Chapter 32

Don’t ever what? Shen Qing’s mind filled with questions. Then she snapped back to herself. That previous life had already passed; it had been buried with her death. The present was what mattered most.
With that thought, she curled her lip and glared at the back of his head, silently cursing, “Mangy bastard.”
The sound was so faint it was practically nothing. Li Daoxuan seemed not to hear at all as he carried her easily across the field of bone spikes. Strangely enough, those lethal spikes turned to powder under his feet, as soft as mud.
The corridor of the underground palace was long. After who knew how much time, Li Daoxuan suddenly stopped.
Before them lay a pool of water. The only path across was a single ancient log, overgrown with moss, stretching across the center.
The surface of the pool was glass-still, like dead water. Its color was a murky green, and no one could say what lurked within or what might be at the bottom. In such a place, no sane person would lightly attempt to cross.
Staring at that narrow log, Shen Qing asked, “Does Your Highness dare to carry me across that single-plank bridge?”
Perhaps because he had her on his back, the pain in Li Daoxuan’s body had eased somewhat; his mind was clearer, not as muddled as before.
Hearing her question, he only answered with two words. “I don’t dare.”
Once his head cleared, his mind naturally had room to think. Li Daoxuan spoke again, “It seems Lady Shen is no longer in danger.”
Before Shen Qing could react, the hand that had been supporting her suddenly loosened. Her body sank heavily. Fortunately, she reacted swiftly, looping her arms around Li Daoxuan’s neck, her feet barely touching the ground. Only after she steadied herself did she let go.
Seeing that she had already been exposed, Shen Qing stopped pretending altogether.
She had expected him to call her to account, but when she lifted her eyes, she found Li Daoxuan staring motionlessly at the stone wall.
Since he was so absorbed in the wall, Shen Qing moved to the narrow wooden bridge and cautiously tested the smooth surface with her foot. Nothing happened.
She then plucked the bright earring hanging from her ear and gently tossed it toward the center of the bridge. Unexpectedly, the moment the earring touched the wood, a plume of green smoke surged up from the water, enveloping it with a sharp sizzling sound. In an instant, the earring corroded into a puddle of liquid.
Shen Qing immediately withdrew her foot and retreated several steps, cold sweat pouring down her back. Had she taken just a few more steps earlier, her life would have been forfeit again.
Li Daoxuan noticed the commotion and glanced at her before sneering, “A rabbit.”
On the surface, Shen Qing smiled at him, her brows curved pleasantly, as though she hadn’t taken the remark to heart. In truth, she rolled her eyes hard inside.
Uncertain what dangers lay ahead, she wisely refrained from talking back.
Li Daoxuan soon turned his gaze back to the stone wall.
Only then did Shen Qing sense something amiss. She stepped closer and examined the wall carefully. After a moment, she indeed discovered something.
There were several paintings, rendered in brownish-red hues. Unfortunately, the wall lamps were hung too high, and the paintings were positioned below them, leaving the images shrouded in dim light and difficult to make out clearly.
Shen Qing was just about to tiptoe to retrieve a lamp when Li Daoxuan beat her to it, lifting his hand and easily taking down the oil lamp. She silently withdrew her outstretched hand.
Using the lamplight, she discreetly studied Li Daoxuan’s face. Seeing his calm expression and the return of his perpetually lifeless gaze, she knew he was back to normal.
With the oil lamp, the two of them could finally see clearly.
The paintings seemed to depict a married couple, yet also not quite.
That was because the style was extremely abstract. The figures were barely distinguishable as male or female, with oversized heads, tiny bodies, and limbs reduced to a few simple lines.
However, in several of the paintings, a woman was clearly wearing bridal attire, while the man’s clothing was indistinct, loose and disheveled, with wide sleeves and hair left unbound. It looked nothing like wedding garments.
Shen Qing followed the sequence of the paintings to the first one. It showed two children, a boy and a girl, playing in a tree. Beneath the tree were several crooked lines, seemingly representing a river.
It was as if the painter had merely been recording events. Aside from smiling in the tree, the two figures held no deeper meaning.
In the second painting, the two had grown a little older. The boy stood by a window reading, and from his perspective, a smiling girl could be seen crouching at the corner of a wall.
Then came another painting: they were older still, at the same tree, except now there was a swing. The girl sat swinging, while the boy practiced martial forms beside her.
By the time they had grown into youths of marriageable age, the boy stood in a hall, surrounded by elders inspecting him. Nearby stood a young woman as well.
Just as Shen Qing assumed this girl was the one from before, she saw the boy’s head twist unnaturally within the painting, turning to stare straight at the courtyard wall. Above that wall, a girl had appeared at some point.
So the paintings could move.
Shen Qing suddenly understood, the girl on the wall was the one who had grown up with the boy. For reasons unknown, he was now negotiating marriage with someone else.
After that, the scenes grew increasingly chaotic and disordered.
First came a painting of the girl in bridal robes on the swing, while the boy, now dressed in those strange garments, pushed her. In front of them, the river surged violently, dazzling the eye.
Next was the most normally drawn painting of all. Beneath the familiar tree, the swing was gone. A bridal sedan chair stood alone in the middle of the river, while several people passed by carrying a coffin.
Most unsettling of all, the boy sat atop the coffin, his eyes fixed on the sedan chair in the river, blood streaming down from his eyes like tears.
The final painting showed only a river and a tree. The boy stood in the middle of the river, staring straight at the tree, one hand reaching toward it. Sitting in the tree was a girl in bridal attire, gazing back at him, her hands folded neatly on her knees.
Shen Qing stared at the last painting, her breathing suddenly quickening.
The boy in the river had coarse stitches at his limbs and neck, as though someone had severed them and crudely sewn them back together.
At a glance, Shen Qing knew he was the master of the underground palace, and the malevolent entity who had wreaked havoc in the Eastern Market in her past life, luring her senior brother away. The Bai Shuisha, something far more sinister than ordinary water fiends.
Those stitched limbs and neck were precisely the hallmarks of a Bai Shuisha.
Strictly speaking, Bai Shuishas were not demons, but evils. They were formed from the vengeful souls of those who had drowned, creatures that appeared perhaps once in a thousand years.
For a Bai Shuisha to arise in a city as vast as Chang’an required perfect timing, location, and human factors, none could be missing. Yet such an impossibility had still fallen into Shen Qing’s path.
At the thought of the Bai Shuisha, her lips went dry, hatred faintly surfacing in her chest. Now that she had blundered into its territory, and Li Daoxuan was here as well, did that mean she could use Li Daoxuan’s hand to eliminate it?
If so, her senior brother would be free to help her deal with the demon haunting the Shen residence. She would no longer need to twist herself into knots trying to lure Li Daoxuan there.
Recalling the strange celestial phenomena before she fell into this place, Shen Qing grew increasingly anxious. She didn’t know whether her senior brother had returned from subduing demons, nor when that demon might reappear.
Since her rebirth, too many things had already changed. She could only hope that demon would appear later rather than sooner.
Pressing her lips together, Shen Qing subconsciously reached out to touch the murals. Instantly, the paintings twisted into a tangled mass. Just as she panicked, the chaotic lines transformed into rows of characters, neatly arranged.
The inscription read:
The groom bears jade-like longing, the maiden’s heart yet unspent,
Veiled face hides beauty, grace made more resplendent.
Twin shadows meet beside the bridge in silent stand,
Such a scene awaits the one who understands.
A burst of mechanical clicking followed. Beneath the lines of text, a stone panel suddenly sprang open. Inside lay two sets of wedding robes and a pair of red hejin cups.
The intentions of the underground palace’s master were now plain for all to see.
Shen Qing softly recited, “The groom bears jade-like longing, the maiden’s heart yet unspent; veiled face hides beauty, grace made more resplendent.” When she finished, she lifted her eyes to look at Li Daoxuan.
His expression remained cold and unreadable.
They had long since torn away enough pretenses. Shen Qing spoke bluntly, “Li Daoxuan, you’ve understood these words too. You know how to get out, don’t you?”
Li Daoxuan said nothing, merely turning his head aside, seemingly considering whether there was another way across the pool.
Shen Qing wasn’t exactly eager to perform a wedding ritual with him either. Seeing him search for alternatives suited her just fine, and she began exploring the surroundings again, trying to find another exit.
Then, suddenly, disaster struck.
The ground began to shake violently. Shen Qing looked up to see the walls along the path they had entered from slowly closing in, section by section, dust raining down. If they stayed here, they would be crushed into pulp within the time it took for an incense stick to burn.
Her face turned ashen.
Li Daoxuan gave her a single look, then kicked off the ground and leapt toward the pool. His qinggong was exquisite, already at the level of skimming water in flight. With just a few light taps on the surface, he could reach the opposite shore.
He clearly intended to save himself, but halfway across, that eerie green smoke burst forth from the water again, chasing straight toward him.
The instant the smoke brushed his hair, it dissolved it into vapor.
Li Daoxuan was not arrogant enough to confront such a thing head-on. Seeing this path was impossible, he retreated and returned to the shore. Finding no target, the green smoke circled a few times before lazily sinking back into the water, leaving behind a string of bubbles.
Shen Qing watched him with smiling eyes and said gleefully, “To witness Your Highness suffer a setback in this lifetime, what an honor.”
Li Daoxuan was clearly in a foul mood. Lips pressed tight, he strode to the wall, grabbed a set of wedding robes, and put them on. Fortunately, the robes consisted only of an outer layer and were easy to put on, and remove later.
Shen Qing hadn’t expected him to be so decisive. By the time she snapped back to her senses, Li Daoxuan was already dressed in red, arms folded, looking straight at her.
Seeing her stand motionless, he asked, “What? Afraid you’re too fat to fit into it?”
Shen Qing cared deeply about her appearance. Hearing him mock her weight, she snapped back angrily, “Your Highness must have exhausted yourself slaying demons, so weak you can’t even carry a frail woman.” She cast a disdainful glance at his waist and abdomen. “No wonder. With such a slender waist and thin legs, you could probably only manage carrying a civet.”
In truth, Li Daoxuan’s build was nothing like what she described. On the contrary, he was tall and well-proportioned, powerfully built. Beneath layers of robes, his muscles were firm and defined, his posture straight as a pine, his stance steady, every movement infused with restrained strength.
He was far beyond ordinary men.
But Shen Qing was simply too annoyed and insisted on speaking nonsense with a straight face.
Only after successfully darkening his expression did she finally put on the other set of wedding robes. She had just finished fastening the collar when an androgynous voice rang out, its tone unfamiliar, half-sung, half-chanted:
“Spirit money strewn, coffins black, white, yellow.
Gongs and drums resound, soft red bridal sedan.
Red meets white, the suona cries,
In life together, in death entwined.”
The melody twisted, continuing, “Azure heavens vast, green waters in waves. Long bows in the mortal world, alone I cross the nether river”
Unable to make sense of the song for the moment, Shen Qing decided to follow the instructions on the wall first.