Chapter 104: Whispering in the Night

One person laughed and said, "I want to help you two achieve a happy ending, yet you accuse me of scheming against you. Isn't that repaying kindness with enmity?"

This voice belonged to Ming Han, who had just pretended to run away. He revealed himself, holding the Yin-Yang Coin between his fingers.

"You stole others' bodies and even stole my dowry," Luo Xu turned around and looked at Ming Han. "If you really want to help us achieve our happy ending, then give it back to the Lord."

"The Yin-Yang Coin belonging to the Imperial Lord is indeed powerful. It can even track my true form. Unfortunately, you currently lack spiritual power, and Ming Zhuo can't unleash its full potential. It gave up halfway. I found it on the ground, unclaimed, and brought it here." Ming Han scrutinised his companion. "The last time I saw this Yin-Yang Coin, it was in the old Imperial Lord’s hands. Such a precious item and the Imperial Lord gave it away so easily. Yi, could it be that you two aren't just pretending but have truly fallen for each other, and are planning to fulfil the contract?"

Ming Zhuo said, "You lost your head once, yet you meddle even more than before. What's the matter? Did that new head of yours grow an extra tongue?"

Ming Han continued to smile, "I am your Jiùjiu, naturally, I must care about the matters which will impact your entire life. Speaking of which, your fate with the Imperial Lord was my doing. If you two end up together, you should at least invite me for a celebratory drink."

He spoke smoothly and with a relaxed demeanour. Though still using Lin Changming's body, there was no trace of Lin Changming in his mannerisms. This was a bad sign, indicating he might have taken full control of Lin Changming. If so, things had become even more complicated.

"This fate is indeed your doing, and inviting you for a celebratory drink would be reasonable," Luo Xu said. "But stealing someone else's identity in this array, even if we got married, it would be fulfilling someone else's wish. How could I, the dignified Imperial Lord of the Heavenly Sea, accept such a humiliation?"

Ming Han laughed heartily, "Imperial Lord, you're mistaken. As long as there's love, does the identity really matter? Here's what we'll do: I'll take charge, and you two shall complete your marriage right here."

With that, he raised his hand and made a gesture of invitation. The surroundings changed abruptly; several burning incense sticks rose from the previously empty space. These incense sticks extended from behind Ming Zhuo and Lu Xu, stretching into the darkness.

Ming Zhuo recognised the incense and said, "These incense sticks are quite fitting for the scene."

Ming Han asked, "How so?"

Ming Zhuo's eyes showed no humour, "Severed Head incense for a headless man like you, isn't that fitting enough?"

"You're wrong again. My head sits perfectly fine on top of my neck—it has never left it." Ming Han was confident. "But you did get one thing right, Severed Jead incense should match headless people. So why not try to guess whose head will roll tonight—yours or the Imperial Lord’s?"

The Severed Head incense emitted white smoke, and a faint wind carried a subtle, fishy smell. Ming Zhuo couldn't identify the scent, but a chill ran up his spine as if facing a natural enemy.

"I forgot, if either of you loses your head, the other will die as well." Ming Han cracked his knuckles. "What to do? Best to get the marriage done and then discuss the matter of a shared grave."

With the crack of his knuckles, the vanished figures reappeared, transformed into warriors with red paper faces. These red-faced warriors were puppets. As they landed, the front row raised their twin axes and swung them at Ming Zhuo and Luo Xu.

Luo Xu asked, "Did you teach him that puppet summoning move?"

"It's a Ming family technique!" Ming Zhuo couldn't dodge in time and kicked a warrior in the chest. The warrior's chest caved in, revealing it was hollow inside.

Ming Han coughed a few times and spoke with a raspy voice, "It has only ever been that the son resembles the father—when has it been that the father resembles his son? Imperial Lord, you should ask if I taught him those puppet summoning moves. Ng, these people might be made of paper, but their axes are real—be careful, ah."

As he spoke, the bead chain around Ming Zhuo's waist was sliced through. He caught a few of the scattered beads as he mocked Ming Han, "You've controlled both Lin Changming and the Nightmare Sealing Array. Killing the two of us should be easy. Why go through all this trouble?"

Ming Han replied, "Some things you think are unnecessary might be essential steps for me. For example, the tears I shed when you tried to kill me—without those tears, you wouldn't have believed I was 'dying'."

He was extremely skilled in persuasion and sophistry, saying all the necessary things and omitting anything that shouldn't be said. Dealing with him and discerning truth from lies was almost impossible.

The red-faced paper warriors pressed in, forcing Ming Zhuo and Luo Xu back into the midst of the Severed Head incense. The further they retreated, the more uncomfortable Ming Zhuo felt.

"There’s a smell," Luo Xu stopped, "it’s pungently fishy."

Amid the warriors' chaotic footsteps, there seemed to be a slithering sound. It was slow, dragging across the ground and brushing past their ears... Luo Xu's mind raced, thinking of something.

The black-tiled, fish-scale roof of the River God Temple.

Suddenly, Luo Xu reached out, pressing on Ming Zhuo's back, and they both leaned forward. In a split second, a gust of fishy wind swept over their heads, knocking them to the ground. The red-faced paper warriors were crushed, like paper trampled underfoot.

When they looked up, they saw an enormous, terrifying snake head hanging above the Severed Head incense. The snake's eyes were split into gold and blue, with vertical pupils that resembled fissures.

Luo Xu said, "The River God Temple in this array has a unique appearance. Turns out it was a black python."

"Saying you were setting up incense for the dead," Ming Zhuo dispersed the fishy wind, "Ming Han, your 'essential step' was summoning this creature with the Severed Head incense."

Ming Han's figure was half-hidden, shrouded in a cloud of black mist, his voice becoming indistinct, "Do you not recognise who it is? I suppose it's natural since no one worships it anymore except for the Hugui Clan, but still..."

The ground trembled as the black python seemed to move its tail. Ming Zhuo suddenly turned his head and saw another similar snake head on the other side, with eyes that were red and green.

Luo Xu's expression remained unchanged, but his voice lowered, "Da'a."

There was only one giant black-scaled snake with twin heads and different coloured eyes, the legendary Da'a that had once pierced the sky and brought down the water of Heaven. However, since the land of the Six Prefectures was formed from Da'a's corpse, this one could only be considered a "small snake" in comparison.

"I suspected Lin Changming would lure you into the array but wouldn't dare use the spells of Dongzhao Mountain. Thus, he had to use puppetry, and all puppetry was derived from Da'a by the Hugui Clan. Now that I've replaced him as the array’s caster, I tried summoning it, and Da'a really appeared. An unexpected delight, but..."

Ming Han chuckled dully, his shoulders shaking as if he could no longer maintain his facade, "Ming Zhuo, you've seen Da'a before. Why pretend not to recognise it in front of the Imperial Lord? Just now, hearing how close you two are, I wanted to ask, have you told the Imperial Lord those secrets? Those secrets of how to eat humans and gods?"

The wind ceased.

Ming Zhuo half-lifted his eyelids, his expression unchanged, "You're speaking nonsense again."

"If anyone is sane in this world, it must be me. You think I'm speaking nonsense because you dare not admit it," Ming Han's form grew taller, changing back to the youthful appearance of Lin Changming from the black mist, "Because once you admit it, you're telling everyone in this world that all the gods worshipped day and night—"

He paused, the corner of his mouth lifting with an indescribable sinister air of wickedness.

"—are all mindless beasts, fit for slaughter."

The Author Has Something to Say

It's finally finished cooking!

(Sitting by the stove) (Wiping sweat with a handkerchief) (Shouting it’s cooked, it’s cooked)

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