My Husband’s Ascension C59
Chapter 59 Oddity
What a lunatic!
Zhao Zhao stared, stunned, into his eyes, which shimmered with boundless affection.
To be loved so tenderly ought to have been a delight, but when she saw the glaring red mark marring his pale face, a chill ran through her.
In an instant, she retracted every branch that had been exposed. Were it not for the one broken branch beyond her control, she would have drawn that back as well, leaving him nothing at all.
“Tired?”
His voice was gentle as he placed the spirit-storing pouch onto a small spirit-gathering tray.
Wood qi was sparse in the Demon and Ghost Realms, yet with this artifact to condense their essence, it was better than nothing.
Zhao Zhao had assumed his question was an invitation to rest, but to her surprise, he rose and carried the tray to place it behind the screen.
Behind the screen, a bath tub stood conspicuously.
“Rest a moment later. The sound of water may be a bit noisy. But if I put you somewhere out of my sight, I would feel uneasy.”
He was in his own territory; Zhao Zhao could not understand what there was to feel uneasy about.
The water in the tub soon began to rise in gentle wisps of white mist, carried by the steam of his spirit power. The air grew warm and humid, and Zhao Zhao, born of wood-element, could not help but let her branches and leaves stretch unconsciously in the comforting atmosphere.
Just as she was about to extend a twig, her gaze caught the slender back of him in front of the screen, the black fox fur loosened to reveal a pale-blue outer robe beneath.
Zhao Zhao chose to close her eyes and drift toward sleep.
The rustle of fabric, the gentle splash of water, within the modest room, every sound became startlingly vivid, compelling her mind to wander to countless familiar yet distant scenes.
…What a strange feeling.
Perhaps it was her severed thread of attachments, but the most deeply buried memories of intimacy now surfaced, leaving Zhao Zhao with nothing but a sense of estrangement and embarrassment.
Did he not feel embarrassed?
After all, she had just struck him. He must understand that, though she could not speak, she was aware of the world around her.
Zhao Zhao forced her awareness deeper, beneath the water’s surface.
Her restless thoughts transformed into bubbles, rising and gurgling to the surface.
Looking back on it, even as Xie Lanshu, he sometimes behaved in such peculiar ways: wrapping around her like a water serpent, delighting even more when she tightened her grip upon him.
Sometimes, Zhao Zhao feared she might hurt him that way, yet he never cried out; instead, he would express his happiness.
Happy? Zhao Zhao could not fathom why.
But back then, her thoughts had been simple: as long as he was happy, it mattered little that his requests were rather strange.
But now it was different. As Zhao Zhao reflected, no word came to mind other than “perverse” to describe his behavior.
Carried by a haze of confusion she could not comprehend, she drifted into a half-dreaming sleep.
At some point, she seemed to have been gently moved to a slightly farther spot. She briefly stirred awake and thought she heard a low, soft sigh.
Soon, however, the splash of water signaled him finishing his bath. He dressed, blew out the candle, and placed her by the window, where moonlight streamed in.
The moonlight was absorbed by the spirit-storing pouch, falling across each of her branches and leaves. Zhao Zhao slept a sound, undisturbed sleep.
…
The following day.
The ceremonial envoy from Spectrahold arrived to escort them to their capital for the formal viewing.
At their head was a ghost general named Zhu Shen, who had apparently faced Xie Lanshu several times on the battlefield. The moment the two met, tension flared sharply between them.
Zhu Shen’s features were delicate and refined, lips red and teeth white, tall and graceful; hardly the visage of a fierce ghost warrior.
He smiled and said, “By the command of my king, we are to show the Successor and the Demon Official the sights of Spectrahold before the wedding feast. Your kind indulgence is requested, for surely this is the only chance in your lifetime, Demon Official, to step foot in Spectrahold.”
Xie Lanshu merely smiled and said nothing.
Zhu Shen’s gaze swept past the unobtrusive Demon Successor, finally resting on the figure of Yao Ling standing behind.
“I saw you on the battlefield that day. Take good care of your Demon Official. Otherwise, if anything happens to him, I might be the first to hang you from the city walls, as an offering to the ghost soldiers who fell at Shaderuins City (阴墟城).”
The young girl lifted her head to the sky, looking entirely innocent. “I don’t understand a word you’re saying. I’m just an innocent cultivator captured by this demon. Everything I did was forced upon me by him. If you want revenge, take it out on him, not me.”
Seeing her feign ignorance, Zhu Shen’s face darkened instantly.
Rong Yu lowered his head in silent amusement, recalling his most trying memories, and managed to restrain himself from laughing aloud.
A twin-headed ghost urged their carriage swiftly through the air, and within four hours, they arrived at the borders of Spectrahold.
Once there, Zhu Shen found a convenient excuse to leave them behind, leaving the Spectrahold ceremonial envoy to guide them through the city.
The envoy treated them with utmost courtesy, openly declaring that anything they desired could be taken freely, all expenses borne by Spectrahold.
Such generosity reflected the attitude of the Spectrahold Ghost King himself. Xie Lanshu understood this was Spectrahold extending goodwill to the Demon Realm, showing that they had no wish to clash further.
“Gu from Mount Ling are openly sold here?”
Yao Ling’s eyes lingered on a sign outside a medicine shop: “Mount Ling Spiritual Gu”, “Mount Ling Immortal Herbs”. In the past fifty years, Mount Ling’s connections with the Ghost Realm had been closer than she had imagined.
It made sense; if the cultivator world sought to destroy Mount Ling, and Mount Ling wished to receive the protection of the Ghost Realm, it would naturally provide some benefit in return.
Otherwise, the sign today wouldn’t advertise Mount Ling’s gu but Mount Ling flesh.
“The ghosts are neither as skilled in war as the demons, nor as well-connected with the cultivators as the yaos. Trapped between these realms, their position is precarious, and they have long sought ways to strengthen their power.”
Hundreds of years ago, the Ghost Realm had been beaten into grievous decline by him after roaming the Mortal Realm and devouring human souls. For a full century thereafter, they had not dared to act rashly.
Now, with the arrival of Mount Ling, their ambitions were likely stirred once more. Seeking to join hands with Mount Ling, they hoped to make a return.
Rong Yu pressed his lips together, memories surfacing of the moment he had been implanted with a spiritual gu, of the dagger he had once driven into Zhao Zhao.
When he was young, Zhao Zhao had soothed him with the excuse of nightmares. Now he understood clearly that it had never been a dream, only a kindly lie his Master had spun to spare him guilt.
Rong Yu spoke with solemn resolve, “These spiritual gus must be destroyed. If they fall into the wrong hands, countless more people will die.”
Hearing his words, the sway of Zhao Zhao’s branches softened.
The little boy who once dared not go to the latrine alone at night after hearing ghost stories could now stand in the Ghost Realm and speak with such conviction. He truly had grown into a brave young man.
Xie Lanshu’s gaze remained calm. Beneath the black fox fur, his fingers brushed lightly against the spirit-storing pouch.
Mount Ling would, of course, be eradicated.
Yet deep within his heart, that righteous cause was not his foremost desire.
“Let us enter Ghost City.”
…
Rong Yu, who had just earned Zhao Zhao’s silent praise, now found himself so terrified by the wandering spirits drifting through Ghost City that he clutched Yao Ling’s hand with all his might, refusing to let go no matter how she tried to pull him away.
“…I thought you’d grown up and made some progress… How are you still so afraid of ghosts?” Yao Ling glanced at the boy, who stood a full shoulder taller than her, with a mix of exasperation and amusement.
Were it not for the formality of the occasion, she suspected Rong Yu would have tried to curl himself into her arms for comfort.
Rong Yu’s fear was palpable, his voice tight, eyes wide with the imminent threat of tears. “These… these are real ghosts! They appear before you suddenly, their faces twisted in death!”
“We already saw other ghosts outside the city and you were fine—” Yao Ling began, when Rong Yu cut her off.
“Because they look just like normal humans!”
In the Ghost Realm, there were two kinds of ghosts. One was the corporeal ghost, beings who could cultivate, bear offspring, and live much like mortals. The other was the incorporeal wandering souls, bound by obsession or attachment, harmless in combat, lingering aimlessly.
Zhao Zhao, having been a spirit herself for some time, had gone long without normal conversation, and found herself a little lonely.
Her soul drifted from the spirit-storing pouch, reaching out to wave at the other spirits nearby.
A sharp-featured, monkey-faced spirit floated over.
“What a beautiful lady… a newly deceased soul, perhaps? You smell so sweet… if I just took a bite—”
Before the spirit could finish, Zhao Zhao landed a solid punch square on its face. In an instant, the spirit scattered into a wisp of gray mist. When it re-formed, it bolted in terror, fleeing without so much as a backward glance.
Zhao Zhao felt satisfied; this was the reaction a normal being would have after taking a hit.
Xie Lanshu, walking ahead, seemed to sense something. He suddenly stopped and turned his head.
Zhao Zhao jumped, nearly startled by the thought that he might see her.
But she was not a fully deceased spirit, more like an out-of-body soul. Even in Spectrahold, she should only be visible to wandering souls, not to the living…right?
“What is it?” Yao Ling, walking in front, paused as well.
His crystal-clear, almost glass-like eyes were sharp and discerning. After a moment, he said, “One of the spirits said, ‘What a beautiful lady.’ Yet from just now until this moment, every wandering spirit we passed has been male or elderly. Who was he speaking of? And why did he suddenly flee as if he had seen something terrifying?”
Zhao Zhao thought that his seemingly impassive exterior, while in fact watching and listening to everything, was far more frightening than herself.
Meanwhile, Yao Ling, irritated by being jostled by Rong Yu, had paid little attention to what the spirits around them were saying. Hearing this now, she considered it carefully.
“Maybe he was complimenting me?”
Xie Lanshu glanced back at the overly confident girl, a trace of mockery playing on his lips.
Yao Ling: “…What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I just thought… after staring at your master’s face every day, you’d have a rather clear understanding of what a true beauty looks like.”
Before Yao Ling could react, Zhao Zhao retorted with a darkened expression, “If your eyes are faulty, get them fixed. Yao Ling is good looking enough as she is. Moreover, she doesn’t need to be good-looking, she only needs to be strong enough to defeat you.”
An elderly wandering soul passing by chimed in, “Indeed. I also think this young girl has the face of someone blessed by fortune. Such a lovely girl.”
As soon as her words fell, the three simultaneously raised their eyes toward the elderly spirit.
Xie Lanshu’s gaze fixed on her, and the gentleness he had shown moments before vanished, replaced by the keen, predatory intensity of a wild beast.
He spoke each word with deliberate weight, “Who were you just speaking to?”
Author’s Note: In truth, the male lead didn’t suddenly turn a pervert. Even in the fragmented flashbacks, there were hints of this sickness; his amnesia only made it less obvious. And Zhao Zhao, with her previous rose-tinted glasses, simply didn’t notice.
