Chapter 10 (Part 2) of Volume 5: How can you tell whether I am male or female?

  "?" Gan Ning's eyebrows slightly furrowed, seemingly nonchalantly asking.

  "Mind your own business! Don't ask what you shouldn't, or I'll kick all of you out!" She walked to the front of the deep pool and was silent for a moment before saying to the little princess, "This is the king's ninety-seventh wife. The king doesn't tolerate disobedient women."

  As they spoke, the hanging woman suddenly opened her eyes, which were a pair of dull, dead fish-like eyes, with the pupils cleverly dug out, leaving only the whites.

  "Follow me down, the Burial Flower Abyss is just below the pool." Ruhua had us ride on the flying monkeys and jump into the pool. As soon as our bodies were soaked in the pool water, we immediately felt numb and couldn't move. Haiji, Gan Zhen, and Mouse Gong all showed a look of surprise, but the flying monkey was unaffected, flapping its wings and rapidly sinking downwards.

  Sinking, sinking, rapidly sinking to the bottom of the pool. At that moment, my brain became a complete blank, as if suddenly stunned, and I fell asleep inexplicably, having many, many dreams, one after another, flashing by like lightning. From begging in Luoyang as a child, meeting Wu Ka, to being accompanied by three beauties on a sea voyage, being swallowed into the belly of a dragon whale, and displaying my divine might at a grand banquet.

  Can't keep dreaming! I suddenly felt a wave of terror, although in the dream, my consciousness was still very clear, only knowing that it was extremely dangerous, forcing myself to stop dreaming and wake up quickly.

  With a loud crash, at the same time as I made contact with solid ground, I also woke up from my dream. The girls beside me, including Kanade, were dazed and confused, apparently having fallen asleep along with me during our descent.

  "We're here." The loud and clear voice of Ruhua thoroughly woke us up. There wasn't a single drop of water around, we looked up. A deep black pool hung above our heads, like an eerie eye, quietly gazing at us.

  Jumping down the flying monkey, we followed Ru Hua and walked forward. I had some unease in my heart all along. In the process of falling into the deep pool, the dreams I made were equivalent to exposing myself nakedly, and I believed that Gan Zhen and others were also like this. However, there was one strange thing - from beginning to end, I never dreamed of encountering the skeleton of Long Die, as if there was a mysterious power in the dark that prevented me from revealing the secret of my reincarnation as Long Die.

  The scenery around is like a painting, with bamboo forests, green vines, flower racks, lawns, small bridges and waterfalls. It's ordinary, but it also shows the owner's elegant taste. Fortunately, there are no demons or monsters guarding this place. As I observe the terrain, I secretly speculate. Where will Ye Liuqing be imprisoned? According to reason, the prison cell that imprisons Ye Liuqing must have a demon guard.

  As we passed by a pavilion covered with green tiles, we saw a beautiful female demon sitting at the edge of the table, her left hand holding a purple sand pot and her right hand holding a cup. She was pouring tea. The female demon's expression was focused, and her posture while pouring tea was elegant. Her high-quality goods were exquisite, and three pairs of crystal wings softly stuck to her back, slightly trembling in the wind.

  "This can't be the Night Flowing Ice, right? I stared intently at the female demon, and suddenly felt a jolt. From ten zhang away from the pavilion to walking past it, this female demon had been pouring tea nonstop, never stopping, and she was always in this same posture, even as we passed by. She didn't even lift her head to glance at us once. I discovered that there was no tea in the purple sand teapot, nor was there any in the cup, and this female demon's eyes were empty and dazed, as if she was lost in a dream."

  A chill ran up my spine, it was too strange. Obviously a living and breathing female demon, but she acted like a wooden puppet. On the pavilion's signboard, four characters were written in bold: "Hong Yan Dian Cha". Hong Yan? Was that the name of this female demon? I wondered to myself, what's with this pavilion signboard? Didn't they treat this female demon as just a prop? Just as I was filled with doubts, on the lawn across from me, I saw another beautiful and seductive female demon.

  She was wearing a snow-white dress, lazily reclining on the grass, her plump and slender legs curled up, holding a fluffy white tail. The female demon supported her head with her left hand, held a fan in her right hand, and gently patted a butterfly that flew over. Like the female demon I saw before, she maintained this butterfly-patting posture, her eyes dazed as if in a noon nap. I saw that there were words on the fan, clearly "Yu Hu Pu Die".

  An inexplicable eerie atmosphere enveloped us, even the usually calm Gan Ning's eyes revealed unease. I cleared my throat, just about to ask Ruhua, but she glared at me: "Shut up! You're always talking the most!" I had no choice but to swallow my words and silently curse her a thousand times in my heart.

  Along the way, we saw nearly a hundred beautiful female demons,

  Jade stands at the bridgehead, beautiful eyes gaze at the ripples; some sit cross-legged in the bamboo forest, stroking the zither and gently lifting the flower hoe to bury flowers. In front of each elegant scenery, there must be a beautiful female demon showing us her most charming demeanor, but the charm is forever repeated without change. I suddenly thought of the 97th wife by the deep pool, almost shouting out loud at night when the stream was icy.

  Are all these female demons the wives of Ye Liu's past marriages? I gave a wink to Little Princess, and she immediately understood, deliberately walking into a nearby garden, pointing at a demoness who was swinging on a swing inside, asking: "Sister Ruhua, I also want to play with the swing, can you ask that sister to let me?"

  "Cut the crap! Whatever you say, she can't hear it!"

  The little princess pretended to be silly: "Won't it? I'll go ask her myself." Before Ruhua could stop her, the little princess quickly ran towards that female demon, and we also took the opportunity to follow up.

  The swing swayed back and forth, while the female demon grasped the ropes with both hands, laughing all the time. Her smile remained unchanged, and even the fine wrinkles on her delicate skin caused by laughter did not change. The silvery laughter echoed in the garden, one sound after another, becoming more and more terrifying to hear.

  "Sister, let me play for a while." The little princess stretched out her hand to pull the female demon's hand, but the female demon seemed not to have heard or seen her, and continued to swing on the swing. On the wooden frame of the swing, "Cuiniao Dangqian" was carved.

  As if she had been waiting for an opportunity, she roughly pulled away the little princess's hand and shouted: "How dare you! Don't you want to live? Or do you want to become like them? Don't think that just because you're married to the king, you're someone special. Look at them, weren't they also the king's consorts in the past?"

  We all changed color, and Mouse's legs began to tremble. Ruhua seemed to have misspoken, her face sinking, urging us to hurry up. I looked at the little princess, she also looked at me. A sense of sympathy arose in my heart, Ye Liu Bing was simply a demon who tormented women, and I didn't know what kind of evil magic he used to make the female demons he married almost die. If the little princess really became his wife, she would certainly be unable to escape a tragic fate.

  "Ru Hua, don't be so rude to the new mistress. Don't scare her off."

  Just as I was worried about the little princess, a clear and pleasant voice suddenly sounded. My heart skipped a beat, my eyes scanned around, but I couldn't see anyone. There was only a green grassland with a single pure black ice flower quietly placed on it.

  The sound came from the ice flower, a handsome face that was almost evil, reflected in the black and shiny ice flower.

  "Yes, Your Majesty." Ruhua looked at Binghua with great respect.

  I involuntarily tensed up, the person in the Ice Flower must be Ye Liu Bing! He was extremely handsome, with skin as white as jade and a subtle flush of red, like an infant's tender skin, bathed in a layer of eerie glow. His thin lips were slightly curved, his nose high-bridged. The most unforgettable thing about him was his pair of eyes, pitch-black, black to the point where there wasn't even a hint of light.

  Suddenly, the scene of a deep pool jumped out in my mind, so dark and gloomy, just like the eyes of night flowing ice! In an instant, my heart was racing wildly, and my hands were cold as ice.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, you've come from afar, you must be tired. Dog Tail didn't lie, Little Princess, you're indeed very beautiful, even more so than I imagined. With a bride like you, I'm very satisfied." The Night Flowing Ice in the ice flower smiled slightly, but even his smile carried an inexplicable coldness, yet was full of unusual charm. I couldn't help but admit that Night Flowing Ice was a handsome man.

  The little princess said calmly: "Your Majesty is well. If my marriage can bring peace to Huatian, I am also satisfied."

  Yè Liú Bīng Xiào ér Bù Dá, guò le yī huì er, tū rán wèn: "xiǎo gōng zhǔ zài huā tián, jiàn guò māo zhuō lǎo shǔ de yóu xì ma?"

  Translation:

  Yè Liú Bīng smiled but didn't answer. After a while, he suddenly asked: "Has the little princess in the flower field seen the game of cat catching mouse?

  "There is no cat in the flower field, nor is there a mouse. What does the king mean by this?"

  "The cat caught the mouse, but didn't hurry to kill it. Instead, it played with it slowly, tormenting it slowly. Letting it go, then catching it again, letting it go again, and catching it again, until the mouse was tortured to the point of being on its last breath. Ye Liu's voice had a hint of cruel playfulness: 'This is a very interesting game. Unfortunately, the mouse doesn't know it's being played with, and still thinks it can escape.'"

  The tone changed, Ye Liu Ice said: "Like flowers, take the princess and the maid to the embroidery building to rest, serve them well." His face slowly disappeared into the ice flower, after a while, the ice flower melted.

  The little princess was completely bewildered and didn't understand what Ye Liu Bing meant by "cats catching mice". Gan Ning frowned, Hai Ji looked puzzled, and Mouse Gonggong had been frightened to the point where his hands were ice-cold. Only I, only I instinctively sensed that - the plan has been exposed!

  Ye Liu Bing clearly knew that we were going to assassinate him!

  The end of Volume Five