Su Xuan knelt before Ying Heng. It was already evening, and a warm yellow lamp was lit in the room.
The light fell on Su Xuan, casting a warm sheen over his silver hair. Sang Dai only now noticed that he was wearing an exceptionally ornate outer robe, with intricate patterns embroidered in gold thread along the lapels and cuffs. It was clear he had specially dressed up before coming.
Ying Heng seemed a bit at a loss. His temperament was indifferent and reclusive; apart from Sang Dai, he had almost no close relationships. When Chunying informed him that the Beast King was kneeling in front of him, Ying Heng truly didn’t know how to react.
“Child, get up,” he said.
The little fox panicked as soon as he heard this. To him, these words sounded like a rejection, as if Ying Heng was dissatisfied with him.
Sang Dai also instinctively thought that Ying Heng was refusing and knelt down alongside Su Xuan.
“Master, please trust us. We’ve really thought it through,” she said.
The sword cultivator spoke quickly, clearly growing anxious.
Su Xuan froze for a moment and hurriedly raised his head to look at Ying Heng.
He grasped Sang Dai’s hand; never in his life had he shown such respect to anyone.
In his rush, Su Xuan blurted out, “Master—”
Ying Heng: “?”
Realizing his mistake, Su Xuan quickly stopped himself: “…Immortal Lord, please believe me. I’ve liked Dai Dai since I was thirteen years old, and that hasn’t changed all these years. It will never change. I’ve always worked hard in my cultivation to catch up to her. I will never let her suffer any grievances.”
Ying Heng: “…Beast King, you—”
“Immortal Lord, I can make a life-and-death pact right now!”
The moment Su Xuan heard Ying Heng address him as “Beast King,” though it was a polite title, it sounded distant and alienating to him in this context.
Su Xuan spread out his left hand, and with his right hand, conjured a Hellfire Blade. Without hesitation, he slashed across his palm.
Before Sang Dai and Ying Heng could react, he had already made the life-and-death pact.
“I, Su Xuan, hereby swear a life-and-death pact. Should I ever have a change of heart in this life, may I die a terrible death. I vow to devote myself entirely to Sang Dai, to live and die with her. If she perishes, I will never live alone. Whether in the Yellow Springs or the blue skies, I will follow her.”
The golden seal formed instantly, solidifying the pact.
Sang Dai lunged forward and grabbed his hand, her voice rising uncontrollably. “Su Xuan, what are you doing?!”
He had sworn a life-and-death pact, meaning that if Sang Dai died, he would be struck dead by heavenly lightning at the moment of her demise.
Sang Dai’s hands trembled. “Who told you to make it? Did I ask you to make it?!”
Su Xuan flipped his hand to hold hers, his gaze burning as he looked at Ying Heng. “Immortal Lord, please rest assured. I will never let her down in this lifetime. I’ve waited for her for so many years; there’s no way I would treat her poorly. Please grant us your blessing for this marriage.”
Ying Heng’s gaze was unfocused, as though he was stunned by what had just happened. His lips moved, but no words came out.
Sang Dai’s hand was tightly gripped, Su Xuan’s blood dripping into her palm, scalding and unsettling.
She stared blankly at their clasped hands, blood seeping through the gaps of his slender fingers.
A life-and-death pact.
From now on, her fate was truly bound to Su Xuan’s, and her destiny became his destiny.
Ying Heng stammered, “You… Beast King, I didn’t say I was against it…”
Su Xuan’s eyes lit up. “Immortal Lord, does that mean you approve?”
Ying Heng replied, “If Dai Dai is willing, then naturally, I agree.”
Su Xuan immediately kowtowed. “Thank you, Immortal Lord! I’ve already sent word to prepare for the wedding ceremony!”
Ying Heng: “…Is it… is it this urgent?”
Su Xuan raised his head, the corners of his lips curving into a smile as he spoke with a hint of laughter. “It’s urgent, very urgent. I can’t wait to marry Dai Dai.”
Ying Heng pressed his lips together. Even without seeing his expression, one could hear the complex emotions conveyed in his voice. Ying Heng could sense how deeply Su Xuan cared for Sang Dai.
The fervent, pure affection of a young man had not waned over more than a century of trials. Instead, it had grown stronger and more genuine.
He turned to his disciple and asked, “Dai Dai, what do you think?”
Su Xuan looked toward Sang Dai.
The wound on his palm had been tended to at some point. Sang Dai had been keeping her head down, staring at something.
Su Xuan asked gently, “Dai Dai, the Immortal Lord is asking for your opinion.”
Sang Dai slowly raised her eyes to meet Su Xuan’s gaze, taking in the joy radiating from him.
The little fox was elated. He had been overjoyed all day. From the moment Sang Dai agreed to marry him, his smile had not left his face.
For the first time, Sang Dai faced someone who liked her so intensely—a love so deeply rooted it permeated his very being, a love where he was willing to live and die for her.
“Su Xuan.” Sang Dai’s eyes curved in a gentle smile. “I’m willing too.”
She was very, very willing to be with Su Xuan, to become the closest person to him, to spend their lives together, giving their one and only lifetime to each other.
The little fox stared straight at her, his brows relaxing into a radiant expression. If Ying Heng weren’t present, he would surely have embraced her and kissed her for a while.
Ying Heng also began to smile. Though he could not see, Chunying told him that his disciple was smiling.
Chunying also said that the Beast King Su Xuan was extraordinarily handsome, with a love in his eyes so overwhelming it seemed ready to overflow—he was very, very fond of his disciple.
Ying Heng suddenly felt a bit dazed. When he had left, Sang Dai had only reached his waist. Now, 120 years later, upon meeting again, the little child of the past had grown into an independent sword cultivator.
She had found someone she loved, was about to start her own family, and would have a husband to accompany her through the rest of her life.
—
The night deepened completely, and Su Xuan had already returned to his room.
Sang Dai sat beside Ying Heng, pouring him a cup of tea.
“Master, please have some tea.”
Ying Heng took the cup, though he couldn’t taste anything—his sense of taste was long gone.
Sang Dai said, “Your spiritual root was extracted back then. Now, two segments are with me, and the remaining one is still in the hands of that man in black. I asked Liu Lixue about it—spiritual roots recognize their master. If we can recover all the pieces of your spiritual root, we can ask the medical cultivator from the Divine Healer Valley to help you fuse them back together.”
“Your loss of the five senses was caused by the extraction of your spiritual root. If you regain it, your spiritual power will return, and your five senses will naturally be restored. Once…” Sang Dai glanced at Ying Heng and softly continued, “Once City Lord Wu’s body is laid to rest, we’ll set off for the Beast Realm. We’ll depart the day after tomorrow.”
Ying Heng took a sip of tea and smiled faintly. “Alright, thank you for your hard work, Dai Dai.”
Sang Dai fell silent for a moment, looking at Ying Heng’s calm and gentle expression. Despite everything he had gone through, he remained so composed, never seeming to feel that fate had treated him unjustly.
In this, Sang Dai resembled him—they were both exceptionally resilient.
As she looked at him, she felt the urge to cry. Now that she had seen Ying Heng in person, her conviction deepened: the true culprit behind the destruction of the Guixu Spiritual Vein and the massacre at the Cangwu Daoist Temple could not have been Ying Heng. Then who had he taken the blame for? Why had he accepted this crime and allowed himself to be hunted by the Four Realms?
“Master…”
Ying Heng sighed, setting down his tea. He reached out, fumbling to find her face, and carefully wiped away her tears.
Chunying had told him that Sang Dai was crying.
As her master, he could only follow Chunying’s guidance to help wipe away her tears.
A pang of sorrow struck Ying Heng’s heart. He comforted her the way he had when she was a child, saying, “Dai Dai, don’t cry. Master will make you something delicious, alright?”
Sang Dai held his hand and pressed it to her face.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her—ever since she saw Ying Heng, she kept wanting to cry, feeling both aggrieved and sad. She hadn’t been this prone to tears before.
Her tears fell onto his wrist, but Ying Heng couldn’t feel them. He only knew that she was crying.
“Master…” Sang Dai choked on her sobs and asked, “What really happened back then?”
The Osmanthus Pact Seal had shown her glimpses of the past: Ying Heng, surrounded by countless people, had unhesitatingly admitted to the crimes.
How could he have confessed so decisively?
Yet, even Ying Heng himself could no longer recall.
He sighed softly. “Dai Dai, I’m sorry. Master truly doesn’t remember much.”
He didn’t remember what had happened at the Heroes Conference, didn’t remember why the six of them never saw each other again, and didn’t remember why he had taken on those crimes.
All he remembered was that he had planned to rush to celebrate her tenth birthday. But it was as if he had fallen into an endless sleep. When he woke up, his five senses were gone, his spiritual root was extracted, and he was lying on a mountain a hundred miles away from Linglong Town. Beside him was a strange person who claimed to have saved him on someone’s behalf but wouldn’t say who had sent them.
When he learned that his disciple was being hunted, he had panicked and rushed to find her. Then, everything became like this.
His memories were a chaotic mess, so much so that even the seven years he spent as Sang Dai’s master were blurred. But his feelings for her remained crystal clear.
No amount of fragmented memories could erase the care and affection he had for his disciple. To Ying Heng, Sang Dai was as dear as his own daughter.
“Dai Dai, I’m truly sorry.”
He deeply regretted leaving her behind for so long, making her search for him for all these years.
Sang Dai closed her eyes and gripped his hand tightly. Taking advantage of Ying Heng’s inability to hear, she allowed herself to sob softly.
It had been 120 years, but she had finally found him.
“Master, I can protect you now. Let’s stay together from now on, alright?”
The smile on Ying Heng’s lips faded slightly. “Dai Dai…”
Sang Dai understood what he meant, but she still smiled. “Master, if it weren’t for you, I might have been drained of blood the moment I was brought back. You raised me and taught me to establish my Sword Heart. I have never regretted being your disciple. Even though others blame you, Master, I know you would never do such a thing, and that’s why I’ve been looking for you.”
“Staying by Master’s side would be dangerous… Perhaps Master would bring unnecessary trouble to you…”
“Master, the Heavenly Dao wants to kill me too. Staying by my side might bring harm to you. Doesn’t that make us even? Either way, it’s dangerous. So why not stay with me?”
Her tone was playful, and Ying Heng couldn’t help but laugh at her words.
“I’m very strong now, and Su Xuan is strong too. In the Beast Realm, no one would dare to harm you. I’ve already investigated everything about what happened back then. Master, please trust me, alright?”
Ying Heng simply smiled.
Chunying had told him that Sang Dai was very beautiful, much like she had been as a child, but now with a greater sense of resilience. He tried to picture the younger Sang Dai as more mature.
Ying Heng began to imagine what Sang Dai had looked like as a child. She must have had arched brows, striking phoenix eyes, and pupils that were dark and bright, her face already exuding a unique elegance even then.
He tried to imagine that face more mature, with a firmer brow, piecing together an exceptionally beautiful visage in his mind.
“Dai Dai,” Ying Heng asked her, “Now that it’s just the two of us here, tell your master—are you truly willing to spend your life with that boy?”
Ying Heng still felt uneasy. The two had only been together for a little over a month, and he worried it was just a fleeting passion between the two youngsters.
Sang Dai naturally understood the meaning behind his words. After a moment of surprise, she leaned closer and whispered, “Master, if you doubt him this much and he hears it, he’ll cry.”
Ying Heng: “…Cry?”
Sang Dai affirmed, “He cries a lot. He’s such a crybaby—immature and hot-tempered, spends money like water, and never allows himself to feel the slightest grievance.”
Ying Heng: “This…”
Sang Dai added, “But he’s extremely, extremely adorable.”
Ying Heng couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s so adorable about him?”
“He’s a nine-tailed fox. His true form is incredibly beautiful and cute. He’s very clingy and loves to act spoiled. I’ve never met anyone who enjoys being pampered as much as he does.”