Chapter 64
Yu Wuxia finished speaking and his figure instantly dissipated.
Si Lan’s expression tightened inch by inch, containing his emotions. He turned around to gaze at the newlywed couple.
Their bridal chamber was their tomb, and after returning to their respective tombs, they would repeat this scene again and again.
The sedan bearers with their eyes sewn shut and the matchmaker went to fetch the bride, while the young groom stood in front of the wedding hall, awaiting the bride’s return, to bow in ceremony and enter their tomb.
To break this illusion, their obsession must be resolved.
And this obsession, isn’t it also Yu Wuxia’s obsession?
Yu Wuxia led him into this illusion, probably wanting him to experience this feeling as well.
Just as Si Lan hesitated about what to do next, a rift tore open in the illusionary night sky, and a tall figure with a graceful and ethereal aura stepped through the opening.
Surrounded by faint starlight, his silhouette seemed dreamlike and surreal as he approached, lotus flowers blooming under his feet, dispelling all evil spirits.
Suddenly, terrified screams of evil spirits echoed in the barren forest.
Si Lan never expected Hàowēi to emerge from the illusion so quickly and find him within this illusion. Seeing him unharmed, Si Lan’s tense expression relaxed slightly as he asked, “Are you injured?”
Si Lan shook his head.
Hàowēi wanted to take him out of the illusion directly, but Si Lan pointed to the eerie procession of the bridal party and said, “This is the challenge Yu Wuxia has set for me.”
Hàowēi glanced at the scene in the illusion and said lightly, “These should be the things Yu Wuxia once encountered.” Hàowēi’s previous illusion was in a torrent, where his father chose to rescue a distant daughter on the shore instead of a pregnant stranger nearby.
The woman, harboring resentment after death, trapped his father in an endless cycle. To break the cycle, his father had to sacrifice personal feelings for the greater good, choosing to save the pregnant stranger and abandoning his own daughter.
But no matter how many thousands of times he repeated it, the father steadfastly chose his own daughter each time, leading his soul unredeemed and forever trapped in that scene.
Haowei didn’t dispel the illusion, but out of concern for Si Lan, he broke through the illusion directly and entered the painting of “Lan” to find Si Lan.
Si Lan: “I want to dispel this illusion.”
These illusions are not only the obsessions of those involved, but also the obsessions of Yu Wuxia. Perhaps, once dispelled, they could shake the obsession of Yu Wuxia to some extent.
Haowei nodded lightly and glanced at the paper couple in the midst of their wedding ceremony, roughly guessing the reason, “Do we need to make them give up their marriage?”
“Yeah.” Si Lan landed beside the paper people, following them into the bridal chamber while explaining, “Originally, these two were in a stepmother-stepson relationship. After falling in love, they were discovered by villagers, subjected to extreme punishment, and died. After death, they turned into vengeful spirits and killed the villagers. Later, they were punished and trapped in this cycle for eternity.”
Haowei: “This punishment was probably imposed by Yu Wuxia.”
Si Lan sighed helplessly, “That’s what I think too.”
Haowei looked at the two graves inside the new house, estimating this place to be a graveyard; the joyful hall and bridal chamber before him were just illusions.
After the paper couple finished drinking their wedding wine, they were about to enter the graves. He cast a spell to create a barrier, blocking their path and preventing them from entering the graves.
They continued mechanically stepping forward, just moving step by step in place.
Haowei tried to communicate with them but found it impossible.
Do these paper people lack souls?
Approaching them, he discovered their mouths were stuffed with something like mud, preventing them from speaking at all.
Haowei: “Their mouths are stuffed.”
“What?” Si Lan also stepped forward to observe, his brow furrowed, “It seems after they died, the villagers feared they would complain to the King of Hell, so they stuffed their mouths.”
No wonder after becoming vengeful spirits, they hated the villagers so much that they slaughtered the entire village, severed their heads, and threw them into the dead wood forest, while their bodies were hung on trees.
Si Lan fell silent for a moment, then transformed into “Elder Sister” to express sympathy for their plight first, then advised them to let go of their obsession and reincarnate early.
Talking until his throat was dry, the two still did not respond. Si Lan could only awkwardly say, “If you can’t speak, even a little physical response would do.”
The two continued mechanically raising their legs, intending to enter the graves, completely ignoring Si Lan.
Si Lan realized that persuading them with this method would not dispel their obsession. He surveyed the scene of the joyful hall and bridal chamber, trying to find a clue.
His gaze finally fell on the memorial tablet. On the woman’s tablet, the left side displayed the name of the son, which was the stepson’s name, Song Lian. On the right side, there was the character for “deceased,” and in the center was written the alias of Lady Shen Tai Ru, born as Ying Yu Sheng Xilian.
The man’s tablet was much simpler, perhaps because his parents had passed away early and they had no sons or daughters. Only the four large characters “Tomb of Song Lian” were written in the center, and behind the tablet were Song Lian’s birth date and horoscope.
He picked up the tablet and examined it closely.
“Is there something wrong with the tablet?” Haowei asked.
“These two tablets are not placed on top of graves, probably because they are dissatisfied with them,” Si Lan replied.
Haowei’s brow furrowed at the sound of this, instantly understanding Si Lan’s meaning.
This deeply infatuated couple had repeated their wedding ceremony countless times, probably because each time they hadn’t truly become husband and wife.
Even after their deaths, the tablets erected for them still defined their relationship as stepmother and stepson.
This also meant that in the underworld, according to ghostly regulations, the stepmother and stepson still couldn’t marry.
But they had died and had to enter the graves, go to the underworld, and be bound by ghostly regulations.
Thinking of this, Si Lan couldn’t help but feel a pang of emotion.
From birth to death, people are bound by various rules, and it is these rules that prevent true liberation.
He gently waved his hand, and all the densely carved characters on the woman’s tablet disappeared, leaving only nine words: “Tomb of Song Lian’s wife, Shen Yingyu.”
Then, he placed this tablet next to the tablet of “Song Lian’s Tomb.”
Haowei withdrew the barrier, and the two paper figures, with wooden expressions, lifted their heads and walked into the graves.
Seeing this, Si Lan couldn’t help but feel nervous, his gaze fixed on the graves, unsure if this could resolve the couple’s entanglement.
However, after waiting for a long time without seeing any changes, thinking it had failed and about to rethink his strategy, the two paper figures unexpectedly walked out of the graves again.
The two paper figures still had pale faces with no expressions, but they knelt towards Si Lan.
They had been trapped here for a long time, wanting to change their relationship from “mother and son” to husband and wife and enter reincarnation. However, the words carved on the tablet defined them as “mother and son,” making it impossible for their last obsession to be fulfilled, preventing them from becoming a true couple each time.
Now, Si Lan had finally fulfilled their obsession.
The lips of the two figures moved slightly, their mouths filled with filth and debris, unable to speak. They could only bow their heads towards Si Lan again to express gratitude.
After bowing, the boundless black illusion before them turned into scattered silver starlight. The two paper figures had fulfilled their wishes; their figures disappeared in an instant, and the evil spirits in the dead wood forest screamed incessantly. The dark illusion around gradually gave way to scenes of reality.
Si Lan and Haowei broke free from the illusion and returned to the real world.
They stood on a desolate burial mound, facing two graves that were almost flattened by wind and rain. The tablets on the graves, however, looked unusually new, clearly engraved with words:
“Tomb of Song Lian.”
“Tomb of Song Lian’s wife, Shen Yingyu.”
Si Lan’s lips curled slightly, a sense of relief washing over him. Although he hadn’t done much except change the words on the tablets, the thought of those two ghosts finally fulfilling their long-standing wish and being able to reincarnate peacefully filled him with joy.
He imagined Yu Wuxia must be watching him right now. Looking up at the sky, he said, “I did it.”
Yu Wuxia uses “desire” to ensnare them.
While he uses “emotion” to free them.
Emotion gives rise to desire, desire turns into attachment, and attachment dissolves in emotion.
In this world, myriad things cannot escape the word “emotion.”
After Si Lan came out, he immediately used his divine sense to contact Song Cheng and Song Ye, learning that they had already rescued Xie Li from the cliff.
“Your Majesty, Xie Li kept clamoring to find Quze, and now we have brought him to Linglong Mountain.”
“…” Si Lan.
He had intended to instruct them to stay at Zhuyun Peak and not wander around, but the words stuck in his throat. Feeling somewhat helpless, he said, “How could you allow Xie Li to…”
Song Ye slightly embarrassedly said, “Your Majesty, we thought he was just an ordinary demon monk. Thinking that my brother and I could rescue Quze, we pursued them to Linglong Mountain.”
“Linglong Mountain is filled with numerous formations. Don’t move outside Linglong Mountain.”
After Si Lan finished his instructions, there was no response for a long time, and he sensed something was wrong: “Song Cheng, Song Ye…”
“Your Majesty, I’m here.”
Song Cheng spoke up, his voice somewhat low and embarrassed, “Your Majesty, we accidentally entered a formation. This formation is pentagram-shaped, and inside it’s full of monsters and demons…”
“…” Si Lan.
At this moment, little Xie Li also joined in with his divine sense, saying, “Your Majesty, when are you coming? Wah, I’m so scared. That demon monk looks very powerful, and the monsters inside this formation are so fierce…”
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll come over right away. Remember to stay close to the two protectors and don’t wander around.” Si Lan rubbed his brow, suppressing the urge to curse. They dared to go to such a dangerous place as Linglong Mountain, and not only that, they had even broken into the pentagram formation.
He felt like he had just started a game, only to find that all his teammates had been captured by monsters.
“Alright, Your Majesty, wah, we’ll wait for you…”
“Mm.”
After saying that, Si Lan sighed, feeling helpless, and informed Haowei about Xie Li and the Song brothers’ accidental entry into the pentagram formation.
Haowei’s expression turned serious: “Then let’s hurry to Linglong Mountain.”
The two didn’t dare delay and immediately cast their spells to rush to Linglong Mountain. Si Lan knew that this trip to Linglong Mountain meant they were going to have a battle. Winning meant nothing would change, but losing would require rebuilding the Six Realms.
The world remained the same, but the people and events within it had changed.
However, from the illusionary pair of paper people, Si Lan gained inspiration. He wondered if Yu Wuxia’s weakness might also lie in his desires?
If he could unite him with the Great Immortal Jia Heng, could it prevent disaster?
Lost in such wild thoughts, Si Lan couldn’t help but say aloud, “But if that’s the case, wouldn’t Great Immortal Jia Heng have to sacrifice his chastity?”
Haowei glanced at him askance, his eyelids slightly lowered, and then heard him say, “For the Six Realms, a temporary sacrifice of chastity is also a Bodhisattva’s act of self-sacrifice and salvation of others, so the most urgent task is still to persuade Great Immortal Jia Heng to sacrifice himself…”
“…” Haowei.
Unable to tolerate any longer, Haowei reached out and lightly tapped the back of his neck, saying calmly, “If it were that simple, you wouldn’t have reincarnated so many times without successfully stopping Yu Wuxia.”
Si Lan awkwardly responded, “Perhaps it was because I didn’t successfully persuade Great Immortal Jia Heng before?”
“Oh, even if that’s true, how do you feel you can persuade Great Immortal Jia Heng in this lifetime?”
Si Lan pursed his lips in response.
Haowei sensed he had sounded a bit confrontational just now, so he lightly coughed and softened his tone, saying gently, “Yu Wuxia is naturally rebellious. Regarding Great Immortal Jia Heng, he’s entirely driven by his own will, which only stirs up his rebellious nature. You could say Great Immortal Jia Heng is his desire and his emotion, something he wants to attain, but it’s not a weakness.”
Si Lan found this reasoning quite convincing and couldn’t help but sigh, “When I was a mortal, my only worry was not having enough money. Back then, flying around in the sky seemed like an unattainable dream. I thought that achieving enlightenment would make everything perfect. Now I realize, being human has its own hardships, and being a demon has its own burdens.”
Haowei thought Si Lan might be having a relapse of “dissociative identity disorder” and saying strange things again, so he reached out and pulled him closer, soothingly saying, “Don’t think too much. You forgot what Zhiyou Shenjun said—this lifetime, you have me.”
Perhaps Yu Wuxia knew he was a variable, which was why he came to disrupt him during his tribulation with the Divine Emperor.
The corner of Si Lan’s mouth twitched slightly, almost showing a smile, “If I have the chance to get close to Yu Wuxia and use the Transmission Return Spell, I might just find his weakness.”
Then, seemingly lost in thought, Si Lan added, “The magic I obtained from Jiuying this lifetime is also a variable.”
“Mm.” Haowei gently traced his finger around the back of Si Lan’s neck, silently calming his emotions.
Although Si Lan hadn’t shown any obvious signs of stress these days, Haowei could feel the pressure and tension in him. His breathing deepened slightly when he rested at night, and his brow furrowed deeply.
Upon reflection, Si Lan seemed more like someone with a solitary destiny.
For over a thousand years, he had never truly felt at ease.
The more Haowei understood him, the more he felt sorry for him. As the Great Demon King who grew up in such illusions, without a bold and optimistic heart, he might have long succumbed to melancholy.
The silhouette of Linglong Mountain was already faintly visible in the sky. At the summit, strange golden lights appeared, weaving into bizarre shapes like blooming flowers.
Suddenly, Haowei spoke up, “After we finish at Linglong Mountain, I’ll have Wudao take people to the Demon Realm for marriage proposals.”
Si Lan remained silent for a while before saying, “Okay.”
He hoped that this lifetime would finally break the cycle, so he wouldn’t meet this arrogant little white dragon again.
T/N: Hey there! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
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What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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