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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 25
The morning light refracted through the ice crystals, presenting a strange light purple hue. Aelia leaned against the Liujin Colored Glazed Window, her fingertips absentmindedly stroking the new frost pattern on her neck.
The ice crystal veins shimmered with a faint blue fluorescence in the sunlight, resembling remnants of some ancient curse.
The silver-threaded pillow, soaked with tears last night, had already formed into a frost flower, and at this moment, Qin Si was holding it to take it to the incinerator.
"Yi Ya—" Luna kicked her small feet wrapped in silver thread socks from her swaddling blanket, deliberately tossing the anklet tied with Xing Hui bells onto Lucius's hand.
Third Young Master Lucius flinched at the cold touch, looking down to meet the baby’s pupils glowing with a pale white light.
The swirling Xing Mang suddenly gathered into an arrow shape, pointing towards the melting ice sculptures in the Magic Castle Garden outside the window.
Lucius's pupils constricted as a cold light flashed in his memory—fragments of the shattered soul crystal from last night’s Judgment Ice Steps.
When he picked up the swaddled baby, he carefully wrapped half of her face with his dark-patterned cloak, but as he turned around, he caught sight of Aelia's neck where the frost pattern extended to her ear—a sign of the Soul Devouring Pact's backlash.
"Mother needs Purple Iris Morning Dew." The boy suddenly raised his voice, gazing at the melting ice crystal flower vase in the corner. "I remember there were some in the Dongyuan Greenhouse..."
"Those flowers died twenty years ago." Aelia's voice was like being scraped by an ice spike. She traced her fingertip over the dark red ice crystals condensed on the window lattice, remnants of blood from when they were produced.
When her gaze fell upon Luna’s small hand waving about, a sudden wave of metallic sweetness surged in her throat. "It would be good to take her out for some sunlight."
The ice bricks in the Magic Castle Corridor twisted oddly in the morning light as Luna's small hand hidden in the swaddle continued to grasp at the dissipating Xing Hui in the air.
The shadow magic that had been tainted last night now transformed into fine specks of light dust, quietly adhering to the surfaces of ice crystals as she lightly beckoned with her fingertip.
Lucius was completely unaware that a positioning charm made of Xing Hui was dangling from his cloak until he turned past the Iris Pattern Iron Gate, when suddenly, an illusion from twenty years ago reflected off the icy wall.
In Leonard's last night, a young Aelia sat crumpled in a pool of blood holding a swaddled bundle, while outside, beneath a shadow cloak, Leonard's Lion Head Ring was unmistakably revealed.
Lucius stumbled against a relief column, and Luna seized the opportunity to slap a saliva-soaked Xing Hui charm against the gap in the stone pillar.
"Is Third Young Master Lucius here to enjoy the ice as well?"
The deep voice startled the young man, causing him to turn abruptly.
Leonard draped in Chen Lu's still-damp Dark Pattern Cloak, his left hand's ring finger adorned with a Golden Lion Emblem that glowed ominously red.
Luna suddenly let out a sharp Loud Cry, her small hands reaching out toward her father's chest—there, nestled in the Amethyst Brooch, Galia's silhouette flickered within the Golden Lion totem.
Lucius stepped back, crushing the ice crystals beneath his feet, as the faded Blood Oath from last night's Contract Residual Shadow flashed in his mind.
Before he could speak, the infant in his arms unexpectedly released a stream of Colorful Bubbles.
The bubbles formed from Xing Hui collided with the Amethyst Brooch's Shan Na, and suddenly dozens of birthing room phantoms emerged from both sides of the icy corridor, each echoing Aelia's cries from Leonard's Last Night, intertwined with the Soul Crystal's Resonance.
"Impudent!" Leonard swung his cloak to shatter the phantoms, but a few grains of Xing Hui took the opportunity to slip into his collar.
Luna flashed a toothless grin, shaping the Shadow Magic she had secretly gathered into small Iris blooms and pinning them onto Lucius's trembling Fingertip.
As the first true rays of sunlight pierced through the Magic Fortress Barrier, a sudden sound of shattering porcelain echoed from the garden's western corner.
Excitedly, Luna rang her foot bell, following the direction indicated by Xing Hui. Qin Si was startled as she clutched an empty Ceramic Pot while turning the corner from the greenhouse—she had just knocked over the Iris seeds sealed away Twenty Years Ago.
Luna's foot bell chimed lightly as Qin Si bent down, and those bells formed from Xing Hui suddenly detached from their silver chain, dancing around the shards of the Ceramic Pot.
The seeds sealed away Twenty Years Ago released purple mist in the morning light, coalescing into a half-formed Family Crest pattern.
"Does my lady want to play hide and seek?" Qin Si caught the falling Xing Hui with her Skirt, unaware that several grains of light dust were crawling up her Emerald Earrings toward her Hair Bun.
Seizing the moment, Luna pressed her small hand, sticky with Chen Lu's essence, against Qin Si's neck. The Shadow Magic she had pilfered from last night's Contract Backlash instantly transformed into three Ice Crystal Butterflies that slipped into the maid's collar.
Lucius suddenly pressed against his Left Eye as Dark Red Ice Spikes shot out between his fingers.
As the boy stumbled against the warm room's stone pillar, the phantom of Twenty Years Ago surged over reality like a tide—he saw his sister, Qin Si, in her swaddling clothes being bound by the Soul Devouring Pact, and he saw Iris curled up in the form of an infant Guardian Spirit.
"Third Young Master Lucius, beware of the Heart Demon!" At the moment Qin Si steadied him, Luna's drool dripped right into the mist rising from the seed.
The purple haze suddenly coalesced into a miniature castle, clearly revealing their current location and the gaps in the guards' patrols.
Lucius's fingertip touched Iris, and suddenly the seventh petal unfurled, releasing fragments of Aelia's voice: "…the West Corridor at Seven Ice Pillars…" Luna immediately grabbed the boy's flowing silver hair and waved her fists toward the route marked by the phantom castle.
The Xing Hui she had soaked with her saliva suddenly transformed into Blood Arrows, darting across Qin Si's skirt embroidered with Dark Patterns.
"Does Miss want to go to the Ice Crystal Garden?" As the maid lifted the infant, Luna's small foot accurately kicked the Crescent Key hanging from her waist.
That key, which had never left Aelia's bedroom for twenty years, suddenly emitted a Dark Red hue akin to the Ice Spike in Lucius's eyes.
As they stepped out of the warm room, the Ice Bricks of the Magic Castle Corridor flipped over, revealing a Dark River flowing beneath.
Luna excitedly patted the swaddling cloth; several Xing Hui fell into the river and transformed into tiny silver-scaled boats.
Lucius gazed at the reflections on the river surface where Blood Oaths from the delivery room flickered. He suddenly tucked Iris behind his ear—those Shadow Magic remnants that Luna had smeared on his fingertip were now repairing his damaged Soul Fire along the Petal Veins.
"The guards pass by the West Corridor ice bell every fifteen minutes," Qin Si whispered as a reminder, unaware that the infant in her arms was blowing bubbles at the Lion Head Emblem on the guard's armor.
As those transparent spheres formed from Xing Hui collided with metal, Iris bloomed within the armor's eye sockets, temporarily obscuring the guard's line of sight.
Seizing this opportunity, Luna reached toward the Dark River and scooped up a handful of shimmering gold-dusted water.
That liquid congealed in her palm into a miniature map, clearly displaying moving magical plants within the Ice Crystal Garden.
When Qin Si stepped over her drool’s glowing footprints and turned around the seventh pillar, a roar echoed through the entire Magic Castle as an Ice Layer cracked—an ominous purple beam shot up from Aelia's bedroom.
"Mother…" The Ice Spike in Lucius's pupils suddenly surged but regained clarity just as Luna tugged at his earlobe.
In the moonlit eyes of the infant, Luna was piecing together Leonard's Last Night, where Aelia leaned against the window, shedding tears. The ice crystals that had fallen from her neck were now transforming into a sky full of irises in the beams of light.
The Bronze Door of the Ice Crystal Garden suddenly softened as the Crescent Key was inserted, and the lion-headed relief on the door exhaled a mist of flowers tinged with blood stench.
Luna suddenly let out a joyful cry, her small hands grasping a solid shadow amidst the mist—this was the remnant soul of the twin magic lotus that Leonard had extinguished twenty years ago.
"Miss, watch out for the Soul Devouring Grass!" Qin Si exclaimed, but before he could finish, Luna had already stuffed the remnant soul into her mouth.
In that moment, as Luna stirred, all the magical plants in the garden abruptly ceased their swaying, their leaves collectively turning towards a frost-covered dead tree in the Southwest Corner.
Lucius's family crest on his neck suddenly heated up; he recognized it as the "Rebirth Paulownia" marked in his mother's dowry diagram.
Under Luna's gaze, the dead tree blossomed with its seventh ring, and from the gaps in its rings seeped blue blood fern juice.
The moment Qian Si's embroidered shoes touched the blue blood fern juice, the Xing Hui entwined around them materialized into a guiding talisman.
Lucius watched as the blue blood fern juice wound its way across the ice surface and suddenly recalled what he had seen last night in the contract's residual shadow—the blue blood fern juice from the rebirth paulownia could temporarily obscure blood oath sensing.
"Yi Ya!" Luna suddenly tugged at Qin Si's pearl necklace and kicked vigorously at a protruding ice tumor at the base of the dead tree.
On her third kick, the surface of the ice tumor cracked open, revealing a crystal bottle sealed within—floating inside was half a wisp of soul fire that Aelia had lost long ago.
A sudden cry from an ice crystal bird echoed from the east side of the garden; those guards whose armor had been enchanted by Luna's illusion magic were gradually regaining consciousness.
The blue blood fern juice from the rebirth paulownia began to flow backward, drawing runes of warning on the ice surface.
Luna anxiously patted the crystal bottle and then blew a bubble wrapped in shadow magic towards its opening. The half wisp of soul fire immediately followed the bubble's track towards the western corridor.
As the last trace of blue blood fern juice seeped into the earth rift, all magical plants in the garden bowed their heads collectively.
On the withered branches of the rebirth paulownia, an ice crystal bird nest formed, and within it, twenty eggs simultaneously cracked open. Each gap oozed dark patterns originating from Leonard's cloak.
Luna suddenly nestled into Qin Si's embrace, fastening the Iris Hairpin crafted by Xing Hui into the maid's hair—exactly the style worn by Aelia during her wedding.
The second call of the Ice Crystal Bird shattered the still air, causing ripples to spread across the garden barrier.
The growth rings of the Rebirth Paulownia began to Reverse Rotation, and the plant spirits awakened by Luna quickly retreated behind the leaves.
In the shadows of the Southwest Corner, a block of Ice Brick marked with a Lion Head Emblem suddenly oozed Dark Red Blood Vein, silently creeping toward where the three stood.
The crisp sound of ice shattering erupted from the end of the flower path, as Leonard's Dark Pattern Cloak swept away Frost Flowers, forming sharp blades in midair.
The Amethyst Brooch on his chest swelled with blood color, enveloping the three in a Dark Red barrier. "Who allowed you to approach the Rebirth Paulownia?"
Luna abruptly straightened up in Qin Si's arms, her small feet adorned with Xing Hui's bells kicking heavily against the maid's Waist Crescent Key.
The key, gleaming with Dark Red light, projected Aelia's Xu Ying just in time to block Leonard's advancing steps.
Taking advantage of the moment, the infant expelled a bubble wrapped in Jin Hong Blue Blood Fern Juice, landing precisely on Father's Boot Tip—the patterns of the Twenty Years Ago Blood Oath Contract suddenly manifested on the Ice Surface.
"Father, we are looking for Mother's Iris." Lucius stepped forward slightly, and Ear's Iris unexpectedly bloomed its eighth petal.
The Shadow Magic that Luna had smeared on the petals danced along the boy’s neck, coalescing into a miniature Defensive Formation at his Collarbone.
Leonard raised his hand to shatter the Blood Oath patterns, yet Ice Crystal Fragments gathered in his Palm to form a pair of intertwined magical lotuses.
This was clearly the Token of Love he had destroyed with his own hands Twenty Years Ago!
With a grim expression, he tugged at his cloak Tie, and the Golden Lion Emblem suddenly shot forth red light towards Luna—but was caught by a sudden swing of the infant’s swaddling cloth.
The Silver Thread fabric soaked in Xing Hui refracted the red light into an Iris pattern, perfectly imprinting it on Leonard Mei Xin.
"Impudent!" Lord Fury's reprimand shook down all the Bing Ling from the trees, yet Luna puffed up her Luna and protested with a Yi Ya.
The scattered Xing Hui suddenly coalesced into a smaller version of the Contract Document, clearly displaying Galia's name as it consumed Aelia's lifeline.
The infant Pink pointed at a certain spot on the Document, where the future of the three brothers, Lucius, was revealed, entangled in shadows during Leonard's Last Night.
Leonard's Pupil constricted sharply as Boot Sole suddenly extended Ice Spikes towards the swaddled infant.
Lucius's Neck bore the Family Crest, which erupted in Strong Light, causing the Blue Blood Fern Juice of Rebirth Paulownia to steam into mist within the barrier.
The young boy stepped forward, echoing the protective steps he had seen in the illusion last night, positioning himself in front of his sister. "You said that the foundation of the Glorious Demon Fortress is protection!"
As the Ice Spikes touched Lucius's chest, they suddenly softened and transformed into Iris vines that ensnared Leonard's gauntlet.
Luna seized the opportunity to grab Qin Si's Pearl Necklace, smearing the saliva-covered Xing Hui onto the maid's Moonstone Earrings.
The emerald Zhui Zi suddenly reflected Leonard's Last Night from Twenty Years Ago: a young Aelia knelt before the Ice Coffin, sealing a wisp of Soul Fire into a Crystal Bottle with her own hands.
"Lord, please look!" Qin Si exclaimed, her voice trembling as her Iris Hairpin absorbed the red light from the barrier.
At the moment when Aelia Xu Ying resonated with the Hairpin, the Ice Surface beneath everyone's feet suddenly became transparent—revealing countless souls consumed by Blood Oath clinging to the Roots of Rebirth Paulownia in the Underground Dark River.
Leonard took a half-step back and shattered the Ice Layer beneath him; suddenly, Galia's phantom within his brooch emitted a Qian Jiao.
The Ice Crystal Birds awakened by Luna burst from their nests, each feather branded with patterns of Contract Backlash.
The Lord waved his sleeve to shatter the flock, yet several blood-stained ice feathers clung to the inside of his cloak, gradually melting into tears shaped like Aelia's sorrow.
Luna let out a joyful cry as her small hand grasped at a dissipating piece of Xing Hui in midair.
That light condensed in her Palm into a miniature Ice Mirror, clearly reflecting Leonard's nape—Dark Red Patterns were crawling along his Spine towards the core of Soul Fire at the back of his head.
The infant deliberately turned the Ice Mirror towards Brother San. Lucius immediately covered his mouth and stepped back, recognizing it as the "Soul Devourer Mark" recorded in their Mother's diagram.
"Father..." The boy's voice trembled with the friction of Ice Spike, "Your Neck..."
The Fury of Magical Fluctuation suddenly overturned the entire barrier, and the Withered Branches of Rebirth Paulownia swayed wildly in the gust.
Leonard raised his hand to cover the back of his neck, but the red light ignited by the Golden Lion Emblem unexpectedly illuminated the inside of his sleeve—there, an ancient vow embroidered in blood with Aelia's Frost Pattern read "Never Betray."
Luna suddenly let out a heart-wrenching Loud Cry, and those Contract Fragments hidden in her foot bells sprang forth, piecing together half of a complete Soul Fire Soulfire Transfer Array in the air.
Qin Si stumbled and knelt on the Ice Surface, her Xiu Xie stained with Jin Hong Blue Blood Fern Juice creeping up towards her heart.
The infant in the maid's arms took the opportunity to slap a Crystal Bottle Residual Shadow against her neck. When Iris Hairpin touched the Blue Blood Fern Juice's Shan Na, Qin Si's eyes suddenly flashed with Memory Fragment from the night Aelia gave birth—on the birthing ice column, Leonard's Lion Head Ring dripped Contract Potion.
"No..." Lord raised his hand to destroy the Formation Diagram, but Rebirth Paulownia suddenly descended with an icy prison.
The awakened plant spirits collectively chanted an ancient forbidden song, and a Roar of Ice Layer Cracking echoed from deep within the foundation of Magic Castle.
Leonard realized he could not summon Shadow Magic; the Golden Lion Emblem was violently Zhen Chan on his chest, as if something was breaking free from a twenty-year seal.
Luna suddenly spat at the Formation Diagram, mixing Xing Hui with Rebirth Paulownia and Blue Blood Fern Juice, unexpectedly completing the incomplete Formation Diagram into a Soul Fire repositioning array.
The infant's moonlit eyes revealed the majesty of a Great Mage for the first time. She waved her tiny hand, pushing the array towards the Southwest—an ominous Purple Light column rising from Aelia's Bedroom suddenly turned golden, reflecting the figure of Lady of the Fortress weeping by the window throughout the entire Magic Castle.
Leonard's Ailya's Roar caught in his throat as he saw Aelia's Neck Frost Pattern peeling away in the light column.
Each falling ice crystal reflected Leonard's Last Night filled with beautiful memories, yet at this moment, it sliced through his Amethyst Brooch like a blade.
As Galia's Xu Ying Qian Jiao dissipated, Lord suddenly knelt on one knee, dark red blood droplets seeping from the Soul Devourer Mark on his neck—when that Blood Pearl hit the ground, it bloomed into an Iris.
The icy prison suddenly burst open with Web-like Cracks; Leonard's Fingertip-concentrated Shadow Magic collapsed abruptly upon touching Iris Petals.
The Blood Pearls seeping from the back of his neck suddenly hovered in mid-air, each drop reflecting oaths from different times and spaces—twenty-year-old groom placing the Ice Crystal Crown on his bride under the moonlight, thirty-year-old Lord branding Galia's name into the Blood Oath Scroll in a secret chamber.
"Father, look!" Lucius suddenly tore open his collar, revealing the Defensive Formation at his collarbone resonating with Aelia's Bedroom's Golden Pillar.
The Soul Fire veins repaired by Luna now displayed a complete Guardian Totem on his skin—an ancient Symbol drawn by Leonard on the Wedding Canopy on the day of his marriage.
Luna suddenly broke free from Qin Si's embrace, wrapping Xing Hui in her swaddling cloth and charging straight towards the frost cage.
In an instant, as the baby Mei Xin emerged with a Mage Mark, the wedding vow sealed twenty years ago materialized: the Ice Crystal Crown pierced through the barrier and pressed down on Leonard's head, with Aelia's Frost Pattern blood inscribed inside the Crown reading "Shared Soul and Spirit" as a Curse.
"It’s impossible..." The Lord trembled as he grasped the Crown, memories altered by the Soul Devourer Mark began to flow backward.
His Amethyst Brooch exploded into powder; amidst Galia's Screeching, Dark Red Blood Veins frantically escaped from the Soul Devourer Mark.
Seizing the opportunity, Luna slammed the Crystal Bottle of Residual Shadow into his Mei Xin, as Aelia sealed Leonard's Last Night of Soul Fire like a blade piercing through the final Defense Line.
The entire Magic Castle suddenly tilted at a forty-five-degree angle, as Rebirth Paulownia’s Roots pierced through the Ice Layer, entangling Leonard’s Twin Legs.
Lucius’s Neck Family Crest suddenly detached and flew out, transforming into a golden Lock that secured the Lord’s neck against the Soul Devourer Mark.
The baby bit her Fingertip and flicked Xing Hui’s Blood Pearl towards the Lock—Twenty Years Ago, the complete Marriage Oath Contract unfurled in the sky; at the bottom right corner of the Contract, Leonard’s Guardian Spell was being devoured by the Soul Devourer Mark.
"Aelia..." The Lord howled as he tore apart his Golden Lion Emblem; from within the Dark Red Blood Mist burst forth Xu Ying, an ice crystal lion.
That was indeed the Guardian Beast he had gifted to his wife on their wedding night!
As the lion lunged at the Soul Devourer Mark, Luna suddenly released all of Xing Hui contained within her foot bells.
Deep within the foundation of the Magic Castle came sounds of Ice Layer reassembling; all flowing Magic Elements began to reorder themselves.
Qin Si let out a cry of pain as Memory Fragments surfaced from her Emerald Earrings, revealing that it was indeed the Soul Devourer Mark that had manipulated Leonard to mix Contract Potion into Aelia’s Calming Tea during her pregnancy.
The hairpin in the maid's hair suddenly surged, and from the flower's core, a golden thread shot out, piercing Luna Mei Xin. Instantly, a great mage's array emerged around the infant, revealing the altered causality of the past twenty years.
"I see now..." Lucius's eyes turned ice blue as he recalled the soul fire that had been transferred from his mother years ago.
He bit his finger and drew a repositioning spell on the ice surface. The light beam from Aelia's bedroom suddenly split into seven rays of rainbow light, penetrating layer upon layer of ice walls and converging at the top of the Rebirth Paulownia.
Leonard let out a beastly howl amidst the rainbow light. In an instant, as the Soul Devourer Mark was stripped away, dark red blood mist coalesced into Galia's twisted visage.
Luna waved her bloodied little hand to draw a sealing array, mixing Xing Hui with Iris pollen to force the evil spirit back into the underground dark river.
As the last trace of blood mist dissipated, people heard the first true bird song in twenty years echoing from deep within the ice layer.
The Rebirth Paulownia suddenly burst forth with emerald new buds, and the withered branches shed Bing Ling, transforming into a rain of flowers.
Aelia stepped gracefully from the light beam, her neck adorned with a flowing starry necklace that had replaced the frost pattern.
Her trembling fingertip touched Leonard's white hair, where a new ice crystal crown had formed—its curse of "shared soul and spirit" resonating with her necklace.
Luna let out a victorious sound as her little foot kicked the last grain of Xing Hui toward the warm room.
Everyone followed the light and gazed upon the Iris Field that had withered twenty years ago, now reborn in rainbow light, each flower bud cradling a shimmering guardian spirit.
Qin Si suddenly pointed at the flower cluster and exclaimed—those elven faces were identical to Lucius's twin sister who had perished all those years ago.
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