Free Web NovelChapter 1103: Chapter 755: Handsome Man Audition_2
A chill came from behind Yang Xiao, as if an entire iceberg had been pressed against his back. The cold penetrated rapidly, the dark shadow trembled as if it wanted to penetrate completely into his body. Yang Xiao opened his mouth wide but couldn’t utter a single word.
But soon, the dark shadow stopped its invasion. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Soul-Capturing Mirror fallen on the ground, Yang Xiao witnessed a horrifying scene: a robust dark shadow clinging closely behind him, motionless, and on each of the shadow’s shoulders rested a pale white hand.
Seizing the moment, Yang Xiao darted into the mirror and escaped, and indeed, the Shadow Ghost did not hinder him any further.
At the last moment of escaping back to the real world, Yang Xiao saw through the mirror’s reflection that the pair of pale white hands were gripping the Shadow Ghost’s neck, lifting it, while the Shadow Ghost seemed to be frozen.
Back in reality, Qingfeng and Ming Yue, the senior brothers, rushed to Yang Xiao as soon as they saw him. But before Yang Xiao could speak, he fainted from exhaustion and knew nothing more.
In a haze, Yang Xiao was awakened by a cold wind. He heard someone crying, deeply sorrowful, while chanting something between sobs.
It was not a woman’s cry, but a man’s.
The voice was very unfamiliar.
After struggling for a minute, Yang Xiao finally opened his eyes, only to see a night sky above him. He was lying flat on a wet muddy ground, right next to a towering Taihu Stone rockery.
This place was very unfamiliar, he had never been here before. He groped along the rockery to sit up, and followed the sound of crying, passing through a small grove, he saw a man kneeling not far down the slope ahead. freewebnσvel.cѳm
The man was dressed in ancient costume, extravagantly adorned, crying miserably with tears and snot running down his face.
Yang Xiao held his breath, hiding behind a tree, revealing half of his head to observe. In front of the man was a small cart, covered with something by a white cloth.
Due to his angle, Yang Xiao couldn’t see clearly until he shifted position, and saw that a few bare feet were sticking out from under the white cloth.
Beneath the cloth were corpses, four feet, two bodies.
The man cried incessantly, talking non-stop. Yang Xiao listened intently, not daring to get too close for fear of being discovered. After two minutes, he only caught a few scattered words, but it was these few sentences that made Yang Xiao’s heart turn cold.
One sentence was how tragically the brothers had died, and another was a lament about how their fate was unfortunate, harmed by that female demon.
"Female demon..." Yang Xiao thought of the ancient costume on the man, his heart sank, and he immediately gazed around. Sure enough, in the far distance was a towering pavilion.
"Mother, forgive your child for not fulfilling filial duty! Brothers, wait for me, your older brother will come to join you, so we can walk the Road to the Netherworld together!" With these words, the man took a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve, removed the stopper, and poured it into his mouth. He fell to the ground, his legs twitching, foaming at the mouth, and soon stopped moving.
After confirming that the man was indeed dead, Yang Xiao emerged from his hiding place and upon approaching found that the man’s death was terribly gruesome, his eyes bulged, face twisted, with foam still at the corner of his mouth.
"This is the Heavenly Water Pavilion, the Opera Robe Ghost’s territory. This man poisoned himself to death to avoid falling into the hands of the good sister. Is the good sister really that intimidating?" Yang Xiao swallowed hard.
The urgent matter now was to find some clothes to change into, his current attire was too conspicuous here.
Yang Xiao bowed respectfully to the brother who committed suicide by poison, apologizing, and then stripped the man’s clothes and put them on.
While searching the body’s waist, he found a wooden token, carved with three characters: Little Begonia.
"Hiss—" Yang Xiao suddenly got a very bad feeling, that name sounded so improper.
Stashing the token away, he quickly walked to the small cart, uncovered the white cloth, and his face instantly changed. Two human forms that were tortured beyond recognition lay revealed before him.
Both corpses were men, stark naked, with flamboyant makeup on their faces, eyes wide open, filled with despair.
The sight made the hair on Yang Xiao’s back stand on end. He looked at the man who poisoned himself to death; these three were all very young men, and possessed good looks and physiques.
"Creak, creak, creak—"
Footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. Yang Xiao immediately picked up the corpse on the ground, tossed it onto the cart, and covered it with the white cloth.
He had found a face mask on the body earlier, now was just the time to use it. He covered his face with the mask, imitating the previous man, lowered his head, and knelt down crying bitterly.
"Two brothers, you died so tragically, your elder brother can’t help you much, let’s be good brothers again in the next life!"
"Creak, creak, creak—"
The footsteps behind got closer, then a voice snapped harshly: "What are you crying for? Stop crying! Being able to serve the Pavilion Master is a blessing you’ve earned over several lifetimes, leave the bodies and come with us!"
It was a woman’s voice, but deep and powerful. Yang Xiao turned around sobbing, only to see two hefty women standing behind him.
The woman on the left wore a deep blue silk cross-collar robe, her expression proud, while the one on the right was in a tan floral brocade jacket, paired with a black cape made of unknown animal hide, a coiled whip clenched in her hand. The woman eyed him obliquely, her face fleshy, looking like someone not to be trifled with.
"Splat!"
The whip struck heavily in front of Yang Xiao’s feet, the woman on the right barked angrily: "What are you looking at, you little handsome man brought in tribute, aren’t you going to obediently follow us?!"
Not showing any flaws, Yang Xiao feigned obedience and innocence, bowing his head meekly as he walked forward along the flagstone path under the escort of the two women.
Just as Yang Xiao was pondering a way to escape, suddenly, his backside was pinched harshly.
"Hey, it’s pretty perky!" A woman’s malicious laughter came from behind.
"Don’t try anything with him, this one’s a handsome man paid in tribute to the Pavilion Master," another woman advised in a low voice.
"What’s the matter? There are so many handsome men offered in tribute this time, you don’t really think he’ll be chosen, do you?" The woman teasing Yang Xiao sneered, her eyes roving shamelessly over Yang Xiao’s back, disdainfully commenting: "Look at him, his chest is so small, the way he sways is half-hearted, you know the Pavilion Master’s taste, he won’t measure up. The rejected handsome men eventually end up benefitting us, hehe..." free𝑤ebnovel.com
The other woman was obviously more rational, frowning immediately, "Stop talking, let’s send him for the selection first, the few sent to the Pavilion Master tonight weren’t satisfactory."
Yang Xiao walked from the secluded back mountain to the front courtyard, the area here was larger than he imagined, filled with pavilions and waterside pavilions, red bricks and green tiles, high walls and large courtyards, matched with exquisite design, the opulence rivaled that of a Prince’s Mansion.
On the way, Yang Xiao saw many laborers working, all were men, some even without clothes, covered in wounds, very pitiful indeed.
The crack of the whip was constantly heard from the supervisors nearby, all women in management positions.
There were also hierarchies among women; a woman in a white brocade gown on a tall horse charged past Yang Xiao, he couldn’t even look directly at her, nor did the two escorting women dare to make a sound.
Soon, Yang Xiao was brought into a courtyard, which was already filled with many people, all young men dressed similarly to Yang Xiao, with anxiety written all over their faces.
A rough count showed no fewer than 50, each with good looks, considered quite handsome when singled out.
Yang Xiao too had a handsome appearance, but here he seemed less remarkable.
"Slap, slap!"
"Put your veils on!" A middle-aged woman managing order at the front barked, cracking a whip on the ground, her brow furrowed as she cursed: "You shameless lot, each one of you slutty hoofs, showing your face now, trying to win favor?!"
As soon as she finished speaking, a sudden commotion arose in the crowd. Following the noise, Yang Xiao saw a tall woman in a white robe enter the courtyard, striding forth with several people in tow.
