Sliding gracefully down the red curtain was a tall, slender lady in a red bridal dress and an obscure veil sitting on her head, covering her entire face. Her feet touched the ground as though she landed on a very small stepping stone in the middle of a lake, and she gently lowered herself on the bed with one hand on top of the other on her lap. All her fingernails, long and claw-like, were polished into a glossy red.
Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu heightened their guard.
"This is our Lady, the Snake Bride," the Green Spider Lady walked past them to stand beside the bride. "She was the second of the Three Ghosts, but after the first ghost, the Scorpion Demoness, passed away, she became the leader of the Three Ghosts Sect."
"My Lady," greeted Wu Xingyu courteously.
"So the Scorpion Demoness was the creator of the Three Ghosts Sect?" asked Song Yehai.
"Before the Scorpion Demoness died, she brought us to this cave to protect us from the foulest, vilest creature that have ever walked upon earth," the Green Spider Lady continued. "Men."
Wu Xingyu and Song Yehai both looked like they did not know how to react to that.
"Just as I believed in a man and paid a price for that, my Lady had her heart broken on the day of her wedding and had been suffering greatly ever since. Those who sought her hand were all talk and no sincerity."
Song Yehai glanced at Wu Xingyu with an expression that read, 'Are we just going to listen to her ramble?'
Wu Xingyu returned an expression that read, 'Let's just hear them out for now, and then try get the venoms.'
"It was the Scorpion Demoness saved us from ever misplacing our trust and having our hearts trampled upon again. Here, in these caves we've made our home, we trained and cultivated for many years so that we can defeat anyone who wants to hurt or kill us. We have no one but ourselves to depend on. All men are just beasts, pretentious and despicable, like demons in disguise!"
Wu Xingyu shuddered slightly at those words.
"Ever since Mo Xuecheng created the Killing Immortals Sect and claimed the Three Ghosts Sect under his, my Lady and I have been dying to have the Demon Lord destroyed. Naturally we should give his worst enemies a hand. Unfortunately we can't do that. We might die terrible deaths ourselves."
"Mo Xuecheng has done something to you?"
"Go ask him yourself what he has done to us!" snapped the Green Spider Lady, her voice shrill and her eyes glowing. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu instinctively took half a step back. The green light dimmed and the Green Spider Lady composed herself and then turned to the Snake Bride. "My Lady, the Moon Dragon and the Snow Phoenix Grandmasters have come to ask for some green spider and fire viper venom."
A horde of vipers emerged from the folds of the bed curtains, the crevices in the walls and the sleeves of the Snake Bride. All of them had fiery patterns from their head to halfway down their body, tail tips sharp as picks and sclera glowing like firelight. Their hisses were laced with ferocity and aggression as they bared their fangs and flicked out their forked tongues.
The Snake Bride's bridal garments instantly withered into that of a crashed wedding's. The surfaces of the jewelries she wore became worn and etched, losing their lustre and sheen. Her long sleeves were tattered, her top becoming darker and skin-tight, and her skirt ripped, revealing much of her slender, pale legs. A red sash hung loosely over her shoulders. The only thing that remained unchanged was the veil covering her entire head.
"Looks like that's a no," lamented Wu Xingyu as he and Song Yehai immediately jumped out of the way of the first launch of snake strikes.
The Fire Vipers were fast and strong, their jaws powerful enough to bite through bricks. Wu Xingyu threw out his fan, decapitating a number of them and gathering up the carcasses within a small whirlwind. The remaining surviving snakes shrank back in fear of being swept away.
Song Yehai lashed his whip towards the Snake Bride but it was caught by the Green Spider Lady. A green spider crawled along it when it suddenly fell off and landed on the ground with a needle sticking out of its head. The Green Spider Lady was forced to let go of the whip before her hand would also get pierced by another incoming needle.
A fleeting shadow under the candlelight caught Song Yehai's eye and he dodged a dagger flying at him from behind. The Green Spider Lady caught the weapon by the handle. Shuying attempted to strike again from behind when Song Yehai's whip caught her by the waist and threw her not too gently aside. She kicked off the walls and landed nimbly on her feet before retrieving her dagger from the Green Spider Lady.
"Not good enough, Shuying," teased the Green Spider Lady.
"I'll get better!" huffed Shuying.
A number of sewing needles, all threaded with long red threads, came from behind the her and flew towards Song Yehai, piercing at different places into his whip. The Snake Bride pulled the threads in an attempt to gain control of the whip. Her attention shifted to an incoming purple fan. While she was distracted Song Yehai hurled his whip, shaking off the needles. Before he could lash it at her again he was intervened by webs from the Green Spider Lady.
"Let's fight again, Moon Dragon!"
Shuying attacked him from behind.
"Sneaky rat," chastised Song Yehai, easily anticipating her.
Fire Vipers leapt at the Purple Peacock Fan only to get sliced up. It returned to Wu Xingyu, who quickly blocked a strike from the Snake Bride. The two engaged in close combat. As they fought Wu Xingyu could not help but note how familiar his opponent's moves were.
"How do you know moves from the White Phoenix Sect?"
The red sash around the Snake Bride's shoulder attacked. Wu Xingyu fought back with his own sash. They struck, strangled and seized frenziedly at each other.
"Where did you learn them? Who taught them to you?"
The Snake Bride remained silent. She slipped through a thin doorway in the wall. Wu Xingyu quickly followed her, finding that she had retreated into another room that was filled with a noxious red haze. He shielded his nose and mouth just as a sharp but bearable migraine struck him. "What is this?"
Obscured by the intense perfumes, the Snake Bride had become a blur. Wu Xingyu thought if he should use the Purple Feather Fan to fan away the haze until he remembered they were in a closed room. Blood trickled into his vision, irritating his eyes and slowly blinding him.
"There's powder in this haze."
His fan nearly slipped from his grip when he realised the Snake Bride was right behind him. Her voice, seductive and devilish, spoke right next to Wu Xingyu's ear. "Wu Xingyu, still attractive as ever!"
Wu Xingyu quickly stepped away from her and threw his fan at her. His weapon passed through the silhouette and stabbed into the wall.
"What did you do to the White Phoenix Sect?" demanded Wu Xingyu.
Strips of the red curtains attempted to wrap themselves around him. Wu Xingyu leapt out of the way before he could be caught but was was impeded by his headache. Ultimately he could not escape the folds loosely robing around every part of his body. All it took was one movement from him, or one pull from the Snake Bride, and he would be tightly entangled, bound around the limbs and strangled by the neck.
"Who are you really?"
The tip of a red claw stroked down the side of Wu Xingyu's face and touched gently around his chin just as the alluring voice whispered into his ear again. "Who do you think I am?"
Song Yehai immobilised the Green Spider Lady.
"Damn you Moon Dragon," cursed the Green Spider Lady at her second loss. "But no matter, because now you should be very weak, and the Snake Bride would have dealt with the Snow Phoenix. Now she can finish you off."
"Where did the Snake Bride go?" questioned Song Yehai.
"Why should I tell you?"
Reluctantly Song Yehai held the handle of his whip against Shuying's.
"Don't think that you can use me as a hostage you dirty coward!" Shuying spat angrily. "I would never go against Cui Jie-jie!"
Song Yehai dropped his handle as another idea popped in his mind. He turned to Shuying. "Grandmaster Wu really needs you."
A look of hesitation was reflected in Shuying's eyes. "Grandmaster Wu?"
"Only you can help him."
The Green Spider Lady was about to berate Shuying for falling so easily to Song Yehai's emotional tactic but then decided against it. "Shuying, show him the way!"
"Is it really ok?" asked Shuying.
"Yes."
'She's thinking that the Snake Bride would undoubtedly have laid a trap for me,' thought Song Yehai.
"Come this way," Shuying showed Song Yehai a doorway in the wall. "My Lady has taken Grandmaster Wu through here."
Song Yehai headed down the corridor, stopping halfway at a red mist leaking out from the room at the end. He stepped back to avoid contact before reaching his hand out, immersing his fingertips into the haze and then bringing it to his nose to take a whiff. A sudden pang stung his head and then quickly faded. He ingested a pill before proceeding ahead and arriving at the room at the end.
Red sashes launched at him the minute he stepped into the room. Song Yehai promptly whipped them all away. The Snake Bride's hands went for Song Yehai while he was preoccupied when a red sash wrapped itself around her wrist and pulled her back. A gasp of horror escaped her lips from under her veil as she scrutinised this rogue sash. It forcefully held her arm behind her back before wrapping itself tightly around her body.
It was Wu Xingyu's white sash that had soaked itself with his blood and doused itself with the red powder after sneaking out of Wu Xingyu's sleeve. Camouflaged with the vicious curtain strips and the red haze, it mingled in the Snake Bride's locus of control until the right moment to trap her.
"Yehai, the dispenser!"
Song Yehai's whip struck the copper perfume dispenser, revealing a porcelain bowl of assorted powders and crushed exotic plants, the mixture spitting puffs of intoxicating red mists.
At this moment a fire viper slithered rapidly up Wu Xingyu's body before he had a chance to react and opened its mouth. Two fangs, vicious and deadly, glinted with malice. The Fire Viper's pupils contracted into slits as it delivered its first strike, biting Wu Xingyu in his left lower arm.
"Xingyu!" cried Song Yehai until he noticed Wu Xingyu's lips surreptitiously curve up.
The Purple Feather Fan flew towards Wu Xingyu, leaving a trail of purple mists and slicing through the sashes, liberating him. He breathed in some of the mists, alleviating his headache. The shredded fabrics floated in the air before scattering everywhere, some of them falling on top of Wu Xingyu's head and shoulders. He summoned his sash to release the Snake Bride, who remained frozen on the spot, and back into his sleeves.
Song Yehai knocked two candles out of their candle holders. One landed on the ends of the curtain on the floor, setting it ablaze. The other landed in the porcelain bowl, burning the powerful and stealthy concoction within.
"Song Yehai you lunatic!" shouted the Green Spider Lady, having had her pressure points unlocked by Shuying. Before she could stomp out the flames they were fanned by a stray burst of air. "Wu Xingyu!"
"Sorry, my arm flexed," said Wu Xingyu dryly, shaking off the fabric on his right shoulder. He froze at a surge of pain overwhelming his entire arm.
"Cui Jie-jie!" Shuying almost dived into the flames when she was held back by Song Yehai.
"Stay back from the fire!"
"You bastard! How dare you set fire to this place!" Shuying almost sliced her dagger across Song Yehai's arm, but Song Yehai merely retracted it to evade the blade and then struck a pressure point to instantly paralyse her.
"Shuying," the Green Spider Lady called in great concern.
"She's fine," assured Song Yehai. "She's just paralysed."
"Cui Jie-jie!" Shuying called just as the Green Spider Lady emerged from the flames unharmed.
Song Yehai lifted the fabric over Wu Xingyu's head almost like how a groom unveils his bride. As he did, Wu Xingyu looked up and the two locked eyes. His face unconsciously heated, flaring into a bright red. Song Yehai assumed it was merely the lighting of the fire reflecting off the red room and onto his face.
"Xingyu, are you alright?"
"I'm alright," assured Wu Xingyu as he averted Song Yehai's gaze and wiped away the bit of blood from his mouth only to stain it all over his lips.
"We need to get the venom out of your body!" Song Yehai grabbed onto Wu Xingyu's hand and rushed out of the room. Before walking out of the caves he used an empty candle holder to scoop up the green spider that was paralysed rather than pierced to death with his needle and promptly stored it in a small, empty jar he had carried.
Thick, heavy fumes spewed out of the cave's mouth, inciting a hover of crows perched nearby to instantly fly off. The rising, ashy smoke made the cave look like a giant oven that had just finished cooking. Song Yehai and Wu Xingyu hurried into the forests to hide among the trees.
"Ah shit," cursed Wu Xingyu quietly, his face feverishly red. "The venom's a little tougher than I thought."
Song Yehai's eyes widened. "What?"