Chapter 10: The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

  The sky gradually darkened, my heart also rose to my throat, I heard the sound of the ground shaking, and felt that something inside was awakening. The people behind were still following, from time to time came bursts of low voices talking.

  "Don't lose him, he must know where the treasure is?"

  "Didn't you hear the strange noise?"

  "Don't scare yourself, maybe nothing is going on here, it's just those officials trying to intimidate us ordinary people with rumors."

  I suddenly felt something digging out from underground, and when I looked down, it was a rotting human head. Judging by the degree of rot, it seemed to have died in the last few days.

  She must be one of the hundred pure 'yin' 'girls', I saw her smile at me, that mouth stretched to the back of her ears, revealing snow-white teeth with a cold white light.

  I jumped over and sped up running forward, behind me came the terrified cries of those people who followed me into the bamboo forest.

  I lost my sense of direction and didn't know where to run to get to the open space near the small building, fortunately there weren't many ghost corpses in the black bamboo forest tonight.

  The more I ran, the less strength I had, and my footsteps gradually slowed down. Suddenly, something tightened under my feet, a long and thin arm grabbed my thigh, pulling me to the ground. I rolled around struggling, shouting for help loudly, but it only gripped tighter, its long fingernails directly digging into my flesh.

  No one heard my cry for help, and the people following me have already died in this bamboo forest. I will become one of these corpses, with bodies coming from all directions and vengeful spirits emerging from the ground to devour my body.

  My neck was tightly pinched by them, my body was dragged into the underground, only exposing the upper part of my body. In the moment I closed my eyes, I just managed to shout out "Xuan Yuan Mu" three words.

  Then I saw those yellow eyes and heard him say "Fool, how many people can't I handle..."

  When I woke up again, what entered my eyes was a medical clinic. The room was filled with the smell of herbal medicine.

  There is thick gauze wrapped around my neck and also on my feet.

  "Let her rest, originally she belongs to the nine 'yin' fate, and was injured by a 'yin' ghost. If it wasn't for my 'yin' and 'yang' ghost doctor skills, I'm afraid she would have become a zombie if not dead." The conversation outside was overheard.

  "Thank you, Master!"

  A man pushed open the door curtain and walked in, his tall stature, wearing a snow-white silk dark flower long shirt, his hair was neatly tied back, jade tree in the wind.

  I looked at him strangely "you?"

  His mouth suddenly curved into a smile, then he walked to the window, stretched out his hand and touched my forehead "Not hot anymore!"

  I dodged his touch: "Are you Xuan Yuan Mu?" I never thought the owner of that head would be so handsome, nor did I know he could smile.

  "Of course, wife!" As he spoke, Xuan Yuan helped me lie down, being meticulous and considerate.

  But my heart became increasingly vigilant, what does he want to do? Is he going to raise me well and then kill and eat me, or has he already used me up and has another purpose? Today's him is a bit different from that head, it feels like a person.

  Now he can get out of the Ghost Bamboo Forest by himself, and in the future, he won't need me anymore. Will he let me go?

  Many questions were swirling in my mind, and then I sat up again. "I'm fine, much better!" Looking at the wound on my leg, feeling the chill there, I knew I was lying.

  "Can't you just stay calm in front of me?" Xuan Yuan said coldly.

  "I... really am fine now, and I want to sit for a bit, also want to bask in the sun." Only sunlight can make me feel slightly at ease.

  "Alright! I'll carry you out!"

  "I didn't..." My words were cut off as he scooped me up in his arms and headed out of the courtyard.

  "Haven't we still got 49 days to go? How did you come out ahead of time?" My face is burning badly, I can only change the subject, this appearance is so embarrassing.

  "Ah, ahead of schedule, thanks to your good stitching!" A low voice came from beside his ear.

  He placed me in a bamboo chair in the courtyard, with the whole body bathed in sunlight.

  "Are... you revived?" I couldn't help but ask as I looked at him who didn't fear the sunlight.

  "No, it's still a corpse. Tonight, you can stay here. The master is not bad, in the bamboo forest, I still need to preside over it, otherwise those things will come back to life at night and the people who harmed me will also notice something unusual. I must return to the imperial palace with integrity and let my foolish father see that this prince is still alive."

  "Can't you let me go? Let me be free..." I asked softly with my head down, fearing his answer.

  "No!" Xuan Yuan Mu squatted down, his hands tightly grasping my arms: "Mei Lingxue, remember, from now on and for all eternity, you are mine, Xuan Yuan Mu's person. Even in death, you will be Xuan Yuan Mu's ghost."

  I stared at him blankly, his eyebrows were tightly furrowed, and those eyes told me how resolute his heart was.

  It was late at night, the master's wife made me a "medicine" and also prepared glutinous rice water for me to soak in, but her eyes were filled with terror when looking at me, just like she was seeing a ghost, and she didn't say anything to me.

  These days, Xuan Yuan comes over here during the day and returns to the ghost house at night, which is still relatively calm.

  One day, tofu maker Li Yue from the vegetable market came to the hospital to get medicine for his mother and saw me in the backyard, his mouth wide open in surprise.

  "Lingxue? Are you really Lingxue? What's wrong with you, how did you get hurt like this?" He was extremely excited, to the point where he dropped the medicine bag in his hand.

  I sat in a rocking chair, nervously turning my head to look around the room, afraid that Xuan Yuan might hear his voice.

  "What are you doing here?" This is the backyard, nobody usually comes over here.

  "The doctor told me to find a partner to take some 'medicine' to induce labor, but there's no one in front of us. How are you here? What happened to your injury?" Li Yue squatted on the ground.

  "Li Yue, I want to ask you for a favor. The fact that I'm still alive mustn't be told to anyone in the Zuo Mansion, do you understand? You absolutely can't say anything!"

  "Why? Did they bully you? No wonder when I went to bail you out, they beat me up and look, my face is still swollen now." Li Yue said as she leaned her face closer to mine.

  I leaned back and dodged his approach: "No matter what, you can't tell them."

  "I won't let you go, Ling Xue. Why don't I take you to my home instead? Although my living conditions aren't great, I can definitely support you. My mother is even considering opening a tofu shop for me!"

  I turned away, unsure of how to respond. This Li Yue always does things in such a muddled and confusing way.

  "Her husband is me!" Suddenly, Xuan Yuan's voice rang out.

  He turned around and came over, picking me up from the bamboo chair with one hand: "Wife, let's go inside!"