The Past

The ill-fated Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had been forced by morality and her parents' command, and at last, on an auspicious day, dressed in red and married into Butcher Zhang's household.

On their wedding night, the guests drank and made merry. After seeing off his friends and relatives, Butcher Zhang drank himself into a stupor.

He thought himself a lucky man. Heaven had been far too kind to him.

To marry such a beautiful bride was a blessing he could scarcely have earned in ten lifetimes.

Inside the bridal chamber, the instant Butcher Zhang lifted the bride's veil, a flash of cold light streaked past.

The beautiful Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had already prepared a dagger at her side. She plunged it toward her heart, ready to give her body to Butcher Zhang and her heart to the man she loved.

She had chosen to take her own life on her wedding night, silently defying this unjust fate.

But Butcher Zhang had always been strong and hale. Though he seemed dead drunk, he reacted at once, clamping both hands around the dagger that gleamed with cold light.

The sharp dagger sliced open his hands, the wounds deep enough to expose bone.

Drops of blood fell like running water onto the bride's red wedding clothes, creating a scene eerie beyond words.

Though Butcher Zhang was a rough man, he understood the reason behind it all.

He swore a solemn oath: from that day on, they would be husband and wife in name only, never in truth. He would never force Azure Sky Ghost Venerable to do anything she did not wish to do.

For the first time, this iron-willed man stirred the proud heart of Azure Sky Ghost Venerable.

Without a word, Butcher Zhang left.

On their wedding night, he drank alone beneath the moon until he passed out.

Had things continued that way, there would never have been the Azure Sky Ghost Venerable of later years.

Three years later, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's beloved, Scholar Li, did indeed make good on his ambitions. He passed the highest imperial examination, bringing glory to his family, and returned home in triumph.

When she learned that the man she loved had come back, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable—though she had not smiled once in three years—still possessed the same peerless beauty.

That day, while Butcher Zhang was away, her beloved came to Zhang Mansion, apparently to see Azure Sky Ghost Venerable.

The two of them had once sworn eternal love.

One day, dry tinder met a raging flame, and the two of them broke through that final barrier.

After their passion had subsided, Scholar Li stared at the streak of red on the bed, unable to believe his eyes. For a long time, he said nothing.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable, too, felt conflicted.

For three years, Butcher Zhang had treated her with courtesy and respect at every turn. Yet she was still his wife in name, and now she had done something so illicit with Scholar Li.

What had happened had happened. They had to deal with it.

After much painful reflection, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable asked Scholar Li whether he would give her an answer and fulfill the promise he had made long ago.

Scholar Li's heart stirred, though he kept his face impassive. He nodded in agreement, then quietly left.

As the years passed, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's initial hope turned into deep suspicion.

Scholar Li remained as lecherous as ever, meeting her in secret several times. Yet whenever she brought up the matter, he brushed her off and slipped away.

Scholar Li had become a county deputy and married the magistrate's daughter. The tale of the gifted scholar and his beautiful bride spread throughout Azure Heaven County.

At that moment, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable was stunned.

She stared at the food Butcher Zhang had prepared on the table, but it lodged in her throat; she could not swallow a bite.

Then Azure Sky Ghost Venerable discovered something shocking: her period had stopped. She was pregnant.

This only made her more anxious. On one side was Butcher Zhang, who treated her with impeccable courtesy; on the other was her childhood sweetheart, the man who had sworn eternal love to her.

She had to find a way.

But when she reached Scholar Li's home, the servants threatened her, and she could not even get to see him.

By then, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable knew she had been played for a fool.

Yet the quick-witted Azure Sky Ghost Venerable came up with a plan. She sent someone to deliver Scholar Li a message, claiming she had a great secret to tell him—one that could help him rise to higher office. She also said she understood that his marriage to the magistrate's daughter had been forced by circumstances, and expressed her heartfelt sympathy and concern.

This letter, brimming with sincere feeling, sent Scholar Li into raptures.

He realized Azure Sky Ghost Venerable was practically his lucky star. How could such a fine opportunity have fallen into his lap?

That night.

Using a visit to her parents' home as cover, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable met Scholar Li at the foot of a mountain outside the county.

When she confronted him, Scholar Li revealed his true, hideous face. He claimed Azure Sky Ghost Venerable had been nothing but a plaything to him. Besides, he had only been gone for three years, and she had already married someone else. How could a woman so lacking in virtue, who had broken their promise first, expect him to keep his?

As for her pregnancy, Scholar Li said she could deal with it herself. If she dared breathe a word about him, he would use his connections to have Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's parents thrown in prison. He had countless ways to crush an insignificant commoner.

It was utterly laughable.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable was in despair. She realized that she was the real fool.

At the same time, a torrent of guilt and hatred welled up inside her.

She could not fight the age she lived in, nor the traditional morality that bound it. She had obeyed her parents, kept herself pure, and waited faithfully for the man she loved, only to end up like this?

Just then, a band of brigands passed through the area, raiding a village outside Azure Heaven County.

They killed all the men and seized all the women.

Beneath the bright moonlight, the brigands spotted Scholar Li and Azure Sky Ghost Venerable.

The two were surrounded on every side.

Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's beauty filled the greedy, cruel brigands with a ravenous lust.

But Scholar Li's next move left Azure Sky Ghost Venerable dumbfounded.

He dropped to his knees and begged for mercy, claiming Azure Sky Ghost Venerable was his wife. He told the brigands to take her, begging only that they spare his life.

At the same time, Scholar Li handed over all the money he had and swore he would never report them to the authorities.

Scholar Li was greedy for money and women, and he feared death. He had no intention of passing up a chance to escape with his life.

Everything that happened left Azure Sky Ghost Venerable stunned.

The brigands had no desire to kill a lowlife like him. They stripped him naked, left him at the foot of the mountain, and carried Azure Sky Ghost Venerable away.

Scholar Li returned to Azure Heaven Town naked, loudly claiming he had been robbed by bandits—and that Butcher Zhang's wife had apparently been abducted too.

It was a truly vicious scheme.

Scholar Li had not only ruined Azure Sky Ghost Venerable's reputation, but cleverly pinned the whole affair on the bandits.

Who would ever connect a woman dragged into a bandit den with him, even if she gave birth to ten or eight children?

Furious and humiliated, Butcher Zhang took up his butcher's knife and stormed Great Green Mountain.

That night, Butcher Zhang went on a killing frenzy.

The timid feared the fierce, and the fierce feared those who did not fear death.

One of Butcher Zhang's arms was severed, but he fought his way to the bandits' lair and killed three of their leaders.

Yet even two fists could not fend off four hands. When he saw Azure Sky Ghost Venerable, he threatened to kill himself, begging them only to let her go.

At that moment, Azure Sky Ghost Venerable looked at her husband, drenched in blood from fighting, and wept as if a dam had burst.

The bandits had violated her again and again, yet her husband still risked everything to save her, even at the cost of his life.

In that moment, she understood what love was.

How laughable. The love she had once cherished was as far beneath Butcher Zhang's love for her as mud beneath the clouds.

But the bandits would not accept Butcher Zhang's terms. They were lawless men, after all.

In the end, Butcher Zhang died beneath a storm of blades. Even as he died, he kept his eyes fixed on Azure Sky Ghost Venerable. His lips moved faintly, as if he wanted to say something, but the words never came.

He had wanted to tell her that he loved her, and that one day he would win her heart.

Alas, he would never have another chance to speak.

The bandits had gone mad. Half their brothers were dead, so they hacked Butcher Zhang to death and then vented their fury on Azure Sky Ghost Venerable, the beauty they blamed for bringing ruin.