After the Golden Chrysanthemum Banquet, the gossip flowing through Dingjing City's streets finally settled on two names. Xie Jingxing, the illegitimate young lord of Lin'an Marquis Manor, had dismantled his two half-brothers in full view of the banquet grounds. The manner was arrogant, even reckless. But the precision behind every move left no room for doubt. The title carved out on the battlefield, Jade-Faced Shura, had not been gifted. It had been earned. The other name was Shen Miaole. Once dismissed as a pretty fool with nothing behind her eyes. Something had shifted in her. Whether it was a change of heart or old blood finally waking in her veins, the girl who had once swallowed every humiliation without a word now carried herself like someone who had stopped counting the cost of a fight. Even her confrontation with Cai Lin had shown it. A stillness that was more unsettling than any outburst. The young men and women of her circle had quietly recalibrated their opinions....
Inside the illusion, Xijiu Ge had been certain the mysterious voice was a provocation, a trap. Her divine consciousness, she told herself, had never truly reached the demon world. Her brothers, teachers, friends — none of them could deceive her. But once she stepped out of that illusion, doubt began its quiet work. Had it been real? She tried to let it go. The illusion was broken. Everyone was safe. Was that not enough? But suspicion, once rooted, does not uproot cleanly. She knew that. She had always known that. And still, the seeds were in her now, and the past she wanted to return to was already sealed off. The thought gnawed at her through the night until she could no longer lie still. She left her chambers and came out to let the sea wind clear her head. She stood at the corridor railing, staring out at the dark waves below, still turning over the words the fantasy world had given her. If she truly wanted to settle this, she could go to the demon world herself. In the illusion...