When Zi Ying saw that so many young men were eager to give it a try, a smile appeared on his face and he said: “I will add one more thing, my daughter, Zi Xia, is eighteen years old. The young man who will marry her cannot be older than twenty two years old.
“Oh, I cannot compete. There’s nothing I can do.”
When Zi Ying finished talking, disappointment appeared on the faces of a myriad of young men. As expected the Zi Government was selecting the most outstanding young talents, those older than twenty two years old couldn’t join in.
“Alright now, those who would like to become my son-in-law can come into the covered corridor for the battle.” said Zi Ying. When he finished talking, two silhouettes immediately started walking in the covered corridor and when they arrived in front of Zi Ying, they looked at each other.
“No need to exchange greetings, you can immediately start fighting.” said Zi Ying while waving his hand. The two people slightly nodded. One of them had broken through to the first Ling Qi layer while the other one had broken through to the second Ling Qi layer. No need to say that the result of the battle was no surprise, the one at the second Ling Qi layer would win.
At the bottom of the corridor, many young men were indignant, the young man at the first Ling Qi layer had no chance against the young man at the second Ling Qi layer.
At that moment within the crowd, Lin Hao Jie surprisingly remained silent. While waiting for his turn to fight, he couldn’t help but smile coldly. He then said coldly: “Uncle, Hao Jie has feelings for Zi Xia which have been growing for a long time, if I manage to become her husband that would be my greatest wish.”
While talking, Lin Hao Jie started walking through the crowd and arrived in the covered corridor.
“ARRRGHHH!” groaned Zi Yi while feeling depressed. Her face turned deathly pale, a streak of blood ran down the side of her mouth.
She had thought that Lin Hao Jie was strange a moment before. Zi Yi was badly affected, her chest felt oppressed. At the moment, Lin Hao Jie spoke, she couldn’t bear it anymore. That pressure is what led blood to spill from her mouth. She felt extremely depressed.
Lin Hao Jie had told her during the previous night that he wanted to be with her forever. After having a one-night-stand with her, he dared try to find another woman to marry while she was forced to watch. Why was he being so cruel?
“Zi Yi what’s wrong?” asked Zi Ling when she saw that blood was spilling out of Zi Yi’s mouth. She was very surprised.
“Cough, cough.” For a moment, Zi Yi felt dizzy and blacked out. She had no energy in her body any longer, there was absolutely no color remaining on her face.
“As far as you are concerned, Zi Yi what you do and what you have done were all your own choices and you will have to bear the responsibility on your own. I already warned you enough times.”
Lin Feng’s words were still resonating in her mind. At that moment, these words were full of meaning for her. She realized how ridiculous she had been for warning Zi Ling about Lin Feng. She hadn’t even managed to protect herself.
Zi Yi slowly raised her head and saw the handsome silhouette in the covered corridor. On Zi Yi’s extremely pale face appeared a particularly strange smile.
“Zi Yi what a foolish girl, and yet she thought that she was a dragon amongst humans.” said Zi Yi while mocking herself and wiping off the blood on her mouth.
In a distant place, Lin Feng was looking at Lin Hao Jie go into the covered corridor, then he looked at Zi Yi and saw that she was smiling. He slightly shook his head. Zi Yi could only blame herself for what was happening.
“Zi Xia, please understand that I’ve had feelings for you, for a long time. Today, I want to marry you, I want you to become my wife.” said Lin Hao Jie to Zi Xia. He sounded just as soft as when he was talking to Zi Yi. Zi Xia felt embarrassed and just slightly nodded.
Lin Hao Jie smiled satisfyingly. Immediately after, he turned around, looked at the young man in the corridor and said: “You can get down by yourself.”
When the young man saw Lin Hao Jie, a light flashed in his eyes and he said, while gnashing his teeth: “I’ve already heard your reputation, the Golden Rain Sword. Today, I ask for you to exchange pointers with me.”
Immediately after, the young man’s body flickered and he threw himself towards Lin Hao Jie.
Lin Hao Jie smiled coldly. He raised his sword which then the sky filled with a golden rain. Its resplendent brightness was magnificent.
When the golden rain disappeared, Lin Hao Jie’s sword was just as resplendent as before. However, the golden rain had fallen on his opponent. Lin Hao Jie had killed his opponent without mercy.
“How cruel.” thought the people in the crowd. He had wanted to exchange pointers, that’s all. Surprisingly, Lin Hao Jie decided to kill him.
Lin Hao Jie glanced at the crowd, his eyes were filled with vigour. He then said coldly: “Zi Xia is the woman I love. Who will try and prevent me from marrying her? If someone dares try to stand between our love. I will show no mercy when cutting them down with my sword.”
Everybody in the crowd was astonished. Lin Hao Jie was extremely cruel. That way, nobody would dare to go into the covered corridor anymore.
“Zi Yi, Lin Hao Jie is a good husband for you.” said Zi Ying while smiling. The crowd was astonished again, Zi Ying was dropping a hint, and he hoped that Lin Hao Jie would become his next son-in-law.
As expected, nobody dared to go into the covered corridor. When Zi Ying saw that, he smiled.
“Obviously, if nobody dares to fight anymore, the competition had ended. Zi Qiong, Zi Xia.”
“Father.”
Zi Qiong and Zi Xia started walking while looking solemn and respectful.
“You two can proceed to the ritual of our ancestors.”
“Understood.” said Zi Qiong while slightly nodding. He then said: “For the ritual, the husband and the wife must kneel three times and kowtow nine times as well as make an oath to each other.”
When he finished talking, Zi Qiong looked at Duan Xin Ye. She looked expressionless and remained silent.
“No need you and Zi Xia can kneel three times and kowtow nine times for the ritual, that’s enough.” said Zi Ying calmly. He also understood that Duan Xin Ye wasn’t willing to marry Zi Qiong. Since it was that way, the ritual of the ancestors wasn’t necessary. The most important thing was what was going to happen after they entered the forbidden area.
Zi Qiong and Zi Xia looked at each other and then walked towards the gigantic statue. They then knelt three times and kowtowed nine times.
When they finished this, they both stood up and muttered some incantations. Immediately after, they cut the tip of their finger and let some blood flow out. They then put their fingers into a hole within the statue. They let the blood spill into the hole and enter the statue.
“Boom!”
At that moment, a rumbling noise spread through the air. The statue slowly rotated and fully revealed the stone gate which started to open, it was the entrance to the forbidden area.
That gate was the only entrance into the forbidden area. Only those who were blood-related to the Zi Government could make that gate open.
When Zi Qiong saw the gate open itself, he looked excited.
“Alright, Xin Ye and Hao Jie, you can follow Zi Qiong and Zi Xia inside.”
“Alright.” replied Lin Hao Jie moving towards the entrance. He looked excited. Duan Xin Ye was just standing in the same place remaining motionless.
“Xin Ye, didn’t you hear me?” said Zi Yi in a cold tone.
“I will not go inside.”
Finally, Duan Xin Ye, who had remained uncommunicative until that moment, opened her mouth. What she said stupefied many people.
Duan Xin Ye sounded like she wasn’t willing to marry Zi Qiong.
Zi Ying and Zi Qiong were stupefied and looked ice-cold.
“Have you thought about the consequences?” said Zi Yi with an evil tone, his voice sounded majestic yet cruel.
“I will not go in with him.” said Duan Xin Ye. Immediately after, she removed the purple wedding attire that she was wearing and threw them onto the floor. She wasn’t wearing anything related to the wedding anymore. She had thrown all the wedding clothing onto the floor.
Her long hair looked like a black waterfall. Even though she wasn’t wearing her purple wedding clothes, she was still as beautiful as before in the simple unadorned clothes. She looked soft and tender. She was morally elevated.
“You seem to be forgetting our agreement.” said Zi Ying in a piercingly cold way. He would have never thought that Duan Xin Ye would cancel their agreement.
“An agreement? I have been forced, do you call that an agreement?” said Duan Xin Ye while smiling. She then continued: “No need to keep threatening me, I will not let him have my body. I will not marry him even if that was not the case. I already have someone I love.” when Duan Xin Ye finished talking, she took out a dagger stupefying the crowd, she then pressed it against her throat.
The hearts of the people in the crowd were pounding. Duan Xin Ye, that extremely beautiful woman wanted to kill herself, did she really want to die rather than get married?
“Stop!” said Zi Ying and Zi Qiong whose facial expression drastically changed. But they just saw that Duan Xin Ye had a natural smile on her face.
“I just hope that once I’m dead, I’ll still be able to find a way to let Lin Feng know that I really didn’t know.” said Duan Xin Ye while looking towards the sky. It seemed like she had changed completely and was finally revealing her true self.
Tears were flowing down her cheeks.
“Lin Feng, I really didn’t know!”