Forbidden Read!

Forbidden Read!
Chapter 11 (part 1)


Chapter 11 (part 1): Ancient Temple Locked in the Mountain, Hanging Corpse Forest


***


The female ghost had an oval face with a pair of curved eyebrows. She's really very pretty. Although her beauty might have shown little signs of heroism before, now, the beauty radiating from her face had been mixed with the hatred hidden within her that could not be eliminated, it was as if all of his hatred had been concentrated into a confined space where no light could release and set him free. As she kneeled on the ground, part of her wedding dress below the knees looked worn and tattered. It is now clear how the rumors began.


The two of them looked at each other in silence for a while before Xie Lian finally spoke, "Xuan Ji?" 


It seemed like it had been many years since someone had called him by that name. It took a while for the hatred reflected in the ghostly face of the woman to faint slightly; it was replaced by the light that flashed in her eyes  


He spoke, "...He sent you to come see me, didn't he?"


'He' this... Xie Lian guessed, surely what was meant was General Pei.


Xuan Ji then asked, "What about him? Why didn't he come to see me himself?" 


When Xuan Ji spoke, his face showed an expression so excited, hopeful and anticipatory that it made Xie Lian feel better not to answer him with "No, that's not the case". Seeing Xie Lian speechless, Xuan Ji suddenly fell down and sat on the floor.


She leaned against the handsome and tall statue of the Martial God, as her red wedding dress spread across the floor, no different from the bloodstained giant flower. With her hair falling apart, her face wrinkled in pain, as if she was going through great torment. Xuan Ji asked, "...Why didn't he come to see me?"


It was another question that Xie Lian could not answer, so she could only remain silent. Xuan Ji raised his head and looked at the Divine Statue, before he wept miserably, "Pei Lang. I betrayed my kingdom for you, I left everything behind and turned into this. Why don't you come see me?"


With both hands, Xuan Ji pulled his own hair and continued asking, "Pei Lang, is your heart made of iron?"


Xie Lian silently watched him. After hearing that sentence, he thought to himself: Xuan Ji said he betrayed his kingdom to General Pei... could this General Pei be taking advantage of their intimacy to deceive the secret military intelligence intelligence from him, which led to the defeat of Xuan Ji kingdom in the war?


He also said that it was only because of General Pei that he became like this. By "being like this", it can certainly only refer to the pitiful state of his legs. Xuan Ji was a female general, to be on the battlefield, it would not be possible for her to be disabled, which could only mean her legs were broken after the truth had been revealed. Could this have something to do with General Pei? Could it be that when General Pei realized that he was no longer useful to him and then decided to throw Xuan Ji out of his life, was that the reason that caused the hatred he had so deep?


Although Xie Lian felt this thought she had was quite bland, yet with Xuan Ji's hatred being so deep that she could endanger the lives of others who were even innocent... his mind might be a little disrespectful, but he could only force himself to continue thinking like that for now.


Suddenly, a female scream was heard from outside the temple, "Please! Help me!"


Xie Lian and Xuan Ji glanced out the window at the same time. What they saw was that inside the white circle that had been made from Ruoye's silk cloth, someone dragged the bandaged teenager out of the circle. Little Ying firmly stuck to the person's feet without letting go, causing the person to start raining curses on him.


He was actually the young man before. "God! You stupid piece of trash, what if your screams attract the attention of the female ghost?"


Little Ying said loudly, "If my shout attracts his attention, let it go! You're worse than that ghost! I.. I'd rather face the ghost of that woman than face you!"


Apparently, the youngster who was knocked unconscious by Xie Lian with Ruoye's silk cloth had woken up. Seeing how her surroundings had been filled by the bride's corpse frightened her at first, yet she quickly realized that the bride's corpses actually could not see. With the courage he had, without a brain, he thought that while others were too afraid to move, he thought, he would drag the bandaged teenager down from the mountain and claim a reward for himself.


He did not care whether the bandaged boy was actually the ghost of the groom or not. Since everyone at the foot of the mountain thought that he was the ghost of the groom, then it was him. Who would have thought that Little Ying would throw herself at him, yelling and screaming, shocking all the wandering brides as well as Xuan Ji inside the Ming Guang temple.


When Xie Lian saw and realized that the person was the youngster before, she regretted not doing more cruel things. He should have been more ruthless and knocked him unconscious until he wouldn't wake up for three days and three nights.


Xie Lian shouted, "Hurry up and get back in the circle!"


When the youngster suddenly saw a black fog heading towards him, he frantically dodged.


However, she was dragging the bandaged teenager and her legs were also held by Little Ying. Thus, because he was a step too slow, he was instantly swallowed by the black fog and brought back into Xuan Ji's hands.


As the young man turned to look at her, he thought: This long-haired, gloomy woman, isn't she one of the bride's corpses lying among the group of corpses before? The beautiful corpse he touched and fumbled?'


When things started to go, the young man finally knew what it was like to be scared and started screaming. Xuan Ji pointed his five fingers, piercing through and directly tore the youngster's skull from within his thick scalp.


The ripped skull felt hot, its mouth still agape in screams. "AHHHHHH―!!!"


Inside the white protective circle, the terrified residents saw the incident until it almost made their souls come out of their skin also started shouting, "AHHHHH―!!!"


Little Ying also looked frightened, shouting as she dragged the bandaged teenager into the circle. Xuan Ji extended a hand towards them with five fingers outstretched again, but this time, Xie Lian darted in front of him to block him before saying, "General, stop all this."


He called her 'General', basically meant to remind Xuan Ji that she was once a heroine who served on the front lines on the battlefield to protect and defend on behalf of her kingdom. But even so, Xuan Ji instantly smashed the skull of the person who was still shouting at it, with her hands to shredding to pieces; with her beautiful face that at that moment seemed slightly damaged. He sneered, "Is he afraid to come to see me?"


Xie Lian was confused. He thought to himself, it might be best if he pretended to be someone sent by General Pei. He laughed out loud several times before suddenly turning around and pointing at the Divine statue, "I burned your quest and caused trouble in your territory! All in the hope that you will come and see me for a while! I've been waiting for you for years!"


He stared at the Divine statue blankly for a long time, before he suddenly jumped up, suffocating the statue's neck and shaking violently as he choked, "YOU STILL REFUSE TO COME MEET ME, YOU STILL REFUSE TO COME SEE ME, IS IT BECAUSE YOU FEEL SO GUILTY ABOUT ME?! LOOK AT MY FEET!!! LOOK AT MY APPEARANCE NOW! THIS IS ALL FOR YOU, EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!! IS YOUR HEART REALLY MADE OF IRON?!"


As an outsider, Xie Lian did not think that she had any right to comment. However, according to his own feelings, he couldn't help but think, "If you want to see it, couldn't you do it in a more normal way? If there was someone who wanted to meet me using the method as you do now, I wouldn't want to come at all."


Hearing the whisper, Xie Lian smiled, indicating that the girl had nothing to worry about. But who would have thought that his smile would make Xuan Ji's face instantly change. He suddenly jumped down from the divine statue, before running towards Xie Lian and saying, "Because you don't want to see me but instead prefer to see another woman who likes to smile, I'll slowly make you full!"


Even though the one he was giggling about was Xie Lian, his words were still addressed to General Pei. Xie Lian originally thought that it was because Xuan Ji could not marry the person she loved, so after seeing the bride on the wedding stretcher smiling happily, her heart became full of jealousy.


But he never expected that it was because General Pei liked women who liked to smile. In Xuan Ji's still-chaotic state, he thinks that he managed to thwart the smiling brides from marrying his lover (General Pei).


No wonder he burned all the Ming Guang temples that were at the foot of the mountain. It must have been because he could no longer bear to see all the women coming and going, going in and out of General Pei's temple all day, sharing the same Divine statue with him. This female ghost indeed deserves the rank of 'Murkaan'.


Even though his leg was broken, his speed still could not be underestimated. Even after he was struck by Ruoye, he still remained extremely strong. Xie Lian was stuck in a dead end when Xuan Ji strangled her. He was just about to call Ruoye when he suddenly heard a loud cry, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh—"


When the little girl, Little Ying saw the difficulty she was currently experiencing against the female ghost, the girl quickly picked up the branch of the tree that fell on the ground and tried to attack the ghost. As he ran, he began to shout loudly, as if that shout would give him more courage to come forward.


Xuan Ji did not even need to make a move to fight Little Ying. She simply turned to look at him and the next second, Little Ying was thrown backwards before she could even get close. Little Ying was flown a few meters with her head down, and the body was on top, before she fell landing on the ground.


The bandaged teenager shouted in a hoarse "Ahhh" voice as he rushed to run towards Little Ying. Xie Lian was also startled before she fell down. However, he suddenly felt a chill from the back of his head.


Xuan Ji's five fingers were already on his head, as if he was just about to tear his skull from his scalp like he had done to the youngster before. In those desperate moments, Xie Lian's right hand held onto her wrist before shouting, "That's it!" 


Only the sound of 'shua shua' exploded in the air when a piece of white silk cloth immediately appeared. Ruoye wrapped around Xuan Ji, tying her upper body, with her hands tied behind her back. Since Xuan Ji's leg was already broken, he couldn't dodge the attack in time.


He fell to his knees with a thud, then started rolling on the ground trying to remove the white silk from his body. However, his actions, only made Ruoye wrapped around him even tighter.


Successfully escaping the crisis, Xie Lian had not even caught a breath before she decided to immediately get up and run towards where Little Ying had fallen.


With Ruoye having been summoned by Xie Lian, there were still people who were too careful to move recklessly. But there were also some villagers who were brave enough to become accustomed to the corpses of the bride and groom still moving around groping and going around Xie Lian and Little Ying.


The bandaged teenager knelt beside Little Ying, not knowing what she should do. He was anxious as if he was a small insect being in a hot pot. No one dared to move Little Ying, as they were all worried that Little Ying might have broken something important. If they were to move it now, it might be able to make Little Ying's current state of affairs worse.


Xie Lian quickly checked Little Ying's condition even though she was aware in her heart that no matter how careful they were around Little Ying at the moment, all of it would be for naught. With her falling down like that, it was clear Little Ying would not be able to survive anymore.


Although the time she spent with this girl, Little Ying, was not long, not to mention, they did not say much either, but she knew that despite her ugly appearance, her heart was kind. For him to have such an end, it weighed heavily on one's heart.


On the other hand, Xuan Ji should not be able to break away from Ruoye for a while. In his heart, Xie Lian thought, "Even if it's useless, we can't let it die in this kind of position." Thus, he very carefully flipped Little Ying's body.


Little Ying's face was wet with blood, causing everyone to sigh and bite their tongues upon seeing her. However, he was still able to breathe, he quietly whispered something to Xie Lian, "...Young Master, I turned out to be more of a hindrance to you than a favor to you, didn't I..."


Even though he didn't stop her, he didn't really help either. At that time, Xie Lian was already going to call Ruoye, so she didn't really need any help. And as for Little Ying, even if she somehow managed to land a blow on Xuan Ji, that blow would yield absolutely nothing. Moreover, it was impossible for him to approach the female ghost from the very beginning. So to be honest, he had wasted his life in vain.


Xie Lian said, "You are not a hindrance to me. You've helped a lot. See, only after you came and caught the attention of the female ghost did I have time to deal with it. It's all thanks to you. But, next time, you can't be like this. If you want to help, you have to tell me first. Otherwise, if I don't react in time, it'll just end in disaster."


Little Ying smiled and said with a sigh, "Young master, you don't need to comfort me. I know that I'm not helping at all, nor could there be another time."


His words were muffled as he coughed and spat out more blood. In those blood red drops were a few broken teeth. The bandaged teenager looked anxious to the point of shaking and could only cry, unable to think of anything to say.


Little Ying said to him, "In the future, don't come down from the mountain to steal any more food. If they find you, and beat you to death, you'll be done."


Xie Lian spoke, "If she's hungry, she can come looking for me."


Upon hearing his words, Little Ying's eyes immediately sparkled, "...Did ya? Thank you very much..."


As she smiled, tears slowly flowed from her small eyes.


Gently, he said, "I feel all my life, not so many days where I live happily."


Xie Lian also did not know what to say, and gently patted her hand. Little Ying sighed, "Have it, forget it. I might just be someone born unlucky."


His words sound a little ridiculous. Moreover, due to his crooked nose and narrowed eyes, he was so ugly that it was really funny. With blood and tears streaming down her cheeks, it also looked a little funny.


As her tears flowed, Little Ying continued to speak, "But still, even so, I still..."


With those last words, the young girl exhaled her last breath and died. The bandaged teenager saw that Little Ying was dead, so she hugged her corpse and started crying sobbing. She buried her head into Little Ying's corpse's belly, as if since she had lost the only person who had supported her, she refused to raise her head again.


Xie Lian stretched out her hand to close Little Ying's eyes, before quietly telling her inwardly, "You're much stronger than I am."