Shen Yingzi looked at the fierce expression on his mother's face and felt a pang of sorrow.
His mother had passed away too early.
Over the years, Shen Yingzi often thought about how, at the time, she had only been in her twenties, still a young woman in the prime of her life, yet she had left the world so soon.
What she experienced in life must have been filled with nothing but regret.
"Mother... can I really trade my life for yours?"
"Yes, you can."
The spirit of the woman reached out, her hand gently caressing his face. Though they were separated by life and death, it seemed she could still feel the warmth beneath her palm.
That warmth—only the living had it.
It was intoxicating.
"So, Yingzi, let me live, will you?"
Shen Yingzi felt a faint chill where his mother's hand hovered near his face. She had been in the afterlife for so long, so lonely, so sorrowful...
His eyelashes trembled as he lowered his gaze, thinking of his father.
If his mother could live again, his father would be happy too...
He was about to agree when his eyes caught sight of the bamboo flute in his hand.
Once he spoke those words, his life would be over.
Could he really go through with it?
Clenching the bamboo flute tightly, reluctance surged in his heart like ripples on a pond.
There was still a new melody he hadn't finished composing.
Seeing his hesitation, the spirit's lips curled into a faint smile, about to say something.
Suddenly, the sky darkened as clouds roiled, and thunder rumbled!
Thick bolts of lightning flashed, as if tearing the heavens apart, and layers upon layers of dark clouds piled so high they seemed bottomless.
In no time, the sky itself appeared to crack, revealing gashes that emitted blinding light, too dazzling to look at directly.
Tiny strands of black mist slithered out from the edges of these fissures, twisting slowly as they blended into the surging storm clouds.
As this sudden change occurred, Shen Yingzi noticed that the pool of blood beneath him also began to shift.
The once calm surface started to bubble and churn as if boiling, sending heat searing through his knees and lower legs.
The spirit beside him underwent a drastic transformation in an instant!
Her once deep, dark eyes were now glowing with a demonic red light, and her previously pale skin took on a hard, ghastly blue hue.
Her neatly arranged hair unraveled wildly, flailing in the howling wind.
She moved behind Shen Yingzi, her ghostly form expanding and stretching, enveloping him completely.
"If you won't agree, then come down here and join me..."
As soon as she spoke, Shen Yingzi felt the shallow pool of blood beneath him turn into a bottomless, viscous swamp!
His body lost all control as he began to sink into it.
He reached out, trying to grasp the solid ground beyond the blood pit, but the moment his hand extended, the land—once solid—was consumed by the spreading blood swamp!
With nothing to hold onto, his body tipped forward and he plunged downward.
The nauseating stench of blood filled his nose and mouth.
In that instant, his vision blurred, and the entire world seemed to warp and twist.
As Shen Yingzi was being consumed by the blood swamp, elsewhere, Xuan Yuan Haoyue was facing a fear more profound than anything she had experienced during the downfall and exile of her family.
Not long ago, life had been peaceful, even if their days in exile were meager.
Xuan Yuan Haoyue had believed that her future would be just as steady.
But with the sudden clap of thunder and lightning in the sky, that tranquility was shattered in an instant.
She had just finished washing rice and stood in the small courtyard, her eyes wide with shock at the rumbling sky, when the courtyard gate was suddenly slammed open.
Her father and half-brother entered, accompanied by a burly middle-aged man with a face full of malicious intent.
The moment the man's eyes landed on her, they gleamed with greed, his gaze like that of a venomous snake sizing up its prey.
Before Xuan Yuan Haoyue could grasp what was happening, she heard her half-brother flatter the man:
"Master Wei, this is her. Does she meet your expectations?"
Xuan Yuan Haoyue was confused. Why would she need to meet this "Master Wei's" expectations?
The man leered at her without blinking, clearly satisfied, and nodded.
Then Xuan Yuan Haoyue watched as her father—who had always treated her with cold indifference—fished out a thin piece of paper from his robe and handed it to Master Wei with an ingratiating smile.
Years ago, when her mother still controlled the family's affairs, she had seen such a document before.
She knew what it was—a deed of sale.
The moment she saw it, she understood what had happened.
The small basin of rice she held fell to the ground with a clatter as she turned to flee.
But how could a young girl escape from the clutches of three grown men?
They easily caught her, binding her tightly with thick ropes, and tossed her into a waiting carriage outside the gate.
Xuan Yuan Haoyue's mother, upon hearing the commotion, rushed out, but no amount of pleading or crying could change anyone's mind.
Through the gap in the carriage curtains, Xuan Yuan Haoyue saw her usually composed and gentle mother pounce on her father like a madwoman, scratching his face until it bled.
He struck her down with a single backhanded slap.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from Xuan Yuan Haoyue's eyes.
She knew her mother couldn't save her.
She wanted to call out, to tell her mother to stop, to say that struggling would only lead to more pain and accomplish nothing.
But her mouth was gagged tightly with coarse cloth, and all she could manage were muffled cries as she watched her mother rise again to throw herself at her father.
Then the carriage began to move, carrying her off to some unknown destination.
In the final glimpse she caught through the curtains, her mother lay on the ground once more, her mouth bloodied from the latest blow.
It felt as though a black veil had fallen over Xuan Yuan Haoyue's vision, shrouding her world in darkness.
Everything seemed to be dragging her into an abyss.
Xuan Yuan Haoyue didn't know what her father had traded her for.
But none of that mattered anymore.
When she was brought into the backyard of a large estate, filled with the decadent sounds of merrymaking, and thrown into a perfumed room draped in gaudy red and green curtains, the details of her father's deal became irrelevant.
She was roughly tossed onto a bed covered in garish bedding.
Moments later, the burly middle-aged man—Master Wei—entered the room.
It was the first time in her life that Xuan Yuan Haoyue had been pinned down on a bed.
Staring up at the man looming over her, disgust churned in her stomach.
But her struggles, her cries, and her resistance were nothing more than a mild amusement to him.
In fact, her defiance seemed to excite him even more, fueling his predatory lust.