The borderlands stretched endlessly under a starless sky. Lin Xuan and Hong Lian traveled at night to avoid righteous scouting gu, their small party moving like ghosts across cracked earth and withered grass. The two guards maintained distance ahead and behind, leaving the central pair in relative privacy.
Hong Lian walked beside Lin Xuan, crimson robes whispering against the dry ground. The temporary oath sigil on her palm still glowed faintly when she clenched her fist.
She broke the long silence first.
"You're unusually quiet even for a demon. Afraid I'll steal your precious fragment while you sleep?"
Lin Xuan did not look at her.
"Fear is inefficient. If you betray the oath, the backlash will cripple you before you can act. I calculated the risk."
Hong Lian laughed — low, sharp, edged with real amusement.
"Always calculating. Tell me, Gray… do you ever do anything that isn't weighed on a scale first?"
"Rarely."
She stepped closer, voice dropping.
"Then let me tip your scales. The Void Cicada Essence you bought — you know what it truly is, don't you?"
Lin Xuan finally glanced sideways.
"Enlighten me."
Hong Lian's red lips curved.
"It wasn't harvested from some 'wild king' in a rift. That vial came from the ruins of an ancient battlefield — the Void Fracture War, eight hundred years ago. A rank-eight Void Cicada Gu was born when two venerables tore space itself apart. The beast devoured time and distance until the battlefield collapsed into a permanent void. The essence in that vial is a drop of its blood — crystallized chaos. Refine it carelessly and your aperture will tear itself into a black hole. Even I wouldn't touch it without proper preparation."
She paused, eyes gleaming.
"So why risk it? What makes you so certain you can succeed where others failed?"
Lin Xuan remained silent for several steps.
Then he spoke — voice flat, precise.
"Because I have already died three times. The fourth death will not come from a mere rank-five essence."
Hong Lian's steps slowed.
"Three deaths… Rebirth through time-path gu?"
Lin Xuan offered no confirmation.
Instead he turned the conversation back on her.
"You left Crimson Lotus Pavilion. A rank-six genius does not become a rogue over minor disagreements. What did they ask of you that you refused?"
Hong Lian's expression darkened — the playful mask cracking for the first time.
"They wanted to marry me to the young pavilion master. A political alliance. They said my talent belonged to the sect, not to me. When I refused, they tried to seal my aperture and force the union. I killed three elders and burned the wedding pavilion to the ground before escaping."
She laughed bitterly.
"They called me a traitor. Branded me demonic. Yet they were the ones willing to chain a living person for power. I swore that day I would never kneel to any sect again."
Tension thickened the air between them.
Hong Lian stopped walking entirely and faced him.
"So tell me honestly, Gray. When you say 'useful partner'… how long until you try to chain me the same way they did?"
Lin Xuan stopped as well.
He turned to face her fully — black eyes meeting blood-red ones without flinching.
"I do not chain people with marriage or empty promises. I chain them with benefit. With fear. With results. If you remain useful, you will grow stronger beside me. If you become a liability…"
He let the sentence hang.
Hong Lian stepped closer — close enough that he could feel the faint heat radiating from her body.
"And if I decide I want more than just an alliance?" she asked, voice dangerously soft. "If I decide I want to see what lies beneath that perfect mask of control?"
Lin Xuan's expression did not change.
"Then you would be making the same mistake the Crimson Lotus Pavilion made — assuming you can possess what refuses to be possessed."
He raised his hand.
The Fate Cicada Fragment pulsed once.
A thin golden thread brushed her cheek — not threatening, but a clear reminder of the power gap that still existed.
"Focus on survival, Hong Lian. The righteous sects are tightening the net. In three weeks we reach the central provinces. There, I will need eyes and blades I can trust. Prove you are both, and the partnership will continue."
Hong Lian stared at him for a long moment.
Then she smiled — slow, dangerous, and genuinely intrigued.
"You really are a demon."
She turned and resumed walking.
"But I like demons. They're honest about what they want."
Lin Xuan followed.
Behind them, the wind carried the distant sound of righteous transmission gu — faint but growing closer.
The temporary alliance had survived its first real test.
But tension now hummed between them like a taut gu string — ready to either strengthen their bond…
…or snap.
To be continued...