Xue Chenjing was itching with anticipation. His figure fogged under the murky water, sinking into the lake and heading towards the center.
Underwater, the eerie shadows were as plentiful as water fleas, but Xue Chenjing was neither afraid nor disgusted by them. Compared to walking on the bustling streets of Yinzhou City, filled with humans, he found this lake teeming with specters much more pleasant.
Moreover, the water still retained a familiar scent, the lingering desire from the essence fire that had once been separated from him. Xue Mingyuan despised it immensely, viewing it as a vile desire, the root cause of attracting monsters and demons, so he did not hesitate to harm himself to discard this fire.
But what he didn't expect was that Xue Chenjing's desire was so strong that even after cutting off this fire, he still couldn't suppress his burgeoning desires. He was always yearning, desperately wanting to take, greedy and never satisfied, like a sponge that could never absorb enough water.
Even without the essence fire, he could still draw nourishment from the evil desires of the demons.
The specters in the lake treated Xue Chenjing as one of their own. He had a terrifying demonic aura about him, and wherever he went, no specter dared to challenge him. They were only intimidated by his aura, bowing their heads in submission.
Monsters and demons are such cruel yet simple creatures, respecting power, with the strong as masters and the weak as servants.
When Xue Chenjing swam to the side of the painted boat, several demon spirits quietly emerged from the water. The spirits flew out of the water, shaking their heads to shake off the water droplets, their tentacles adhering to the boat, and climbing up.
Soon, they rolled into the cabin. The people on this painted boat were all transformed from specters, some of whom did not even want to maintain their human form completely, leaving sticky water marks everywhere on the deck after they passed.
The demon spirits followed two maids up to the attic. The maids looked normal, but their walk was slightly odd. Their clean gauze dresses seemed damp, and although their faces were rigid, they were still pretty.
Only their eyes were unnaturally eerie. Their pupils were deep and moist, emitting a swampy gas from the lake bottom, and their gaze at people was also wet, as if they were licking her with their eyes, tasting the saltiness.
As one of them, he knew too well their covetous gaze. Every monster here was coveting his master.
Xue Chenjing gritted his teeth, uncontrollably shooting tentacles from his body, wrapping around several specters nearby, and crushed them with force. The black blood spread in the water, staining the lake murky.
Yet, under such offensive gaze, Yu Yi showed no signs of discomfort. She even smiled at them, asking them, "Do you think this flower ornament is beautiful? It depicts a hibiscus."
Through the demon spirit, Xue Chenjing's gaze fell on her forehead, and he sneered in his heart, "These monsters don't know a damn thing about beauty, they don't even know what a hibiscus is."
The two maids did not respond to her words, their minds could not focus on the floral ornaments she spoke of. They stepped forward, setting down their trays, one holding a veil embroidered with mandarin ducks, the other a pair of red embroidered shoes.
They knelt beside her, each holding an embroidered shoe, whispering, "Miss, allow us to help you put on your shoes."
They were too close to her, closer than normal. As they lowered their heads, their nostrils flared wildly, inhaling her scent.
Xue Chenjing heard the sound of them swallowing in their throats, a buzzing sound filled his mind, anger rushing to his head.
He wanted to kill them, to kill them!
His demonic spirit obeyed his thoughts, floating over and landing on the back of the two maids' necks. Its soft tendrils burrowed into the hair at the back of their heads, extending a poisonous sting, and pierced in.
Yu Yi leaned slightly, saying, "No need, I can do it myself, you may rise."
What a gentle tone.
Xue Chenjing suddenly didn't want to kill them anymore. His stinger penetrated the brains of the two monsters, the demonic spirit fully adhered to the back of their heads, and Xue Chenjing easily took over their consciousness.
These two monsters were not formidable at all.
The bodies of the two maids stiffened for a moment, then immediately returned to normal.
They both retracted their hands at the same time, clutching the embroidered shoes to their chest, looking up at Yu Yi. Under the control of the demonic spirit, they spoke, "No, let us help you put them on. We are here to serve you, Miss. Please, let us help you put them on, alright?"
Both of them spoke at the same time, their tones and expressions identical, even their pleading looks were identical. It was so strange that Yu Yi leaned back in surprise, a struggle apparent in her eyes, a moment of clarity.
But it was only for a fleeting moment, she quickly fell back into the current bizarre situation, involuntarily nodding in agreement to their request.
The maids' cold fingers simultaneously grasped her ankles, through the thin sock, it felt so cold that she couldn't help but retract her foot.
But immediately, the grip on her ankles tightened, their fingers clutching her foot, forcibly pulling her jade feet back, not allowing her to retract them under her skirt.
The two maids knelt beside Yu Yi's feet, their heads bowed, their faces almost touching her leg.
They were like twin sisters with a telepathic bond, their strength and movements identical. Their fingers moved from her toes to her calves, smoothing out her socks, tying the laces, then gripping her heel, slipping the embroidered shoes onto her feet.
Underwater, Xue Chenjing was anxiously rubbing his fingertips. This indirect, itching touch through another person did not quell his anger, but instead aroused an indescribable thirst in his heart. Although he was in the water, he felt incredibly thirsty, as if there was a fire burning in his throat.
He had just commanded the two monsters to put shoes on her, but now he wanted to lift her skirt, pull off those shoes, remove the socks, and touch her skin directly.
Without realizing it, Xue Chenjing's hands opened and closed, wanting to grasp her foot in his palms, to caress her small and pearly white toes. But he couldn't right now, all he could do was touch her through those two monstrous hands.
As Xue Chenjing thought about this, he felt a bit angry. He didn't want them to touch her. But he wanted to touch her now more than ever before.
Inside the painted pleasure boat, the demon spirit once again obeyed his thoughts, commanding two maidservants to grasp Yu Yi's foot again, removing the embroidered shoe from her foot, hesitating for a moment, and then lifting her heel to put it back on.
They were like a pair of jammed puppets, repeatedly taking off her shoes and putting them back on. Yu Yi's heel was rubbed raw and slightly painful by the mouth of the embroidered shoe. When the maidservant attempted for the fifth time to remove her shoe, she jumped off the couch with a kick, puzzled and asked, "What are you doing?"
The maidservants kneeled in their original place, their hands still in the posture of holding her feet. Xue Chenjing was brought back to his senses by Yu Yi's voice, clenched his fingers, and controlled the two maidservants to run out of the building, onto the deck, and jumped overboard into the lake.
The splashing sound of falling into the water attracted the attention of the monsters on the deck playing music, but they only glanced over, turned their heads back indifferently, not caring about what had happened.
The twisted figure standing at the bow of the ship was still singing loudly, "The Ghost King is getting married, all demons and monsters, must avoid, do not block the way."
Yu Yi sat back in front of the window of the building, as before, looking at herself in the mirror.
The two maidservants who fell into the water quickly lost their human forms, revealing their true appearance as catfish spirits with human faces and fish bodies. As soon as they entered the water, they were surrounded by monsters, torn apart and eaten without resistance.
Only then was Xue Chenjing satisfied. He rubbed his fingertips again, looked at the light in the building through the misty rain curtain, and sank into the water.
He was not arrogant enough to rush onto the island in the lake without knowing anything. Along the way, Xue Chenjing caught many monsters underwater, directly invaded their consciousness, and obtained information about the Ghost King.
The Ghost King of this Chrysanthemum Sea was a dragon that was killed and sank to the bottom of the water. Its corpse turned into mud, and its soul lingered and became a water monster. It obtained a treasure pearl, and with the power of the pearl, it subdued the ghosts and monsters in the lake and became the king.
What surprised Xue Chenjing was that this Ghost King of the Chrysanthemum Sea already had a wife, and he was very afraid of that wife. The monsters in the lake also all submitted to that wife.
His master was to be married off to be the Ghost King's concubine.
How dare this ghost thing?!
Xue Chenjing was so angry that he tore apart the monsters blocking his way and went straight to the island in the lake. He came ashore soaking wet, like a life-taking water ghost, stepping onto the flower-covered path for the bride.
He paused in his steps, lowered his head to look at the petals on the ground. The fresh petals of various colors were piled up thickly, the winding flower path extended from the water's edge into the depths of the island. The trees on both sides of the flower path were hung with flower lanterns. In the hazy rain, they glowed with a warm orange light. At a glance, the scene was incredibly beautiful.
Xue Chenjing did not ruin the flower path. He slipped into the woods on the side, following the path to the courtyard deep within.
Two festive red lanterns hung on the courtyard's main gate, red silk draped from the eaves, and inside the courtyard, there was laughter and joy. The atmosphere was as festive as a human wedding feast.
The bride had not arrived, and the groom was nowhere to be seen in the hall. The painted boat was about to dock, and Xue Chenjing did not have the patience to search for the dragon among the demons and ghosts filling the courtyard. He also did not want to give it a chance to fight, so as not to ruin these wonderful arrangements.
He could not let Yu Yi marry him in a place beaten to ruins.
Xue Chenjing wanted to fight quickly, but the power of the Ghost King was not something his current Golden Core stage cultivation could easily handle, so he had to take a risk.
He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a tentacle coated in snake scales, turning the soft tip into a sharp cone.
Xue Chenjing tore open half of his shirt, grabbed the tentacle, and cut open his chest skin, plunging the cone deep into his heart, blood dripping down the transparent tentacle. He took the blood from his heart and quickly drew a formation in the void.
He pulled back the tentacle, and blood from the wound in his heart surged into the formation. A rich demonic aura emerged from within the formation, and a pair of long ears slowly protruded.
The half-head that emerged from beneath the long ears resembled a rabbit, its body not much larger than a rabbit, but its face was extremely ferocious. It had a gaping mouth, sharp fangs, and dark red eyes filled with bloodthirsty madness.
The system exclaimed in shock, "Hou, you summoned Hou! Can you control it now? Oh my, Master, heal your wound quickly, or it will drain all your blood!"
Xue Chenjing pressed down on his chest wound, but blood still seeped through his fingers, quickly flowing into the formation in front of him.
He lowered his eyes, confronting Hou in the formation, both sides silently clashing.
The demonic aura surged around them, and the demons and ghosts in the courtyard were disturbed by the terrifying aura on the other side of the wall. The monsters in the sea of fallen flowers all headed towards this small island, causing huge waves in the lake as they moved, almost capsizing the painted boat.
Fortunately, the boat was already near the shore. Yu Yi jumped off the deck amidst the splashing waves, landing on the flower path on shore. The flowers spread on the road were covered with a thin layer of rain, delicate and lovely, with a strong fragrance.
She took a light sniff, and her clear eyes became hazy again, as if she was drunk on the floral scent.
The strange surroundings could no longer distract her. Yu Yi didn't even look at the monsters crawling out of the water. She lifted her skirt and walked along the flower path.
Someone chased after her from behind, placing a veil over her head, and helped her to walk forward. She did not resist.
Xue Chenjing heard the commotion by the lake. He stepped on Hou's head and, amidst its angry roar, he said impatiently, "I don't have time to play the eagle-torturing game with you. Remember now? You're already dead on the battlefield of gods and demons, not even a trace left, only a mouthful of demonic aura coexisting with me."
"Something that can only appear in the world when summoned by my blood array, dares to defy me?" Xue Chenjing released his hand from his chest, the bloody hole in his heart healed. He held his hand above its head, blood dripping from his fingertips onto the white fur of the beast, "You can try, see if you can still exist after killing me."
The beast was drenched by the blood dripping from his fingertips, uncontrollably sticking out its tongue to lick the blood on its fur. Under such intimidation and temptation, it finally submitted at his feet.
Xue Chenjing squatted down, wiped the blood from his hand onto its body, and tugged at its long ears, "Good boy, I'll give you another little snack."
He lifted his foot off it, and the beast completely detached from the magic array. It sniffed twice, a white shadow flashed, and it rushed into the high walls of the courtyard.
Xue Chenjing wavered as he stood up, leaning on a tree trunk for support. He glanced back at the faintly discernible crimson figure in the forest, and hurriedly walked into the courtyard.
The crowd blocking the entrance stared at him silently. Some still maintained their human form, while others couldn't, which made their shapes appear extremely distorted, their half-human, half-beast appearances particularly eerie.
Xue Chenjing swaggered to the main gate, stepped onto the front steps, and the demons in front of the gate made way for him with a rustling sound.
The trees in the courtyard were also adorned with colorful lanterns, and a giant "double happiness" character hung in the main hall. Wedding cakes and fruits were neatly arranged on the table.
Xue Chenjing was very satisfied.
A deafening roar came from the backyard, and a long shadow rushed into the sky, chased by something. Although the object was small, it was as fast as lightning, leaping around the long dragon, tearing off its rotten flesh.
The dragon couldn't shake it off, curled up its body, and plunged into the lake, causing a huge splash.
By this time, the bride had arrived at the door. Xue Chenjing hurriedly ran out from the backyard, adjusting his groom's wedding suit. Whether it was the suit's contrast or because he ran too fast, his face, pale from excessive blood loss, was flushed again, as if carefully applied rouge.
Xue Chenjing's eyes were startlingly bright, filled with uncontainable excitement. All he could see in his pupils was the figure coming towards him, covered by a bridal veil.
He was so looking forward to the expression on Yu Yi's face when he lifted the veil.
So, even if he knew that this was probably another trap set to lure him in, he didn't care.
The courtyard was filled with grotesque creatures that looked half-human, half-beast, standing still, silent. Only their sticky gazes followed the bride.
The hem of Xue Chenjing's wedding suit swayed, invisible tentacles emerged in the air, exuding a threatening demonic aura, and the demons in the courtyard bowed their heads in unison.
The water beast helping Yu Yi didn't dare to go forward, so Xue Chenjing reached out his hand.
Yu Yi saw the palm stretching towards her from under the veil, she raised her hand to his, and his hand immediately gripped hers. At first, the grip was too tight, then deliberately loosened a bit, his wrist was subtly trembling.
Even through the veil, Yu Yi could sense the unusual excitement from the person opposite her.
For a fleeting moment, Yu Yi was filled with doubt. Why was she getting married? And to whom?
But before she could ponder further, the chant calling for them to pay homage to the heaven and earth quickly dispelled her doubts.
There was no joy, no human voices, and the surroundings were eerily quiet. All she could hear was the shrill voice that had been accompanying her throughout, shouting, "First bow to heaven and earth."
"Second bow to the high hall."
"Husband and wife bow to each other."
"The ceremony is complete."
A pair of hands reached out to lift the veil from her head. As the veil was lifted, Yu Yi looked up and found herself staring into a pair of black, bright eyes.
Xue Chenjing was staring at her expectantly, his pupils trembling slightly, suppressing his excited breathing, and whispered, "My lady, I am the groom. Are you happy?"
The moment she saw him, something in Yu Yi's mind seemed to shatter with a 'bang', like a compressed gas canister that had been sealed all the way, finally finding a vent when she saw him.
A fire ignited within Yu Yi, plunging her into a hatred so profound that she herself didn't understand. Her eyes turned red, and a sharp blade slid out from her sleeve. Her spiritual power coated the blade with flames, leaving a white mark in the middle.
Xue Chenjing quickly grabbed her wrist, positioning the blade just outside his heart. His gaze fell on her forehead, "Your flower ornament is beautiful, more beautiful than any hibiscus flower in this world."
