Volume One: The Soul-Guiding Gourd, The Flame of the Spirit Lamp Chapter Seven: Forced into Marriage by the King of Hell!

(1/3)

Dawn had not yet broken, and the air was thick with a fresh, chilly dampness.

Lying on the ground, Gu Mo's face was as pale as wax, utterly devoid of color. The familiar sound of sobbing by his ear finally roused him from unconsciousness.

When Gu Mo forced his eyes open with great effort, the first thing he saw was Yama, Jiang Jingxue, weeping into her hands.

Grimacing in pain, Gu Mo felt his body weighed down as though flooded with concrete.

Turning his head, he saw ten gaping, bloodied wounds on his shoulder, the bone nearly visible. Beneath him, the dried blood on the ground made his heart race and his hair stand on end. The congealed blood clung to him like powerful glue, pinning him firmly to the ground.

No matter how he struggled, Gu Mo could not sit up, but he still managed to force a faint smile.

“Your Majesty, I’m not dead yet—why are you crying?”

Hearing his voice, Jiang Jingxue instantly moved her small, delicate hands away, revealing her clear eyes now veined with red.

Still squatting by his side, she fixed her tearful gaze on him and complained, “It’s all my fault for being so timid and useless. I couldn’t help at all. Little lackey, you’ve been bitten by a zombie. It won’t be long before you turn into one yourself!”

At that, Gu Mo could only offer a bitter smile. “It can’t be helped, I suppose. Who knew my luck would be this rotten? The first day, Black and White Impermanence dragged my soul to the Underworld, and the very next day I get bitten by a zombie.”

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration lit up Jiang Jingxue’s eyes as she remembered the dazzling golden elixir.

Her silly face brightened with delight as she asked, “Little lackey, quick, tell me your date and hour of birth!”

Gu Mo frowned, puzzled, but answered truthfully.

Jiang Jingxue squatted, her not-so-brilliant mind working furiously to make her calculations…

In just a few breaths, the red-dressed girl was shaking Gu Mo excitedly. “Little lackey, you’re saved!”

Hearing this, Gu Mo’s heart leaped with hope. He summoned all his strength to struggle into a sitting position. “Your Majesty, what do you have in mind?”

With a flip of her chilly little hand, Jiang Jingxue produced the dazzling golden elixir right before his eyes. “Here, little lackey, eat this!”

Desperate to survive, Gu Mo didn’t hesitate; after all, a desperate man will clutch at any straw.

His arms wouldn’t move due to his injured shoulders, so he could only open his mouth wide and let Yama feed him.

As the golden elixir slid down his throat, a beam of golden light shot straight down inside him.

Once swallowed, a bone-chilling cold swept through Gu Mo’s body, as though even his brain was turning to ice!

With a sudden boom, a wisp of eerie green ghost-fire emerged once more.

Gu Mo let out a string of curses and began dragging his hands across the ground in distress.

Jiang Jingxue looked on, bewildered. “Little lackey, why do you have ghost-fire inside you?”

When the ghost-fire finally died away, Gu Mo managed another bitter smile and recounted everything that had happened in the Underworld that night.

After a long pause, Yama stroked her chin and spoke slowly, “So, according to you, that night Old Ghost Xia led you through the secret passage? And the ghost-fire inside you is because you have the Soul-Binding Lock of White Impermanence within your body?”

Gu Mo nodded blankly, then asked, “Your Majesty, will having ghost-fire inside me cause any harmful side effects? And… this ‘Soul-Binding Lock’—does it rust? I really don’t want to get tetanus!”

After a moment’s thought, Jiang Jingxue suddenly pointed at his nose and declared, “Oh, oh, oh—you’re doomed!”

(2/3)

At this, the already frightened Gu Mo nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Y-Your Majesty! What’s going to happen to me? Please, explain clearly!”

But the silly Yama girl only grinned mischievously. “Little lackey, you were born under the ‘Utmost Yin Fate,’ just like the husband I’ve never met! You died and escaped back to the mortal world from the Underworld. Now you’ve swallowed my golden elixir… emmmmmm… you’re in big trouble!”

Gu Mo forced a wry smile, his face growing ever paler. “Your Majesty, please don’t scare me! What exactly will happen?”

A blush crept over Jiang Jingxue’s ghostly face. After a few seconds, she stammered shyly, “If you want to survive, you have to… m-marry me!”

Crack!

A thunderclap on dry land—the words stunned Gu Mo into utter blankness.

“What? What did you say? Marry you?! No way! Isn’t this forcing a marriage?”

At once, Jiang Jingxue twisted Gu Mo’s ear, her voice thundering with rage. “Hmph! I’m lowering myself to marry you, and you still refuse? Do you want to die?”

Hearing this, Gu Mo could only force a bitter smile and voice his inner turmoil. “Your Majesty, marriage isn’t a game. There should at least be the will of our parents and the word of a matchmaker!”

Jiang Jingxue merely smiled and said, “That’s easily handled! Where are your family members?”

“I never met my parents, and the grandfather who raised me passed away recently. I just got the call and rushed back to the incense shop two days ago.”

Jiang Jingxue nodded slightly. “Pretty much the same as my situation! All that’s left is the matchmaker. No time like the present—I’ll call the matchmaker from the Underworld right now!”

With that, she flipped her small hand, and a green “Underworld Edict” resembling a talisman appeared out of thin air!

Seeing this, Gu Mo sucked in a sharp breath and quickly interrupted, “Your Majesty, wait!”

Jiang Jingxue looked at him curiously. “Wait for what?”

Gu Mo forced an awkward smile onto his pale face. “I’m just an ordinary nobody, unworthy of you! I can’t give you happiness!”

Afraid Yama would entangle him endlessly, Gu Mo hurried to add more reasons for refusal. “Besides, with housing prices so high, even if I worked for another ten years, I couldn’t afford a new home! The dowry and wedding banquet are completely out of reach!”

At this, Gu Mo’s eyes darted as a new scheme began to stir in his mind. “And on top of that, Your Majesty, you’re the Yama of the Underworld, and I’m just a mortal. Like a shrimp from the sea and a fish from the river—how could we possibly be together?”

Hearing this, Jiang Jingxue only tightened her grip, much like a wife scolding her husband. “Aren’t you afraid of White Impermanence coming after you? You’ve got his Soul-Binding Lock inside you! Escaping back to the mortal world is a serious crime!”

She paused, then continued, “But if you marry me, neither ghost soldiers nor underworld officials would dare bully you! Marry me, and the entire Underworld will be yours! What does it matter whether you live in a house of the living or the dead? The wedding banquet and dowry—I can handle all of that!”

Hearing these tempting conditions, Gu Mo began to weigh the pros and cons.

‘Sigh! If only she were human! Where else could I find such a silly girl? She comes with her own dowry and wedding banquet—it’s like a pie falling from the sky!’

But after much deliberation, Gu Mo still shook his head resolutely.

(3/3)

“So? Am I not good enough for you?”

Gu Mo could only shake his head earnestly. “No, that’s not it.”

“Then why?”

At that, Jiang Jingxue’s gaze flickered to Gu Mo’s phone wallpaper. She drew out her words teasingly, “Oh—I get it! You’re already promised to someone, aren’t you? The girl on your phone!”

Gu Mo gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “She’s just my ex… let’s not talk about her.”

He paused for a moment, the cold stiffness in his body growing ever more intense.

‘Is this how it feels before turning into a zombie? Can anyone tell me? I don’t want to die!’

As the thought crossed his mind, Gu Mo’s face grew even paler, as if becoming a zombie was now just a matter of time.

“I say, Your Majesty, could you help me home first? I’m still badly hurt and really don’t want to die!”

Hearing this, Jiang Jingxue had no choice but to relent. In the next instant, she threw herself into Gu Mo’s arms, her icy presence seeping into every nerve.

With each breath, that paralyzing stiffness was mysteriously suppressed. Whether this was fortune or disaster, Gu Mo couldn’t tell.

The moment he opened his mouth to speak, a visible, chilling white vapor poured out, thick as a fire extinguisher’s spray and showing no sign of stopping.

Seeing this, Gu Mo quickly shut his mouth tight. If a passerby saw him now, not even jumping into the Yellow River could clear his name—he might even get hauled off for human experiments!

Suddenly, Jiang Jingxue gave him a sly look. “Little lackey, sooner or later you’ll be mine. You can’t escape!”

With that, Jiang Jingxue took control of Gu Mo’s body, making him stand. Her voice echoed unceremoniously in his mind, “Little lackey, where’s your home?”

Gu Mo managed a bitter smile and pointed out the direction, all the while praying fervently in his heart.

“Merciful Buddha, Bodhisattva Guanyin, all you gods above—please, let there be some spirit-repelling idol at Grandpa’s house! I really don’t want to marry a Yama!”

He staggered through streets and alleys as the sky gradually brightened…

Finally, with arms hanging limply, Gu Mo saw his own familiar street.

With a crow of the rooster, the powerless Jiang Jingxue retreated deep inside Gu Mo’s body.

So Yama was afraid of sunlight after all? Perhaps it was because she had no soul and thus no power.

Sensing the change within, Gu Mo forced a bitter smile and strode toward the small courtyard house.

The white mourning couplets on the gate fluttered in the wind, and Gu Mo gazed at the familiar yard, his heart heavy with grief.

In the corner of the yard stood a lush peach tree, now in full bloom—a sea of pink flowers, breathtakingly beautiful.

A white stone horse stood in the center, as it had done for as long as Gu Mo could remember.

And by the stone table beneath the tree sat a hunched old man…