As before, after the vortex dissipated, Yu Yi's figure vanished from the spot.
Xue Chenjing floated in the water, his robes billowing around him, a faint smile playing on his lips. His features, distorted by the rippling waves, subtly transformed. His sharp eyebrows softened into delicate arcs, his eyes lost their gloom, and his entire visage seemed washed and redrawn, becoming that of another person.
His dark attire morphed into vibrant dresses, and a crimson scarf meandered through the water. The agitated Sunken Yin Wood Forest instantly quieted, sinking into a deathly silence.
Jiang Xi bore the aura of a ghost king, which subdued the surrounding mischievous spirits, causing them to obediently bow down. She turned, glancing towards the direction of the Wraith Palace, murmuring, "This time, I hope you won't disappoint me."
The Wraith Palace was nestled deep within the Sunken Yin Wood Forest, where the trees had grown so thick and massive that they defied imagination. The palace was built by hollowing out the interiors of these colossal trees, resulting in a structure entirely black, from its eaves to its walls and windows, and even its corridors. As Yu Yi walked through it, she felt as if she were traversing the underworld, a chilling sensation pervading her.
Xue Chenjing had brought her here, to the Wraith Palace? He knew she didn't want to enter this place, yet he still disregarded her wishes and sent her in.
Was there something he needed here? Was it another task from the system, something that required her cooperation to obtain?
He hadn't changed at all. For his own purposes, he never cared about others, not even a moment's hesitation.
Yu Yi clenched her Green Bamboo Sword so tightly that her knuckles turned white. The unbridled fury within her made it difficult to hold her breath, and a few bubbles escaped from her nose and mouth, the sound unusually clear in the silent palace.
The water that entered her trachea caused a sharp pain in her throat, and her chest felt as if it were about to explode from suffocation.
She quickly covered her mouth, retreating to lean against the wall, alert to her surroundings while circulating her spiritual energy to suppress her instinct to breathe.
Tears welled up in her eyes, blending with the surrounding water. After a long while, the suffocating sensation gradually subsided.
She stood up again and continued forward, wanting to escape this oppressive place. But the environment remained unchanged, the corridor seemingly endless. This dark and silent environment made it impossible to sense time, leaving only an increasingly agitated state of mind.
Yu Yi suspected she was going in circles. She marked the walls and counted seconds in her mind to stabilize her focus. After about half an hour, the surroundings were still black walls, black windows, and black corridors.
She slashed open a window with her sword and climbed out, only to find the same black corridor. She tried breaking through several more windows, but the situation remained unchanged.
It was as if she had entered some overlapping space, like a ghost wall, where no matter how long she walked or how many windows she broke through, she was forever trapped in this dark corridor, with no end and no way out.
Even if a wraith or ghost appeared before her, it would be better than this current state.
Yu Yi's eyes reddened, whether from the water pressure or her current state of mind, making her look like a fragile, cracked glass.
Xue Chenjing, damn Xue Chenjing, she was fed up with him! Fed up with his tasks! She wanted to kill him. Xue Mingyuan was right; only by killing him could she escape him.
This thought screamed in her mind, gradually taking over her entire consciousness.
Never before had she wanted to kill him so much.
Yu Yi swung her sword to break open another window, not holding back the sharpness of her sword, as if this strike were aimed at Xue Chenjing.
A crimson crane emerged from the blade, its wings ablaze, screeching as it charged forward, setting the cold lake water boiling, and instantly engulfing the surroundings in white bubbles.
Yu Yi's body was enveloped in protective spiritual energy, her red eyes fixed on the sword spirit as it pierced through the water with dazzling firelight, illuminating the black walls on all sides.
But the long corridor had no end. The crane's light grew weaker until it was swallowed by the surrounding darkness.
Though the light was extinguished, the crane's cry still echoed throughout the palace, filled with anger, reverberating and overlapping, feeding back to Yu Yi's ears and further stoking her rage.
Yu Yi's temples throbbed as she raised her sword to strike again. The sword mark on her forehead glowed faintly, like a gentle breeze entering her mind, causing her action to pause.
No, something was wrong. It seemed that ever since she entered this place, her emotions had become unusually irritable. From the moment Xue Chenjing teleported her here, the anger she felt then had been continuously expanding.
Because Xue Chenjing disregarded her wishes, unhesitatingly throwing her into danger, completely indifferent to her survival. So she was angry, annoyed, even feeling wronged and sad.
But she had always known he was like this, always known he would go to any lengths to achieve his goals. She had always seen it clearly, warned herself not to have any expectations of him.
Since she had no expectations, why was she so angry now?
Yu Yi doubted herself. Had she been bewitched by the lake water? Was this a hallucination that had ensnared her? When did she fall into this illusion?
From the moment she fell into the man-eating flower, or when Xue Chenjing appeared? Was that really Xue Chenjing?
Yu Yi pressed her hand to her forehead, running the Chasing Spring Sword Technique, struggling to pull a thread of reason from her anger-clouded mind.
The Green Bamboo Sword hummed in her hand, the white mark on its blade glowing brightly. The sword floated before her, its dull surface gradually transforming into a gleaming white.
Yu Yi saw her reflection in the sword's surface. Another her spread her arms, trapped on a formation. A crimson pearl hovered before her, seemingly burning with a flame inside, casting light on her, drawing out her seven emotions and six desires.
Which was real, and which was an illusion?
"Quickly feed her the Evil Desire Pearl, or else before Xue Chenjing arrives, she'll break free from its control herself!" A shrill and urgent female voice pierced her ears.
Yu Yi's heart steadied, her lifted gaze clear—that was the reality.
She grasped the sword and slashed towards the source of the voice. The black corridor shattered under the sword's light, the illusion imprisoning her consciousness disintegrated, and Yu Yi suddenly opened her eyes.
The light of the Evil Desire Pearl reflected in her eyes. Yu Yi looked at the flickering flame inside the pearl, her just-awakened consciousness wavering for a moment.
In that split second of hesitation, a force pried open her mouth. A terrifying claw reached from behind the pearl, lightly tapping it, causing it to roll into her mouth.
The round pearl slid down her throat and into her stomach, causing a burning sensation.
The human body naturally has three fires: the heart's sovereign fire, which governs the spirit; the kidney's subject fire, which governs desire, also known as the essence fire; and the qi sea's common fire, which governs the body's qi. Yu Yi's three fires were originally in harmony, but the addition of this external desire instantly disrupted the balance.
Especially the desire fire in the pearl, accumulated over the years, impure and evil, when it entered her body and merged with her essence fire, it set her essence fire ablaze.
Yu Yi's eyes reddened with desire, and the string of reason snapped. Love or hate, everything was beyond her control, completely out of her hands.
After stuffing the Evil Desire Pearl into her mouth, Jiang Xi withdrew the restraining formation.
Yu Yi drifted down to the ground, her expression blank. When she turned her head and saw the tall, dark wood pillars in the hall, her eyes suddenly lit up with a fierce light. She lunged forward, raising the Green Bamboo Sword and wildly slashing at the pillars, each strike leaving a gash in the thick wood.
The hall vibrated with a dull rumble. A half-rotten dragon emerged from the shadows, its throat emitting a murky sound, "Why is she chopping the pillars?"
Jiang Xi didn't care why she was chopping the pillars. She was satisfied with Yu Yi's current frenzied chopping, brimming with killing intent.
When the waters of the Sunken Yin Wood Forest began to surge, Shen Qingzhi found an excuse to withdraw the group from the Zhaohua Palace, and Zhang Zai hesitated for a moment before realizing there was no turning back, and had to follow suit.
With the intentional facilitation and guidance of the Zhaohua Palace cultivators, Xue Chenjing quickly reached the final layer of the secret realm. However, upon entering the Sunken Yin Wood Forest, his connection to his essence fire mysteriously broke.
This layer of the secret realm was almost entirely occupied by a single lake, with scattered islands faintly visible within it.
As he stepped into the Sunken Yin Wood Forest, a fine drizzle was falling over the lake. Under the dim light, shadowy figures swarmed the water, and the spirits within were reveling in their frenzy.
Xue Chenjing walked along the lakeshore, dispatching a few minor spirits that tried to crawl ashore to seduce him. He skirted around a forest at the edge and arrived at the other side of the Sunken Yin Wood Forest.
Behind the misty rain curtain, a sizable pleasure boat had appeared out of nowhere. It featured two-story pavilions with upturned eaves, copper bells hanging below, and red silk drapes all around, exuding a festive atmosphere.
Eerie wedding music drifted on the wind, and a distorted figure stood at the prow of the boat, his sharp voice calling out, "The Ghost King is taking a bride! All spirits, make way and do not obstruct the path."
As that spine-chilling chant spread, the shadowy figures in the lake dispersed, clearing a path to the central island.
Another wedding scenario, devoid of any novelty.
No wonder it's called Emotion Flower Valley.
Xue Chenjing stood on the shore, his gaze following a beam of light from the boat, looking towards the window on the second floor of the pleasure boat. Within the warm, orange glow, a slender figure sat in front of a mirror, holding a vermilion brush, painting a floral design on her forehead.
Xue Chenjing's eyes flickered, blinking away the water droplets on his lashes, and he waved away the annoying mist before looking again.
Ah, his master was truly busy, about to get married again.
The system chimed in his ear, "The female lead is getting married again!" It paused for a moment, adding, "This time for real!"
"Hmm," Xue Chenjing responded perfunctorily through his nose, his gaze fixed on the figure behind the window. He moved a few steps to the right along the lakeshore, finding a better angle to get a clearer view of the person on the pleasure boat.
Yu Yi wore a bright red bridal gown, her head adorned with a phoenix crown, the dangling beads reflecting the light, making her face appear radiant and flawless.
Perhaps due to the soft rain mist, her features seemed softer, her expression unusually gentle and tender, a side of her he had never seen before.
Xue Chenjing stared at her intently, his eyes seeming to be shrouded by the rain's gloom, his voice low as he said, "Her bridal attire looks even better this time."
The system responded indifferently, "Master, are you going to watch the female lead marry someone else again?"
Xue Chenjing followed the boat's movement, stepping into the muddy water by the shore, his eyes narrowing as he thought, then laughed in frustration, "No, I've changed my mind this time. I'm going to the central island to kill that so-called Ghost King first, and wait for her to marry me."
As he spoke, he grew excited, eagerly asking, "What do you think her reaction will be if she sees me as the groom at the wedding hall? Will she be happy or angry?"
