After the heavy rain, frost needles formed in the cracks of the stones, and Luna curled up in her Embroidered Shoes, counting the Pillars and Ice Cracks.
Her delicate Toes moved rhythmically under the moonlight—this was a secret she discovered after her reincarnation: when the Lingmai Energy Flow passed through specific acupoints, it could temporarily break through the limitations of an infant's vocal cords.
"The Ice Crystal Barrier in Madam's Room has thickened by another three inches." Qin Si walked by with a Silver Candelabra, his Maid's Skirt stained with the unique Humus scent from the Crypt.
Luna's dark Eyes followed that fleeting Residual Shadow until Aelia appeared at the end of the Spiral Staircase, dragging a Skirt Hem adorned with Ice Spikes.
"Yi Ya!" The sudden clear cry of the infant startled a Night Owl perched on the beam.
Aelia's fingertips, tinged with a bluish hue from the cold, hovered half an inch from the door ring as she watched the Little One, wrapped like a Snowball, roll out from the shadows.
Luna's head was covered in Ye Lu, yet she held the warm Magic Pearl high, its pale golden glow reflecting off Aelia's eyelashes, where tiny Ice Shards clung.
"You child..." Aelia's voice was cut through by an Ice Spike. As she bent down to pick her up, a whisper carrying the Milk Fragrance suddenly emerged from the swaddling: "Don't touch the Marriage Oath Inscription! The Reverse Flower Sap is rewriting the Contract Terms!"
A sound of shattering came from a Crystal Lamp Shade in the darkness.
Leonard stepped half a pace out from the shadow of an armor display, his Obsidian Cufflinks reflecting a dangerous light. "When did Madam learn to use ventriloquism to amuse infants?" The Family Crest on his sword hilt was heating up, a warning triggered by his Bloodline sensing a threat.
Luna deliberately pressed the warm pearl against Aelia's Heart, watching as the melting ice crystal water seeped into her Lace collar.
As white mist began to rise around Aelia, she seized the opportunity to convey with Divine Sense: "Last time they opened the Crypt gate using your Wedding Ring on Lunar Eclipse Night, Second Brother got entangled by a Soul Devouring Vine around his Right Eye, and Brother San’s Summoned Beast gnawed off its own Wings..."
"Absurd!" Aelia suddenly tightened her embrace, and Luna's nape immediately revealed a faint Purple Magic Pattern—this was a defense spell of Great Mage level.
The ice cone formed at the fingertip of the Lady of the Fortress vaporized upon contact with the Curse, transforming into a wisp imbued with the scent of Tequila—this was the drink served at Leonard's celebration banquet that morning.
A dull sound of stone slabs shifting echoed from the end of the corridor, as Lucius emerged from a hidden door holding an Astrolabe, his sleeves stained with the same Humus as the Qian Si Skirt.
Luna suddenly giggled and, in a voice that everyone could hear, exclaimed, "Brother San's Star Chart Device is much cleaner than the Crypt's mouse hole!"
Leonard's Leonard's Sword slipped half an inch from its sheath, the Sword Body reflecting the swirling azure magic circle deep within Aelia's pupils.
As the Lord attempted to intimidate the infant with Bloodline pressure, the Magic Pattern on Luna's neck surged suddenly, dyeing the entire corridor's Magic Candelabra a Light Purple hue.
"Father's hand is shaking," Lucius remarked as he turned the Star Chart Device towards the East Tower. The mirror reflected pale white petals swirling in the direction of the Crypt. "Doesn't it look like the moonlight on the day Mother’s wedding dress was torn apart?"
Aelia's Pearl Necklace snapped in response, and as the round beads rolled across Luna’s enchanted Peacock Stone Tiles, each one reflected different angles of the Crypt’s sealing diagram.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna grabbed Aelia's Sapphire Necklace and Jade Pendant, using a Mithril Chain to sketch out a fragmented Magic Castle Structure Diagram in midair—precisely the key area where the three brothers met their tragic fates in the Original.
Leonard suddenly pressed down on the Communication Crystal at his sword’s hilt; he sensed a disturbance in the barrier coming from Leonard's Concubine located in the West Side Annex.
This subtle movement caused ice crystals to rapidly increase around Aelia, but upon touching Luna’s warm glow, they melted into mist shimmering with Gold Dust.
"Mother, look," Luna said, using her saliva-dampened finger to draw a Blood Contract Rune on Aelia's palm. "When Reverse Flower Sap permeates Geomancy, all defenses built with vows of marriage turn into blades that stab at family."
Suddenly, a crisp sound of Ice Layer shattering echoed outside, as the Nursery’s Bronze Door sealed ten years ago slowly began to open.
Luna sensed that the illusion she had set up in the Cradle was beginning to take effect—the "baby's severed finger" made of Magic Bread was now drifting towards the Outer Chamber Annex, carried by the Lingmai vortex.
"My Lord!" The Chief Guard burst through the Colored Window, covered in fallen flower petals. "The Defensive Formation of the West Side Annex..." He suddenly fell silent, for Luna was holding Aelia's necklace, the Jade Pendant, and within the Sapphire, Leonard's Concubine was clearly visible as she touched the barrier during Leonard's Last Night.
As Leonard turned, his cloak swept over an antique candlestick, and melted Whale Wax twisted into a Family Totem on the ground.
Luna pressed a warm pearl into Aelia's trembling palm, and the soft whispers of a child floated into the Lord's ear on the draft: "You should thank me for opening the East Side's secret channel this morning; otherwise, how would Brother San have managed to tamper with the Marriage Oath Inscription?" Leonard's hand gripping the sword hilt bulged with veins as the ancient silver Family Crest was seared into his flesh by violent Zhen Chan.
Luna tilted her head and bit down on the Swaddling Tie, her voice wrapping around honeyed laughter: "You deliberately left a gap in the Guardian Spell of the East Side secret channel just so we could see how the Crypt gate operates, didn't you?"
Suddenly, the warm pearl in Aelia's palm erupted with Strong Light, scorching a mark on the Lineage Head Image hanging on the corridor wall.
The Lady of the Fortress's silver hair fell and moved without wind; ice crystals formed at her hair tips melted into Xing Xu upon touching Luna’s forehead. The Magic Pattern on the child's neck instantly spread down the entire corridor, pinning Leonard's raised right foot to a stone slab etched with their Family Motto.
"My affairs with Luna..." Aelia’s fingertip brushed against the Ice Rose crystallized at the edge of the swaddling. The translucent petals suddenly turned towards the West Side Annex. "What does that have to do with you?" As her last Broken Syllable landed, the Ice Crystal Barrier along the corridor abruptly contracted into six Prism shapes, sealing Leonard and his Chief Guard behind a cage forged from Xuan Bing.
Luna’s swaddling suddenly floated off the ground, its silk fabric adorned with Xing Hui tightening into a loop around her shoulders.
She watched Aelia approach the Spiral Staircase in her Starry Gown shrouded in Ice Mist. In a moment of desperation, she bit her tongue and used her bloodied Saliva to draw a teleportation rune in mid-air.
The unique Milk Fragrance of an infant mixed with Blood Stench, creating butterfly-shaped Light Spots on the stone wall.
"Mother... wait..." The Divine Sense transmission shattered against Aelia's suddenly strengthened Protective Barrier, sending Luna tumbling into a pile of Magic Herbs drying in Qin Si’s morning sun.
Lavender and Dragon's Blood Vine fragments clung to her swaddling as she struggled to turn over and caught sight of Aelia’s Skirt Hem brushing past. From within a Gap in the Stone Steps emerged countless Ice Blue Ying Huo insects—fragments of Soul that only leaked out when the Lady of the Fortress lost control of her emotions.
The infant's feet heavily stomped on the floating cradle, propelling her three meters away.
Luna's neck suddenly split into strands, sticking to the iron chain of the chandelier like a spider web.
As she burst through the door of Aelia's bedroom, resembling a small cannonball adorned with lace, she caught sight of the Lady of the Fortress crushing an entire box of pearl powder in front of the dressing mirror.
"Look at this!" Luna drew a simple magic circle on the cashmere carpet with her palm, which had been scraped by the door frame. With each inch her bloodied fingertip moved, a translucent magic castle emerged in the air, forming a three-dimensional map.
She deliberately marked three secret passages between the West Side Annex and the Crypt with gold dust, one of which was flickering red—the hidden door that Leonard had personally opened that morning.
Suddenly, Aelia's dressing mirror was covered in white frost, revealing a scene from ten years ago on their wedding day.
The bride, dressed in a gown adorned with stars, still had blood on her fingertip from signing the marriage vows, while the groom's sleeve bore remnants of blue blood fern juice—the forbidden substance capable of altering contracts—slowly seeping into the cracks of the marriage oath inscription within the mirror.
Luna suddenly began to cough violently; her fragile infant lungs could not withstand the emotional resonance of a Great Mage.
She rolled to Aelia's feet, rubbing her milk-stained Luna against the icy hem of her skirt. "Mother, touch... Luna's magic core..."
When Aelia's cold fingers touched the back of the infant's neck, the ice crystal barrier surrounding the bedroom suddenly trembled.
The light gold energy flowing within Luna gathered through her skin into a micro nebula pattern in Aelia's palm—this was a teaching tool from Aelia’s original lessons to help her daughter control ice magic, now appearing twenty years early between them.
"Do you smell the burning feathers of a snowy owl?" Luna suddenly transmitted an impact from Leonard's last night to Aelia through divine sense. This was a scene from the original where Third Young Master Lucius used his summoned beast to protect his mother from the soul devouring vine. "When the power of your marriage vows reverses, everything you have ever loved will turn into weapons that harm your family."
The malachite jewelry box on Aelia’s grooming table suddenly exploded, and the jade hairpin given by Leonard during his courtship twenty years ago shattered into two pieces.
Stumbling against the Ice Crystal Bedpost, the Lady of the Fortress watched as Luna wrote on the silk Canopy with Magic Herb Juice—those characters were automatically arranging themselves into the Marriage Contract Vulnerability Analysis Report.
"Enough..." Aelia's voice seemed to come from beneath a shattered Ice Layer. She waved her hand, freezing the entire Dressing Area. "These Evidence Chains are too perfect... perfect like a play meticulously rehearsed..." An Ice Pearl, crystallized on her eyelashes, suddenly fell, vaporized by Luna's warm orb into a fragrant Water Mist before it could touch the carpet.
Luna rolled to the inner side of the bed and used her teeth to tear open a pillow embroidered with a Sleep Spell.
As seven magical stones of different attributes rolled out, she quickly drew an Elemental Resonance array with her saliva. "Feel this—" The infant's Pink Palm suddenly pressed down on the fire attribute gem, and from the Crimson Halo emerged a Projection of Leonard and Leonard's Concubine touching the Underground Barrier on Lunar Eclipse Night.
Aelia suddenly clutched her Heart, the Ice Spirit Stone embedded in her Wedding Ring digging into her ring finger and drawing blood.
Seeing this, Luna immediately spat out the Healing Flower Stamen hidden under her tongue. The Light Purple flower juice crawled up the Lady of the Fortress's Wrist to the Wedding Ring, temporarily freezing the continuously contracting Contract Punishment Mechanism.
"Mother now has two choices." Luna arranged the magical stones into an Hourglass Shape, with the upper half filled with Jin Sha symbolizing Family Glory and the lower half teeming with Reverse Blooming Flower Illusion. "Cut off energy Resonance with Father immediately, or..." She suddenly bit her finger and drew a bloody Choice Array on the Ice Crystal Ground.
Aelia suddenly bent down to embrace Luna, tears from the Lady of the Fortress dripping onto the infant's forehead Magic Pattern, igniting a rainbow-like defensive Halo.
As her trembling fingers brushed over Luna's drawn Underground Structure Diagram, those marked danger zones suddenly released a gray mist carrying the scent of Humus—exactly matching that of the Qian Si Skirt.
"Do you know what the most terrifying betrayal is?" Aelia's voice sounded like a Harp scraped by ice shards. She loosened her Sapphire Necklace at her collar, revealing Ice Cracks spreading beneath her collarbone. "It's not a sudden knife in your back; it's drinking Honey handed to you by someone every day only to discover that beneath the Sugar Coating lies Chronic Poison."
Luna suddenly pressed her forehead against Aelia's Heart, and the infant's unique Pure Magic formed a small vortex that slowly drew out the Ice Shards eroding her heart.
As the tenth Ice Shard tainted with black energy fell onto the Velvet Blanket, a crisp sound echoed throughout the room—the shattering of the Marriage Oath Inscription.
"Mother, look!" Luna suddenly pointed out of the window.
As she passed through the crumbling Ice Crystal Barrier, Luna could see Lucius standing atop the East Tower, the Star Chart Device in his hand refracting the moonlight into a prism shape.
The colorful Light Spots fell upon the Crypt Entrance, where the Ice Coffin sealing Aelia's life magic was slowly opening.
Aelia's Pearl Earrings suddenly floated up, forming the characters for "pause" in Ancient Language before Luna's eyes.
The Lady of the Fortress waved her hand to conjure an Ice Barrier that blocked the view of the tower, but it could not obscure the roar emanating from the Underground, like a great beast awakening—this was the Magic Source she had sealed away years ago to protect her unborn child.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna slipped a warm orb into Aelia's collar, watching as the Ice Cracks ceased their spread within the warm Halo. "Father thought that using Reverse Flower Sap would turn you into an obedient Puppet, but he doesn't know..." The infant suddenly broke into a smile revealing her Milk Tooth. "When the volcano beneath the Ice Layer begins to stir, the first thing to melt will always be those self-righteous Demon Binding Shackles."
Suddenly, the moonlight outside was stained crimson, and a thunderous sound of collapsing barriers echoed from the direction of the West Side Annex.
Luna sensed that her pre-arranged Bread Finger had mixed into Leonard's Concubine's Meal and was now traveling through her Magic Circuit towards her heart—this was a positioning curse designed based on the Original villain's weaknesses.
Aelia suddenly lifted Luna to eye level, and within the Lady of the Fortress's pupil, an Ice Blue Magic Circle spun, reflecting a glimpse of a Six-Winged Angel named Luna around the infant's neck.
As she reached out to touch that Taboo Pattern, Luna unexpectedly let out a drowsy yawn, causing the Magic Pattern to automatically shrink into the form of a Guardian Necklace.
"Mother should rest now..." Luna used magic to summon Anshen Flower from the bedside cabinet, watching as its pale Blue Petals spread out like a Star Map beside her pillow. "When the moon reaches the second Window Lattice of the clock tower..." She deliberately allowed her Divine Sense communication to weaken gradually while secretly clenching in her little fist a Humus Sample stolen from her Qian Si Skirt.
When Aelia’s breathing finally became long and steady, Luna gently bit open the Memory Crystal hidden within her swaddling layers.
The unique Saliva of an infant activated its storage function, and on its surface emerged a bizarre scene from that night she traveled through—a Burning Magic Castle Dome where her three brothers' broken magical artifacts formed the outline of some kind of Sacrificial Array.
In that fleeting moment when the moonlight shifted, Luna suddenly sensed familiar energy fluctuations coming from the direction of the Crypt.
She stared at Aelia, whose brow was still furrowed in sleep, and tucked the Memory Crystal back into Golden Hair—those nightmares that had entangled her for a full seven days during the initial night of crossing, Leonard's Last Night, were now stirring outside the Ice Crystal Barrier, ready to materialize.
Luna curled up in Aelia's embrace, the Light Spot projected by the Memory Crystal weaving a flowing tapestry on the ice wall.
The infant's breath stirred the wisps of hair at the Lady of the Fortress's neck, swirling the cold Cedar Fragrance like a vortex.
"I dreamed that the moon split into three pieces..." Luna wove her dream into Aelia's Mind Sea with Divine Sense, her soft voice trembling as she spoke. "Elder Brother's Wheelchair sank into Quicksand made of Peacock Stone Tiles, and those Magic Runes turned into piranha teeth..." The ice wall echoed with a distorted image of Leonard's Last Night: the Wheelchair Armrest suddenly sprouted Thorns, dragging the disabled youth toward a boiling Blood Pool.
Aelia's Wedding Ring tightened suddenly, and Blood Pearls seeping from the edges of the Ice Spirit Stone spread across the sheets like Frost Flowers.
Luna hurriedly bit down on her injured ring finger, the infant's Healing Magic Rune climbing up the ring band through her Saliva, temporarily freezing the backlash of the Contract.
"Second Brother held a shattered Summoning Crystal, pierced by his own illusion in the Mirror Palace..." Luna's voice suddenly grew muffled as she intentionally omitted the part where Second Brother blinded himself after being betrayed by his closest friend.
The figure wielding a sword on the ice wall staggered and crashed into the mirror, but in that moment of shattering, Luna blurred its face with a warm Halo.
The Lady of the Fortress's Fingertip suddenly pierced through the Ice Layer of the bedpost, revealing Lucius’s figure within Han Wu.
The boy knelt before the Burning Star Chart Device, his Left Eye bleeding Silver-Blue Blood that was greedily sucked by the inverted Root System. "Brother San’s Astrology Staff pierced your Ice Coffin..." At this point, Luna choked on her words; she could never reveal that Aelia had transformed into an Ice Sculpture to protect the child.
The entire feather bed was suddenly covered in Frost Spikes, Ailya's Silver Hair coiling around Luna’s swaddling like a living thing. "What happened next?" The Lady of the Fortress’s voice seemed to come from the polar Bing Yuan, as Ice Pearls formed at her Hair Tips refracted horrifying images from Leonard's Last Night within the Memory Crystal—the Magic Castle Tower was being shredded by Black Vines.
Luna’s Magic Pattern suddenly erupted in a Rainbow, forcibly severing the dream Projection.
Feigning fear, she burrowed into Aelia’s arms while secretly melting Humus Sample into her Skirt’s ice crystals. "Luna only remembers... Mother turning into many butterflies..." The infant deliberately used fragmented imagery to obscure the truth, her moist Eye Socket reflecting Aelia’s Collarbone beneath which Ice Cracks were spreading anew.
A Lacrima struck Luna Mei Xin, instantly crystallizing into an icy pearl that rolled off the bed.
The Lady of the Fortress brushed over the infant Golden Hair, hidden within was a Memory Crystal. Upon touching a certain encrypted image, it suddenly froze—this was the mysterious symbol Luna had dreamt of on her first night of crossing over, now resonating deep within the crystal with the roar emanating from the Crypt.
"Those butterflies..." Aelia's tears crystallized on her cheek into an Ice Chain. "Do they carry the scent of Humus?" She suddenly lifted the Canopy, and moonlight illuminated the Calming Incense Burner that Qin Si had sent that morning—the swirling Track of Qing Yan perfectly matched the path of the black vines growing in Luna's dream.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna pressed the warm Humus into Aelia's palm, and the infant's magical power activated the lingering images in the soil: ten years ago, on the day of the Marriage Oath Inscription, Leonard's Leonard's Sword had lightly touched the monument's base with soil carrying the same scent.
The Memory Crystal suddenly flickered in sync, revealing Leonard's Last Night, where Humus had accumulated on the windowsill of the West Side Annex.
Outside the Ice Crystal Barrier came the mournful cry of a Night Owl, and Luna sensed that her pre-arranged Resonance Stone in the bell tower had begun to operate.
As the Thirteenth bell tolled under the moonlight, Aelia's Wedding Ring's Ice Spirit Stone unexpectedly projected a Holographic Map—this was a Magic Castle Secret Passage diagram activated by both Lacrima and Humus, with each hidden path marked by Leonard's footsteps.
The Lady of the Fortress's Pupil suddenly reversed its rotation, gathering all Ice Element in the Bedroom into a suspended Prism.
Luna's Six-Winged Birthmark on her neck revealed hidden messages under the Prism's refraction—these were time Coordinates written in Ancient Dragon Language, pointing towards the West Side Annex on the night of the Lunar Eclipse.
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