“Fei Yuan,” Yue Yang murmured, resting her head gently against his shoulder, voice soft yet resolute. “You know I never cared for any of that. But we’ve come too far—things are beyond our control now. Have you truly thought this through? Leaving with me means forsaking everything you’ve built in the legion. You could be branded a traitor forever.”

  “I’ve never been clearer,” Fei Yuan replied, unwavering, tears glinting in his eyes. “The day my mother was betrayed and assassinated by our own—I saw the rot. Today’s Watch Legion is decayed through and through. Factions, scheming—it’s nothing like the ancient legion of old.”

  At that moment, Batian—lounging contentedly—snapped its head up. Neck feathers bristled; a sharp, warning screech pierced the night.

  Fei Yuan and Yue Yang sprang to their feet, alert.

  Not far off, a sleek magical flyer descended silently. The hatch slid open.

  Lei Tang emerged with two bald Iron Code enforcers—faces impassive, auras thick with lethal intent—like specters claiming souls on the sand.

  “Fei Yuan. Yue Yang.” Lei Tang’s voice was flat, laced with biting frost.

  “Think carefully. Bright futures await. Will you truly throw them away for childish romance—bearing the traitor’s stigma, hunted without respite?”

  “Lei Tang!” Fei Yuan stepped forward, shielding Yue Yang, eyes like blades. “I’ve wondered for years: Commander Yang’s operations were top secret—who leaked them to the Fire Essence general, dooming him on the ice plains? Who colluded with the Evil Cultivators to murder my mother, the Earth Mother?”

  “Old grudges—why dredge them up?” Lei Tang’s expression remained stone. “Iron Code acts on evidence and outcomes alone.”

  “Is that so?” Fei Yuan sneered, essence simmering around him. “We’ve scoured the legion—yet never suspected Iron Code. Now it seems the traitor hides beneath your iron facade.”

  “Apprehend Fei Yuan! Defiance of discipline—desertion and elopement. Return him to the judgment platform!”

  Lei Tang barked the order, wasting no more words.

  The enforcers struck. Two sets of rune-etched shackles shot forth like vipers.

  Fei Yuan dodged fluidly—but the chains twisted mid-air, snapping with metallic clangs around Batian’s legs.

  Caught off-guard, the eagle cried out and crashed to the sand in a cloud of dust.

  “Batian! Despicable!” Fei Yuan roared, eyes splitting with rage.

  In that heartbeat of distraction, Lei Tang moved.

  His speed left only an afterimage—a thunderclap tearing night.

  Cold steel pressed silently against Fei Yuan’s throat, death’s chill upon it.

  “This little skill—and you dare elope?” Lei Tang’s whisper dripped scorn. “You’d die without knowing how. This generation… truly a crop of wastes.”

  A cold, mocking laugh escaped Yue Yang.

  Her gaze pierced like needles. “Fei Yuan is twenty-three—already at the threshold of breakthrough. Pray tell, Judge Lei Tang—at twenty-three, what realm had you reached? And that ghostly movement… hardly our legion’s thunder essence. It reeks of Evil Cultivator arts. Who—are you really?”

  Lei Tang’s pupils contracted. He had never imagined Yue Yang piercing his carefully veiled evil essence technique.

  He recoiled as if scalded, withdrawing the blade with forced calm. “Hmph. Merely a thunder secret I grasped in the Envoy stage. I only wished to show you fledglings—without the legion’s protection, you lovebirds wouldn’t last three days.”

  Fei Yuan laughed—fury turned to bitter mirth. “Whether we live or die isn’t for a masked coward like you to decide.”

  Laughter cut short as powerful auras closed in. Spatial rifts tore open.

  Ge Bai, Deacon Gao, and Shanhai Wu emerged, landing on the sand—forming instant standoff with Lei Tang’s group.

  “Lei Tang!”

  Shanhai Wu’s voice boomed like thunder, his massive frame radiating overwhelming pressure, stilling the scene.

  “The entire legion knows Fei Yuan and Yue Yang’s mutual affection! Even a Prophet’s Eye oracle—if it defies human feeling and justice—we deacons have right to question and veto! A matter touching legion unity, decided without council—you, a mere judge, dare wield Iron Code blades alone? When did the Watch Legion become Iron Code’s private domain?”

  “Deacon Wu, I—”

  “We won’t return!” Fei Yuan cut in, voice ironclad.

  He pointed at Lei Tang. “His will is the Elder’s! Drag us back—for the judgment platform? Even if you talk yourselves hoarse, will the current Elder change her mind? Commander Yi can barely speak! Return to die?”

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  “What?!” Shanhai Wu roared, beard bristling. “For a mere alliance marriage, that woman dares such arrogance? She truly holds no regard for the elders!”

  A pained howl escaped Fei Yuan.

  His face contorted; he clutched his chest. An indescribable suffocation seized him. Color drained—red to cyan, lips purpling. He swayed, collapsing.

  “Fei Yuan!” Yue Yang cried in terror, catching him.

  Understanding dawned. She whipped her gaze to Lei Tang. “You!”

  The Purifying Spirit Eye flared. Gentle green light enveloped Fei Yuan, striving to soothe and draw out the deadly toxin.

  He convulsed violently in the glow—then fell into deep coma.

  “Want your lover to live? Obey.”

  A cold, inhuman voice echoed in Yue Yang’s mind—the Spirit Lord.

  “Sending you as queen consort—was my idea. How does it feel?”

  “You?! How?!” Yue Yang raged inwardly.

  “The Prophet’s Eye foresees futures—and yields to powerful evil spirit guidance. I told you—I’d make you ruler over men.”

  Boundless fury erupted like a volcano within Yue Yang.

  The surge shattered her suppression of the Spirit Lord.

  Black threads spread rapidly from her pupils, engulfing the whites—those once-beautiful eyes turned abyssal void.

  “Impossible… how… the Sixth Element?! Could it be…” Lei Tang had watched her closely; the horrifying change struck him like lightning. Color fled his face.

  He staggered back instinctively, as though facing the ultimate terror.

  Before he could react, possessed Yue Yang launched.

  Her speed defied reason—leaving a faint afterimage.

  In a blink, she materialized before him like a wraith.

  A slender hand—brimming with horrific strength—clamped his throat like iron vise, hoisting him off the ground.

  “Trai… tor… die…”

  A rasping, overlapping voice—straight from infernal depths—issued from Yue Yang’s mouth.

  Lei Tang’s eyes bulged. He thrashed futilely, throat emitting choked gurgles. Face purpled; breath failed—he teetered on suffocation’s edge.

  At the brink of death, clarity flickered in Yue Yang’s eyes—like dawn breaking through storm clouds.

  She awoke as from a trance. Staring at the near-lifeless Lei Tang in her grasp, confusion and horror flooded her gaze. Her fingers released.

  Lei Tang crumpled to the sand like a discarded sack, clutching his throat, coughing and gasping. He looked up at Yue Yang with bone-deep terror.

  She staggered back, strength spent, collapsing beside the unconscious Fei Yuan. Trembling fingers sought his pulse.

  A faint beat remained. Relief washed through her; she went limp.

  “Life or death—you decide…”

  The Spirit Lord’s icy voice echoed in her mind, smug with absolute control.

  “Obey. Fulfill the marriage. Become queen consort—and the antidote is yours. Benefits from me… always come with a price.”

  Yue Yang listened to the chilling words, gazing at her comatose love. Tears fell silently. She closed her eyes in helpless despair.

  The shaken deacons stared at Fei Yuan and Yue Yang in disbelief, sensing dark secrets beneath.

  Lei Tang, soul rattled, fixed on her with dread bordering on madness.

  His gaze caught the faint pulse of the Purifying Spirit Eye at her chest. Dreadful realization struck like lightning.

  He understood now—her sudden “spirit burst,” the miraculous healing of muteness. No miracle. The Spirit Lord’s power.

  He scrambled backward on hands and feet, heedless of dignity. A frantic gesture—magical shackles unlocked from Batian’s legs with a clack, retracting.

  He had witnessed the Spirit Lord’s inhuman might firsthand. No living soul courted enmity with such a being.

  “What’s happening? The energy in Fei Yuan resists the Purifying Spirit Eye’s healing!” Shanhai Wu knelt beside the unconscious man, lifting an eyelid. Twisted black threads writhed in the whites—harrowing.

  As Lei Tang edged toward his flyer, Ge Bai and Deacon Gao exchanged glances. They flickered forward like phantoms, blocking him and his bald enforcers.

  “Daring to poison a legion commander—by military law, execution!” Deacon Gao thundered, beard bristling, essence raging. Sand trembled beneath his feet.

  “Deacon Gao—calm yourself! Fei Yuan can still be saved!” Ge Bai urged, though anxiety burned in her. Her piercing gaze stabbed Lei Tang. “Judge Lei Tang—this poison… you’re involved, aren’t you?”

  Lei Tang glanced instinctively at Yue Yang—head bowed now, unnaturally still, as though the throat-crushing fury had never been hers.

  He swallowed hard, sweat beading. “Deacon Bai—what accusation is this? As Iron Code judge, I know my limits. Ask her!”

  He thrust blame fully upon Yue Yang.

  Under every gaze, she rose slowly. Sensing Lei Tang’s fear of the horror within her, she knew the Spirit Lord’s terror.

  If she resisted, not only would Fei Yuan die—Elder Bai, Shanhai Wu, Deacon Gao… all who cared for her would suffer.

  “Judge,” Yue Yang said with unnatural calm. “We’ll return with you. In three days, I depart with the Fire Essence envoy. But one condition: guarantee Fei Yuan’s safety. If harm comes to him—I, Yue Yang, would rather die than wed.”

  “Physician Yue Yang—no!” Lei Tang paled at “rather die.”

  He knew better than any: the Spirit Lord had chosen her as vessel. Her death would unleash uncontrolled rampage—exposing every dark secret between him and the entity.

  “You must live! Think—queen consort to the Fire Essence prince: endless wealth, glory, second only to one! What splendor!”

  “Yue!” Ge Bai cried urgently. “Think clearly! Fire Essence reveres blood and cunning—internal strife is merciless. Step through that door—no return!”

  Ge Bai’s eyes brimmed with worry and reluctance, hoping her disciple grasped the path worse than death.

  How could Yue Yang not understand? Yet she dared not gamble Fei Yuan’s life on the Spirit Lord’s whim.

  If her choice killed him, she would betray her parents, the Guo and Yuan families—and become the legion’s eternal sinner.

  “Elder Bai—no more persuasion.” Her voice caught, yet held firm. “Leaving… is my only path to life.”

  She turned from them all, walking to Batian. Palm glowing soft blue, she brushed its shackle-chafed talons.

  Wounds healed visibly. The eagle rumbled affectionately, nuzzling her.

  “Batian… let’s go home.”

  Wind essence gathered. She gently lifted the unconscious Fei Yuan onto the broad back, mounting behind to cradle him close.

  A sky-rending cry.

  Batian beat furious wings, bearing them like an arrow into the night—toward the Watch Legion’s forests, leaving stunned figures on the sand.

  “Lei Tang—halt!” Shanhai Wu’s towering frame blocked him, voice thundering. “Envoy mid-tier—yet you cowered before that girl. Why?”

  “Fear? I… thought her possessed by an Evil Cultivator!” Lei Tang steadied his voice, words tumbling. “Didn’t you see her eyes? And Fei Yuan’s poison—clearly evil essence! You know the Evil Cultivators’ horrors—the Black Forest necrotic curses!”

  Shanhai Wu knew well—their insidious cruelty had stalled his frontier advance for years.

  Seeing the deacon falter, Lei Tang forced a scornful smile.

  “Instead of interrogating me, scour the camp for hidden Evil Cultivators! Iron Code internal matters aren’t your field division’s concern!”

  He offered no further chance for questions. With enforcers, he scrambled into the flyer. Engines roared; it lifted and fled toward Iron Code headquarters like a routed beast.

  “This… the heavens themselves are changing?” Deacon Gao sighed heavily, gazing after the craft, then toward Fei Yuan’s vanished path.

  “One generation’s fate is its own,” Ge Bai murmured, weariness and helplessness etching her aged face. “Heaven’s will is hard to defy. But Fei Yuan… he is the legion’s future hope. He must survive. Deacon Wu, Deacon Gao—bear witness with me today. For these star-crossed children… leave a thread of life.”

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