CH 78

Chapter 78: As Long As You Feel The Slightest Desire, You Will Never Walk Out Of Here.

Inside the door, the view was quite surprising.

He saw a pavilion on a lotus pond1 illuminated by the white moon in the sky, while the melodious sound of a zither reached his ears.

Bian Zhonghua was no longer in the brothel….

Bian Zhonghua raised his eyebrows with interest. As he followed the sound of the zither, he walked through the corridor, seeing the shadow of a crane crossing all over the lotus pond until it landed on the octagonal pavilion.

Inside the pavilion sat a young woman playing the zither, with beautiful expecting eyes and a captivated sweet smile. When she saw Bian Zhonghua stepping into the pavilion, she said: “Greetings Gongzi, please sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down. However, I ask this young lady to show me the way out.” Bian Zhonghua smiled.

The young woman stroked the zither and asked: “Why? Is this Gongzi in a hurry? Is someone waiting for you?”

Bian Zhonghua shook his head: “No one is waiting for me.”

“Then, since no one is waiting for this Gongzi, why don’t you have a drink with me before you leave?”

Outside the pavilion came the clean and smooth voice of a young man. At that, Bian Zhonghua stood stiff. As he raised his eyes, he saw a young man dressed in white walking in with two jars of wine. From afar, the young man looked energetic and handsome, but up close, you could see a charming beauty entwined in his eyes.

The white-clothed young man walked all the way to Bian Zhonghua, put a wine jar in his hand, and with extreme naturalness, he clinked the two jars: “This is a high-quality wine, wouldn’t it be a shame not to taste it?”

Bian Zhonghua looked behind the young man, only to see that the young woman who was playing the zither in the pavilion had disappeared out of nowhere, leaving him all alone with the white-clothed young man.

“Where are you looking?” The white-clothed young man suddenly leaned over, closing their proximity, with a puzzled expression.

Bian Zhonghua took half a step back and laughed: “In any case, I wasn’t looking at you.”

The young man didn’t seem annoyed, he simply shook the wine jar in his hand and asked: “Shall we drink?”

Bian Zhonghua still refused: “No, I won’t drink. I’m not a good drinker, you could end up hurt.”

“Are you warning me?” The young man sat down on the railing of the pavilion, raised a leg, and laughed: “Even if you say so, I’m still curious.”

“Hmm, even if you’re curious, you must excuse me because I won’t be accompanying you,” Bian Zhonghua said indifferently as he turned around and walked out of the pavilion.

“You think too highly of yourself.” The young man looked at Bian Zhonghua while he walked away. With a confident smile, the young man said: “Everyone has seven emotions and six desires2. As long as you feel the slightest desire, you will never walk out of here.”

Bian Zhonghua ignored him and walked towards the wooden door, the same one he used to come to this place. Except for the young man’s sarcastic remarks, there was no other obstacle. Bian Zhonghua knew that things couldn’t be so simple, but he wasn’t afraid. Thus, he pushed open the wooden door and walked in.

However, what welcomed him was another illusion.

This time, the illusion felt somewhat familiar for Bian Zhonghua.

The other side of the room had turned into a bizarre vision. From time to time, Bian Zhonghua could hear laughter and shouts from a distance, but this room was dreadfully quiet. The smoke coming from the incense was green, emitting a sweet and smoky fragrance. In front of him, Bian Zhonghua could see the illusion of a red-silk bed.

A man was laying on the bed, who seemed to struggle to raise his head to look at Bian Zhonghua.

Bian Zhonghua held his breath for a moment, suddenly remembering why this place looked so familiar.

‘This is the brothel where I met Qi Ci for the first time….’

The man on the bed was ‘Qi Ci’, and it seemed that something was wrong with him.

His clothes were torn and could barely cover his entire body. His hair was scattered all over, and his eyes were red. His neck, arms, and inner thighs were covered with hideous bruises, his lips were swollen and his breathing pace was extremely weak.

“It hurts….” Qi Ci sobbed hopelessly.

Bian Zhonghua’s head buzzed and almost ran toward the bed. However, after taking two steps, he stopped abruptly.

At that moment, a merciless laugh ridiculing him exploded in his ears: “See?! I told you that you thought too highly of yourself! Since you can’t escape what you desire, you’ll become a prisoner! Hahahaha! You’ll be stuck here forever!”

As the unbridled laughter lingered in his ears, the smile on Bian Zhonghua’s face disappeared. However, Bian Zhonghua wasn’t afraid of danger. Instead, Bian Zhonghua sighed and slowly walked to the bed, where he knelt down only to pull over the quilt in order to cover ‘Qi Ci’s’ bruised body.

Bian Zhonghua whispered: “I really overestimated myself. Since I was able to guess that I would find you in this place, I had already mentally prepared myself to ignore you. Despite that, the moment I saw the state you were in, even though I already knew it was nothing more than an illusion, I was still shocked and scared to death.”

With that said, Bian Zhonghua slowly pulled out the thin silver blade from his bosom and said word by word: “Nevertheless, I remembered that I still have something to say to you, so how could I get trapped in this illusion?”

As soon as these words were said, Bian Zhonghua fiercely stabbed ‘Qi Ci’s’ chest with the blade! At that instant, the blinding silver light was lit on the blade and the incessant laughter in his ears turned into a pained scream, sounding both miserable and fierce. At that moment, as the dragon pattern on Bian Zhonghua’s right shoulder emitted a red glow, the room began to distort and twist!

The man on the bed twisted his limbs as a miserable howl left his mouth, gradually turning into a puddle of black mud. Then, the shining chain of the blade wrapped around Bian Zhonghua, who slowly pulled out the thin blade without the slightest expression on his face. The moment he finally took the blade back, the room became deathly silent.

The bed, as well as the demonic presence, were no longer there. 

Absolutely no one was around….

Bian Zhonghua returned to that empty hall from before. As he gently caressed the edges of the blade with his fingertips, he raised his eyes. In front of him was the young woman dressed in a dark reddish-purple dress.

The young woman’s eyes were wide open when she saw Bian Zhonghua walking in through the door. Her shoulders began to tremble slightly, while her eyes filled with disbelief and utter shock.

Bian Zhonghua assumed she was frightened to see him, so he thought to himself: ‘This succubus has really not harmed human lives, and I didn’t even come here to trouble her. I should ask for the incense and leave.’ Just when Bian Zhonghua was about to speak, he saw that the succubus had suddenly knelt down!

Bian Zhonghua was stunned and hurried to say: “You don’t have to do this.”

The succubus shook her head, lightly flicked his sleeve, and a wooden box with flower carvings appeared on the ground. The succubus stretched out her hand and opened it, revealing the incense inside. The succubus said softly: “This is the ‘Burning With Love and Passion’ incense that I’ve refined for thousands of years. Since Lord Zhonghua wants it, I will give it to you.”

Bian Zhonghua frowned: “How do you know my name?”

The succubus didn’t reply, instead, she said: “Lord Zhonghua, your consciousness is still chaotic, but the Four Fierce Beasts have already escaped the seal. Lord Zhonghua, please be more careful from now on. We will wait for the day your third soul returns to your body.”

After saying that, the succubus bowed down and disappeared into the night taking the shape of black gas, leaving behind the wooden carved box on the ground, as well as a puzzled Bian Zhonghua.

…

The next morning, the delegation was ready to part. After leaving the town, it was another busy day of travel.

While they were on their way, a pigeon suddenly brought a letter to Bian Zhonghua. After Bian Zhonghua untied the letter from the pigeon’s leg, he saw that it was a letter from State Master Li. The first thing that was reported was that Qi Rulan’s coffin had already arrived in the Capital. Then, he reported that many demons and monsters had been causing trouble in recent days, which was an extremely abnormal phenomenon. Finally, State Master Li asked Bian Zhonghua to protect the Prince at all costs and escort him back to the Capital as soon as possible.

Bian Zhonghua thought of the trouble they encountered along the way and felt inexplicably anxious all of a sudden, urging everyone to speed up their pace. As a result, they reached the outskirts of Xinghua Village at noon, instead of the evening as they had originally planned.

After rushing for half a day, everyone was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. Bian Zhonghua knew that everyone needed to get their strength back, so he let everyone rest for a while and eat. Then, they should continue with the journey.

Bian Zhonghua knew that he should ask the Prince where they should settle, so he headed for the carriage.

However, the moment Bian Zhonghua reached the carriage, he found that Qi Ci had fallen asleep again. As for Qi Ci, he only woke up after being called several times.

Bian Zhonghua knew that Qi Ci wasn’t the kind to sleep so much, so he was surprised to see that he had been so drowsy for the past few days. Worried, he asked: “You couldn’t sleep last night?” 

Qi Ci shook his head, and with a puzzled face, he said: “I slept well. But, for some reason, I’ve been feeling really sleepy lately. When sleeping, I often have the same dream over and over again.”

Bian Zhonghua: “Hmm? What dream?”

Qi Ci tried to recall the dream as detailed as he could: “I’ve been dreaming that I’m at the bottom of a dark green lake, but I can’t see or feel anything. I was all alone.” Bian Zhonghua was stunned to hear this, and when he was about to say something, the procession suddenly stopped moving.

It turned out that the Secret Servant, who had gone ahead to explore the village, shouted at the procession to stop moving forward.

When Bian Zhonghua was about to ask what was going on, the Secret Servant rode his horse as fast as possible toward Bian Zhonghua. After clasping his fist in a salute, he said: “Lord Bian, there seems to be something wrong with this village.”