Hell Emperor.

Chapter 409 Red Veil

Under the leadership of Inai, Ye Jie and his party soon arrived at a magnificent pavilion.

At the entrance, there is a magnificent torii gate with red wooden stakes towering into the sky, proclaiming the sacredness and solemnity of this place. The big red lanterns hanging outside the pavilion emit a faint mysterious light, adding a mysterious atmosphere to this place.

Passing through the quiet courtyard ahead, Inai said to the two people behind him, especially the Snow Girl, "This is the Witch King Shrine. Please wait here for a moment. I will inform the Red Veil that you are seeking an audience... Since you want to find it, I think you are ready to pay the price."

The Snow Girl nodded vigorously, and after Ina left, she fell into silence. Although hope was right in front of her, she felt unusually hesitant.

Ye Jie didn't care, just thinking that she was nervous and expectant when her wish was fulfilled. He looked around, but his heart was unusually calm: "Witch King Shrine... It seems that this is the headquarters of the Witch God Temple. Maybe the master of the Witch God Temple is here."

While looking around, Ye Jie also saw a familiar figure in the courtyard. It was the soul of the warrior who had sought death before.

Ye Jie thought for a moment, then took the initiative to move forward and asked eagerly: "Are you the warrior just now? I didn't expect to see you here again."

"You are... the benefactor who helped me die earlier? This is such a coincidence."

Upon seeing Ye Jie, the warrior showed great enthusiasm. No matter where they are, people with strong strength are more likely to gain respect. Ye Jie satisfied the warrior's wish of dying heroically with just one strike. He deeply understood that the gap in strength between them was like a chasm, and he admired Ye Jie even more. It would be worth his life to die in the hands of such a strong man.

Ye Jie didn't know the internal situation of the Witch King Shrine, so he took this opportunity to ask the warrior, "I saw you standing outside the courtyard alone. What are you doing here?"

The warrior did not doubt it and replied, "Today is my last day on earth. I will soon become a soul-eating spirit, driven by the witch. I want to feel the scent of the fresh grass in the courtyard. I am afraid that I can only feel the natural breath like this during the annual Return to the Sun Festival..."

"Oh?" Ye Jie seemed to have heard something and asked, "After becoming a Heart-Eroding Soul, shouldn't you be refined by the witch and sealed in the body? How can you still move freely?"

"Don't you know?" The warrior was a little surprised, but still answered, "You are not local demons, right? These things are well known to the local noble families, and it is not a secret."

Ye Jie slowly said: "I am all ears."

The warrior explained, "Take me as an example. I have mastered two transformation techniques and five great success techniques in my lifetime. As long as the witch turns me into a Heart-Eroding Soul and seals me inside her body, she can borrow my power. Even if I haven't practiced for a day, I can perfectly perform all the techniques I learned in my lifetime, and my strength will increase dramatically. I'm afraid the only Heart-Eroding Souls stronger than me are the souls of those monsters."

Ye Jie nodded. He knew about this matter earlier. Then he heard the warrior say:

"However, this is not without a price. When the witch borrows this power, my soul will be contaminated with the resentment and evil spirit left over from the battle. Over time, my soul will be polluted and I will become a cruel evil ghost that completely loses its mind and only knows how to kill."

At the end of his speech, the warrior sighed and said, "In order to purify the evil spirits in the souls that corrode the heart, the witches' method is to release the ghosts sealed in their bodies on one day every year, so that the ghosts can kill each other without any worries, thus venting the accumulated evil spirits and continuing to be used by the witches in the next year. The day when the witches release the ghosts is the annual Return to the Body Festival."

"What……"

After listening to the warrior's story, Ye Jie stood there in a daze, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.

Even though he had heard that evil spirits would run rampant on the Day of Return to the Body and all living beings would remain silent, the secret behind it was still beyond Ye Jie's expectations. After all this time, it turned out that those evil spirits were clearly released by the witch herself, with the purpose of purifying the evil spirit accumulated by the ghosts.

"If the evil ghosts during the Huan Yang Festival were all released by the witches, then why do the people here respect the witches so much? Shouldn't they be hostile to this matter?" Ye Jie couldn't help but ask.

The warrior simply replied, "The witches had no choice but to do this. The Heart-Eroding Soul is the source of their power. Besides, if it weren't for the witches' protection, ordinary people would have been slaughtered by those ferocious demons long ago. Compared with that, the Return to the Sun Festival is nothing. As long as you make protective preparations in advance and place the corresponding talismans, tributes, or cursed objects, there won't be too much danger."

After a pause, the warrior laughed and said, "Speaking of which, when I was a kid, I was naughty and playful. I didn't go home on the Day of Returning to the Sun. There was no one around, which scared me a lot. When I saw many ghosts on the street, I suddenly had an idea and hid my head under my collar, pretending to be one of the ghosts. I was able to get away with it, and I witnessed the Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts with my own eyes..."

Ye Jie seemed to have thought of something, and said, "Since a large part of the power of the witches comes from the ghosts sealed in their bodies, then when they release the soul-eating Returning Festival, isn't that their weakest moment?"

The warrior pondered for a moment and said, "I haven't thought about this question. Logically, it should be... But with the Wizard King here, even if the Wizard was weak that day, no one would dare to attack the shrine."

Ye Jie did not answer. It seemed that the leader of the Demon Palace had chosen the day of the Return to the Sun Festival for the assassination. He might have already planned all this.

Ye Jie changed the subject and said with emotion: "If every Heart-Eroding Soul was as powerful as you, I'm afraid even the demons would not be a match for those witches."

The warrior smiled. Ye Jie was clearly stronger than him. He felt very happy to receive praise from this strong man.
"Not all Heart-Eroding Souls are like me. The stronger the soul, the longer it takes to complete the Heart-Eroding. Sometimes, when there are really no souls left, the witch will seal the ghosts with weaker strength or even those who have not practiced for a few days. Before me, a witch's soul was punished and became a Heart-Eroding Soul. I heard that not long ago, the important spiritual vein used by the Witch God Temple to erode the heart was snatched away by another Yama Temple. It's really unreasonable!"

Ye Jie coughed dryly. The punished witch he was talking about should be Bai Zaoyu. However, Ye Jie didn't want to tell him that it was Ye Jie himself who stole the spiritual vein of the Witch God Temple.

While the two were talking, Ina, who had left earlier, came back and said to the Snow Girl, "The red veil is ready, you can go see it."

The Snow Girl took a deep breath. When she heard the name of the girl in red veil, her originally uneasy heart began to beat wildly and she couldn't calm down for a long time.

The fear and worry in her heart made her purse her lips tightly and her eyes look sad, as if she was about to lose something important.

Ye Jie noticed her strangeness and asked, "What's wrong? Don't you want to see the red veil? Why are you still hesitant when the opportunity is right in front of you?"

The Snow Girl sighed, and under her snow-white eyelashes were a pair of worried eyes: "I'm fine, but when I think about what I'm going to lose, I'm a little scared..." Ye Jie was a little helpless: "It's a pity that the Red Veil doesn't accept Yin De. If it did, I could still help you to the end. Now you can only rely on yourself to figure out a solution. By the way, I still don't know what the Red Veil wants to accept?"

The Snow Girl smiled miserably: "No matter how much good deeds you do, it can't satisfy the Red Veil. What it collects is the most precious memory in my heart, my love... According to legend, the Red Veil was the wife of a certain extraordinary being, but on the wedding day, her fiancé abandoned her, leaving her alone. Since then, the Red Veil went crazy and eventually ended up in the Witch God Temple, where she relied on collecting people's love and constantly devouring their most precious memories to soothe the sorrow in her heart."

"Yeah……"

Ye Jie took a deep breath. It sounded like the red veil was not a spirit, but more like an evil spirit full of resentment. Could she really help the Snow Girl meet her husband who was far away in the sky? Why did it sound unreliable?
No matter what, the red veil is the only hope of the Snow Girl. For this extremely elusive hope, the Snow Girl sets out from Mount Paektu and follows everyone else across the vast land, across the boundless East China Sea, and finally comes to the red veil. She says she is unwilling to give up no matter what.

"Don't be afraid, I will be careful. If there is anything wrong, I will not let the red veil hurt you." Ye Jie spoke slowly.

With Ye Jie's words, Xue Nu felt relieved. The tense nerves finally loosened. She said, "Thank you. You and Xia Wei are the best people I have ever met. I will never forget your help to me."

"The best person..."

Hearing this, Ye Jie smiled helplessly. He wondered what Xia Wei would think after hearing this. Rather than pursuing those boundless and impossible ideals of changing the world, it is more comforting to hear the thanks from those who have been helped.

"I'll accept your gratitude to Xia Wei on her behalf first. If I see her again in the future... I'll convey it to her for you." Ye Jie restrained his smile and answered slowly.

Not far away, Inai was already impatient waiting and urged the two of them, "Are you guys going or not? I have other work waiting to be done. Don't think I'm idle and don't cause me trouble!"

Hearing this, Ye Jie was quite helpless. The enthusiasm in Inai was in line with the character of the best ghost messenger, so he made a gesture of invitation to the Snow Girl beside him, indicating that she should go forward first.

The Snow Girl also put aside her uneasiness and walked quickly forward. Soon she came to a peculiar room. She opened the door and the scene inside the room made her eyes flicker.

Inside the room, however, candlelight flickered, light and shadows danced, the surroundings were filled with bright red candles, and there were rose-colored cloths everywhere. The festive colors revealed a sense of dignity and sacredness, just like a wedding scene.

In the middle of the room, there was a kneeling figure whose face could not be seen clearly. It was dressed in a red dress, sitting upright, meticulous, serious in its movements, and cautious with every breath, like a young lady waiting for her lover to come, with a bright red veil embroidered with gold thread on its head.

"Is it the Red Veil? It really lives up to its name."

Seeing the figure in the room, Ye Jie's pupils trembled. Even with his perception, he couldn't judge the state of the figure in the red veil, or whether it was a human or a ghost.

The Snow Girl didn't think so much about it. She came to Japan just to find the red veil. She immediately imitated the red veil and sat opposite it.

In the dimly lit room, two figures, one in red and one in white, sat opposite each other. Instead of feeling the festive atmosphere of a wedding, there was an indescribable sense of weirdness. There was no laughter or joy around them, only endless silence.

Ina reminded the Snow Girl, "If you want to see someone, just say his name and imagine his appearance in your mind and the memories of being with him."

The Snow Girl did as she was told. She closed her eyes, her eyeballs rolling under her thin eyelids. She recalled the past in her mind, including the beauty of the moonlit night and the boredom of quarrels. All these memories intertwined together and eventually turned into her most precious love. She choked up and said, "I want to see Changqing."

"Lift up his red veil." Inai reminded again.

The Snow Girl's body trembled, and she thought of the various legends about the red veil. She could no longer suppress the longing in her heart, and hurriedly stretched out her hand. Halfway through, her movements suddenly slowed down. Her slowness contained as much caution as possible, and she gradually lifted the red veil of the person sitting opposite her.

"Changqing...is it really you?"

When the red cloth was removed, the Snow Girl looked at the familiar face opposite her, her voice choked with sobs, sadness filled her heart, and she burst into tears.

Seeing this scene, even Ye Jie couldn't help but feel his scalp tingling. When the red cloth covering her face was lifted, a handsome man appeared under the red veil. The palm of his hand placed in front of his abdomen also changed quietly. The back of his hand went from being smooth and tender like a woman's to quickly wriggling and swelling, and then turned into a man's thick and rough one.

Ye Jie blinked hard. Not only the appearance, but even the aura of the red veil, changed from being able to sense nothing at the beginning to becoming exactly the same as the Snow Girl's husband. The realm remained at the level of the second-level earthly immortal, which was completely different from Ye Jie's initial feeling.

After the red veil was taken off, Chang Qing was stunned. He lowered his head and looked at the bright red clothes on his body and the Snow Girl opposite him. He hadn't figured out what had happened until he heard the Snow Girl sobbing. Then he came to his senses, reached out and hugged her tightly in his arms, muttering:

"Xue Ling, I'm here. Is this all a dream? I was clearly being punished in the Soul Devouring Abyss just now... But even if it's a dream, it would be nice if it could go on like this forever."

Seeing this scene, Ye Jie was shocked. Now he finally understood how the red veil found the Snow Girl's husband.

Originally, he thought that the red veil had some way to contact Shura in the Soul-Devouring Abyss, but the result was completely beyond Ye Jie's expectations. As long as he lifted the red cloth covering her face, the Snow Girl would achieve her wish.

"Is it just an illusion created by memory, or... No, it's not an illusion..."

After careful observation, Ye Jie had the answer in his mind, and was even more surprised by this. The person who appeared in front of the two was definitely not a disguised illusion, but the Snow Girl's husband himself, the mountain god of Mount Paektu named Changqing.

(End of this chapter)