From hell abyss, the princess emerges

In the Great Dragon Dynasty, on the day of the Ghost Festival, the mansion of the Minister of Revenue was adorned with crimson silk hangings and bright red lanterns hanging in rows, as if the household were celebrating a grand wedding. The woman's piercing screams clashed harshly with the festive atmosphere that pervaded the mansion both within and without. "Release me! Let me go—" The woman clad in vermillion wedding robes was pressed down into a coffin, wooden spikes as thick as two fingers piercing through her palms, nailing her fast within the casket. Her agonized cries sent chills down the spine, her entire body convulsing in torment. "Why... why..." The woman's eyes blazed crimson as she lay within the coffin, gazing up at the circle of familiar yet utterly cold faces surrounding her. A woman dressed in water-red wedding attire approached the coffin's edge, looking down upon her with disdain. Since ancient times, in marriage ceremonies, the principal wife wore vermillion red while concubines wore water red. Crystal gazed down at the figure in the coffin, her lips curling in mockery: "Why? Your mother was an adulteress. If not for your birth chart being sufficiently inauspicious to serve father's purposes, do you think he would have raised a bastard like you all these years, allowing you to occupy the position of legitimate eldest daughter?" "Ha! Now that you're to be wed, father makes me serve as your dowry companion!" Crystal 's face twisted with venomous resentment. "Why should I sacrifice my reputation for a bastard like you!" Lotus struggled in agony, her face filled with disbelief: "No! Father would never treat me thus... I don't believe it, I won't believe it..." Crystal looked upon that hauntingly beautiful face and sneered, her voice dripping with malicious glee: "Fool, these coffin nails were specially forged by a Taoist master at our father's request. Combined with your birth chart, once you're nailed to death, you'll become a living malevolent spirit capable of attracting countless vengeful ghosts. Then we'll send you to Prince Yan's mansion, heh heh heh..." "Father wishes to eliminate Prince Yanmo for the Crown Prince's sake. Raising such a bastard like you for over ten years—this is called making the best use of resources." Lotus' face turned deathly pale as she screamed in despair: "No! You cannot treat me this way! Even if I die, Lotus, you will meet no good end!" "My dear sister, you needn't be concerned about that." She raised the wooden spike in her hand high and drove it viciously into Lotus' chest, her malice transforming into triumph. "His Highness the Crown Prince personally promised that if I help him eliminate Prince Yan, this thorn in his side, he will grant me the position of secondary consort." "After your death, my mother will be elevated to principal wife, and I shall be the rightful legitimate daughter, ha ha ha ha!" Crystal withdrew the spike, droplets of blood spattering her face. She watched as the woman in the coffin's body convulsed, blood gushing from the wound in her chest, crimson staining the coffin until the figure ceased trembling and her eyes lost all focus. Crystal sneered and wiped the blood from her face, her eyes bright with excitement. A female Taoist disguised as a maidservant spoke up: "Second Miss, keep this spike stained with her heart's blood. When you marry into the prince's mansion and the appointed hour arrives, I shall help you burn this spike, ensuring that none in Prince Yan's mansion shall survive!" Crystal nodded repeatedly, signaling to those around her: "Seal the coffin!" The coffin lid fell with a thud, and a large red character for "joy" was pasted upon the wooden surface. Outside, the wedding attendant sang out that the auspicious hour had arrived, the sound of suona horns shaking the heavens as the ebony coffin was carried out amid the joyous music. Behind the coffin followed a bridal sedan chair, with Crystal seated within, her face radiant with satisfaction. The bluestone road gleamed with an eerie light on the night of the Ghost Festival, and the scattered pedestrians who spotted the wedding procession hurriedly pressed themselves against the walls to avoid it. The sound of suona horns mingled with the ashes of burning paper money swirling in the air, while the red silk-wrapped coffin bore a crooked character for "double happiness," glowing with an unsettling pallor beneath the flickering lanterns. "Ill fortune! Mixing joyous and mourning rites—which deity are they seeking to offend?" An old woman clutched her grandson's hand and hurried away, her clouded eyes fixed upon the sturdy men carrying the coffin in the procession. Those men's temple veins bulged with strain, their labored breathing mixed with unease—the coffin grew heavier with each step, though yesterday it had been light as a feather. At the hour of midnight when the gates of hell stood wide open, the veil between the realms of yin and yang was thin as cicada wings. Within the coffin, the young woman's eyes remained wide open, congealed blood winding along her seven orifices, her blood-soaked wedding robes clinging to her corpse. Her resentment condensed into black mist, seeping through the coffin's seams in wisps and tendrils, stirring the ghostly shadows lurking in the darkness. "Why has the wind suddenly risen?" Old Li the sedan bearer shivered, his carrying pole suddenly lurching downward. He wiped away cold sweat, only to glimpse a drop of dark red blood seeping from the coffin's cracks. Just as it was about to fall, the entire procession suddenly froze in place. Bone-chilling cold crept up from the soles of their feet, and the crowd found themselves rooted to the spot, unable to move. Only the north wind howled, carrying snowflakes from nowhere to strike their faces. When the chill receded slightly, a red-robed woman appeared before them, her bare feet treading upon the snow, carrying a flickering white lantern in her hand. "The Hell Judge arrives—wandering souls and wild spirits, withdraw!" Her ethereal voice sent the ghostly creatures shrieking as they scattered in all directions. The red-robed woman cast her gaze downward at the coffin, her obsidian pupils gleaming with spectral light: "An extremely cursed body, a wrongful death, a living malevolent spirit... Is it you who summons me?" The vengeful spirit floating from the coffin wailed like a night owl, its riddled soul streaming tears of blood: "I am filled with such hatred! They forced poison wine down my throat and locked me in this coffin... I want them to pay blood for blood!" The red-robed woman toyed with a vermillion brush that had suddenly appeared in her hand, its tip bearing a drop of crimson: "Trade your mortal flesh for my services, and I shall collect your debts. How say you?" Though her manner seemed casual, Lotus instinctively retreated—the pressure emanating from that brush was more terrifying than the King judge of Hell. "I am willing! I would trade my soul's complete destruction for their terrible deaths!" In the midst of her piercing shrieks, the vengeful spirit, wrapped in black mist, merged into the vermillion brush. The red-robed woman laughed softly, transforming into blue smoke that entered the coffin, leaving only frosted flowers that gradually melted away upon the ground.