Qiguan Yuan stepped barefoot on the floor, picked up the red robe draped over the back of the chair, put it on, and fastened the belt.
His fingers paused on his belt for a moment, then he looked down at the knot around his waist, not entirely satisfied, but there was no time to re-tie it.
He walked to the window and opened it.
The night breeze blew in, carrying the scent of water from the terraced fields, mixed with the smell of earth and grass. He stretched his hand out the window, fingertips pointing upwards, and beckoned slightly.
The red thread on his wrist moved, like a snake awakened from its reverie, slithering away from his skin and coiling around his outstretched finger, spiraling upwards until it reached the fingertip and stopped.
One end of the red line sticks up and sways gently in the air.
Qiguan Yuan withdrew his hand and closed the window. He turned around and glanced at Pei Yubai on the bed. Pei Yubai was still asleep, in the same position.
Qiguan Yuan withdrew his gaze and lightly traced a line in the air with his fingertip.
It was as if something had torn a hole in the air; the crack spread out from his hand, growing larger and larger until it took the shape of a door.
A pale golden light shone from the other side of the door, a light unlike sunlight, a light without warmth.
Qiguan Yuan stepped inside.
The door closed behind him without a sound, and even the crack disappeared.
Beneath my feet was a white jade floor, smooth and warm, where I could see my own reflection.
In the distance, the outline of a palace could be seen, with its upturned eaves and corners, hidden in the thin mist and indistinct.
Qiguan Yuan walked slowly. He walked along the jade road for a while, then vanished from the spot in an instant.
A large tree appeared in front of us.
Tree of Fate.
It is very tall.
The tree canopy spread out, almost blocking out half the sky. The branches were thick and gnarled, like countless giant dragons intertwined.
The tree was covered with red threads, densely packed, from the thickest branches to the thinnest twigs, all draped with red silk threads.
When the wind blows, the red threads all over the tree sway gently, like red rain falling backwards from the sky.
A person was standing under the tree.
Lu Zhao was looking up, his fingers flying among the dangling red threads, untangling them one by one.
He wasn't quick; he untangled one strand, and the other two became tangled again.
He sighed and untangled the two knotted threads, but before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, three more threads got tangled together.
Ugh! So annoying!
Qiguan Yuan glanced at him from a distance.
Lu Zhao was oblivious, his head bowed as he struggled with a knotted red thread, muttering something unintelligible.
Qiguan Yuan walked over.
His steps were light, making no sound on the jade ground. He walked to the Tree of Fate, stretched out his hand, and placed his palm on the trunk.
The bark was warm, like human skin. The trunk trembled slightly in his palm, as if something inside had moved.
Qiguan Yuan closed his eyes.
Lu Zhao stopped. He looked up and saw Qiguan Yuan.
"Senior? What brings you here? Has something happened?" His voice was a little tense.
Qiguan Yuan did not answer. His palm was still pressed against the tree trunk, his fingers slightly curled up.
The shaking of the Tree of Fate intensified, with all the red threads on the tree swaying, but not in the way that the wind could cause. It was a vibration that traveled from the trunk to the branches and from the branches to each and every single red thread.
The red thread slipped from Lu Zhao's fingers. He looked at Qiguan Yuan, then at the Tree of Fate, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
Something is seeping out of the tree trunk.
At first, it was a sliver of light, pale red, seeping from the cracks in the bark, like a drop of blood seeping from a tiny wound.
The light grew larger and larger, sliding off the tree bark and landing in Qiguan Yuan's palm.
He withdrew his hand from the tree trunk, cradling the pale red light in his palm.
The red light instantly merged into Qiguan Yuan's body the moment it fell.
There was no sound.
The light entered his body, Qiguan Yuan's pupils turned red in that instant.
However, it faded in an instant, turning back into that light gray.
Lu Zhao stood to the side, watching all of this.
"Senior, are you... retrieving your magic power?" His tone was somewhat uncertain.
Qiguan Yuan did not answer directly, but withdrew his hand from the tree trunk.
"Hmm, the red thread connecting Jiang Wantang and Ji Shiyu needs to be re-tied for them." He raised his hand and glanced at his wrist; the red thread was moving restlessly, as if urging him on.
Lu Zhao followed his gaze to the wire.
He recognized the thread; it Dust-Settling Red Cord.
The magical artifact that has been unique to Qiguan Yuan since birth has been wrapped around his wrist.
Don't mistake it for just a red line; its attack power is actually terrifying.
Although Qiguan Yuan is the Yue Lao, he is a god born naturally from the divine realm.
They were not comparable to the later priests.
Qiguan Yuan frowned as he looked at the messy red threads in front of him.
Then it vanished instantly.
Ugh, this looks like a headache.
Back in his room, Qiguan Yuan took out the Marriage Register.
He quickly flipped through his scribbles to the page about Ji Shiyu and Jiang Wantang.
The two names were written side by side, the handwriting so faint that it almost disappeared from the paper.
Then his eyes turned red.
At the same time, with Qiguan Yuan at the center, all time and space instantly froze.
The lines of everything in the room have changed.
From Qiguan Yuan's perspective, the whole world has become a net.
Countless lines stretched out in the air.
These are all Thread of Fate.
Qiguan Yuan raised his hand. He flicked his fingers lightly in the air, and all the lines stopped.
The Thread of Fate that stretched out from the sky no longer swayed, like river water frozen in mid-air.
He found the two threads he was looking for among those threads.
The two threads were tangled together, forming a very messy knot.
The knot was positioned slightly to the left and was thinner than the other threads. Qiguan Yuan glanced at the ball of thread, reached out, pinched the knot between his index and middle fingers, and gently twisted it.
The ball of yarn unraveled, and the two strands separated from the tangle, hanging down to the left and right respectively.
The break was right there, with a notch at each end of the two wires, and a thin thread connecting the notches, extremely thin, thinner than a hair, motionless in the frozen air.
Qiguan Yuan took the red thread off his finger and draped it over his ring finger.
The red thread swam across his fingers and wrapped around the broken ends of the two Thread of Fate.
The red thread paused briefly at the break, then slowly tightened, pulling the two broken ends together. Qiguan Yuan's fingers moved.
His movements were slow, even somewhat casual.
His fingertip traced a circle on the Thread of Fate, and the red thread followed his finger, intertwining the two threads together.
He went around in circles again, tightening the red thread even more.
He tugged on the end of the thread to make sure it was secure before letting go.
That knot was exactly the same as the one he tied on Pei Yubai's ring finger.
The two Thread of Fate were reconnected; the red thread untied from the knot and returned to Qiguan Yuan's finger, wrapping back in its original position.
The newly joined Thread of Fate showed no signs of repair; it was perfectly seamless.
Qiguan Yuan flicked his fingers again.
Time, which had been paused, began to flow again. The chirping of insects drifted in from outside the window, and the sound of water resumed, as if nothing had happened.
In fact, all of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Or rather, the time didn't actually exceed one second.
Qiguan Yuan took out the Marriage Register from his sleeve and opened it.
On the page with Ji Shiyu and Jiang Wantang, the two names became clear again.
Qiguan Yuan closed the Marriage Register.
He flipped through a few more pages; the unprocessed names were densely packed across several pages.
These are all the marriage arrangements that Lu Zhao needs to handle today.
Lu Zhao and Qiguan Yuan's Marriage Register are the same, Qiguan Yuan can also see the marriages he needs to deal with each day in his Marriage Register.
Qiguan Yuan frowned and placed the Marriage Register in the air in front of him.
The booklet hung in mid-air, turning its pages by itself, each page flitting past his eyes. Qiguan Yuan raised his hand, his fingertips tracing lines in the air.
A pale red light flew from his fingertips and disappeared into the Marriage Register.
The pages paused for a moment, then continued turning. The unprocessed names floated up from the pages, one after another, like fireflies flying out of the pages, lining up, and flying out through the crack in the window.
Each name that flew out was connected to a thin red thread, the other end of which was tied to Qiguan Yuan's finger. He waited a moment until the last name flew out as well.
Qiguan Yuan withdrew his hand and closed the window.
Those names flew away, carrying the loose threads from his fingertips, disappearing into the night.
Each one has found its proper place, its proper position; Qiguan Yuan knows this without even looking.
After doing all this, the redness in his eyes faded, and his gaze fell on Pei Yubai.
Under the Tree of Fate, Lu Zhao looked up as if sensing something and took out the Marriage Register.
Then, seeing the completed marriage arrangements above, I almost cried.
Finally, I can rest for a day.
Senior! How about you play Yue Lao again?