Chapter 63: Blood-stained Marriage Contract, End of the Road Carnival

Li Lianhua lay on the couch, his gaze fixed blankly on a point in the void, seemingly unresponsive to anything around him. When Di Feisheng approached with the medicine bowl, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and then he remained motionless, like a pale, fragile jade sculpture with a soul lost.

Di Feisheng sat beside the couch, attempting to half-lift him up and feed him medicine as usual. His fingertips touched a thin, cold shoulder blade, revealing a stiffness that seemed to distance him. He scooped up a spoonful of medicine, blew on it carefully to warm it, and then brought it to the pale lips.

"Lotus, drink the medicine." The voice was low, with a barely perceptible hoarseness that was almost pleading.

Li Lianhua's eyes slowly rolled, her gaze glancing over the edge of the spoon, but she didn't focus on Di Feisheng's face. She simply opened her mouth slightly, indifferently and submissively, and swallowed the bitter liquid. There was no resistance, no struggle, not even a trace of emotion, like a puppet with all its strings pulled out.

One spoonful after another.

He accepted everything, but it made Di Feisheng feel even more heavy and suffocated than his fierce resistance. It was a kind of complete and heart-dead indifference.

The bowl was gradually emptying. Di Feisheng set the medicine bowl down, her fingertips subconsciously and lingeringly brushing the corner of his cold lips. Li Lianhua's body tensed imperceptibly for a moment, then relaxed again, returning to a state of complete and unrestrained numbness, unwilling to offer even the slightest resistance.

This kind of calm and unwavering obedience completely ignited the panic, anxiety and violence that had been accumulating in Di Feisheng for days!

He suddenly grabbed Li Lianhua's thin wrist, the force so strong that it almost broke the fragile bones. He squeezed out a voice from between his teeth, with a terrifying chill: "Li Lianhua! You look at me! Talk! Scold me! Hate me?!"

Li Lianhua was forced to raise her eyes, but they remained unfocused, as if she were looking through him into nothingness. Her lips were slightly pursed, and she was as silent as a grave.

"Good...very good!" Di Feisheng's eyes suddenly turned red, and a destructive urge seized him fiercely! He leaned over and fiercely kissed those cold, numb lips. It was no longer a gentle soothing gesture, but a punishing bite and invasion, trying to pry open that tightly closed heart in the most primitive way, squeezing out the slightest reaction from it!

Li Lianhua didn't struggle, didn't even close his eyes, simply enduring, like a soulless body. He let the scorching, bloody kiss fall on his lips and neck... His clothes were roughly torn open, the cool air making his skin shiver, but he remained motionless. Only his long, thick eyelashes, like the wings of a dying butterfly, trembled ever so slightly, betraying the last bit of pain that remained.

The sound of the flute left a mark on his body, his movements almost ferocious, yet his heart was filled with boundless desolation and despair. He felt like he was holding a block of ice, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't warm it. Instead, the coldness was piercing his bones.

He finally stopped all movement and buried his face deep in the cold crook of Li Lianhua's neck. His breathing became heavy, and his shoulders trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly. He had won this silent confrontation, using force to subdue this ailing and broken body, but he had lost everything.

He still held the person beneath him tightly, as if the slightest crack would cause them to dissipate like smoke. However, the soul that was once vibrant, cunning, gentle, or angry seemed to have long since flowed through his grasp, leaving only an empty shell, silently judging his sins.

The only sound in the room was the mingling breaths of two people, one hot as magma, the other as cold as dead water. Desire and despair, possession and loss, intertwined in this moment into the cruelest scene, dragging both of them into an endless hell.

At the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance's headquarters, candlelight flickered within the gloomy hall, casting eerie, distorted figures. The air was thick with the stench of blood and the sweet, cloying aroma of incense, blending into a nauseating odor.

Di Feisheng sat high up in the main seat, his dark clothes and black hair inked, his face as cold and hard as a rock, his eyes swirling with suppressed anxiety and violence. His knuckles tapped unconsciously on the armrest, each one carrying a tremendous force, as if he was counting the remaining time for the person on the couch.

From outside the hall, a burst of enchanting yet manic laughter drifted closer. Jiao Liqiao, dressed in a vibrant crimson, strode in like a flower in full bloom, about to rot. In her hands, she clutched a heavy black iron box, her eyes gleaming with a frenzy of determination and determination.

"Your Majesty~" Her voice was as sweet as honey, yet it was laced with poison. "I... am here to offer my betrothal gifts."

She raised her wrist and opened the box without any hesitation!

A hideous head, its hair and beard unfurling, tumbled to the ground! It was none other than Shan Gudao! His eyes were wide open, frozen in the shock, anger, and unwillingness of death. The blood at the broken neck had turned dark brown, emitting a strong, fishy odor.

"How is it?" Jiao Liqiao smiled and kicked the head with her toes, her tone as disrespectful as if it were trash. "This is the great worry that has hindered Your Majesty for many years... I have cleared it up for you. Is this sincerity enough?"

Di Feisheng's eyes swept over Shan Gudao's head, his expression calm, as if it were just a dead object of no importance. He cared about only one thing. He raised his eyes, his gaze piercing Jiao Liqiao like an icy blade: "Rama Ding."

Jiao Liqiao was unfazed by his indifference, instead smiling even more charmingly. Twisting her waist, she took a few steps closer, her voice low yet captivating, "Don't worry, Your Majesty! Such a treasure should naturally be saved for our wedding day, in the bridal chamber... Only then will I personally present it to you, to demonstrate its preciousness, isn't it?"

Her eyes greedily traced Di Feisheng's stern features, and she added, her tone carrying a hint of undeniable threat and temptation: "Then the tripod will be yours, and you will be mine...a fair trade, an everlasting union."

Di Feisheng's jaw suddenly tensed! A terrifying murderous aura instantly erupted from his body, and the candlelight in the hall shook violently! He almost wanted to tear this crazy woman to pieces immediately!

But... Li Lianhua's increasingly weak breathing, his face as pale as paper, and the Medicine Demon's verdict of "the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dying"... were like the coldest chains, tightly binding his thunderous rage that was about to explode.

He needed the Rama Cauldron! Now! Immediately! Li Lianhua's body... couldn't wait any longer! If he delayed even a moment longer, that faint flame of life might be completely extinguished!

Jiao Liqiao keenly caught the fleeting struggle and panic in his eyes, and struck while the iron was hot, her voice cloyingly sweet: "Your Majesty, the beloved host of your beloved building... I'm afraid he can't wait much longer. Why delay a life-saving opportunity for a few empty formalities? Three days from now will be an auspicious day..."

Di Feisheng closed his eyes, his mind flashing back to the image of Li Lianhua, her dying breath. When he opened them again, all emotion had been forcibly suppressed, leaving only a dead, heart-wrenching coldness. He squeezed three words between his teeth, each one carrying a heavy, bloody price:

"Three days later."

A smile of utter ecstasy and twisted joy instantly blossomed on Jiao Liqiao's face, as if she had won the whole world! She stared at him with fascination, her voice trembling slightly with excitement: "Okay! Okay! Three days from now! I will prepare the phoenix crown and bridal robe and respectfully welcome His Majesty! The Rama Cauldron... will be presented as scheduled!"

She turned around contentedly, her red dress trailing the ground like a banner of victory, carrying Shan Gudao's head with her as she left with a loud laugh. In the empty hall, only her manic laughter echoed for a long time.

Di Feisheng sat alone in the high seat, shadows covering half of his face, making it impossible to discern his expression. Only his hands, gripping the armrests tightly, his knuckles white and even slightly digging into the black iron, betrayed the turmoil and heartbreak within him at that moment.

In order to save one person, he betrayed his principles, compromised with his old enemy, and even... was about to marry a madman.

The cold wind howled outside the hall, like sobbing.