Marriage? At a time like this? It’s absurd! How does it even strengthen any sect??? … It strengthens a man’s agility, that’s for sure… Yuelong’s face flushed a little as the last thought rolled into his mind. He remembered who he was facing and suppressed this thought. The blush vanished from his face as quickly as it came. “But, father—”

Fan Haoren stopped him with a lift of his hand. “How does it help strengthen the sect? you might ask. You saw how the other sect leaders reacted before they left. They laughed. Laughed! No respect! They think that we’re weak, because that traitor was from our sect. No! We will show them our strength! That we will not waver in the face of righteousness! That slaying a traitor means nothing!”

Slaying a traitor means nothing. The words pierced like sirens in his ears. Each word slammed itself straight into his heart, creating cracks for the fires of anger to attack through. This truly is the Hall of Severe Endurance…1

“Through the unbreakable bond of marriage, whichever sect we pair with will be forever allied with us. And that bond will strengthen as you ascend and replace me as the leader!” explained Leader Fan. “Now you understand?”

“No, I do not.”

“…”

This was not the first time Yuelong bluntly rebuffed his father. The first time he did was when he was being taught the etiquette of marriage and the importance of chastity.

“Purify your mind and rid yourself of all evil thoughts,” his father would preach. “If you do not, not only will your cultivation be affected, but the amount of energy that you possess will also drop a thousand feet. Come that time, you should turn yourself in and accept punishment. It will be your first step towards the light.”

“Why should we turn ourselves in?” questioned the young Yiheng, not yet granted the name Yuelong.

“Why?” Fan Haoren raised his voice. “Have you forgotten what happened to Elder Jiang?”

Elder Jiang was part of the generation that came before Fan Haoren’s. The reason for his story to be passed down from generation to generation was to remind the disciples of Qianyang never, ever, to indulge in illicit affairs.

According to the tales, Elder Jiang had fallen in love with a woman from the Yefeng Sect. They met at the Immortals Gathering, and it was love at first sight. The two were appointed to a duel to see which clan would be worthy of being titled the strongest. The renowned Elder Jiang lost because he was distracted by the woman’s beauty and blinded by love! He had even entertained the thought of running away with his beloved. The foolish man!

Once, he had been performing “overnight exercises” with the lady when his master caught them in the act. Elder Jiang tried to argue that loving a person was not a crime. Not a crime…my butt! News of his affair with the Yefeng lady spread throughout the Immortals Gathering. Both sects lost face in front of the other cultivation sects. Rumours even had it that the Yefeng Sect leader wore a mask the next day to avoid being seen!

In the end, both Yefeng and Qianyang lost first place to the Lishui Sect, who remained at the top ever since. Each of the two clans blamed the other for their losses. The Qianyang Sect claimed that it was the lady who had enticed Elder Jiang first, while the Yefeng Sect argued that it was Elder Jiang who defiled her first.

The scandal not only angered the former leader of Qianyang Sect but also ruined the sect’s “genteel” reputation. As punishment, Elder Jiang was stripped of his cultivation abilities and was banished from the sect, never to be heard from again.

“But what law under heaven did he break?” questioned the little Yiheng. “Is it a crime to love someone?”

Hearing his little son question his teachings shocked Fan Haoren completely. The entire room turned dead silent, and as if it weren’t already quiet enough, Yiheng could hear his father’s heartbeat getting faster and faster.

Slap!

A red mark slowly rose to the surface of Yiheng’s face.

“Don’t you ever question the teachings of this sect! Those questions of yours already tell me that you are swaying towards the path of evil! Go copy the sect rules ten times!”

At present, Yuelong wasn’t slapped. On the contrary, Fan Haoren smiled. “I know you hold the sect’s rule of chastity in your heart, but this matter is different from Elder Jiang’s. This is an arranged marriage—an official marriage—not some fleeting affair.”

“But—” Thoughts of his dead friend taunted him once again. A body in torn red-and-black robes lay on the rocky terrain, his crown smashed into pieces, his raven hair tangled like a bird’s nest, the blood-stained sticks and branches skewering his body from the fall...

“I want to mourn for Lanyue…”

His father stared at him with wide eyes. “Lanyue? You want to mourn for that traitor?!” He shouted. “If I’d known earlier what he’d become, I would never have accepted him into our sect!”

“He’s still my best friend,” rebutted Yuelong.

“Friend, huh?” scoffed his father. “A friend would try to kill you and the family that raised him, hm? Some friend you have.”

Yuelong grit his teeth. He breathed deeply into his body, pressing back the anger and tears that threatened.

Fan Haoren sighed. “Understand this: he was never who we thought he was. All those years of teaching him never to mingle with evil were a waste. Our words just never found a place in his heart.”

Yuelong’s knuckles were white with rage.

“Never mind him.” His father continued, “It’s also time for you to start a family anyway. You are at the age for it. I promise you, you will like her.”

“…”

“Ahh, there she is,” Fan Haoren pointed past Yuelong.

A young lady made her way through the front entrance of Yanren Hall. Intricate purple designs of wisterias branched out through her black dress, and paired with her graceful steps, they waved and fluttered as if her whole person was carried in on a gentle wind.

“Lishui Disciple Murong Zi1 greets Qianyang Leader Fan and Yixiao Zhenjun.” The young lady bowed.

Her fair white skin and rosy lips, in contrast to her dark dress, suited her perfectly. She had large round eyes and a soft pointed nose, and they lent a feeling of gentleness and innocence to her face.

If people were to see Fan Yuelong and Murong Zi together on the streets, they would compliment the pair for being the best-looking couple.

Fan Yuelong’s lightly tanned skin matched perfectly with Murong Zi’s fairness. His defined jawline and tall nose added a sense of masculinity to his face. Just like his father, Yuelong had eyes that stood out the most. Even though his eyes did not peer into people’s souls and read their darkest secrets, they gave people the feeling of charisma from him. Many of the girls that he encountered in ordinary society would simply fawn and swoon over his eyes.

Fan Yuelong extended his hands and clasped them in front of his chest, bowing in response to Murong Zi’s greeting.

Upon seeing the handsome Yixiao Zhenjun, Murong Zi blushed with shyness. Her heart, like an energetic grasshopper, suddenly started to thump rapidly after only briefly locking eyes with him. She immediately turned her gaze downwards to avoid those piercing eyes of his.

“Marvelous! Just marvelous!” Fan Haoren remarked. “Truly a match made in Heaven! I wonder if Murong Teng knows how good you two look together.”

Following the fading footsteps of his father was an awkward silence between the two youngsters—one who had just experienced love at first sight, and one whose heart had already died from love.

Privately, Yuelong objected to this marriage. I don’t even have feelings for her! How can I force myself to marry someone that I don’t even like?

Yuelong had heard of Murong Zi before, from rumours that were passed around among the disciples. She was the only daughter of the Lishui Sect leader, Murong Teng. Her mother had passed away after she was born into the world. Her father, having no females around him except for his own sister, left Murong Zi in the care of her aunt. Her aunt, who was a cultivator of the medical way, naturally led Murong Zi into the study of pharmacology and the cultivation of poisons, which, as time had proven, was the best choice for her hidden talents.

There was once a time when she concocted a poison so lethal that it had taken down a group of demonic worshippers with a single drop. And at the age of fourteen, with the help of her aunt, she invented the Flying Moth Powder: it had the ability to fend off poisons, and when activated with spiritual energy in a certain way, the powder could become a deadly poison for torture. And because of this creation, she obtained the title the Poison Moth.

Before Murong Zi could speak, Yuelong immediately bowed. “Apologies, Lady Murong, I have business to attend to.”

Without waiting for her reply, Yuelong turned and strolled out of the hall, abandoning the young lady. He simply couldn’t stand it all—the reality that he was going to have to marry someone he just met, or the fact that his heart already belonged to someone else and had died when he died—he didn’t know which troubled him more. His mind was too occupied with the dilemma of whether to go into mourning for his friend, which would go against his father’s wishes, or to get married according to his father's wishes and not be able to pay his respects to his friend.

He gave a long sigh and continued on his way to the kitchens.

“I’ll see you later…” Murong Zi’s voice trailed off into the room as she watched Yixiao Zhenjun disappear down the stairs. She had never seen anyone so charming in her life. He left her with not only the impression of handsomeness but also a sense of security and safety, the only things she truly longed for ever since her aunt’s demise at the hands of the Bi An Sect.

She was fifteen at the time. The little cottage that they lived in was suddenly invaded by the cultivators from Bi An Sect. No, not cultivators—beasts! Those monsters! Her aunt, to protect her and their secret formulas, died in her arms.

Luckily, her father came to her rescue at the last minute and brought her back to the Lishui sect, where she had been living ever since.

“Never again will I let those monsters take what I love away from me!” the fifteen-year-old Murong Zi promised as she lit incense for her late aunt. “Don’t worry aunty, I will avenge you!”

Ever since then, she accelerated in her studies and in her swordsmanship, powered by the fuel of revenge, her spiritual energy soaring to the skies.

In recent years, a saying started spreading among the human society:

The East is caught in the webs of Chixi Mojun, 東坐魔君

The North, protected by the Moth’s glitter, 北護飛蛾

The West stands upright alongside Yixiao Zhenjun, 西征真君

And the South, perched in the Ram’s cave. 南守羊穴

The youngest among the strongest of the four corners of the land were Chixi Mojun from the East, Murong Zi from the North, Fan Yuelong from the West, and Liang Yao2 from the South.

Although she was the weakest of the four, Murong Zi had the same strong determination as her father did, for cleansing the world of evil.

She had been a kind and gentle girl when she was young, until unforgiving time had shaped and left her with her mindset of today. Now that Chixi Mojun was dead and the Bi An Sect was near extinction, what more purpose did she have in this vast world?

She pondered this question as her heart answered with the shadow of a young man.