Breaking the Game

Wei Yuan's consciousness plunged into darkness, and then he opened his eyes once more. He stared up at the relief carved into the bed canopy, trying hard to recall the face beneath that bridal veil, but nothing came to mind—his memory seemed to have gone completely blank. He gave the quilt a pinch; it was soaking wet, and his hands were likely covered in fresh blood again. The kitchen knife was nowhere to be found, missing no matter how long he fumbled around. Yet Wei Yuan suddenly noticed an additional kitchen knife resting upon the table in the relief. "Husband, you're awake." Hearing that voice, Wei Yuan rolled out of bed at once, his movements nimble and far faster than the previous times. Previous times? Casting his slight confusion aside, Wei Yuan stepped up before the bride. Only now did he notice something embroidered upon her auspicious red wedding robe—it looked like two divine beasts, but definitely not phoenixes. Her hands were pale and slender. Wei Yuan had noticed them for a while now. Feeling instinctively that he still had a little time before the next line of dialogue, he took the bride's hand, turned it over, and faced her palm upward. Her hand was pale, soft, and remarkably smooth. Her plump palm felt indescribably comfortable to hold, and Wei Yuan could not resist stroking it once more. "Husband, the hour is late. We should rest early." That line came a bit too soon... A layer of thin gauze settled over Wei Yuan's consciousness. Holding her hand with one arm, he lifted the veil with the other. Xu Wenwu. Wei Yuan's vision went black. — "Husband, you're awake?" The voice was still melodious, but Wei Yuan's heart remained as still as water. He vaulted straight out of bed, bypassed the bride, and walked toward the space behind her. The moment he brushed past her, he heard those words again. "Husband, the hour is late..." This time, the bride spoke extraordinarily fast—so fast it turned into a shriek—yet it was precisely that phrase that veiled Wei Yuan's consciousness in gauze. He circled back to the front of the bride and glanced at her hands first. His gaze suddenly froze: her hands were gone. Beneath her cuffs, the bloody wounds of severed wrists were faintly visible. Wei Yuan lifted the veil to reveal a sweet little face, though at this moment it was twisted in agony. Xu Yi. Two streams of bloody water suddenly gushed from her eyes! Wei Yuan's vision went black, and he lost consciousness. — Wei Yuan silently studied the relief. Among the seven brides upon the table, one had no head, while another had no hands, leaving only a pair of severed wrists resting on the surface. Blood from those wrists seeped continuously across the table. Wei Yuan felt slightly weak, as though he had repeated the exact same task far too many times—vacuous and utterly dull. "Husband, you're awake?" Wei Yuan had been waiting for those exact words. He rolled out of bed and ripped up the bride's veil in a single motion! Yun Feifei. "Husband, the ho—" Wei Yuan swiftly dropped the veil and lifted it again. Cui Yu? "—ur is la—" Wei Yuan dropped it and lifted it once more. Xiaoyu. Wei Yuan dropped and lifted it again. Xu Wan'er. "—te, we should..." The bride's voice had already accelerated into a shrill shriek, yet it still fell short of Wei Yuan's speed. He lifted the veil once more. Sun Yu??? Sun Yu opened his mouth and blew out a puff of black smoke directly into Wei Yuan's face, plunging his vision into darkness. Before his consciousness drifted away, Wei Yuan finally realized just how terrifying Martial Uncle's poison truly was. — "Husband..." Wei Yuan sprang to his feet, appearing before the bride in a flash, only to freeze in place. The bride possessed three pairs of arms, six small hands clutching the veil tightly. Although each hand appeared pale, slender, and petite, Wei Yuan instinctively sensed that he would never be able to pry the veil from those six hands. Like lightning, Wei Yuan seized the lapels of the bridal gown and gave a fierce tear! The wedding gown proved surprisingly fragile; the entire garment tore cleanly in two! The body beneath the gown was fair and well-proportioned, her skin smooth and delicate, yet devoid of any distinct features. It was like a canvas where a painter had merely laid down the base color, not yet having had the time to sketch in the details. *So that's how it is...* Wei Yuan did not try to lift the veil again. Instead, he skirted past her, attempting to walk behind her. At that moment, however, the bride opened her mouth: "Husband, the hour is not..." Wei Yuan reached out. Her six small hands instantly tightened around the veil. Rather than lifting it, Wei Yuan clamped a hand over her mouth through the veil, muffling the rest of her words right in her throat. Wei Yuan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. Looking down, he saw that another pair of arms had sprouted from the bride's body. Those tiny, pale hands gripped a kitchen knife and plunged it deep into his belly. The blade was covered in blood and full of notches—the very one that had been resting on the table. *Careless...* Wei Yuan's consciousness plunged into darkness once again. — Wei Yuan opened his eyes once more. He felt himself growing a bit weaker. If things continued like this, his life would sooner or later be drained away, leaving him dead in this bizarre place. Yet his mind remained veiled beneath a sheet of gauze, his thoughts still muddled. He could not calculate how many more times he could wake before his life ran out entirely. Eight hundred times? Or how many? The relief on the bed canopy offered little novelty, except that there was more blood on the kitchen knife atop the table. The hand of the central bride gripping the knife was also stained with blood, no longer fair and pristine. The severed-wrist bride's hands still rested on the table, the blood pouring from her stumps spreading to cover nearly half the surface. Wei Yuan counted. Aside from the bride holding the knife, five brides still had intact hands. "Husband..." Seeing Wei Yuan abruptly appear before her, the bride clinging to her veil with six hands hastily changed her line: "The hour is already late..." Wei Yuan did not lift the veil, nor did he tear her wedding gown. Instead, he gave each of her six little hands a fondling squeeze. "...we should rest early." As those words left her mouth, the bride returned to having just two hands, sitting there placidly. Wei Yuan lifted the veil to take a look: Xiaoyu. Before losing consciousness, Wei Yuan was still pondering: *Why did he only just show up? Is the problem with him, or is it with me?* — As soon as Wei Yuan opened his eyes, he looked up at the canopy relief. Sure enough, four of the brides now lacked hands; resting on the table were severed wrists, blood constantly bubbling from the wounds. Wei Yuan felt that this round might hold a pleasant surprise—though he wasn't sure whether it would be a surprise for him or for the bride. He lay there thinking for a moment before the familiar words finally came: "Husband, you're awake." In a single stride, Wei Yuan arrived before the six-armed bride. He saw that only a single pair of hands held the veil, while the other four arms ended in severed wrists, blood gushing forth to dye the wedding robe an even brighter crimson. *With only one pair of hands, I should be able to lift it... Wait, no, there's another pair...* Wei Yuan did not immediately lift the veil. Instead, he waited patiently for the bride to deliver her next line, stroking her hands as he waited. At long last, the bride finished her routine, and Wei Yuan lifted the veil. Fenhai??? What Wei Yuan received was not a pleasant surprise, but sheer terror. — Wei Yuan opened his eyes. In the relief, six of the brides were missing their hands, leaving only the final bride clutching the kitchen knife. Phantoms were busy carrying a platter to place upon the table, piled high with severed hands. "Husband, you're awake." Wei Yuan stood before her, neither too close nor too far—just the right distance to let her speak her remaining words at a leisurely pace without descending into a frantic shriek. The six-armed bride held the veil with one pair of hands, while the other four were severed stumps. *You don't have hands left to hold a knife now, do you...* Wei Yuan ripped open her wedding gown, but found no knife. The bride sprouted a fourth pair of arms, their severed stumps jabbing futilely against Wei Yuan's body without dealing any damage, yet Wei Yuan still failed to locate the knife. However, plenty of things aside from knives could serve as weapons. This time, Wei Yuan had prepared more than enough surprises, while the bride possessed only one pair of hands. Wei Yuan tied the torn wedding gown into a knot, took off his own auspicious robe, and tied it to the end as well, making it sufficiently long. With a fierce whip of his arm, the knotted garments lashed out like a whip, ensnaring a candlestick on the table and yanking it back. Wei Yuan casually pulled off the candle, revealing the candlestick's sharp spike beneath. Since he hadn't bypassed the bride this time, he hadn't triggered her shrieking. Wei Yuan looked at the burning candlelight, feeling as though he had overlooked something. Suddenly, he plunged his hand directly into the candle's flame! The flame surged wildly, yet it was not very hot. Within it lay a faint aura that felt remarkably familiar. He fumbled around, indeed caught hold of something, and slowly drew a blazing immortal sword from the fire. The bride suddenly shrieked: "...time to rest!" Wei Yuan lifted the veil, and indeed, there was a surprise. Immortal Monarch Tinghai. With a sharp crack, Wei Yuan's consciousness did not plunge into darkness; instead, the entire room fell into shadow, shattering into countless fragments. Wei Yuan's surroundings transformed completely. The bridal chamber vanished, leaving behind only a desolate, warped expanse of earth. He stood atop crumbling ruins, behind him a platform piled from clods of earth—the exact spot where the bed had been every time he woke. Before Wei Yuan lay a humanoid body with fair skin, entirely devoid of physical features, its face a blank slate. A massive fissure ran across its chest and abdomen, nearly cleaving the body in two. Several phantoms were hurriedly trying to lift the body. Seeing Wei Yuan look their way, they shrieked in panic and scattered in all directions. Not far away, Wei Yuan discovered a pile of fair-skinned bodies, every one of them mangled and broken. Wei Yuan looked down at his hand, which still held that blazing immortal sword. Though the Immortal Sword · False Sun was nothing impressive in power under normal circumstances, it seemed extraordinarily potent in this bizarre realm. The thin gauze draped over his consciousness was currently being ignited and burned away by the flames upon the sword. A slender figure suddenly emerged from the darkness ahead. It was a woman clad in a dark purple gown, glaring furiously at Wei Yuan as she scolded, "Scumbag!" "Shameless!" "Pervert!" "Disgusting!" Wei Yuan stood quietly, waiting until she finished her tirade. Only after hurling every foul insult she could think of at Wei Yuan did the woman calm down slightly. She said, "You passed my trial. You now qualify to speak with me." Wei Yuan asked in confusion, "Isn't it because you couldn't do anything to me that you had no choice but to show yourself and negotiate?" The woman gritted her teeth. "Life would be so much better if you hadn't grown a mouth." "I think so too." The woman's chest heaved violently, clearly on the verge of flying into a rage and attacking. Yet after panting for a moment, she managed to swallow her fury. A few phantoms carried a chair over. The woman took a seat with practiced poise and said, "This is the Nether Cold Realm, and I am Dream Eater. Your origin soul is here in this realm, while your physical body remains in your original world. What I orchestrated just now was the opening dreamscape: Ghost Bride. In my trap, when you lift the veil, the bride you see is the person you most want to spend the rest of your life with deep in your heart. Now do you understand why I cursed at you? I've handled plenty of humans in my time, but I've never seen anyone like you—a completely different bride every single round! Disgusting!" Only now did Wei Yuan understand why he had been cursed at. After all, what lay beneath that veil hadn't just been oddities, but downright horrors. Wei Yuan asked, "You just said the bride I see is the person deep in my heart I most want to spend the rest of my life with?" "Of course." Wei Yuan said earnestly, "I think you're making things up." Dream Eater practically leaped to her feet, knocking her chair over as she hissed through gritted teeth, "I, the great Lady Dream Eater, whom countless mighty Nether Shamans fear like tigers and beg the Ancestral Shamans to spare them from crossing paths with—would I brag to a half-grown little human Dao Foundation like you?!" Wei Yuan said earnestly, "I think you would." Dream Eater almost lashed out again, but after a moment's thought, she held back, though clearly with tremendous effort. Gritting her teeth, she said, "I won't waste words with you! I have serious business to discuss, and you'd better listen closely! Do you want revenge on the Nether Shaman who captured you and dragged you in here?" Wei Yuan shook his head.