Lin Yue's POV
"Betrothed?" I choked out. "I don't even know you!"
The Demon Lord's red eyes fixed on me, and despite the terror gripping my heart, I felt something strange—a warmth, like recognition, though I'd never seen this man before in my life.
"Your soul knows me," he said, stepping over the rubble. "Even if your mind has forgotten."
Master Qingfeng scrambled backward, his face white as paper. "Demon Lord Shen Yifeng! This is Azure Cloud Sect territory! You have no right—"
"I have every right." Shen Yifeng's spiritual pressure intensified, making everyone in the room drop to their knees except me. The straps holding me to the table snapped like thread. "She bears my soul mark. Has carried it since birth. She is mine by ancient contract, recognized by the Heavenly Dao itself."
"That's impossible!" the Sect Master gasped, struggling to breathe under the crushing pressure. "We checked her background! She's just a village girl, an orphan with no family connections!"
"Her mortal family means nothing." Shen Yifeng walked toward me slowly, and despite his terrifying appearance, he moved with strange gentleness. "In her past life, she was my cultivation partner. We made a soul contract to find each other in every reincarnation. I've been searching for eighteen years."
This was insane. Past lives? Soul contracts? I was just Lin Yue, the servant girl who scrubbed floors!
But then why did looking at him make my chest ache with a feeling I couldn't name?
"Lies!" Bai Shuang shrieked, though she was on her knees too. "She's playing tricks! Probably hired this demon to save her!"
"Silence." Shen Yifeng didn't even look at her, but his power yanked her backward, slamming her against the wall. "You dare speak about my betrothed with such disrespect?"
Chen Hao crawled forward desperately. "Demon Lord, please! Bai Shuang is pregnant with my child! Without Lin Yue's core, they'll both die! Surely even you can understand a father's—"
"She's not pregnant," Shen Yifeng said flatly.
Everyone froze.
"What?" Chen Hao whispered.
"Your woman lied to manipulate you. There is no child. A simple spiritual scan would have revealed the truth, but you were too desperate to check." Shen Yifeng finally reached me, and his hand touched my face with surprising tenderness. "They were going to butcher you over a lie."
I looked at Chen Hao's devastated expression and felt... nothing. No satisfaction. No anger. Just emptiness.
"You're lying!" Bai Shuang screamed. "I am pregnant! Tell them, Master Qingfeng! You examined me!"
Master Qingfeng's silence was deafening.
"Master?" Chen Hao turned to him slowly. "She is pregnant... right?"
"I..." Master Qingfeng couldn't meet his eyes. "The Sect Master ordered me not to verify. He said it didn't matter whether it was true or not. What mattered was saving Bai Shuang."
The betrayal on Chen Hao's face almost made me pity him. Almost.
"You knew?" he breathed. "You all knew she was lying, and you let me think—"
"It was necessary," the Sect Master said coldly. "You were wavering. Showing mercy to a servant over the sect's future. We needed you focused on what mattered."
"What mattered?" Chen Hao's voice cracked. "You made me betray someone who loved me for ten years over a LIE?!"
"Oh, now you care?" I laughed bitterly. "Now that you know there's no baby, suddenly my life matters?"
He flinched like I'd slapped him.
"Enough," Shen Yifeng said. "Lin Yue, can you stand?"
I tried, but my legs were shaking too badly. He caught me before I fell, lifting me easily into his arms. Being held by him felt... right. Safe. Like coming home after a long, terrible journey.
"Wait!" Master Qingfeng called out. "Demon Lord, please! If you take her, Azure Cloud Sect will have no choice but to declare war on the Northern Wastes! The other righteous sects will join us! You'll start a cultivation world war over one girl!"
"Then start it," Shen Yifeng said simply. "I've destroyed entire sects for less. And unlike you, I don't betray those I'm sworn to protect."
He turned to leave, carrying me toward the broken wall.
"Lin Yue!" Chen Hao's desperate shout made me look back. He was crying openly now, reaching toward me. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I was wrong about everything! Please, don't go with him! He's a demon! He'll hurt you worse than we ever could!"
"You ripped out her Golden Core while she screamed," Shen Yifeng said coldly. "What could I possibly do that's worse than what you already did?"
"But I didn't!" Chen Hao sobbed. "The extraction didn't happen! She still has her core! Lin Yue, please, stay! Let me protect you! Let me make this right!"
"Make it right?" I stared at him, this man I'd loved for ten years, and felt absolutely nothing. "Chen Hao, you chose. Over and over, you chose. Chose Bai Shuang over me. Chose the sect over me. Chose a lie over me. I'm done being your last choice."
"But I love you!" he cried. "I realized it too late, but I love you! I always have!"
"No," I said quietly. "You love the idea of being a good person. You love feeling noble by saving the poor servant girl. But you never loved me enough to actually save me when it mattered."
Shen Yifeng's arms tightened around me protectively. "Wise words. You're learning quickly."
He leaped through the broken wall, and we shot into the sky so fast my stomach dropped. Below, the Azure Cloud Sect grew smaller and smaller. The place that had been my entire world for ten years became just a cluster of buildings, insignificant and far away.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked, clinging to his robes as wind whipped around us.
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere they can never touch you again." He looked down at me, and his red eyes softened. "I know you're frightened. I know this seems insane. But I swear on my cultivation, on my very soul—I will never hurt you. Never betray you. You are the most precious thing in my world, across all lifetimes."
"But I don't remember you," I whispered. "I don't remember any past life or soul contract. What if you're wrong? What if I'm not who you think I am?"
"Then I'll spend this entire lifetime proving I'm right." He smiled, and it transformed his terrifying face into something almost beautiful. "And even if I'm wrong—even if the soul contract was mistaken—I would still choose you, Lin Yue. Because the girl who endured ten years of suffering and still tried to escape with her dignity intact? She's worth choosing."
Tears burned my eyes. No one had ever said anything like that to me before.
We flew for hours, leaving Azure Cloud Sect's territory far behind. Finally, as the sun set in brilliant orange and pink, we descended toward a massive fortress built into a mountain. Black towers stretched toward the sky, wrapped in crimson mist.
The Northern Wastes. The Demon Lord's domain.
Guards in black armor bowed as we passed. Demon cultivators with glowing eyes watched curiously. I shrank against Shen Yifeng, suddenly aware I was a righteous sect disciple (former disciple?) in the heart of demon territory.
He carried me to a huge room with a bed that could fit ten people. Soft furs covered it, and despite the fortress's dark exterior, the room was warm and comfortable.
"Rest," he said gently, setting me down on the bed. "You've been through trauma. Your body and spirit need healing."
"Wait," I grabbed his sleeve before he could leave. "The soul contract. How do I know if it's real? How do I know you're telling the truth about... us?"
Shen Yifeng smiled sadly. "You don't. Not yet. Trust must be earned, and I understand I'm a stranger to you. But Lin Yue..." He touched his chest, right over his heart. "When you formed your Golden Core last night, did you feel pain here? Like something was awakening?"
I nodded slowly. I had felt that.
"That was our soul bond recognizing itself. The contract awakening." He pulled out a jade pendant from his robes, and it glowed with soft golden light. Symbols I didn't recognize covered its surface. "This pendant reacts to your spiritual energy. Only my true soul partner can make it glow. Would you like to test it?"
Before I could answer, shouting erupted from outside the room.
"Demon Lord!" A guard burst through the door, gasping. "Emergency! Azure Cloud Sect's Sect Master and a coalition of five righteous sects are at our gates! They're demanding we return the girl or they'll lay siege to the fortress!"
My blood ran cold. They'd really started a war over me?
"Let them try," Shen Yifeng said darkly. "I'll paint the mountain red with their blood before I return her."
"There's more," the guard said nervously. "Chen Hao is with them. He's challenging you to single combat. He says... he says if you defeat him, he'll acknowledge your claim to the girl. But if he wins, you must return her and never interfere with Azure Cloud Sect again."
Shen Yifeng's expression turned murderous. "That arrogant little—"
"Wait!" I jumped up from the bed. "Shen Yifeng, don't. Chen Hao is at Golden Core stage. You're... what, Nascent Soul? Higher? It wouldn't be a fair fight. It would be slaughter."
"He tried to steal your core. He deserves slaughter."
"Maybe," I admitted. "But I don't want to start my new life watching you kill people over me. There has to be another way."
"What other way? They won't leave without you or blood."
I took a deep breath, an crazy idea forming. "Then I'll go out there. I'll tell them the truth—that I choose to stay with you. That I'm invoking my right to choose my own cultivation path."
"They'll try to take you by force."
"Then stop them. But without killing. Show them demon cultivators can be more honorable than righteous sect masters who rip out their disciples' cores." I met his red eyes steadily. "Please. If you truly care about me, prove it by respecting my choice."
Shen Yifeng stared at me for a long moment, then laughed—a real, genuine laugh. "Incredible. One day with me and you're already giving orders. Fine. We'll do it your way. But know this..." His expression turned serious. "If anyone tries to harm you, I'm breaking my promise. Your safety matters more than honor."
We walked to the fortress gates together. Outside, hundreds of cultivators in righteous sect robes stood ready for battle. At the front, I saw Chen Hao with his sword drawn, Master Qingfeng looking ashamed, and the Sect Master glaring with pure hatred.
But it was the figure behind them that made my heart stop.
Bai Shuang stood there smiling, and beside her was a woman I'd never seen before—ancient, withered, with eyes that glowed with dark power.
"Who is that?" I whispered.
Shen Yifeng's face went pale. "No. It can't be. She's been dead for three hundred years."
The old woman smiled, revealing black teeth. "Hello, little Demon Lord. I see you found her first. What a shame. I was hoping to harvest that delicious Golden Core myself."
"Harvest?" The word sent ice through my veins.
"Oh yes," the old woman cackled. "Did you really think your formation of a Golden Core was natural, child? I've been feeding you spiritual energy in secret for ten years, fattening you up like a pig for slaughter. Your core belongs to me. I grew it. And now..." She raised a gnarled hand that crackled with black energy. "I'm going to take it, whether the Demon Lord approves or not."
The jade pendant around Shen Yifeng's neck suddenly shattered.
And I felt something in my chest crack open—memories flooding in like a dam breaking. Another life. Another time. And Shen Yifeng's face, younger but the same, saying:
"Find me in the next life. Promise me. No matter what, find me."
I gasped. "I remember. Oh gods, I remember everything."
"Lin Yue?" Shen Yifeng caught me as I swayed. "What's happening?"
"She's awakening," the old woman hissed. "The soul memories are returning. Quick! Before she regains her full power—ATTACK!"