Chapter 417: Chapter 328: I Won’t Leave You Behind (Vote for Monthly Ticket)
Seeing her younger brother, Yin Weiyin’s face was full of tension and surprise as she spoke:
"Xing’er, what are you doing here? Go back quickly, don’t come alone."
But the eldest son of the Prince Mansion, Yin Xing, remained motionless, fixed in place. Only his crimson eyes moved, circling around Yin Weiyin and Chen Yi.
Yin Weiyin held the Peach Wood Sword behind her back and stepped forward.
"Be careful!"
As Chen Yi’s urgent shout rang out, Yin Xing moved. Suddenly, black demonic energy erupted from his body, gathering into the shape of a blade, slashing sharply toward the female crown.
The blade of demonic energy tore through the air, producing a shrill screech. Yin Weiyin’s eyes widened in shock, so frightened she forgot to lift her sword.
In a flash, Chen Yi stomped forward, dashing ahead. With the resounding Buddha Light emanating from the crimson Shariputra, he raised the Brocade Spring Blade and severed the fierce demonic energy in one swift slash.
The bifurcated demonic energy shot to both sides, instantly causing the trees it passed to wither in large swaths, making a chilling sizzling sound.
Yin Weiyin’s pupils contracted belatedly,
"What’s happening to him?!"
Chen Yi had no time to figure it out, as the eldest son of the Prince Mansion wasn’t done with them yet.
They saw the red glow in the eldest son’s eyes intensify, with more and more demonic energy emerging from his body. His figure flickered as if slipping through shadows, appearing right behind Chen Yi in an instant. The overwhelming, chilling demonic energy converged, poised to pierce through the Buddha Light protecting Chen Yi.
For every inch it approached, an equal portion seemed to dissolve. Yet it continued advancing, the eldest son’s face dark with an unnerving coldness far beyond his age.
As the blade of demonic energy neared, Chen Yi slashed horizontally with the Brocade Spring Blade, cutting a thin line through wind and rain.
The eldest son’s figure abruptly recoiled, retreating straight into the shadows. This sudden burst of movement managed to evade the devastating slash.
The missed strike whipped up fierce winds, sending broken branches and dead leaves exploding into the air.
Yin Weiyin finally recovered at this moment, murmuring incredulously:
"This demonic energy... such overwhelming demonic energy, it’s like a cursed domain."
Under the moonlight, the ground appeared horrifyingly black, like dense ink that could not be dissolved, vividly showcasing the depth of the demonic energy’s corrosion.
Chen Yi couldn’t help but wonder: in a place like this, if a Taoist or monk had really performed rituals to purge evil, why would the demonic energy still be so entrenched?
Before more thoughts could arise, the eldest son reappeared. This time, he was ten zhang away, and with a wave of his hands, the black demonic energy on the ground coalesced like ink, transforming into shadowy forms one after another.
The shadowy figures held weapons in their hands. The moment they awakened, they formed groups and rushed forward in unison.
Chen Yi raised his blade to meet the onslaught, his movements once again unfolding. Accompanied by the crimson Buddha Light of the Shariputra, he weaved among the shadowy figures, cutting one apart with a swing of his blade.
As a shadow fell to the ground, Chen Yi’s motion didn’t falter. He moved even faster, slashing backward to shatter another charging shadow.
When he got close to the eldest son, the latter once again vanished into the demonic energy, shifting rapidly through the shadows on the ground.
This time, the eldest son went straight for Yin Weiyin.
Yin Weiyin, her face pale, formed an incantation with one hand and chanted a spell: "Golden Light, appear swiftly and shield my body."
She held the Peach Wood Sword in front of her, but the tip never dared point forward.
The eldest son’s demonic energy erupted unprecedentedly, forming a colossal blade in his hands. His face twisted in savagery as he charged fiercely at Yin Weiyin.
Chen Yi twisted his body, the Brocade Spring Blade flying from his grip as he hurled it with force!
Swoosh!
The Brocade Spring Blade started slow but sped up instantly, creating a hollow in the airborne debris. Shadowy figures leapt to block its trajectory but were torn apart, layer after layer, by the blade’s edge.
Just as the eldest son’s demonic energy was about to reach Yin Weiyin, the Brocade Spring Blade pierced through his back.
Afterward, Chen Yi witnessed something...
The eldest son neither spat blood nor bore any visible wound.
He... deflated.
His whole figure instantly shrank, like a three-dimensional form flattening into a plane. The once smooth, privileged skin turned into thin, yellowish rice paper.
A paper person?!
Yin Weiyin’s eyes widened in horror as she screamed:
"Xing’er!"
The eldest son’s figure came to a halt, his face deathly pale. With that one slash, his body cracked like porcelain about to shatter.
From his throat came a hoarse sound as he called weakly:
"Sister..."
Yin Weiyin’s Peach Wood Sword fell to the ground. She reached out, trying to catch Yin Xing.
But her hand grasped only air,
as Yin Xing passed her, heading toward the open coffin.
On the brink of disintegration, he sought to touch the woman lying in the coffin, but as his hand extended, it gradually crumbled into pieces...
In the next moment, his body utterly collapsed.
On the ground,
only a scattered mess of paper fragments remained.
Everything returned to silence, the cold moonlight casting an eerie chill over the layers of the mountain ridges.
Yin Weiyin’s fingers stiffened, and she stood motionless, her eyes wide and frozen.
Chen Yi turned his head and saw the demonic energy pooling beneath the coffin, converging on what appeared to be an origin. Beneath the coffin lay hidden space.
After confirming there was no further danger, he turned back swiftly, stepping toward Yin Weiyin.
"Luanhuang."
At the sound of his voice, Yin Weiyin finally came to herself. Her legs buckled, and she took two steps forward before stumbling.
Chen Yi caught her in two strides, and the female crown collapsed into his arms, pale and leaning limply against his shoulder.
"He... he..." Yin Weiyin trembled for a long moment, as if in another world, before speaking, "How could he... be a paper person?"
Chen Yi looked down at the scattered remnants of paper on the ground, remaining silent.
He had thought Yin Weiyin’s sudden appearance was peculiar...
Even suspected at one point that she might be a paper person...
Yet now, a more chilling possibility was surfacing slowly,
that it wasn’t Yin Weiyin who was a paper person,
but that the rest of the Prince Mansion’s people were?
But such theories were just guesses. Chen Yi couldn’t confirm anything, save for the fact that the eldest son had turned into a pile of scattered paper.
The female crown trembled in his arms. Chen Yi held her a little tighter, hoping to comfort her, but it only made her shudder more violently.
It was then that Chen Yi belatedly recalled... he was her "Ignorance."
She had always been afraid of him...
Chen Yi parted his lips, hesitating for a good while before finally saying:
"Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid... I’m here. I’m your husband... don’t be afraid."
As his words fell, Yin Weiyin instinctively trembled for a bit, but after a long moment, she gradually calmed down, as if suppressing the fear rooted in her heart.
She stared at the paper fragments on the ground and rasped:
"How could this be? Xing’er, he... he..."
"Don’t think about it anymore," Chen Yi interjected.
With the fall of his Ignorance’s voice, Yin Weiyin’s thoughts immediately halted, though her fingers continued to tremble faintly.
Chen Yi’s heart tightened, but he dared not hold her too tightly, lest she grow more frightened.
Sometimes the unpredictability of life was staggering. Chen Yi had never cared about being her "Ignorance" before, nor had he paid attention to whether she feared him. But now... when he cared the most about soothing her, he was left speechless, unable even to hold her too close.
After a long silence, the female crown’s trembling gradually subsided. She began to chant the Supreme Forgetfulness Technique, gently pushing Chen Yi away before kneeling before the pile of paper fragments.
Demonic energy lingered on the fragments. Yin Weiyin hesitated to touch them, her hand hovering midair, trembling as she spoke:
"Why... why did this happen?"
Chen Yi took a deep breath, his voice low as he asked:
"Can paper people... mimic someone’s face?"
The female crown stilled for a moment, nodding, then shaking her head, before finally explaining after a long pause:
"The birthdate and eight characters must match to create a paper person with identical features..."
The birthdate and eight characters were intertwined with the sixty-year cycle of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
Chen Yi’s expression darkened slightly.
With a sixty-year cycle in mind...
Today happened to be King Jing’s fifty-sixth birthday...
Chen Yi noticed that Yin Weiyin seemed to realize something too, her head stiffening as if locked in place.
"Stop thinking any further," Chen Yi commanded coldly.
The voice of Ignorance suddenly broke through her Heart Lake, making Yin Weiyin shudder and halting her thoughts instantly.
Chen Yi gently pressed her shoulders and softened his voice:
"Anything that needs thinking, I’ll take care of... Do you have any spells for removing memories?"
The female crown trembled for a while, her face blank. After a long pause, she finally nodded.
"Use them. Don’t be scared... I’m your husband. I told Tingxue I would never abandon her," Chen Yi said with all the gentleness he could muster. "Now I tell you, I won’t abandon you either."
Yin Weiyin quivered for a moment, slowly extending her arm.
Forming a symbol with one hand, she raised it to her face. As Primordial Qi began to flow, a blue-green glow emerged, circulating around her body.
As the cold moonlight was obscured by clouds, Yin Weiyin’s gaze alternated between foggy daze and piercing clarity.
When she shifted slightly in Chen Yi’s embrace, she looked bewildered:
"What... what are these scraps of paper doing here? Did we... discover something?"
Chen Yi reached out and covered her eyes:
"We discovered nothing."