…

Having strangled all the wolves and binus that charged up, Ruoye Silk flew back, and meekly wrapped itself around his wrist. Xie Lian sat quietly in the sedan, surrounded by endless darkness and a sea of rustling trees.

All of a sudden, everything fell silent.

The sound of the wind, the sound of the forest, and the roar of demons, all instantaneously fell into a dead silence, as if fearing something. Then, he heard a very soft chuckle.

It could be a man, but also could be a youth.

Xie Lian sat upright without a sound.

Ruoye Silk quietly twisted around his hand, poised for action. As long as the visitor showed a trace of murderous intent, it would counterattack wildly with tenfold the force.

Who knew, he did not wind up with any sudden attack or murderous intent, but instead wound up with something else.

The curtain of the bridal sedan was lifted a little, and via the gap under the bright red wedding veil, Xie Lian saw that the visitor had offered him a hand.

The finger joints were well defined. A red string was tied to the third finger, which, on the slender and pale hand, looked like a bright and vivid affinity knot.

To give, or not to give?

Xie Lian remained still, having not yet decided whether he should continue to sit firmly like this, or whether he should pretend to be a panicked bride and timidly shrink back. But the owner of the hand was quite patient, and quite courteous, Xie Lian didn’t move, and he didn’t move either, seemingly waiting for a response.

After a long time, as might be under unexplained influence of gods or ghosts, Xie Lian extended his hand.

He stood up, about to push aside the curtain and get off the sedan, but the other party was one step ahead and lifted the red curtain for him. The visitor held his hand, but did not hold it too tightly, as if afraid of squeezing and hurting him, which actually gave one the illusion of taking the utmost care.

Xie Lian lowered his head and, letting him lead by the hand, slowly exited the sedan. He caught a glimpse of a wolf strangled by Ruoye Silk lying across by his feet. Gears turning in his head, he lightly tripped and, with a gasp, fell forward.

The visitor immediately flipped his hand to help, and caught him.

Given this catch, Xie Lian also flipped his hand to grasp him, only to feel something icy cold to the touch; as it turned out, the visitor wore a pair of silver vambraces.

The vambrace was gorgeous and exquisite, its pattern quaint, carved with maple leaves, butterflies, and ferocious beasts, appearing quite mysterious, and unlike anything from the Central Plains, but rather an ancient artifact from a foreign race. It precisely encircled the person’s wrist, looking elegant and nimble.

Ice cold silver, pale white hands, lifeless, yet emanated certain murderous and evil energy.

His fall was feigned, in fact an intentional test, and Ruoye Silk had been slowly twisting under the wedding gown’s wide sleeve, ready to strike. However, the visitor simply held his hand, and led him forward.

Xie Lian firstly was not able to see the way clearly with his head covered by the wedding veil, and secondly wanted to stall for time, therefore, he deliberately walked very slowly, but the other party surprisingly matched his pace and walked very slowly, and his other hand would also reach over to lead him from time to time, as if worried that he would fall again. Even though Xie Lian was beyond wary, being treated like this, he couldn’t help but think, “If this is really a groom, he is surely gentle and considerate to the extreme.”

At this point, he suddenly heard an airy clinking sound. Every time the two took a step, there would be that ding-a-ling sound. Just as he was wondering what the sound was, from all around came bursts of wild beasts’ suppressed howls.

Wild wolves!

Xie Lian moved a fraction, and Ruoye Silk snapped tight around his wrist.

Who knew, before he made any move, the person leading him lightly tapped the back of his hand twice, seemingly to comfort him and let him not to worry. The two taps were so light that they almost could be said to be gentle. Xie Lian was mildly stunned, and the bursts of low howls had already been subdued. Listening carefully again, he abruptly realized that these wild wolves were not howling, but whimpering.

It was clearly the whimpering of beasts that were terrified to the extreme, unable to move, and struggling before death.

His curiosity about who the visitor was grew even more intense, and he really wished to toss the wedding veil and take a look first, but he knew it would be ill-suited, so he could only peek through the gap under the red wedding veil. What he saw was the hem of a red coat. Under the red coat, a pair of black leather boots, in a leisurely walk.

The pair of small black leather boots were pulled into a tight wrap, and above which were a pair of slender and straight calves, looking exceptionally nice when walking. On the sides of the black boots dangled two thin silver chains; with each step, the silver chains would shake and make a crisp clinking sound, which was very pleasant to the ears.

The steps were nonchalant, with a spring, more like a youth. Nevertheless, every step he took also exuded confidence, as if no one could stop him. Whoever dared get in his way would be waiting to be crushed to pieces. Given this, Xie Lian was not sure what exactly kind of person this could be.

As he was thinking to himself, all of a sudden, something chillingly white on the ground broke into his vision.

It was a skull.

Xie Lian’s feet froze for a moment.

He could tell at a glance that something was wrong with the way the skull was placed. This was obviously a corner of a certain array, and if it was touched, most likely the entire array would instantly launch an attack against this point. But judging by the young man’s paces, it appeared that he hadn’t even registered that something was there. He was just wondering whether to give a warning when he heard a crisp “clack” sound, and saw the young man step down and instantaneously crush the skull to pieces.

Then, he seemed not to have felt anything, stepped on the pile of powder and walked over indifferently.

Xie Lian, “… …”

He had somehow, with a single step, trampled the entire array into a pile of waste powder…

At this time, the young man paused his steps. Xie Lian’s heart stirred, and he wondered if he should take action, but the young man only paused for a moment before continuing to guide him forward. After a couple steps, a burst of “pitter-patter” sound came from above, like raindrops hitting the surface of an umbrella. It turned out that, just now, the young man had held up an umbrella, shielding them both from above.

Despite it not being the right occasion, Xie Lian couldn’t help but praise him for being so considerate, but he was also rather surprised, “Is it raining?”

The dark mountain was quiet, and the wild forest was vast. Deep in the faraway range, wolves howled at the moon. Maybe because a fight had recently taken place in the mountain, hanging in the cold air was still a faint smell of blood.

The scene, the atmosphere, both exceedingly eerie. Yet the young man held his hand with one hand, clutched the umbrella with the other, and walked slowly forward, which was for no reason provocatively romantic, and lingeringly affectionate.

The strange round of rain came and went strangely, and in a short while, the “pitter-patter” sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella disappeared. The young man stopped, too, and seemed to have put away the umbrella. At the same time, he finally let go of his hand, and walked one step closer toward him.

The hand that had led him all the way gently took a corner of the wedding veil, and slowly lifted.

Xie Lian had been waiting for this moment all along; standing still, he watched the lingering red veil before him slowly lifted upward –

Silk launched!

He meant to attack first, but unexpectedly Ruoye Silk brought up a cross wind when it flew out, the bright red wedding veil left the young man’s hand, rose up and fell, and Xie Lian only had time to glimpse the afterimage of a young man in red before Ruoye Silk went through it.

The young man actually shattered into thousands of silver butterflies, and scattered into a brilliant starry wind of gleaming silver.

Even though it was still not the right occasion, after Xie Lian took a couple steps back, he couldn’t help but marvel in his heart, that this scene was truly as beautiful as a dream. Then, a silver butterfly fluttered past in front of his eyes. Before he could take a closer look, the silver butterfly had circled him twice, merged into the butterfly wind and became part of the silver glitter filling the air, flapped its wings and flew into the night sky.

After a good while, Xie Lian finally cleared his mind, thinking, “Is this young man really the ghost groom?”

He honestly didn’t feel that to be the case. But if not, why would the young man hijack the bridal sedan?

The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed, but Xie Lian tossed Ruoye Silk over his shoulder, determined to first take care of proper business. Scanning around, he let out a “huh”. Not far away, there was surprisingly a building standing solemnly over there.

Xie Lian picked up the wedding veil from the ground and walked closer, and found that the building had mottled red walls and was in fact an old temple. Judging by the design, it was probably a martial god temple. Sure enough, above the front doors were three large characters in a steely style: “Hall of Ming Guang”!

Why was it that the martial god in charge of the north was Ming Guang, yet his temple was hidden in a mysterious array deep in the mountains?