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

The energy in the ruins has completely died down.

The broken bronze pillar lay askew in the scorched earth, the wind swirling moon-white ice shards, passing through the hems of everyone's clothes. Su Chang'an did not rush to leave; she sat cross-legged before the Taiyin Moon Amber, flipped her palm, and held up the first mortal world mark.

Within the imprint, the figure in red remains asleep.

Under Su Chang'an's guidance, the Nine-Tailed Ancestral Source spread out along the ground, transforming into nine dark red array patterns. Phoenix True Fire followed closely behind, igniting inch by inch from the edges of the array patterns.

Gu Xiang's heart, with its seven orifices of exquisite beauty, suddenly began to beat.

A wisp of righteous energy spontaneously overflowed, merging with the Phoenix True Fire from afar. The clear moonlight poured down from the Taiyin Moon Amber, enveloping the mark of the mortal world.

As light and shadow intertwined, the outline of the woman in red slowly solidified.

First, her eyebrows and eyes, then her long hair and fingertips. As the last ray of moonlight fell, a faint heartbeat could be heard from within the formation.

Gu Xiang subconsciously took half a step forward.

But before he could take that step, he remembered what Su Chang'an had just said.

They are not prizes.

Gu Xiang abruptly stopped, hiding the hand clutching the jade pendant with the character "Qing" back into his sleeve. The sleeve fell down, concealing his taut fingers.

Su Chang'an formed hand seals, and the nine fox tail array patterns simultaneously converged.

The causal thread that originally connected the main soul and the mortal incarnation was clearly visible under the moonlight. One end was deeply embedded in Su Chang'an's soul, while the other end was wrapped around the heart of the woman in red.

That was the cause and effect of the master and servant used in the past to reclaim the incarnation.

Su Chang'an brought his two fingers together and slashed downwards.

"Nine tails divide the calamity, and the destiny is self-determined."

The dark red cause-and-effect line snapped immediately.

The severed point did not disappear; instead, it split into two parallel life paths under the pull of the Nine-Tailed Fox's ancestral source. Memories and perceptions could still connect, but their destinies no longer devoured each other.

The woman in red's eyelashes fluttered slightly as she opened her eyes.

She first looked down at her hands, then raised them to her chest. Only after confirming that her heart was truly beating did she release them, disdainfully tugging at her overly neat sleeves.

"Who made these clothes? There isn't a single wrinkle; it's like wearing a layer of paper."

She looked up and met Gu Xiang's unwavering gaze.

His eyebrows twitched slightly.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you seen me before?"

Gu Xiang's breath hitched.

The tone of his voice, the slightly impatient look when he raised his eyebrows—it was exactly the same as he remembered. Yet he remained standing there, not moving forward.

His sharp mind throbbed with pain in his chest, but he forcefully suppressed the impulse.

"You are Su Qing."

Gu Xiang's voice was very low.

"Or was it all a dream she created for me?"

Su Qing's smile faded slightly.

She remembered the charred chicken in the backyard of Zuixianju, the lantern Gu Xiang carried for her during the Luoshui Lantern Festival, and the red candles at the wedding banquet in Gujia Village. She could even recite from beginning to end the letter Gu Xiang had written, "Severing Ties with My Wife," a letter filled with resolute words.

But Su Chang'an remembered all of these things as well.

Based solely on the past, she cannot prove that she is not an empty shell pieced together from memories.

The more Gu Xiang tried to restrain himself, the tighter his hands clenched in his sleeves, the veins on the back of his hands bulging. Bai Yin and Chen Xuan stood not far away, neither of them speaking.

This is a confirmation between Gu Xiang and Su Qing; outsiders should not interfere.

Su Qing stared at him for a moment, then didn't bring up the past again.

She walked straight up to Gu Xiang and took him within three steps, then placed her hand on his chest.

Gu Xiang's body stiffened.

Beneath his palm, his seven-aperture exquisite heart trembled violently. The next moment, crimson phoenix true fire ignited from his heart aperture, illuminating his entire body along his meridians.

At the same time, the newly born mortal destiny within Su Qing's body lit up.

The two heartbeats collided erratically at first, then gradually merged. After a few breaths, they separated again, beating steadily at different rhythms.

Gu Xiang clearly sensed her love and hate, her past karma, and also sensed a new destiny that was no longer dependent on Su Chang'an and not controlled by anyone.

The person before me inherited everything from Su Qing.

But they already have their own future.

Gu Xiang's eyes reddened, and after moving her lips several times, she called out in a hoarse voice:

"Qing'er."

He still didn't dare to hug her.

Su Qing raised her hand and flicked his forehead with her finger.

"Back then you dared to cut out your heart, later you dared to resign your post and walk in the snow, but now you don't even dare to touch me?"

The familiar crack of the horn fell.

Gu Xiang stood there, stunned.

The seven orifices of the exquisite heart in the chest opened on their own, and the phoenix fire and righteous energy soared into the sky, transforming into the long bridge of the Luoshui Lantern Festival, the backyard of Zuixianju, and the red candle wedding banquet in Gujia Village that was never completed.

The fleeting shadow vanished in an instant.

Gu Xiang finally raised his hand, but instead of immediately embracing her, he took half a step back and bowed solemnly to her.

"I posthumously honored you as the Holy Empress of the Great Zhou Dynasty and placed your memorial tablet in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. I also believed that if you were to return, you should come back to my side."

"But I never asked you if you were willing."

Gu Xiang looked up at her.

"If you don't want to return to the capital, I won't force you with our past relationship. If you don't want to remarry, I won't use that unfinished wedding to hold you back."

Su Qing remained silent for a moment.

She had assumed Gu Xiang would first ask about the deception at Luofeng Slope, about the heart-swapping and life-swapping scheme, and about why she had kept it from him for three thousand years. She had even already planned how she would respond if he insulted her too harshly.

But the first question he asked was whether she was willing.

Su Qing turned to look at Su Chang'an.

Su Chang'an did not answer for her, but simply raised his hand to hook the parallel cause and effect, completely severing the last remaining trace of control.

After the soft sound, Su Qing felt a sense of relief.

From this moment on, her fate belonged solely to herself.

Su Qing turned around and looked directly at Gu Xiang.

"Old scores must be settled."

Gu Xiang lowered his eyes.

"should."

"But not now."

Su Qing raised her chin.

"Let's go back to the capital first and make up for the broken rituals from back then."

Gu Xiang was stunned.

Su Qing reached out and tugged at his tattered clothes.

"I'm not going back to be a holy empress enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, nor to receive compensation from you out of guilt."

"I will decide the wedding date, wedding dress, guests, and ceremony. We will go through the three letters and six rites again. If any letter is missing or any rite is omitted, it will not count."

She raised an eyebrow, and her old arrogance returned.

"Last time you left halfway through the ceremony to go to Zhenbei Border. If you dare to leave your bride hanging again this time, I'll turn your Prime Minister's Mansion into a fox den."

Gu Xiang did not offer any explanation.

He took out the rough jade pendant engraved with the character "青" from his sleeve, and then opened his personal magic artifact to take out a neatly folded old scarlet official robe.

"This is the official robe I wore when I first entered the court. You altered the size for me."

Gu Xiang handed her two old items.

"Over the years, I've regarded them as my deceased wife's belongings. Now that she's returned, they should naturally be returned to their rightful owner."

Su Qing took the jade pendant and ran her fingertips over the crooked character "Qing". Then, she unfolded her official robe and found a faded nine-tailed talisman in the lining of her belt.

My fingertips trembled slightly.

She just pursed her lips.

"The handwriting is still so ugly, and the clothes are so old they could be used to patch a crack in the wall."

Gu Xiang said in a low voice, "I can't bear to throw it away."

Su Qing glanced at him, tied the jade pendant back to her waist, and then unfolded the old official robe and draped it over his shoulders.

She stood very close, smoothing his collar for him. When her fingertips brushed against the side of his neck, Gu Xiang's breathing quickened for a moment, but he kept his head down, letting her straighten it.

The stitches on the collar were sewn by her own hands many years ago.

Su Qing took a step back.

Gu Xiang solemnly said, "The three letters and six rites must be complete, without exception. How the Empress should live is also up to you."

Su Chang'an put away the first mortal mark that had stabilized.

Su Qing's physical body, destiny, and personality are all complete, and she is no longer affected by damage to her physical body.

The wind on the ruins gradually subsided.

Su Qing reached out and grasped Gu Xiang's cold fingers. Gu Xiang paused for a moment before carefully closing her palm.

"Gu Xiang, return to Shen Du."

Su Qing looked at him, her voice calm.

"Let's start over with that wedding ceremony that wasn't finished."