The unfulfilled marriage agreement

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Chapter 41: The unfulfilled marriage agreement

Given Ling Luochеn's temperament, she had always resisted direct physical contact with men. She was also on bad terms with Ma Xiaotao, so it seemed she had no other choice but to pick Ye Xixuan in the end.

Yet everyone could clearly sense something different in her attitude toward Ye Xixuan.

"Could Zifeng really have hit the mark? Besides the ties between their families, could Xixuan and little sister Luochen have some other secret no one knows about?" An unusual gleam flickered in Gongyang Mo's peach-blossom eyes. He propped his chin on his hand with an alluring gesture, looking back and forth between Ye Xixuan and Ling Luochеn.

And the nature of that secret did not seem difficult to guess. Most likely, it had something to do with a marriage alliance between their families.

Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan widened their eyes in astonishment. They simply could not imagine Ling Luochеn voluntarily saying something like that.

Their families might be close, but surely that alone could not account for such a drastic change in Ling Luochеn.

Yao Haoxuan, in particular, felt utterly numb. The last fantasy lingering in his heart seemed to shatter in an instant, and he lowered his head again, his gaze dimming.

Although Ye Xixuan was somewhat puzzled by Ling Luochеn's special treatment of him, he readily nodded in agreement, both because of their families' longstanding ties and because she had kindly offered to carry him earlier.

His unusual childhood experiences had shaped this aspect of his character. Whenever someone treated him well, he remembered it and sincerely returned their kindness.

"Senior Ling, I'll carry you, then."

"Mm." Still wearing that indifferent expression, Ling Luochеn nodded lightly in response, betraying nothing of her thoughts.

Even Dai Yueheng, who had not paid much attention before, could not help giving Ling Luochеn a strange look.

A faint curve appeared at the corner of Ma Xiaotao's lips, and she smacked them with an unreadable expression.

"Since everyone's paired up, let's get moving. We'll rest once we're deeper inside the Star Luo Empire." As she spoke, she released her evil fire phoenix martial soul. Her third soul skill, Phoenix Wings Soaring, activated, and a dazzling pair of flaming wings unfurled behind her.

With one powerful beat, she rose into the air. The scorching heat seemed to warp the space around her.

Xixi pushed off with her toes, and her petite body slipped into Ma Xiaotao's arms.

Ma Xiaotao supported Xixi with both arms. The sight of her looking every inch the dominant partner instantly made Gongyang Mo's eyes light up.

"That's our little sister Xiaotao for you. Far more assertive than any of you men."

"Never mind how assertive we are. Cut the chatter and release your martial soul."

Hearing Gongyang Mo's remark, Chen Zifeng was already beginning to regret his choice and urged him on irritably. As for Yao Haoxuan, the moment Ling Luochеn asked Ye Xixuan to carry her, he had felt as though he had lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

Gongyang Mo sighed plaintively, but he did not drag his feet. A broad pair of wings likewise appeared behind him, their feathers displaying all seven colors of the rainbow. They ranged from red at his back to violet at the wingtips. Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet shone with crystalline clarity, creating a spectacle that rivaled, if not surpassed, Ma Xiaotao's phoenix wings.

Gongyang Mo's long hair had also taken on the same seven colors. His legs thickened, rainbow-colored scales grew along his calves and ankles, and his feet transformed into something resembling dragon claws.

Though they could be called dragon claws, they lacked the domineering might of Bei Bei's radiant sacred dragon claws. Instead, they looked more like the talons of an avian soul beast, slender and powerful.

Amid Chen Zifeng's and Yao Haoxuan's startled cries, Gongyang Mo bent forward and lunged. Like an avian soul beast seizing its prey, he caught each of them by the shoulders with his talons and soared upward, catching up with Ma Xiaotao and Xixi ahead.

Yao Haoxuan curled his scrawny body up a little more and addressed his fellow sufferer, Chen Zifeng, with a miserable expression. "Why do I feel even less safe being carried by Gongyang Mo than using a flying soul tool? Once we get back to the academy, I'd better properly learn how to use one."

"Count me in." By now, Chen Zifeng was no longer as resistant to soul tools as before. Whether a flying soul tool was safe or not, at least his life would still be in his own hands.

Dai Yueheng followed close behind. Before rising into the air with his flying soul tool, he gave Ye Xixuan a friendly reminder.

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"Xixuan, hurry and catch up with us."

"Yes, Senior Dai." Ye Xixuan agreed easily enough, but when he actually faced Ling Luochеn, he found himself in a quandary.

He wondered whether, given their current relationship, holding her the way Ma Xiaotao held Xixi might be a little inappropriate.

Just then, Ling Luochеn spoke again, delivering another startling statement with the same expressionless face.

"Hold me."

"Oh, right." Coming to his senses, Ye Xixuan responded instinctively. Looking into Ling Luochеn's ice-blue eyes, as cold and fathomless as ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, he hurriedly scooped her up around the waist. His Fallen Wings condensed behind him, shimmering with black-violet light and etched with numerous obscure, intricate patterns.

These were the core arrays that compressed and discharged soul power in a Class 4 flying soul tool. By imprinting them on his Fallen Wings with his first soul skill, Condensed Shadow, he effectively gave his flight speed the boost of a Class 4 flying soul tool.

Holding Ling Luochеn in his arms, Ye Xixuan came from behind to take the lead. He soon overtook Gongyang Mo and Dai Yueheng, pursuing Ma Xiaotao, whose cultivation had reached the Soul Emperor level.

His Fallen Wings lacked the breathtaking beauty of Gongyang Mo's rainbow dragon martial soul wings and the dazzling brilliance of Ma Xiaotao's phoenix wings. Yet their restrained, uncanny allure conveyed a profound depth that was impossible to fathom.

Each feather on the Fallen Wings seemed to have been carved from obsidian, every detail of its texture resembling a flawless work of art.

Ling Luochеn wrapped her fair arms around Ye Xixuan's neck. Her long black hair, interspersed with a few deep-blue strands, fluttered in the wind. The silky strands happened to obscure Ye Xixuan's view, so he did not see the touch of warmth that entered her icy eyes, like melting snow and ice.

The Ling Family was a soul master clan with a long heritage. Among its younger generation, she and her brother, who was six years younger, possessed the greatest talent. Their family had placed boundless hopes in the siblings.

Ling Luochеn's distant gaze seemed to drift back to four years earlier.

That year, she had been thirteen.

Lingbo City was shrouded in ice and snow all year round. Its proximity to the Ice Sea in the Far North meant that moist air softened the snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

Not long before, her younger brother had been taken to the Far North by the family elders to hunt soul beasts. Meanwhile, in her own courtyard, she learned of another piece of momentous good news for the family.

The Night Family of Heavenly Spirit City, which had been close to their Ling Family for generations, had produced a genius of its direct lineage with innate full soul power.

That was the news the other members of the Ling Family had officially received. But Ling Luochеn heard a different version from her grandfather, the family head.

A mutated martial soul with innate full soul power and the ultimate dark attribute. Moreover, the two families had already verbally agreed to arrange a marriage between them.

Looking up at the crystalline snowflakes, Ling Luochеn's clear eyes reflected their graceful dance. She felt no resistance to the arrangement. Having enjoyed the family's resources since childhood, it was only right that she give something back.

Although she had only met that little fellow, seven years her junior, once a few years earlier, she had already accepted this outcome in her heart.

But calamity struck that very day.

For no apparent reason, the Night Family suffered the slaughter of its entire household. Her younger brother also encountered an exceptionally powerful soul beast during his hunt and lost his life in the Far North.

(End of chapter)