Chapter 356: You're a Burden

A beam of light arced across the horizon and fell to the ground. A swarm of paper snakes had brought Cui Haitang to a secluded valley.

The snakes roamed around, securing the valley, as the paper figure cursed effigy blinked into existence. It stared at Cui Haitang quietly.

There was a line of blood slashing across the center of Cui Haitang's forehead. Her body had already been bisected, but her ardent desire to cling to life had allowed her to temporarily keep the halves of her body stuck to each other.

"Dear Sister, my spirit's been cut apart. I'm about to die. Bring me to my husband, quickly!" Cui Haitang gasped out.

"With your spirit cut, your truesoul is about to dissipate. You are about to die," the paper figure said calmly.

"No! My soul might have been cut, but I can still be revived! I just need to be grafted to a cursed effigy. We retrieved a lot of shadow cursed effigies from the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm. We just have to force one of them to coexist with me. With my husband's abilities and your support, Dear Sister, I'll surely be able to succeed. Do it quickly!" Cui Haitang urged weakly.

The paper figure smiled in a ghastly manner. "And why should I help you?"

"You're my Dear Sister!" Cui Haitang's heart thumped. She suddenly felt a shred of unease.

"That's right. We're Dear Sisters, aren't we? Your enemies are my enemies, what's yours is mine, and your husband is my husband. We're Dear Sisters," the paper figure said calmly.

"What did you say?" Cui Haitang's eyes flashed with fear.

"After you die, your husband will be my husband. I'll take good care of him," the paper figure said calmly.

"You're my Dear Sister. How can you steal my husband?" Cui Haitang exclaimed. Then, she blanched. "The female voice I heard from my husband's meditation chamber—was that you? You're a cursed effigy, so you can instantly hide in my husband's mindscape. That's why I've never been able to find you. You were that wench!"

"Dear Sister, are you only realizing that now? You don't know how thrilling it is to have you keep hearing us from the outside." The paper figure gave Cui Haitang a sinister smile.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"You deliberately allowed me to hear it? You wanted the thrill of being caught? Why? Why would you want my husband?!" Cui Haitang thundered.

"Weren't you the one who kept telling me that your husband was the best husband in the world? Why wouldn't I want a husband like that?"

"No! You're only a paper figure. How could you have seduced my husband?!" Cui Haitang exclaimed.

"I'm a paper figure, but I can mold my appearance into that of anyone, for instance..." The paper figure smiled gently.

Then, it transformed into a facsimile of Cui Haitang.

Cui Haitang's eyes widened. She felt as though she had been trapped in an ice cellar.

"You impersonated me to trick my husband? Was he tricked by you?!" Cui Haitang shouted.

"Stop lying to yourself. Don't you think Nalan Qiankun can differentiate between the two of us?" The paper figure smiled.

"Impossible! He told me he would be loyal to me his whole life, that I would be the only one he loved! He said he wanted to spend his entire life with me!" Cui Haitang exclaimed, her body shaking.

"That's because you were useful to him in the past. After all, you control a significant portion of the Taiqing Demonic Sect, and could therefore assist him in becoming emperor. Now, however, you're far less useful than before. You're a burden," the paper figure said.

"Impossible! My husband would never discard me!" Cui Haitang cried out.

"Cui Haitang, accept reality! Why do you think Nalan Qiankun doesn't care about his three sons' death? It's because you and your children aren't good enough for him anymore! You'd only hold him back. The Tianshu Empire can ascend into a divine empire at any point now. All the major holy lands will try to ally with him. Only by marrying one of their holy maidens and providing her with enough status will he be able to gain their full support and allow him to become a divine emperor! If you remain the empress, and your children remain the crown princes, what sort of status can he confer on the holy maiden? Do you expect him to have a holy maiden as a concubine? Why should her associated holy land support him, then?"

"You're lying! I'm his wife and consort by marriage, and those are his children! How could he treat us so?!" Cui Haitang shouted.

"You're far too besotted with him! But don't worry, I won't let any holy maiden become Nalan Qiankun's empress," the paper figure said.

"What did you say?" Cui Haitang sounded confused.

"Once Nalan Qiankun decides on a holy maiden, I'll kill that holy maiden, transform into her, and marry Nalan Qiankun on her behalf. After that, I'd be Nalan Qiankun's new empress. I'll give birth to a new crown prince and use my identity as the holy maiden to transfer all authority over my associated holy land to my husband. I'll treat him well," the paper figure said calmly.

"That's wishful thinking! My husband would never agree!" Cui Haitang found her body growing colder and colder.

"Oh, he agrees. Otherwise, why didn't he show up when you were dealing with Xiao Nanfeng? Why didn't he show up when Xiao Nanfeng slew you?" The paper figure smiled.

"What?!" Cui Haitang exclaimed.

"It's because someone needs to take responsibility for hurting Xiao Nanfeng's mother, for killing Hong Lie, for Ku Jiang's death, for Lu Yan's disappearance. All that karmic debt needs to be paid off. Nalan Qiankun certainly can't besmirch his own reputation, so you'll have to take responsibility for everything. Your death can cleanse him of responsibility. Don't you love Nalan Qiankun? Then, before your death, you ought to make this final sacrifice for him," the paper figure said calmly.

Cui Haitang's face turned fearful. "I harmed Xiao Hongye's wife for my husband! I killed Hong Lie for him. I did all this for him! How could my husband treat me like this? I don't believe it. I can't believe it!"

"You're worthless now. You're nothing more than a burden. Make this final sacrifice for your husband's sake," the paper figure said.

"He knew I was going to die? He deliberately chose not to save me?!" Cui Haitang exclaimed.

"You know he has spies among the Xiang Immortals. He's well aware that the Xiang Immortals have allied with Xiao Nanfeng. Even if Xiao Nanfeng doesn't kill you, Xiang Shaoyin and his subordinates, lying hidden in the vicinity, will surely do so. Everything's part of his plan. The reason he gave you the Hundred-Beast Flaming Dome is to allow you to survive a little longer and make everything seem more realistic. Cui Haitang, accept your fate. If you want something to blame, blame yourself for no longer having any value."

"I understand now! Back in Yongding, when I asked you to save my son, you refused to go. You were waiting for him to die, weren't you? You did it intentionally!" Cui Haitang's voice began to quiver.

"Exactly. We've been Dear Sisters for so many years now, haven't we? I'll at least make sure you know everything before you die. Then, I'll inherit all that belongs to you. Once your truesoul dissipates, I'll collect its remnant fragments. After all, when your father's in a demonic fit, I'll need them to awaken and control him. He's an Earth Immortal, and he'll be able to support my husband well."

"Dear Sister? 'My husband'?" Cui Haitang's face turned distressed.

Her vitality was rapidly draining from her body. As her truesoul dissipated, her past memories flitted across her mind. Back then, she and Han Bingdie were the best of friends. Although the Taiqing Sect had just suffered a calamity, her father's status meant that she was beyond the like of ordinary disciples. Nalan Qiankun had courted her persistently.

"Junior Sister Haitang, you're so beautiful! Your father's a leader of the Taiqing Sect, and you're the equivalent of its royalty. Everything that's good about the world has been concentrated in you. The lucky suitor who manages to win your hand must have saved the world in a past life."

"Junior Sister Haitang, if the heavens were to give me the chance to hold your hand, I'd never let you go. Even if the heavens were to split, the earth to crack, my love for you would persist for time immemorial!"

"Haitang, I must have begged the heavens for three whole lifetimes for them to allow me to marry you in this one. I promise to guard you my entire life. With me around, you'll never suffer a moment's grievance!"

"As for that paper figure cursed effigy that follows you around, don't chase it away. It might prove useful to us."

"Haitang, Xiao Hongye wants to split the opportunities within the Spirit Emperor's hidden realm among us all, but I want it all. If I can get all of it, our future will be all the more glorious. Can your Dear Sister help us out?"

"Haitang, Hong Lie's gone too far. He still can't forget about Xiao Hongye. Sooner or later, he'll ruin us!"

Cui Haitang's memories were filled with scenes with Nalan Qiankun. Moments before her soul dissipated, she laughed and she cried. She wanted to capture the beauty of her memories, but they all seemed to be tainted by deception. She had lived her entire life in a lie—no, only after meeting Nalan Qiankun.

She was worthless now, and nothing more than a burden. As her lips twisted into a smile, her hand fell limp to the ground. All the vitality had been drained from her body, and her heart was likewise ashen. Her soul finally split and cracked; her truesoul burst in a cloud of starlight and dissipated in the air.

The paper figure reached out and caught the remnant fragments of her soul.

It retrieved a coffin and placed her corpse within, then secured the coffin. With a wave, it caused all the paper snakes in the vicinity to disappear as well.

The paper figure flickered and transformed into an unfamiliar female Immortal. It flew back toward the periphery of the desert and found Tang.

"Pestilence Sage, why are you still here? Lead the black skeleton away!" the paper figure called out.

"It's you!" Tang recognized the figure as Cui Haitang's close confidante. Hiding a bit of his surprise, he explained, "The black skeleton won't listen to me at all. Only Her Majesty's voice or aura can awaken it. Only then can I suppress it and command it with the left division leader's token. I can't do anything as is!"

"I'll awaken it. Focus on suppressing it, and then we'll leave immediately!" the paper figure instructed.

"You'll awaken it?" Tang seemed a little incredulous.

Only Cui Haitang had been able to awaken the black skeleton before; no one else could.