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The sound of the collapsing structure still echoed in my ears as I curled up in the cloud-patterned quilt, staring at the winding golden patterns on my wrist. Outside the window, the unique sound of the cold spring in Xuanjie trickled like a death knell.
Three months ago, the surge of evil spirits had already sown the seeds of disaster. That day, I was repairing the mountain protection formation with Yang Lin at Zī Téng Waterfall when his fingertip-held star trajectory compass suddenly shattered into pieces. We both looked towards the sky—the nine-layered barrier appeared to be soaked in ink, and the landscape formation drawn by my father was being devoured by black mist.
"Yao'er!" The communication talisman at my waist burned hot. As I rushed back to the main hall on my sword, I saw my mother catch Elder Second, who had fallen from the formation's eye, with her bare hands. Inside the hall, nine out of twelve everlasting lamps had gone out, and my father's life sword trembled as it was embedded in the ground of Xuan Jing.
Three days later, while I was browsing ancient texts in the scripture pavilion, the Xuan family's Xuanjade Golden Tablet pierced through the barrier and landed on my desk. The message inscribed on it contained eight characters: "Xuanjie marriage can subdue Evil Spirit."
"The Xuanjade Immortal Sovereign practices the Supreme Forgetting Emotion Path." As my mother tied up my hair, her jade comb broke off a few strands for the third time. In the bronze mirror, her fingertip brushed over the Hehuan Spirit Jade—my father's wedding gift refined from half of his Essence Blood. "Xuanjie uses a Marriage Contract as the formation's eye for rescue, Yao'er..."
A tremendous noise from the collapsing mountain protection formation echoed outside. I pressed down on my mother's trembling hand. The Fate Fragment that slipped from her sleeve pressed painfully against my palm; remnants of enchanting spells were clearly left by Xuanjie Wang Xuan.
Three days before the wedding, Yang Lin intercepted me at Moonlight Pool. He still wore the soul-locking bell we had crafted together; Deep Pool Water reflected his left eye tainted by evil energy. "Yao'er, what Xuan family wants may not just be a marriage contract. Last night, I observed the stars; your red luan star is aligned with Xuanjie's fate constellation..."
"Young Sect Master!" A maid's exclamation interrupted his unfinished words. As I turned around, Yang Lin's sword aura sliced through a half-branch of weeping cherry blossoms by the poolside. That vibrant red fell into the water and was quickly swallowed by rising black mist.
When Xuanjie’s bridal Kunpeng boat arrived, I was just inserting an Eastern Pearl hairpin into my hairdo. My mother arranged my wedding gown one last time; as her wide sleeves brushed against my waist Forbidden Step, I caught a familiar scent of agarwood mixed with blood.
Her fingertip quickly sketched a talisman on my palm; suddenly, I realized that the dark pattern on her sleeve was half of a soul-locking formation. "Yao'er, come back alive." Her voice was as light as the wind stirred by Kunpeng's wings. I lowered my head and bit down on the tip of my tongue to keep tears from smudging my lipstick.
In the twelve boxes of jade slips accompanying my dowry, there mixed remnants of forbidden spells deciphered by my father during his lifetime.
As the bridal sedan passed through the Heavenly Gate, a sudden burning pain shot through the golden patterns on my wrist.
I lifted a corner of my veil and saw Xuanjade standing on the ninety-nine steps. His entire being was enveloped in an aura of dark spirit, frost-like, while the ice patterns spreading beneath his feet devoured the golden light shed by the fluttering wings of the Kunpeng.
As the sound of the hourglass neared its end, the Heavenly Wedding Wine on the table crystallized into ice.
I fumbled for the Hehuan Spirit Jade hidden in my sleeve when I suddenly heard a wail from outside—the sound of the mountain guardian beast. It echoed eerily, reminiscent of its mournful cry three months ago when the Immortal Pavilion collapsed. At that moment, the golden patterns on my wrist burst forth with blinding light.
The nine-layered silk canopy trembled under the pressure of dark spirit energy, and I stumbled, grasping onto the intricately carved bedpost for support. Xuanjade's wide sleeves brushed against the Heavenly Wine and Jade Cup, shattering the ice crystals with a cold laugh: "The daughter of Linghuan Fairy Realm actually needs to rely on a soul-locking array to consummate her marriage?"
I pressed my fingertip into my palm, feeling the burning symbol drawn by my mother before her passing beneath my skin. The Frost Flower on his Xuan Colored Collar shimmered, each petal reflecting the light from the East Pearl in my hair that swayed precariously.
Just as I reached to touch his waist adorned with Xuanjade, eighteen icicles suddenly shot up from beneath his feet, trapping me within the confines of the bed.
"You misunderstand, Immortal Sovereign," I heard my voice sound like silk strings soaked in Han Tan. "This golden pattern is a Marriage Contract..."
"A Marriage Contract?" He raised his hand to crush a falling petal of Hehuan flower; those fragments transformed into Xuan Huo, incinerating the faint glow of the spirit jade in my sleeve. "What Xuanjie needs is an array eye that can suppress Evil Spirits, not a weeping bride."
As the clapper struck its seventh note at midnight, the red candles on the table were finally engulfed by frost.
Curled up in my brocade blanket, I counted the icy patterns forming on the window lattice while listening to his breath behind the clouded mica screen, each exhale laced with sword energy.
The golden patterns on my wrist flickered in and out of darkness like a venomous snake gnawing at memories from three months ago—when Yang Lin's blood had dripped onto this very pattern, searing a lasting Scorch Mark into it.
For three months, dawn and dusk at Xuan Shuang Palace had been steeped in icy mist.
Whenever I attempted to touch the jade slips in the library, Xuanjade's dark spirit energy would freeze the bronze door knocker; when I cultivated pure lotus in the herb garden, those ice patterns beneath his feet would always preemptively crush any budding Flower Buds.
The most tormenting moments came every night at midnight when the Marriage Contract's golden pattern would burn fiercely, forcing us to share a room while he would always take that moment to polish his Frost Moon Sword—the silver thread wrapped around its hilt resembling the soul-binding silk once tied by Wang Xuan at Xuanjie’s Heavenly Gate.
"I heard that when Linghuan Xian Pavilion collapsed, Yang Immortal Lord broke three ribs trying to save you?" On one particularly frosty midnight, he suddenly used his sword tip to lift up the soul-locking bell hidden beneath my pillow.
The star chart, meticulously engraved by Yang Lin, was melting away, the scent of charred remnants wafting from the flames of Xuan Huo. I bit my lip to suppress the metallic sweetness rising in my throat. The moment the golden patterns on my wrist sensed my blood, eighteen ghostly lanterns suddenly illuminated the beams above.
This was the closest we had been in three months. His icy breath brushed against the seal on my neck, and I finally discerned that what flowed within his pupils was not Xuan Shuang, but rather the crimson cracks of Supreme Forgetting Emotion Path's Backlash.
"Did not Immortal Sovereign shatter the Heart Protecting Mirror to protect Wang Xuan back in the day?" I deliberately let the Soul Locking Bell fall to the ground. The half piece of Malachite that rolled out was precisely the key to the Xuanjie Forbidden Land that Mother had hidden at the bottom of her dowry box.
As expected, I saw his icy patterns twist beneath him. The Frost Moon Sword grazed my ear and embedded itself into the wall, shaking loose a hidden portrait of Wang Xuan from its concealed compartment.
In that instant when the portrait unfolded, the illusion of Linghuan Xian Pavilion materialized in the void. I saw Wang Xuan from twenty years ago standing on Liuli Tile, her feet resting upon Father’s Benneng Sword, while Xuan Yu, who should have been guarding Xuanjie at that time, was delicately painting her brows.
That night, when Xuan Yu's Teleportation Technique tore through Xuanjie’s Barrier, I was watering the seventh pure lotus with blood. Suddenly, the golden patterns of the Marriage Contract crazily entwined around my wrist, squeezing out a Blood Pearl that dripped onto a Jade Slip, revealing a truth imprinted by Mother using Fate Fragment—three months ago, when the evil spirit broke through the formation, it was clear that Wang Xuan's Xuan Niao mark was branded on the Array that first loosened.
At the moment Ling Huan Escape Technique activated, I crushed that piece of Malachite. The gale from Xuanjie whipped my wedding gown into a frenzy; as I passed through the Barrier, the golden patterns burned into chains but unexpectedly resonated with the remnants of Linghuan Xian Pavilion's formation.
When my feet landed on the shattered eaves, I realized that this Xian Ge, which should have collapsed, remained intact under the moonlight. Within that spirit pearl atop the pavilion lay sealed Yang Lin's shattered Xinggui compass from that day.
"Young Sect Master, you seem well?" The familiar sound of Soul Locking Bell echoed as it fell from the clouds. I turned and nearly collided with Yang Lin's tattered sleeve. The black mist in his left eye had spread to his neck; however, his stargazing mirror revealed a horrifying sight—deep within the spirit pearl lay not only the Xinggui compass but also half a blood-stained He Huan Lingyu, which Mother had secretly replaced on our wedding day...
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