Heaven Official's Blessing CHAPTER 8

 

Heaven Official's Blessing 

 BOOK 1: CRIMSON RAIN SOUGHT FLOWER

Ch.8: Ghost Takes a Bride; Crown Prince Mounts the Bridal Sedan

 

Should he give his hand, or no?

Xie Lian didn’t move, he hadn’t decided yet. Should he continue to sit tall and still, or pretend to be a bride who was frightened and at a loss hiding away? The owner of that hand was rather patient, and incredibly well-mannered. He didn’t move, and so he didn’t move either, seeming to be waiting there for his response.

A moment later, as if something had taken control of him, Xie Lian reached out.

He rose to his feet, ready to push aside the curtain to descend the sedan, but the other had already moved first, lifting the red curtain. The one who had come grasped his hand, but the hold wasn’t too firm, as if afraid he’d be hurt. He somehow gave the impression of treating him with the utmost care.

Xie Lian had his head bowed, letting the man guide him slowly out of the sedan. Below the veil, Xie Lian could see the dead body of a wolf the silk band Ruoye had strangled to death by his feet. An idea came to him, and Xie Lian lightly tripped, falling forward with an alarmed gasp.

The man immediately reached out and caught him.

Xie Lian also twisted his hand and caught the man’s arm, and felt something cold. It turned out the man was wearing a pair of silver vambraces around his wrists.

The vambrace was exquisite and beautiful, with decorative and primitive patterns. Maple leaves, butterflies, and savage beasts were engraved upon them; quite mysterious and unlike anything from the Midlands, but moreso akin to the ancient objects of foreign tribes. With them locked around the man’s wrists, they appeared refined and agile.

Icy silver and fair hands without a trace of life, but carried a killing and evil aura.

Xie Lian’s trip and fall earlier was a feint; he had the mind to test this man. The silk band Ruoye had been circling languidly inside the large and expansive sleeves of his celebratory robe, waiting to strike at a moment’s notice. However, the man only took his hand and guided him forward.

First, Xie Lian couldn’t see the path clearly with the veil on, second, he had the mind to delay time, thus, he purposely walked very slowly. Yet the other matched his pace and walked slowly with him, the other arm coming around to support him every now and then, as if afraid Xie Lian would trip again. 

No matter how high on guard Xie Lian was, to be treated this way, he couldn’t help but think, “If he was a real groom, then he’d genuinely be a most gentle and considerate one.”

Just then, he suddenly heard an exceedingly soft clinkling sound; with every step the two took, that sound would ring crisply. Just as he was mulling over what that sound could be, there was suddenly the low, suppressed growls of wild beasts from all around.

Feral wolves!

Xie Lian’s form jerked slightly, and the silk band Ruoye suddenly snapped tight on his wrist.

Yet who knew, before he could do anything, the man who was holding his hand softly tapped the back of his hand like he was comforting him, telling him not to worry. These two taps were so soft, so gentle. Xie Lian was slightly taken aback, but that low growling was already suppressed. When Xie Lian listened closely, he suddenly realized that these feral wolves weren’t growling, but whimpering.

That was clearly the whimpering of beasts that had reached the peak of fear, and could not move while they struggled before death.

Now his curiosity for who this man was was even stronger. He wanted to lift the veil to take a look first, but he knew that wasn’t the best course of action, so he could only peek through the crack underneath the red covering; his view limited and missing the big picture. The only thing he saw was the lower hem of a vividly red robe, and below the red robe were a pair of black leather boots walking languidly.

Those black leather boots were wrapped tight, and going upwards there were a pair of long and slender legs, looking extremely beautiful as they walked. On the sides of the black boots there dangled two thin, broken silver chains; with every step, the silver chains would sway, clinking and crinkling, sounding extremely nice. 

The steps were unhurried and languid but light, much like a young man’s. However, his every step was confident, like there was nothing that could stand in his way. If anyone dared to block him, then he’d rip them to pieces. Thus, now Xie Lian couldn’t say just who exactly this character was.

Just as he was deep in thought, suddenly, something hauntingly white on the ground intruded on his vision.

It was a skull. 

Xie Lian’s step faltered for a moment. 

He could tell with one look that the way the skull was placed was amiss. This was clearly a point in some array; if moved, the entire enchanted array would probably attack this point in the blink of a second. But judging by that youth’s steps, it was as if he didn’t notice there was anything there at all. Xie Lian was just thinking on whether he should warn him when he heard the crisp sound of a tragic CRACK! The youth stepped down, and instantly crushed this skull to dust.

And then, as if he sensed nothing, he walked over, stepping through that mound of dust indifferently. 

Xie Lian, “...”

He actually, with just one step, crushed the entire enchantment into a mound of wasted dust…

Just then, that youth’s step paused. Xie Lian tensed, wondering if he was about to do something now, but that youth only stopped for a moment before continuing to guide Xie Lian along. After a couple steps, suddenly there was pitter-patter from above, as if beads of raindrops were beating down on the surface of an umbrella. Turns out, that youth had opened an umbrella and raised it over both their heads.

Although it wasn’t the time for it, Xie Lian couldn’t help but praise inwardly that he really was quite considerate, but at the same time, very curious as well. 

“Is it raining?” 

Within the mystic black mountain, the vast wilderness, somewhere deep in the far distant ranges there came the long howls of the wolves. Perhaps it was because a slaughtering had just occurred inside the mountain, but the faint scent of blood was still permeating in the cold, frigid air.

Everything about this situation was oddly charming to the extreme. That youth held him in one hand and the umbrella in the other as he walked languidly on, appearing for no reason to be bewitchingly romantic and deeply affectionate.

That strange shower came strangely and ended strangely as well; it wasn’t long before the dripping sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella disappeared. That youth also came to a stop, seeming to have put away the umbrella. Then at the same time, he finally let go of Xie Lian’s hand and moved one step closer.

The hand that had been holding his own this entire way softly folded a corner of the veil, and slowly raised it upwards.

Xie Lian had been waiting for this moment the entire time. He stood still, watching as the tormenting red curtain was slowly pulled up——

The silk band shot out!

It wasn’t because killing aura had stirred in that youth, but because the man must be apprehended first; control him, then talk later!

Yet unexpectedly, when the silk band Ruoye flew out and carried with it a blast of wind, that bright red veil left that youth’s hand, fluttering up then down. Before Xie Lian had the chance to see the remnant shadow of that red-robed youth, the silk band Ruoye had shot through him.

And that youth shattered into thousands of silver butterflies, scattering into a breeze of silver twinkling stars.

While it wasn’t the time for it, after Xie Lian had backed a couple of steps away, he couldn’t help but sigh in awe. This sight truly was as beautiful as a fantastic dream. 

Just then, one silver butterfly flew past his eyes errantly, but when he tried to look closer, that single silver butterfly fluttered twice around him before joining the wind of butterflies, melting into a part of the silver that enveloped the sky as they fluttered their wings to fly into the night.

It was a good while before Xie Lian came back around, and he wondered, “So was that youth the Ghost Groom?” 

In his opinion, he didn’t think so. And if those wolves on Mount Yujun were his subordinates, then why would they appear so terrified upon seeing him? And if that enchanted array on the way was set up by the Ghost Groom, then he so casually…crushed it.

The more he pondered, the stranger this was. But then Xie Lian tossed the silk band Ruoye over his shoulder and thought, “Well, whatever. He could also just be someone passing by. I’ll leave this for now and focus on the proper business.” 

But after scanning around, he eh-ed. Turns out, not far away was a building standing there somberly. 

Since that youth had brought him here and this building was so painstakingly hidden inside this enchantment array, then Xie Lian must go inside to take a look.

Xie Lian took a few steps, then halted abruptly. After some thought, he turned back, picked up the veil that was on the ground, patted it off and clutched it in his hand before continuing to make his way to the building.

This building was a tall structure with red walls, the bricks and wood appearing rather mottled, much like an aged local town temple. However, based on Xie Lian’s experience, this design was most likely a martial god temple. Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw the large, solidly metal words nailed on the top of the entrance:

“Temple of Ming Guang”! 

The Martial God of the North, General Ming Guang, was also that General Pei that Ling Wen spoke of in the communication array, whose worship was abundant in the north. No wonder they didn’t find any Temples of Ming Guang nearby, but found a Temple of Nan Yang. Turns out, the Temple of Ming Guang on Mount Yujun had long since been locked away by an enchantment array. Could this Ghost Groom have anything to do with General Ming Guang?

However, this General Ming Guang was a mighty and unapproachable great heavenly official flushed with success, plus his status in the north was very secure, so personally, Xie Lian didn’t think a heavenly official like that would have any connection with a malicious creature like the Ghost Groom. It wasn’t anything strange to have one’s base be unfortunately overtaken by a malicious creature unknowingly. He’d have to wait and see what the truth really was.

He walked up to the temple and the doors were closed but not locked, so when he pushed they opened. After pushing the doors in, a strange smell came assaulting his senses.

It wasn’t the dusty air common to an unvisited place of many years, but a faint stench of rot.

Xie Lian closed the doors behind him to make it seem like no one had entered, then crossed the threshold into the temple. Within the centre of the great hall was a martial god statue, naturally being that Martial God of the North, General Ming Guang. Many humanoid objects, such as sculptures, puppets, and portraits, were easily tainted by the aura of evil. Thus, the first thing Xie Lian did was to go up and look closely at this martial god statue.

After examining it for a while, his conclusion was: this divine statue was exquisitely sculpted. Wielding a sacred sword and wearing a jaded belt, his appearance handsome with an imposing bearing. There weren’t any issues, and the rotting smell didn’t come from this divine statue either. Thus, Xie Lian stopped caring for it and started to make his way to the back of the great hall.

After turning around, Xie Lian’s entire person froze, and his pupils shrank.

A group of women dressed in bright red wedding robes, with their heads covered with veils, stood tall before him.

That faint stench of rot had been exuding from these women. 

Xie Lian quickly steadied himself, then started counting. One, two, three, four…until he counted to seventeen. 

They were the seventeen brides who went missing in the Mount Yujun area!

The red on some of the wedding dresses was already faded, exceedingly old and tattered, so they should be the earliest brides who went missing. Some of the brides were still wearing brand-new wedding dresses, and the styles were new too, the smell of aged rotting corpses still very light on them, so they must be the ones who recently went missing. Xie Lian thought for a moment, then removed the veil of one of the brides.

It was a tragically-pale face under the bright red veil, so white that it was faintly glowing green, and with the soft light of the moon shining upon it, it was quite horrifying. But the most horrifying part was, while the muscle of this woman’s face was already twisted with death, on this twisted face hung a stiff smile.

Xie Lian pulled off the veil of the next woman, and there were the same curled lips.

An entire building full of dead people, and they were all dressed in wedding robes with a smile on their faces.

That strange nursery rhyme sung by that little child seemed to be sounding in Xie Lian’s ears again, “New bride, new bride, new bride in the red bridal sedan…Brimming tears, past the hills, smile not under the bridal veil…”

Suddenly, there was a strange sound coming from outside the temple.

It truly was a strange sound. So strange that it was hard to describe; like two sticks wrapped in heavy cloth were violently thumping on the ground, but also like it was dragging something heavy, pulling with difficulty on the ground. That sound went from far to close and it came very quickly, it was merely an instant before it reached the entrance of the Temple of Ming Guang. CREAAAK, the doors of the Temple of Ming Guang opened.

Whatever had come, whether it be human or creature, was most likely that Ghost Groom. And now, it had returned!

There was nowhere to escape in the back of the hall, nor anywhere to hide. Xie Lian’s mind spun for a second. Seeing this row of brides, he instantly put on his own veil anew, joining the line himself and standing still.

If there were only five to six corpses standing there, then of course it’d be easy to see that the numbers weren’t correct. But there were seventeen corpses of brides here, and unless each one was counted like he did earlier, then it’d be difficult to notice someone was mixed in.

He’d only just joined the line before he heard that strange THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP “walk” in.

Xie Lian remained still while he pondered, “Just what is this sound? By the length and pauses, it’s a bit like the sound of footsteps, but what creature’s footsteps sound like this? It’s definitely not the youth who brought me here, he was very at ease, and when he walked it clinked.” 

Suddenly, he realized something, and his heart violently lurched. 

“Oh no, my height is wrong!”

These corpses were all women, but he was an authentic male through and through, and was born a notch taller than women. While an extra person couldn’t be noticed with a glance, if there was someone particularly tall in the group of corpses, then it was very noticeable!

But, his mind spun again, and Xie Lian quickly collected himself once more. He certainly was taller than these brides, but that girl Xiao Ying had only tied a simple ponytail for him and didn’t do much else. The brides here were each richly-dressed to the nines, their hairdos shooting for the skies; there were even some who were wearing phoenix crowns, a giant piece raising high on their heads, so they might not be shorter than him, considering. Even if he was tall, he shouldn’t be that conspicuous.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a SSHHHH sound that was about two meters away from him.

A moment later, there was another SSHHHH, and this time, it was a bit closer.

Xie Lian realized what this Ghost Groom was doing now.

It was pulling off the veil of each one of the brides and checking the faces of the corpses one by one!

PANG!

If he didn’t strike now, then when was a better time? The silk band Ruoye shot out and hit that Ghost Groom squarely.

There was a large rumble, and a black smoke assaulted his face. Xie Lian didn’t know whether that demonic smoke was toxic or not, but since he had no spiritual light to shield his body, he immediately covered his nose and mouth while at the same time, prompted Ruoye to whirl widely to vent the air, dispersing that black smoke. There was more THUMP THUMP, THUMP THUMP, and when Xie Lian cracked open his eyes, he saw a small and short form by the entrance of the temple flashing past. The entrance was thrown open, and a ball of black smoke stole for the forest.

Xie Lian made the decision on the spot and chased after it immediately. Yet who knew, he hadn’t gone far before seeing fires blazing within the woods, and the screaming and shouting of rampage came from the distance. 

“CHARGE——!” 

The voice of a youth was particularly loud and clear. “CATCH THE UGLY FREAK AND EXTERMINATE EVIL FOR THE PEOPLE! CATCH THE UGLY FREAK AND EXTERMINATE EVIL FOR THE PEOPLE! WE’LL SPLIT THE REWARD MONEY EVENLY!” 

It was indeed that little mob boss. Xie Lian gave a frustrated cry inwardly; this group said they were going to come into the mountain, and they actually did. There was originally an enchanted array covering the place so whatever, but this array was just crushed to smithereens by that youth earlier. And this group, with their blind luck, actually found the place. Upon a second look, the direction they’d come from just so happened to be the direction where the Ghost Groom had fled!

Xie Lian grabbed the silk band Ruoye and charged out, shouting, “DON’T MOVE!” 

The group froze for a moment. He was about to say more when he heard the little mob boss inquire warmly, “My lady! You were kidnapped by the Ghost Groom, right? What’s your name? We’re here to rescue you, you can relax now!” 

Xie Lian was taken aback, finding this hilarious before remembering that he was still dressed in women’s attire. There were no mirrors inside the Temple of Nan Yang, so he didn’t know how he looked like right now, but based on their reaction, Lady Xiao Ying’s hands must be nimble. Whilst in shock, this group actually took him for a real bride, and this little mob boss was probably hoping he would be that seventeenth bride so he could go collect the reward money. However, given the situation, he could not allow these villagers to run amok no matter what, in addition to the fact that he couldn’t guarantee whether the Ghost Groom had kept fleeing onwards. 

Coincidentally, right then, two black-clad youths came rushing over, and Xie Lian immediately called, “NAN FENG, FU YAO, COME AID ME, QUICK!” 

When those two heard and looked over, they were both taken aback, then backed a couple steps away. Xie Lian had to ask many times before they came around.

Xie Lian asked, “Did you two come from that direction? Did you run into anything on the way?” 

“No!” Nan Feng replied.

“Good,” Xie Lian said. “Fu Yao, immediately follow this path down to search, search once all around, to make sure the Ghost Groom isn’t escaping.”

Fu Yao turned and left when he heard the instructions. 

Xie Lian then said, “Nan Feng, you stay and guard this place, and make sure not a single person leaves. If Fu Yao doesn’t find that Ghost Groom in the mountain, then it must be in that crowd right now!” 

Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in commotion. The little mob boss had realized he wasn’t a woman by now and he was the first to jump. 

“Not a single one can leave? ON WHAT BASIS?! ARE THERE NO LAWS IN THIS LAND? Guys, don’t listen to them…” 

He hadn’t yet landed from his jump when Nan Feng struck out with his hand, and a large tree the width of one man hugging around snapped and collapsed. The crowd instantly remembered that this young man chopped things whenever there was a disagreement, and if he chopped them like that pillar, then any form of monetary repayment would be useless, so they all shut up. 

The little mob boss exclaimed, “You said the Ghost Groom is among us? Every single one of us has a proper name and family, if you don’t believe me, use a torch to light up everyone’s face and check individually!”

“Nan Feng,” Xie Lian called.

Nan Feng took the torch from the little mob boss and went around to shine it on every single person. Each face was covered in sweat, or nervous, or at a loss, or excited, all extremely spirited. 

Xie Lian couldn’t discern anything and he came before the crowd. “Everyone, I apologize for any offense earlier, but I injured that Ghost Groom and it escaped. It definitely couldn’t have gone far. My two little friends here didn’t bump into it on the way here, so I’m afraid this creature is mixed within the group. Will you please take a good look at each other, see each other’s faces clearly, and see if there’s anyone you don’t know in the crowd.” 

When the crowd heard that the Ghost Groom could be mixed within their own group of people, their blood ran cold and they didn’t dare to be careless, peering at each other, you looking at me and me looking at you. They looked for a while when there was a sudden yell.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?” 

Xie Lian’s brows jumped and he pushed himself over. “WHO IS IT?” 

The little mob boss snatched someone else’s torch and shined it at the corner. “THIS UGLY FREAK!” 

The one he was pointing at was Xiao Ying. Xiao Ying’s slanted eyes and crooked nose appeared somewhat contorted under the firelight, and she looked like she couldn’t bear to be exposed under the light, raising her arms to block her face. 

“I…I was worried, so I wanted to come up and look…”

Seeing how alarmed she looked, Xie Lian took away the torch in the little mob boss’ hand and turned to the others. “How is it, everyone?” 

The group all shook their heads. 

“There isn’t anyone we don’t know.” 

“We’ve seen everyone here.” 

“Could it be possessing someone?” Nan Feng asked.

Xie Lian hummed for a moment. “It shouldn’t have, that was a solid body.” 

“Since it was already a Savage, it’s hard to say whether it can change shape,” Nan Feng said.

While the two were hesitating, the little mob boss was again the first to shout, “THE GHOST GROOM ISN’T AMONG US, DO YOU SEE? IF YOU SEE, THEN WHY WON’T YOU LET US GO??” 

Scattered voices agreed here and there, and Xie Lian gave them a sweeping look. 

“Will everyone please stay here in front of this Temple of Ming Guang and not move even half a step away.” 

The group was about to complain again, but when they saw Nan Feng’s cold glare, they didn’t dare. 

Just then, Fu Yao had also returned. He reported, “There’s nothing nearby.”

Gazing at this heavily-packed crowd before the Temple of Ming Guang, Xie Lian slowly said, “Then, it must be within this group of people.” 

CHAPTER 9