Queen of Ten Thousand Demons Insists on Marrying Me - Chapter 79

The first day of the lunar month.

On the summit of Black Wind Cliff, Yan Gengshen, dressed in a black robe, stood alone by the edge, gazing into the distance. Behind him, the Black Wind Hall was draped inside and out with mourning banners. The ever-present fierce wind on the cliff made the mourning banners snap and crackle loudly.

“Demon Sovereign, the auspicious hour has arrived. The wedding can begin,” a bird demon cautiously approached Yan Gengshen and said.

Yan Gengshen nodded: “What time is it?”

“It is one kè (15 minutes) until noon,” the bird demon replied respectfully.

“Although the guests have not yet arrived, I believe they will be here soon. Without further delay, let us begin,” Yan Gengshen waved his hand, his gaze never leaving the entrance to the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

“Boom!”

The entire Black Wind Cliff suddenly shook violently. At the cliff’s peak, the originally sturdy rock face instantly became fragile. Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar, a large section of the area collapsed.

Giant rocks and dust intertwined, sweeping down the mountain like a yellow dragon, mercilessly engulfing the smaller demons who couldn’t flee in time. Their terrified screams were drowned out by the thunderous crash of the rolling stones.

Yan Gengshen’s figure flickered. He quickly stepped back, grabbed the bird demon’s frail shoulder, and shot straight into the sky.

“D-Demon Sovereign, look, is that fire rising in the east?”

Suspended in mid-air, Yan Gengshen’s eyes were sharp as torches, coldly observing the scene below. He saw that half of the cliff summit had collapsed. The once magnificent landscape was now scarred and ravaged, a complete mess. A fire had inexplicably started on the other side. Unconcealed rage flickered in his eyes.

“Interesting,” a cold sneer curled his lips, his voice containing a sense of amusement and disdain. “It seems our guests have arrived much sooner than I expected. In that case, I certainly can’t disappoint them.”

After speaking, he gently patted the bird demon’s shoulder, signaling him to act immediately: “Quickly go back and bring the bride out. The main event is about to start. As the protagonist, how can she be late?”

Inside a room on Black Wind Cliff.

Tantai Jing sat in front of a dressing table, her eyes numb as she watched the maids on either side fix her makeup.

The originally captivating phoenix eyes were now covered with a vulgar, deep red color. This glaring color not only failed to add any festivity but instead made her thin cheeks look even more haggard. The corners of her crimson lips were strained into a forced arch, hinting at an unspeakable bitterness and sorrow.

Upon hearing the earth-shaking roar, the light in her dim eyes finally returned. She stood up and walked to the window, watching the distant rolling dust and Yan Gengshen suspended in the sky. The joy on her face instantly vanished, replaced by a look of gravity.

The maid’s voice was soft and trembling as she cautiously spoke: “Demon Sovereigness, the veil… the veil has not yet been placed. The auspicious hour is here. You… you should be departing now.”

Although filled with confusion and incomprehension—unclear why the renowned Demon Sovereign Tantai of Mount Gouwu had been reduced to the bride in this Ghost Marriage, nor why the Demon Sovereign Gengshen had sealed her spiritual power with a powerful magical artifact—out of deep reverence for high-ranking demons, the maids dared not show the slightest negligence or disrespect.

“There is no need for unnecessary steps. This is good enough,” Tantai Jing’s voice was clear and decisive, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

With that, she ignored the maids’ pleas to stay behind. Her long, red gauze skirt lightly trailed the floor as she walked toward the main hall.

After only a few steps, a sudden gust of strong wind surged toward her without warning. The wind carried a large expanse of rolling yellow dust, blotting out the sky and instantly enveloping everything in a state of chaos.

Tantai Jing slightly furrowed her brow and nimbly raised her sleeve, gently covering her front. Her gaze was sharp, trying to catch any movement within the chaos.

Just then, her arm suddenly tightened, and a familiar voice sounded behind her.

“Did he do anything to you, Jing’er?”

It was Xiaoxiao!

The joy in her eyes was fleeting. Tantai Jing shook her head and said, “You shouldn’t have come here. He has reached the Integration Stage. Your little tricks cannot escape his notice.”

Lu Xiaoxiao, seeing that she was safe, smiled radiantly. She was about to comfort her when Yan Gengshen’s voice boomed above their heads.

“She’s right. Within a hundred miles of this place, if I wished it, not even an ant could enter,” Yan Gengshen sighed. “I didn’t expect Wan Xuānr and Fú Zhāo of the Yáoxiá Palace to be so cold-blooded. After waiting for so long, only a tiny ant like you has come to visit.”

Yan Gengshen was suspended in the sky, arms crossed. He seemed to have known all along that Lu Xiaoxiao was behind the trouble.

Lu Xiaoxiao stood in front of Tantai Jing, her eyes glaring at Yan Gengshen: “Pah! You filthy scumbag, you’re worse than a dog or a pig! You could heartlessly harm your own blood sister! Your heart is more venomous than a snake or a scorpion! Dealing with a beast in human form like you, I am more than enough!”

Upon hearing this, Yan Gengshen’s face instantly turned ashen, and flames seemed to burn in his eyes. He laughed out of extreme anger: “Impudent child! Truly a newborn calf unafraid of a tiger! Who do you think you are? You are nothing but a wet-behind-the-ears little girl! Today, I will teach you the lesson your dead mother failed to, let you know what it means to acknowledge your superiors and know your place!”

Immediately, the cold, flashing long sword in Yan Gengshen’s hand shot out like an arrow leaving the bowstring. It carried a chilling jìanqì (sword energy) that made the heart tremble, speeding toward Lu Xiaoxiao. Under the shroud of this power, Lu Xiaoxiao instantly felt her body bound by an invisible lock.

Just as the long sword was about to pierce Lu Xiaoxiao, the movement of her hands, which were held behind her back, finally stopped. With the shout, “Old bastard, see you later!” Lu Xiaoxiao and Tantai Jing vanished from their spot.

All that remained was Yan Gengshen’s long sword, which, like a silver bolt of lightning, violently pierced the ground where Lu Xiaoxiao and Tantai Jing had just stood.

Yan Gengshen wore a look of satisfaction on his face. He slowly took out an exquisite hairpin from his sleeve. Then, he summoned his long sword, neatly sliced open a rift in the air, and stepped inside.

Lu Xiaoxiao and Tantai Jing, using the transmission array key gifted by Dōng Qīnglán, had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place.

This was a gorge. Although it was still early in the day, no light could reach the bottom of the canyon. The laws here were chaotic, the flow of time was inconsistent, and spatial rifts were everywhere. Even if they weren’t torn apart by the spatial rifts, a slight mistake could result in them being sucked into an unknown temporal anomaly, lost forever.

The two were enveloped in endless darkness and dead silence.

After adjusting to the environment, Lu Xiaoxiao continuously mobilized the spiritual power in her body to replenish the energy consumed by the transmission. At the same time, she unhesitatingly carried Tantai Jing and sped toward the deeper reaches of this strange place.

Two streaks of light, one red and one white, blossomed in the inky darkness. Where they passed, a silvery shimmer rose, illuminating the spatial folds hidden in the chaos. Their toes touched floating fragments of rock. These moss-covered remnants acted like pebbles thrown into a still lake, sending ripples spreading through the void.

Tantai Jing gazed affectionately at Lu Xiaoxiao, her eyes full of attachment, as if she wanted to store this moment in her memory for eternity, making up for the days they were separated.

Noticing that Tantai Jing was only staring at her lovingly without asking any questions, Lu Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but say, “Aren’t you curious where this place is? Aren’t you going to blame me for acting impulsively?”

Tantai Jing looked at the rapidly fleeting scenery on either side, shook her head, and offered a gentle smile: “Then you tell me?”

“The Dead Spirit Abyss.”

Lu Xiaoxiao gazed into her eyes, seeing incomprehension and confusion there.

“This place is extremely dangerous. Palace Master Wan and Godmother’s parents died here back then. How did we end up here? Don’t tell me…”

Lu Xiaoxiao’s eyes darkened, reflecting the profound blackness of the Dead Spirit Abyss: “That’s right. This time, we’ve truly burned our bridges. Yan Gengshen didn’t see Aunt Wan or Godmother, so he couldn’t be certain that these two Integration Stage cultivators, who have lived for over five hundred years, aren’t as cold-blooded as he is. That’s why he didn’t capture me immediately. His allowing me to cause trouble at Black Wind Cliff was just him waiting for me to use that ink-jade pendant to transmit you out, so he could follow right behind and capture all of us and Aunt Wan in one fell swoop.”

“But even if we all die here, we must make him pay dearly,” Lu Xiaoxiao’s eyes were so dark they looked as if they could drip water, and a layer of ruthlessness climbed into the corners of her eyes.

“But he still didn’t account for sealing your spiritual power with a restriction. Otherwise, we could have escaped even faster.”

“Look out!” Tantai Jing’s expression suddenly changed, and she spoke urgently.

Lu Xiaoxiao looked up. Ten steps ahead, the air suddenly twisted into a spiral vortex, accompanied by a tearing sound like ripping cloth. The edge of the rift faintly contained the power of lightning. A spatial rift the size of a person suddenly appeared out of thin air in the dark space, shining with a dazzling silver light.

She quickly twisted her body, maneuvering the Cháoyuán Sword to veer toward Tantai Jing’s side. As they brushed past, Lu Xiaoxiao’s face was less than an inch from the spatial rift. Her fluttering white skirt brushed the edge of the spatial rift, and it was instantly sliced into countless tiny fragments, turning into a bright but fleeting streak of light that ultimately dissolved into thin air.

In that moment, time seemed to freeze. Lu Xiaoxiao could even feel the newly formed spatial rift subtly trying to suck her in, making her heart pound and cold sweat break out.

“That was close! What would happen if the two of us accidentally bumped into that?” Lu Xiaoxiao asked Tantai Jing after slowing down her sword flight.

Tantai Jing swallowed hard, not daring to be distracted again. She kept her eyes fixed ahead and replied, “If we’re lucky, we might go to another space—either a sacred immortal land, a place where fierce beasts run rampant, or a place where there is nothing at all, and we can never leave. That’s only a one in a hundred thousand chance. If we’re unlucky, we’ll be instantly torn to shreds by the spatial rift, just like your skirt.”

Lu Xiaoxiao paused after hearing this and said, “Then Yan Gengshen wouldn’t dare to travel quickly in here either?”

Tantai Jing nodded: “That’s right. Even an Integration Stage cultivator must be wary of spatial rifts.”

Lu Xiaoxiao slowed down, feeling a slight sense of relief, thinking they had finally escaped the immediate crisis. Just as she was about to exhale, an unprecedentedly sharp sword energy suddenly struck from behind.

The murderous intent contained in this jìanqì made the surrounding air tremble, as if even space was being sliced by its sharpness.

Startled, she instinctively turned her head and saw a figure approach silently like a phantom—it was Yan Gengshen, who had been missing a moment ago.

He held a long sword, the tip slightly trembling. Undisguised killing intent emanated from his cold eyes.

“Damn it!”

Lu Xiaoxiao quickly took out a Nì Shāng Pill from her bosom and swallowed it. She instantly felt her depleted spiritual power become abundant again, and her vision became much more acute. Waves of spiritual power surged through her body. Feeling her cultivation had been boosted to its peak, she immediately sped up her flight, fleeing deeper into the Dead Spirit Abyss for her life.