Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

North of the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty lies a vast snowfield stretching for thousands of miles.

The northern winds whipped up snowflakes as large as mats, raging wildly across the land. It was an endless, pure white world, with withered trees bent under the weight of the snow and rocks cracked from the cold.

Gu Xiang walked through the knee-deep snow.

He was wearing only a thin blue robe, an old garment he had worn three years ago when he went to the capital for the imperial examinations. The fabric had long since faded from washing and looked extremely fragile in the biting wind.

The cold air seeped into his skin and bone marrow without hindrance through the gaps in his clothes. He did not use any spiritual power to resist the cold, nor did he use his righteous energy to dispel the wind and snow.

He carried the old, worn-out book box on his back, its wooden lid covered with a thick layer of snow.

Gu Xiang's eyelashes and eyebrows were covered with white frost, which fell off with each slow blink.

He walked slowly, taking one step after another, his boots making a monotonous scraping sound as they trod on the snow.

There was no light in his eyes; it was a deathly stillness, a kind of obsessive and terrifying despair.

He needed neither direction nor purpose; he only wanted to use this mortal body to measure this land, stubbornly believing that as long as he went far enough and suffered enough, he would see the woman in red in some corner where the wind and snow had stopped.

A series of crooked footprints were left on the snow, but they were quickly buried again by the snow dust swirled up by the strong wind.

This is a form of self-exile, and also a desperate sacrifice.

Gu Xiang lifted his right foot and stepped into a snow pit in front of him, losing his balance and staggering forward.

Just as he was about to fall to the ground in the snow, all his movements stopped.

He didn't reach out to support himself on the ground or try to steady himself; he stood firmly in the wind and snow, maintaining a semi-tilted posture.

His heart, which had been beating very slowly and even somewhat sluggishly, contracted violently at that moment.

That heart originated from the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart that Su Qing forcibly inserted into his body under the sacred tree at Luofeng Slope, risking her own life in exchange.

A deep, muffled heartbeat resounded loudly amidst the howling wind and snow, striking deep into Gu Xiang's soul.

Then came a continuous series of heartbeats.

The heart rate spiked to an alarming level in the blink of an eye, each beat bringing with it a scorching heat that pumped from the atria and swept through the entire body via the blood vessels.

Gu Xiang's body temperature rose sharply, and the frost that had covered his thin blue shirt melted in an instant, turning into white steam that rose up.

A burning sensation came from my chest.

Gu Xiang could no longer stand; his knees buckled and he collapsed heavily onto the snow, splashing up a cloud of snowflakes.

He clutched his chest tightly with both hands, his ten fingers curled into claws, digging forcefully into his flesh through his blue robe.

Heat, extreme heat.

The heat was impossible for his body to suppress, and the crimson phoenix fire overflowed uncontrollably from his pores.

Flames shot into the air.

The snow within a radius of several feet around Gu Xiang was instantly evaporated by the high temperature, producing a slight crackling sound in the air. The white water vapor formed a thick fog, which was then violently dispersed by the air waves emitted by the Phoenix True Fire.

The ground revealed frozen black soil, which dried and cracked rapidly under the high temperature.

Gu Xiang was hunched over, panting heavily, each breath sending out visible waves of heat.

In this violent heat, that exquisitely perceptive heart began to guide it frantically.

Gu Xiang's consciousness was forcibly elevated.

His senses followed the scorching heat, spreading into the endless void, passing through wind, snow, and mountains, and directly penetrating layers of shattered spatial barriers.

Then he caught a glimpse of a presence.

The scent was so faint that a gust of wind could completely dissipate it, but it carried a hint of gardenia fragrance that he could never mistake in his lifetime.

That was the unique primordial energy fluctuation belonging only to the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox.

Gu Xiang's body remained completely frozen in place.

He slowly raised his head, and a heart-stopping ecstasy burst forth from his eyes, which had been filled with lifelessness and no focus.

The ecstasy came so violently that it instantly tore the gray in his eyes to shreds, transforming it into a chilling madness.

"Qing'er..."

His voice was terribly hoarse, and a cracking tremor squeezed out from between his teeth.

He gripped the front of his shirt tightly, his knuckles turning red from the force, and the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

He raised his head to face the raging wind and snow.

"Qing'er!"

A piercing roar burst from deep within his throat.

The voice had lost the gentle elegance that a scholar should have, as well as the composure and restraint of the prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It exudes a ferocity and desolation like a wild beast, and in a moment of utter despair, it suddenly smells the lingering scent of its own kind.

Scalding tears burst forth from his eyes, sliding down his cracked cheeks and dripping onto the scorched earth, where they were instantly evaporated by the intense heat of the Phoenix True Fire.

She's still here; she didn't lie to him.

The seven-aperture exquisite heart beats to guide the direction, and that faint primordial aura is the most irrefutable evidence.

Gu Xiang stood up from the ground, no longer caring about the asceticism and self-exile of a mortal body.

A surge of righteous energy erupted from his body, perfectly intertwining with the crimson phoenix fire. A terrifying pillar of energy shot into the sky, forcefully pushing aside the wind and snow within a ten-mile radius, creating an absolute vacuum zone.

He carried a book box on his back, his gaze fixed on the void in the far north.

He was going to find her, even if it meant being separated by vast distances, even if it meant fighting his way through the entire Northern Region.

The soil beneath Gu Xiang's feet instantly crumbled, and he transformed into a streak of crimson light, tearing through the wind and snow as he hurtled northward.

At the same time, in the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Snowflakes blanketed the solemn capital, and thick clouds hung over the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

The five-clawed golden dragon of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which had just devoured endless willpower and completed its transformation, was slumbering deep in the sea of ​​clouds. Its scales shimmered with a dark golden light, and with each breath, the clouds above the capital city undulated.

The golden dragon's massive body trembled violently, and its tightly closed eyes snapped open instantly.

Two dazzling golden rays pierced through the thick leaden clouds and shot straight toward the northern horizon.

Jinlong sensed a powerful will.

That will originated from the former prime minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, from the man who personally ushered in the Holy Dynasty era.

The five-clawed golden dragon raised its head and let out a roar that pierced the heavens.

The enormous dragon's body churned violently in the clouds, its golden claws tearing through the clouds, and its scales rubbing against the air, producing bursts of low rumble.

The clouds above the entire capital were stirred up by this force, forming a huge vortex that covered the whole city. Golden light poured down from the center of the vortex, illuminating the entire capital in every detail.

The capital trembled, a clear tremor came from the ground, and the tiles on the roof made a soft, clattering sound.

Inside the palace, civil and military officials were handling state affairs in a side hall when they heard the earth-shattering dragon's roar and felt its overwhelming pressure. Everyone turned pale, and the ink and brushes in their hands scattered all over the ground.

"Has evil returned?"

"The heavens and earth have changed! Protect the emperor! Quickly, protect the emperor!"

The officials shouted in panic and fell to the ground, trembling. Some didn't even dare to lift their heads, their bodies pressed tightly against the cold gold bricks as they shook.

A figure strode out from the depths of the main hall.

Li Qingge was not wearing palace attire; instead, she wore a dark gold fish-scale armor, held a long sword upside down in her hand, and stood ramrod straight.

She ignored the terrified officials on the ground and walked straight to the white jade steps.

A cold wind whipped her red cloak behind her, making it flutter in the air. She looked up, her face filled with horror, and stared northward.

As the regent princess of the Great Zhou Dynasty, she carries the remaining fortune of the Great Zhou and has an extremely mysterious connection with the golden dragon of the nation's destiny.

She knew perfectly well that the Golden Dragon's unusual movements were not due to the invasion of evil spirits or natural disasters.

She sensed a powerful will in that roar that pierced the clouds.

That was a will belonging to Gu Xiang.

The man who resigned from his post as prime minister, donned a blue robe, carried a book box, and walked out of the capital city—his will, at that moment, transcended thousands of miles and resonated with the fate of the nation.

Li Qingge's eyes widened in shock.

She felt no grand ambition to govern the country and bring peace to the world in that will, no benevolence of Confucianism to help all living beings, and not even the slightest attachment to the Great Zhou Dynasty.

There was only resolute determination, and an overwhelming obsession capable of burning everything to ashes.

Li Qingge's grip on the sword tightened slowly, the muscles on the back of her hand taut.

She looked at the clouds torn apart by the golden light in the north, her eyes filled with a complex mix of shock and awe.

The snow fell even heavier.

But the blizzard could not possibly conceal the scholar's footprints on his journey north.