My Secret Cultivator Spouse Is the Demon Lord - Chapter 7

Ye Ming was dead.

Ye Qinfeng kept his promise to give her a grand burial. In accordance with the rules of the Ye clan, he buried her with all the honor due to an heir.

Her body lay in state for three days as Buddhist cultivators from the Hongde Temple were invited to chant scriptures.

A life of pain and illness; an eternity of peace in death.

On the fourth day, the funeral procession began. Xu Xianqing followed the Ye family numbly, cradling Ye Ming’s spirit tablet at the very front of the procession. With every step into the thick mud, her feet felt heavier and heavier.

After the burial was complete, Xu Xianqing returned to the Ye residence.

Ye Qinfeng was eager to send her away as promised, terrified that even a moment’s delay might trigger the inner demon oath he had sworn, making it seem as if he intended to keep her around.

“Let me gather my things first,” Xu Xianqing said.

Ye Qinfeng looked at her suspiciously. “What could you possibly have?”

“Some belongings left by Miss Ye’s mother. Miss Ye said it wasn’t right to leave them with the Ye family and asked me to take them.”

A memory surfaced in Ye Qinfeng’s mind a faint image of that woman. She had been an insignificant medicine-attendant maid who somehow caught his younger brother’s eye, leading him to marry her despite the clan’s fierce opposition.

The woman had been frail and sickly, barely reaching the Golden Core stage after cultivating with her husband. But as the gap in their cultivation grew wider, she became pregnant, giving birth to Ye Ming and dying less than five years later.

“Go get them,” Ye Qinfeng grunted. He didn’t believe the woman could have left anything of actual value to Ye Ming anyway.

Xu Xianqing retrieved a small black wooden box, packed it into her bundle, and walked out only to be blocked by Ye Qinfeng at the front gates.

“Hold on. Open it and let me see.” Ye Qinfeng gestured for her to unwrap the bundle.

Xu Xianqing clutched it defensively. “These are Miss Ye’s mother’s relics!”

“I know. I’m just taking a look.” Ye Qinfeng showed a rare moment of patience. He was the head of the Ye family now…his status had changed, and he had sworn an oath to abide by the clan rules, which strictly forbade him from killing indiscriminately.

Even though impatience and murderous intent boiled within him, he forced himself to suppress it.

Xu Xianqing tried to protect the items, but Ye Qinfeng snatched them away effortlessly. Opening the box, he froze for a moment before tossing the wooden box and the bundle back to her with a disdainful snort.

Inside was nothing more than a child’s rattle, a few embroidered pouches, and a longevity lock. The woman hadn’t possessed anything precious to adorn the lock with; it only held a dull, thumb-sized grey bead that looked entirely unimpressive.

The only thing that could remotely be considered a weapon was a small dagger, though in Ye Qinfeng’s eyes, it was hardly worth a second glance.

“Fine. Take your things and get out,” Ye Qinfeng sneered. “Remember, it was Ye Ming who asked me to send you away. It’s not that my Ye family couldn’t accommodate you.”

Xu Xianqing said nothing. She turned and walked out of the Ye estate.

After she had taken only a few steps, the heavy gates slammed shut behind her.

Standing in the long alleyway, gazing back at the magnificent, gilded mansion, Xu Xianqing felt a sharp, suffocating ache in her chest. She slowly closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she turned on her heel and strode away.

Following Miss Ye’s instructions, she found a place to stay in the city, returning every now and then to visit Miss Ye’s grave.

The fourth day, the fifth, the sixth…

By the seventh day, it was time for Xu Xianqing to pay her final visit. According to Miss Ye’s last wishes, once today was over, she had to leave the Solitary City and head south…the further, the better.

Over the past few days, Xu Xianqing had managed to pull herself together. Lacking a storage pouch to carry her belongings, she had bought a large cloth bag, stuffed everything inside, and kept it strapped to her person at all times.

She carried it with her now as she went to see Miss Ye.

Fortunately, Miss Ye had not been buried in the Ye family’s ancestral graveyard. If she had been, Xu Xianqing wouldn’t have been permitted anywhere near her.

The ancestral graveyard was reserved exclusively for the heads of the Ye family who had fallen throughout history. Other clan members were buried in a separate plot of land adjacent to it.

This plot was guarded by a single, crippled, blind old man from a branch of the Ye family. Aside from the crowd that had gathered for Miss Ye’s funeral a few days ago, it was a desolate place where living souls were rarely seen.

When Xu Xianqing arrived today, the old man was sitting outside his thatched hut, drinking wine. Seeing her approach, he smiled faintly. “Here to see the Young Lady again?”

“Mm.” Xu Xianqing was a woman of few words, but she knew the old man bore no ill will. Earlier, when she had lingered by Miss Ye’s grave for too long and forgotten the time, he had even brought her some food.

The old man asked, “What is your relationship to the Ye family? Why do you come here every single day?”

Xu Xianqing remained silent, and the old man didn’t press her further.

She walked straight ahead until she reached Ye Ming’s grave, then knelt to set down the flowers in her hand…wildflowers she had picked along the road on her way over.

“They’re just wildflowers, but I thought they looked quite lovely. I hope you don’t mind them, Miss Ye,” Xu Xianqing said quietly to the cold, silent tombstone. “Miss Ye, I bought plenty of joss paper and folded some paper ingots myself. I’ve burned them all for you.”

She lit the fire and waited patiently until every last piece had turned to ash.

Afterward, she sat beside the grave, talking softly to Miss Ye, though she received no response.

“Miss Ye, it’s time for me to go.” Xu Xianqing wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there, but the sky was darkening. If she didn’t leave soon, the path back to the city would be difficult to navigate in the night.

She stood up to leave. On her way out, she saw the old man slumping over the table, presumably drunk again.

“I’m leaving,” Xu Xianqing called out. “I won’t be back again.”

The old man didn’t move. Xu Xianqing turned to walk away, but suddenly froze. Intrigued and instantly alert, she slowly crept closer to him.

“Old man, the night air is cold. You should go inside to rest,” she said, reaching out to tap his shoulder.

The moment her fingers touched him, the old man collapsed sideways to the ground. In the faint moonlight, Xu Xianqing caught sight of his gruesome state.

A clean, circular hole had been gouged out of his chest. His expression was twisted in extreme horror, yet the corners of his lips were turned up into a faint, chilling smile.

It was impossible to tell how he had actually died.

Encountering such a horrific scene sent a chill straight down Xu Xianqing’s spine. She stumbled back a few steps in panic…and just then, a sudden, muffled thud echoed through the silence.

She froze, realizing with a jolt of horror that the sound had come from the direction of Miss Ye’s grave.

Ignoring her fear, Xu Xianqing sprinted back. When she reached the site, she found the grave blasted open, surrounded by utter chaos.

She frantically scanned her surroundings, refusing to miss a single detail, but her search yielded nothing. There was no sign of any suspicious intruder.

Heart pounding, Xu Xianqing approached the edge of the blasted crater and peered inside.

The burial items that had been placed in the tomb just days ago were completely gone, and the lid of the coffin looked as though it had been shifted.

Xu Xianqing noticed a small hole near the grave, roughly the size of a fist. Everything had been fine before she left…where had this hole come from?

After a moment’s hesitation, she scrambled down into the pit and pushed against the coffin lid with all her strength.

Ye Ming’s body was beginning to show signs of death, yet she looked as peaceful as if she were merely asleep.

Xu Xianqing let out a breath of relief. Miss Ye was still here.

She prepared to seal the coffin back up and planned to inform the Ye family immediately. A desecrated grave was a grave insult to the Ye family’s honor; surely they wouldn’t turn a blind eye to it and would send someone to investigate.

She pushed with everything she had, but the massive wooden lid wouldn’t budge an inch.

Exhausted and breathless, the image of the old man’s bizarre death flashed through her mind. This place was deeply wrong. If this hadn’t been Miss Ye’s grave, she would never have had the courage to stay.

BZZT… SYS… SYSTEM REBOOTING…

A strange voice suddenly echoed. Xu Xianqing instantly stopped pushing the lid and whipped her head around. There was nothing there…only the cold moon hanging overhead and a sky full of indifferent stars.

She had clearly heard a sound, almost like a human speaking, yet strangely mechanical and inhuman.

The sound rang out just once before fading back into total silence, leaving her wondering if it had all been a stress-induced hallucination.

After resting for a moment, Xu Xianqing tried pushing the lid again. This time, her eyes caught a faint glint resting on Miss Ye’s chest.

She reached into the coffin to pick it up.

The moment her fingers brushed against it, the object flickered with a soft light.

A shimmering projection materialized before her eyes, and Xu Xianqing realized that the object in Miss Ye’s hand was a Shadow Recording Stone.

“My wife. I knew you would come, and I knew someone would desecrate my grave. That is why I left this stone inside my coffin…I have things I must tell you.”

The figure in the projection was pale and hesitated for a moment before softly adding:

“My wife. I am already dead… please, do not be afraid of me.”

Tears welled up in Xu Xianqing’s eyes, but she choked them back, shaking her head gently. How could she ever be afraid of her?

This was her wife.

Support