He Had Spent a Hundred Years in Seclusion, Untouched by Women, Yet Personally Wrote a Marriage Contract for You

Ye Lingling froze for a moment.

The instant that question hit her, she went completely still.

Then—

Her eyes lit up.

It wasn't politeness or hesitation. Excitement bubbled up from deep in her bones, impossible to hold back.

Bibi Dong set her teacup back on the armrest and tilted her head toward the Soul Masters on duty inside the hall.

"Everyone, leave."

A clatter of armor rang out.

Dozens of elite guards filed out of the hall, and the doors closed behind them.

Bibi Dong stood and took two steps toward the side hall.

"Let's talk in the reception room."

It wasn't a suggestion.

The three of them made their way to the reception room in the side hall.

The elegant little room held a pearwood tea table and four armchairs.

Someone had prepared hot tea in advance. Wisps of steam curled from the white porcelain cups.

Bibi Dong took a seat, and Hu Liena sat to her left. Ye Lingling stood opposite them.

Before Hu Liena could speak again, Ye Lingling had already lost control.

"Celestial Master..."

She clasped her hands before her chest and leaned forward slightly, admiration pouring from every pore.

"He's the most handsome person I've ever seen!"

The words burst out before Ye Lingling even realized she'd let herself get carried away.

Hu Liena's hand, holding her teacup, hung suspended in midair.

Ye Lingling's mind was full of the images from the Stone Chamber that morning, frame by frame, so clear that not a single strand of hair had escaped her notice.

"His brows are like swords, his eyes like stars, and his features are exceptionally refined. His skin is pale, but not sickly pale—it's clean, so flawless you couldn't find a single imperfection."

As she spoke, she traced the shape of her own face, running a finger along her jaw.

"His features are sharply defined, but not severe. A clear jawline, and white robes untouched by a speck of dust from collar to cuffs. His hair was tied up on top with a plain white jade hairpin, and a few loose strands fell beside his temples—"

She paused for a beat.

"He's the kind of person who can stand there, and all the light in the world gathers around him."

The room fell silent for two breaths.

Hu Liena's fingers rested against the side of her teacup without moving.

But her fingertips were burning.

Brows like swords, refined features, white robes, a jade hairpin.

The indistinct figure she had pieced together countless times beside her window at night had finally taken shape: features, contours, and loose strands of hair falling beside his temples.

Her heartbeat quickened. It surged from her chest all the way to her ears, pounding so hard they rang.

Ye Lingling continued.

"And the Celestial Master is especially gentle."

Her voice softened without her realizing it as she uttered those words.

"He always speaks softly and never loses his temper with those beneath him."

"But he also has a natural air of authority. One glance from him is enough to make even the most arrogant person behave."

"Miss Hu Liena."

Ye Lingling took a step forward.

"The Celestial Master spent a hundred years in seclusion. There was never another woman by his side."

Hu Liena lifted her head.

Ye Lingling's throat tightened slightly—the faint bitterness in her chest rose again, but she forced it down, swallowing it completely.

The Celestial Master belonged among the heavens.

Ye Lingling had no right to even dream of him.

She had made that perfectly clear to herself before coming here.

"And he never once gave anyone else a proper look."

When the words fell, the tea in the white porcelain cup on the table rippled slightly.

"Except you—he wrote the Marriage Contract himself and personally prepared eighteen betrothal gifts from heaven and earth. The Primordial Spirit Bead, the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron, the Severing Thought Sword—each one is a treasure that could make the entire continent fight to the death for it."

Ye Lingling enunciated every word clearly.

"He gave them all to you. He asked for nothing in return and set no conditions. He even said that even if you didn't marry him, he wouldn't take back a single one."

"A hundred years in seclusion, and not one person caught his eye."

"Eighteen betrothal gifts, all for you alone."

"This is an honor without precedent."

Hu Liena's entire face had turned scarlet.

The flush spread from her cheekbones down to her collarbones, burning all the way.

Two fox ears sprang up through her hair, glowing pink and trembling slightly in the steam rising from the tea.

She lowered her head.

Quickly—

She reached for her teacup and lifted it to her lips.

The lid remained on.

Her lips touched the rim, and she pretended to drink. Not a drop passed them.

But her face was hidden.

Bibi Dong sat to the side and saw the whole thing.

She tapped her fingers lightly on the table twice.

She had watched this girl grow up. For over a decade, Hu Liena had been pursued, courted, and threatened, yet she had always held herself at a cold, forbidding distance.

She had never once blushed.

Today, she was bright red, hiding behind her teacup and forgetting to take off the lid.

Bibi Dong tapped her fingers once more, then stopped.

That man named Shen Yichen had managed to fluster her disciple to this extent. Not through force or power, but with one betrothal gift after another and the words, "Even if you don't marry me, I won't take them back."

It wasn't a novel approach.

But taking it this far—Bibi Dong couldn't find a single fault with it.

Watching Hu Liena's pitiful attempt to hide behind her teacup, Ye Lingling smiled.

It wasn't mockery. It was a genuine, unfeigned smile.

The curve of her lips carried a trace of relief—the faint bitterness vanished completely the moment she saw Hu Liena like this.

The person the Celestial Master had chosen really was a good one.

"Miss Hu Liena—"

Hu Liena didn't look up. Her teacup was still raised, its lid still on.

Ye Lingling's smile widened.

"Just wait in peace for the Celestial Master to come marry you."

"Clack."

The teacup knocked against the table. She hadn't set it down—her fingers had slipped, and the bottom had struck the pearwood surface.

Hu Liena lowered her head even further. Her fox ears were so red they looked ready to drip blood, trembling incessantly among her hair.

Bibi Dong picked up her own tea and took a sip. As she set the cup down, her lips curved slightly—just a hint, and only for a moment. The person across from her couldn't even see it.

But they had indeed curved.

Silence settled over the room for a few breaths.

Ye Lingling bowed, formal and proper. When she straightened, she took something from inside her robes.

A leaf.

A withered pine needle, pressed flat, its veins clearly visible.

"This... the Celestial Master didn't ask me to bring."

Ye Lingling lowered her voice.

"I picked it myself from a pine tree behind Taixu Temple. That tree grows right outside the door to the Celestial Master's Seclusion Chamber."

She placed the pine needle on the table and nudged it toward Hu Liena.

"This leaf has been steeped in the Celestial Master's Dao aura for a hundred years."

Hu Liena's fingers loosened from her clothes.

She reached out.

The instant her fingertips touched the dried Pine Needle Leaf, an extremely faint, cool sensation seeped out from its veins.

Hu Liena's fingertips lingered on the Pine Needle Leaf without drawing back.

The coolness crept upward inch by inch from her fingertips, past her wrist and forearm, all the way into her chest.

Cool.

The exact same temperature as when the Severing Thought Sword had first touched her hand.

The coolness turned once inside her chest, then slowly faded.

Hu Liena didn't move her fingers from the Pine Needle Leaf.

Her fingertip pads rested against its withered veins, rubbing them again and again.

Her touch was light and slow, exactly as it had been when she'd rubbed the two words "Severing Thought" on the sword guard.

Bibi Dong took it all in.

The sound of the teacup returning to the table rang out especially clearly in the quiet room.

She didn't interrupt Hu Liena.

Only when the girl finally tucked the Pine Needle Leaf into her sleeve—carefully, as if she were carrying some peerless treasure—did Bibi Dong speak.