Ordered to Marry by the High King - Chapter 21

If it had been any other immortal, Zhuoxue would have already cast aside past grudges and shouted for Longming to take her and run.

But this wasn’t just any immortal—this was Lanhui.

Zhuoxue was lost and overwhelmed, her mind completely blank.

The demonic force hovering above Lanhui suddenly froze. It didn’t withdraw; instead, it split into more than a dozen strands, plunging straight into the shattered stones, transforming into a cage.

Lanhui lowered her gaze, her posture as calm as ever. But suddenly, lines cracked open along her neck and arms, as if a petrified shell were beginning to fracture. Looking closer, it wasn’t breaking apart—patches of tortoiseshell had grown from her body, forming a beautiful carapace pattern across her back. At first glance, the patterns looked like snake scales, but they were far less fine and dense.

“I’ve seen you before,” Longming said, slowly approaching Lanhui, her eyes filled only with confusion.

Lanhui lifted her head at the sound, her expression still calm, but beneath it was a determination like one who had burned their bridges.

And yet…

She still didn’t fight back. She simply stood tall among the rubble, without the slightest will to battle.

Suddenly, Zhuoxue felt like she didn’t know Lanhui as well as she thought. She dazedly wondered: was this fierce determination because Lanhui had revealed her true identity?

“An immortal—why would you hide your name and live quietly in the Demon Realm, in a small place like Qiufeng Ridge?” Longming withdrew her oppressive force, her silver hair falling back over her shoulders. “Was the seal on the fox your doing?”

Lanhui’s expression was complex. She only gave half an answer. “Not mine. This is also my first time seeing it.”

“This is the technique of Kunlun Yaojing, laced with divine power from Yaojing. I’ve tried several times and couldn’t break it. You undo it,” Longming said, turning her wrist, making a motion as if to open the cage.

Lanhui was silent for a moment, then spoke solemnly. “I can’t undo it either. It looks like a concealment spell, but it’s not ordinary. There seem to be other spells layered over it. This seal had never manifested before—likely due to age and instability in her foundation, it has only just begun to reveal its outline. I sincerely ask the demon lord to spare Zhuoxue’s life.”

“I never intended to harm her.” Longming turned and walked to the bone throne, reclining against it. “First, explain your purpose for coming to the Demon Realm, Holy Immortal Lanxiang.”

The moment that name was spoken, Zhuoxue froze. She had heard the name Lanxiang before—from mortal lips.

It was said that Holy Immortal Lanxiang was a thousand-year-old tortoise deity who could safeguard a nation’s peace and grant people health and long life.

In the past, the mortal world had many temples devoted to Lanxiang, and mortals even designated the 16th of the twelfth lunar month each year as Lanxiang Day—a day to offer incense to the Holy Immortal. That night, it was said, one could dream of the divine tortoise and enjoy good fortune throughout the coming year.

But at some point, Holy Immortal Lanxiang ceased to manifest. Over time, incense dwindled in her temples, and people stopped praying to her.

In Zhuoxue’s imagination, this tortoise immortal in human form should have been a white-haired elder, someone ancient and frail. She never imagined that Lanhui would only bear light traces of age, and not at all the image of a toothless, hoary sage.

Lanhui looked momentarily startled. The resolve on her face faded, a trace of fondness rising to her eyes. It had been a long time since she last heard that name from anyone.

After a long pause, her face turned troubled, and she said evenly, “So you know who I am.”

“One of the Eight Saints of Yaojing—how could I not?” said Longming.

Lanhui gave a weary smile. “I’ve kept myself hidden all these years, knowing that once I appeared, I couldn’t fool the demon race.”

“There’s everything you could want in Heaven.” Longming raised an eyebrow. “So you couldn’t have come to the Demon Realm just because you were bored. Could it be the fox is hiding some great secret, and the Heavenly Realm sent you to stir chaos among the demons?”

Lanhui looked steadily at Longming for a long time, the full weight of her hesitation unspoken.

“Or—” Longming narrowed her eyes slightly. “—is there turmoil in the Heavenly Realm, and you broke heavenly law—so you fled Kunlun Yaojing? I’ve made so many guesses,” she added. “Surely one of them is close.”

Lanhui remained deep in thought, her gaze dim.

“Holy Immortal Lanxiang, what are you still hesitating for?” Longming lifted her wrist slightly.

As soon as she spoke, Zhuoxue was lifted even higher into the air. She let out a startled cry, fearing she was about to be hurled straight into the ceiling beam.

No way—was she being used to threaten Lanhui again?

Now she understood—Longming had no intent to kill, only to force Lanhui to reveal everything. 

She quickly shut her eyes tightly and stopped struggling. Her limbs hung limp, like a fragile stem dangling from a hanging orchid.

“You…” Lanhui didn’t want to fall out with Longming just yet. The banquet of the demon horde wasn’t over, and if her immortal aura leaked out of the hall, it would surely attract a siege by all the demons. But neither could she bear to see the fox she’d raised herself suffering.

Things had come to this point—it was time to decide. Lanhui closed her eyes and said, “Do you know about Emperor Tianji’s collusion with the Nightmare Clan a hundred years ago?”

Zhuoxue didn’t crash into the ceiling beam. Instead, she fluttered like a piece of grass in the wind, drifting up and down a few times.

She lifted her chin slightly. Her heart had gone numb. Just as she was about to let out a soft sigh, the demonic force coiled around her waist suddenly tightened. She plummeted from midair and landed not too hard, not too light, beside the bone throne.

“Ah—”

Even flying a kite shouldn’t be done like this!

Before Zhuoxue had time to rub her sore limbs, the pressure nearby stunned her so much that she reverted to her original form.

A snow-white ball of fox fur curled beside the white tiger’s leg, not daring to move. After a moment, the tiger picked her up and placed her on her leg, stroking her absently.

This wasn’t gentle petting—this was clearly still using her to threaten Lanhui.

Lanhui continued, “Back then, Tianji conspired with the Nightmare Clan and deliberately incited a war between immortals and demons, intending to make a name for himself in Kunlun Yaojing through the chaos and rise to the position of Head Immortal. I stumbled upon it by chance and tried to stop him, but the Bureau of Heavenly Law was already complicit with Tianji.”

An alliance between immortals and demons—not even mortal storybooks dared to write something so outrageous.

The more the fox was stroked, the more her fur bristled. She thought to herself: no wonder this tiger demon lost—it’s no shame to be defeated by such a powerful alliance.

“I didn’t want to be silenced, nor did I want to be complicit. So I resigned from my immortal post and left Kunlun Yaojing, hoping to find another chance to expose the truth.” Lanhui’s voice was heavy. “But such a chance was hard to come by. I was alone and powerless, and had no choice but to hide in the Demon Realm.”

The hand smoothing the fox’s fur suddenly paused.

“The fox—what role did she play in all this?” A sharp gleam flickered in Longming’s crimson eyes.

Lanhui said slowly, “It was because of this fox that I was fortunate enough to uncover Tianji’s plot with the Nightmare Clan. Shortly after the war, the Nightmare Clan tried to infiltrate the Immortal Registry of Yaojing. They used a demon and swapped her reincarnation with a mortal who was on the verge of becoming immortal. The demon, carrying a demon soul, became immortal, while the mortal—whose immortal soul had already formed—was forced to become a demon.”

“To enter reincarnation requires passage through the Heavenly Dao.” Longming sneered. “That seal must have been used to hide the true identity and deceive the Heavenly Dao.”

Zhuoxue’s fur stood on end.

“With the immortal soul already formed, they couldn’t kill the mortal before she reincarnated—or it would trigger divine thunder,” Lanhui said, looking at Zhuoxue. “The path to immortality is empty ahead, while the cycles of reincarnation for demons and mortals are long and crowded. I waited in the Demon Realm for nearly a hundred years. When that reincarnated mortal-turned-demon was nearly killed, I stepped in just in time.”

“The one you saved—was her,” Longming stated.

Lanhui did not deny it. Her expression was half-hidden in the cage, difficult to read. Her eyes burned brightly, yet also seemed clouded and deep, as if her soul were being pulled in opposite directions—neither side fully gaining control.

Zhuoxue was completely stunned. This wasn’t some small matter. Could Lanhui really talk about this? Was she even supposed to hear it?

This wasn’t a little whirlpool—it was a vast ocean. The water ran deep.

“When I discovered Tianji and the Nightmare Clan’s conspiracy, I resigned from my post as an immortal. It’s been a hundred years since I came to the Demon Realm,” Lanhui said with a light sigh. “Though I carry an immortal soul and spirit, my heart no longer belongs to Kunlun Yaojing.”

“And you’re telling me all this without fear I’ll spread the word and throw Kunlun Yaojing into chaos?” Longming said slowly.

Lanhui answered steadily, “Kunlun Yaojing should’ve fallen into chaos long ago. When Tianji colluded with the Nightmare Clan to start a war, Yaojing’s peace was already nothing more than an illusion. The entire realm has been kept in the dark. But before long, he and the Nightmare Clan will devour it completely.”

“You want to conspire with me,” Longming said, sitting slightly upright, pulling the fox into her arms.

Lanhui spoke firmly. “You want to return to Wugou River, don’t you? As long as Tianji lives, the Nightmare Clan’s power will only grow—like cold water in a sealed jar, gathering stronger and stronger with time.”