Lu Qingyang stepped on a fragment of floating ice, the Weak Water wrapped around his fingertips congealing into fine chains, reflecting the unique grayish-green of the underworld in the morning mist. The peach blossom clasp he brought back from Guixu last night was burning hot against his chest; the blood seeping from the character “Yè” (Visit) on the clasp intertwined with the patterns of the qingmu spirit pearl, dyeing the reflected Wangchuan River water a rouge color. He exhaled a breath of turbid Qi towards the water surface, and his Divine Sense, at the Early Stage of Nascent Soul, actually caught sight of the Manjusaka flowers on the banks of the Three Paths River: “Ye Wuchen’s taste for choosing a wedding banquet is even more unique than that of the madam of Drunken Immortal Pavilion.”
Yinghuo’s silver bell on her wrist suddenly shattered the water's reflection, and nine layers of Weak Water whirlpools surged from the northwest. Lu Qingyang pulled Su Li’s Puppet Silk to entangle the floating ice, then pushed the peach blossom clasp towards the center of the whirlpool. The blood patterns on the clasp expanded wildly upon contact with water, freezing into a winding ice bridge amidst the surging waves. The Netherworld Curse etched into the bridge was altered into the Tai Xu Swallowing Sky Skill by the golden light of the spirit pearl.
“Kan Palace three steps, Greedy Wolf avoids evil!”
Su Li’s silver needles pierced into the cracks of the ice bridge, temporarily stabilizing the surging Wangchuan vengeful spirits. Lu Qingyang took the opportunity to pry off the frost flowers from the bridge surface; the ice crystals coalesced in his palm into a half-scroll of the “Underworld Marriage Contract.” Tucked between the incomplete pages was a recipe for nuptial wine that surprisingly required the heart blood of a Soul Transformation Cultivator as an ingredient. He pinched the wine recipe, sniffed it, and then spat a mouthful of saliva towards the southeast: “Ye Wuchen’s betrothal gift is even more elaborate than a demonic Cultivator’s.”
At three quarters past noon, the three of them stepped onto the east bank of Wangchuan. Three hundred and sixty soul 引魂 lamps floated amidst the blood-colored peach forest, each wick imprisoning a remnant soul of a Taiyi Pavilion Disciple. Lu Qingyang plucked a leaf and shot it like a dart towards a lamp; the moment the leaf touched the flame, it transformed into a green moth, carrying lamp oil that dripped into the jade bottle in his sleeve: “This lamp oil, brewed from resentful fire, will surely burn brighter than Dragon marrow incense…”
A clear jingle of jade pendants came from deep within the peach forest; behind nine layers of plain gauze curtains stood a Xuanji chessboard. Lu Qingyang ran his fingers across the nineteen vertical and horizontal lines; the star orbits engraved in the chess paths suddenly came alive, pulling the trio’s Divine Sense into the Taiwei Yuan illusion. He stepped on the remnants of falling stars and leaped towards the Ziwei Emperor Star; the dust-avoiding array patterns hidden in his boot soles reacted with the starlight, and in the exploding fragments of light, Ye Wuchen’s auspicious wedding time was revealed—it was precisely midnight tonight.
“This chess game was brilliantly solved!” He conjured a falling auxiliary star in mid-air and tucked it into the spirit pearl; as the star core touched the blood patterns, it surprisingly played a segment of the “Rainbow Skirt Breaking Array Music.” Yinghuo’s chensha stone struck the Tianshu position, shaking cracks into the star map illusion. When the three of them tumbled back into reality, the chessboard had transformed into a white jade nuptial cup, but the residual wine in the cup reflected not the moon’s shadow, but a mirror image of a person in the Lock Dragon Well, entangled in nine layers of Seal.
At midnight, a cold yin wind suddenly arose, and ninety-nine underworld pleasure boats surfaced on the Wangchuan River. Lu Qingyang stepped on the soul-Soul-Calming bell on the gunwale and leaped towards the main ship; the “Underworld Marriage Contract” in his embrace suddenly self-ignited, and golden powder Seal script emerged from the ashes: “Qingmu as betrothal, eye-gouging as ceremony.” He backhanded the golden powder onto the Talismanic Incantation on the mast; the vermilion-drawn double-happiness character suddenly wept blood, dyeing the entire Wangchuan water area red.
A jingle of jade pendants came from behind the pearl curtains of the pleasure boat. Lu Qingyang slid along a gold-painted pillar towards the sound source. Within seven layers of mermaid silk curtains sat a phantom figure wearing a Phoenix coronet; the golden thread Phoenix on her wedding dress actually vibrated in sync with the spirit pearl’s blood patterns. He pulled half a Phoenix coronet and wrapped it around his wrist; the moment the fabric touched his skin, the Sea of Consciousness suddenly exploded with the cold laughter of the Underworld Princess: “The pain of eye-gouging hasn’t dissipated, yet you dare to steal a celestial marriage?”
The entire pleasure boat suddenly collapsed into a Weak Water whirlpool. Lu Qingyang, pulling the other two, plummeted towards the Xuanji array at the river bottom. The qingmu spirit pearl automatically activated the Tai Xu Swallowing Sky Skill, devouring the Weak Water Spiritual Qi as resources to break the array. At the array eye, he touched a warm object—it was a bridal candle engraved with the character “Ye” (leaf), its wax tears mixed with Nascent Soul blood, slowly congealing into the eyebrows and eyes of the Underworld Princess.
“This wedding night candle…” He flicked his finger at the candlewick, but the bursting netherflame instead swept the three of them into the Rebirth Mirror. What appeared in the mirror was not past or present lives, but the scene of three hundred Taiyi Pavilion Disciples having their hearts gouged out in the Lock Dragon Well. Lu Qingyang pressed his fingers onto the mirror’s cracks; the spirit pearl’s blood patterns suddenly flew out of his body, imprinting the bloody scene into an Incomplete Manual of the “Taiyi Pavilion Book of Sins.”
After three strikes of the fifth watch drum, the Wangchuan River began to lose its blood color. Lu Qingyang lay sprawled among the cluster of Red Spider Lily flowers, and the Manjusaka flower intertwined around his fingertips suddenly spoke: “He who gouges the Qingmu eye shall endure seven lifetimes of widowerhood, loneliness, and solitude.” He scoffed, pressing the flower stem into the spirit pearl’s opening; the Dragon soul within the pearl suddenly opened its eyes, but what it spat out was not a curse, but half a line of the “Xuanji Wangchuan Ode.”
As the morning mist dispersed, the sound of Sword Qi breaking through the air came from behind the trio. Lu Qingyang backhanded the bridal candle towards the sound source; the candlelight, upon encountering the Sword Qi, surged into an underworld Phoenix, burning the dharma idol of the pursuing Taiyi Pavilion Elder into ashes. He raised his cup towards the gradually dissipating green smoke; what floated in the wine was not a residual image, but the complete qingmu spirit pearl on the forehead of the mirror person.
“This betrothal gift,” he crushed the Red Spider Lily seeds in his palm, “Mr. Lu shall gladly accept it.”
