Sacrifice

Yuanli was stunned and speechless, and the colorful spirit stone hairpin on her head flickered with a faint light. Cha Suxun's face and their past appeared in her mind again, and all the loving scenes reminded her.

"I've tried to coax you, that's enough! Stop crying! Are you annoying? I really can't understand you anymore, Heng Jin. Haven't I cried to you? But was it any use? To this day, you still refuse to open your mouth and explain the truth about your so-called timing! You know what has led us to this point. Heng Jin, I am Ah Cha's bride-to-be, please remember this deeply and clearly! Don't be intimate with me again. My soft-hearted indulgence in you is my biggest mistake. I deserve to be punished and die. In the future, I will remind myself again and again not to make the same mistake again."

"It's not you who's reminding you over and over again. It's the spell he cast on this colorful stone hairpin on your head. Every time you approach me, it reminds you of his presence."

Yuanli touched the colorful spirit stone hairpin on her head. "Hengjin, our initial encounter was a mistake. I fell in love with you, broke my promise to stay with him forever, and hurt his heart. These are all the bitter fruits I wrought. Since these are bitter fruits, I should have ended them long ago."

"If the cause and effect between you and me were so easy to understand, you would have happily prepared for your marriage to Cha Suxun! For a favor! You have to marry him! This is unfair to you!"

"Your Majesty, are you talking about fairness now? You kidnapped me without my permission, and then dragged me into your quest to find the jade hairpin and revive Li Wan. Did you ever ask me if I thought it was fair? Or, for example, my greatest wish in life was to become Cha Suxun's first wife, yet you obstructed me in every way, even going so far as to lock me up. Did you ever ask me if I thought it was fair?"

"Your greatest wish in life... is to become his first wife?"

"Yes! A desire that borders on obsession!"

Looking at Yuanli's expression when she said this and listening to her tone, Hengjin was extremely scared.

He used Chisha to replay their past love countless times in the bedroom, her every smile and frown, her words and deeds, and her habits. He understood her much better than she knew herself.

Therefore, he understood too well the weight and meaning of this sentence.

"I don't care about all the opportunities and all the concerns. After you have seen the illusion of Guanshan Town, I will take you back to see all the stories in my collection of paintings. I will tell you all the hidden truths. If you know everything, your greatest wish is still to become Cha Suxun's first wife. I will add to your dowry and use my original phoenix body to escort you to your wedding. I will never mention our past again in this life and never cross the line again."

"It doesn't matter anymore, Heng Jin. Just now, for some reason, I suddenly stopped trying to get to the bottom of the so-called truth I was hiding from you like I did before. This period of love that was not honest and concealed from each other should be completely let go."

"It was my behavior just now that made you..."

He approached her and she immediately hid.

"I will never let go of you, and I don't believe you can let go so easily."

"Believe it or not, I want to continue watching the immersive experience. I don't want to argue with you. Hurry and get back to normal. Wipe your tears and don't let anyone except me see you crying like this."

After Heng Jin wiped away her tears and took a deep breath to calm her inner collapse, his expression suddenly changed, and the look he gave her was filled with strong possessiveness and lingering love.

"Okay, I'll listen to you. From now on, I'll only cry like this for you to see."

"I've told you countless times, don't call me wife! Heng Jin, you really change your attitude faster than turning the pages of a book. I even start to doubt which face is your true face."

"Then my lady, please spend more time thinking about which face is my true self. It's okay, my lady. No matter how much you say to hurt my heart, I deserve it now. I should be stronger inside."

"Heng Jin, what's going on in your head again?"

He bent down to her level, looking her in the eye, and said with his brightest smile, "A rebellious little bird always wants to fly out of the nest and venture into the dazzling world, but it will eventually fly back."

"Are you confused and angry?"

"What I mean is, Yuan'er, try to escape from me, but in the end, you will come back to me."

"Heng Jin, you're a little too confident. Are you so sure that I will eventually choose to return to you?"

"You may or may not choose to come back to me, but I will definitely choose you, even if I have to tie you up. No matter how hard the karma is, I will tie you to death and find joy in the midst of suffering. Since you like me, then this marriage will be forced to happen, even if the sky strikes."

After saying that, he snapped his fingers again, and everything returned to normal at lightning speed.

Yuanli quickly pretended nothing had happened, but her frantic cover-up revealed her clumsiness.

A muffled drumbeat was heard, and she looked in the direction of the sound. She saw a young and strong man wearing a robe similar to the one used by the soul-binding monster in Huamian Village. He was standing in the open space in the middle of the coffins and dancing a dance similar to a sacrificial dance. However, the robe he was wearing seemed a little too old, and a little too small, quite short.

The dance steps he performed were awkward and funny, the drum beats were inconsistent, and there was someone standing nearby holding a piece of white cloth with music written on it, and his eyes were also fixed on the music score on the white cloth.

Obviously, he was just a temporary addition.

However, the small waist drum slung across his body was exquisite. The tight drum surface was particularly shiny, and its texture was as delicate as a girl's skin. The drum body was painted with dense patterns and hung with small golden bells. The straps connecting the small waist drum were covered with embroidery.

The spaces between the coffins were filled with people from Guanshan Town kneeling, their hands clasped together devoutly, silently praying.

Compared with the scene in the back mountain that appeared in the illusion last time, this time there were forty-two more brand new coffins that were not stained by any dirt or dust, and the coffin lids were pushed open by nearly one-third.

Kneeling in the open space were boys and girls of varying ages, all dressed in crimson shrouds, their faces painted with patterns that obscured their appearance. Their mouths were sewn shut with thick black thread, a few blood scabs still clotted along the seams. Their collars, necks, and chins were clean, presumably having been cleaned before arrival.

Most of them were trembling with fear, but they did not cry or make a fuss. They just knelt obediently and quietly.

A long wooden board was inserted into the children's clothes from the back of their collars, firmly fixed in place. Strange patterns were carved on the board, and it was specially painted in gold.

Looking at this pattern, it is similar to the characters on the soul-calling banner held by the monster in Huamian Village.

The rubies embedded in the ghost boy's eye sockets, the characters on the wooden board, and many doubts are reminding Yuanli that all of this may be related to the disappearance of the Spirit Butterfly Clan in Mount Daimu.

In the forest not far away, many goblins and ghosts gathered, staring at the center of the coffin with eager eyes.

As the young man's dance steps became faster and more skillful, his wide hat suddenly fell off while he looked up. There was a hint of fear on his shocked face, and he seemed to be amazed that he could perform complete and skillful dance steps.

Soon, the fear on his face disappeared, and was filled with greedy joy.

The people kneeling around him saw his reaction and were overjoyed, envious, and even a little hostile.

The rapid drumbeats reached a climax, and some noises came from the most rotten coffin. The sharp and piercing cat meows echoed in the silent night, which made people feel creepy. The onlookers immediately lowered their heads and dared not look directly.

The goblins and ghosts gathered in the forest also began to get agitated and excited when they heard the cat's cry.

More than a dozen pitch-black civet cats crawled out of the rotten hole, their glowing eyes fixed on the kneeling people as if they were looking at prey. Their steps were light and lazy, and they would jump onto the coffin lid from time to time to lick their sharp claws.

The young, sturdy man who was performing the ritual dance stopped and kowtowed three times toward the rotten coffin from which the black civet cat had emerged. He then raised his hands, palms toward the sky, and shouted, "Please bless me, Immortal!"

Yuanli was also looking forward to the appearance of this so-called "immortal" to see her true face. However, the people who had not received a response for a long time began to worry and feel uneasy. The young man knelt down three times before the rotten coffin again and shouted: "Please bless me, Immortal!"

However, this time the response came from other tightly closed coffins. The sound of banging on the lids emanated from within, as if something alive was struggling inside. Everyone was terrified, but no one dared to flee.

As the force of the things in the coffin grew, the lid, which was old and rotten, was shattered by a force, and the broken pieces of wood hit the people kneeling beside the coffin, causing their heads to bleed immediately.

But even so, the people in Guanshan Town still did not dare to move and curled up.

The rest of the coffin lids were also shattered one after another. Yuanli floated in the air and looked down. Under the silvery moonlight, the clusters of white flowers in the coffins bloomed dazzlingly. The flowers were of different sizes, and the emerald green leaves were full of vitality, swaying in the gentle night breeze.

These white flowers, unique to the world, are exactly the same as the small white flowers that have not yet withered where the ghost boy passed by.

Obviously, hidden under these white flowers and tender leaves, there must be corpses whose greed, anger, ignorance, resentment, and desire have been sucked away by the ghost boy.

The black civet cats jumped into the coffin covered with white flowers, running and jumping freely. Wherever they passed, a glow like fireflies floated under the flowers.

The moment they floated out of the coffin, everyone was deeply attracted by the light.

Also attracted were the goblins and ghosts gathered in the forest not far away. Immediately, one of the goblins cast a spell to make the fluorescent light float into the forest, and then quietly captured the fluorescent light at will. They all tacitly did not rush out of the forest.

Yuanli clearly saw that the fairies and ghosts who caught the fluorescent light immediately ate it up, and then wanted to catch more of it crazily.

"These fluorescent lights are the residual souls that are about to dissipate. All the evil thoughts and desires in their lives have been sucked away, and their souls are incomplete. For goblins and ghosts, they are a very clean tonic." Ai said.