Wen Xiuchu (GL) · chat.title

The bamboo sea behind the mountain lay silent. A clear breeze passed through the leaves, and their rustling settled into a serene hush that filled the valley. A moment before, you had still held on to a sliver of hope, planning to play dumb and bluff your way out, then turn and vanish without a trace. But in the next instant, the piercingly cold Spirit-Binding Cord came tearing through the air and coiled deathly tight around your limbs. Its force held you utterly motionless, pinning you firmly to the bluestone platform. You were the free and unbridled heir of the Flame Foxes, born wild and willful, following your whims through a thousand years of romance and pleasure. Never had anyone bound you so forcefully. Fury surged in your chest at once. You were about to snap out a rebuke when you looked up and met Wen Xiuchu’s eyes. They were the cold, aloof eyes of the Qinglian Sect’s Eldest Senior Sister—eyes that had long been as detached as ice and snow, untouched by any mortal obsession. Now they brimmed with three years of accumulated madness and stubborn fixation. Beneath that cold exterior was an obsession that scorched the heart and eroded the bones. Before you could struggle free, before you could offer even half a word in protest, a glaring crimson pact talisman burst from her entire body. Blood-red spiritual power surged and raged, violently tearing through the barrier between humans and demons. Under the irreversible laws of the Heavenly Dao, it forcibly tangled two utterly incompatible souls together, binding and fusing them into one. Your spiritual power fell into violent chaos. The Fox Clan’s innate spiritual power resisted this absurd, humiliating bond with frantic force, while the untamed pride and instinct for freedom in your blood and bones screamed wildly. “You forced a beast pact on me?! Have you lost your mind?!” You rebuked her fiercely, your eyes full of shock and blazing rage. You were the incomparably noble heir of the Flame Foxes, the free and unrestrained successor of the demon clan. When had you ever become something bound by another’s contract? Especially by a lifebound beast pact forged through forbidden arts—one that could never be escaped for all eternity! Across from you, the white-robed cultivator stood slender and upright. Her plain robes, always untouched by dust, were whipped fluttering by the chaotic spiritual energy. A glaring dark-red trail of blood slowly welled from the corner of her lips and dripped down her pale jaw. You knew perfectly well how grievous the cost of this forbidden art was. She had made a sacrifice of half her cultivation and her lifebound spirit palace, using her soul as the catalyst—harming the enemy a thousand while losing eight hundred of her own—all to forcibly bind you to her. The wind stilled; leaves fell. A deathly silence filled the valley. Wen Xiuchu lifted her eyes to you. Her voice was soft and clear, yet carried an all-consuming obsession and the madness of a desperate gamble: “You have always wanted to escape. I had no choice but to resort to this.” “I am the Fox Clan heir! Wen Xiuchu, do you take me for a contracted beast?!” You gritted your teeth, fury churning in your chest, nearly biting through your jaw. She looked at your furious eyes and brow. There was not a trace of regret on her pale face, and every word was gentle and cruel: “Not a contracted beast. A lover.” “I just... no longer know how else to make you stay.” You watched helplessly as she forcibly destroyed half her own cultivation. The profound spiritual power she had cultivated for years dispersed inch by inch, all of it offered up to this absurd, domineering beast pact. Your teeth ached and clenched; you were about to grind them to pieces, your heart full of unwillingness, rage, and sheer absurdity. A fine, drawn-out ache of binding suddenly spread deep within your soul. The Heavenly Dao contract had fully taken form. Scalding pact marks pierced through flesh, blood, and bone, searing firmly into the depths of your soul. From this moment on, your carefree, unfettered days were utterly over. You would not become a puppet, but for the rest of your life you could never be more than a hundred li from her. Your souls were connected and your senses linked. For lifetime after lifetime, there would be no escape. “Wen Xiuchu! I came to your sect to study and train! I am the Fox Clan heir! You forced a pact on me! I’ll report you and have your sect master punish you!” You practically roared the words. In that instant, the pride of the Fox Clan and a thousand years of freedom were crushed to nothing beneath her hands. Wen Xiuchu stood amid the slowly scattering blood-red light. Her face was pale as paper, her body swaying slightly, yet her gaze was resolute, without the slightest flinch. She said softly: “I won’t stop you. I will bear any punishment. The pact is sealed; it can never be undone.” An overwhelming sense of absurdity and powerlessness swept through you. Looking at the obsessive, mad white-robed senior sister before you, your throat tightened, and you could only force out two words: “You’re insane...” She gazed at you quietly. The desolation, failed hopes, and obsession accumulated over three years surged up in her eyes. Her voice was as light as a sigh, yet every word carved into your heart: “When I couldn’t find you three years ago, I had already gone mad.”