Ordered to Marry by the High King - Chapter 51

Outside the pavilion, the various demons and immortals were arguing endlessly, and some even spoke in defense of the Huangliang Dream Market’s mistress.

“The market mistress’ cultivation level is no less than that of the lords of the various mountain realms. If she sought spiritual power, why wouldn’t she head for the mountain realms? Why take such a great risk instead? The market isn’t just for demons—immortals from Yaojing visit too. Stirring up unrest between the two realms just for power—isn’t that like breaking an oil jar to find a sesame seed?”

“The Huangliang Dream Market has been open for years and hasn’t charged a single coin. To say she expects nothing from it—I don’t buy that!”

“Open the door! Since the market mistress isn’t here, you should explain on her behalf!”

Inside the pavilion, the little demon was so frightened she didn’t dare move, not even approaching the window.

“No need to worry about it,” Longming said, casting a cold glance at the demon.

The little demon didn’t dare look directly at the demon lord and stammered, “My lord, I don’t know what happened to the mistress either…”

Zhuoxue reached toward Longming’s side and retrieved the Dream Market’s wooden token, which lay intact in her palm, not a single crack on it. The wooden plaque was still whole—proof that Longming had not intended to kill. Her earlier pursuit had merely been to try and stop Liangmeng from leaving.

But she had failed. Otherwise, Longming wouldn’t have returned alone.

Longming lowered her gaze, picked up the token and rubbed it between her fingers, her voice cold. “I didn’t catch her. The Huangliang Dream Market was built entirely by Liangmeng herself. She knows this place better than any demon or immortal. Whether to escape or to hide, she can do it effortlessly.”

“That woman just now—was she really the market’s mistress?” Zhuoxue asked for confirmation.

“The aura was unmistakably hers. She usually covers her face with a veil. But today, she didn’t.” Longming looked around and approached the little demon who had fallen to the ground. Looking down, she added, “I noticed a faint, centipede-shaped scar by her lips. It looks like the mark left by a Heart-Piercing Gu.”

“Heart-Piercing Gu?” The little demon froze, answering anxiously, “When the mistress receives guests or leaves the house, she always wears a veil. Just two days ago, she clearly didn’t have that scar.”

“Two days ago?” Longming frowned. “Then what about these past two days?”

“These past two days, Mistress has stayed in her room and hasn’t shown herself,” the little demon repeated the same line, contradicting Liangmeng’s earlier claim.

Longming pressed further. “Even before she showed herself just now, she hadn’t met with any guests?”

“No.” The little demon nodded.

Liangmeng’s lie was riddled with flaws—any random demon in the pavilion could easily expose it. She had managed the Dream Market so well, she couldn’t possibly be foolish. This lie wasn’t a careless mistake—it seemed deliberate.

That Heart-Piercing Gu… Zhuoxue had heard of it before. Lanhui was highly suspicious by nature and had constantly warned her to be wary of outsiders, even explaining various poisons and curses to her.

The Heart-Piercing Gu was a poisonous insect that forced complete obedience. If disobeyed, the infected host would be killed by hundreds of insects piercing their heart from within. Fortunately, this insect had a short lifespan. The child gu couldn’t live beyond five days, and if the mother gu was more than half a mile away, the child would lose its vitality. In other words, the Huangliang Dream Market’s mistress could only be controlled for five days at most.

Given that a Heart-Piercing Gu was used, it wasn’t a case of impersonation. This aligned with what Zhuoxue had suspected. She had just never seen the lower half of the market mistress’ face beneath the veil, and assumed the scar was an old one.

“If it really was the Heart-Piercing Gu, then the one with the mother gu must’ve also been in the market just now?” Zhuoxue’s scalp tingled.

“They were likely in this very pavilion with us,” Longming replied.

Zhuoxue broke out in goosebumps. Remembering how she had hidden paper pages and secretly investigated Liangmeng’s room, it felt like she had been dancing on the edge of a blade. Foxes loved digging holes. She had almost dug her own grave.

She had ripped the life ledger in plain sight of someone else. If not for her quick thinking and calling Longming, she might have drowned in a latrine. What a gruesome way to die.

Fortunately, when she snooped around Liangmeng’s room, Liangmeng had already taken the life ledger and left. That wicked person controlling the gu was likely gone as well.

“If what you say is true, then our mistress has been controlled by a villain?” the little demon asked nervously. “Everyone entering or leaving the market must drip blood on the wooden token. Without it, the market doors won’t open—not even with verbal permission. Let’s go through the registry. Surely we’ll find them!”

“We may not,” Longming said coolly. “Has she had contact with a Nightmare Clan member lately?”

The little demon shook her head uncertainly, then quickly turned and shouted, “Lock the pavilion doors! Then come upstairs at once—all of you!”

The demons upstairs, hearing this, quickly locked the doors and rushed up the wooden stairs. One by one, they stared at Longming, not daring to speak.

Longming scanned the crowd and calmly asked, “Did the market mistress meet any Nightmare Clan members in recent days?”

The demons looked at one another, clearly clueless.

“She didn’t meet with anyone yesterday when the market opened—not a single demon. She didn’t even leave her room until just now.”

“But whenever we called from outside the door, she would respond.”

“These past two days, I’ve been on duty guarding the pavilion. The only important guests to enter were you, my lord, and this fox demon lady.”

Longming asked again, “And before the market opened, where did Liangmeng go?”

No one answered.

After a long silence, a demon finally said, “Normally, even when Mistress went out for supplies, she would bring one or two attendants. But the day before yesterday, she went out alone. We don’t know where.”

“She probably encountered a Nightmare Clan member,” Longming said thoughtfully. “But why didn’t she bring any of you?”

“We don’t know either.”

Zhuoxue looked at Longming, puzzled. “But how can you be so sure this is the work of the Nightmare Clan?”

“Few in the Demon Realm know this,” Longming said, glancing at the gathered demons, “but the mistress of the Huangliang Dream Market is not just of the Feather Clan. She also has Nightmare Clan blood.”

The expressions of the various demons remained unchanged; having followed Liangmeng for many years, they were clearly already aware of this matter.

Longming continued, “If she were within the Nightmare Clan, Liangmeng would likely be regarded as the clan’s third princess.”

“This Huangliang Dream Market… could it also be a nightmare construct?” Zhuoxue had been wondering—how could such a sprawling, out-of-place street market appear out of thin air in the middle of a mountain city?

Longming met Zhuoxue’s golden eyes. “It is a nightmare, but this realm differs from the nightmare arts used by the Nightmare King. It is a dream, and yet not entirely so.”

Zhuoxue looked out the window, where red flames blazed fiercely. All the demons worked in unison to extinguish the fire with their spells. Water splashed; huge waves surged from thin air, but still couldn’t extinguish all the flames raging through the market.

Within this place, every demon was real. There was no need to act according to some script. Yet, only this street was so bizarre and out of place.

“This is Pillow Red Dust—a supreme treasure of the Nightmare Clan,” Longming said with a slight sneer. “About two hundred years ago, when the previous Nightmare King was on his deathbed, the Nightmare Daughter Wushuang and the Nightmare Son Wuni fought for the throne. Although Wuni eventually ascended to kingship, the ultimate nightmare art was taken by Wushuang.”

“Then Wushuang… she was the birth mother of the Dream Market’s mistress?” Zhuoxue asked.

“Correct,” Longming responded, channeling spiritual power. A gust of wind burst out the window, condensing into black clouds above the flames. Heavy rain poured down in torrents. When the flames finally died, only scorched ruins remained. She spoke slowly. “The method of constructing Pillow Red Dust is known only to Liangmeng and her mother Wushuang. However, as it’s a treasure of the Nightmare Clan, the Nightmare King must understand its workings—he would know how to infiltrate it silently and maintain the mother and child gu parasites within half a li of each other at all times.”

“So even if he appeared in the Dream Market, no one would have known,” Zhuoxue murmured, a chill running down her back.

Longming’s eyes darkened. “Liangmeng had no way of knowing that you and I had gone to retrieve an item from Yellow Spring Palace. Yet she mentioned it directly. Most likely, she learned of it from the Nightmare King. Her strange behavior tonight—she wanted you and me to realize that she was under duress.”

The demons present looked ashamed. Though they had served Liangmeng for years, they hadn’t noticed anything wrong. For as long as Huangliang Dream Market had existed, they had enjoyed peace of mind—long enough to forget that the Demon Realm was a place full of hidden dangers.

Zhuoxue leaned toward Longming’s ear and whispered, “When you were gone earlier, I snuck upstairs to investigate and found something unusual in the Dream Market mistress’ room.”

“You really…” Longming frowned. She nearly said fearless to the point of recklessness, but when she looked at the gleam of spirit in the fox’s eyes beneath the ghost mask, the words stuck in her throat.

“Shall we go up and have a look?” the fox urged.

Longming stepped over the demons and climbed to the upper level. The little demons followed in a hurry. Even when they saw Longming push the door open, none dared to stop her.

The door creaked open to reveal a chaotic interior, making the demons even more uneasy.

Suddenly, Zhuoxue raised her arm and pointed at the carpet inside. She shouted, “Catch it!”

With just a flick of Longming’s hand, the carpet that covered the floor rolled up, revealing a small curled-up hedgehog on the wooden floor, trembling with panic, unsure where to run.

Everyone had assumed some powerful demon was hiding—who would have thought it was just a…

A little hedgehog? Zhuoxue was incredulous, thinking to herself, Could this be a disguise?

The hedgehog covered its eyes with its hands, trembling as it spoke in human tongue. “I don’t know anything! It wasn’t me!”

The demons rushed forward, piling on top of the hedgehog until it was pinned securely, unable to escape even with wings.

The hedgehog was tightly restrained. It seemed to have anticipated being interrogated and began sobbing, “I haven’t even learned how to take human form yet—how could I have done anything?”

“Where did you come from?” one demon asked.

The hedgehog answered honestly, “Just a few days ago, I was still at the outskirts of the Jueming Ridge. I happened to meet the mistress of this Huangliang Dream Market. Some elders in my clan urged me to follow her. They said if I could enter the market, I’d be able to buy spirit medicine to help me transform.”

“Liangmeng should’ve noticed something,” Longming said coldly.

The hedgehog quickly added, “I don’t know! The mistress was suddenly entangled by a black shadow—she couldn’t move at all.”

“Black shadow?” Longming’s eyes locked on it.

The hedgehog mumbled, “My power is weak—I couldn’t tell what it was. But the pressure it emitted could’ve crushed me to pieces.”

“Go on,” Longming said.

The hedgehog continued, “I-I was scared to death. Then I saw the mistress staring blankly like she was bewitched. So I climbed onto her back to use her as a shield from the pressure. I didn’t expect to end up getting carried in with her…”

“And then? Did you notice anything strange about my mistress?” one demon anxiously asked.

The hedgehog, crying, said, “After we came back, she never left her room. Sometimes she’d talk to the mirror. There was a black shadow in the mirror—I don’t know if it was the same thing that attacked her.”

“Who made a mess of this room?” Zhuoxue asked suspiciously.

The hedgehog was silent for a long time before trembling and confessing, “I saw her leave, so I rushed out to search for spirit medicine. But none of the jars had labels—I couldn’t tell which were the real elixirs. I panicked, thinking she might return any second, so I hid under the carpet.” It paused, then shrieked, “She must’ve been blackmailed by a demon from Jueming Ridge! That demon always wears a skull on her head—clearly not a good creature!”

“It wasn’t Kunyu,” Longming said calmly. “The culprit was the Nightmare King. He saw that Liangmeng and Kunyu had been at odds and tried to frame Kunyu. But little did he know, the two had once shared a hidden affection.”

Zhuoxue looked stunned. “What kind of affection?”

Longming looked at her for a long moment before replying, “Affection is affection—there aren’t different kinds.”

Zhuoxue’s ears turned red. She mumbled, “Then why do they fight every time they meet?”

“Liangmeng has wandered for years, with no permanent home. She wanted Kunyu to leave Jueming Ridge and enjoy life with her. Kunyu did want that freedom, but she wasn’t willing to abandon the ridge. So they fell out,” Longming said smoothly, her tone flat as she revealed this secret of the Demon Realm.

The little demons covered their ears, not daring to hear more. If their mistress found out, they’d be in serious trouble.

“‘Enjoy life’?” Zhuoxue had read many stories, but never one quite this vague. “What kind of ‘enjoyment?”

Longming looked at the fox without expression and said nothing.

The hedgehog, eager to please, confessed everything it knew. “My lord, I do know this—it’s that lovey-dovey stuff, all clingy and passionate, burning hot like fire!”

Zhuoxue felt an odd flush, a ticklish sensation crawling under her skin, as if something had brushed over her body.

Seeing her stay silent, the hedgehog blurted out, “Oh, come on! I mean that kind of thing that happens in bed!”

“Enough,” Longming said sharply.

Zhuoxue blinked and whispered, “So the Dream Market’s mistress went to Jueming Ridge alone… could it be she wanted to rekindle things with Kunyu?”

Longming replied, “Or maybe she just went to mock her.”

“Either way, it gave the Nightmare Clan the perfect opening.” Zhuoxue sighed. “Even though the Nightmare King and the Dream Market’s mistress are blood relatives, he still used a Heart-Piercing Gu on her. That’s heartless.”

“The Nightmare King and Tianji are like two insects tied to the same string. There’s no way he sees Liangmeng as family.” Longming hooked her finger, pulling the hedgehog out from under the pile of demons.

The hedgehog was as light as a feather, floating in the air. When it saw Longming, it immediately curled into a tight spiky ball.

Longming held it in her palm, studying it for a long while before saying, “Its demonic power is weak, indeed incapable of transforming into human form. Seems like Liangmeng left it here on purpose.”

“Please… don’t kill me! I really don’t know anything!” the hedgehog whimpered, trembling all over. “I just wanted a transformation elixir…”

“If the mistress of the Dream Market left you, then stay here quietly in this tower.” Longming bent down and placed the hedgehog on a little demon’s head. Straightening up, she added, “Let’s hope Liangmeng is safe.”

Zhuoxue took a deep breath and tugged on Longming’s sleeve. “Let’s go quickly. This place is no longer safe.”

Longming turned and said, “One moment you insist on retrieving the brocade pouch, the next you’re urging us to leave.”

Zhuoxue glanced at the other demons around them, her golden eyes narrowing.

The demons all looked away, some covering their eyes, others bowing their heads.

By now, Zhuoxue knew she couldn’t keep hiding it. She had already expected that Longming would realize she’d lied, ever since tearing out those pages. Slowly, she pulled a few sheets of paper from her sleeve. The pages were clearly torn, faint ghostly energy clinging to their edges—no doubt pages from the life ledger.

Longming stared in surprise.

Zhuoxue quickly stashed the pages away again and nudged Longming’s waist. “Come on, if the Nightmare King finds out the ledger is missing pages, he’ll definitely come back to kill us.”