59: Chapter 59 Engagement

When Gu Xun'er returned from the Starfall Pavilion, the sky of the Soul Realm remained that same unchanging, gray haze of ten thousand years.

Hun Qian was waiting to greet her at the Void Ferry outside the main gate as usual, and the four accompanying guards bowed and retreated.

When he saw her step out of the teleportation array, her eyes were slightly red, as if she had been crying, but her expression was unusually calm.

She returned the communication talisman that Yao Yao had given her to Hun Qian, completely intact, and only said, "Thank him for me," before returning to the side courtyard.

Xiao Yi Xian was waiting for her in the courtyard.

Two cups of freshly brewed tea were set on the stone table; she had estimated that Gu Xun'er would be arriving soon and had prepared them in advance.

The tea had already gone cold.

Gu Xun'er sat down on the stone stool, picked up the cold tea, and finished it sip by sip, then placed the empty cup on the table, her fingertips tracing the rim of the cup in a gentle circle.

"I saw him. I made things clear to him. I told him to forget me, not to seek revenge for me anymore, and to find another good girl." Her voice was very soft, as if she were speaking of something that had nothing to do with herself.

Xiao Yi Xian did not ask for details.

She pushed the freshly brewed hot tea over and said softly, "That is good."

Gu Xun'er took the teacup, lowered her head to look at her own reflection in the tea, and after a long time, let out a soft sigh, "From today on, I am Hun Feng's fiancée. I already said this in front of Brother Xiao Yan, and now I am saying it to you again."

Xiao Yi Xian nodded, carefully placed the poisonous herb seedling in her hand on the edge of the stone table, and then, in a rare moment, curved the corners of her mouth, "I am too."

A few days later, Gu Yuan's delegation arrived at the Soul Realm.

The procession was much grander than the last time—Gu Dao personally led the team, Gu Qingyang led the elite Black Annihilation Army to escort them, and Elder Gu Jun also came with the team, saying he was ordered by the Council of Elders to observe the ceremony.

Gu Yuan was still wearing his simple gray robe, but when he stepped out from the void rift, the crease between his brows that never faded seemed a little shallower than last time.

Hun Feng waited outside the main hall, with Yao Yao and Medusa standing on his left and right, and behind them was a group of elders of the Hun Clan led by Hun Qian.

Gu Yuan walked up to Hun Feng, stood still, reached out, and patted him heavily on the shoulder with considerable force, "Xun'er told me. She said this was her own choice, not forced by you. I believe her."

"She is indeed," Hun Feng bowed slightly, "The time she returned to the Starfall Pavilion, I did not send anyone to follow her. She came back, and that answer should be weighty enough."

Gu Yuan nodded, his gaze passing over him to fall on the light green figure behind him.

Gu Xun'er walked out from the side hall, and the gazes of the father and daughter met in the crowd.

She walked up to her father, raised her head, and there was no evasion in her eyes, "Father, this is my decision. I have thought it through. His path to the Emperor requires my bloodline, and my bloodline can also play its greatest role with him. You have been protecting the Gu Clan all these years, and it is time for your daughter to do something for the Gu Clan."

Gu Yuan looked at his daughter's eyes, which were still clear but had gained a bit more composure, and remained silent for a long time. Then he reached out and patted her head very lightly and slowly, just like when she used to sit on his lap and act spoiled as a child, "You are stronger than your father. The things that took your father a thousand years to figure out, you figured out in less than half a year."

Gu Dao stood behind Gu Yuan, watching this scene, and a rare, faint smile appeared on his old face.

Gu Qingyang grinned without any concealment, his sword at his waist swaying slightly.

The engagement ceremony was held in the main hall of the Soul Realm, and the scale was even grander than when Hun Feng married Cai Lin and Yao Yao.

A bright red carpet was laid from the main gate all the way to the front of the main seat in the hall. Rows of glazed lamps hung under the eaves of the hall, and each wick contained a wisp of extremely fine golden flame—that was a wisp of origin fire that Gu Yuan had personally separated from Gu Xun'er's Golden Emperor Sky Burning Flame to decorate the engagement hall, which was both the sincerity of the Gu Clan and a father's sentiments for his daughter.

Hun Tiandi had changed into a black formal suit today, with the Hun Clan emblem embroidered in gold thread hanging from his shoulder to his waist, and he stood personally on the right side of the main seat.

Void Swallowing Flame stood in human form on the left, the black flame at its fingertips unusually restrained to only a faint, dark glimmer.

Hun Qinger did not lean in the corner as usual—the position she stood in today had moved forward several steps, just half a step behind Lin Qingwan.

She had changed her moon-white robe for a very pale silver-blue dress, and her long hair was loosely pinned up with a jade hairpin, making her look as cold and detached as ever, yet with a bit more gentleness than usual.

Soul Yuan Tian and Elder Hun Tu had also arrived; the two Eight Star Dou Sheng stood side by side below Hun Tiandi, and a rare look of solemnity appeared on their withered, old faces.

Lin Qingwan was wearing a dark red brocade robe today, which Hun Feng had ordered to be tailor-made several days in advance, with dark orchid patterns embroidered in gold thread on the cuffs and collar—that was the family crest of her long-extinct maiden family, the Lin Clan.

She sat on the observation seat to the left of the main seat, with Mu Xiao sitting on her lap, wearing a small red dress that Yao Yao had newly made for her, with golden ribbons matching Gu Xun'er's tied on her braids, looking around excitedly, occasionally tugging at her grandmother's sleeve to ask, "When is Auntie Xun'er coming out?"

Yao Yao and Medusa sat on either side of Lin Qingwan; Yao Yao was sitting unusually quietly without swaying, while Medusa held a cup of tea, sipping it slowly. Both of them had proper smiles on their faces, but in the looks they exchanged from time to time, there was a complexity that only they understood—two more had been added.

Gu Yuan sat in the guest of honor seat opposite Hun Tiandi, with Gu Dao, Elder Gu Jun, and Gu Qingyang behind him.

The hall doors slowly pushed open, and Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian walked in side by side.

Gu Xun'er was wearing a light golden dress today, with the intertwined patterns of the Gu Clan emblem and the Hun Clan emblem embroidered in gold thread on the hem. Her long hair was not pinned up but hung down behind her shoulders like a waterfall, and pinned in her hair was a phoenix-tail hairpin that Gu Yuan had personally placed for her, with tassels hanging from the end of the hairpin made of silver threads that Yao Yao had unraveled from her own bone whip.

Xiao Yi Xian walked half a step beside her, her white hair unusually pinned up with a jade hairpin, the head of which was carved into a blooming poisonous-core begonia, and a light purple dress made her look as pure as frost.

Usually, she was always in plain white, crouching in the flower garden tending to poisonous herbs, but now, dressed in new attire, she looked like a cold and detached fairy who had walked out of a painting.

Hun Feng stood in the center of the main hall, his bright red ceremonial robe embroidered with the same intertwined clan emblems in gold thread on the cuffs and collar as his two fiancées.

He watched Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian walk toward him side by side, and neither of their eyes evaded him when they looked at him.

Hun Tiandi personally presided over the engagement ceremony, using the highest standard of ancient rites of the Hun Clan to exchange engagement tokens for both parties.

Hun Feng took out the Hun Yu that had been passed down through generations of the Hun Clan Young Clan Leaders from his sleeve—it was the life tablet that Hun Tiandi had personally carved for him when he was born, and it contained a wisp of his origin soul power. From birth to death, this jade never left the side of any Hun Clan Young Clan Leader.

At this moment, he split his life tablet into two, using Void Swallowing Flame as the blade and Sea Heart Flame as the fire, and refined the two halves into the palms of Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian respectively.

In the future, no matter how far apart they were, as long as they activated this wisp of origin soul power, he would be able to sense their location and safety.

Gu Xun'er untied an ancient jade from her waist—it was the Gu Clan God-Grade Bloodline token she had worn since childhood, and it contained the first wisp of Golden Emperor Sky Burning Flame origin that Gu Yuan had personally extracted when she was born.

She placed this ancient jade solemnly into Hun Feng's palm, and the golden flame jumped a few times in his palm, as if it were the final test before acknowledging a master, and then it slowly merged into his meridians.

From then on, the Golden Emperor Sky Burning Flame was no longer something only she could control; her fiancé could also mobilize this fourth-ranked Heavenly Flame.

Xiao Yi Xian did not have a precious inheritance token like Gu Xun'er; her token was a tiny jade bottle containing three drops of deep purple liquid—that was the poison marrow she had condensed from the origin of her own Calamity Poison Body, and each drop contained all her insights into the path of poison.

She gently placed the jade bottle into Hun Feng's hand, without any extra words, simply saying, "It can block a poison for you at a critical moment."

When Hun Feng took the jade bottle, he found that the bottle still carried her body heat.

Gu Yuan stood up from the guest of honor seat and handed a Gu Clan Supreme Elder token to Hun Feng.

The holder of this token could mobilize all the secret lines and some of the troops of the Gu Clan outside; in the history of the Gu Clan, it had only been awarded to two people without Gu Clan bloodlines—the first was Xiao Xuan a thousand years ago, and the second was Hun Feng today.

"This token was originally reserved for Xun'er's future husband." Gu Yuan's voice was very flat, but every word carried a heavy weight, "I have waited for thirty years, and today it has finally been given away. Nephew, I entrust Xun'er to you, and I am at ease. But remember—being a son-in-law of the Gu Clan is not easy. If you fail her, this token can still mobilize troops to take you."

Hun Feng took the token with both hands and performed a solemn salute, "Father-in-law, rest assured, I keep my word."

It was late at night when the banquet ended.

The dark-leaf osmanthus in the East Courtyard rustled in the night wind, and the plate of honey cakes on the stone table had been changed for the third time.

Yao Yao leaned on Medusa's shoulder, both of them slightly tipsy.

Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian had been pulled aside by Lin Qingwan to talk in the side hall for quite a while, and when they returned, Gu Xun'er had an extra small sandalwood box carved with dark orchid patterns in her hand; it was a vanity case that Lin Qingwan had specially made for her, using the same piece of wood that Lin Qingwan had used when she married Hun Yuan back then.

Xiao Yi Xian was holding a set of brand-new purple clay flower pots, with a crooked dark orchid carved on the bottom of the pots—Lin Qingwan said that was her debut work when she learned carving in her youth, and she had never been able to bear throwing it away; today, she had finally found a suitable owner.

Hun Feng stood under the veranda of the East Courtyard, watching the lights turn on one by one in the four bedrooms.

The lights for Yao Yao and Cai Lin were warm, the lights for Gu Xun'er and Xiao Yi Xian were newly added, the night light in Mu Xiao's room that would never go out completely was still shining, and the deep green fluorescent light of the Hall of Hun Tiandi in the distance remained as steady as a mountain.

"What are you thinking about?" Medusa walked over from behind and draped a thin cloak over his shoulders.

"Thinking about the future." Hun Feng held her hand, his fingertips gently rubbing the back of her hand, "Tomorrow, I will have Hun Qian expand the East Courtyard by another circle and set up a separate cultivation room for Gu Xun'er.

Her Golden Emperor Sky Burning Flame needs a secret room that can withstand the high temperature of the fourth-ranked Heavenly Flame; the previous one is not enough.

Xiao Yi Xian's flower garden should also be expanded; she said she wants to plant a new variety of poisonous-core begonia, with a toxicity so strong that it can even take down a Dou Sheng. These all need to be arranged."

"What else?"

"The Red Lotus Karma Fire and the Nine Nether Golden Ancestor Flame are still in the hands of the Yan Clan. Yan Jin tasted the sweetness after voluntarily handing over the Eight Desolation Destruction Flame last time, so the next negotiation for the exchange will be much smoother.

Once these two Heavenly Flames are in hand, my cultivation can at least be pushed to the peak of Seven Star, and if I'm lucky, I might be able to touch the threshold of Eight Star." He said it lightly, but Medusa could hear the certainty in his tone that he had already planned out.

She was silent for a while, then pulled his hand down from her shoulder and interlaced her fingers with his, "Don't think about these tonight. Four women are waiting for you, how long do you intend to stand outside?"

Hun Feng looked down at the lights reflected in her purple eyes, tightened his grip on her hand, turned around, and pushed open the bamboo curtain of the East Courtyard. Behind the curtain, the lights were warm, and four figures, sitting or leaning, were waiting for his return.