The Demon Lord Is Carrying My Child - Chapter 35

“This Mount Shimo looks ordinary enough, but it has no shortage of tricks. I wonder if the mountain itself has become a spirit,” Mei Wuhen remarked, leaning against a massive tree. She gripped Chen Li’s hand with her left, her eyes cold as she surveyed their surroundings.

Ever since they began their ascent, the sky had grown increasingly dark with every step they took.

At first, they thought it was a mere illusion. However, by the time they reached the mountainside long before noon should have even arrived the sky had turned pitch black. In the urgency of the moment, Chen Li was forced to grab Mei Wuhen’s hand, the two of them relying solely on the faint moonlight to find their way.

Everything seemed to dissolve into the cold, hazy moonlight. Such a pale glow was deceptive, making it impossible to discern reality from shadows the perfect environment for supernatural mischief. Both Chen Li and Mei Wuhen remained on high alert.

Suddenly, a light appeared ahead. Upon closer inspection, it was a group of people carrying a coffin. For seasoned individuals like Chen Li and Mei Wuhen, seeing a coffin was nothing new.

However, what followed was truly hair-raising: the pallbearers were four skeletons. These fleshless, skinless creatures were absurdly adorned with bright red festive hats and dressed in formal wedding attire. When they spotted Chen Li and Mei Wuhen, they pulled back their jaws, grinning at them. Even for a “joyous funeral,” this was beyond the pale.

The light emanated from within the coffin, a glow whiter than the moon and utterly ominous.

Without hesitation, Mei Wuhen grabbed a vine from the tree she had been leaning against. With a forceful snap, she whipped it forward, knocking the head off the leading skeleton. The procession lost its balance, and the coffin hit the ground with a dull thud. It sounded empty, but the impact caused the lid to jar open slightly at one corner.

The remaining three skeletons continued to grin, their smiles widening to an impossible, dislocated degree. The scene grew increasingly grotesque.

The skeleton whose head had been knocked off actually scrambled forward with “crippled persistence.” Its fate, naturally, was to be smashed to pieces by Mei Wuhen so shattered that it could never be put back together.

The other skeletons lunged at them. While skeletons are unsightly and unsettling to look at, they are fragile. They were no match for Chen Li’s sword, and even the vine in Mei Wuhen’s hand was enough to keep them at bay.

The problem was that these things simply couldn’t be killed off. Even with eight disjointed limbs working together, they were hell-bent on forcing Mei Wuhen into the coffin.

Their sole objective was to shove someone inside.

“I’m not dead yet, and you want me to sleep in a coffin? If I don’t thrash you, who will?” The vine in Mei Wuhen’s hand moved like a sentient serpent, striking with precision. Every lash bit hard into the skeletal frames.

Over the years, she had encountered all sorts of bizarre things, but what she loathed most was bad luck and “unlucky” omens. Now, with these skeletons trying to force her into a coffin, her fury was justified.

While Mei Wuhen was busy handling the skeletons with her vine, Chen Li leaned down to examine the coffin.

The coffin looked ordinary. The lid had been knocked askew during the struggle, revealing an empty interior.

Yet, as Chen Li leaned closer, he heard the distinct sound of someone or something scratching against the wooden boards.

“Did you hear something?” Mei Wuhen asked, catching her breath while still fighting.

“There is someone.”

His reply was brief, but the question remained: where were they?

Mei Wuhen turned just in time to see a skeleton boldly approaching her, extending an arm made of leg bones to throttle her.

She whipped it into splinters, but in her excessive force, the vine snapped back and grazed her own neck. Mei Wuhen stood there with a red mark on her skin, looking utterly speechless.

Everything on Mount Shimo was utterly unreasonable. Her illusion techniques could occasionally fool plants, but her Meishu (Charm Technique)…

Well, Mei Wuhen thought, she couldn’t exactly use that on these things.

Furthermore, these skeletons lacked consciousness; they were immune to charms.

Since she had made a name for herself with her charm techniques, she had never lost a battle until she lost to Chen Li at the conference. And now… she was losing ground to a pile of bones!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She had fought more today than in all her previous years combined. The vine in her hand was fraying, and her strength was beginning to wane.

“Have you figured it out yet? I’m about to hit my limit.”

“I think…”

Chen Li’s sentence was cut short. In his attempt to investigate, he had stepped into the coffin, only for it to begin swallowing him whole.

Mei Wuhen lunged forward, desperately grabbing him. “What’s happening?”

Chen Li replied with a calmness that felt entirely inappropriate for the situation: “The bottom is hollow.”

“I am but a weak woman; how can I possibly hold your weight?”

The situation was dire. Mei Wuhen had no leverage, and the skeletons were closing in again.

“Let go,” Chen Li said. “At least one of us can escape.”

“Shut up,” Mei Wuhen snapped. Despite her fierce words, she ended up falling into the coffin along with him.

Mei Wuhen saw the skeletons quickly slide the lid shut above them. The coffin stopped glowing, the last sliver of light vanished, and Mei Wuhen, still holding Chen Li’s hand, plunged into eternal darkness.

A person can’t be unlucky forever, she thought. Then, she lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she found herself dressed in a bridal gown, surrounded by a festive atmosphere. Had it not been for the two rather un-festive skeletons standing nearby, she might have been confused about the time and place. However, the sight of the skeletons was so jarring that she immediately snapped awake and scrambled out of the bed.

She was in a bridal chamber. Chen Li was nowhere to be seen, leaving her feeling uneasy. She tentatively tried to communicate with the two skeletons.

“Who are you?”

“…”

“Where is this?”

“…”

“I see. Mutes.”

“…???” One of the skeletons looked offended Mei Wuhen wasn’t quite sure how she could tell a skeleton looked offended, but she could.

“We are not mutes. Our King has simply forbidden us from speaking to you. You just need to wait quietly for him to arrive,” the skeleton said, only to be nudged by the other one.

“And who is your King?” Mei Wuhen continued.

“Is our King someone you are worthy of knowing?”

One stupid one, and one clever one, Mei Wuhen thought to herself.

“Then, what does your King look like?”

The question momentarily stumped the two skeletons.

The “Clever One” spoke up: “Our King naturally possesses an excellent bone structure.”

Bone structure? Mei Wuhen pondered. So he’s just a skeleton, then.

“You can see for yourselves…” Mei Wuhen sighed softly, fluttering her eyelashes and resting a hand against her forehead like a delicate willow swaying in the wind. “I am a rare beauty for miles around. Since ancient times, beauties choose heroes. I have high standards and cannot abide the incompetent. Why don’t you tell me about your King’s achievements?”

“Our King is…” The “Stupid One” started to blurt it out, but the Clever One covered her mouth. However, since the fingers were just bones, the words leaked through, and Mei Wuhen heard them clearly.

“He is the Overlord of Mount Shimo, invincible and undefeated! Even disciples from the Northern Star Mountain and the Cangyou Pavilion are no match for him.”

The Clever One glared at her with eyeless sockets.

“Disciples from the Northern Star Mountain?” Mei Wuhen acted skeptical. “I heard Northern Star Mountain is very powerful. Can your King really defeat them?”

“Of course. He even captured two of them; they’re locked in the dungeon right now,” the Stupid One said proudly.

Two? Could it be that Cun Ming was also captured?

Having gathered enough information, the Clever One dragged the Stupid One out of the room, fearing she would accidentally reveal the location of the dungeon.

Once they were gone, Mei Wuhen sat down and began to paint her eyebrows, humming a little tune. Regardless of who this “King” was, he would surely fall for her face.

About half an hour later, Mei Wuhen, bored, took the flowers in the room and began plucking the petals one by one, asking trivial questions like whether Chen Li would be with her in the future.

Petals littered the floor, creating a scene that was almost fitting. The air was thick with the scent of flowers. Mei Wuhen frowned; she never thought she’d see the day where she had to rely on flower petals to predict if someone liked her.

When the Skeleton King pushed the door open, he saw the beauty frowning, and a sense of pity stirred within him.

Mei Wuhen heard the door and curled her lips into a smile. The Skeleton King looked directly into her watery eyes and fell under the spell of her charm.

To Mei Wuhen’s surprise, the Skeleton King wore a human skin and was actually a handsome young man. Unfortunately, she had never been fond of “handsome young men.”

Mei Wuhen pinched the Skeleton King’s chin, her voice dripping with allure. “Where are the disciples of Northern Star Mountain kept?”

The Skeleton King’s eyes were dazed, his entire focus on the beauty before him. “In the dungeon.”

“I wonder if the Great King would be willing to take me there?” Mei Wuhen lightly patted his shoulder with a shimmering smile.

“Of course. It is my blessing to serve a beauty.”

The Skeleton King personally opened the door and took Mei Wuhen’s hand, leading her out.

The “Stupid One” and the “Clever One” were still at the door. Seeing their King emerge, they bowed in fear: “Great King.”

The Skeleton King nodded coldly and led Mei Wuhen away.

“Where do you think the King is going?” the Stupid One poked the Clever One.

“The King’s business is not for us to question,” the Clever One replied, as stern as ever.

The Skeleton King led Mei Wuhen through a series of winding paths. Along the way, they passed skeleton patrols and hidden skeletal sentries.

It was a vast, subterranean skeletal kingdom.

Mei Wuhen spotted Chen Li immediately. He looked somewhat anxious—a departure from his usual calm, which felt out of character for him.

The other person wasn’t Cun Ming, but seemingly the seventh disciple of Northern Star Mountain, Wu Huo, who was also pacing around anxiously like Chen Li.

Only the person in the corner remained composed, sitting in a meditative posture. Mei Wuhen looked closely wasn’t that Zhiming, the one they were looking for?

This was certainly turning into a lively gathering.

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