Lover's Tears: The End of Time | Chapter 33 | I Cannot Leave | Novela.app

Chapter 34 - I Cannot Leave The Gui Che had been driven off, its nine heads shrieking into the distance until the night finally reclaimed its silence. Yet, within the narrow, claustrophobic confines of the heavy wooden coffin, Shuixian—or Qiao’er, as she had been known in her previous life—found herself grappling with a different kind of predicament. Since the day she was old enough to understand the world, she had been a mere commodity, sold into the service of Squire Liu’s manor. Her education had not come from scholars or sutras, but from the hushed, scandalous whispers of the household’s busybodies—the "three aunts and six grandmothers" who gossiped in the kitchens and laundry rooms. From their veiled jests and ribald tales, she had gleaned only the vaguest, most terrifying notions of what a wedding night entailed. As for the actual mechanics of such an endeavor, she was utterly lost. Beside her, the green-eyed zombie was even more bewildered. Though he had existed for thousands of years, enduring the rise and fall of dynasties and the slow erosion of mountains, the intricacies of human intimacy were as foreign to him as the concept of breath. He was a creature of ancient power and cold iron, a predator of the night who had never known the warmth of a companion. For a long time, the two of them remained in the coffin, a space meant for the dead that now served as their bridal chamber. The air was thick with the scent of old cedar and the faint, metallic tang of the zombie’s aura. Shuixian’s face burned with a feverish heat, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Hou, sensing her distress and the fragile nature of her mortal frame, was paralyzed by a rare caution. He was a creature capable of shattering boulders with a casual strike, yet he feared that a single misplaced movement might break the girl beside him. After a long, clumsy struggle in the dark, Hou finally grew frustrated. His glowing green eyes flickered with a mix of irritation and genuine concern. "Look! I told you not to be so reckless!" he hissed, his voice a rasping echo in the small space. "You’re bleeding! This is clearly not working. Tomorrow, I shall go and observe how other humans manage these affairs!" Shuixian, overwhelmed by embarrassment and a strange sense of relief, could only nod in frantic agreement. And so, their first night as husband and wife ended not with passion, but with a mutual, confused truce. The following morning, the sun rose over the desolate beach, casting long, jagged shadows across the sand. Hou emerged from the coffin and began to pace along the shore, his powerful form cutting an imposing figure against the crashing waves. As he walked, the lesser zombies—the rotting husks and mindless walkers that haunted the coast—caught sight of him. To his surprise, they did not flee in terror. Instead, they began to wail, clutching their heads in a display of collective grief. *Is this it?* their silent moans seemed to ask. *Is the progenitor of our kind, the great ancestor of all zombies, truly destined to be this hideous?* Hou had no time for their existential crises. He ignored the weeping undead and made his way toward the rear chamber of the cave where Fan Shaohuang lay. The man’s condition had stabilized, but without the potent essence of Ba to fuel his recovery, the process was agonizingly slow. He remained trapped in a deep, unresponsive coma, his breathing shallow and his face pale as ash. Hou stood over him for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, he pricked the tip of his finger, drawing forth a single drop of his own ancient blood. It was not the bright crimson of a living man, but a dark, viscous liquid that shimmered with a cold, inner light. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the blood flying toward Fan Shaohuang. The droplet did not soak into the man’s skin. Instead, it began to roll across his body, acting like a magnet for the lingering traces of demonic energy that infested his meridians. As it moved, it gathered the foul, dark arts into itself, swelling until it resembled a "Pearl of the Vast Sea"—a brilliant, swirling orb of captured corruption that sat atop Fan Shaohuang’s chest. Once the demonic energy had been thoroughly extracted, Hou formed a series of complex hand seals. With a sharp, guttural command, he shattered the restrictive seal he had previously placed on Fan Shaohuang. Though Hou’s current power did not yet match the heights of Ba in her prime, he was far more formidable than any ordinary cultivator. As the seal broke, a violent tremor ran through Fan Shaohuang’s body. Shuixian, who had been watching from the entrance, rushed forward in alarm. But Hou’s cold, heavy hand caught her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "Wait," he commanded, his voice brook no argument. "Set a soul array. We must bind his three souls and seven spirits before they drift away. His essence is fractured, and if we are not careful, he will become nothing more than an empty shell." Shuixian hesitated, her brow furrowed in confusion. While she knew Fan Shaohuang was far from a righteous man, she also knew that his fate was now inextricably tied to theirs. She looked at Hou, then at the broken man on the floor, and began to reach for her talismans. *** **Glossary**