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I caressed the bluish-gray Malachite powder at my neck, the crimson mark in the copper mirror thoroughly concealed. The Linghuan Pearl trembled in my sleeve, while the firefly formed from my mother's lingering soul circled around the Liuli Residue, pushing the star chart compass's Hexagram forward by half an inch.
"Young Mistress, the celestial palanquin is ready."
A maidservant at the foot of the Xuanjade stairs held a gilded armor. I gazed at my reflection in the mirror, where my willow-shaped brows bore a resemblance to Wang Xuan's. Suddenly, I hurled the Indigo Spiral forcefully into the makeup box.
My fingertip, stained with Crimson Rouge, brushed over the surface of the Linghuan Pearl, transforming those shimmering white fragments into silver threads that entwined around my wrist, devouring all of last night's residual mysterious energy from Xuanjade.
As the clouds of the Linghuan Celestial Realm's grand event drifted over the twelve layers of eaves, I focused on the Xuanjade pendant hanging from his waist. The pendant, which should have been pure black, was now streaked with cinnabar-colored lines, reminiscent of the old wound left by Wang Xuan's phoenix feather sword when it pierced his heart years ago.
"The Leng Songxiang you burned today is indeed more refreshing than He Huan incense." I raised my hand to adjust his crane cloak, my fingertip seemingly unintentionally grazing his nape.
The birthmark that had been consumed by Malachite patterns now floated with the unique Zi Teng dark patterns of the Linghuan Celestial Gate.
Suddenly, Xuanjade grasped my wrist, and the mysterious energy shook my ear pendants, causing cracks to appear on the eastern pearl: "I experienced the heart-peering technique of the Linghuan Celestial Gate three hundred years ago."
As the gilded chariot wheels rolled over the sea of clouds, I watched the star chart patterns flickering on his garment. Those marks that should belong to Wang Xuan's Fate Pattern now overlapped with the Hexagram guided by my mother's lingering soul, forming a bizarre totem.
The Linghuan Pearl grew warm in my palm, reflecting the gradually clarifying Xuanjie barrier outside the carriage curtain—a barrier that should have been guarded by nine layers of mysterious birds but was now swirling with shadows of red serpents that Wang Xuan excelled at conjuring.
"The Second Young Master has returned!"
The servant's greeting caught in her throat as the vermilion doors burst open. Suddenly, all the Xuan Shuang flowers in the garden turned an eerie crimson.
Wang Xuan leaned against a swing set adorned with He Huan flowers, a red serpent embroidered in gold thread on her robe slithering along her snow-white ankle.
"A Yu still likes to add crane top red to her incense." She lightly tapped her dyed crimson toes on the ground, and blood-red He Huan flowers instantly bloomed on the swing ropes. "You once said this scent reminded you of my lipstick..."
The Xuanjade pendant emitted a sharp whistle as countless fireflies erupted from my wrist's Linghuan Pearl. Among those shimmering green lights appeared a snake-shaped mark on Wang Xuan's glabella, identical to the Malachite pattern that had devoured her mysterious bird birthmark last night.
"Xuan Girl must have misremembered." I stepped in front of Xuanjade, vines formed from Linghuan Celestial Techniques ensnaring her fingertip just as it was about to touch Xuanjade's garment. "Three hundred years ago, it was with crane top red poison that someone killed Elder Xuanjie—the very substitute slain by your husband."
Wang Xuan suddenly stumbled toward Xuanjade; a red serpent swiftly darted into his sleeve from her flowing robe.
In that moment when she leaned back, I caught sight of her Malachite Hairpin hidden within her cloud-like hair—the dark patterns swirling upon it were identical to those that radiated when my mother's Fate Token shattered.
"A Yu..." Her breathy lips brushed against Xuanjade's neck; an old wound that should have been sealed by the mysterious bird pendant suddenly oozed Blood Pearls.
As Xuanjade instinctively reached out to support her, a blood-stained starry scarf slipped from Wang Xuan's wide sleeves—this was what I had lost on our wedding night, soaked in my mother's lingering soul!
At that moment, the Linghuan Pearl emitted a blinding light; I saw Xuanjade's right hand resting on her waist tremble slightly. The Zi Teng dark pattern on his nape was growing wildly while Wang Xuan's Malachite Hairpin had transformed into a Soul Devouring Vine from within the forbidden grounds of Linghuan Celestial Gate.
"Young Mistress! The barrier's crack has widened again!"
The servant's scream was drowned out by a sudden thunderclap. I caught one last glimpse of Xuanjade’s panicked fingers—those fingers smeared with red serpent scales slowly aligning with Wang Xuan’s Fate Star Fragment on the star chart compass.
The Hexagram guided by the Linghuan Pearl finally completed itself; fireflies formed from my mother’s lingering soul pieced together one last prophecy before me: where the mysterious bird weeps blood, let the spirit pavilion open heaven’s gate.
The eerie crimson of Xuan Shuang flowers spread beneath Wang Xuan’s skirt; my fingertip hanging in my wide sleeves still retained some warmth from Xuanjade’s wrist.
Just moments before he flung me away, the gilded armor had cut through my palm; now Blood Pearls seeped along the silver thread patterns of Linghuan Pearl, winding and blooming small Zi Teng flowers along my hemline.
"A Yu..." Wang Xuan’s sobs sounded like honey-coated hooks; she curled up in Xuanjade’s embrace like a dying butterfly.
I stared at the Malachite Hairpin in her hair, the flickering firefly that was my mother's lingering soul swirling around the pin's tail. The Soul Devouring Vine, sealed in the forbidden grounds three hundred years ago, should not have appeared in Xuanjie.
The Xuan Bird Pendant emitted a piercing shriek, causing a ringing in my ears. His usually composed right hand was now bulging with veins, his fingertips nearly digging into Wang Xuan's cloud-patterned cloak. "Who allowed you to touch the Starry Veil?"
I bent down to pick up the fallen East Pearl, its cracked surface reflecting Wang Xuan's triumphant smile. The Spirit Pearl suddenly trembled violently in my palm, and those silver threads that had devoured the essence of the Xuan spirit began to backlash, drilling into my heart through my bloodline.
As a metallic sweetness surged in my throat, I saw Wang Xuan's left hand hidden beneath her wide sleeves forming the Sealing Soul Mark of the Spirit Realm—a forbidden technique that my mother had taught me, the third form of it.
"Are you reminiscing in the sea of Xuan Shuang flowers, husband?" I ground the blood-stained East Pearl into powder, and the Spirit Realm incantation coalesced into a Zi Teng that instantly shredded the crimson petals scattered on the ground.
The splattering juice stained the hem of Xuanjade's clothing, and those starry patterns suddenly twisted into serpentine shapes. "Mother once said that the Soul Devouring Vine loves to be tainted with the blood of the Xuan Bird."
Wang Xuan suddenly trembled violently, and the Malachite Hairpin cracked in response. The red snake scales emerging from her wrist perfectly matched the dark patterns of Zi Teng on the back of Xuanjade's neck, resembling some ancient contract totem.
As Xuanjade's essence surged uncontrollably towards Wang Xuan's heart, the Spirit Pearl finally retaliated against all that it had consumed—the myriad fireflies converged into my mother's phantom, severing that stream of spirit energy.
"A Yu no longer wants me..." Wang Xuan looked up at the spiraling star compass gone awry, tears falling onto Xuanjade's blood-stained lapels. The serpentine birthmark on her neck overlapped with the cracks of the Xuan Bird Pendant, and I finally saw those cinnabar-colored fine lines—clearly traces of the Soul Locking Curse's backlash.
Xuanjade suddenly slammed me against the Xuanjade Pillar; as my back hit the cold surface, a blinding light erupted from the Spirit Pearl, engulfing the entire flower sea.
In that dazzling haze, I saw him grasping with bare hands at the Soul Devouring Vine that had emerged from Wang Xuan's hair; an Ice Blade formed from essence cut through his palm, and under a deluge of Dark Golden Blood, the Demon Vine instantly bloomed into a unique Udumbara flower of the Spirit Realm.
"Young Mistress, be careful!"
Amidst the cries of alarm from the Immortal Attendant s, Wang Xuan's Colorrobe suddenly transformed into countless red snakes. Those serpent eyes reflected fragments of star trails, each etched with Xuanjade's Fate Pattern totem.
As the thickest poisonous snake lunged for my throat, Xuanjade’s fingertip still stained with Udumbara petals barely brushed against my ear—at that moment when the Ice Blade pierced through Shepherd's Head, a scent wafted from his sleeve that was indistinguishable from the incense pouch I had gifted him three hundred years ago.
"Get back to your Serpent's Den."
Xuanjade’s low growl shook the barrier; his fingers tightening around Wang Xuan's neck turned white as the Xuan Bird Pendant burned a charred mark on his heart. Those starry patterns that should have belonged to Wang Xuan’s Fate Pattern were now crawling up his cheek along his bloodline, revealing within my mother’s lingering firefly light a Curse Seal from forbidden techniques of the Spirit Realm.
I traced over the blood marks left by silver threads on my wrist; the essence devoured by the Spirit Pearl rampaged within me. As Wang Xuan’s red snake scales began to shed, a dark pattern on Xuanjade’s nape suddenly blossomed with Udumbara flowers—those were protective spirit seals planted by my mother using half her life’s cultivation during my Coming-of-Age Ceremony year.
"So every time husband drank that Crane Top Red..." I crushed Udumbara petals picked from Xuanjade’s lapels; their crimson juice seeped into cracks of the Spirit Pearl. "It was all to suppress the Soul Devouring Vine’s backlash?"
Wang Xuan suddenly let out a piercing scream; within her glabella and Serpent Sigil radiating bright light appeared scenes from three hundred years ago at the altar of Spirit Realm. My mother’s blood-stained Fate Token hovered in Xuanjade’s palm while his heart’s pendant devoured the demonic power of Soul Devouring Vine—the substitute that should have been slain was now revealing its true form within Wang Xuan’s disintegrating spirit body.
At this moment, the Spirit Pearl emitted a clear sound as my mother’s lingering soul converged into fireflies weaving a star net. The shadow of red snakes on Xuanjie’s barrier let out mournful wails while Xuanjade’s fingertip stained with Udumbara juice gently brushed against my unhealed bite mark on my neck.
"The barrier of Fuyiao Palace is about to collapse!"
The panicked cries of the Immortal Attendant s fell from above like rain; I gazed at Wang Xuan’s increasingly transparent spirit body and finally understood her unwillingness—sealed within that Malachite Hairpin was indeed my soul consumed by Soul Devouring Vine three hundred years ago.
As the last piece of red snake scale turned to stardust, Xuanjade suddenly stumbled and knelt amidst the remnants of Xuan Shuang flowers.
His Heart's Xuan Bird pendant cracked, and the Dark Golden Blood seeping from it slowly merged with the silver threads of the Ling Huan Pearl. The Fate Pattern star trails entangling the three of us now formed a fragmented prophecy above the Fu Yao Palace.
"Young Mistress! The guiding starlight of Ling Huan Xian Pavilion has appeared!"
My personal maid suddenly tugged at my sleeve, her Palm's communication talisman burning with the unique Azure Flame of the Ling Huan Immortal Gate. I looked up at the collapsing rift in the barrier; the firefly guided by my mother's lingering soul was gathering towards the east—towards the direction of Ling Huan Xian Pavilion, where countless starlights pierced through the rolling dark clouds of Xuan Ling.
I crushed the last piece of red serpent scale, and the Ling Huan Immortal Art at my Fingertip still held half a U-tan flower. The remnants of the Xuan Shuang flower fell softly at my feet, and the flower's core, stained with Xuanjade and Dark Golden Blood, sprouted tiny snake tongues that hissed as they licked at the starlight seeping from the rift.
"Young Mistress..." The Immortal Attendant held a medicinal cup filled with Xuanjade Marrow, hesitating to speak. Her sleeves, embroidered with Xuan Bird patterns, were stained with Wang Xuan's Colorrobe scale powder.
I raised my hand to touch the shattered Xuanjade Pillar; the remaining silver threads of the Ling Huan Pearl drilled into the crack, repairing what remained of the barrier around Fu Yao Palace into a web. When the gilded armor touched the residual aura of Xuanjade, those ice crystals suddenly transformed into the hehuan fragrance mist from Three Hundred Years Ago, revealing an image of Wang Xuan's phoenix feather sword piercing his Heart.
"Open the gate."
The Zi Teng formed by the Ling Huan Immortal Art shattered the red serpent seal on the door knocker. At that moment when the vermilion door swung open with a loud crash, I heard Wang Xuan's weak breaths mixed with chaotic fluctuations of Xuanjade's spirit energy.
A broken Malachite Hairpin in her hair was seeping dark red liquid, winding across the floor tiles to form a totem on the altar of the Ling Huan Immortal Gate.
"The west chamber is prepared with Jade Essence Ointment." I tossed a blood-stained silk handkerchief onto the Xuanjade desk; at its corner, my mother's embroidered Zi Teng flower suddenly bloomed, engulfing fragments of star trails that had fallen from Wang Xuan's sleeve. "The wounds from Soul Devouring Vine are most sensitive to Yin energy at midnight."
The Xuanjade clasped around Wang Xuan's waist suddenly tightened, and the Xuan Bird pendant clashed against the edge of the table with a piercing sound. The U-tan flower mark on his nape spread down his spine, coalescing at his tailbone into a soul-binding spell drawn by my mother during my Coming-of-Age Ceremony—meant to prevent my spirit from shattering but now scorching him with green smoke.
"Your husband's crane cloak is stained with Snake Blood." I removed a Jade Comb from my hair; as its teeth brushed through, those dark red stains transformed into stardust that fell into cracks in the Ling Huan Pearl. "Tomorrow, elders from Linghuan Celestial Realm will come to inspect the barrier; we must not let them see the cracks in your pendant."
Wang Xuan suddenly coughed violently, and a Blood Pearl emerged from his mouth, swirling with shadows of red serpents. Her Fingertip stained with carmine was about to grasp at her Xuanjade garment when my sleeve shot out a Zi Teng that wrapped around her Palm.
The firefly formed by my mother's lingering soul surged suddenly, reflecting scenes of turmoil within her pupils—Three Hundred Years Ago and Soul Devouring Vine in chaos.
"A Yu..." Her broken tone carried an enchanting spell from Ling Huan Immortal Gate as ice spikes instantly formed on the corridor's Xuan Shuang flowers.
As I turned around, my gilded Hemline swept across scattered Ice Shards on the ground; holding onto the Ling Huan Pearl felt astonishingly hot in my Palm.
When Xuanjade supported Wang Xuan into the main hall, suddenly, a star compass hanging in the west window fell; within its Hexagram, my Fate Star was being twisted in half by shadows of red serpents.
The hehuan fragrance from within our chamber made one’s eyes sting.
I stared at a jade sculpture of a Xuan Bird holding herbs on an Antique Shelf; memories swallowed by Soul Devouring Vine from Three Hundred Years Ago surged back—Xuanjade’s Fingertip brushed against my eye corner, saying that Ling Huan Immortal Gate’s Zi Teng pattern burned more fiercely than red serpent scales.
As copper dripped down to Hai time Three Quarters, blood-red star trails suddenly crawled across Window Lattice.
I extinguished a nearly burnt-out Soul-Soothing Incense and heard a crisp sound of jade cups shattering from within the main hall.
Wang Xuan’s sobs were wrapped in a whirlpool of Xuan Ling energy, faintly mixed with suppressed breaths from Xuanjade—as if someone had poured crane top red into his spiritual veins.
"Young Mistress, Second Young Master... he..." The Immortal Attendant ’s knocking hand trembled; her Palm's communication talisman was being gnawed by shadows of red serpents.
I took off an earring and tossed it into my makeup box; as an eastern pearl collided against my Jade Comb, it burst forth with fireflies reflecting an outline of me lifting Wang Xuan horizontally.
The cracks in his waist’s Xuan Bird pendant deepened further; those seeping dark golden liquids mingled with red serpent blood from his embrace on the ground to draw out a star map of Ling Huan Xian Pavilion.
"Send some Xuan Shuang flowers to the cellar."
I tore the silver thread from my wrist, and the ethereal energy devoured by the Spirit Pearl suddenly backlashed, burning a pattern resembling the Utpala flower on my palm and the back of Xuan Yu's neck.
As the last trace of spiritual energy merged into the pearl, a thunderous roar echoed from the west chamber, where Wang Xuan's Scarlet Serpent Spirit had pierced through the Threefold Barrier, leaving toxic claw marks on the beams.
The sound of the hourglass chiming at midnight seemed to drift from a great distance.
I curled up on the cold, hard Jade Mat, and my mother's hand—teaching me to form seals three hundred years ago—suddenly surfaced in my memory. Her bloodied fingertip pressed against my glabella as she said that the starlight of Linghuan Xian Pavilion could cleanse the impurities of the Soul Devouring Vine.
"Young Mistress! Second Young Master has brought Xuan Girl..."
Just as my personal maid burst through the door, I was dipping the blood-stained Crimson Rouge into the Ice Spring.
The Utpala petals floating in the copper basin suddenly formed into a side profile of Xuan Yu. The red serpent mark on his glabella overlapped with the crack in his Xuan Bird Pendant, revealing in ripples the collapsed celestial patterns of Linghuan Xian Pavilion.
"The traces of Teleportation Technique lead to Serpent's Den," I said, twisting my damp hair ends. The Spirit Pearl beneath my pillow emitted a whimpering tremor. "Gather up the star chart from the east chamber; do not let Snake Blood stain my mother's Hexagram."
After my maid hesitated and retreated, I stared at the deepening dew on the Window Lattice.
Those water droplets that should have crystallized into frost were now tracing along Wang Xuan's residual serpent shadow on the window paper, sketching scenes from three hundred years ago—the moment Xuan Yu pierced my soul with his Phoenix Feather Sword, it was his own heart's blood that was consumed by the Xuan Bird Pendant.
As morning mist rolled over the eaves, I donned my robe and walked toward the alchemy room.
The jade bottle containing Cinnabar Red reflected the star chart compass on my desk; those Fate Stars that should have belonged to me were now entwined within Wang Xuan's star map by Scarlet Serpent shadows.
When the furnace fire burned my fingertip, I realized I had crushed half a bottle of He Huan incense—the last remnants I had secretly hidden from my wedding night when Xuan Yu shattered the incense burner.
"The Utpala dew that Young Mistress desires..."
The exclamation from the Immortal Attendant caught in her throat as I gazed at the shattered alchemy furnace, where splattered Jade Agate transformed into stardust from three hundred years ago.
A flicker of my mother's lingering soul suddenly gathered toward the east, forming half a prophetic verse in the dawn light: "The Spirit Pavilion opens Heaven's Gate."
The copper mirror reflected an unhealed bite mark on my neck, left by Xuan Yu during his loss of control last night.
As I combed through the swollen wound with a hairpin, a sudden burst of light from the Spirit Pearl revealed Wang Xuan lying on the Cold Jade Bed in Serpent's Den—her Malachite Hairpin was draining Xuan Yu's Dark Golden Blood, while those Soul Devouring Vines that should have been sealed within Linghuan Xian Pavilion were now crawling up his veins toward his heart.
As twilight stained the twelfth tier of eaves red, I leaned against the railing of the stargazing platform.
The spiritual incantation from my fingertip coalesced and dispersed repeatedly but could never draw a complete Sealing Soul Mark.
When the last ray of Rosy Glow from Western Paradise fell, a mournful cry from the Xuan Bird Pendant pierced through the clouds—it came from Serpent's Den, entwined with Wang Xuan's shattered soul-capturing technique and Xuan Yu's chaotic spiritual energy.
When the first Fate Star lit up, I felt for the cold star chart compass in my sleeve.
The Fate Star belonging to Xuan Yu was trapped within Scarlet Serpent shadows while my Star Seed was adorned with Utpala patterns from Linghuan Xian Pavilion.
Those star lights entangled for three hundred years suddenly began to flow, converging in alignment with where my mother's bloodied fingertip pointed in the night sky.
The night wind swept past me with remnants of Xuan Shuang flower petals through the Corridor as I counted each Water Droplet falling with midnight’s hourglass chime.
When One Hundred and Eighth Drop fell, a thunderous roar erupted from the east chamber—the sound of Wang Xuan's Scarlet Serpent Spirit piercing through Restrictions mingled with Xuan Yu’s cracking Xuan Bird Pendant like a poisoned dagger slicing through frozen night.
I stood at the end of Ice Crystal Corridor, watching as swirling Xuan color energy around Xuan Yu tore apart my hemline into shreds.
Those delicate snow threads floated in midair like Pear Blossom Petals swirling in Linghuan Fairy Realm during March.
"Don't touch me." He raised his hand to draw an Icicle barrier before him; his silver hair scattered like countless stars in the night wind. "Do you think just because you bear the title of a celestial sect’s precious daughter you can touch this true body’s dark essence?"
The sharp pain radiating from my fingertip made me stagger back.
The Xuanming Pearl on his chest glowed with an eerie blue light; it was a protective treasure that my mother had tied to his lapel during last night's Heavenly Wedding Wine ceremony.
Now it had become an impassable chasm between us.
At the end of the corridor, the Wisteria Arbor suddenly stirred without a breeze. I caught a whiff of the sweet, cloying scent of the silk tree mingled with the unique aroma of Frost and Snow from Xuanjie.
Xuan Yu's pupils abruptly constricted, and his cloak of Xuan color rustled behind him as he transformed into a flash of Lustreflow, rushing towards the depths of the arbor.
"Xuan'er?"
The name pierced my heart like an ice pick. In the shattered moonlight scattered across the ground, I saw a woman in a crimson gauze dress softly leaning against an ice pillar. Her purple jade tassels fell beside her, entwined with Xuan Yu's silver hair, as her fingertip brushed lightly against his hand that held the Xuanming Pearl.
"The essence of Xuanling... Backlash..." Wang Xuan's voice was faint, her nails tinged with Crimson Rouge quietly climbing up Xuan Yu's lapels. "Brother Yu's Xuanming Pearl... can it help Xuan'er to calm her soul?"
The icicles around Xuan Yu shattered in response. The moment he swept Wang Xuan into his arms, I distinctly saw a purple glow seeping from her drooping sleeve into the back of Xuan Yu’s heart.
Just as I was about to call out a warning, a sickly sweet sensation surged in my throat—it was the silence curse planted by my mother in my spirit realm taking effect.
"Wait here." Xuan Yu's voice wrapped around me with the chill of ten thousand years of Xuan Bing, and his figure had already teleported to the clouds.
Night Dew dampened my embroidered cloak adorned with spirit cranes, and from afar came Wang Xuan's weak laughter, mingling with the gusts of Xuanjie that swept past my ear.
At the hour of Zi, I crushed the talisman hidden in my sleeve and slipped into Linghuan Xian Pavilion. The Jadeite steps rippled beneath my feet, and countless spirit butterflies lifted ribbons woven from moonlight, guiding me to the Mirror Flower Water Moon Pavilion.
In the water mirror, my mother's gentle phantom appeared, but suddenly my fingertip touched an icy chill.
"Miss, be careful!"
The spirit butterflies scattered in alarm.
I looked down to see in the icy crystal surface that Xuan Yu was pressing the Xuanming Pearl against Wang Xuan's heart, their silver hair and crimson garments entwined like twin lotus blossoms on a cloud bed.
A sharp pain shot through my fingertip as a drop of Blood Pearl fell into the mirror lake, transforming into a Crimson Gold phoenix soaring towards the heavens.
From atop the pavilion came the clear chime of jade chimes; it seemed that some seal had been quietly disturbed.
As I turned towards the sound, strands of celestial silkworm ice threads floated out from a gilded box, shimmering under the moonlight with a pearlescent glow.
One strand suddenly wrapped around my wrist, resonating with a clear sound alongside the spirit link bracelet left by my mother.
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