Su Sheng returned to her sect.
She thought—perhaps foolishly—that once the truth was known, once the raven demons were slain, her fellow disciples would at least listen. Even if they couldn't bless her, they'd surely understand. Respect her.Welcome her home.
But the moment she stepped across the threshold of the mountain gates, what greeted her… was a storm of eyes—cold, furious, laced with disappointment.
"She dares to come back?! After lying with that golden beast?!"
"A traitor! Her master died a strange death—and she dares defend the creature that might've killed him!"
"She doesn't deserve that uniform!"
Su Sheng froze.
She opened her mouth, voice trembling, trying to explain:"No, you're wrong… Rong Yu isn't the killer. It was the ravens, the ones he tried to stop—he's not—"
"Shut your mouth!" her senior brother shouted, smashing the stone pillar beside her with one palm.His glare could have cracked the sky. "Do you know how many disciples fell to their knees before the ancestral altar when word of you spread? And now you show up—defending that monster?!"
She took a step back. "You… you really don't believe me?"
"You still dare to speak?" a cold-eyed elder snapped."You are no longer a disciple of this sect."
"From this day forth, you are exiled."
Boom—
Her mind went blank.A deafening roar filled her ears, as if something inside had just shattered.She looked down. At her waist was the sect's command token—a symbol she had carried since childhood.
It was struck from her body in a single blow.It hit the ground at her feet.
She reached out to pick it up… but her fingers stopped, frozen mid-air.
And then—finally—her tears fell.
"…I never betrayed anyone.""I just didn't want to condemn a man who took an arrow for me."
She turned around.And walked out the gates.
Alone.Like everything she had once believed in had crumbled behind her.Her back was straight, her steps heavy. And all around her, only the weight of silence and dust.
Then—The sky trembled.
A gust split the clouds.Golden feathers whirled down like meteors, and a fierce wind howled from above.
Rong Yu descended.
He landed in front of her, cloaked in cold, ruthless grace.His eyes, burning with restrained rage, swept across her form—her dusty robes, the broken token in her hand, the tears at the corners of her eyes.
"They cast you out?" he asked quietly.
She bit her lip, said nothing.
Then he reached forward. Slowly, firmly, he pulled her into his arms.His wings spread open behind him—vast and golden, veiling the heavens.
"Then don't go back."
"I'll take you away."
"If they reject you, I'll cherish you.If they shame you, I'll tear them apart.If they destroy your home—then I'll build you a palace with my own hands."
"Su Sheng," he whispered, forehead touching hers."If you are no longer of that sect… then be my bride. The bride of the Golden Wing King."
She looked up, voice barely a breath:"You're not afraid? I once tried to kill you."
"I fear your tears more than your arrows," he replied."I only fear… that you love me not out of choice—but because you have nowhere else to go."