Talismans

The towering red sandalwood doors stood wide open, revealing a space beyond as vast as an imperial palace hall.

Everything within the hall was dominated by three colors: inky black, vermilion red, and dark gold. The four dark-gold wooden pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling were carved and painted in lavish detail. Wisps of incense rose from bronze burners, guiding visitors' eyes toward the Nine Dragons Devouring Heaven mural coiled across the ceiling.

Looking up, one felt solemnity without any loss of majesty.

With just one glance, Su Jinxuan subconsciously shrank back, her beautiful eyes turning toward the figure behind her in a plea for help.

Bai Muxi decisively looked away.

You're the one I'm setting up.

"..." Su Jinxuan.

Slowly straightening from her forward-leaning posture, Su Jinxuan instinctively swept her gaze around the room.

She thought that woman surnamed Ran must have complained to the young master. Otherwise, how would he know the two of them had come?

Yet within her field of vision, that woman was seated cross-legged on a cushion before the large bed, cultivating with her eyes closed, showing no intention of opening them.

And the young master...

A curtain of beads hanging from the dome obscured outsiders' sight, rendering the man reclining on the black lotus soft-jade bed at the center of the hall only faintly visible.

The young master had not slept with Ran Qingmo.

Clatter—

The long-haired man within the bedchamber slowly rose, parting the bead curtain as he stepped out. In his hand was a palm-sized wooden plaque, seemingly formed from the Black Death Fungal Mat.

Only the man's footsteps echoed through the empty hall.

After arriving at the low long table and sitting down, Xu Yuan simply tied back his long hair. He picked up the teapot and porcelain cups from the