Chapter 152: Tao Ming's Dream (Part I)

Within a single day, the residents of the imperial capital learned of three major events, each one more capable of arousing public interest than the last.

The first was that the Sixth Prince's estate had been utterly annihilated by the Demon Clan overnight.
The second was that the Heavenly Emperor intended to fill his inner palace.
The third was that Tao Ming, who had given birth to the Holy Maiden, was caught red-handed in bed committing adultery with her cousin, the Seventh Prince.

Of these three events, the first two had little to do with ordinary citizens, and people merely mentioned them in passing on rare occasions.
However, the scandalous and alluring topic of Tao Ming and the Seventh Prince spread rapidly like a plague.
Walking into any teahouse or tavern, one could see people animatedly describing the scene of Tao Ming being caught in the act, with descriptions so detailed as though the speaker had been present at the time.

By the time Su Nanxing received the news, the entire imperial capital was already in an uproar, and Tao Ming had naturally become the prime subject of gossip among the crowd.

In the main room of Pansi Cave, Qin Siyu and his wife sat together with the Seventh Prince and Su Nanxing, while Mu Dong stood in the center, recounting the intelligence he had gathered in meticulous detail. Naturally, any abusive insults directed at Tao Ming were omitted by Mu Dong.

Qin Siyu laughed out of extreme anger, "Su Yanfeng has truly done a marvelous deed!"

Su Nanxing stood up, "Father, I will go outside to clear her name. We must never let Mingming carry this stigma."

"Who would believe you? People would only say you were bewitched by Mingming and willingly helped cover for her."

From outside the courtyard came Qin Youchuan's booming voice, "Siyu, such a major matter, and yet you kept it from me!"

Qin Siyu stood up to welcome him, "Father, as it concerns Mingming's innocence, I acted on my own discretion and did not inform you."

"A daughter of the Qin family, how could she be left to the bullying and humiliation of outsiders? The Demon Clan actually did a good deed this time!" Qin Youchuan entered the room and sat down casually. Upon seeing Su Nanxing standing nearby, a surge of anger rose in his chest, "Seventeenth of the Su family, let this marriage be called off once and for all. Take the Su family's betrothal gifts back with you!"

Su Nanxing did not hesitate in the slightest, "Grandfather, I have already severed ties with the Su family. From this day forward, I am solely Mingming's husband."

Qin Youchuan strode up directly in front of Su Nanxing, "And what if you should live to regret this?"

"Grandfather, I can take an oath that in this lifetime I shall never fail Mingming." Su Nanxing was truly afraid that Qin Youchuan would drive him away. Tao Ming was still unconscious, and he absolutely could not leave.

Qin Youchuan placed a large hand atop Su Nanxing's head, "Do not resist."

Su Nanxing felt as though his skull had been pierced by countless fine needles, each one seeming to vibrate slightly. Just as he could no longer help himself and wanted to resist, Qin Youchuan withdrew his hand, turned, and walked out the door, leaving behind a single sentence, "Siyu, take some men and return the Su family's betrothal gifts!"

Qin Siyu rose and followed him out, "Your son will attend to it right away."

The two men walked out of the courtyard gate one after the other. Qin Youchuan slowed his pace slightly, and once Qin Siyu caught up, he lowered his voice and said, "It took only a single member of the Demon Clan to slaughter the entire Sixth Prince's estate."

"Father, we need only stand by and watch." Qin Siyu had too many secrets he dared not reveal to Qin Youchuan. If he were to speak them aloud, he would not only lose his dear friend, but his wife and daughter as well.

Qin Youchuan silently stared at Qin Siyu, a gaze so intense it made his hair stand on end. Could it be that Qin Youchuan had discovered something?

A moment later, Qin Youchuan lifted his foot and walked onward, "Siyu, your father is not yet senile and muddle-headed."

Qin Siyu felt as though his legs had been filled with lead. He stood rooted to the spot, breaking out in a cold sweat. Once he regained his composure, he gathered some men, collected the betrothal gifts, and sent them back to the Su family estate.

......

At the very same time the father and son of the Qin family were having their conversation, Su Nanxing, sitting in the main hall, was completely baffled, unable to figure out what Qin Youchuan had just been doing. He touched the top of his head, and a sequence of images suddenly flashed through his mind: an alluring woman kneeling before him, crying out with a voice hoarse from despair, "Do you truly feel not even a shred of affection for me?"

Who was this unfamiliar woman?
Why would she say such words to him?

"Nanxing, you said yesterday that you would give me an account."

Tao Sisi's voice snapped Su Nanxing back to reality. He released Su Siyi from confinement, "Mother, she was the one who brought the Fantasy Love Incense to Qiao Qingyao."

Su Siyi's right leg had completely vanished, and she lay on the floor on the verge of death. Hearing Su Nanxing's words, she forced out a sentence, "A fine son of the Su family, killing his own father and mother for the sake of a woman!"

Streams of red liquid surged from Tao Sisi's hands, seeping into Su Siyi's body through her facial orifices. Su Siyi began to struggle in agonizing pain, and shortly thereafter, she dissolved into a puddle of bloody water right before the three of them.

Su Nanxing was utterly shocked, while the Seventh Prince remained entirely unfazed.

Tao Sisi drew the bloody liquid on the ground back into her body and spoke a moment later, "Kongqing, yesterday we truly owed it to you for keeping company by Mingming's side. Su Siyi had originally found a ruffian rogue on the streets."

The Seventh Prince let out a cold snort, "She deserved to die."

Su Nanxing remained silent.

......

Tao Ming was dreaming.

She dreamed that she lived all alone inside a mountain cave. Occasionally, some mist-like black wisps would drift in through the cave entrance, and instinct drove her to catch those black wisps and devour them.

Gradually, she grew up, and a desire sprouted within her to venture outside the cave and take a look.

Trembling with apprehension, she crept to the cave entrance. Outside was still pitch black, looking no different from the inside of the cave at all!

She stepped out of the cave.

To her surprise, the outside world was cruel and bloody. Everywhere she looked, beings just like her were devouring one another. Panicking and losing her way, she fled into a mountain hollow, pursued closely by a pack of ferocious-looking kin.

The kin behind her grew closer and closer, lunging at her with ferocious grins. She closed her eyes, preparing to await her death, when a pleasing male voice sounded by her ear: "Do you want to live?"

"Yes."

The man produced an object and wrapped her up in it. Only then did she notice the difference between them.

The man was wearing clothes, while she and her pursuers were entirely stark naked.

For the very first time, she felt a sense of shame.

The man called her Little Demon, brought her back to a tall and majestic palace, and assigned many maidservants to wait upon her.

For a very long time, she did not see him again. Someone so high and mighty had probably long since forgotten about her.

One night, she had already fallen asleep. Half-asleep and half-awake, she felt someone caressing her, and a heavy, ragged gasp sounded by her ear: "You are my inner demon."

She felt as though she had been cast up onto the clouds, and in her daze, she could only hear his soft murmurs: "For all eternity, you shall be mine and mine alone."

She was joyful, deeply happy. When she was alone, she would break into silly griles; when they were together, she would look at him and giggle foolishly.

How wonderfully handsome he was.
She could never look at him enough.

Suddenly, for a few days, he stopped coming. The maidservants who served her all acted evasive, not daring to meet her eyes.

Until one day, she heard the commotion of many people moving about outside. Peering through a crack in the door, she saw numerous maidservants holding all kinds of delicacies walking toward the front.

She slipped out quietly, trailing behind the maidservants, and after twisting and turning through several corridors, she arrived outside a palace hall at the front.

Blending into the crowd, she saw from afar as he took the hand of a woman dressed in red bridal robes and entered a palace hall she had never been allowed to enter.

She bit her lip, turned against the flow of the crowd, and walked out the gates, wishing only to leave this place—the farther away, the better.

Unexpectedly, the outside was nothing but a sea of clouds, and she stepped into empty air, plummeting down.

When she woke up again, she was once more lying in the familiar bed, except that the familiar maidservants had all vanished.

The maidservants now attended to her with even greater care; fine silks and exquisite food lacked nothing at all—only he was missing.

At midnight one day, he came again.

She lay on her side, pretending to be asleep. He embraced her from behind without making a sound, and his soft murmur brushed her ear: "You are my inner demon."

She spent the entire night sleepless, weeping silently after he left. From then on, she pretended to know nothing at all, continuing to live on in self-deception within an illusory happiness.

She became pregnant, and joy overwhelmed her.

She had foolishly thought that he would share her joy, but who would have expected that accompanying him when he came again would be the woman in red from that very day.