Clan Building System: I'm not the Protagonist?!-Chapter 79: Meet the Saberfang [2]

Fang Yuan raised his left hand, fingers brushing the ancient ring that sat snugly at its base.

The band was simple, worn by time and legacy, a deep obsidian metal etched faintly with silver filigree, looping patterns of dragon breath and ancestral flame.

It pulsed faintly as if it recognized the tension in the air.

He slid the ring off slowly, not because it was difficult.

But because this wasn’t a casual gesture.

This was a ritual.

A piece of his family’s soul, passed through generations and if used, it required respect.

With the ring resting in his palm, he stared at Lin Zhaoyue, his tone even and quiet but laced with something sharper than steel.

"Do you know the cost of being caught lying after willingly binding yourself to this?"

Lin Zhaoyue nodded with an almost bored enthusiasm. "Yes yes, of course," she replied, waving one hand playfully.

"The soul lash and the backlash. I know. One flicker of dishonesty and boom, instant spiritual damage. There’s a risk of potentially crippling. I’ve done my homework, dear husband~."

Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes.

"Then you also know that even intent to deceive counts. Not just the words you say, but the spirit behind them."

She smirked, stepping forward like it was a wedding ceremony instead of an interrogation.

"Go ahead. I’m ready to bind."

Fang Yuan paused only for a moment, watching her carefully.

Then, slowly, he infused the ring with a thread of his qi. The band glowed faintly, soft golden light weaving between the carvings.

"Place your finger here," he instructed, pointing to the circle of light on the band.

Without hesitation, Lin Zhaoyue pressed her fingertip to the glow.

The ring pulsed once.

Then again.

And then a ripple of transparent energy spread out in a perfect sphere around the two of them, barely visible, like sunlight refracted through still water.

Fang Yuan exhaled slowly.

It had begun.

The ring now recognized Lin Zhaoyue as the one bound to truth.

He started slowly.

"Are you really Lin Feng?" he asked.

Her eyes sparkled. "Yes," she replied simply.

The ring remained quiet. No light nor signs of a backlash.

"And your real name?"

"Lin Zhaoyue," she smiled.

Still, the ring remained inert.

"Were you the one who jumped off the cliff twenty-three years ago?"

"I didn’t hesitate," she answered. "I thought you were dead. So I believed we would be together if I followed you into death at the same time, if it meant one more moment with you."

Fang Yuan’s throat tightened slightly. But the ring gave no protest.

He stared deeper.

"Have you stalked me over the years?"

"Absolutely," she said with a wide, unrepentant grin.

The ring glowed lightly... but not in rejection, it was confirmation.

She wasn’t lying.

Fang Yuan was in disbelief for a second there but he continued the question.

"Have you tried to manipulate me since the moment we met today?"

This time her brows rose.

"Manipulating you? No. I wanted you to remember me on your own."

There was no pulse or a lash.

She was... telling the truth.

Fang Yuan frowned deeper now.

His final question lingered in the air, and when he asked it, his voice was low and almost too quiet.

"Do you mean me any sort of harm?"

Lin Zhaoyue’s smile softened, not teasing, not deranged.

Something almost too human glinted behind those eyes.

"No, absolutely not," she said. "Not unless you meant to reject me forever."

The ring dimmed, but did not spark. It didn’t reject her words.

It accepted them.

Which meant...

She wasn’t lying.

Even that madness, that obsession, was rooted in real truth.

Fang Yuan said nothing.

He simply slipped the ring back onto his finger, exhaled, and stared at the woman who, by all logic, should not be trusted and yet had passed a test older than kingdoms.

Lin Zhaoyue beamed, clasping her hands behind her back like an innocent maiden.

"Satisfied~?"

He looked at her. Truly looked.

And said, voice low and unreadable:

"...We’ll go to the Hollow Yeklo Grass. Lead the way."

Lin Zhaoyue giggled as if she had a small victory and behind her smile, behind her playful steps... there was a flicker of something dangerous again.

Fang Yuan walked in silence, the forest quiet around them save for the occasional rustle of leaves and the maddening hum of Lin Zhaoyue’s presence beside him.

Then her voice chimed, light and honeyed as ever, "Husband~ what will you do if the Saberfang guarding the grass happens to be a peak Nascent Soul realm beast?"

Fang Yuan didn’t so much as flinch, his voice cool and flat.

"Don’t call me husband."

"Aaah~ you’re so cruel!" she whined dramatically, clutching her chest as if physically wounded. "My fragile heart... broken in pieces... again."

Fang Yuan said nothing, eyes forward, tone detached as always.

She sniffled loudly, then leaned in with a mischievous glint and whispered something just low enough to stir the hairs near his ear.

"Hey, husband... I was the one who spread the rumors that you were gay."

Fang Yuan stopped walking.

There was a moment of absolute silence.

Then his head turned slowly, brows furrowing, eyes wide in blank disbelief.

"...The heck—?"

She giggled, twirling a strand of her hair as she leaned a little closer, voice soaked in playful affection.

"Oh dear husband, no other woman needs to know that you’re into women," she beamed sweetly. "I alone am enough for you~."

Fang Yuan didn’t respond, but his eye twitched slightly.

She clasped her hands behind her back, her expression turning mock-serious, chin tilted in confidence.

"Trust me," she added, lowering her voice like she was about to reveal a divine secret,

"All women are like snakes. I’m the only exception."

Fang Yuan turned his head slightly, lips parted just enough to speak.... but no words came out.

His mouth closed again.

"...What kind of logic is that?" he finally muttered under his breath.

The sheer narcissism. The unshakable self-belief. The audacity.

She smiled wider, completely unbothered, as if she had just spoken a universal truth.

And Fang Yuan could only stare at her for a moment, utterly speechless.