"Is this our Zhaozhao? Mother's little darling, finally found you. Let mother take a good look, this little face is so pretty. Come, return home with mother!"
"Zhaozhao, this is the Marquis' residence, from now on it will be your home. If there's anything you like, just tell father, and he'll buy it for you!"
"Zhaozhao likes dolls? Big brother bought the most popular doll in Shangjing for you, do you like it? Zhaozhao can hug the doll to sleep tonight."
Yu Nianzhao had another beautiful dream, just like when she first returned to the Marquis residence, transforming from an orphan into the true daughter of the Marquis residence.
A gentle mother.
An open-hearted father.
A kind brother.
Fearing that the dream might shatter, she wholeheartedly treated them well, just hoping they wouldn't abandon her.
But a beautiful dream is, in the end, just a dream; it must wake.
Crack! Crack!
A foot viciously stomped on her hand bone until it shattered, the piercing pain spreading out.
"Yu Nianzhao, did you really think you were the true daughter of the Marquis residence? What bad luck, you dare push me over a ragged doll?"
Cheng Yuan disdainfully held up the doll, now torn with a big hole but still clean, kicked Yu Nianzhao, who was on the ground only covered with a piece of cloth, revealing her bruised and battered body, and sneered, "This is Tomb Guard City, a hundred years ago filled with ghostly aura, fierce ghosts appeared. To protect the Great Chao Country's dragon energy, every five years each official must offer a child to live here with the demonic. This is a place that devours people. If you were the true daughter of the Marquis, would the Marquis Wu'an be willing to send you here? The ones here are all unvalued illegitimate children, so stop acting like you're a legitimate firstborn daughter. Who's it for?"
Yu Nianzhao's little face was dirty, but her eyes remained clean. She softly said, "They... will come to take me home."
Wrapped in a fox fur coat, Yao Minglan mocked, "Yu Nianzhao, stop dreaming! Who knows how many white bones are buried in Tomb Guard City. Do you really think Marquis Wu'an will come to take you? Your name is Yu Nianzhao, but everyone in Marquis Wu'an's residence bears the surname Pei. You're not even qualified to have the surname Pei. What are you talking about familial ties for? Maybe you're just a bastard child of a lowly concubine, even less than us!"
Yu Nianzhao's eyes dimmed a bit, her voice weak, "Yes, I am less than anyone else..."
She remembered.
Returning to the Marquis residence, it was only because Pei Yunzhi's eyes were filled with tears and unease, the Marquis couple held her tightly with guilt, telling her, "Yunzhi is too afraid of losing us, Zhaozhao you're the best, let's not change your name for now; once Yunzhi calms down, it will be fine."
This "for now" lasted a year.
It lasted until the palace came to verify the birth characters.
It lasted until Yu Nianzhao was taken away in a carriage sent to Tomb Guard City.
Her biological mother held her hand, apologetically telling her, "Zhaozhao, don't be afraid, just stay in Tomb Guard City for five years, after five years mother will come for you. Yunzhi is timid, accustomed to luxury in the residence, if she went to Tomb Guard City, she would die. You are mother's good child, you will help Yunzhi, won't you? She is your sister, and our whole family will be waiting for you to return."
At this moment, Yu Nianzhao realized they had been anxious to find her only to use her as a substitute to protect Pei Yunzhi!
To find a scapegoat who could enter Tomb Guard City!
All the kindness that year was just to seek her willingness, to soothe their guilty conscience!
"Why waste time talking to her here? Tomorrow is the day to leave the city, if you want to live to go out, start now, it's already almost midnight, if we don't sacrifice a life, who will die tomorrow is uncertain."
Under the candlelight, Zhang Qiming's face looked like a fierce ghost. He pulled a dagger from his waist and threw it to Cheng Yuan, urging, "Once midnight passes, those things will rush in, it will be too late to hide then!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The cold wind howled outside!
Shadows hovered outside the room, striking the broken wooden boards, frightening everyone.
Cheng Yuan tore the doll into pieces, holding the dagger, glaring viciously at the weak-breathing Yu Nianzhao, snorting coldly, "Yu Nianzhao, you can only blame your bad luck, it's your parents who abandoned you. Even if you die, find them instead."
With these words, Cheng Yuan mercilessly stabbed his dagger into her chest.
The intense pain spread through her body, Yu Nianzhao's pupils dilated, her head tilted lifelessly as she stared at the doll's fragments, tears trickled down her eyes until they closed completely.
Blood stained the ground, the wind outside suddenly stopped, and the shadows vanished without a trace.
"Hahaha, we succeeded, sacrifice indeed is the most effective way. Cheng Yuan, how many sacrifices is this for you?"
"Tch, just the fifth one, otherwise how could I live until the day to leave the city? You're not much different either!"
Their unscrupulous laughter filled the room.
Rumble rumble!
Suddenly, a thunderclap exploded overhead, and purple lightning flashed by.
Bang bang bang!
The wild wind outside swept in once more, black shadows clung to the door, and their human shapes began to emerge. A pair of red eyes stared at them through a thin layer of paper, dripping with greed, making one's scalp tingle.
Cheng Yuan jumped in fright, "Damn, what's going on? Didn't we succeed in sacrificing? Yu Nianzhao is already dead! Why are they still here? If this continues, this broken door won't hold for much longer, and we'll die."
Zhang Qiming panicked as well, "Damn it! Could it be that Yu Nianzhao isn't completely dead?"
Bang!
With a heavy strike, the howling wind and lightning abruptly stopped.
Purple light filled the sky, and tens of thousands of evil spirits trembled and crawled on the ground, lining up to welcome King Yan's arrival.
Yao Minglan cried out in horror, "Yu Nianzhao's corpse is gone?"
The three huddled together, the candlelight flickering in the shadowy wind.
"Are you looking for me?"
A woman's gentle voice sounded, and only then did they realize Yu Nianzhao had stealthily stood behind them.
"You, you, you, are you human or ghost?"
"Human? Ghost?"
Yu Nianzhao curled her lips into a sultry smile, calmly pulling out the dagger completely and playing with it in her hand.
The wound remained, yet not a drop of blood flowed out.
"Me, I am neither human nor ghost, but... King Yanluo, here to claim your lives!"
In the blink of an eye, Yu Nianzhao appeared before Cheng Yuan, King Yan's majesty firmly locking him in place. Cheng Yuan was utterly immobile, watching helplessly as Yu Nianzhao grabbed his throat and slammed him onto the ground.
Yu Nianzhao raised her hand, and the once ordinary dagger ignited with flames. As the flames dissipated, a dagger entirely black and surrounded by purple lightning appeared in her palm, "Do you know? This is the Blade of Judgment. If you are wholeheartedly good, it won't harm you even a bit. If you are evil, you will experience years of piercing pain in an instant, begging for life and unable to die!"
Cheng Yuan cried out in terror, "No, please don't, Yu Nianzhao, I'm begging you, let me go. I can leave the city tomorrow, I want to keep living."
"When they were begging under your hands, did you ever listen to their pleas for mercy?"
Yu Nianzhao sneered coldly, and without hesitation, raised her hand and stabbed the dagger into Cheng Yuan's chest. His pupils contracted suddenly, immense pain spread through him, clearly a matter of seconds yet felt like enduring extreme suffering. In the end, he fell to the ground, his face still showing a look of painful fear.
After dealing with one, Yu Nianzhao slowly stood up, glanced at Yao Minglan and Zhang Qiming, who were crying together, and lightly raised her fingers, and the door opened.
Countless black shadows stood at the door, Zhang Qiming and the others recognized them as the evil spirits living in Tomb Guard City.
Called Tomb Guard City, it is akin to a barrier separating the immense evil spirits from the people, keeping them from causing chaos in the world.
Yet the number of evil spirits was so vast that every five years they needed to select boys and girls with suitable birth dates to send in as sacrifices to suppress the evil spirits' restless powers.
Yu Nianzhao gestured with her fingers, and the black shadows at the door revealed pale human faces, all former companions harmed by them, staring at them unrelentingly.
"Debt has a debtor, they are yours to handle!"
Yu Nianzhao smiled faintly, and gracefully walked out.
Hooo hooo hooo—
The slaughtered vengeful spirits swarmed in, and the room erupted with terror-filled, ear-piercing screams!
As dawn broke, the gates of Tomb Guard City, sealed for five years, finally creaked open with a 'squeak', and sunlight poured in, illuminating the darkness ahead.
Yu Nianzhao's lips curled, "I am back!"