A Nine-Tailed Fox Appears Between Her Brows-Do You Think You Can Break Off This Engagement?

After a brief, deathly silence,

the plaza before Pope Palace erupted like a pot of boiling water.

"Did I hear that right? Someone just proposed to Her Highness the Holy Maiden?"

"What Taixu Temple Master? Ancient Celestial Master? Some old monster who's lived for hundreds of years?"

"You idiot, that aura just now... That was the power of the Heavenly Dao! How many people across the entire continent have you heard of who could stir the Heavenly Dao?"

"Good heavens, eighteen betrothal gifts! The heavens and earth as witnesses! This spectacle's even more outrageous than the Divine Realm descending!"

Whispers quickly spread into a clamor, sweeping from the center of the plaza to every street and alley in Spirit City.

Some were so shocked they couldn't form a complete sentence. Others slapped their thighs in excitement, while still more stared at one another, disbelief written all over their faces.

The Spirit Hall attendants were in utter disarray. They tried to maintain order while sneaking glances up at the Purple Gold Scroll floating above Her Highness the Holy Maiden.

Its light was warm and gentle, enveloping Hu Liena, yet everyone present felt they were witnessing an event momentous enough to be recorded in the annals of the continent.

And at the center of it all—

Hu Liena finally came to her senses.

Or, more accurately, the rush of blood to her head had burned her out of her stupor.

Her ears burned hot, and her cheeks reddened at a visible pace, the flush spreading from her neck to her forehead.

But it wasn't embarrassment.

It was anger—pure anger, untainted by any other emotion.

"Ridiculous!"

Hu Liena jerked her head up and pointed at the Marriage Contract glowing purple and gold above her. Her voice rang so sharply it nearly split the air.

The discussion in the plaza cut off at once.

Every gaze snapped toward her.

"What ancient pact? What do you mean, the heavens and earth as witnesses?"

Hu Liena's chest heaved, her teeth clenched so hard they ground together.

"I, Hu Liena, am the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall! I'm the future empress of the Spirit Hall Empire!"

She spoke each word slowly, each one landing like a stone.

"My fate has always been mine alone to control!"

The plaza fell utterly silent.

Someone in the crowd drew a sharp breath. Was Her Highness the Holy Maiden about to publicly reject the mighty figure who had stirred the Heavenly Dao?

"A complete stranger whose origins are unknown!"

There was not the slightest trace of hesitation in Hu Liena's voice. Instead, it only grew louder.

"What gives him the right to use a marriage contract to decide my entire life?"

Her hand trembled—not from fear, but because her fury had reached its peak.

From childhood, her life had been a road laid out with painstaking care: Bibi Dong's disciple, the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, the future ruler of the empire.

She had fought for every step with her blood and sweat. She had made every choice herself.

And now, a stranger she had never even met, and a Marriage Contract that had descended from the heavens, wanted to make her someone else's appendage?

Dream on.

Bibi Dong stood to one side, without a word.

Her nails dug deep into her palm, while the Rakshasa Martial Soul trembled wildly within her.

The Dao Qi emanating from the Marriage Contract was eroding her divine power in an extremely subtle manner. Every strand of purple-gold light that fell upon her made the power of Rakshasa instinctively recoil.

The sensation sent a chill down her spine.

She was on the verge of godhood, a woman who stood at the top of the Douluo Continent's food chain.

Yet now, facing the remnant Dao Qi of this Marriage Contract, she felt... fear, from the depths of her soul.

What level of existence was her opponent?

"Nana!"

Xie Yue hurried to Hu Liena's side, grabbed her arm, and lowered his voice.

"Don't act rashly."

His palm was drenched in cold sweat. The pressure from before had faded, but the fear carved into the depths of his Divine Soul had not yet fully receded.

It was an instinctive reaction that arose in the face of absolute power, with nothing to do with courage or strength.

"The power of this Marriage Contract is too strange,"

Xie Yue whispered, so quietly that only Hu Liena could hear.

"Anyone who can stir the power of the Heavenly Dao is far beyond the limits of our understanding. Don't rush. Let's watch what happens first—"

Hu Liena flung his hand away.

"Watch?"

She turned to her brother, her eyes brimming with defiance.

"And what then? Just because he's powerful, does he have the right to force me?"

Xie Yue opened his mouth, but couldn't manage a single word.

Because his sister was right.

"My life,"

Hu Liena turned back to the floating Marriage Contract.

"has never been something anyone could toy with as they pleased."

Before her words had even faded, she raised her hand.

Soul Power gathered in her palm, and her third Soul Ring blazed to life—a deep purple ring, unleashing the pressure of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.

"Fox Fire Prairie Fire!"

Roaring purple foxfire surged from her palm. It burned so hot that the air within several meters visibly warped.

Carrying all of Hu Liena's fury and defiance, the flames swept toward the Purple Gold Marriage Contract above her!

The plaza erupted into an uproar.

"Her Highness the Holy Maiden's gone mad! She's trying to burn the Marriage Contract?!"

"But that's something condensed from the power of the Heavenly Dao—"

They never finished.

The instant the purple foxfire touched the Marriage Contract, the Celestial Master Dao Patterns dormant across the scroll blazed to life.

One ring, two rings, three rings... Countless ancient runes activated at once. Golden light flared, devouring every last flame of purple foxfire.

It wasn't extinguishing them.

It was devouring them.

The foxfire that embodied the full force of Hu Liena's attack was absorbed without a trace by the Dao Patterns on the Marriage Contract. The purple-gold light even grew three shades brighter.

"Mm—!"

A gentle force welled up from the Marriage Contract and lightly settled over Hu Liena.

Light, yet impossible to resist.

Hu Liena was flung backward. Her feet carved two deep grooves in the ground, and she stumbled back seven or eight paces before regaining her balance.

The fox ears she usually kept hidden in her hair sprang out against her will, drooping limply.

Inside her body, the Demon Fox Martial Soul sent a stab of intense pain through her.

Just then—

A small figure of light flew out of the Purple Gold Marriage Contract.

It was a fox, its entire body purple and gold, no bigger than a palm, with nine tails swaying gently behind it.

It moved with a lively grace, carrying a nobility and majesty beyond that of any ordinary creature.

The little fox circled Hu Liena once.

Then once more.

A third time.

Then it stopped.

Before Hu Liena could react, the tiny purple-gold figure shot straight into the space between her brows.

"Mm!"

A tingling warmth spread from between her brows throughout her body. It didn't hurt; it even carried a hint of intoxicating warmth.

Hu Liena instinctively raised a hand to her forehead. Her fingertips touched a slightly raised mark.

Xie Yue watched his sister's brow, all color draining from his face.

There, a faint purple Nine-Tailed Fox Seal was slowly appearing, its purple-gold light shimmering in and out of sight.