On this day, the sky over Qiyuan Mountain was exceptionally cold.
Chu Xue met with the elders of her clan, of all ranks, in the main hall early in the morning.
She had been away from home for too long, and many faces were now unfamiliar. Fortunately, many of the older members still recognized her.
She zoned out for a moment from the pile of headache-inducing matters, her spiritual sense probing in Shang Ningye’s direction.
She vaguely sensed Qing Wu’s aura, which seemed to be heading away from the palace.
A faint worry rose in Chu Xue’s heart.
Mu Qiuhan hadn’t slept all night.
The ‘Shang Ningye’ before her had a different soul, yet Mu Qiuhan could still sense a trace of a familiar aura.
It was Shang Ningye’s aura.
She had once been intimately close with her, sharing tender moments; she shouldn’t be mistaken.
Her soul must not have been directly obliterated by this person before her, but still existed within this body.
The worry that had kept Mu Qiuhan on edge all night finally settled.
She thought she had prepared herself enough, but the moment that woman embraced her, Mu Qiuhan’s body couldn’t help but stiffen violently.
That person used Shang Ningye’s body to hold her, their lips and teeth already close to her neck.
Mu Qiuhan felt a strong sense of revulsion in her heart, and her body subconsciously began to recoil.
Realizing her gaffe, Mu Qiuhan thought, This is bad.
In a flash of inspiration, she had an idea and let out a soft ‘hiss’ through gritted teeth.
Qing Wu sensed Mu Qiuhan’s abnormality and was frowning, but then she heard the faint sound.
She asked casually.
“What’s wrong?”
Mu Qiuhan chuckled softly and shook her head.
She put on a nonchalant expression, but her right hand deliberately and subtly moved to cover her waist and abdomen.
Qing Wu’s sharp gaze indeed followed that extremely subtle movement downwards.
Discovering a faint smell of blood seeping from Mu Qiuhan’s abdomen, as if from an unhealed wound, Qing Wu breathed a sigh of relief.
I thought she had seen through me. So it was just that I touched her wound.
She reached out towards Mu Qiuhan’s waist and felt the still-bleeding wound. Qing Wu softened her voice.
“Is this the injury you mentioned before? Does it still hurt a lot?”
Mu Qiuhan took Qing Wu’s hand.
“It’s nothing serious.”
Just a moment ago, she had forcibly gathered her spiritual energy at her waist and abdomen, reopening the nearly healed wound.
Seeing Qing Wu’s movements instantly become gentler, Mu Qiuhan sighed in relief.
Good, I should have fooled her this time.
While admonishing herself not to make such a mistake again, she carefully felt Shang Ningye’s skin under her palm.
Confirming that Shang Ningye’s aura was indeed within this body, Mu Qiuhan tried her best to suppress her discomfort and forced herself to treat the person before her as Shang Ningye.
She allowed the person’s hand to caress her waist.
Then, she tilted her head slightly and gently tucked ‘Shang Ningye’s’ fallen strands of beautiful hair behind her ear.
After Qing Wu confirmed there was indeed a wound on Mu Qiuhan’s waist and abdomen, she withdrew her hand.
Mu Qiuhan watched the person opposite her impassively.
She seemed to suddenly remember something and reached for her storage ring.
“I had a pair of bracelets newly made, for our wedding. See if you like them?”
With that, she took out a pair of pink crystal bracelets from her storage ring.
The pair of bracelets was crafted from high-grade rose crystal. When light shone on their translucent bodies, they refracted a soft, misty pink glow, looking very festive.
Mu Qiuhan held the two very similar red bracelets, one in her left hand and one in her right, displaying them before Qing Wu.
“Choose one, hmm?”
Qing Wu glanced at Mu Qiuhan’s hands.
The craftsmanship of these bracelets was exquisite, and the spiritual energy they contained was extraordinary. It was clear the woman opposite her had put a lot of thought into them.
Not only that, but these bracelets actually contained a life-and-death bond formation.
Although the contract had not yet been formed, Qing Wu actually felt a little jealous of Shang Ningye at this moment.
Even though it was just a childish game between young lovers, Qing Wu felt her heart inexplicably flutter at this moment.
The bracelets and the person will both be hers from now on.
Qing Wu’s lips curled slightly, her gaze once again shifting back and forth between the two red bracelets.
She pointed to one of them.
“Have you chosen?”
Seeing her nod, Mu Qiuhan took her hand again.
Qing Wu stared at Mu Qiuhan.
Seeing Mu Qiuhan about to slip the chosen bracelet onto her still-bare wrist, Qing Wu, for some reason, felt a surge of joy in her heart.
But Mu Qiuhan’s movement suddenly stopped.
Her tone abruptly changed.
“You said last time that you picked up my Five Elements Bracelet in your room. Where is it?”
Qing Wu didn’t know about this. Suddenly questioned by Mu Qiuhan, she was a little bewildered.
Mu Qiuhan dangled the red bracelet prominently before her eyes, smilingly watching her.
She looked very much as if she wanted the Five Elements Bracelet in exchange for the red one she was holding.
Having no choice, Qing Wu could only go along with Mu Qiuhan’s wish, lowering her head to search for the so-called Five Elements Bracelet in her storage bracelet.
Fortunately, although Shang Ningye’s storage bracelet contained many magic artifacts, there was only one item shaped like a bracelet.
It was easy to identify.
And it was indeed a good item.
Qing Wu took it out and handed it to Mu Qiuhan.
Mu Qiuhan accepted the bracelet with satisfaction and smoothly slipped it onto her own left wrist.
She gently stroked the Five Elements Bracelet and smiled at the person opposite her, her lips curling.
As if noticing ‘Shang Ningye’ staring at the red bracelet in her hand, Mu Qiuhan kindly stopped teasing her.
She took ‘Shang Ningye’s’ hand and slipped the red bracelet onto ‘Shang Ningye’s’ empty wrist.
After that, she slipped the other red bracelet onto her own right wrist.
Mu Qiuhan’s expression suddenly became incredibly solemn.
She gazed deeply into ‘Shang Ningye’s’ eyes, as if trying to see something within them.
She held Shang Ningye’s hand again.
“To hold your hand, a bond of life and death. Are you… willing?”
Perhaps these words and the preceding gentle actions thoroughly stimulated Shang Ningye; Qing Wu only felt an unprecedented, intense pain assail her sea of consciousness.
Shang Ningye, as if driven mad, violently crashed against her.
From the looks of it, there seemed to be an intention to perish together with her.
Qing Wu hastily tried to shift her soul to the side, but was still forcefully struck by Shang Ningye.
Her soul showed faint signs of being scattered.
As for Shang Ningye, on the other hand.
After this collision, Shang Ningye’s soul became completely still and had already begun to dissipate out of the body.
Mu Qiuhan, opposite her, tightened her grip on her hand and began to urge her.
She looked somewhat anxious, and also a little sad.
“Are you… unwilling?”
Qing Wu, dazed from Shang Ningye’s collision and with no time to think carefully, casually replied.
“No, I am willing.”
Hearing this, Mu Qiuhan quickly reached out, took a few stray strands of hair from beside her ear, and mixed them with a lock of her own dark hair she held in her hand.
She clasped Shang Ningye’s hand tightly and recited the ancient incantation.
“On the Stone of Three Lives, an ancient soul does dwell,
A nine-petaled heart lotus, twin blooms on one stem swell.
Lifelines intertwine, a yin-yang knot they create,
Through burning trials, together we’ll share our fate.”
The strands of hair in her hand, following the incantation, transformed into two rays of light, one red and one green, which wrapped around the arms of the two women wearing the red bracelets.
Shang Ningye’s soul, which had been dissipating outwards, suddenly stilled and showed faint signs of re-gathering.
A golden light immediately flashed from Mu Qiuhan’s hand.
She crushed a magic artifact.
At the same time, golden light also lit up in the four corners of the room.
“A Soul-Binding Formation?!”
Pain still throbbed in Qing Wu’s sea of consciousness.
Seeing herself surrounded by the beams of golden light shooting upwards, she instantly understood everything.
Qing Wu snorted coldly, “You think this can trap me? Naive!”
She felt her soul being pulled by this formation, forcibly dragged out of the body.
Qing Wu condensed a green light in her hand and launched a fierce attack towards Mu Qiuhan.
Mu Qiuhan was the eye of this formation; as long as she was defeated, the formation would naturally break.
Layers of defensive magic artifacts spread out one by one in front of Mu Qiuhan, but they were shattered one after another by Qing Wu’s attack.
An attack from a Tribulation Transcendence mighty figure, even when their soul was unstable, was not something a few magic artifacts could easily block.
Qing Wu’s soul was being violently torn outwards by the Soul-Binding Formation, and waves of sharp pain wracked her sea of consciousness.
In contrast, Shang Ningye’s nearby fragmented soul, because it had just formed the ‘life-and-death bond’ incantation with the formation master Mu Qiuhan, was completely excluded from the Soul-Binding Formation’s area of attack.
Realizing she had been tricked, Qing Wu flew into a rage.
Another attack, condensed with her fury, shot towards Mu Qiuhan but missed.
Qing Wu endured the tearing pain in her soul, aimed at Mu Qiuhan, and launched another attack.
As the remaining defensive magic artifacts shattered with a crack, another attack followed closely behind.
After shattering countless magic artifacts, the spiritual energy finally slammed head-on into Mu Qiuhan.
Mu Qiuhan was busy setting up the formation and had no time to dodge. She was struck directly by the blast of energy, and a mouthful of blood instantly spurted out.
Qing Wu’s soul had now been forcibly torn from the body by the formation.
At this very moment, however, the formation, overflowing with golden light, completely broke apart under this blow.
Qing Wu clutched her aching forehead and sneered.
“The Soul-Binding Formation is powerful, but unfortunately, the one who set it up is too weak!”
