High in the sky, that hazy mirror-like object still hung motionless in its original position, completely still. But within the mirror's surface, five-colored light flickered, and hazy images swirled through it in rapid succession.
If one stared closely, those images were like the moon reflected in a well or shadows on the water — impossible to make out clearly at all.
And above the demonic miasma, those Gold-Devouring Insects continued devouring one another as though no one else existed.
After such a long stretch of time, the entire swarm had been reduced to only a few hundred, and the scene had become one of the candidate insect kings slaughtering the remaining ordinary Gold-Devouring Insects.
Though the ordinary Gold-Devouring Insects fought back with the same savage ferocity, they were clearly no match for the candidate insect kings and were swallowed up one after another.
Before long, even these candidate insect kings were covered in wounds.
Thus, time trickled by, moment by moment.
After an unknowable period, all the remaining ordinary Gold-Devouring Insects in the sky had finally been devoured completely, leaving only those battered and scarred candidate insect kings.
The instant the last ordinary Gold-Devouring Insect was consumed, the candidate insect kings leaped apart from one another in the air. After resting briefly, they fixed their vicious gazes on the others of their kind nearby.
When hostile buzzing filled the air once more, the candidate insect kings beat their wings and launched themselves forward without the slightest hesitation, clashing in pairs once again.
This round of fighting was visibly more savage than before.
Amid the shrill, anguished buzzing, torn wings and severed limbs tumbled from the sky from time to time.
Some candidate insect kings sprayed thin threads of golden light from their mouths during the struggle, while others rapidly expanded or contracted their bodies, desperately employing every mystical ability they possessed to swallow their opponents whole, leaving nothing behind.
However, the gap in strength among the candidate insect kings was not particularly large, and deciding a true life-or-death outcome among them was clearly not something that could be accomplished in a short time. It would take a prolonged slaughter before a victor could hope to emerge.
At the same moment, in another space, Han Li was surrounded by a crowd of male and female villagers, grinning with an honest, simple smile as they pushed him into a room decorated wall-to-wall with strips of bright red cloth.
After a round of cheerful, teasing blessings — "May you have a son soon!" "Growing old together!" — the villagers all filed out with knowing smiles and hastily shut the brand-new door, still carrying a faint scent of fresh wood, from the outside.
In the blink of an eye, in the new bridal chamber barely several meters across, only two figures remained: Han Li, draped in red silk, and a delicate, petite figure seated on the lacquered red wooden bed, her face hidden beneath a red veil.
Han Li scratched the back of his head, somewhat at a loss. After waiting for quite a while, his cheeks slightly flushed, he slowly approached the bed.
He had never actually seen this bride from the neighboring village before. He had only caught scattered mentions of her from Aunt Liu Er, the village matchmaker.
The girl was apparently extremely clever with her hands and temperament, and seemed the type who would bear children easily — otherwise his parents would not have taken an immediate liking to her and gone so far as to offer a large pig and three lambs as bride-price just to obtain her birth chart. Within barely half a month they had organized this wedding banquet, rare for the village, and brought her home as his wife so quickly.
"But what was my wife's childhood name again? Qingmei, Chunwan, or Xiaoling…?"
Han Li suddenly felt a moment of bewilderment. The bride's childhood name, which he had been so sure of just moments ago, suddenly became vague and blurred. All three names felt somehow familiar, yet not quite right.
But none of that mattered. The petite woman before him was already his wife, and before long she would bear two or three children — perhaps even more — just like his elder brother's wife. Then, just as his own parents had done, he and she would watch those children grow up little by little, one by one founding their own families…
Han Li was already standing at the bedside, his expression somewhat dazed, yet he also found it strange — why had all these random, tangled thoughts suddenly flooded into his mind? They weren't what everyone else in the village had joked he should be thinking about at all. He was supposed to be focused entirely on what he had looked forward to for so long.
Han Li unconsciously let out a breath, finally mustering a bit of courage. He moved forward and grabbed the red veil in one swift motion.
The petite figure beneath the veil trembled slightly, her waist shifting involuntarily, as though she too felt a touch of unease.
Han Li felt his mouth go a little dry, but mustering his resolve, his fingers tightened and he pulled the veil away in a flustered tug.
A face — not especially fair, but passably pretty — appeared before his eyes with a hint of shyness.
Han Li grinned foolishly, thoroughly satisfied. He tossed the veil aside unconsciously and was about to murmur something to the woman before him when, without warning, a cold sensation surged from his dantian. A burst of icy chill rushed upward, spun rapidly through his head several times, and then detonated with a muffled boom. A flood of memories — memories that had been sealed away — surged forth in a torrent.
Han Li's face still wore a smile, but his expression froze as though carved in stone, utterly unmoving.
The woman before him seemed to find this strange. She rose from the bed and dipped her head in a gentle bow, softly calling out:
"Husband."