They say gods do not weep. But he did.

In the heart of the Celestial Realm, beneath silver skies and crimson moonlight, he held her broken body in his arms—her white robes stained with blood, her nine golden tails dimming with every breath.

“Who did this?” he had whispered, voice shaking for the first time in centuries.

But her lips trembled with more than pain. Her gaze—those eyes that once held mischief and moonlight—now shimmered only with betrayal.

“I trusted you,” she murmured.
And then... she was gone.

That night, thunder cracked across the heavens. But no justice followed.

The Moon Goddess watched from her palace, veil unshaken.
The Celestial Court declared it fate.

The Fox Clan mourned their Lady in silence, retreating deep into the realm of spirits. They never found her body.

And the War God—once proud heir to the Celestial Throne—locked his heart behind walls no one could breach.

He never stopped searching for the soul who once called him beloved.

A thousand years passed.
The realms forgot. But he never did.

Now, a servant girl enters his palace—eyes like wildfire, voice like a memory.

Something stirs.

And fate, it seems, is not finished with them yet.

The golden halls of the Celestial Palace gleamed beneath the afternoon light, but the chill that followed Jin Xuan Yue's steps made even the bravest servants shudder as he passed. He walked with an effortless grace, his long robes trailing behind him like storm clouds across a burning sky.


Behind him, Li Hua kept her eyes lowered. Every step she took felt like a step into a memory—one she was trying so hard not to feel.


The irony bit her like a thorn in the chest.


They entered the inner study. Only the sound of the sliding doors echoed.


"Your name," he said, voice calm, but laced with steel. "You said it's Li Hua."


His gaze pierced her. "And yet you flinch every time I speak. Are you hiding something?"


Li Hua bowed low, lips trembling in feigned nervousness. "N-no, Your Grace. I am simply… overwhelmed to be in your presence."


Jin Xuan Yue said nothing for a long time.


Then, he walked forward, each step slow, deliberate. He stopped just in front of her and raised her chin with a single gloved finger.


"You remind me of someone," he said flatly.


She didn't blink. "I-I don't know who, my Lord."


Li Hua bowed quickly and exited the chamber. But her knees buckled slightly the moment she passed the doors.


"OW! OW! OW! I told you not to swing that training blade near my head!"


Feng Zhi rubbed his forehead as Jin Xuan Yue's younger sister, Princess Lian Yan, rolled her eyes and pointed her wooden sword at him again.


"You're supposed to dodge, idiot. That's kind of the point of sparring."


"I thought we were bonding!" he whined, flailing dramatically as he fell back on the grass.


"You call this bonding? Last time you nearly burned down the garden with your fire talismans!"


Lian Yan smirked. "And this is why you'll never be taken seriously as a cultivator."


He pouted. "That hurts more than your sword."


The moment Li Hua disappeared, Jin Xuan Yue turned to the painting hanging across his wall. It was old—faded from centuries of time. But the eyes in the portrait still glowed with warmth.


> "Why do I feel your shadow when that girl walks in?"


He had buried her a thousand years ago. He had burned kingdoms trying to find her soul. He had looked into the stars until they wept.


Chapter 3 - Chapter 3: The Eyes I Cannot Forget