had been kidnapped before all the others. Some of the brides were wearing new dresses with modern styles, and the smell of decaying flesh was almost inaudible. These must have disappeared recently. Xie Lian briefly pondered and lifted the veil of one of the brides.

Beneath the bright red cover was a dead pale face that was so white that it even glowed slightly green, and in the dim glow of the moon, it looked terrifying. But what was even more frightening was the dead girl's twisted expression, because even on the distorted face, a frozen smile could still be seen.

Xie Lian lifted the next girl's veil: the corners of her mouth were also raised.

It appeared that all the dead girls in the temple were dressed in wedding outfits, with a smile playing on their lips.

It was as if a strange song sung by a child's voice was playing again in Xie Liang's memory: "A scarlet palanquin is running, in it the bride sits... Under the cover, tears are shed, and a smile does not flicker...".

Suddenly he heard a strange sound outside the temple.

Very strange indeed. To the point of being so strange that it was hard to describe. It was as if two sticks wrapped in thick cloth were being forcefully drummed on the floor, or as if something heavy was being dragged along the ground with great difficulty. The sound came closer, faster and faster, very soon it was echoing at the very gates of the temple. There was a long creak, and the gates of the Mingguan Temple swung open.

No matter if it was a human or another creature, it was probably the evil spirit of the newlywed. And now it had returned!

In the inner part of the temple, there was nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide either. Xie Lian pondered for just a moment, then looked at the slender row of brides, quickly put back on the wedding veil, and stood beside them without moving.

If the number of girls had not exceeded five or six, of course, the deception would have been easily discovered at a glance, but now there were seventeen dead brides in the temple, and unless one counted them one by one as Xie Lian had done, it was impossible to discover that there was an extra one among them.

Just before the prince could stand in line with the brides, that strange thudding sound "entered" the inside of the temple.

Xie Lian stood motionless while pondering, ''What was that sound? Judging from the pauses between the knocks, it slightly resembles footsteps, but what kind of creature can step like that? It certainly can't be the young man who brought me here, his gait is relaxed, as if he is enjoying every step, which is also accompanied by a pleasant gentle ringing."

Suddenly a thought struck him from which his heart instantly shrank: "Too bad, I don't fit in height!"

The dead men around him were girls, and he was a real man, so naturally he was a full head taller than the brides. Even though it was impossible to see at a glance that the number of brides had increased, it was still too tall for a man in a crowd of corpses!

However, after thinking carefully, Xie Lian soon calmed down again. He was actually taller than all the brides, but Maiden Xiaoying had arranged his hair into the simplest hairstyle, with no unnecessary embellishments, while the other brides' outfits were characterised by lavish decoration, with their hairstyles literally flying up to the heavens. Some of them even wore a phoenix crown2, which added a lot to their height, so they didn't look any shorter than Xie Lian. Even the prince's tall stature wasn't as conspicuous.

2 The phoenix crown was a woman's ceremonial headdress with phoenix-shaped jewellery on it

Just as he thought of this, a slight rustle reached his ears, only two zhang away from where he was standing.

A couple of moments later, the rustle sounded again, this time even closer.

Xie Lian realised what the evil spirit of the newlywed was doing.

He is tearing off the head coverings of the brides one by one to look at the face of each of them!

Strike!

If now is not the time to attack, then when is? Zhaoye's ribbon violently flew forward and struck directly at the evil spirit of the newlywed.

A rumbling sound rang out in response, and a black demonic mist rushed into the prince's face. Xie Lian didn't know if the mist was poisoned or not, and besides, his body wasn't protected by the divine radiance of a true essence celestial, so the prince immediately held his breath and clamped his mouth and nose, while making Zhaoye twirl in a dance to raise the wind and disperse the malicious haze. A muffled thud was heard again, Xie Lian squinted his eyes and discerned a low black shadow flickering at the temple entrance. The gate opened, and a swirling clot of black mist rushed towards the forest.

Xie Lian made the decision to immediately rush in pursuit. However, to his surprise, he didn't even run a few steps before the flashes of brightly burning torches appeared in the forest, followed by war cries from afar:

- Forward!

The voice of a young lad stood out from the clamour:

- "Let's capture the freak, let's save the people from the scourge! Let's capture the freak, save the people from harm! Let's split the reward equally!

That was the leader Xiao Peng. Xie Lian sorrowfully groaned in his heart as the crowd promised to climb the mountain and indeed climbed it. And if this place was previously hidden by a magic trap, now that the young man had trampled it into dust, these people, like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse, still came running here. Taking a closer look, Xie Lian realised that they were coming from just on the side where the newlywed's evil spirit had just escaped!

Xie Lian brought the Zhe tape into action and rushed towards them with a shout:

- Halt and no one move!

The crowd immediately froze.

He wanted to say something else, but then Xiao Peng carefully jumped up to him with a question:

- Maiden! Was it the evil spirit of the newlywed who kidnapped you and dragged you here? What is your name? We came to rescue you, you don't have to worry about anything else

Xie Lian froze and laughed to himself, only now remembering that he was still wearing a woman's outfit. There was no mirror in the Nanyang Temple, and the prince didn't know what he looked like now, but judging from Xiao Peng's reaction, the Xiaoying maiden's skill must be commendable. The crowd stiffened in surprise, mistaking him for a real newlywed, and Xiao Peng apparently even hoped that he was the seventeenth bride, and a large reward could now be obtained for her. Be that as it may, in this situation, the crowd of villagers should not be allowed to scatter anywhere, besides, Xie Lian couldn't be sure that the evil spirit of the newlywed hadn't hidden in the forest. Fortunately, two black-clothed youths arrived just in time, and Xie Lian immediately called out:

- Nan Feng, Fu Yao, hurry up and help me!

However, the youths turned at the voice and suddenly froze in place as one, then synchronously took two steps back. It was only after Xie Lian called out to them a few more times that they came to their senses. The prince asked:

- Did you come from the other side? Didn't encounter anything along the way?

Nan Feng replied:

- They didn't meet!

Xie Lian exhaled:

- Good. Fu Yao, right now, head down this road to search, look around. We need to make sure that the evil spirit of the newlywed hasn't escaped.

Fu Yao listened to him, immediately turned around and left. Xie Lian, on the other hand, turned to the second war spirit:

- Nan Feng, stay here on guard, make sure none of these people leave the group. If Fu Yao doesn't find the evil spirit on the mountain, then it is definitely among this crowd!

Hearing the prince's words, the sturdy men began to loudly resent. Xiao Peng had already discerned that the girl in front of him was not a girl at all, and was the first to jump up with a shout:

- No one is allowed to move aside? Why is that? What an outrage! Friends, let's not listen to him....

But before he could even land back, Nan Feng swung his palm and snapped a huge tree as thick as a man in half, which fell to the ground with a crash. The crowd immediately saw him as the same young man who would break everything in sight without speaking. If he broke them like that pillar in the teahouse, no amount of money would help, so everyone fell silent. Only Xiao Peng protested again:

- Claiming that the evil spirit of the newlywed is among us, are you so convinced that we will believe you like that? Yes, everyone here has a first and last name, each of us is a living person. If you don't believe me, you can take a torch and look into everyone's face!

Xie Lian uttered:

- Nan Feng.

Nan Feng took the torch from Xiao Peng's hands, raised the flame higher and began to illuminate the crowd, examining the people. Large drops of sweat shone on everyone's face, and their eyes reflected either excitement, bewilderment, or excitement. All the faces looked extremely vivid and expressive. Xie Lian couldn't see what he was looking for in them, so he stood in front of the crowd and spoke:

- Distinguished gentlemen, please apologise for the inconvenience caused, but just now I managed to wound the evil spirit of the newlywed, after which he escaped, but he definitely didn't manage to get far. Two of my young friends did not encounter it on their way here, so I'm afraid that this thing is now hiding somewhere among you. And now I ask you to look at each other carefully, look into the faces of each comrade, and tell me if there is not a stranger among you who has just dropped in among you.

When the crowd heard that the evil spirit of the newlywed might be somewhere among them, everyone had a chill of fear running down their spine. Not daring to make a mistake, people began to look into each other's eyes and examine their neighbours, allowing them to gaze into their own faces as well. After quite a long time of such "looking" suddenly someone exclaimed in surprise:

- What are you doing here?

Xie Lian's eyebrows twitched upwards, and he ran up at the shout and questioned:

- Who?

Xiao Peng snatched the torch from someone's hands, jabbed it somewhere in the direction where darkness reigned, and yelled:

- That ugly girl!

He was pointing at Xiaoying. The face of the girl with squinting eyes and crooked nose was distorted in the torchlight, as if she couldn't bear such a bright light. Therefore, she covered her face with her hands and muttered:

- I... I was just worried, so I went to follow up.....

Looking at her frightened look, Xie Lian took the torch from Xiao Peng's hands and turned to the others:

- What's the result?

Everyone in the crowd shook their heads. ''No strangers,'' ''Everyone is familiar.''

Nan Feng speculated:

- Couldn't he have possessed himself into someone else's body?

Xie Lian, after thinking for a second, replied:

- ''I don't think so, an evil spirit is not incorporeal.''

Nan Feng continued:

- ''But if it is 'ferocious', then it is possible that it can change its appearance.''

While they were reasoning, Xiao Peng was the first to start shouting again:

- Well, have you discerned that the evil spirit of the newlywed is not among us? Since that's the case, why are you still not letting us go!

The crowd timidly supported Xiao Peng, and Xie Lian looked at them and said:

- ''Still, I have to ask you to stay in front of the Mingguan Temple for a while longer and don't take a step away from here.''

The villagers were about to oppose again, but after seeing Nan Feng's stern gaze, they did not dare. Just in time, Fu Yao also returned, reporting:

- There's no one around.

Looking at the crowd of people in front of the Mingguan Temple, Xie Liang leisurely concluded:

- So, he is now right among these people.