The air inside the Celestial Assembly Hall was thicker than incense.
Banners hung from the walls — white and gold silk stitched with the symbol of the Heavenly Synthesis Ceremony: two overlapping circles, one black, one silver, with a golden lotus blooming at their intersection.
It was a ceremony reserved only for dual cultivation bonds of national importance.
Sacred.
Binding.
Eternal.
And Hei Long had just named his partner.
Leng Qingxue.
The Announcement Echoed Like a Bell
Not shouted.
Not celebrated.
Simply spoken.
"I choose her."
And that was enough.
The Empress gave her blessing with a single nod.
The high elders stood.
The cultivator nobility bowed.
And across the city, rumors detonated.
The Reactions Came Immediately
Zhao Yuran locked herself in her alchemy tower.
No flames. No incense.
Just silence.
She stared at the forbidden scroll Hei Long once rejected. The one marked "Void Meridian Refinement: Path of the Undying Furnace."
