Wang Haiqing stared intently at the woman standing gracefully before him. The setting sun cast a slanting glow, adding a touch of rosy blush to her porcelain-white face, making her appear exceptionally beautiful. Her thin pink lips were pursed, and the once slightly sickly pale pink had been replaced by a vibrant pink. Her pointed chin was slightly raised, as if she were coquettishly arguing, or perhaps still angry about the absurd thing he had done.
Wang Haiqing stared intently at Shi Lan's chin for a long time. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope arose in his heart, and that hope gradually grew as Shi Lan did not speak angrily to him.
"Ah Lan, I heard some rumors the other day that Lin Changqing has arranged a marriage between his family and the Shi family. Is that true?"
Wang Haiqing's voice trembled. Even though he had heard it from others a thousand times, he still wanted to hear Shi Lan say it with his own ears.
"Yes," Shi Lan's voice was calm and gentle, like a soft evening breeze.
Wang Haiqing was forced to take a step back by her simple word, "So you really agree?"
Wang Haiqing's voice was like withered leaves blown by the autumn wind, desolate and desperate.
Shi Lan's heart skipped a beat, and a faint look of sorrow and despair appeared on her face at the right moment. "What else can I do if I don't agree? Am I supposed to be stupid enough to wait for a few more years and then be humiliated in public, not even as good as a maid?"
Wang Haiqing's face turned pale instantly, and he was filled with remorse for the absurd things he had done.
Shi Lan wiped away the tears that were welling up in her eyes, took a deep breath, and seemed to use all her strength to make her voice less trembling. "No matter what, Cui Xi has grown up with me since she was a child, and I have always regarded her as a sister. If this were someone else, it would be fine, but it is her. I cannot accept sharing a husband with my sister. From now on, I will settle in the capital with Chang Qing. We will be far apart, and I wish you all the best."
Shi Lan's words were filled with complex emotions, ranging from gentleness to decisiveness, from sorrow to reluctance, and finally to silence. Wang Haiqing's emotions fluctuated greatly, filled with regret, annoyance, resentment, and despair. These overwhelming emotions almost completely broke him down.
After saying this, Shi Lan turned around, boarded the carriage, and slowly disappeared down the long official road.
Wang Haiqing stared intently at the car silhouette in the setting sun, remaining motionless for a long time.
After the Qixi Festival, Shi Lan continued to stay in the courtyard, focusing on cultivating her magic every day. Before she knew it, her wedding day arrived. Because of her previous correspondence with Lin Changqing, Shi Lan was not unfamiliar with him. The only thing that worried her was the unavoidable obligations between husband and wife, which she really couldn't fulfill.
Helpless, Shi Lan thought of the request granted by the voice in the previous space. After silently reciting it for several days and nights, she finally received a response in her mind. When she heard that she did not want to share a room with anyone, the voice paused for a long time before giving her a mantra and sternly telling her that she could not use it indiscriminately, as using this power too much would damage her soul.
Shi Lan readily agreed, diligently cultivating while also reminding herself that this incantation was merely a means to an end and could not be relied upon. Her primary task at present was to strengthen her divine soul, and only the Return to Origin Chaos Technique could be her decisive weapon to suppress her emotions and complete her mission.
After a period of chaos and turmoil, Shi Lan sat in the bridal chamber in a daze. She had gotten married so inexplicably, and although it was part of a mission, it still felt very strange.
After dealing with the guests, Lin Changqing, still slightly smelling of alcohol, walked up to Shi Lan, who had changed into her sleeping clothes. He gently pushed her down onto the bed. Just as Shi Lan gritted her teeth and trembled as she prepared to cast a bewitching spell, Lin Changqing chuckled softly a few times, then embraced her and fell into a deep sleep.
Time passed quickly. Shi Lan maintained this strange, ambiguous relationship with Lin Changqing. Three years later, Shi Lei got married, and Lin Changqing took Shi Lan back to Fengcheng. During the banquet, Shi Lan encountered the rumored extremely powerful Madam Wang, Fang Shi, and Cui Xi, who looked like a haggard old woman in her fifties. After hearing her servants, whom she had secretly left to investigate the Wang family's movements, reveal that Madam Wang had been abandoned by Madam Wang and had taken several concubines, and that Cui Xi had once been pregnant but was aborted on the spot by Fang Shi in a fit of rage, and that Wang Haiqing had not paid any attention to it, Shi Lan smiled slightly. Perhaps this was a case of the wicked being punished by the wicked. Now, the inner quarters of the Wang family were Fang Shi's domain, and the likes of Huang Shi and Cui Xi were nothing more than living dead, barely surviving.
Returning to the space, Shi Lan's vision cleared up. The once foggy area had become as thin as gauze, and a creature she couldn't describe was crouching on the ground not far away.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Shi Lan tentatively asked, "A dog?"
The creature was furious and opened its mouth to roar, but then seemed to remember something and forcibly closed its mouth. After a long while, it reluctantly suppressed its anger and said in a sullen voice, "Yes, a roar. Haven't you ever heard of a divine beast's roar?"
Shi Lan chuckled dryly twice, not daring to respond, and simply opened her palm to reveal the emerald green stone.
It roared and raised its front paws, and the stone floated to its side and disappeared.
Shi Lan looked around the space curiously and asked, "Lord Hou, where did the fog go?"
Hou glanced at her sideways, pouted and said, "I used it to pass on the incantation to you." He paused and then added, "Call me Mingxiao. 'Lord Hou' sounds awful."
Most importantly, it needs to let Lord Haoze know that if it dares to let Shi Lan call it that, it will definitely die a terrible death, even though the Lord is in a wonderful mood because of his distraction and marriage to Shi Lan.
Seeing its lowered head and furrowed brows, Shi Lan smiled apologetically and immediately changed the subject, hoping it would forget its earlier rudeness. "Mingxiao, why have all the enemies I've dealt with in my missions been reborn or transmigrated? Is there some secret behind that?"
Mingxiao moved its lips as if it were smiling, then suddenly raised its claws, and a bright light shot into Shi Lan's brow like a shooting star.
Shi Lan instinctively leaned back, but couldn't dodge. In an instant, a pitch-black space suddenly appeared in her mind, with streaks of deep purple lightning striking down at the hundreds-of-feet-tall, heavily wounded dragon coiled below.
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