Chapter 36 A Fake Marriage

"Let's talk as we walk," Song Heyu said in a deep voice.

Shi Lian led the three through winding corridors, his white robes fluttering in the wind. He sighed, "I don't know how to explain it. You'll understand when we get there."

The closer you get to the North Campus, the stronger the fishy smell in the air becomes.

Mingjian vaguely heard a low growl coming from inside the door, like the whimpering of a wild beast trapped in a cage.

"Don't be too surprised by anything you see later," Shi Lian said, pausing at the door.

The three of them became somewhat nervous because of his tone.

When the door opened, two or three cultivators were seen inside, their hands and feet tightly bound to wooden stakes by black iron chains, their necks covered with strange red patterns and bulging veins.

Several disciples of Jianming Immortal Mountain stood nearby, swords in hand. They looked at them with a hint of mockery when they entered, but quickly turned their faces away.

Gu Zhi glanced at one of them speechlessly, then said sarcastically, "Oh dear, isn't this our Senior Brother Lou, who has the Golden Core cultivation level? How come his hand is injured?"

Upon hearing this, Ming looked towards Lou Jing.

Lou Jing's right hand was wrapped in a white cloth, and there was still a faint herbal scent lingering on his body.

Noticing the stares of the crowd, Lou Jing abruptly put his hands behind his back, his face turning ashen, and said irritably, "Gu Zhi, you'd better shut up before I draw my sword."

"Alright, alright," Gu Zhi shrugged. "I won't say anything then, but our senior brother has already reached the Golden Core stage. Who knows who else in the Mirror of Recall could possibly hurt you?"

Everyone: "..."

Mingjian remained silent for a long while, realizing he had forgotten that Guzhi licked his lips, knowing he could poison someone to death.

Lou Jing was furious and drew his sword. "Gu Zhi, if I want to kill you, I can do so anytime."

"Senior Brother." Seeing this, Shi Lian hurriedly stepped between the two and advised, "Senior Brother Gu didn't mean it. The most important thing now is to break the formation and leave the secret realm."

Song Heyu sighed, gave Gu Zhi a cold look, and then bowed to Lou Jing, "Lou Jing, this matter is due to the poor discipline of Guiyi Peak. As the chief disciple of Guiyi Peak, I apologize to you on behalf of Gu Zhi."

Gu Zhi retorted, "Why should I apologize to him? Wasn't I telling the truth? Who else in this secret realm could hurt him? Maybe he was punished for drawing his sword against Ming Jian for no reason that day..."

Before he could finish speaking, Song Heyu cast a silencing spell on him.

Gu Zhi had no choice but to give up in frustration.

Mingjian glanced at Lou Jing's injured arm.

He inexplicably thought of Xiao Bumian.

…Could this have been done by Xiao Bumian?

Lou Jing glared at Ming Jian, but said nothing.

He had his doubts about Mingjian. That night, while he was meditating in his room, he heard a noise outside and suspected that someone was playing tricks.

After running out, he was suddenly plunged into darkness, followed by the sound of swords slicing through flesh, instantly severing the meridians in his right arm, and the pain spread throughout his body.

He knelt on the ground with his arms crossed, gritting his teeth, his face filled with astonishment.

In the entire Princess's residence, he was the only one with the Golden Core cultivation level. The other disciples from Jianming Immortal Mountain and aristocratic families were all at the Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining stages. Apart from Princess Yunyue, who was at the Mahayana stage, who else could harm him silently?

Moreover, he clearly sensed killing intent within that sword intent.

Although he didn't know why that person didn't kill him, the killing intent in that sword still sends chills down his spine whenever he thinks about it.

Lou Jing thought about the sect disciples he had clashed with, and finally thought of Mingjian, with whom he had argued that afternoon.

But that's completely impossible; that disciple named Mingjian is only at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Lou Jing had no choice but to dispel his doubts.

Compared to suspecting that Mingjian had injured him, he was more worried about letting the other disciples know that he was injured. In this secret realm, many disciples of Jianming Immortal Mountain were already anxious because they could not leave the secret realm after crushing the jade talisman. If they knew that he, the sect leader's eldest disciple, was injured, they would probably be even more frightened.

Therefore, healing is the most important thing.

Lou Jing swallowed a whole bottle of Nourishing Essence Pills and stayed in his room to heal his wounds. When he opened his eyes the next day, he found that the wounds, which should have healed long ago, had barely stopped bleeding.

Mingjian, unaware of the complexities in his mind, felt utterly bewildered.

Why are you glaring at him? It wasn't him who did it.

"It's alright, and besides, there's no need for you to apologize." Lou Jing glanced at Song Heyu and straightened his outer robe.

Song Heyu: "Thank you."

His gaze fell on Lou Jing's injured arm, his brows furrowing: "Why...why hasn't this injury healed yet?"

Lou Jing turned his head to look at him, and after a long while, he slowly said, "What you said that day was all correct."

He turned around, raised his chin, and gestured for them to look at the cultivators chained up. "These disciples were injured when I went to investigate with them the day before yesterday. I was injured the night before last, but my wound has not healed."

"On the contrary, the wounded disciples were completely healed by the next day. At the time, I thought it was just a coincidence, but I didn't expect that all three of them would go crazy that night. They forgot that they were disciples who entered the secret realm, and instead had a strange memory, saying that they were mermaids and could accurately say where they lived a thousand years ago."

Before the words were even finished, the three cultivators suddenly began to struggle violently. Amidst the rattling of the chains, everyone was horrified to see that on their exposed skin, the wounds abraded by the chains were visibly sprouting bluish-gray scales, and gill-like slits opened on their necks, their teeth becoming sharp as shark teeth.

Song Heyu's expression changed drastically. "Besides you few, does anyone else know?"

Lou Jing shook his head. "No, it's fortunate that they had their attack on the road. We were afraid that the other disciples would be frightened if they saw them, so we locked them up here."

"That's good." Song Heyu nodded.

“My spiritual energy has been draining away these past few days,” a disciple suddenly said.

“Me too.” Another disciple raised his hand in acknowledgment.

Lou Jing turned his head and asked, "Where are the three of you?"

He coughed twice and emphasized, "It's not directed at you... it's just that we all have this symptom. After discussing it, we roughly guessed that the mermaid eggs in these disciples' bodies are probably the souls of mermaids who died a thousand years ago, possessing other bodies to return to life. If you want to distinguish whether someone has been possessed by a mermaid, you can look at the healing ability of their wounds and whether their spiritual power can be gathered."

Song Heyu hummed in agreement, then drew her sword from her waist and slashed her arm.

Blood dripped onto the ground, spreading out like plum blossoms.

Seeing this, Mingjian and Guzhi each made a cut as well.

The disciple standing behind Lou Jing took out a bottle of pills from his pocket. "Nourishing Yuan Pills, each of you take one. If you haven't recovered after an incense stick's time, it will prove your innocence."

Gu Zhi's silence had lost its effect. He took the pill from the disciple's hand, popped it into his mouth, and sneered, "Then why don't you cut your own hands too? Just because you say you can't use spiritual power doesn't mean you can't use it."

"You!" the disciple gritted his teeth and squeezed out a single word.

Lou Jing turned to look at the group. Although he disliked Gu Zhi, he had to admit that there was some truth to what Gu Zhi said. He said, "Fine, since they've all done it, it wouldn't be right for you not to."

The disciple glared at them, but still managed to make a cut on his arm.

After an incense stick had burned, Mingjian, who had been resting against the wall with his eyes closed, opened them and looked down at his wound. "Is this alright?"

Lou Jing nodded, his taut jawline finally relaxing a bit. "That's fine."

The other disciples also showed their wounds to others; none of the wounds had healed.

This at least proves that those standing here at this moment are still living, breathing human cultivators.

Lou Jing pursed his lips and remained silent for a long while before awkwardly asking Ming Jian, "If what you said that day was true, not to mention how you and that junior brother escaped those two demons, did you see how they lured the disciples parasitized by the mermaid eggs together?"

“Don’t misunderstand,” Lou Jing added, “relying on self-injury to prove one’s identity is not a long-term solution. Besides, now that my spiritual power has dissipated, my wounds are healing slowly, and I will only be a burden when I encounter an enemy.”

"If we could use the methods of those demons to lock all the disciples with merman eggs in one place, it would be easier to deal with them."

Mingjian thought for a moment and said vaguely, "I vaguely heard that it requires the blood of a high-ranking demon."

"High-level demons?" Lou Jing frowned. "Then they must be at least Heavenly Demon level demons. It's true that demonic beasts are attracted to demons with pure bloodlines. I didn't expect there to be Heavenly Demon level demons here. I don't know if it's Xuanming or Jiuyou. If it's Wuxiang, I'm afraid we'll only be able to perish in this secret realm."

The room fell into a deathly silence, and the atmosphere became somewhat heavy.

Mingjian was stunned for a moment before saying, "It shouldn't be that bad."

The disciple beside Lou Jing gave him a strange look. "How do you know you can't?"

“…” Mingjian: “I guessed.”

He couldn't very well say that the so-called high-ranking demon was currently in the back room, perhaps idly playing with the hair ribbon he had dropped.

Although Xiao Bumian only became a demon halfway through his cultivation, he can still be considered a member of the demon race.

Thinking about this, Mingjian wanted to curse the system. This unreliable thing still hadn't found the reason why Xiao Bumian had become a demon.

The system dared not speak even when it was being scolded, and could only cower in the consciousness, bowing its head and behaving subserviently.

The others were speechless for a moment.

Shi Lian broke the silence, "Alright, I suppose as long as we find the array's core, we can get out. We won't have to confront the demons head-on."

Lou Jing sighed, "That's all we can do."

"Then what should be done with these disciples?" Song Heyu asked.

"Let's lock them up for now and see if we can find a way to bring them back to their senses."

In the end, they split into two groups. Lou Jing and his group were responsible for locking up the disciples in the princess's mansion who had been possessed by the mermaids, while Song Heyu and her group were responsible for luring out the Wedding Dress Demon.

As they reached the corner of the corridor, Gu Zhi suddenly spoke up: "The only way to draw out the Wedding Dress Curse is to hold a wedding celebration."

Song Heyu: "But because of this wedding dress curse, no one in the city dares to get married lately."

"Are you stupid?" Gu Zhi said, exasperated. "We moved in here precisely because Princess Yunyue's wedding is imminent, and the Demon Extermination Bureau was sent to protect her, right? All we have to do is lure the 'Wedding Dress Demon' on her wedding day, isn't that enough?"

Mingjian suddenly had a bad feeling: "Isn't Princess Yunyue's wedding date next month?"

“That’s right.” Gu Zhi put her arm around his shoulder and smiled, “So let’s have a fake wedding!”

Song Heyu frowned even more deeply: "But the groom..."

"Isn't this ready-made?" Gu Zhi patted Mingjian's back forcefully. "Our junior brother is so handsome, he's perfect to play the groom!"

Mingjian: "...?"

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Author's Note: Demon Race Level:

Mortal Demon Rank: Turbid Life - Yin Sha

Earth Demon Rank: Rakshasa - Yaksha

Heavenly Demon Rank: Xuanming – Jiuyou – Wuxiang – Tianyan – Zhuyin – Demon Lord