Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 273: Drunken Desire

But the slap in the face came soon.

When he got closer, he found that the magnificent and splendid pavilions and towers, which looked like a fairy palace, were not yet completed. Tens of thousands of half-naked, skinny laborers, with whip marks and wounds all over their bodies, carried heavy boulders and wood from the mountains dozens of miles away, carried them on their shoulders and hands, and transported them to the city to build more luxurious pavilions and towers.

They staggered, their clothes soaked with sweat, and every step seemed to use up all their strength. If they moved a little slower, they would be beaten mercilessly with whips and sticks by the supervisors.

From time to time, laborers fell to the ground due to hunger and exhaustion. Immediately, a monster that looked like an eagle, had horns on its head and cried like a baby would fly down from the high palace, pick up the corpse and bring it back to its nest to enjoy.

"That's the Gu Diao, an ancient beast that eats people." Nangong said softly, "The monsters in Dreamland are basically from ancient times."

Ren Yuan nodded, and from what he saw, that was indeed the case.

The three of them walked along the river towards the largest and most luxurious "Fairy Palace".

Then I saw countless handsome men and beautiful women lying or sitting by the river, all wearing the emperor's new clothes, with crazy smiles on their faces and eyes full of intoxicated flames.

They enjoyed themselves there, sweating profusely while exercising. When they were thirsty and tired, they lay down by the river and greedily licked the wine. The wine flowed down their mouths and necks, making them look more like animals than humans...

On the high balcony, Princess Yongxing, wearing a glittering long dress, lazily leaned on a couch made by several handsome men, admiring the naked party on the riverside while enjoying the service of a group of handsome men.

They crawled naked at the princess' feet, and like puppies, they vied with each other to fawn on Xiao Yuyao and to fight for the fruit cores that the princess spat out and the wine that was poured on the ground.

"There are a few lazy ones." Xiao Yuyao pointed with his long scarlet nails at a few men and women who were fishing in the crowd by the river.

"Catch them!" The handsome man next to the princess immediately shouted loudly.

Soldiers immediately dragged out the young men and women and tied them to a huge wheel with spikes. The blue ox, which made baby-like noises, pulled the cart. The wheel slowly turned, and the sharp iron spikes pierced the bodies of the young men and women, crushing them alive into meat patties. Their blood flowed into the river and mixed with the honey wine...

Princess Yongxing on the high platform finally smiled. "That's interesting."

"A few more!" the handsome men on the side shouted flatteringly.

Then several more poor men and women were tied to the wheels.

~~
This scene made Princess Yongkang very angry. She frowned and said, "Why is there so much chaos in my eldest sister's dream?"

"She is the dreamer of this 'drunken and voluptuous dream'." Nangong said softly: "Everything is conceived according to her wishes. This is the projection of her desires and the outlet of her emotions."

"You are also a princess, why don't you become a dream master?" Ren Yuan asked Xiao Yuhuan in a low voice.

"How would I know? Maybe I'm not perverted enough?" Xiao Yuhuan said unhappily.

"That should be it." Nangong nodded. "We have explored dozens of dreams, and the dream masters are all cruel and perverted. The dreams also magnify their destructive power several times. So we can infer that the big dream master wants people to have nightmares in their dreams, and the scarier the better."

"What is the purpose?" Ren Yuan asked.

"The secret should be on that suspended island," Nangong replied softly, "In addition to nightmare beasts, we also found a large number of Birches that feed on nightmares. But such a large-scale operation cannot be just for the purpose of feeding Birches. They may be collecting these nightmares for someone."

"I understand." Ren Yuan nodded, knowing that he couldn't say any more, and followed Nangong quietly into the grand palace. Inside the palace, people's experiences were even more miserable. There were men who were locked in cages for duels, and if they lost, they would be thrown into a pit full of poisonous snakes.

The men fought desperately, biting each other's necks, ears, noses, and digging out each other's eyes like wild animals, and screaming miserably. The princess watched with great interest, and from time to time she ordered her servants to throw a dagger or a stone in to make the fight more brutal.

In another courtyard, Princess Yongxing was directing her subordinates to torture the people in various perverted ways, such as piercing their nails with red-hot iron sticks, graffiti on their bodies with branding irons, and throwing them into buckets full of leeches... Watching the people twisting and screaming in pain, she had a hideous and satisfied smile on her face.

~~
Quietly exiting another palace room, Ren Yuan asked softly, "Why are there Xiao Yuyao everywhere? I remember Xiao Zhengde wasn't like this."

"As I said, the rules of dreams are set by the dreamer." Nangong said in a deep voice: "Xiao Yuyao divided his desires and memories from different periods into rooms to form this palace. So although you can see Xiao Yuyao in every room, if you look closely you will find that his age and appearance are slightly different."

"Then is the secret in her heart also hidden in this palace?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Of course." Nangong nodded affirmatively and said, "Dreams contain the deepest secrets of a person's heart." As she spoke, she cast her eyes towards the deep palace and said in a deep voice:
"So it should be hidden in the deepest part of the palace."

"What are you waiting for? Go in quickly!" Xiao Yuhuan urged.

"No one wants to be peeped into their deepest secrets, so the security inside must be tight." Nangong reminded the two: "Even with Yuan's invisibility, we must be careful. The slightest movement will be detected. The guards in the palace are not a big deal, but the key is that the dream master can find the nightmare beast, and then we will be in danger."

"I understand. We must be careful." Ren Yuan and Xiao Yuhuan nodded at the same time.

As expected, there were many guards along the way, as well as various fierce dogs and monsters. The three of them carefully avoided the guards, twisted and turned along the maze-like corridors, and finally arrived at the deepest part of the palace.

The three of them entered through a side door and saw a back garden with rockery and pavilions. However, unlike the extremely luxurious style of other places, this one seemed much more shabby.

There was a girl of about fourteen or fifteen in the pavilion. She had two buns hanging down her back, and wore a pomegranate skirt. She had a plum blossom hairpin on her forehead and red rouge on her lips. She was as beautiful as a cherry after the rain.

"That might be when my eldest sister was a child." Xiao Yuhuan whispered.

"What do you mean by maybe? Don't you know your own sister?" Ren Yuan asked softly.

"Looking at her age now, it must have been thirty years ago. I wasn't even born then." Xiao Yuhuan emphasized unconsciously.

"What is she doing? She looks like she's waiting for someone." Ren Yuan looked at Xiao Yuyao, who was pacing back and forth in the pavilion, eagerly waiting.

"Waiting for my lover." Nangong whispered, "She put on makeup that doesn't suit her age. Women dress up to please themselves."

"She started dating so early?" Ren Yuan exclaimed.

"I don't know who deserves to die!" Xiao Yuhuan said hatefully.

"Anyway, he's not your brother-in-law..." Ren Yuan muttered softly, speaking up for Prince Consort Yin.

"Shh, someone is coming." Nangong said softly at this time, and the two of them hurriedly held their breath and concentrated.

Then a tall, handsome man walked up the stairs into the pavilion.

When they saw the man's appearance clearly, the three of them almost popped their eyes out, because the handsome guy with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes was clearly Xiao Hong from thirty years ago!
(End of this chapter)