149 All is Illusion (2)

nodded. “Yes, I know Daoist Lingxu and Master Yuanhui, but they each take charge for three months. Now it's the turn of a lay woman from this faction. This person is very mysterious, we haven't met h..."Do I blur the lines between public and private In both my public and private capacities, I act according to the Emperor's orders! If not for the Emperor's mercy towards you, this matter would have dragged on for another two years It was already nearing its limit two years ago! How many lives were sacrificed in these two years just to fill the formation"

"Do you know how much karma the Emperor has incurred because of his pity for you!"

Two years ago, you should have been carrying a child. Does your life even matter Compared to the hundreds of lives of these aristocratic children, does yours matter at all!

"If you conceive within two years, even if you are tortured by evil spirits, we have a way to keep you alive until your fetus is formed! Unfortunately, you are too capable. You can even make the Celestial Emperor pity you in one night! A coffin made of pure yin, hmph... Sure enough, a natural fairy! I didn't expect your skills in bed to be so great!"

Her words made me tremble.

I don't believe Jiang Qiyun's compassion stems from the tasteless Bai Xishi that night. He once said that waiting for someone to grow up is a test of patience, and when they finally reach adulthood, how can he bear to destroy it with his own hands

Seeing me so angry I couldn't speak, Shen Qingrui revealed a joyful smile. She leaned into my ear and whispered, “You should have died long ago. Because of mercy, you've lived until now, and even made the Emperor expend such vast cultivation to perform the Lotus Bone Transformation in the mortal realm. What kind of ability do you have, Mu Xiaqiao”

"Well, your tummy is quite impressive. Fortunately, you have a spirit child, otherwise how would the Emperor have replaced the original formation eye..."

What The original formation eye

I looked at her, what did she mean by that

"Look at me, I'm so angry that tears are coming out of my eyes!" Shen Qingrui exclaimed with glee. "Aren't you stupid, Mu Xiaoqiao A formation requires a center point, so who was the center point before you"

Who is the master eye… I really haven't thought about that question.

Of course, a sealing magic formation couldn't possibly be without an eye, now could it So before there was a spirit fetus, who was acting as the eye of the formation

“Before you were born, we could only use humans to fill the formation eyes... When the power of the formation eyes couldn't be sustained, and new people went in, ordinary people had limited magical power. This way of doing things was too much of a sacrifice. The Emperor could only send an subordinate who was good at sealing evil with formations to be reborn into the Shen family... That subordinate grew up until they were sixteen years old, and then entered the formation eye to maintain the barrier. That year, I was also sent to be reincarnated..."

“Now it has lasted for over twenty years, the remaining magic of the formation has been exhausted. Tonight, the position is broken. Whether it can be repaired or not, this is a signal. Everyone knows that the destruction of the formation is only a matter of time! Fortunately, the spirit embryo has taken shape. Tomorrow we can end all this.”

Her smile was strange, her eyes holding a gleeful malice: “Soon, the former Grand Marshal will have to answer to the Emperor himself.”

I pressed down on the chaotic emotions inside me, trying my best to appear calm.

But the moment I spoke, my voice, hushed and trembling, gave away my fear: "You...what do you mean by this"

"Don't act so naive. I just can't help but remind you, don't think you're anything special. There are many more powerful than you who ended up as bones in this wasteland! All you did was get pregnant, and you're crying to the Emperor like a child. Have some shame!" Shen Qingrui scoffed mercilessly.

The rest of the Shen family looked at me with blank expressions. Perhaps they also felt that I was the one who had muddled Jiang Qiyun's mind, causing even more deaths in their family.

If he wanted my life, I wouldn't be so fearful and cowardly. But what he wants is the child in my womb. After I have fallen for him, how could I possibly bear to part with the crystallization of his paternal essence and my maternal blood

Perhaps, I really am as he said, too obsessed.

I don't want anything.

What I desire is too illusory, unattainable, yet I'm unwilling to give up on it.

Shen Qingru pushed me back into the courtyard and closed the door. Just as I thought she was going to put me under house arrest, a white figure walked in from outside the door. It was Shen Qingru... What is she doing...

“Strange The Emperor's grace allows us, his subordinates bestowed with the task of reincarnation, to retain our complete souls until we return to the underworld.” She glared at me with malice in her eyes.

I felt something was off about her gaze. What did she want by coming in like that

"...Come on, Mu Xia Qiao, let me take you to see what it feels like to walk on the Ghost Nest!"

I don't want to go anywhere with her. I immediately pulled my hand away from hers: "I'm not going."

"Aren't you going" she sneered, raising her hand to draw a curse and seal my mouth shut. My wrist felt like it was being bound by thorny vines as she dragged me out.

"Hmph, the Emperor doesn't have time for you. You really think I wouldn't dare touch you Get lost!"

She pulled me out the side door and around to the back of the tent. Besides the few Shen family disciples lined up at the entrance, everyone else rushed to the east to take positions. I was trapped with nowhere to turn for help.

"Don't even try to break free from this shackle. This is a spell from the Underworld, and your mortal flesh can't break it. Struggle more, and you might tear your delicate skin!" She dragged me down the hillside.

I don't want to go in the past!

There were apparitions everywhere, and the ground beneath their feet felt like thin ice, as if it could shatter at any moment, plunging them into a bottomless pit swarming with writhing, serpent-like ghosts!

Thick black mist enveloped me, chilling me to the bone. The surrounding ghosts were unable to move on, endlessly repeating their actions from their final moments—

I truly saw the sight Mu Yunliang described, a man raping a woman. However, the victim seemed to be in a frenzy as well, wildly shaking her head and opening her gaping maw, biting the assailant with inhuman ferocity.

Some people were convulsing on the edge of the fields, exhibiting symptoms of a severe rabies outbreak. They foamed at the mouth and ejaculated continuously... Others frantically clawed at the ground, screaming, their skin torn and raw, exposing white bones beneath...

This is the last image Huangdao Village left behind, frantic and entangled with the evil spirits beneath his feet as one.

"Don't be afraid, right now only the tremors are causing ghosts to break free. We are still safe here for now... But the formation won't hold until midday tomorrow."

Shen Qingrui's expression grew increasingly ferocious. She pulled me to the center of the formation.

There was a coffin there.

The pitch-black outer skin is etched all over with the scriptures of atonement.

Just so slanted and stuck in the ground, lonely, helpless, with nothing to block it.

Having weathered wind and sun, the coffin lid on top was somewhat damaged, yet it still stood firmly there, bearing a helpless melancholy.

Shen Qingrui forcefully shoved me into the coffin—

A moment later, a chill swept through me like a blade. I thought the inside must be a lair of ten thousand demons, that I would be devoured by evil spirits!

However, it was a very small fighting room, surrounded by countless cushions and corpses.

In the middle, sat a shriveled corpse, its legs crossed, looking terrifyingly at me, this sudden intruder.

Two wisps of green smoke slowly drifted from the hollow eye sockets of the corpse, gathering and coalescing into a hazy human shape before my very eyes.ntless ants were swarming over her wounds.I picked up a few leaves to swat the ants off her hand. Touching her through the leaves, I found it wasn't so frightening after all.Blood ties cannot be denie...