The next instant, the hand covering his eyes slowly moved away. The scene before him made Qin Luo's pupils shrink abruptly.
Before me stood Xia Zihan, dressed in a bright red wedding robe, embroidered with a phoenix in gold thread, its wings outstretched as if about to take flight, the hem of her skirt undulating like clouds. Her long hair was styled in an updo, her pearl hairpins swaying gently, a dot of vermilion between her brows highlighting her snow-white skin and shimmering eyes.
However, while the wedding robe appears magnificent at first glance, a closer look reveals numerous flaws hidden within it.
The stitches at the neckline were crooked and uneven, with some threads even sticking out abruptly, like mischievous threads deliberately peeking out.
Looking at the cuffs, the pearls, which should have been evenly distributed, were scattered in different ways: some were densely packed like stars, while others were sparse and scattered. Two pearls were even strung together crookedly.
What's even more striking is the hem of the wedding robe. The stitches, which should have been straight, meander and twist like a small snake, with several stitches showing obvious wrinkles and the fabric being stretched and deformed. These clumsy stitching marks, however, give the wedding robe a touch of warmth and life, as if every stitch tells of Xia Zihan's trepidation and anticipation as she secretly sewed it.
He himself had changed into a wedding robe of the same color, with dragon patterns embroidered on the lapel to match hers, and a warm jade belt around his waist, looking every bit the groom.
"This is......"
Qin Luo was stunned and didn't know what to say for a moment.
Xia Zihan tilted her head slightly, her red lips pursed, her eyes filled with a hint of shyness, yet she stubbornly looked directly at him:
"I sewed it myself, stitch by stitch, and it took me a very long time to embroider it."
She reached out and straightened his collar, her fingertips gently tracing the delicate patterns, and whispered:
"I don't care how many romantic pasts you have with them, I only know that you are the reason why I, Xia Zihan, first felt a flutter in my heart in this vast world, and the only one I am willing to entrust my life to and go through life and death with."
"You've seen me at my most wretched, and you've given me your most ardent tenderness. Those escapes where we redeemed each other, those starry nights where we talked under the moon, are all marks that belong only to you and me."
"Therefore, with my phoenix coronet and embroidered robes, and ten miles of red bridal procession, the first one to walk towards you in red silk can only be me. Of all the women in this world, I don't care about titles or ranks, I only want this formal marriage witnessed by heaven and earth, and you must obey me."
At this point, Xia Zihan's fingertips trembled slightly as she hooked her hand around his collar, her eyes welling up with tears:
"This phoenix robe is only for you. I hope you will cherish it... and I await your response."
Looking at Xia Zihan's figure as she took the initiative to get closer, and listening to the almost broken tremor in her voice at the end, Qin Luo suddenly felt his chest tighten.
She shed her former pride and revealed her inner turmoil and secret hopes to him without reservation, looking just like a lost goose, afraid of being left behind yet longing to be carefully cherished.
At this moment, she was no longer the stubborn royal princess, but an ordinary woman holding her heart and anxiously waiting for a response.
What else could Qin Luo say? No amount of words could express his guilt, and he was unwilling to let him down any further.
With a thought, the already extremely weak Qi Sea was forced to release a considerable amount of Primordial Breath and Chaos Qi. With the combination of the two, a spiritual array constructed from these two kinds of spiritual energy from the beginning of heaven and earth slowly took shape, isolating all perception.
The array is so tight that even a typical Mahayana Supreme might not be able to sense it immediately.
After the spirit array was formed, the wedding robes overlapped, and Qin Luo's warm voice echoed in Xia Zihan's ears:
"In this life, only you can lightly adorn me with your phoenix coronet and embroidered robes. With the sun and moon as my witness, I, Qin Luo, swear to grow old with you and never betray you. Across mountains and rivers, across the four seas and eight wastelands, my home will always be the direction your gaze falls upon."
......
Time flies, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye. After Xia Zihan completely consumed the Ancestral Core, this year's academy competition has come to a close. Although Yunyin, Xiaochen, and others were eliminated, the remaining teammates were still not something ordinary academies could face. Therefore, the positions of the nine Heavenly Gates remained largely unchanged, but the rankings changed quite a bit.
The Illusionary Dream Sect managed to snag one of the top three spots. When Sikong Xiu stood atop the third crystal, bathed in flowing light, a sly smile played on her lips.
That day, she defied everyone's advice and gave up the chance to be number one, which now seems to be the wisest decision she ever made. The chaos of the battle ironically allowed the Illusionary Dream Sect to take advantage of the situation and successfully squeeze into one of the top three sects. She'll have to make sure to extract a good amount of cultivation resources from the sect before graduation.
During this month, the people from the other academies and the Heavenly Gate also left this shattered continent one after another, leaving only a few people waiting here.
Yi Ting stood at the edge of the empty crystal, impatiently kicking the pebbles on the ground with her toes, her gentle face full of dissatisfaction.
She originally thought that Qin Luo and Xia Zihan would talk for a short while, but unexpectedly, after a day, when she felt something was wrong and went to check, the two of them were no longer there.
The vast ancestral core area was eerily silent, save for the occasional sound of wind. If Murong Liyue hadn't sensed traces of a spirit array, she would have truly believed that the two had vanished without a trace.
"A whole month! That jealous woman is really going too far!"
Thinking of this, Yi Ting stomped her feet in anger, her almond-shaped eyes glaring in the direction of the spirit array. You see, she had gone to great lengths to persuade Senior Sister Su Xuan to let her stay here and wait. Moreover, her master was too biased. Even though she hadn't seen him for three years, Qin Luo's favoritism towards Xia Zihan made her feel unbalanced.
"I don't know how that jealous woman with such an ordinary figure could be so shameless as to cling to my master!"
Yi Ting angrily tugged at her skirt, turned around and caught sight of Su Yaoyue silently gazing into the distance. She immediately strode forward:
"Liyue, don't you find this strange? For thirty whole days, who knows what they did in the spirit array!"
"Could it be that something has happened to Master? If we don't go and check on him soon, I'm afraid trouble might arise!"
She lowered her voice and said with a worried look in her eyes.
Hearing Yi Ting's repeated suggestions and inquiries, Murong Liyue snapped out of her reverie, raised an eyebrow, and deliberately spoke slowly:
"What else can I do? Perhaps I should go into seclusion to cultivate, or perhaps... say some private things that others can't hear?"
She knew perfectly well what had happened inside. Even if she could break the spirit array, she wouldn't attempt it. Murong Liyue lowered her eyes, gently stroking the cloud patterns on her sleeve, her fingertips caressing the fabric, a self-deprecating smile playing on her lips.
The isolation array set up by Qin Luo would be so powerful that even a third-grade saint would have trouble dealing with it, let alone a first-grade saint.
"Sister, don't be anxious. Qin Luo has his reasons for setting up this formation. Breaking it rashly and startling the people inside would not be good."
Though her words were tactful, they concealed a deeper meaning. She too felt a pang of bitterness. But compared to unjustly offending Qin Luo, what did this slight grievance matter?
More importantly, Murong Liyue felt that since they were the ones who got the meat, they should at least let the main character get a sip of the soup, right? If they were to rudely interfere, that would be truly inexcusable...
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