Chapter 16
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In an instant, Gong Wei’s mind was filled with many thoughts, but he remained silent on the surface, allowing the two women to cover him with a large red satin veil and lead him out of the courtyard.
A magnificent sedan chair was parked outside the door. Although the details were obscured by the veil, the luxuriousness could be inferred from the golden embroidered red silk curtains and the sandalwood frame carved with cloud and crane motifs. A woman brought a pair of red vine-woven stools and lifted the door curtain with a blood jade ruyi, smiling, “New bride, please come up!”
However, Gong Wei stood still and didn’t move. “Where is Xu Shuangce?”
The tone of the woman’s voice remained unchanged as she responded, “Who is Xu Shuangce?”
Gong Wei paused for a moment before asking again, “What about General Bai?”
The woman replied, “The groom and the guests are already in the ancestral hall, waiting for the bride!”
There was a circle of faceless people at the gate, men and women of all ages, clapping their hands cheerfully. Each blank face was fixed on the bride, waiting patiently for her to board the sedan chair.
Finally, amidst countless invisible gazes, Gong Wei took a deep breath and stepped onto the stool, steadily entering the sedan chair. As the three-layered curtain of pearls and jade fell behind him with a rustle, the women exclaimed in unison, “Let’s go—”
“We’re heading out—”
“The bride is getting married today—”
Firecrackers exploded, drums and gongs resounded, and the faceless people danced and sang, heading towards the ancestral hall at the end of the road.
It was unclear why there were so many people for a wedding procession in Xu Shuangce’s consciousness. Along the way, crowds swarmed from the surrounding houses and alleys, gathering more and more densely until the courtyard gate. By the time they arrived at the gate of the ancestral hall after burning an incense stick, it was already packed with people, resembling a scene no less grand than the announcement of an empress’s wedding.
“Disembark—”
Once again, the faceless women opened the three-layered curtain and helped Gong Wei out of the sedan chair, standing him in front of the gate of the ancestral hall. They were filled with joy, “The bride is here!”
Through the red veil, Gong Wei could vaguely see a wide stone path in front of him, leading through three gates and nine steps to the spacious and ancient ancestral hall. Tables were set up on both sides of the stone path, and the guests were bustling with excitement. However, all their faces were blank.
At the highest point of the nine steps, Xu Shuangce stood with his hands behind his back, his white robe with golden trim fluttering in the wind, a sword hanging from his waist.
Among tens of thousands of people, Cangyang Sect Master was the most powerful and conspicuous figure.
He slowly turned his head through the crowd and looked at his bride. A slight smile curved his lips.
Gong Wei’s pupils slightly contracted, and he suddenly turned his head to look into the distance. The sky was shrouded in darkness, as if a layer of lead-gray mountains surrounded the entire village, gradually obscuring the sunlight and pressing down on the village.
But the people were unaware, just like twenty years ago.
Two faceless women, one on each side, held Gong Wei’s arms like four steel clamps and said eagerly, “New bride, please.”
Gong Wei stood still.
As firecrackers and drums continued to sound, and the guests applauded and laughed, the faceless women waited for a moment, then repeated with a smile, “New bride, please.”
Gong Wei suddenly said, “I’m not going in.”
“Why not?”
“I will die.”
There was no change in the expression of the woman’s flat face covered with human skin, and even the mechanical tone of her voice remained unchanged, “How could you die? Why would you die? You won’t die.”
Gong Wei asked, “Have you heard of the ferocious beasts in these mountains?”
There was no response from the woman.
“In the Peach Blossom Mountain, there is a strange beast, resembling a tiger with spikes all over its body, and it likes to eat human flesh. It’s called the Qiongqi. It was startled by the sound of human music and descended from the sky with dark clouds, dragging the bride into its cave. This prompted the groom to save her.”
“The groom, although a general, is ultimately a mortal and cannot contend with ferocious beasts like the Qiongqi. With one claw pressing down on the bride and another fiercely smashing the earth, the entire mountain and forest trembled, caves shook and collapsed, and thousand-pound boulders came crashing down, seemingly about to bury the groom and bride together.”
Gong Wei continued slowly, “However, the groom firmly held onto the bride and refused to escape alone.”
“Xu… Sect Master Xu,” Yuchi Xiao sat in the front row of the guest seat, looking at Xu Shuangce on the high platform not far away, his voice trembling, “Please wake up, this is all just a projection of the disaster twenty years ago. Can’t you remember? Mrs. Xu, she’s about to… She’s about to…”
The sky was clouded, and the wind grew stronger. Xu Shuangce seemed as if he hadn’t heard, just staring at the figure in the golden red wedding gown outside the ancestral hall gate.
A chill rose in Yuchi Xiao’s heart: “What should we do now?”
Xu Shuangce’s most dreaded memory was undoubtedly the moment of the bride’s death. When that moment arrived, the Mirror Technique would amplify his fear, resentment, and madness a thousandfold, causing the collapsing illusion to engulf the domain lord and bury the souls of all outsiders within it, leaving no escape for anyone.
Surrounded by countless faceless figures, Meng Yunfei suddenly withdrew his gaze and whispered, “There’s something I don’t understand.”
“What is it?”
“Why did Law Flower Immortal want to kill the bride?”
The cause of Madam Xu’s death had always been a subject of speculation. Some said she died of illness, some said she was poisoned, and there were countless conspiracy theories, most of which implicated Law Flower Immortal. Otherwise, it couldn’t explain why Sect Master Xu had been at odds with Grand Elder Gong for so many years.
But Grand Elder Gong had always been cheerful and well-liked by the people. Considering his character, it seemed implausible that he would kill an innocent woman simply because of his conflict with Master Xu.
The rules of the Immortal Sect dictate respect for elders, and juniors should not question the actions of their elders, let alone doubt them. Therefore, decades later, the new generation was hesitant to probe into the grudges between the grandmasters, especially Yuchi Xiao, who was raised strictly according to the rules of his family. “Well…”
Meng Yunfei gestured for him to look at the bride in the distance and whispered, “Look, Madam Xu has a face now.”
Yuchi Xiao suddenly stopped, focused his gaze, and saw the red veil fluttering lightly. The face of “Madam Xu” actually had faint contours, especially the raised nose, and it seemed as if she was talking to the two bridesmaids beside her.
Her face was no longer smooth!
But how could she suddenly have a face?
Yuchi Xiao suddenly noticed the hands revealed under her wedding dress. Against the gorgeous red silk, those hands were so fair that they seemed almost transparent, with slender and elegant fingers that seemed to radiate light.
A thought suddenly struck Yuchi Xiao, almost impossible, but at this moment, the emcee repeated for the third time, “Bride, disembark—”
Xu Shuangce showed no signs of displeasure on his face and said slowly, “Why the delay?”
Gong Wei paused, stood still for a moment, finally took a deep breath, and under the support of the faceless females on both sides, stepped over the high threshold, ascended the stone steps step by step, and finally stopped in front of Xu Shuangce.
Then both of his hands suddenly turned cold, as Xu Shuangce reached out and grabbed them.
Xu Shuangce’s fingers were terrifyingly cold, as if he wanted to say something but for some reason opened and closed his mouth without speaking, just smiling at the bride in front of him, embroidered with golden cloud and crane patterns.
Gong Wei, knowing that any hesitation could be fatal, finally took a deep breath and said, “Wake up, Xu Bai. Madam Xu is already dead.”
“…”
After a long silence, Xu Shuangce seemed as if he hadn’t heard anything, hoarsely saying, “You’re not dead.”
Xu Shuangce’s expression seemed unchanged, but if someone dared to approach and observe carefully, they would notice that he was staring deeply and intently at the bride in front of him, without even a flicker of his pupils.
Gong Wei knew that from the moment he drew his sword, Xu Shuangce would strike without hesitation, and even a split second of distraction could result in his own head flying off his neck. So he dared not be distracted and asked gently, “Do you remember what happened the last time you held Madam Xu like this?”
Xu Shuangce furrowed his long brows.
Gong Wei continued, “That time, the Qiongqi shattered the earth, and the boulders fell like rain. You refused to let her go and escape alone, so you couldn’t break free from the emotional barrier.”
The thunderous roar of the downpour came through time and space. In the illusionary beast cave twenty years ago, “General Bai” firmly held the bride’s hand, while the “bride” herself was already pinned under the mad Qiongqi. He couldn’t pull her out at all.
As the earth shook and the sky darkened, Gong Wei couldn’t break free from the hand opposite him amidst the violent shaking darkness. He tried everything, but he couldn’t make General Bai let go of him and escape alone. At this moment, a thunderous roar shook the sky, and huge rocks split apart and fell down with the force of thousands of tons!
“Ah Tao,” General Bai said hoarsely, blood dripping from his mouth, “Let’s die together today.”
Gong Wei’s mind exploded.
The next moment, the surrounding illusion suddenly froze, countless small and large rocks suspended in mid-air. The huge Qiongqi, bathed in blood, opened its mouth to howl, but its movements were frozen. In the complete silence, Gong Wei’s soul separated from the body of the “bride.” General Bai heard a young voice from above, seemingly with inexplicable confusion: “Why do we have to die?”
…
General Bai’s soul had been severely damaged, and he was in a daze, as if trapped in a long and absurd nightmare.
Gong Wei reached out from behind and pressed his hand onto General Bai’s, who tightly grasped the bride and refused to let go. There was a hint of innocent encouragement in his tone: “As long as you escape, you can break through the emotional barrier. Haven’t you always wanted to ascend?”
Time seemed to freeze, and it took a long time before General Bai’s bewildered voice came: “I don’t want to break through the emotional barrier.”
“Why not?”
“I love her.”
Gong Wei blinked, not understanding: “What do you love about her?”
“…I don’t know,” General Bai murmured, “I’ve loved her since the first moment I saw her. I also… don’t know why.”
But what exactly is this feeling of love?
Is it possible for someone to fall in love with an object they cannot see or hear?
Gong Wei became even more confused. After pondering for a moment, he said with increasing certainty, “So you’ve truly fallen into the emotional barrier.”
“Is that so?” General Bai replied wearily, “It doesn’t matter, let’s just die here together, I already feel… it doesn’t matter anymore.”
However, Gong Wei disagreed and slowly pried open General Bai’s hand, which was covered in wounds and refused to let go of the bride. He said, “Although you will die one day, dying in the illusion is useless.”
General Bai didn’t understand what that meant, and suddenly everything around them that had been frozen began to move again—The Qiongqi roared as flames erupted from its throat, and boulders the size of small mountains came crashing down. Gong Wei grabbed his hand firmly, and with resolute force, he thrust forward!
As his fingertip pierced flesh, blood splattered into the air, reflected in the rapidly shrinking pupils of General Bai.
“…No,” he suddenly roared in anger, “No!!”
Gong Wei tightly gripped his hand, forcibly pulled out the heart of the “bride,” and in the moment before the boulders crushed them into pulp, he flew back, dragging General Bai out of the cave. A fierce wind blew, lifting the blood from their hands into the air!
“What are you doing!” General Bai struggled and roared madly, “Who are you! What do you want!!”
Half of the mountain collapsed, the earth trembled, and countless burning rocks rained down into the abyss, burying the bodies of the ferocious beast and the bride forever. Gong Wei grabbed General Bai’s arm from behind, leaned close to his ear, and said seriously, “The word ‘love’ may not necessarily lead to an emotional barrier, but you’ve only fallen for an illusory shadow. Your barrier has been broken by killing, wake up, Xu Bai.”
General Bai slowly turned his stiffened head, with a storm brewing in his eyes, the part of his soul belonging to Xu Shuangce was awakening from its slumber with a sharp whistle.
“What are you?” he asked hoarsely.
As the distant sky collapsed, flames gushed out from the depths of the earth. Xu Shuangce’s soul surged with terrifying spiritual power, even shaking the Thousand Mirror Realm to the brink of collapse, the Illusionary World on the verge of collapse.
Gong Wei said, “Stay calm, Xu Bai. You don’t really love her, you’re just—”
Boom!
The sky finally shattered, and the earth plunged into smoke. General Bai’s hand clamped around Gong Wei’s neck, and the entire world collapsed in his rage:
“What are you—!”
***
“Do you remember now?” In the wedding hall adorned with red decorations, Gong Wei looked up at Xu Shuangce under the red veil and said earnestly, “Madam Xu is already dead, she never existed, wake up, Xu Bai.”
The sky had completely darkened, the faceless guests were oblivious, still shaking their heads and dancing joyfully, the deafening drums turning into a strange and distant background.
Suddenly, a cold wind mixed with the breath of the monster swept in from the horizon, the distant mountains collapsed, the forest roared, and the birds that covered the sky flew in alarm—
“Roar!”
A ferocious beast, shaped like a giant tiger, with hooked claws and saw-like teeth, and towering three meters tall, rushed up from the mountain gorge into the sky, its wings stirring up a hurricane. It was the Qiongqi, plunging towards the shrine!
“Is that so?” Xu Shuangce said indifferently, “If Madam Xu never existed, then who are you?”
Gong Wei didn’t answer.
Xu Shuangce seemed unaware of the chaos around him, only looking at the magnificent veil in front of him, and asked with a more serious tone, “What are you, hm?”
“…He is Law Flower Immortal…” Finally, Yuchi Xiao’s voice sounded not far away. He stood up, gripping the Gouchen Sword tightly, and said with difficulty, “You’d better wake up from the illusion quickly, Sect Master Xu. The bride in front of you… is Law Flower Immortal!”
With a loud rumble, the Qiongqi smashed the mountain waist with its front paw, and lightning struck down from the sky, striking the top of the mountain. Gong Wei stared at Xu Shuangce and said firmly, “It’s all fake, Xu Bai. As long as you wake up now, everything will disappear, everything will turn into bubbles, and there’s still time.”
Xu Shuangce closed his eyes.
The shadow descending from the sky grew larger and larger, and the bloody breath of the Qiongqi had already sprayed onto Gong Wei’s neck. In that instant, Xu Shuangce opened his eyes, his pupils gathered with divine light, and drew his sword No Way Out—
A cold light swept across the sky and earth.
In that instant, Gong Wei closed his eyes, prepared to resist the blow with his soul, but the next moment, the Qiongqi above him was cut in half.
Blood poured down like rain, drenching Xu Shuangce’s entire body!
“I know,” Xu Shuangce turned to Yuchi Xiao, towering over him, and said.
Thud! Thud! Several heavy sounds echoed, and the remnants of the Qiongqi’s heavy corpse fell on the steps. But no one could react, and there was a suffocating silence all around.
Xu Shuangce’s white gold robe was soaked in blood, making him look like he was wearing a groom’s suit. He sheathed his sword with one hand and held Gong Wei’s wrist with the other, his eyes calm and without the slightest surprise:
“The auspicious time has come, why haven’t we started the ceremony?”
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