Chapter 5 - A thousand years of lies seen by human candles

Three hundred human-skin lanterns suddenly burst into flames, pinning Arya's shadow to the bronze pillar in the center of the altar. The relief that appeared on the surface of the pillar took her breath away - the woman with chains running through her lute bone was the same "Mother" she had seen at the Gate of the Afterlife, and the face under the black robes of the executioner was unrecognizable from that of Ramon!

"Welcome to real history." Ramon slit his wrist and drenched the altar groove with blood. The blood flowed down the grooves into a goldfinch pattern, activating the bronze chimes sleeping underground. When the seventh bell chimed, Arya's silver hairpin suddenly pierced into her eye socket, and her tampered memories surfaced amidst the intense pain: the one who had slaughtered the city with a sword twelve years ago was clearly herself!

The surface of the chime's bronze color peeled off, revealing the dense inscriptions. Arya stroked it with her bloodstained fingers, and a burning sensation came from her fingertips - these were actually the death records of the Twins! The last line was inscribed: 13th year of Yonghe, Experiment 19 failed to kill the mother and was thrown into the Reincarnation Furnace.

"Now do you understand why the Vermilion Bird always weeps blood?" Lei Meng lifted the altar slab, underneath which were piled up heads identical to her appearance. Each heavenly cap was engraved with a number, and head number nineteen had half of a snow wolf jade pendant between its lips - a perfect match for the half in her arms.

The sudden rumble of gears turning came from the ground, and three hundred bronze coffins broke out of the ground. The moment the lids of the coffins slid down, Arya saw an unforgettable image - in each of the coffins lay a replica of Lei Meng! They had murderous weapons of various styles stuck in their hearts, and the oldest bodies had been reduced to white bones, yet they still maintained the posture of tearing their own faces.

"We're not the first ones." Ramon suddenly ripped open the lapel of his shirt, and hidden under the snow wolf totem at his heart was the tiny number: XIX. This was the nineteenth in ancient Sanskrit, and the number of karmic fire in the cycle of reincarnation, "nor the last."

Arya's silver pin suddenly melted, the sapphire liquid seeping into the cracks of the bronze pillar. As the pillar exploded, star maps emerged from the sky of copper shavings - each star was the coordinates of the Twin Children's deaths, and a giant blood-colored vortex hung over the Xuan Yue Pass.

Bronze steps descended from the vortex, and the ghost of the old bawd walked slowly down carrying a human-skin lantern. The hem of her skirt flowed with living inscriptions, each step branding a curse on the stone steps, "Does the lady know why the life-changing technique is always chosen at the hour of the day?" A scene from when Arya was seven years old floats in the lantern's halo - she's carving in the ice cave when the teenager behind her suddenly turns into a green-faced, fanged monster!

"Because it's the hour of the lie of the yin and the yang." Lei Meng suddenly stabbed his bronze sword into the pimp's throat, only to see the wound gush out the ice silkworms unique to Silver Snow City. As the silkworms exploded, the mother's true suicide note appeared in the air: my son has personally revealed the truth about the three years of Yonghe.

The suicide note manifested itself in the moonlight, each word sobbing blood. Arya suddenly vomits when she reads the third line - the Queen gave birth to a Siamese twins! When the priests separated them with a bronze saw, one of the hearts was replaced with a witch puppet worm. And the malachite necklace she wore day in and day out was the container that sealed the other half of the heart!

"Now it's time to return it to its rightful owner." Lei Meng suddenly crushed her necklace and the twelve gems flew into the bronze coffin. When the last one returned to its place, all the coffins opened at the same time, and three hundred corpses wailed in unison. Arya felt her heart being clutched by an invisible hand, and the snow wolf totem on her chest began to grow in reverse.

The altar suddenly tilted, and a bronze throne rose from the blood pool. The skeleton sitting on it wore the dowry of the Queen of Silver Snow City, and ice silk was wrapped around her finger bones. When Arya's blood dripped onto the armrests of the throne, the skeleton's eye sockets lit up with ghostly flames, reflecting the truth that made her crumble - the one who had been made into a human candle back then was the real Queen Mother! And the one who ruled Silver Snow City for twenty years was just a witch puppet who stole the Queen's memories!

Raymond suddenly convulsed on his knees, and the skin on his back split open, revealing twelve bronze beetles carrying secret scrolls. The scrolls unfolded in the blood pool, and dynamic images emerged: the Twins were killed by their closest relatives on the night before the coronation, and their hearts were thrown into the furnace of the altar. The secret to the furnace's never-ending fire was the remorse in the blood of the next of kin!

"It's time to end this farce." Arya grabbed Ramon's bronze sword, which reflected her demonized right eye - the pupil had turned into the compound eye of the golem. As the tip of the sword stabbed into the pool of blood, the three hundred bronze coffins suddenly closed, infusing the grievances of the successive generations of the Twins into the sword.

The pimp's ghost suddenly laughed shrilly and tore open her human skin to reveal her true face - it was actually Gala, the astrologer of the Yonghe Years! The lantern in her hand transformed into an astrolabe, shooting out beams of light to outline a teleportation array at the altar: "The real game has just begun ..."

The moment the blood moon was completely swallowed by the Tengu, Arya saw a giant bronze hand reach out from the teleportation formation. On the ice silk wrapped around the fingertips, there were thousands of crying babies hanging in the air - each with her and Ramon's faces!