With Skin as Wife and Bone as Husband, They Bowed to Heaven and Earth with Souls as Witnesses!
(The plot has been revised.)
"What a terrifying, evil presence!"
When Ming Zhao completed his resonance with the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, his own presence was revealed.
That aura of ultimate death, that chilling Ghost Qi that pierced to the bone, left the six hundred-thousand-year-old immortal herbs trembling. They did not even dare look directly at Ming Zhao, who was resonating with the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well above the twin springs.
But what puzzled them was that Ming Zhao's presence was clearly one of pure Yin and baleful force, utterly evil and filled with death and resentment. Even if he resonated with the springs, he should only have been able to resonate with the power of the ice spring.
Why was the power of the Yang Spring resonating with him too?
What... what kind of monster was he?
But soon, they would understand that what lay before them could not yet be called a true monster. A more terrifying scene was slowly drawing back its curtain.
High in the air, Ming Zhao wore a bizarre expression. The left half of his face was as savage as an evil ghost, while the right half was as serene as a holy Buddha.
He stood in the center of the ice-and-fire taiji diagram and spread his arms, making his body into a cross. With Yin Qi and Ghost Qi, he nailed himself in midair.
The slowly rotating taiji diagram stopped at that moment, freezing completely in place.
But the two ends of the taiji diagram had completely reversed. The Yin end lay above the Yang Spring, while the Yang end covered the Yin Spring. The extreme forces of Yin and Yang made the entire pair of ice-and-fire springs boil.
The Yang Spring was like a pan of oil into which water had been poured, sending scalding spring water splashing everywhere.
The ice spring, meanwhile, was like a block of ice with a red-hot branding iron pressed against it. Vapor rose as extreme cold and extreme heat ground against each other, and the piercing sound of air tearing crackled sharply.
"Hee hee hee hee..."
"Cackle cackle~~~"
On either side of the twin springs, Zhang Lexuan and Li Ya clawed at themselves, their faces full of pain. They quickly tore the clothes from their bodies into pure Ghost Qi, their expressions twisting beyond recognition from the pain of ten thousand ants devouring their bodies, caused by the reversal of Yin and Yang. Yet strange, piercing laughter rang from their mouths.
After tearing off their clothes, they moved again.
This time, they lunged at Ming Zhao and began tearing at his clothes, swiftly shredding every garment he wore.
They did not stop after his clothes were torn to pieces.
Zhang Lexuan lay against Ming Zhao's back, a savage grin on her face. Intense Ghost Qi clung to her scarlet nails, and she thrust her illusory hands into his body.
Li Ya was on his other side. She exchanged a glance with Zhang Lexuan, then made the same movement with both hands.
Then...
Rip!
A flash of blood.
With their combined strength, Ming Zhao was split in two, the human existence that was his completely stripped apart.
Of the two portions of Ming Zhao's "existence," one became "skin" with form but no spirit, and the other became "bone" with spirit but no form.
The immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well fell as silent as cicadas in winter at the sight. It nearly frightened them into ascending to heaven on the spot. They did not know what Ming Zhao was doing, nor did they know what it meant.
But it was precisely this unknown, this instinctive terror from the depths of their souls, that scared their souls right out of them.
How could innocent immortal herbs like them, who had not left home in ten thousand years, withstand such... an evil ritual that could nearly warp and corrupt the minds of those who watched it?
"Wh-what is he doing?!" The infernal delicate apricot's voice trembled. Its former fiery temper and arrogance were gone, leaving only the fear that lingered in its heart.
"Did he come here to kill himself using the power of the ice and fire springs?"
"It doesn't look like suicide. It's more like a bizarre and evil ancient sacrifice. What he's doing now should be a ritual performed before the sacrifice." Though the octagonal mysterious ice grass's voice also trembled a little, its tone was much calmer.
"Heavens, heavens... We've stayed here for ten thousand years. Why would there be such a ruthless... ah!!" Before the aromatic silk beauty could finish speaking, it was so frightened that it screamed again and again.
It saw Li Ya merge Ming Zhao's skin, the portion with form but no spirit, into herself. She then gradually transformed into a bride in a red gauze wedding dress.
Zhang Lexuan, meanwhile, merged with Ming Zhao's bone, which had spirit but no form, and became an imposing groom dressed in red.
A bloody mist fell from the sky onto them and scattered into the spring water below.
Their bodies were covered in scarlet.
It was Ming Zhao's blood, yet it also looked like the red garments of a wedding day.
Ten ghostly shadows spread out in ten directions.
The eight directions before, behind, left and right, and the two cosmic directions above and below: the three hun and seven po gathered to witness the grand wedding.
"Skin and flesh as form... bone as spirit..."
"One person divided in two... bow to each other..."
"The three hun and seven po... as guests..."
"Together witness the newlyweds... enter the bridal chamber!!!"
First bow-to heaven and earth!!!
The suonas in the ghosts' hands blared into the heavens, the music surging to its peak. Boundless sorrow lay hidden beneath the cheerful, festive wedding music, while the grand wedding feast revealed emptiness and grief on every side.
The bloody mist filling the sky gathered into a blood-red ribbon and fell into Zhang Lexuan's and Li Ya's hands. With blood as their vow and life as their sacrifice, they slowly knelt in midair and bowed to heaven and earth, kneeling three times and kowtowing nine, their hearts sincere and their resolve firm.
Because of this bow, the vast ice and fire energy began to gather madly, transforming into two long dragons of energy that descended from the heavens and poured into the skin and flesh and the bones.
Beneath the long dragons of energy, the skin, flesh, and bones slowly rose and looked toward Ming Zhao's three hun and seven po, arrayed in the eight directions between heaven and earth.
The skin, flesh, and bones bowed again, and the three hun and seven po merged into their bodies with satisfied smiles.
Just then, six explosions rang out from different parts of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, cheering and applauding them like fireworks celebrating the newlyweds' union at a wedding feast.
Six enormous red Soul Rings rose, veiling heaven and earth in a festive shade of blood and making the bizarre wedding feast even more terrifying.
At that moment, all six hundred-thousand-year-old immortal herbs were detonated and killed. They had no time to react and no room to struggle, their lives and immortal herb essence serving as gifts for the wedding feast.
The skin, flesh, and bones rose once more and stood facing each other. They saluted each other with clasped hands and bowed deeply.
At the first bow, all the immortal herb essence entered their bodies.
At the second bow, the six Soul Rings came one after another.
At the third bow, vast numbers of medicinal herbs in the valley withered.
The turbulent energy reached its peak. The ice-blue and fiery-red energies almost became two enormous pillars of light stretching from earth to sky.
When the three bows were complete, Zhang Lexuan and Li Ya embraced tightly, and the skin and flesh and the bones fused together again.
Escort them into-
the bridal chamber...
The energy storm vanished in an instant, and peace returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The mangled body in midair fell limply into the twin springs and sank beneath the water...
(The original first version was deleted and altered. I probably went too hard, and the river crabs wouldn't let it pass. Readers who saw it can count themselves lucky; there's nothing to be done for those who didn't. This isn't the first or second time Old Ye's been elbowed by the censors. I'm used to it...)