I Only Want to Lie Flat But Am Forced to Cultivate Immortality-Chapter 129 - 88 Phoenix Crown and Wedding Robe_2

The stone bridges and pavilions of the Jiangnan water towns transformed into tombstones and grave mounds, the winding stone paths turned rough and uneven, and the beautiful scenery of flowers and trees withered into decayed funeral banners and torn paper.

On the left was a porter dressed in red, and on the right was a musician dressed in white; both stripped off their clothes, transforming into white bones and powder, whipped up by a ghostly wind, and each screaming piercingly as they burrowed into the grave mounds meant for burial.

The rotting curtains left only the wooden frame of the wedding sedan which quietly rested at the entrance of the tomb passage.

Through the sedan window, a faint silhouette of a young man could be seen tightly embracing a corpse that had only the head remaining uncorrupted, as if he was asleep.

But in this desolate grave without a village in front or a shop behind, could Xu Qing truly sleep?

It was certainly impossible.

Xu Qing, hearing a heartrending wail akin to a painful virgin deflowering, plunged headlong into the unending ghost lamp of the ghost bride.

Time flies, seasons flow.

Xu Qing witnessed the ancient scenery of the Dayong Dynasty a thousand years in reverse.

This dynasty remained disunited, split into five smaller nations by geographic boundaries.

These five nations were: Dongyu, Western Qi, Nanyan, Northern Liang, and the Central Jing Dynasty.

Ghost Bride Chu Yu was the Princess Yan Ning of the Central Jing Dynasty.

Chu Yu wasn’t born of the Empress but rather from a concubine, ’illegitimate.’

The Empress’s daughter was akin to Dayong Dynasty’s Gu Lun princess, implying she was of the nation, a legitimate princess.

The legitimate princess’s rank was equivalent to a First-Grade Official in court, far superior to any illegitimate offspring of concubines.

Like Chu Yu, such daughters born of concubines had ranks comparable only to Second-Grade Officials, considered Ho Shuo princesses, implying of regional importance, far less esteemed than legitimate lineage.

Chu Yu was naturally intelligent, with fetching looks, whereas the legitimate princess was notoriously jealous, with plain features.

With such status backing her, the legitimate princess couldn’t stand to hear others praise Chu Yu, constantly stirring trouble in front of the Empress and fabricating rumors in secret, letting palace maids and eunuchs gossip throughout the palace.

Chu Yu’s mother grew increasingly haggard from these idle gossip, yet she was helpless.

Wicked words strike like an axe; a tree cannot withstand repeated strikes, let alone a person?

Eventually, Chu Yu’s mother fell ill, tangled in slander, and the diagnosing Imperial Physicians proclaimed the illness as heart sickness, untreatable by medication.

Intimately connected with her mother, Chu Yu understood the root of all troubles.

On that day, the meticulously made-up Princess Yan Ning, groomed like a bride with rouge and powder, lowered scissors onto her pretty face reflected in the copper mirror.

From then on, Princess Yan Ning often covered her face with a white veil, never unveiling.

Any queries from palace members and concubines were met with explanations of suffering from ulcers, necessitating a blade to release the poisoned blood and eventually curing the sores.

Upon hearing this, the legitimate princess’s joy was evident on her brow for days, feeling great satisfaction.

During the previous banquets held by noble families, she often wished Princess Yan Ning wouldn’t attend, but since Chu Yu’s face was ruined, she repeatedly invited Chu Yu herself.

If she didn’t go, it displeased her.

One day, at a banquet, Chu Yu met the new top scholar of the year; they exchanged poems and struck rapport.

Affection arose between them, with the scholar wishing Chu Yu to unveil so he could see the true face of his talented and beloved.

With her face ruined, Chu Yu refused to show her looks, citing her ugliness.

Upon seeing her graceful posture and the fair, tender skin on her exposed neck and arms, the scholar believed that beauty suppresses ugliness; a woman like her with fair skin couldn’t be too ugly.

Seizing the opportunity, the scholar approached firmly, stating he cherished inner talents more than outer beauty and wouldn’t mind if her looks were ugly.

If a woman were illiterate with no talent or virtue, even with a celestial appearance, he wouldn’t like her the least bit.

Chu Yu believed him, but unveiling her veil revealed scars like crawling centipedes, causing the scholar to step back abruptly, apologize hastily, and flee in embarrassment.

Chu Yu’s heart hurt as much as her sliced face; tears fell uncontrollably. At the prime of youth and beauty, a decision led her to become feared by everyone.

Three years passed, Northern Liang’s army pressed on, reaching the Imperial City.

Emperor Jing, sensing the near end of the dynasty’s fortune, sent concubines and offspring into the Ancient Yin River Dao for burial, intending to create an Underworld Royal Court through forbidden rituals, continuing the dynasty’s fate.

Each princess had a Prince Consort for burial, except Princess Yan Ning. The national teacher ordered the Yin craftsman to create a pair of twin coffins, one to bury Princess Yan Ning and an empty one for future marriage proposals within the Yin Dynasty.

As Xu Qing witnessed this, the ghost lamp suddenly went dark, but the Sutra of Salvation continued flipping.

Looking at the blank screen ahead, Xu Qing quickly realized.

This should be the period after Princess Yan Ning’s death, spent in the coffin.

Speeding up the pages of the Sutra of Salvation, Xu Qing saw light again, and a hundred years had passed.

Having shed all flesh, Princess Yan Ning had turned into the White Bone Princess of the Ghost King Mausoleum.

A millennia of cultivation, Chu Yu seduced numerous Prince Consorts into the twin coffins, all turning into bones and soil.

The reason was nothing but Chu Yu’s consuming obsession, desiring to steal others’ vitality to restore her flesh and beauty.

Thus, Chu Yu found a unique way, acquiring a method to seize the vitality of living things in the Ancient Yin River Dao.