Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Three months later, the Qingxu Sect re-established its Sect Gate.

Only, that gate no longer belonged to its former masters.

The Sect Leader’s entire lineage was purged by the various sects. After sealing the Cracked Abyss, my Master entered closed-door seclusion to atone for his sins, while the remaining disciples of the Qingxu Sect were placed under the joint management of the other sects. Some tried to persuade me to stay, saying that since I possessed the Pure Spirit Pill Heart, I was the most suitable candidate to be the new Steward.

I refused.

I had reclaimed my name and my life; naturally, I had to reclaim my own path as well.

So, I opened an Apothecary at the foot of the mountain and named it Liuying.

On the day it opened, the influx of patients nearly trampled the threshold. Everyone said Apothecary Chu had a strange temper and even stranger fees. If she liked the look of you, she’d charge a couple fewer Spirit Stones; if she didn’t, she’d make you stand in the courtyard and bask in the sun for half an hour first.

But no one dared to provoke me.

Because everyone knew there was someone even more formidable backing the Liuying Apothecary.

One afternoon, while I was bent over my desk writing prescriptions, a familiar sword hum suddenly echoed from outside the courtyard.

I looked up to see Gong Hegui standing at the entrance.

Rarely for him, he wasn’t dressed in his usual murderous black. Instead, he had changed into a dark crimson robe, and even his hair crown was more formal than usual. He still held a scroll-the Marriage Contract-in his hand, and behind him followed a long line of Zhen’e Palace disciples carrying betrothal gifts.

The courtyard fell silent instantly.

I leaned against the doorframe and deliberately arched an eyebrow. “Young Master Gong, why are you blocking my Sect Gate with a Marriage Contract again?”

Gong Hegui looked at me, the smile in his eyes slowly softening.

“Last time was to take you away,” he said.

“This time, it’s to marry you.”

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he held the Marriage Contract out to me. The paper was new and the calligraphy was meticulous, but the Young Master’s Seal beside the signature was pressed even harder than last time, as if he were terrified I wouldn’t honor the debt.

I tried to hold it back, but I couldn’t help laughing.

Then, in front of everyone, I pressed my own thumbprint onto the Marriage Contract.

“Fine,” I said. “No need to block the door this time. I’ll go with you willingly.”

The wind swept through the medicine racks in the courtyard, carrying a faint medicinal fragrance.

Gong Hegui looked down at me as if he had been looking for many years and had finally reached the end of his search.

I suddenly remembered that blood-stained afternoon on the Cold Soul Platform.

If someone had told me then that the half of a Golden Core I had cut out would eventually earn me a man willing to live with me, die with me, and live well with me, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.

But now, I did.

Because the rarest thing in this world is never someone willing to take a blade for you.

It is someone who knows you are covered in scars, knows you will retreat, knows you will be afraid, and knows you will hesitate-yet still stands before your gate holding a Marriage Contract, refusing to take a single step back until you nod your head.