A few hours later, the ink-black curtain of the night had begun to thin slightly at the absolute edges of the world, making way for the first faint, grey light of the approaching dawn.

High above the mortal plane, Shangguan Mu’er stood suspended in the empty void, hovering silently between the atmospheric barrier and the starry expanse.

Her elegant dark robes rippled gently against the freezing, whistling astral winds that howled through the upper altitude.

From her supreme vantage point, she cast her eyes downward, completely overlooking the entire Eastern Region.

Below her, the vast region looked like a sprawling, intricately carved map of dark valleys, rugged mountain ranges, and the distant, twinkling dots of light emanating from the lanterns of the festive Spirit Hall.

She sighed heavily, a soft, misty breath that instantly crystallized in the sub-zero temperature of the high void.

She knew with absolute certainty that this would be the last time she would be seeing civilization for a very long time, after all, she will be returning to the primal, lawless depths of the dark realms to claim her absolute bloody birthright.

But... at least, before stepping into that endless abyss of violence and hunger, she had made a lasting, immutable memory that would anchor her soul across the infinite centuries.

She smiled gently, and slowly, she raised a slender, pale hand and placed it over her midsection, tenderly caressing her stomach with a protective, reverent touch.

This little gift she carried now was a bond stronger than any ancient contract or spatial oath.

Then, without a single second of hesitation or regret, she opened her massive, ten-meter bat-like wings wide and turned around entirely, leaving the human empire behind her back, and directly headed for the wild, untamed territories of the Vast Wilderness, disappearing into the shadows like a falling meteor.

Down below, far beneath the freezing clouds where the demoness had taken her flight, the ambient temperature of the imperial gardens remained warm and fragrant.

Shen Haoran sat quietly on the stone bench inside the wooden kiosk, the very same spot where he and Shangguan Mu’er had just shared their intensely passionate, reality-bending time hours before.

The lingering, dark residual qi of the concealment formation had completely dissipated into the atmosphere, leaving only the soft scent of crushed lotus petals.

He held his jade glass casually between his fingers, taking a slow, measured sip of his premium wine, thoroughly enjoying the quiet beauty of the night sky as the last of the fireworks finally died out over the distant horizons.

He looked completely relaxed, his golden hair catching the dim moonlight.

At that exact moment, the soft, rhythmic sound of deliberate footsteps suddenly resounded from the gravel path behind him.

The approaching steps were light, yet packed with an underlying, volatile heat that caused the nearby morning dew to instantly evaporate into thin air.

"You seem troubled," a soft, familiar voice asked from the edge of the pavilion.

Looking casually over his shoulder, Haoran didn’t even show a hint of surprise when he saw Huo Yue approaching him through the shadows of the wisteria vines.

Her beautiful crimson hair was loose, blowing gently in the morning breeze, and her wine-red eyes were fixed entirely on his form.

Without waiting for him to stand, she stepped onto the wooden floor of the kiosk and immediately hugged him tightly from behind, wrapping her slender arms around his broad shoulders and burying her face into the nape of his neck.

Haoran didn’t pull away, resting his head back slightly against her shoulder as he shook his head slowly, his voice calm and unbothered as ever. "Let’s not talk about me, but you... How come I can no longer feel that faint, remnant soul residing within the ancient spatial ring on your finger?"

The question cut through the quiet air like a needle.

Huo Yue froze instantly, her entire body going completely rigid against his back as her breath hitched in her throat.

She slowly loosened her grip around his neck, her voice trembling slightly as she asked, "Y-You noticed? S-since when did you know about her presence?"

"From the very beginning," Haoran said smoothly, turning his head slightly so his golden eyes could lock onto her pale face. "The moment we first met each other in this region, the temporal fluctuations and the foreign soul-force within that ring were as clear to me as a beacon in the night. So? What happened to your master while I was gone?"

He remembered a certain incident that will take place in her story from the memories of his cousin...could it be...?

Huo Yue bit her lower lip so hard it almost drew blood, her gaze downcast as she looked at the stone floor as her heart became a chaotic mess of conflicting emotions.

The truth was, she had wanted to handle this horrific matter entirely on her own; she wanted to grow strong enough to face the threat without constantly relying on Haoran’s absolute strength.

She didn’t want him to get involved in her mess, not wanting him to bear the burden of her faction’s enemies.

After all, according to the hurried, desperate warnings her master, Liu Ruyan, had left behind before she was captured, the ancient, mysterious clan that pulled the strings behind the terrifying Shadow Hall was an absolute powerhouse—an entity sitting at the exact same cosmic level as the legendary Shen Clan itself.

They were a force that walked in the deepest shadows of the supreme realms, possessing resources and old monsters that could wipe out entire realms with a single command.

Huo Yue was terrified that once the two colossal factions got involved over her master’s capture, it would actually bring a monumental catastrophe that would shake the entire Tian Yuan Empire to its very core, drowning the central plains in a sea of immortal blood.

But... as she stood there under the weight of his unmoving, golden gaze, she realized how foolish her secrecy was.

"Tell me," Haoran insisted, his voice dropping into a tone of absolute, authoritative certainty that brooked no refusal as he reached back and pulled her around to the side, forcing her to sit beside him on the stone bench. "Are you truly worried about causing me a bit of political trouble? Don’t be so ridiculous, Yue’er. In this entire world, there is no one qualified enough to make me feel genuinely troubled. No clan, no emperor, and no god can command my hesitation. So, speak your mind completely. Even if the heavens were to fall because of your words, I can still hold them up for you with a single hand."

Huo Yue stared deeply into his golden eyes, searching the bottomless depths of his pupils, and found nothing but absolute, unwavering confidence and a terrifyingly beautiful possessiveness.

The cold, steel fortress she had built around her heart over the past months of isolation completely disintegrated.

Slowly... her wine-red eyes began to water, fat tears tracking down her flushed cheeks as she threw herself into his chest, hugging him tighter than she ever had before.

"Haoran..." She cried out, her voice breaking into a ragged, guttural sob that she had suppressed for far too long and all her strategic composure, her pride as the Flame Empress, vanished as she wept into his silk robes. "Master... master... She was brutally captured right in front of my eyes by those horrifying people from the Shadow Hall! I was right there, Haoran! I had my Heavenly Flames, I had my cultivation, but I couldn’t do anything to stop them...! I’m so incredibly pathetic! I’m completely unworthy of being her personal disciple!"

Haoran turned his body around fully and hugged her close, wrapping his strong arms around her waist as he gently rubbed her back in long, soothing strokes, consoling her as she let out all her pain.

At the same time, his mind was operating with a cold, analytical precision, his thoughts shifting behind his calm expression.

’As expected, it’s the Shadow Hall.’ he mused. ’That’s the covert, underworld power cultivated and funded by the Hei Clan, if I remember correctly.’

The Hei Clan. One of the Nine Immortal Clans that ruled the upper echelons of the cultivation world from the shadows.

When it came to raw military power, ancestral depth, and political influence across the star systems, they were an absolute juggernaut—second only to the supremacy of his own Shen Clan.

They were masters of shadow manipulation and soul harvesting, a clan that even the Imperial Throne had to treat with the utmost reverence.

He remembered clearly from the fragments of the original plotline extracted from his cousin’s own memories, that in that alternate timeline, Huo Yue’s master was also taken by the Shadow Hall to serve as a vital component for some dark ritual and also to extract her cultivation technique.

Huo Yue, acting under the guidance of the world’s absolute destiny as a chosen heroine, would eventually grow in strength, destroying the regional Shadow Hall branches decades later, and completely wiping the Hei Clan from existence hundreds of years later before she finally ascended to the Immortal Realm as a supreme sovereign.

If he chose to do absolutely nothing right now, naturally, with Huo Yue’s status as a chosen one of the heavens, she absolutely would not face any real fatal danger.

The universe itself would conspire to protect her, providing her with the necessary lucky chances, hidden realms, and ancient inheritances required to eventually rescue her master on her own timeline.

However... Haoran was not a man who enjoyed waiting for the slow, predictable gears of a pre-written script to turn, he was a variable that demanded immediate compliance from reality.

He looked down at the beautiful woman resting in his arms, whose ragged breathing had finally begun to calm down under his steady embrace, her tears slowing to a stop against his chest.

"Yue," he spoke gently, his voice carrying a soft warmth reserved only for her.

Huo Yue looked up from his chest, her long crimson eyelashes wet and her wine-red eyes still terribly red from her weeping, looking vulnerable yet incredibly fierce.

"Do you want to take your revenge personally? Or do you want me to do it for you?" He asked, his face a perfect mask of aristocratic calm.

Huo Yue blinked her massive eyes, completely stunned by the casual nature of his choices as he spoke of confronting an Immortal Clan as if he were asking her what she wanted for breakfast.

"If you want me to handle it," Haoran continued, his finger gently tracing her jawline, "if you want me to personally deploy the Shen Clan’s shadow guards to rescue your master and completely destroy every single branch of the Shadow Hall across the empire, it is only a matter of me waving my hand. A single missive from my brush, and the Hei Clan will have to return her on their knees within three days."

However, though he kept this thought carefully hidden behind his eyes, if she actually chose that easy, dependent option, Haoran would actually lower his long-term expectations for her potential.

He wanted a queen who could stand beside him in the upper realms, not a fragile flower that needed to be shielded from every passing storm.

"Or," Haoran’s smirk returned, sharp and challenging, "would you want to take your revenge personally, with your own two hands? If you choose that path, I can give you absolutely all the things you need—the resources, the pills, the techniques, and the absolute authority. And I can promise you, before the gates of the Imperial Academy open for the grand tournament, you will have your master back, and the Shadow Hall will be nothing but a historical footnote."

Huo Yue stared deeply into his golden eyes, seeing the unspoken challenge hidden within his gaze.

Then, she took a deep, shuddering breath, closing her eyes for a single second as she remembered the terrifying shadows that had dragged her master away, and the absolute helplessness she had felt.

When she opened them again, the vulnerability was completely gone. Her wine-red pupils were burning with a bright, blinding light of unyielding determination, her four Heavenly Flames humming in perfect sync within her core.

"Is there even a need to ask such a question?" Huo Yue spoke, her voice turning as cold as ice as a fierce, lethal smile formed on her lips. "Haoran... I am the disciple of Liu Ruyan, and I am your fiancée. I want to crush the Shadow Hall on my own. I want to make them regret ever offending me and my master."

Haoran’s smirk widened into a proud, genuinely amused grin as he reached into the deepest space of his storage ring and pulled out a simple-looking, unadorned iron knife, its surface dull and completely devoid of any spiritual light or flashy inscriptions.

"Very well then," Haoran said, placing the heavy iron hilt directly into her hand. "Since you have the pride of a sovereign, I will give you a weapon capable of accomplishing your goals. Let us see how much of the shadows your fire can consume."