“The King knows you’re angry with me for making decisions on my own and binding your marriage without permission, but the King is doing this for your own good!
To tell you the truth, she is not an ordinary mortal, otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble to arrange your engagement.
Believe me, you two are a perfect match. Whether it’s your fate or your character, you two are…”
“I won’t marry.”
“Don’t be so quick to reject it. At least meet her first. This girl is lively, beautiful, and has a clever spark. Once you meet her, you’ll surely like her.”
“I won’t meet her.”
“You must meet her!”
“…….”
The conversation abruptly stopped, followed by the sound of the door being pushed open.
Nanshan’s eyelashes trembled slightly as she tried to steady her breath.
“Not awake yet?” A voice, claiming to be the King, asked with a smile.
Nanshan lay straight, continuing to pretend to be asleep.
The man paused for a moment, then said,
“I’ve heard that mortals are burned by fire when they sleep, no matter how deeply they sleep…”
“I’m awake, I’m awake, I’m already awake!”
Nanshan hurriedly sat up, and the next moment, she found herself making eye contact with a middle-aged man with a beard.
He was about the same age as her father but had a much straighter back.
His clothes were made of an indiscernible fabric but were clearly the kind of expensive attire her family could never afford in three lifetimes.
In her twenty years of life, Nanshan had never seen someone so imposing.
He was even more impressive than the county magistrate she had once randomly encountered.
“What are you looking at?” The man asked with a smile.
Nanshan snapped out of her daze and awkwardly said, “You look somewhat familiar. Have we met before?”
The man’s eyes suddenly became subtle, and he deliberately stiffened his face, saying, “I am Yan Yue, the Lord of the Underworld. How could a mere mortal like you have met me?”
Nanshan had only said that casually, but hearing his rebuttal, she suddenly felt a slight sense of familiarity.
“I really think we’ve met before…” she murmured softly.
Yan Yue coughed lightly and was about to speak, but Nanshan suddenly noticed someone else standing at the door… or maybe not a person, because she had never seen anyone with both cow horns and a pig nose.
The other person noticed her gaze and looked back with eyes that were only black pupils.
Nanshan’s back stiffened as she looked at the figure, then at Yan Yue, then back at the figure again.
After a long silence, she slowly forced out a smile, “Who… who is this?”
“She’s my servant,” Yan Yue answered on her behalf.
“A servant…” Nanshan blinked and then sighed in relief, “Oh, a young lady!”
“What did you think she was?” Yan Yue raised an eyebrow.
“…I thought she was your son,” Nanshan innocently looked at Yan Yue, though she didn’t speak her mind.
Yan Yue, however, saw through her thoughts and smiled, “Did you hear the conversation I had with Ling Ye earlier?”
Ling what? She didn’t hear clearly, but it should be his son’s name.
Nanshan scratched her head and smiled awkwardly, “I heard a few things.”
“So, do you understand the situation now?” Yan Yue asked again.
At this point, should she answer “yes” or “no”? Nanshan hesitated for a moment, then nodded honestly, “I kind of understand.”
The one who had been saying he wouldn’t marry earlier was one of the five immortals bound to her, and the person in front of her was the immortal’s father.
From their conversation, it seemed the immortal didn’t know about the engagement; it was all the father’s doing.
It turned out even immortals have blind marriages and arranged marriages.
“The immortal doesn’t want to marry me.”
“His words don’t count,” Yan Yue said with certainty.
Even if they were immortals, their words didn’t count? Nanshan felt a little sympathy.
“And you?” Yan Yue suddenly asked.
Nanshan didn’t quite understand, “What?”
“Would you marry my son?” Yan Yue asked again.
Nanshan looked at his kindly face and gathered the courage to ask, “Do I have a say in this?”
“That depends on what you say,” Yan Yue smiled.
“…I agree?”
“Such a sensible child,” Yan Yue nodded in satisfaction.
“……”
“Since you both agree, then this will be easy,” Yan Yue concluded, looking at the servant by the door, “Go call the young master to discuss the wedding date.”
“Yes.” The servant responded and floated out.
…Did she just float?
Nanshan wondered if she had seen it wrong.
She stretched her neck to look outside, only to meet a pair of huge round eyes, and everything went dark before her eyes.
“No, no, that’s not it,” Yan Yue quickly explained, glancing at the frog-headed figure, “Where is the young master?”
“Returning to His Majesty, the medicinal bath time is up, so the young master has gone back to the Unnight Pavilion,” the frog spirit innocently replied.
Yan Yue frowned and then looked at Nanshan’s innocent eyes.
“Cough… Ling Ye was seriously injured a few years ago, and since then, he’s had a lingering illness. He needs to take a medicinal bath every day,” Yan Yue explained.
Nanshan blinked but didn’t say anything.
“Since he’s in the medicinal bath, we’ll discuss it another time,” Yan Yue made a decision and then reminded Nanshan, “Rest for now, and if you need anything, just ask someone to prepare it. Once the wedding date is set, I will come to inform you personally.”
“Okay.” Nanshan nodded obediently, now that she was sure she wasn’t marrying the frog-headed person.
“Also, don’t wander around. This place is not like the mortal world, and it’s dangerous for a mortal like you to wander off.”
“Okay.”
Seeing Nanshan cooperate so well, Yan Yue dismissed the idea of having someone guard her room and turned to leave directly.
A quarter of an hour later, Nanshan sneaked out through the window.
Under the dim night sky, she chose a small path with no one around and ran straight ahead.
She didn’t actually know where she was, nor how many houses or paths there were here, and she had no idea how many guards were around or if they looked as strange as the frog-like creature she had seen earlier.
But based on her past experience of getting lost on the mountain, she knew that as long as she kept running in one direction, she would eventually get out of here.
Relying on her experience, Nanshan ran at full speed, her cloth shoes almost flying off, but she didn’t dare take a rest.
She had to hurry, and the faster she ran, the sooner she could get back home.
Thinking of home, Nanshan remembered the five sedan chairs she had seen before losing consciousness, and her anxiety couldn’t be suppressed any longer.
The five red ropes were surely exposed by now.
She had been taken by Yan Yue, which meant the other four immortals would be left empty-handed.
She wondered if her parents would be retaliated against.
The more she thought, the faster she ran, wishing she could reach home with one step, completely unaware of the strange mist that had started to gather around her.
When she finally realized the mist, she could no longer see the path ahead.
The mist became thicker, almost as if it had weight.
The dense fog felt like it could conceal all kinds of monsters or ghosts that might jump out at any moment.
Nanshan wasn’t particularly timid, but facing this strange white mist, she couldn’t help but feel a chill.
“What kind of place is this…” she rubbed the goosebumps on her arm and slowly moved forward, her heart racing.
The fog seemed endless.
She had been walking for so long, yet she still hadn’t reached the end.
Was the yard this big?
Had she been walking in circles?
Or had she wandered into a trap that she could never escape from?
Nanshan suddenly felt exhausted and just wanted to lie down and sleep right there.
Sleep… She had been running for so long and was so tired, she really needed rest.
Her steps became slower and slower until, after taking three or five more steps, she finally stopped.
The fog had almost become tangible, wrapping around her in layer after layer.
Nanshan felt even breathing was exhausting.
She looked drowsily at the ground, but all she saw was the same white expanse.
Sleep… maybe just a little sleep…
There were countless voices in her head urging her to sleep, and she wanted to close her eyes so badly, but the thought of her uncertain parents immediately made her wide awake again.
With all her remaining strength, she lifted her foot and continued forward.
In the next moment, the thick fog dispersed, revealing a luxurious courtyard bathed in sunlight.
“Is it… morning?”
Nanshan stared at the beautiful clouds in the sky, feeling a little lost when suddenly she heard the sound of water.
She turned nervously, and before her stood an exquisite little bridge with flowing water and a pavilion.
White, semi-transparent curtains hung from the pavilion, gently swaying in the breeze, obscuring the figure of someone inside.
Then, the wind blew the curtain up, revealing the person’s face.
It was a man.
He was in his early twenties, with a handsome face, sharp features, and an indescribable air of sharpness and nobility.
As their gazes met, a brief flash of light appeared on his left wrist.
His eyes grew colder, and he lifted his hand to touch his sharp wrist before letting it go, the light disappearing.
Nanshan was momentarily stunned by his appearance.
It took her a moment to realize that there was a steaming pool in the pavilion, and the man was only wearing a thin robe, already soaked.
The neckline clung to his body, water droplets running down from his collar, tracing the lines of his firm muscles.
Nanshan silently looked at the distant mountains and then suddenly thought of something.
She looked back sharply.
The steaming pool, the man who looked about her age… She now knew who he was!
…What bad luck.
After running for so long, she ended up right in front of an immortal.
This was no different from a fly landing in a spider’s web!
Nanshan silently cursed her luck.
As she wondered whether she should kneel and surrender, she suddenly remembered what Yan Yue had said earlier about him being sick.
A sick person who needed to soak in medicinal baths every day… Perhaps he couldn’t do anything to her after all?
Nanshan hesitated for a moment and then blinked at the man in the pavilion.
The man had already noticed her, and now his gaze, cold as ever, met hers.
Yet, he remained still in the pool, not moving or speaking. Was he a mute or paralyzed?
After a brief silence, Nanshan silently stepped back with her left foot.
Just as her foot barely touched the ground, a huge splash erupted from the pond beside her.
A monster with a green face and sharp fangs leaped out, roaring and opening its bloodthirsty mouth to pounce on the man.
Nanshan gasped in shock and quickly shouted, “Be careful!!”
But the man still didn’t move.
He merely glanced indifferently at the monster, and the moment their eyes met, the creature suddenly froze mid-air, its throat seemingly gripped by something, letting out a strangled, painful hiss.
“You overestimate yourself.”
The man lightly parted his lips.
In the next moment, the monster exploded, its foul, green blood and body parts falling to the ground in a messy shower, splattering Nanshan with the disgusting stench.
“…….”
The man leaned against the wall of the pool and once again glanced at her.
Nanshan, who had already taken a step back, paused for a moment.
Then, following her retreating posture, she knelt down on the ground.
“Immortal! This humble girl has waited twenty years, and today I finally get to meet you!”
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