A Monster Takes a Bride

Dark clouds veiled the moon. A sinister wind swept past, making the lantern before the courtyard gate creak and sway.

A bird as black as night landed on the lantern with a flap of its wings. It cawed three times, as though reporting the situation to someone.

Inside the farmhouse sat a bride dressed in red. She sat quietly upright on the edge of the bed, seemingly not the least bit worried about what was about to happen.

After the crow cawed three times, a figure suddenly appeared outside the bride's door.

The people hiding inside the house strained their ears for sounds outside. They heard footsteps approaching their daughter's room.

Everyone's breath caught. To avoid giving themselves away and causing trouble for the fairy, the people inside did not dare breathe too loudly.

With a creak, the door opened.

The hearts of the four Su family members pounded. They desperately wanted to see what sort of monster had repeatedly come to their village and carried off young women. But their fear of such a strange being overcame their curiosity, and they could only sit rigidly and wait in silence for it to take her away.

Miss Su was biting her lower lip tightly, not daring to cry aloud.

She was already beginning to regret it. If the fairy failed to escape the monster's clutches in the end, wouldn't she have caused her death?

But it was too late for her to change her mind. No more sounds came from outside, and after a few more caws from the crow, even the wind seemed to fall still.

After waiting a good while longer, Su Ping'an could no longer hold back. Ignoring his parents' attempts to stop him, he pushed his way into his younger sister's room.

The red candles were still burning, wax streaming down like tears. They lit the entire room brightly, but there was no sign of the bride.

Su Ping'an reached out and felt the hollow in the bed, but all he felt was icy cold.

Meanwhile, Sang Ying, who had been carried off as the bride, quietly opened her eyes inside the bridal sedan.

To keep the other party from noticing anything amiss, Sang Ying had sealed all the Spiritual Qi in her body beforehand and obediently allowed a black wind to sweep her into the sedan.

Though it was called a bridal sedan, it was really just a red sedan chair. Even the bearers were dressed entirely in black and walked in a great hurry. It looked nothing like a wedding procession.

Sang Ying had already suspected that this so-called "monster taking a bride" was not so simple, and these oddities supported her earlier thoughts.

But she had yet to meet the mastermind, so she could not use her Spiritual Qi.

Sang Ying closed her eyes again and decided to wait until the bridal sedan was set down!

Fortunately, after a short, bumpy journey, the bridal sedan finally stopped. Sang Ying had only just opened her eyes when a withered, blackened hand reached through the curtain, heading straight for her face.

Sang Ying fought down the urge to draw her sword and chop it off. She remained motionless as the hand grabbed her by the collar and lifted her out of the sedan.

The owner of the hand was probably very tall and carried Sang Ying along the whole way. After an unknown length of time, she was thrown down.

Then came the faint clinking of chains.

"Keep a close watch on everyone here. When this one wakes up, force the medicine down her throat. The higher-ups said that if we still can't produce the medicine, none of us can expect to have an easy time!" The speaker had a harsh, grating voice that sounded as unpleasant as fingernails scraping against a sheet of iron.

The guard naturally did not dare refuse. The guard hurriedly agreed and promised to do the job properly.

Only then did the speaker leave, reassured.

Perhaps having suffered plenty before, the person who seemed to be the guard did not dare slack off for a moment after the speaker left and immediately went on patrol again.

Although Sang Ying did not open her eyes, she heard the guard occasionally point out other people's small movements and threaten them not to dream of escaping.

There were indeed other people here. Whether they were the young women who had been taken before, she could not tell.

Sang Ying did not dare act rashly. She waited a good while, until she was certain the guard had gone far away and would not return for the time being, before quietly opening her eyes.

In the dim light, Sang Ying had difficulty making out where she was—a dungeon.

The dungeon was built of stone walls. Sang Ying looked around and saw two young women locked in each cell. Some sat, some lay down, and all seemed to have lost their senses.

Sang Ying also noticed that they all had similar scars on their faces.

Though the scars differed in shape and size, Sang Ying was certain they had all been caused by the same thing.

Putting that together with the earlier mention of "producing medicine," Sang Ying guessed that the so-called monster taking a bride might simply be a cover for some people to test medicine on these young women and conceal the truth.

If that were true, the other side probably had more people than she had imagined.

Sang Ying was suddenly glad she had not acted as soon as she arrived. She was alone and outmatched. If she wanted to rescue all the young women here, she would have to be more careful.

There were two young women in each of the other cells. What about hers? The thought suddenly occurred to Sang Ying.

As though the other person could hear what Sang Ying was thinking, a gentle female voice spoke beside her ear just then. "Miss, are you all right?"

Sang Ying promptly put on the appearance of someone who had just awakened. When she looked up, she saw a pretty young woman beside her. The woman was also wearing a wedding dress, and it was practically identical to Sang Ying's.

She took another careful look at the woman and, sure enough, found some resemblance between her features and those of Lin Niansheng and Auntie Lin.

If she was not mistaken, this should be Lin Niansheng's younger sister, who had been taken away.

"Where is this? Wasn't I taken by a monster? How did I end up here?" Since Sang Ying had decided to pose as an ordinary young woman, she intended to keep up the act until she had investigated everything.

Miss Lin was quite resolute and immediately reassured Sang Ying. "Don't be afraid. We were all taken here by the monsters. They don't intend to kill us for now, so we're all still safe."

Sang Ying noticed the words "for now."

She pretended to be reassured, and her panicked expression calmed a little.

"Wasn't a monster supposed to take a bride? Why are we locked up here?" Sang Ying continued to sound her out.

Miss Lin explained softly, "I don't know about that either. I just opened my eyes and found myself locked up here. They also fed us medicine. I heard that it makes your face rot when you take it."

Sang Ying's gaze instantly turned cold. That matched what had happened to the young women in the dungeon.

"But you don't need to worry!" Miss Lin continued to comfort her. "They'll treat us, although they've been treating us for so long and still haven't cured us."

This young woman really did leave the important part until after a pause.

And Sang Ying did not know whether it was her imagination, but she felt that Miss Lin was a little too optimistic. Even now, trapped in a cell, she seemed utterly unafraid.

Could an ordinary farmer's daughter really have such courage?

Sang Ying was not quite sure.