Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 193 - 190: Yellow Millet Dream, Mirror Abyss, Whose Little Aunt?

Chapter 193: Chapter 190: Yellow Millet Dream, Mirror Abyss, Whose Little Aunt?

"Strange... ceiling."

When Wang Yuan awoke from a state of confusion, he found himself in an ancient and elegantly decorated room.

He shook his somewhat muddled head, trying to scrape together scattered memories shrouded in fog within his brain, before he gradually "realized" who he was.

"My name is Wang Qianshan, I am fifteen years old, a poor scholar living in Yunhe County.

My parents passed away early, leaving me a lonely orphan, earning a living by writing letters and selling some landscape paintings. Am I... getting married?!"

At this thought, he suddenly sat up with a start.

Looking around, he found himself lying on a beautifully carved wedding bed, dressed in the clothes of a groom.

The table was set with fruits and wines, and a pair of celebratory red candles, while outside the window adorned with the character for happiness, voices bustled, seemingly in the midst of a grand banquet.

A segment of memory then surfaced slowly from the depths of his heart.

"Right, today is the day I marry my cousin sister!"

The more he recalled, the clearer his memories became, a life filled with hardships yet not devoid of sweetness, began to piece together in his mind.

Though he was alone in the world, cousin sister Zhou Huangwu’s family treated him very well.

They not only frequently helped him, but also, uncaring of his family’s poverty, married her to him after they both reached the age of fifteen.

Even as a live-in son-in-law, for a poor scholar indolent in the four arts, such treatment was very favorable.

Wang Yuan reached out to pick up the marriage certificate on the table, within which were two strands of hair tied together, symbolizing the couple’s union, their wedding was complete.

Besides their birthdates, there was also a marriage vow on the certificate:

[With joy today, two surnames ally, united under one roof, a bond to last forever, a perfect match proclaimed.

On this day, with peach blossoms ablaze, fitting for room and family, auguring years of abundant progeny, may you prosper and thrive. Herein lies the promise of a lifetime, written on grand paper, so as to record the pledge of red leaves, made clear in the matrimonial register. This is the proof!]

Staring at this page of the marriage certificate, he couldn’t help but be slightly startled; the writing was exceedingly formal.

Yet the paper used was white with red letters, the strokes were sharp as if carved with a knife, and the writing in black and red resembled dried bloodstains.

Then, based on the knowledge of a "scholar" in his mind, he noticed even more oddities about this wedding.

Traditional folk weddings, known in ancient times as "dusk ceremonies," are usually held at dusk, implying a balance of yin and yang, but it was now clearly deep into the night.

"What kind of custom is this? Not only getting married at midnight, with a bunch of guests eating and drinking in the middle of the night, but also making the groom wait in the room?"

He walked to the door, intending to open it and see what exactly was going on.

But he found the door had already been locked by someone at some point, and shouts were met with no response whatsoever.

Just as he picked up a stool off the floor, ready to forcibly break the door down, the door was suddenly opened from the outside.

At the same time, the noisy sound of the banquet outside vanished in an instant.

The vast, dark courtyard no longer bore a single sound of human activity.

"Son-in-law! We’ve brought the young lady over."

Wang Yuan was slightly taken aback at the sight of the beautiful bride, who was elegantly dressed in fiery red bridal attire, entering the room led by two maids.

He discreetly discarded the stool and hurriedly went forward to help with eagerness.

His earlier doubts were cast aside to the Nine Heavens, his mind and eyes filled only with the graceful figure before him.

Both returned to the room and sat on the bed, lifted the red bridal veil, and drank the wedding wine.

Underneath the light, the childhood sweetheart looked stunningly beautiful, becoming more so with each glance.

Just as Wang Yuan felt he should perhaps take the initiative.

Huang Wu, her cheeks flushed, gazed intently into his eyes, and, with shy lips, whispered,

"Qianshan, would you like to taste the rouge on... sister’s lips?"

Wang Yuan felt his throat go dry. As he leaned in closer, he said with a parched voice,

"Yes!"

As the youthful husband and wife embraced and lay down, the girl, bashful and timid, uttered words that thoroughly puzzled the young man,

"Husband, from today onwards, we are ’parted by neither life nor death’."

But at that moment, he had no room for riddles.

Overcome with excitement, he kissed her lips and, with trembling hands, began to undo her magnificent garments one by one.

The night of passion was brief.

Wang Yuan felt as though it was only a blink of an eye before the next day had arrived.

The heavens were not kind, the sky outside was dim, severely so.

Almost indistinguishable from night, but without a single star.

Yet, the bridal chamber had another natural source of light.

The bride, now a wife, wearing her flowing Liuxian gown, stood before the mirror, applying her makeup. The silky, thin fabric slid off her pale shoulders, her skin so dazzlingly white it almost hurt the eyes, like a jade statue.

At the sight of such beauty, the "scholar" Wang Yuan could not help but chant softly,

"In the bridal chamber last night, we stopped the red candles; now at dawn’s light, we bow before the uncles and aunts.

After dressing, she whispers to her husband, ’Are my eyebrows drawn too deep or light for the time?’"

The girl, turning from her eyebrow drawing, playfully scolded her husband with a tender rebuke,

"Hurry up and get up. If we’re late, people will laugh at us,"

They horsed around quite naturally for a while.

When the two of them, hand in hand, passed through the silent mansion and groped their way into the Zhou Mansion’s main hall to meet their aunt and uncle, who were also their mother-in-law and father-in-law,

Bang! Bang!

The doors behind them suddenly closed shut.

Wang Yuan looked intently and saw that those seated on the high platform were not his aunt and uncle, but two... frightful paper figures with rouge plastered on their cheeks!

He didn’t know what they had for breakfast, but crimson bloodstains lingered at the corners of their mouths.

A chill suddenly shot up from his tailbone to the top of his skull.

"Cousin, run!"

He grabbed his newlywed wife, intending to flee, but unexpectedly, she didn’t budge.

Turning his head, he discovered the girl, her hair disheveled, her once beautiful eyes now just two pitch-black voids from which blood tears slowly slid down her pale cheeks.

In a sinister whisper, she called out:

"Husband, where are you going?"

Woo—!

An eerie wind started to whirl within the room, almost piercing through the "scholar’s" marrow, terrifying him out of his wits.

"This isn’t a living person’s wedding, I clearly married a ghost bride last night?!"

It was a scene that should have been utterly terrifying.

Placed upon a normal scholar, he would probably be completely panic-stricken, perhaps even fainting at the loss of his senses.

But Wang Yuan, this "scholar," looked at the frightful ghost bride before him, and after snapping out of his initial instinctual terror, he strangely found her... somewhat cute.

Common sense should provoke extreme fear, yet instinctively he wasn’t afraid at all.

This caused Wang Yuan, who had been implanted with a false memory and had completely forgotten who he was, to feel a distinct sense of disconnection.

Something is wrong with me!

Just as he realized this, the terrifying ghost bride had already grabbed his throat.

Whether he was scared in his heart or not, death seemed inevitable.

And then...

The ghost bride’s hands started to shake him vigorously.

Following that, a delightful voice, as if coming from the edge of the sky, suddenly rang by his ear:

"Wang—Xiao—Yuan—, time to get up! The sun is shining on your butt!"

Wang Yuan, who was nearly suffocating, was jolted awake and opened his eyes once again.

This time before his eyes was no longer the vicious-looking ghost bride, but once again, a beauty... ghost bride.

This time, the memories belonging to his true self quickly surfaced, easily suppressing the memories of "poor scholar" Wang Qianshan and allowing him to become fully awake.

He found himself riding atop a steed that seemed to be composed of white mist, surrounded by countless orbs rising and sinking within the mist, with Huang Wu clinging tightly behind him.

It was the position of a prince and princess reversed.

[Daoist Skill · Use Dreams as Horses]

Transforming one’s dream realm into a steed, capable of swiftly traversing the dreams of countless people.

But at the Red Seal Stage, it could only allow the ghost body to pass through, unable to carry physical objects.

Seeing Wang Yuan wake up, the girl gave him a light sideways glance:

"What was that dream you just had? You seemed to be smiling somewhat sleazily?"

"I dreamt about you and me..."

Wang Yuan suddenly felt guilty, realizing that if he told the truth, he would probably be torn apart by the angry and embarrassed little ghost bride, so he equivocated:

"No, nothing. Just an ordinary nightmare."

Huang Wu, who had cultivated a [Taiyin Corpse Transformation Seal] and became a Dream Interpreter, looked at him doubtfully:

"We’ve actually been dragged into a massive public dream. This place is made up of dreams from the living, the dead, magicians, mortals, animals, plants... countless dreams combined.

Here, one might gain memories and knowledge that don’t belong to oneself.

Even without speaking, memories from different individuals collide, exchange, and integrate, letting one discover secrets akin to prophetic revelations.

But the dream can also directly target one’s deepest desires, making it extremely difficult to escape without external help.

If it weren’t for my [Moon in the Water and Flower in the Mirror] that already excels at controlling dreams, we might have ended up trapped in layers upon layers of dreams within dreams, never able to break free—just like when we frightened those people from the Xue family.

But this person is much more skilled than me.

We were just affected by the enemy’s magic when we were attacked at Mirror Lake, so the intensity wasn’t high, and I was able to pull us out.

But my little aunt, being the primary target, is really in danger now!"

As they said this, they both paused and asked in unison:

"Wait! Who is our little aunt?"

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