Free Web NovelChapter 24: Chapter 24—Finally Free
Chapter 24—Finally Free
Lei Cheng said nothing for a few seconds. Hua Mingyue simply smiled lightly, covering her mouth with her fan.
"Why are you helping me?" he finally asked, his voice low.
His fist tightened involuntarily. ’Is she treating me like a lab rat?’ He wondered whether she wanted to experiment on him, since she had already discovered his Enlightenment ability.
Hua Mingyue noticed the still, guarded expression on his face and replied playfully, "Because we are connected."
Lei Cheng froze. ’Connected? How?’ He shook his head—this felt like a waste of time. He dashed out of the room, and just as he pushed the door open, Hua Mingyue raised her voice behind him.
"Where do you think you are going?"
He turned his head. "Shouldn’t I find my bride? To break this fox mark?"
Hua Mingyue grinned. "I said marriage. You cannot fake a marriage—it must be officially recognized by the Heavens."
"What does that mean?" Lei Cheng turned around fully.
Hua Mingyue sighed. "You really don’t get it, do you? You could pick some random lady as a bride, get married, and divorce her later. But for the Heavens to officially recognize it, both sets of parents must agree. In every marriage, the groom and bride are not the only important ones—their parents play a major role. The bride’s parents send her off; the groom’s parents take responsibility for her as their own daughter-in-law." She raised her palm, gesturing toward the Lei household. "Since your father is still alive, you cannot randomly choose someone to fill that role. The Heavens will not acknowledge it."
Lei Cheng exhaled slowly, shaking his head. ’She knows my father won’t agree.’ He had already seen Lei Feng’s reaction—the way he had bristled when he dared to object to the arranged marriage.
’What now?’
His brows furrowed. Cold sweat broke across his skin as he glanced down at his chest, where the tingling sensation still lingered.
Hua Mingyue asked calmly, "Do you really want to get married?"
"Yes," Lei Cheng nodded. "It seems this is the only method, according to you." He raised his brows, then steadied himself inwardly. ’I have no choice but to trust her for now. She hasn’t harmed me despite having the power to do so.’ He realized, almost without noticing, that he had relaxed around her. ’I don’t know why—but she feels familiar. Caring, even...’ He shook his head, unable to understand how that could be.
Hua Mingyue raised her own brows. "Are you sure? If you truly intend to marry, you should have already figured it out by now."
"Figured out what?" Lei Cheng inquired.
He turned the thought over quietly, muttering to himself. ’Marriage. Marriage.’ Then it settled. "Yes. I’ll have to get married." He accepted it—the weight of it settling over him like a second skin. ’I had wanted to grow stronger first, acquire eternal life if possible, and only then search for a wife. It seems fate had another plan.’ He straightened. ’I’ll find a beautiful girl—or even someone ordinary, with a good heart—and carry her with me all the way to eternity.’ He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with quiet resolve.
Then—all at once—something bound itself around his right wrist just below the palm.
He raised his hand slowly, bringing it before his eyes. A red energy thread was tied around his wrist—thin, luminous, unmistakable. The crimson thread extended outward, and midway it divided into two lines. One shot straight up into the sky, reaching far beyond sight. The other was tied to Hua Mingyue’s right wrist.
Lei Cheng froze. He lowered his head—then raised it. He repeated this several times and rubbed his eyes. The thread did not change.
His mouth fell open.
"What?!" he yelled. "We are connected—aren’t we?!"
Hua Mingyue broke into a wide grin. "This is—"
"This is—" Lei Cheng murmured alongside her.
Hua Mingyue cut through his voice clearly. "This is the Eternal Bond. A marriage contract. It is used for marriage between deep, fated lovers. Unlike a traditional marriage, which binds two people for a single life, this contract binds them for eternity—across every life they take, in every world they walk—"
Lei Cheng raised his head slowly and continued the thought in a quiet voice, cutting her off. "No matter how many times they are reborn, they will always find each other."
"Yes." Hua Mingyue nodded, a rare sincerity softening her expression. "This goddess’s efforts have finally paid off. So now—let’s get married in this life."
Relief flickered through her eyes for the briefest moment.
Lei Cheng’s mind went blank. He pointed at her, then at himself, his index finger moving back and forth like a man who had just been told the sky was green.
Hua Mingyue nodded eagerly, like a chicken pecking at grain.
"How?" he breathed. "You are so powerful. How did I ever marry you?"
Hua Mingyue smiled lightly. "Indeed—in our past life, you were an absolute idiot. So lazy. Such a glutton—"
She stopped as Lei Cheng raised his palm. "Stop scolding me."
Hua Mingyue grinned, and the sound of it was like a sweet bell ringing. Lei Cheng, however, had already drifted into a quiet thought. ’In my past life—the one other than my life on Earth—I must have been extraordinarily powerful.’ He turned the idea over like a prized coin. ’Then this Enlightenment ability, and the Eye of Prophecy—were these all part of my past life’s plan?’ He shook his head. ’It might be. Or it might not.’ He threw the problem to his future self.
Then, all at once, he clutched his chest as a burning sensation erupted within him, accompanied by a low, corroding sound. The fox mark tore itself out of his chest—raw and blazing—and transformed into a bright golden fox glowing brilliantly in the air above both their heads. The fox reared up to one and a half meters tall and let out a howl—painful, deep, reverberating—then dissolved into dark smoke and vanished.
"I’m free." Lei Cheng smiled widely, his body feeling suddenly, inexplicably light.
The ticking weight on his chest was gone.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt truly unshackled.
He walked to the mirror and parted his upper robe to check. Clean, smooth skin—not a trace of the golden mark. Only the Bizarre Qi seal remained visible in his reflection, the deep golden core contained within its white circle. He exhaled with relief. ’Good.’ He sat down on the bed and gave himself a few quiet moments to let the joy settle.
"So," he said at last. "About the marriage."
"Do you have to get married?" he asked.
Hua Mingyue turned toward him, eyes sharp and cold. "What? You don’t want to marry?"
Crimson energy began to glow around her body. Ice spread from her feet outward, creeping across the entire floor. Lei Cheng broke into an immediate sweat and shook his head frantically. "Let’s get married. Let’s get married!"
"Good." Hua Mingyue nodded, and her energy vanished as if it had never been there. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"But after dealing with the fox," Lei Cheng added carefully.
Hua Mingyue nodded. "Alright. This goddess will wait. Finish dealing with the fox first."
Lei Cheng stood up, thoughts already sharpening. ’Now things are clear. I’ll have to avenge myself.’ He paused. ’Wait—does the fox mark actually kill the person it marks?’ He recalled the memory from when he had first arrived in this world—being drained to nothing, a body reduced to little more than skin over bone. Had the transmigration benefit not healed him, he might have been dead before he ever woke.
"Can this fox mark kill?" he asked.
Hua Mingyue paused, holding the fan lightly in front of her face. She fanned herself gently, then replied with measured calm. "If the one who applies the Fox Groom Mark is not the fox itself, but a subordinate—especially a human subordinate—there is a chance they apply too much of the mark’s power. When that happens, the marked person gets drained entirely—life force, lifespan, everything—instead of only slow Yang essence."
Lei Cheng closed his eyes slowly. ’So that’s how. That’s how I died. Lin Mei and Mo Yong—not the fox itself.’ The clarity of it settled over him like cold water. ’After all, the fox wanted to marry me. Not kill me before the wedding.’
The final missing piece finally fell into place.
He at last understood how the original Lei Cheng had died.
---
Meanwhile, a few minutes earlier, in the Xiao household.
In her own room, Xiao Ming suddenly spat out blood, the red splashing across the floor. She coughed hard, pressing one hand to her mouth and the other to her chest. ’The Fox Groom Mark had been broken.’ Golden energy swept outward from her body in waves, bleeding into the air and disappearing.
"I’m losing my energy—Ahh." She bared her fox fangs and snarled in the direction of the Qian Pharmacy, her voice rising to a scream. "Lei Cheng—how dare you?!"
A few moments passed. She steadied herself, and her expression gradually returned to its gentle, soft mask. She wiped the blood away with a flicker of golden energy and clapped her palms together sharply.
A young man of around fifteen entered the room, clad in a plain blue robe. He knelt.
"Your orders, Miss?"
She pointed in Lei Cheng’s direction and hissed, "Bring me Lei Cheng. He is hiding inside the Qian Pharmacy."
The servant looked startled. "What? Then the person here is not Lei Cheng?"
He had clearly witnessed Lei Cheng enter the Xiao household with his own eyes.
