I remember it was right after Si Lan woke up from his severe injuries. The first thing he saw was Xin Mei standing by the bed, and his immediate reaction was fury.
"Why are you still here? Why didn't you go after the general?!"
Xin Mei was baffled. "He wants to kill me. Should I chase after him just to die?"
"I'm not telling you to die!" It was the first time Si Lan had truly lost his temper. "You don't have to chase him! You could keep pretending to be calm and clueless! But you shouldn't be so indifferent! Just because the general likes you, does it mean you don't care what happens to him? If something happens to him, you just wait around pretending to be dumb, doing nothing, happy as long as he comes back to pamper you?"
"...Si Lan, you seem feverish. You're talking nonsense. I'll call Zhao Guanren."
As she reached the door, she heard Si Lan's icy voice: "You don't even like him! You just like having someone dote on you, giving you everything. You don't care what he thinks or feels!"
She pushed the door open and walked out directly, where Zhao Guanren stood awkwardly holding a basin of water, looking at her.
"Well... miss..." he hesitated, "I don't mean to meddle, but you... wandering around the Imperial Mausoleum all day as if nothing's wrong... it really isn't appropriate..."
Perhaps she should act like the women in those operatic scripts—when something happens to their husbands, they toss and turn, lose sleep and appetite, even weep bitterly as if life isn't worth living. That would make everyone feel better.
"I..." Xin Mei thought for a moment before continuing, "It's not that I don't care."
What happened that night was so sudden that even now, she still felt Lu Qianqiao might return safe and sound at any moment. She had considered chasing after him, but what good would it do besides getting herself killed and leaving Lu Qianqiao alone with regret and pain?
"Miss, you don't trust the general."
...
"In the end, you're just protecting yourself too fiercely."
From their first meeting to their marriage, everything between her and Lu Qianqiao had gone smoothly. Any minor turbulence had been fleeting as passing clouds. She had always been brimming with confidence, just as her father said—no one in the world could bully her; she was the one who bullied others. So if she willed it, Lu Qianqiao would surely succeed. If she said he wouldn't die, he would definitely wake up.
Now she thought, Lu Qianqiao would surely return as if nothing had happened.
How could he not come back?
She had even dreamed of him—walking alone through the snow with a long whip in hand, looking around as if he didn't know where to go.
She ran after him and asked, "Lu Qianqiao, where are you going? Why aren't you coming back?"
She had long stopped being angry or caring about him choking her or threatening to behead her with his whip. She was a magnanimous and virtuous wife.
But he said, "Xin Mei, I have nowhere to go."
The place he once loved most was now what he most wanted to destroy. The person he once loved most was now whom he most wanted to kill with his own hands.
He had nowhere to go.
Xin Mei woke with a start, feeling she suddenly understood his state of mind at this moment—his despair, which she had never even tried to imagine before.
"Awake? Then please hold on tight. We're about to start bouncing around."An unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar voice sounded overhead. Xin Mei tilted her head back, but before she could get a clear look, she felt a violent jolt beneath her. She tumbled from a great height, hitting the ground and bouncing back up before crashing down again, feeling like a tiny pebble being tossed about.
"An... avalanche?!"
Instinctively, she grabbed onto whatever was within reach. A pained cry immediately came from the opposite side. Upon closer inspection, the High Priest of the Youhu Clan was in a sorry state, his neck stretched out awkwardly—she had seized a handful of his hair, yanking so hard his face turned ashen.
Xin Mei stared at him steadily, blinking. He blinked back.
A slap landed squarely on his face, peeling off a layer of skin... wait, a layer of skin?!
The High Priest clutched his face and wailed, "Aren’t you a bit too strong?!"
As he lowered his hands and turned his face, the left side was visibly swollen and red. His features were completely different from before—still plain and forgettable, but his nose and mouth were entirely altered.
"Huh, your face..."
Xin Mei leaned in, ignoring his flustered resistance, pried his hands away, and scrutinized him with solemn intensity before declaring, "You're wearing the legendary human skin mask!"
The High Priest coughed awkwardly, somewhat embarrassed. "There is a mask, but it's not made of human skin."
Xin Mei pinched his cheek and tugged hard, eliciting a series of yelps. With a whoosh , one mask fell off, revealing the face of a random passerby. Another whoosh , and a second mask dropped, revealing yet another nondescript face.
She peeled off over a dozen masks in succession, peering at each one before realizing there were still more. Finally, she gave up, exhausted.
"You don’t even have a face!" she gasped in shock.
The High Priest looked up at the sky, silently weeping. No, he had a face. He really did...
"Leaving aside the fact that I'm already married," Xin Mei softened her expression, adopting a pitying and gentle tone, exuding the lofty air of a benefactor and rejecter, "just based on your lack of a face, I wouldn’t elope with you."
...Could he just jump off the Long Carriage? Could he? Could he?!
Another violent tremor rocked the carriage, sending Xin Mei sprawling to the floor. Only then did she realize they were inside that opulent and imposing Long Carriage. The interior was in complete disarray, and the High Priest, his face as green as cabbage, rolled around helplessly alongside her.
"Isn’t this carriage yours? Are you just letting it shake itself apart?!"
Xin Mei slammed her head against the carriage wall, instantly dizzy.
The High Priest could only offer a bitter smile. "Someone’s chasing us. Let’s not be picky right now."
Xin Mei struggled to prop herself up, gripping the windowsill and leaning halfway out. Through the vast expanse of misty clouds, she could vaguely make out a Spirit horse in pursuit, its rider clad in white. The carriage shook too violently for a clear view.
A strong gust of wind blew, dispersing some of the fog. The figure in white seemed to draw closer.
Xin Mei caught sight of a pair of blood-red eyes.
A member of the War Ghost Clan!
She raised her hand to wave a greeting, but the figure abruptly drew a longbow. A sharp whistling sound pierced the air as an iron arrow shot straight toward her face.
Xin Mei rolled back inside just in time. The arrow grazed the carriage wall, leaving deep cracks in the wood.
"...Are they trying to kill me?" she murmured in disbelief.Although she hadn't met many members of the War Ghost Clan—just Lu Qianqiao and his family—based on past experience, they were fierce but rarely so direct in their killing intent. Had she unknowingly offended her mother-in-law again without realizing it?
"At least they're not here to kill me."
The carriage rocked violently as several Paradise Birds pulled it forward. The High Priest tumbled to her feet and looked up earnestly: "Actually, I'm here to save you."
"...Give me a reason first."
"No problem, but... could you move your foot a little?"
The High Priest pointed at her foot pressing down on his forehead and smiled wryly.
The facts were simple. Li Chao Yang's awakening at twenty-five years old had resulted in the rare form of a Perfect War Devil. She then slaughtered all hundred members of her husband's family. At the time, Lu Qianqiao had been sent back to the clan to be cared for by the Li family, so he escaped the massacre. As a half-blood, he was already at a disadvantage, and the clan assumed the young mistress would mercilessly eliminate him upon her return. Yet Li Chao Yang merely ordered him to be sent away, sparing his life.
The bond between mother and son had always been shallow. On the rare occasions they met, she was almost always seated in her carriage, a bamboo curtain separating them into two worlds.
Looking back now, a Perfect War Devil had no such thing as emotions. The only reason she spared him was likely out of a faint hope—since she had achieved the perfect form, her own flesh and blood might also have the potential.
Now that he truly had the chance to achieve it, yet clung to lingering emotions and chose to quietly leave, disregarding the rise and fall of the War Ghost Clan, Li Chao Yang had every reason to be furious.
If Lu Qianqiao refused to act, then she would take matters into her own hands—
"That's the gist of it."
The High Priest, his throat parched from speaking, took a sip of water from the bamboo tube at his waist. He glanced up at Xin Mei, who showed no reaction, lost in thought with her chin propped on her hand.
"Don't understand?" He waved a hand in front of her face.
Xin Mei pondered, then shook her head. "No, I just think... she's not that kind of person."
"She slaughtered all one hundred thirty-seven members of the Lu family—that's a fact. I don't have time to make things up."
"What I mean is, she does have emotions."
That day in the tent, when she met those blood-red eyes—cold and filled with killing intent—she hadn't felt fear or the urge to flee. She had seen Li Chao Yang's hand resting on Lu Qianqiao's face, her fingertips betraying a trace of sorrow and regret. The body doesn't lie.
"Even so, those emotions aren't directed at you. Otherwise, why are we running for our lives now?"
Xin Mei looked at him. "Right, why are you running with me? We're not even close."
The High Priest grinned. "Naturally, it's because we of the Youhu Clan are a group of bright and righteous heroes. We cannot allow the wicked War Ghosts to continue killing indiscriminately. I'm here to stop their atrocities."
Xin Mei said nothing, just kept staring at him.
The High Priest smiled again. "In any case... I won't harm you. You can rest assured."
The Paradise Birds, after all, were no ordinary birds. They flew faster than Spirit Horses, and after half an hour of violent jolting, they finally shook off the pursuing War Ghosts.
Both of them were mentally drained from tumbling around in the Long Carriage. The High Priest weakly propped himself up and peered out the window. "I'm taking you back to our clan. No one will come after you there."
"I'm not going." Xin Mei refused without hesitation. "Take me back to the Imperial Mausoleum."The High Priest nearly wailed, "You really didn't understand what I just said, did you?!"
"Back to the Imperial Mausoleum." Just three words.
The High Priest finally dropped his mocking expression and looked at her quietly. "Even if you return and Li Chao Yang doesn't kill you, waiting ten or twenty years won't bring him back. And even if he does return, your meeting would last only an instant—the next moment, he'd chop you into pieces. Whether you live or die is your business, but the clan tasked me with protecting you. If I fail, I won't fare well either."
"I have something to say to him. I must say it."
There was no such thing as having nowhere to go. She would wait for him at the Imperial Mausoleum, waiting forever. As long as she lived, this place would always be his home.
The High Priest let out a long sigh. "You don't need to return to the Imperial Mausoleum. I know where he is. I'll take you to see him."
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