Late at night, Hu Liena sat by the window in her bedchamber.
One leg was drawn up against her chest, her chin resting on her knee. Moonlight spilled through the half-open window and fell across her profile.
Her fingers lifted unconsciously, reaching for the space between her brows.
The faint purple Nine-Tailed Fox Seal was still there, slightly warm, carrying a steady, persistent heat.
That day's scene rose in her mind once more.
Purple-gold light poured down from a crack in the void, and a grand, soul-crushing Buddhist chant reverberated between heaven and earth—
"By the ancient Green Hill Covenant, with the Heavenly Dao as matchmaker and the Fox Clan as witness, I choose Hu Liena, Saintess of Spirit Hall, as my Dao Companion."
Hu Liena remembered her first reaction.
It wasn't shock or fear. It was pure, utterly unreasonable anger.
She charged forward and used her third Soul Skill, trying to burn the Marriage Contract to ashes.
Instead, the foxfire was swallowed whole by the Dao patterns, and she was flung backward. Her fox ears sprang out against her will and drooped, making a fool of her in front of thousands of people.
At that moment, she'd never felt so humiliated in her life.
Bibi Dong's words still rang in her ears: "Whether you want it or not, you're already entangled with that Shen Yichen."
When her teacher had said that, her right hand was still smoking.
All five fingers were swollen and misshapen, dark red blood seeping from beneath her nails.
Hu Liena lowered her fingers from the Fox Seal and clasped her wrist.
Three days and three nights. Her bloodline had awakened, the Demon Fox had evolved into a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, and her Soul Power had soared from level sixty-nine to level eighty-four—fifteen levels in a single leap. Nothing like it had ever happened in all of Spirit Hall's history.
Her spirit had been cleansed from top to bottom. Every trace of the evil residue she'd picked up in the Capital of Slaughter was gone, and her mental world was clearer than ever.
At the moment her bloodline awakened, every fox-type Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest had prostrated itself in worship.
All of this had been given to her by a man she'd never even met.
Hu Liena looked up at the moon outside.
The moonlight was beautiful tonight, the moon impossibly round. Its light spilled across the glazed roof tiles, reflecting a cold, pale glow.
What did he look like?
The thought surfaced, and the tips of Hu Liena's ears suddenly burned.
She reflexively raised a hand to cover the fox ears poking through her hair. The moment she did, she realized their tips were already burning hot.
A translucent pink flush spread from their tips to their roots.
Fine, let her embarrass herself. No one was watching anyway.
She simply let go of her ears and allowed herself to keep imagining.
Someone who could draw upon the power of the Heavenly Dao, offer a heaven-defying treasure like the Primordial Spirit Bead as betrothal gifts, and emerge from a century of seclusion still looking like a young man.
He probably wasn't ugly.
No—not just not ugly.
A man who could propose this way must be dressed in white like fresh snow, with an otherworldly bearing, a man who could make the world around him his own just by standing there. Hu Liena had no idea when such an image had appeared in her mind.
She hurriedly shook her head, trying to chase it away.
It was no use. The moment she banished it, it came right back.
What kind of covenant had the ancient Green Hill Fox Clan made?
The foul energy that day had condensed into an illusory Nine-Tailed Fox, then dispersed. She'd gone over the contents of the Marriage Contract again and again.
What agreement had the Celestial Master lineage made with the Green Hill Fox Clan ten thousand years ago, that even after all that time he would seek out the inheritor of the last trace of Qingqiu bloodline and come to marry her with eighteen betrothal gifts?
This wasn't a matter of picking just anyone to make do.
"He chose me."
Hu Liena murmured, her voice so soft she could barely hear it herself.
As those four syllables left her lips, a tingling warmth surged in her chest and spread through her veins to her limbs.
The Fox Seal between her brows gave a little throb.
Thump, thump, thump.
A knock at the door.
Hu Liena sprang up, all six of her fox tails shooting straight up as her ears swiveled toward the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me."
Xie Yue's voice came from outside, muffled and drowsy.
Hu Liena relaxed. She gathered her tousled hair and tucked the burning tips of her ears beneath it.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Xie Yue walked in holding a celadon bowl. White soup steamed inside it, sending up the fragrant scent of lotus seeds.
He glanced at the windowsill, then at Hu Liena's face.
"Why are you still awake this late?"
"I can't sleep."
Xie Yue didn't press her. He handed her the bowl.
"Lotus seed soup. It'll help you sleep. The imperial kitchen closed ages ago, so I made it myself. The cooking time might be a little off, but make do."
Hu Liena took the bowl and lowered her head to sip.
It was sweet.
The lotus seeds had been cooked until they were soft enough to melt in her mouth. The fragrance of red dates mingled with the gentle sweetness of rock sugar, spreading across her palate.
The cooking time was a little off?
He'd clearly stood over the stove and watched it for ages.
Hu Liena took another sip and held the bowl without saying anything.
Xie Yue sat in the chair opposite her, crossed one leg over the other, and rested an arm along the backrest.
The moonlight fell on his face, revealing the heavy shadows beneath his eyes. He'd kept watch for three days and nights and hadn't caught up on sleep afterward.
They sat in silence for a while.
Xie Yue spoke first.
"Nana."
"Mm?"
"Do you still—"
He paused, considering his words.
"Still hate that Shen Yichen?"
Hu Liena's hands stopped around the bowl.
She wanted to say yes. Instinctively, reflexively, she wanted to say she hated him. But when the word reached her lips, she couldn't bring herself to let it out.
What was there to hate?
Hate that he'd forced a Marriage Contract on her? That he'd domineeringly pinned her life in place with a Purple Gold Scroll?
But he'd also given her an awakened bloodline, a Martial Soul Evolution that had remade her from the inside out, and a leap of fifteen levels in Soul Power.
Every effect of the Primordial Spirit Bead had matched her needs perfectly.
It hadn't been a casual handout. He'd put thought into it.
"I don't hate him anymore."
The moment she said it, Hu Liena's face began to burn.
She hurriedly lowered her head and took a large gulp of lotus seed soup, using the rim of the bowl to hide half her face.
"He really was domineering. He settled the marriage without even giving me a warning. Anyone would have blown their top over that."
She stared at the lotus seeds left in the bowl, her voice growing quieter.
"But he didn't hurt me. From beginning to end, everything he's done has been to help me."
Xie Yue tilted his head as he studied her.
In the moonlight, his sister's cheeks were faintly flushed, and the tips of her ears poked out from her hair. There was no hiding that pink.
Xie Yue's mouth twitched.
"You've been distracted these past few days."
He drawled, deliberately dragging out his words:
"Could it be you're thinking about that Shen Yichen?"
"Brother!"
Hu Liena looked up and glared at him, her eyes saying, "Try saying one more word."
But the blush had spread from her cheeks all the way down to her neck.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
She turned her face away, speaking noticeably faster.
"I'm just curious. That's all. I don't even know what he looks like. How could I possibly be thinking about him?"
Though Hu Liena said this, her eyes betrayed her.
As she gazed at the bright moonlight outside, a hint of anticipation rose in her heart. She hoped that the mysterious Celestial Master would come to Spirit City soon, so she could meet him.
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