On the third day after her sister's wedding, Die lifted the Snake Curse Seal she had placed on Xiao Fan herself.
The red silk in Serene Water Snake Valley had yet to be taken down.
Wind swept through the long corridor, brushing the ends of the ribbons against the lanterns. The guests who had come to offer their congratulations left one after another, and the courtyard once again filled with the soft sounds of alchemy furnaces-and Zi Yan's complaints that the wedding pastries were too dry and absolutely had to be soaked in sweet soup.
Xiao Fan sat beneath the alchemy room window, making a clean copy of a prescription for Yao Yue.
After returning from the Imperial Capital, he had left the old medicine box in his disciple's alchemy room, but brought the prescription back with him. The girl had written twice to demand it. In her second letter, she had dispensed with even the courtesies, drawing only a little figure puffing with anger at the end.
Die had read that letter.
At the time, she had pointed at the little figure and laughed for ages, asking how this Tier 8 Alchemist could be even worse at drawing people than she was.
Xiao Fan had asked whether she wanted to draw one for him to send back.
She had snorted and said she certainly would not draw anything for that Little Fox Spirit.
Yet today, the small table by the window already held the medicinal herb illustrations she had drawn.
Every rootlet, every tender leaf, had been clearly labeled.
Xiao Fan finished looking them over and was about to call her inside when a familiar coolness suddenly touched his shoulder.
Beneath his robes, the snake markings belonging to Die were fading.
There was no pain.
The curse markings that