Heaven Official's Blessing CHAPTER 10

 

Heaven Official's Blessing 

 BOOK 1: CRIMSON RAIN SOUGHT FLOWER

Ch.10: Mountain-Locked Ancient Temple; Forest of Hanging Corpses 2

 

The two dashed back to the Temple of Ming Guang, however, the back of the great hall was already absolutely empty, and there was only a pile of messily-strewn red veils where those brides stood earlier.

Seeing this sight, Xie Lian cried mentally, “This is bad, this is bad, darn it, darn it.” 

Then, he quickly picked up the veils on the ground. After he did so, he heard alarmed cries come from outside the temple. The two looked out the window and saw dozens of women in scarlet wedding dresses had formed a circle, slowly closing in on that group of villagers. 

Each of these women had pale and greenish faces carrying a smile, their arms raised at level. They were the corpses of those brides from earlier!

No one could remain calm while watching helplessly as they slowly closed in. The crowd didn’t care to grab that bandaged boy anymore, and fled. Xiao Ying immediately rushed over to support him. 

Xie Lian called out helplessly, “DON’T RUN!” 

He had lost count how many times he’d said this tonight. Whenever something happened he’d have to say it at least thirty to forty times, yet there would always be someone ignoring him, what a helpless affair. 

He waved his hand and the silk band Ruoye flew out towards the sky, then he made a casual hand sign and the silk band Ruoye began whirling in the air on its own like the mad dance of a celestial being, incredibly eye-catching. When those brides saw there was something over this way that was lively and rapidly-spinning, its tail also whipping at them from time to time, a good number of them were lured over. There were also seven that were attracted by the scent of blood in the deep of the forest, so they slowly hopped in that direction. 

Xie Lian exclaimed, “Follow them, Nan Feng! Don’t let them go down the mountain!” 

He didn’t need to worry, Nan Feng had already gone off to chase them. Two of the brides came attacking in Xie Lian’s direction, their fingers bright red, their nails sharp. Xie Lian took out the red veils he had collected off the ground earlier, tossing them out with both hands. Two of the veils spun as they shot out, covering squarely over the heads of those two brides. Instantly, their movements stalled.

As expected, when the heavy, bright red veils covered the eyes and the noses of those brides’ dead bodies, they could no longer see the shadows of mortals nor smell their scent. And since their corpses were stiff, they couldn’t bend their own arms to remove the veils; they could only grab randomly at the air with their extended arms as if they were playing hide-and-seek. A scene like this was truly both horrifying and silly. Xie Lian stood in front of them and tentatively waved his hand in front of the two brides’ eyes, and when he saw they were grabbing cluelessly in another direction, he contemplated for a moment. But, in the end he still couldn’t help but say, “Please forgive my impropriety,” before seizing their arms and placing their claws on each other’s necks.

When the two brides suddenly felt something in their hands their bodies shook, and since they couldn’t see anything, they started strangling at each other viciously. Xie Lian then quickly ran off with a wide wave of his hand, and the silk band Ruoye followed him like a streak of white rainbow before landing on the ground to form a large white circle. 

Xie Lian called after the people who were fleeing in all directions, “EVERYONE, GO INTO THE CIRCLE!” 

The group hesitated as they ran, but Xiao Ying immediately helped that bandaged boy over to stand inside. After some thought, she ran out again and dragged the little mob boss who was passed out on the ground in as well. Right then, one of the brides hopped to the edge of the white circle and her claws shot out to grab for them, yet it was as if there was a transparent wall that forcibly divided the space. 

Xiao Ying noticed she couldn’t hop in no matter how she tried, and quickly shouted, “EVERYONE COME IN, QUICK! THEY CAN’T COME INTO THIS CIRCLE!” 

When the men saw this, they hurried back like a hive of bees. Thankfully Xie Lian had the silk band Ruoye burst to a great length beforehand and the circle was big enough, otherwise he would actually be worried there would be people squeezed out because it was too cramped. The brides couldn’t hop into the circle and knew they couldn’t do anything to this side, so they uniformly spun around and lunged in Xie Lian’s direction while shrieking.

However, Xie Lian had already been waiting for them, and from his sleeve he pulled out a large bundle of veils. The many red cloths in his hands spun, up down, left right, flying in all directions, both his hands and feet moving nonstop, covering each one as they came, swift and precise. With every bride veiled, the bride would begin to slow and feel around like a blind person. The veils in his hands were spun to blurs as they were thrown with ease, forming countless red silhouettes flying in the air. The people inside the circle actually started cheering in spite of themselves. 

“NICE!” 

“Amazing, so amazing.” 

“You trained for this, right?!”

When Xie Lian heard them, he blurted out of habit, “Thank you thank you. Please support my act with money if you have the means, or support me with applause if you haven’t...WAIT???” 

Only when the words had already come out did he notice something wrong. He’d actually got caught up and let slip the speech he used to say when he busked, and hurriedly stopped himself. While he was talking, several more brides jumped up; a jump that was surprisingly over seven meters high and three meters far, and in the split of a second the stench of rot came before his eyes.

Xie Lian pushed off with the tip of his foot, his body sweeping past them, and whilst in the air, he mentally chanted the verbal password to a certain private communication array. 

“Ling Wen, Ling Wen the all-knowing! I’ve a question, do you know if the Martial God of the North, General Ming Guang, had any intimate female friends?” 

Ling Wen’s voice rang in his ear. “Your Highness, why do you ask?” 

“I’ve got a bit of a situation here right now, kind of urgent,” Xie Lian said. “Not gonna lie, there are a dozen dead people chasing me right now.” 

“Huh? That awful???” Ling Wen was shocked.

“Not too horrible,” Xie Lian said. “So, did he? I know this question is more personal in nature and it’s not easy to answer, which was why I didn’t ask in the general communication array. It’s necessary for the mission, the information will never be divulged.” 

“You’ve misunderstood, Your Highness,” Ling Wen replied. “It’s not that this question isn’t easy to answer, but it’s that Ol’ Pei really has had too many intimate female friends. Your question is so sudden, I don’t know which one you’re talking about at the moment.” 

Xie Lian almost slipped in his step. “Alright. Then, among General Pei’s intimate female friends, is there one who is possessive, extremely jealous, and has some form of handicap?” 

“Now that you’ve mentioned it, I really do recall someone,” Ling Wen replied.

Xie Lian sent another two veils flying, causing another round of applause, and he spun around, cupping his hands at the audience in thanks. “Tell me!” 

Ling Wen began, “Before Ol’ Pei ascended, he was a general. He befriended the female general of the enemy state on the battlefield, someone extremely beautiful and fierce in character. Her name was Xuan Ji.” 

“Okay, Xuan Ji,” Xie Lian acknowledged.

Ling Wen continued, “General Pei is someone who, hmm...when he sees a beautiful woman, he’d have to go and entangle himself even if there’s a blade to his throat. This woman led an army and crossed swords with him, and was defeated.”

Xuan Ji became a prisoner of war and was sent to the enemy camp. While the guards weren’t paying attention, she was going to end herself on the spot. But she never succeeded—a general cut her verdant sword in half with one swing of his blade and saved her. This dashing General Pei of the enemy state was thus the General Ming Guang who later ascended.

As for this General Pei, one, he was always someone who cherished beauties, and two, the result of the war was already determined, so even if the fighting continued back and forth, the situation was already impossible to flip. And so, Xuan Ji was released. All these ones and twos and backs and forths, it was easy to imagine what would occur. 

Just then, one of the brides caught Xie Lian’s leg and dug her fingers in, almost sinking her claws into his flesh. He wanted to kick out at first, but realized at this angle he could only kick her face. 

“Well, you can’t hit a lady’s face,” Xie Lian thought, so he changed his position and kicked her shoulder instead while sending another veil flying. “Sounds like a beautiful tale.”

“It was a beautiful tale at first,” Ling Wen said. “But what killed it was that Xuan Ji was adamant in being General Pei’s lover for the rest of his life.” 

Xie Lian ran a couple steps and leapt, scaling up the roof, then looked down at the five to six brides who continued to close in on him down below. 

He wiped his sweat. “There isn’t anything wrong for a woman to want to be the only lover in a lifetime.”

“There isn’t,” Ling Wen said. “But when two countries clash, the battlefield is heartless. Those two had originally willingly agreed that it was going to be a short-lived affair, that today would exist but not tomorrow, and speak only of romance and not of war. But someone like Ol’ Pei, I’ll be honest, it’s already pretty good if he doesn’t cheat on you.” 

“...”

“However, Xuan Ji was a dignified lady general, and intense in temperament. If it was something she wanted, she’d clutch on firmly without ever letting go…” 

“Hold on, hold on!” Xie Lian interrupted. “Tell me first, is Xuan Ji handicapped? Where is she handicapped?”

“It’s her…” Ling Wen’s voice abruptly came to a stop.

Goodness sakes; every time when he listened to the most important part, the bit of spiritual power he’d borrowed would run out. It seemed next time he’d have to get straight to the point right from the start. In between flying and jumping, Xie Lian rapidly reorganized his thoughts; if the bandaged boy wasn’t the Ghost Groom, and this group of villagers had also confirmed that the Ghost Groom wasn’t among them, then, the only place left to hide was among the seventeen brides!

When he snuck into their fold, the Ghost Groom wasn’t able to immediately spot that the numbers were wrong. On the flip side, when the Ghost Groom mixed in, Xie Lian also couldn’t notice there was an extra corpse with only one look. Now that he thought about it closely, after the silk band Ruoye had injured the Ghost Groom, he only saw a ball of black smoke stealing for the forest, but he couldn’t guarantee that the ball of black smoke contained a person for sure. What probably actually happened was that when he rushed out the temple entrance to give chase, the Ghost Groom remained in the temple full of black smoke, brushing past him and returning to the back of the hall; hiding itself like a leaf amongst the trees, and mixing in with the corpses of the brides.

Then, the “Ghost Groom” wasn’t a “Groom”, but a “Bride”——A woman dressed in a wedding dress!

Since it was a woman, then many things could be explained. For example, why there was no Temple of Ming Guang in or around Mount Yujun. It wasn’t that the locals didn’t want to build the temples, it was because they couldn’t. Xiao Ying had said, “Every time the construction of a Temple of Ming Guang was in the works, there would always be a fire for some reason halfway through the construction.” This didn’t sound like a coincidence at all, and could be nothing but arson. Why set fire to burn temples? Under normal circumstances it was because of hatred. So then why would there be a Temple of Ming Guang on Mount Yujun that was locked within an enchantment without visitors, yet the maintenance and the craftwork of the divine statue within the temple were exquisite? Why was the Ghost Bride donned in a wedding dress herself, but couldn’t bear to see other brides in wedding dresses smile when passing through Mount Yujun?

When every dot was connected, other than jealousy and possessiveness, Xie Lian couldn’t think of any other answers. And that odd sound, like cloth-covered sticks dragging something heavy, if it was truly the sound of footsteps, then Xie Lian could only think of one possibility!

Every bride that was chasing him had been veiled. Xie Lian finally landed back onto the ground, let out a light sigh, steadied himself, then straightened up to count.

One, two, three, four…Ten.

Seven brides had hopped into the forest and Nan Feng had gone to chase them. He veiled ten brides and they were all here. Then, there was one more who hadn’t shown.

Right then, he heard that familiar sound of THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP, coming from behind him.

Xie Lian slowly turned around, and an extremely short and small form reflected in his vision.

He drew in a small breath and thought, “I knew it.” 

This short and small woman before his eyes was dressed in red wedding robes, but there was no air of joy; only sorrow. The reason she was short wasn’t because that was her natural stature, but because she was kneeling on the ground.

The bones of both her legs were already broken, but the legs remained, and she had been using her knees to walk all this time. The odd THUMP THUMP sound he heard was the sound of her dragging her two broken legs to hop on the ground.