That morning, Huo Feng was completely immersed in the preparations for her wedding.

  Every movement she made carried a hint of unease… and perhaps a hidden sorrow. It was not merely the nervousness of a bride, but the confusion of a heart weighed down by longing.

  During those days, the shadow of her late father, Jin Hai, lingered constantly in her thoughts, leaving a heavy emptiness in her chest. She also missed her mother, wishing with all her heart that she had truly been Little Fu—Fu who had vanished, leaving behind a wound that bled every time Huo Feng remembered her laughter.

  Yue helped her gently, doing her best to ease the tension.

  While adjusting the wedding robe, Yue murmured with a sigh filled with nostalgia,

  "If Suo were here with us now… this hall would be full of laughter."

  Huo Feng smiled faintly, but the heaviness in her chest did not fade.

  The quiet did not last long. The door burst open.

  Mei stepped inside with hurried, tense steps, as if she had entered a battlefield rather than a wedding chamber.

  Yue immediately snapped : "What are you doing here? Did you come to ruin the preparations?"

  Mei froze just for a single second.

  Then, to everyone's shock, she suddenly burst into tears.

  Not the kind of tears that come from a moment of weakness. This was a collapse that had been building for days.

  Huo Feng and Yue exchanged a confused glance, but Yue showed no mercy : "Enough acting."

  Mei raised her face. She was trying to steady herself, but the tears continued to stream down like clear blood from an invisible wound.

  Her voice trembled, yet the pain in it was unmistakably real : "I came today… to start a new page. I truly wanted to congratulate you on your marriage, Huo Feng… but..."

  She stopped, wiping her tears with a shaking hand.

  A spark of jealousy flickered in her eyes, impossible to hide : "but my hatred for you… won't let me."

  She broke down again, crying even harder than before.

  "I tried… I really tried to accept it… to give up my feelings for my friend and teacher, Wu xin… but every time I see you… something inside me burns!"

  A heavy silence filled the room.

  Huo Feng remained quiet—not because she was ignoring Mei, but because for the first time, she saw a human being suffering in front of her.

  But Yue, as usual, shattered the silence with sharp sarcasm : "Well then? What do you want? For us to teach you how to love her?"

  Huo Feng wanted to end the situation and leave. Confusion filled her face, yet she stayed.

  Suddenly, Mei grabbed her hands tightly, almost desperately. "I never thought you'd be… this cruel."

  Huo Feng gently pulled her hands away : "I'm not cruel. I just don't know how to deal with your pain."

  Mei spoke quickly, like someone afraid of missing her last chance.

  "I want to start over… a blank page between us. I want to erase this hatred. Help me."

  Huo Feng's fingers tightened slightly.

  "I can't erase what's in your heart."

  But Mei raised her head, a strange determination in her eyes—one that looked very close to desperation.

  "Yes, you can.

  I… need that pill more than Master Li."

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  Yue gasped in anger : "How shameless! So you were eavesdropping yesterday!"

  Mei did not even look at her. Her eyes remained fixed on Huo Feng—pleading in a way no one had ever seen before.

  Slowly, Huo Feng took out the magical pill. It was small… yet the weight of the decision in her hands felt enormous.

  "I haven't tested it yet," she said quietly.

  Mei replied immediately, clinging to hope like a drowning person : "That's fine."

  Huo Feng continued : "You will forget your anger… and your hatred toward me."

  Mei nodded without hesitation.

  "That's exactly what I want."

  Yue quickly intervened.

  "No, Huo Feng! That pill was meant for Master Li! Do you know how much energy it took to create it?"

  But Huo Feng did not take her eyes off Mei.

  There was something strange in her gaze… a mixture of compassion and a quiet belief that everyone deserved one last chance.

  "She needs it more. I can't turn my back on her."

  She handed her the pill, whispering seriously,

  "I hope… you truly become pure."

  Mei left the hall with an expression that was a strange mixture of defeat and victory. She held the pill as if it were a treasure… or perhaps a weapon.

  In the corridor, she ran into Wu xin and Master Li. As if fate had deliberately placed them in her path. She raised the pill in front of them with a mysterious smile.

  "Look… a gift from Huo Feng."

  Then she hurried away before either of them could ask anything.

  Silence lingered behind her...Heavier than words.

  Master Li and Wu xin both stared at the pill with unease… as if it were not merely medicine, but the key to something moving in the shadows.

  When they entered the room, Huo Feng felt as if she were looking at two halves of her own divided soul.

  One cold and still, like the destructive power emanating from the Sacred Furnace.

  The other alive and sharp, like the pulse of blood in Hui Lin's veins.

  A faint smile slipped onto her lips unintentionally.

  "What brings you here?"

  Wu xin answered in a restrained voice, though a hint of tension lingered beneath it.

  "We came to know what happened in the Shadow Kingdom."

  She tilted her head slightly.

  "Do you truly want to know everything that happened there?"

  Weariness was visible in her eyes—not physical exhaustion, but the fatigue of reopening a wound that had never healed.

  Master Li spoke calmly.

  "Just tell us what happened after you took the Soul Vessel."

  She looked at him and asked quietly,

  "Do you want to know… where she ended up?"

  Then she sighed.

  "I took the vessel to the River of Oblivion."

  Both of them gasped.

  "What?!"

  Her calm tone only deepened their unease.

  "Don't be surprised… she was there. Wandering. Waiting.

  The spirit who once asked me to protect you."

  She said this while looking meaningfully at Li.

  Then she turned to Wu xin.

  His face had gone pale. His brows slowly tightened as something deep in his memories stirred uneasily.

  He murmured under his breath, almost unconsciously, "I always believed I was her son… so why did she ask someone else to protect Li?"

  Huo Feng continued,

  "I entered the river and waited… she came quickly, like a small puppy rushing toward its master."

  She paused briefly.

  "Before sealing her inside the vessel, I asked her:

  Where can I find my mother… Little Fu?"

  A faint, mocking smile appeared on Huo Feng's lips as she imitated the spirit's voice.

  "You mean dear Fu Ying?

  Your mother? … Heh."

  She frowned.

  "You used to hate her when you were children… how did she suddenly become 'dear' to you?"

  The spirit—ShuShu—responded irritably,

  "You talk too much… just like your father."

  Huo Feng froze.

  "You know my father?"

  "Yes. I know him well. Jin Hai… and Wu xin too.

  Ah… they all owe me.

  And I owe them as well.

  A debt… written in blood."

  But suddenly the words stopped.

  The red earring on Huo Feng's ear flashed. It was not merely an ornament. It was a silent command.

  The spirit suddenly slipped away and buried itself inside the small grave, whispering as it faded:

  "We will meet again soon… girl."

  Then the grave vanished… like a candle extinguished by darkness.

  Silence fell. Master Li and Huo Feng both turned to Wu xin.

  His face was tense now, his gaze distant—as if he were seeing something no one else could see.

  Slowly, confusion, disbelief, and a growing dread spread across his expression.

  "But… I thought I completed my mission… when I burned it inside the furnace."

  Master Li lifted his head sharply.

  "What do you mean?"

  Wu xin hesitated.

  His fingers slowly curled into a fist at his side, as if he were holding back something rising in his chest.

  "I was told… my mother's spirit was wandering, without a grave to anchor it."

  His voice grew heavier.

  "I was ordered to burn the forbidden talisman inside the magical furnace… so her soul could return to its place and finally rest."

  He lowered his gaze.

  "For years… I believed I had done it."

  A bitter realization slowly surfaced in his eyes.

  His voice dropped to a whisper.

  "So why… was I lied to?"

  Master Li and Huo Feng asked together:

  "Who told you that?"

  Wu xin remained silent for a moment.

  The name seemed difficult to say.

  Finally he spoke.

  "Jin Hai."

  Huo Feng's eyes trembled.

  "And what does my father… have to do with ShuShu?"

  Her voice sharpened slightly.

  "Don't you notice something strange?"

  She stepped forward.

  "Every time we speak about that era… our memories become distorted."

  "The Furnace Elder… the Sacred Physician…"

  Then she looked directly at Wu xin.

  "Even you."

  She took another step.

  "Is someone rewriting our past?"

  The silence that followed was heavier than before.

  Then Soft footsteps.

  Yue appeared from the adjacent room.

  Her gaze was cold and steady.

  "Yes."

  All three froze.

  She added calmly, her voice sharp as a blade:

  "I am."

  Their eyes widened.

  Then she smiled faintly, mysteriously.

  "I… will be your bridesmaid, Huo Feng."

  The silence that followed her words was not the silence of shock.

  It was the silence of realization.

  Something far greater than they had imagined…

  had just begun to move.