Chapter Seventy-Three: Fearing Only Peace

"Fei'er! Wake up!"

I was roused by Keke's voice, and as I remembered my state before falling asleep, tears streamed down my face, misery overwhelming me.

"Fei'er, it's all right! It's all right! Mingzhong's old wound was triggered! His blood surged, he coughed up blood, but you are unharmed!" Keke hastily reassured me.

I sobbed and glanced at my clothes, finding them just as they had been before sleep. I hurried to straighten them, my heart pounding erratically.

"Mingzhong's overwhelming desire caused his old injury to act up. Mingbo scolded him fiercely, said he deserved it, that he can never fix his filthy habits, and that he was too impatient before healing. He decreed that Mingzhong can't touch you before the wedding night! You slept for an entire day and night," Keke said cheerfully.

I smiled at Keke, silently thinking that the potion's effect was just right.

"Most of the potion stuck to my feathers! On your wedding day, I'll sneak into the wine jars pretending to steal a drink—just a roll is enough," Keke said, bursting with excitement.

Although the intoxicating powder on Keke wasn't much, it would hardly knock them out, but as long as it deepened their drunkenness, that was already the perfect opportunity!

Afterward, Keke would sneak sips of wine whenever possible, acting like a bird addicted to drink.

After Mingzhong was reprimanded by Mingbo, he no longer attempted anything improper with me. He needed to recuperate for the wedding, and I needed to restore my strength to escape.

Mingbo came daily to persuade me, as persistent as a mangy hound...

"That dead master of yours may not even treat you as well as my second brother does. Day after day, my brother has fed you the best food and drink, put in so much effort! Anyone who hears it would be moved to tears. Even if he paid with his life for you—if you stay silent, won't the wedding night be a bore? Heh heh."

"Just forgive him. No matter how close a master is, he can't be closer than a husband, right? If you two are affectionate and loving, when it comes time to conquer the Heavenly Realm... wouldn't that be interesting..."

"To be honest, my second brother has seen countless women—princesses, fairies, ladies high and low. Remember the princess from the Shaking Dynasty? Such beauty, and yet she died at his hand, and he didn't care at all. Only for you does he show such tenderness, even saving your life!"

Mingbo's words made me sick. I could never forgive my enemy Mingzhong, let alone fall in love with him!

But, for the sake of escape, I pretended to heed Mingbo's advice. I no longer resisted what Mingzhong provided but began to nurse myself back to health. I smiled and played with Keke, acting as though I spent my idle days amusing a bird. Whatever Mingzhong wished me to drink, I drank.

The Netherworld's flower dew was fragrant and sweet, reminiscent of the tea my master had once sipped, even more suitable for blending with the divine energy my master had given me than the dew of the Celestial Palace. Even the wound left by the Soul-Nailing Spike healed swiftly. Secretly delighted, I thought that if things continued this way, my chances of breaking through the Duality Divine Seal and escaping would only grow.

Again and again, in dreams, I returned to Chasing Immortal Cliff, standing back to back with him... He was still mending the crack in the heavens... Snow drifted and swirled through the sky...

Again and again, I dreamed of Falling Sunset Cave, his wan face as he healed my wounds...

Again and again, I dreamed of Memory Immortal Valley, where he embraced me beneath the pear tree and said, "Take care of yourself."

"Master! Fei'er must preserve the life you gave me, escape first and then find a way to avenge you!" I told him.

"Live well," his voice was forever gentle.

Yet every time I awoke, I faced the one I hated most, masked, his cold eyes hidden, watching from the dim, shadowy corners—silent as a demon, as a ghost...

"He is in my heart, among the multitudes—his soul will never be erased!" I cursed Mingzhong in my thoughts.

"On the day of the wedding, I must seize the chaos to escape!" I resolved.

In the gloomy, terrifying Infernal Prison, the Nether King's confidant, Soulcutter, held the Soul Execution Decree, muttering incantations. As he cast the decree into the air, a whirlwind arose, spawning countless hungry ghosts. Each brandished iron forks and hooks, swarming towards the torture pillars within the prison. The souls chained to the pillars wailed in terror and misery.

The hungry ghosts pounced, stabbing abdomens with their forks, gouging out hearts with their fiery hooks. Whenever bluish-red intestines and bloody organs were torn out, the ghosts surged forward, fighting to devour them.

But as they stuffed the organs into their mouths, the flesh vanished into nothingness. Enraged, the hungry ghosts began skinning and dismembering, biting and gnawing at the helpless souls. Though the souls had lost their bodies, they still endured endless torment conjured by illusion. They died in agony, only to revive in pain, trapped in this unending cycle of suffering.

A wild-haired female ghost was bound to one pillar, two hungry ghosts wrenching back her pale neck to drink her blood. She screamed in agony, her mouth forced open as though for a ghastly kiss. She thrashed desperately, muffled cries escaping her lips, until with a violent rip, half her tongue was torn out. Blood filled her mouth—she shrieked and died.

The hungry ghosts gleefully chewed the tongue, only for it to dissolve into nothingness. Starved for thousands of years, each hope of satiation was dashed, leaving only perpetual hunger. They wailed in despair.

Soulcutter, expressionless as a corpse, formed seals and drew the rabid ghosts back into the Soul Execution Decree. The souls left unbitten were subjected to fire, water, strangulation, and dismemberment, tortured to death by his incantations. In moments, all the souls had died once more. Soulcutter turned and left.

Before long, the dead souls gradually revived, their forms restored. Unless their very souls were destroyed, they would suffer these torments forever.

The female ghost whose tongue was bitten off also revived, her tongue whole again, and she screamed in hoarse despair, "Nether King! You treacherous old wretch! You will never gain immortality! Never be ageless like the deities of Heaven! This is your retribution! Mingbo is vile! Mingzhong is even viler! One day he will kill you! Kill you!"

A flash of white light, and Mingbo swaggered over, rubbing his fleshy frame and fingering a string of red jade beads, stopping before the female ghost.

Sensing someone near, the ghost snapped her head up and began cursing, "What are you doing here! Send that old fiend instead!"

"Consort Mei, look at you. How have you still not learned restraint? You wail every day, but only I can hear you—no one else. Even I find it hard to bear," Mingbo said, feigning sympathy as he stood by the icy inferno.

"If you can't stand it, go kill Mingzhong!" Consort Mei screamed.

"Tsk tsk, hatred born of love. Mingzhong is my second brother—he's indispensable on the battlefield. Why would I kill him? He obtained the Immortality Method from the Jade Purity Realm and gave it to our father, while you failed to refine the Longevity Pill. Let me share some good news: my brother is about to marry the seventh princess of the Celestial Palace. How does it feel, after all your seductions, to lose both man and heart? Are you not resentful?"

"Mingbo, you did it on purpose! You told me his appearance just so I'd seduce him, and then let that old ghost catch us—just for the spectacle!" Consort Mei raged.

Mingbo grinned slyly. "I only wanted to see a good show in bed. Why would I set a trap for our father? I'd much rather you sang and danced every night. My brother has played with too many women to care for you, and he reported you to father at the first chance. And here's more news: your place has been taken by Lady Jiang. Her son has won great merit, so it's only right for the mother to rise with the son."

"Ah! That wretched Jiang!"

"And as for your ten-thousand-year-old lizard skin, father used it to forge a blood barrier. How does it feel to be flayed and fed to the nether hounds? Hatred enough? You owe all this to my brother," Mingbo said, twirling his red jade beads to provoke Consort Mei.

She howled in fury. "Mingzhong! Not even as a ghost will I let you go! There is not a single good soul in the Netherworld!"

Mingbo sneered, "And you? How many young immortals did you toy with behind father's back? He hates nothing more than betrayal. He made you a consort only to get your longevity technique. Did you think he was blind? That he loved you, you wretch?"

"Mingbo! What do you want? Just here to laugh at me?"

"I'm not here out of idle curiosity. You want revenge, and I want entertainment. Since we both have needs, I'll show you a way."

"What way? Speak!"

"Revenge! Strike at my brother's weakness."

"Weakness?"

"He is about to marry the seventh princess, the same young immortal who once ruined your Longevity Pill and shamed you. She used a powerful illusion back then, enough to fool even me."

Consort Mei gnashed her teeth. "Cursed pair! Cursed pair!"

"The confidant under father's command, the enforcer Soulcutter—his lover used to examine the women thrown into the Melting Pool. I had her tossed to the nether ghosts to be ravaged to death. Since then, Soulcutter has borne a grudge against me. Now, with your blood barrier protecting father's training chamber from my ghost eyes and ears, Soulcutter will speak even more ill of me to father."

"So what do you want? Another show?"

"My order back then was impulsive, to save the seventh princess. Soulcutter's true enemy is not me, but her. He comes here daily to enforce punishment—tell him what happened, fan the flames. He won't fail to seek revenge on the princess. Don't you hate her, too? No need to kill her—just have Soulcutter torment her. She is now my brother's darling. How would he feel marrying such a woman? Won't they become mortal enemies? With my brother removing Soulcutter, you'll have your revenge, and Lady Jiang will see what becomes of a diplomatic bride. Isn't that a satisfying vengeance?" Mingbo leered.

"You want Soulcutter to blame the princess, turning us against each other, while you stand aside and watch the show."

"You know me well—I'm here for the spectacle. I know you died unwillingly. So—what do you say?"

"Fine! I'm already dead—what more can happen? I'll do it!" Consort Mei gritted her teeth.

Intent on escaping the Netherworld, Keke and I followed our plan, hope for survival rising in our hearts, little knowing that Mingbo, with eyes and ears everywhere, was stirring up the flames behind the scenes, eagerly awaiting one spectacle after another.