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Chapter 9: The Day the Light Faded
The sect courtyard was alive with excitement.
Red banners swayed gently in the breeze. Scented incense drifted from the ceremonial towers. Disciples gathered in formation, not for war—but for a celebration.
Today was the day Li Mei, fairy of the Green Willow Sect, would visit the Tianyu Sect with her parents and elders.
Today, they were supposed to bless her engagement with Yan Xue, Tianyu's once-fabled genius.
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He stood near the pavilion, robes freshly pressed, his hair tied in a formal dragon-knot. He'd been preparing for weeks. His hands were slightly calloused, knuckles red from excessive practice.
But he was smiling.
"Today… is a new beginning..a new start."
He glanced toward the outer gate with hope.
Li Mei was arriving.
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The Laughter Begins
But before she reached him, voices started hissing around him—too loud to ignore.
"Is that him?"
"That's the one who plateaued?"
"Li Mei deserves a dragon, not a pond fish."
"He used to be the top… now he's clinging to an old engagement like a beggar."
" If he had the slightest self awareness, he would have withdrawn from the engagement himself."
Yan Xue kept his composure. He had endured ridicule before.
Then one voice—sharp, taunting, cutting:
"You're not worthy of Li Mei."
He turned. The speaker was Li Yuhan, Li Mei's cousin, and a peak Golden Core realm cultivator. Handsome, arrogant, and smirking.
Yan Xue's fists clenched… but still, he remained silent.
It didn't matter...when Li Mein was his.
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The Worst Blow was when...
she arrived.
Li Mei.
Soft green robes, white veil over her face, her Qi as gentle as moonlight on a lake.
But she didn't speak to him.
She didn't greet him.
She just stood there.
Looking at him.
Looking… down at him.
Her voice, when it came, was cold:
"I… had hoped you'd make progress. I truly did...But even hope must yield to reality."
"I don't hate you. I pity you."
" I hope you don't mind, but I can't marry someone who can't progress anymore. So we are here to annul the engagement."
And in that moment, Yan Xue's heart froze.
This wasn't just rejection.
It was judgment.
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His back straightened.
He looked into her eyes, then turned to the elders, then the crowd, then back to Li Mei.
"Three thousand years east and three thousand west…"
"The waters flow, and fortunes change."
"You think I am beneath you now?"
He pointed at her, voice sharp with unspoken grief:
"Then let it be so."
"I will not wait for you to break this engagement—I break it myself!"
Gasps echoed across the pavilion.
"In three years," he declared, "I will stand above all of you—and defeat you in open combat."
Li Mei's eyes didn't flinch.
She simply turned.
And as she walked away, her cousin laughed again.
> "Three years? You'll still be in Foundation Establishment by then—if you're lucky."
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For the next two years…
Yan Xue isolated himself.
He trained endlessly, breaking bones, pushing Qi through scorched channels, rejecting pills and healing to grow stronger the hard way.
He studied forbidden techniques, ancient scrolls, but none of it worked.
His cultivation stayed stuck.
His body began to fray.
His spirit... began to dim.
And every night…
When sleep stole him…
He dreamed of silk.
Of black petals.
Of a warm voice saying:
"You need to only accept."
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[End of Chapter 9]