Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes

Edited by renderedreversed

Chapter 30 part 2

My voice was still echoing throughout the cave when suddenly we heard an ear-piercing “xiu” sound. A stone arrow came striking down from above. It nearly pierced my ear, and where it struck the ground, the arrowhead was solidly lodged into the rock. Stunned, I looked up at the ceiling, only to pull at Chu Kong’s clothes a moment later.

“This time...this time is really bad, ah.”

As if to prove me right, arrow after arrow came raining down from the ceiling. Chu Kong grabbed hold of my waist. Pain burst in my belly again; I couldn’t help but whine aloud.

Chu Kong said, “Bear it for a moment.”

Once the general’s body became Chu Kong’s, it became more useful. He hugged me, the burden I was, and dodged. The way he moved seemed effortless; all the arrows that had filled the air like a swarm of bats had been dodged by him.

Once he was finished, Chu Kong stood firmly with two feet on the ground as if nothing had happened at all. Then he looked over at me, who was still held tightly in his arms. With some pride, he said, “This body has been trained rather well. Xiao Xiang Zi, why were you so useless with this body?”

I held onto Chu Kong’s waist and thought for half a day, but I couldn’t come up with any refutation.

The princess had a miscarriage before. Later, Chu Kong didn’t know how to nourish a woman’s body and did all sorts of work while inhabiting it. To make matters worse, she had just been submerged in cold water too. The end result was a pain worse than death. In contrast to Chu Kong’s triumphant look, I looked more like someone half a step inside a coffin. At least, Chu Kong had experienced my pain before, so he no longer teased me.

The cave was silent for a long time. Chu Kong suddenly sighed. “Really...”

I suddenly felt my body stiffen. Chu Kong was carrying me. Shocked, I clung to his neck. Chu Kong frowned and glanced at me with obvious dissatisfaction.

“Really bothersome.”

I stared at him. For whom am I suffering this pain now?!

But actually, it was a good thing that we swapped bodies. Otherwise, the stone arrows would have taken our lives. I weighed the pros and cons, pouted, and chose not to bicker with him.

Chu Kong sped forward, faster than the pace we were going while walking together. Not long after, I began to see a growing light in front of us. After turning around a corner, I asked: “Is this the way out?”

My eyes were beginning to adapt to the light. Still, I squinted while taking a look around and wondered: “Why does this place feel so familiar?”

We were in a room made of stone: the simple table, chairs, and bed in the right corner were all rock solid. I tried really hard to find any memories relating to this stone room, but Chu Kong’s cold laughter cut me short.

“Of course it’s familiar. Xiao Xiang Zi, did you forget? In the second lifetime, the husband you wanted to marry, didn’t he live in such a humble room?”

“Ah!”

A purple shadow leapt to the forefront of my mind.

“Zihui!”

The moment I called out his name, Chu Kong’s face turned several shades darker. Chu Kong must’ve still been angry because the stone demon had managed to trick him into a trap, I thought.

I patted Chu Kong’s shoulder to comfort him, as well as to tell him to put me down.

“If Zihui lives here, then we can make him bring us out. After all, he still needs to repay you a favor.”

"Hmph, who wants his help?”

As if the room had heard him, the floor immediately began to rumble. Chu Kong’s expression turned serious as he shouted: “Who’s playing tricks in there? Come out!”

The stone room fell quiet. Then, like a soft breeze sent down from Heaven to the earth, a wisp of air tickled my ear. I heard a female voice slowly say, “Do you know Zihui?”

I had just opened my mouth, but had yet to answer, when Chu Kong said, “Don’t know.”

What was he trying to do with this denial, erase all the memories of the past? I pouted. Honestly, how did he develop this childlike temper?

“Do you know Zihui,” asked the female voice again.

She seemed confused, waiting for confirmation from other people.

I said, “We know him, we know him.”

A cold breeze blew into the stone room. At the same time, a strange light came out from the ground. I subconsciously hid behind Chu Kong, but because I didn’t want to miss anything, I still stuck my head out and looked. Out from the light came a woman in pastel colored clothes. She stood unsteadily and looked at us with narrowed eyes.

“You know Zihui?”

Well, if I wasn’t wrong, this woman was a soul. And not just any soul, she was a broken soul: a soul that had been floating on the world for a long time. Usually, I wouldn’t be afraid that something like that could hurt me, but now I had to deal with this useless body. It was better to hide behind Chu Kong. I tugged at his clothes and said, “We do know him, but we’re not familiar with him.”

Chu Kong heard this and looked back at me. Then he turned back and asked the woman: “Who are you?”

“I?”

The woman floated around for a while.

“I forgot. I only remember that I’m Zihui’s bride. I’m waiting for him here.”

I thought for a while. I remembered that, in my second lifetime, the stone demon Zihui had pretended to be affectionate in order to deceive a silly and naïve girl. With those actions, I didn’t expect him to be a married man!

Chu Kong turned and looked at me again. This time his eyes obviously showed that he was gloating. I pinched his waist angrily. Chu Kong caught my hand and without blinking an eye, he turned and asked the woman: “Are you the one that dragged us here?”

“Yes...”

“Why?”

“You… I felt that you two are very dangerous.”

She rubbed her head.

“Very dangerous… So dangerous, I wanted to kill you. But I wasn’t careful and dragged you here.”

Chu Kong asked, “Why do you not kill us now?”

The woman looked at us, confused. Then, she shook her head. “Suddenly, I forgot. Now, I don’t think you’re dangerous anymore.”

My mouth twitched. Zihui must have abandoned her because she was really stupid.

For some inexplicable reason, she decided to float around the stone table a few times. She seemed to be muttering something to herself. Then she looked up at me. “You said you know Zihui, right?”

I hid behind Chu Kong, only showing my eyes so I could stare at her and nod. The woman suddenly smiled, soft and sweet like spring flowers. “Well, can you help me bring Zihui here? I want to see him.”

Seeing her smiling so happily, I was a little too softhearted to speak. She had lost her flesh, and her soul was broken. She had already delayed the time of her reincarnation...that meant she was now unable to enter the Netherworld. In conclusion, she was a woman destined not to have an afterlife. What could she do after she saw Zihui? The two of them were separated by life and death. Their fate was already scattered.

I didn’t answer, but Chu Kong said, “What will we get if we bring Zihui to you? To be honest with you, the idiot behind me cares about the pros and the cons, so she’ll consider it, but xiaoye’s heart is made from steel. You could say that husband of yours, Zihui, already owes me a lot of debt. Xiaoye was just contemplating how I could let him pay back. Now I have to help you, ah, why?”

I poked Chu Kong and whispered, “Could you stop pouring salt on her wounds? Is it fun playing the villain? Even after seeing her like that, how could you still blackmail her?!”

Chu Kong narrowed his eyes and glared at me. “Why can’t I?”

The woman heard Chu Kong’s words and stopped for a moment, in a trance. Then she looked up and said, “I...I don’t know what Zihui owes you, but there’s nothing here that I can repay you with… Should I just pay you back with my body?”

I didn’t wait for Chu Kong to answer. I jumped from behind Chu Kong and stood in front of him.

“No!”

My voice was so loud that even I was scared by it.