119 Here and There, Whats the Difference? 6 (1/2)
The Empress of Great Yong, the Grand Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect, and one young girl all fell into an introspective moment of silence.
Each of the three persons gazed towards the cold and lonely fringe of the moon, though their bestowed wishes and sentiments greatly differed from the other.
”Do… you not have any suitable candidates as of now?”
The old man seemed to have withered a few years in a brief snapshot of time, his expression completely despondent and exhausted.
Simply from hearing the fatigued voice, An Fei could not connect him with the smiling, boisterous elderly figure she had glimpsed standing near the bonfire to greet Feng Yu Xin.
”The Young Misses who I am escorting on this trip, I do not know their identities for certain,” the empress slowly spoke in a somber tone.
”Even more so, I do not know their personalities, their potential as cultivators, and most of all, their compatibility with your third great-grandson.”
”…this is quite the bittersome task, is it not?” Tian Mu huffed a breath of air in resigned dejection.
The elderly man prodded the ground with the wooden stick within his hand, venting his sadness onto the innocent yet equally devastating soil of the forest.
The breath of tranquility attempted to return to the surroundings of the carriage, yet was fiercely rebuffed without any mercy.
The coarse rubbing of a paper scroll suddenly overtook the rustling of grass swaying to the gentle night breeze.
”Here, take a look for yourself.”
Tian Mu passed along the object to the empress, sitting on his stone and leaning against the wall of the imperial carriage.
As the elder rhythmically tapped his stick on the ground, Feng Yu Xin released a noncommittal sound as she began to read the contents of the scroll, but abruptly jerked her head towards the old man.
The empress stared at the Grand Elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect in silent outrage, her plain but bewitching countenance revealing nothing but stupefied shock.
”Tian Mu, you're crazy!” the woman shouted in panicked anger, shaking the scroll towards the elder.
”A Soul-Binding Contract!? Your third great-grandson signed such a ghastly document that implements the cruel heavens as the witness and judge!?”
”That's right.”
The old man released a harsh sigh, the pair of aged eyes clenched shut in agony.
”This foolish great-grandson of mine drafted a Soul-Binding Contract upon first glance without even consulting his elders or parents. Although the contents of the contract allow him to gain a sharp advantage regardless of the fearsome detriments the contract poses, I wouldn't be this panicked about his first marriage if he hadn't written such a contract in the first place.”
Feng Yu Xin's jaw slackened at the insanity of the soon-to-be eighteen-year-old teenaged youth, and the woman only managed to recover after a long moment.
As she nibbled on her second mooncake, An Fei gave witness to the empress scouring the paper scroll with the full extent of her abilities, not hesitating to investigate the poor memorial object with a harsh glare suffused with concentrated spiritual essence.
”The contractor shall only partake in one female companion, to be designated as his wife under the impartial decrees of the heavens…” Feng Yu Xin quietly murmured in amazement.
”Furthermore, the contracted shall not partake in any outside interpersonal relationships prohibited by the contractor, but is assured of the natural basic rights of living existence unless equivalenced with appropriate measures… Neither the contracted nor contractor shall violate their partition without suffering divine tribulation, and inviting calamity towards their destiny…”
”…a youngling who isn't even of age wrote this document?”
The empress shook her head in amazement, disbelief refusing to depart from her gaze.
The elder similarly shook his head with bemusement, pointing to a specific section of the numerous characters scrawling over the paper scroll with his finger.
”Isn't he simply that brilliant of a youth?” Tian Mu revealed a sneer.
”Take a look at this section, ah. Though he can't cultivate, his unique ability permits himself to live without restraint and for an undefined amount of years that's certainly surpassing that of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, and he launches this sort of clause, ah.”
”The contracted and contractor share their intricate fluctuations of destiny upon the conferment of the contract…” the empress recited in a slow voice, her tone even and smooth until suddenly revealing a high-pitched exclamation of surprise.
”The contract bestows the natural affinity of Yang towards the contractor, and the affinity of Yin towards the contracted. The contractor and contracted will maintain the state of interconnected destiny even beyond reincarnation and death, and the contractor seeks a dominant position – Hey! I thought this lad was seeking for a wife, not a pet to hug and snuggle with during the evenings! How is this fair, ah!?”
The woman's countenance was particularly exquisite to witness when accompanied by the moonlight as she tore her gaze from the paper scroll clenched within her hands.
Tian Mu could not help but agree that Feng Yu Xin's countenance was strikingly amusing, containing equal blends of righteous anger, disbelief, astonishment, and the desire to both laugh and cry combined into one attractive countenance.