"Young Master Cheng, the preparations have been done, we can start anytime. Is there anything else you would like to add?"

In a hidden large space under the Sacred Mountain, the young Jiayi stood before the young man wearing a low-key but beautiful snow-white robe with a gentle smile on her face.

Largely contrasting to her calm and confident appearance, she was inwardly alert for even the slightest bit of potential danger to her life while facing the opposite person.

Although Jiayi understood how extremely important her life was for this person\'s goal, it also didn\'t change the fact that she still hadn\'t fully grasped how that person was truly important and special to this extremely indifferent and cold man.

Jiayi considered her actions behind the young man\'s back shouldn\'t be too much, particularly when she was thinking that it was for their own good. But she had forgotten one of the extremely important details she had seen in the memories of that possible future self.

This is a complete lunatic who can do anything to the person he accepts as his own.

In that memory, countless lives had been used and sacrificed for the sake of two people\'s well-being.

Completely showing how this person was an extremely cold-blooded person.

It had only been two months since this person arrived, and yet, the level of trust between the two young men was extremely surprising. Especially after knowing how much dislike, enmity, or whatever hatred the two young men had from the start.

Honestly, Jiayi had never considered that Ren Yuan could even reveal how she had secretly called him over while meeting this person. She had underestimated the two young men\'s bond with each other even though fate and destiny shouldn\'t have a strong connection and power over them.

Or maybe, she shouldn\'t have been surprised at how Ren Yuan acted. After all, although this young man in a white robe wasn\'t bound by fate and destiny, Ren Yuan was completely different.

Although that man had the favor and blessing of Heaven\'s will, which gave him the most honorable purple aura despite it being split up, it didn\'t change the fact that there was only one special existence in the entire world where the grip of destiny and fate is entirely loose.

… I made a mistake… I shouldn\'t have worried about Ren Yuan\'s situation… because, in the end, that person had the highest possibility of falling for the person he is meant to be with.

Instead… this person should be the problem…

Jiayi controlled the deep thoughts from leaking through her eyes while meeting the pair of cold sapphire pupils that had skillfully hidden the paranoid emotions buried deep within him.

Nonetheless, she wouldn\'t forget the one hour of discussion they had finished a while ago after a meticulous observation of her preparations for the purification.

"Young Master Cheng, don\'t worry. I would not dare to secretly invite that person for today\'s situation. No matter how much courage I had, I know when to stop."

Seeing how much guarded to the point of paranoia this person was when it came to that young man, Jiayi could only lament and inwardly sigh at how ironic the entire situation was.

Just as how much this person wanted that young man to die in the broken memories she received, it was equally… no, almost overwhelming how much he cared now.

Even she could see how this person\'s attachment with Ren Yuan was far more special and stronger compared to how he was with the two people who had betrayed him.

Maybe, because this \'like\' or \'love\' was completely different?

After all, Ren Yuan was the one this young man in white robe would have fallen in love with. There is a reason why her future self declared the two young men as \'Fated Lover\'.

"Jiayi… remember my words. I don\'t care what the reason is, but don\'t ever move your thoughts again toward him."

Quietly standing at the edge of a knee-length artificial pool with clear water, Shao Cheng finally watched the other people finish adding the last additional safety measures for any unexpected situations from happening during the purification.

"My promise to him would come first…"

So even if I promised you before… if something wrong happens to him…  I…

Shao Cheng stopped the dangerous thought in his mind from being completed for a few seconds before feeling resigned at the situation he finds himself in.

"He will always be my bottom line. In this world, he is the most important."

I… I really think… I would really lose my mind when it comes to him…

Even after being betrayed in the previous life, what Shao Cheng felt the most was the unbearable sadness and exhaustion from all the expectations and hope he had desired. Of course, there was also hate and resentment but it wasn\'t as strong as the other negative emotions he felt that time.

So, when it came to that man, he could only helplessly predict that the already half sanity that he was barely keeping would finally break into tiny pieces in this life.

Shao Cheng perceived how that man had already overtaken his mind and slowly infected his cold and numb heart with an emotion beyond his control.

… This is the reason why… I never wanted to fall for a person…

"I understand."

This time, Jiayi truly understood and in the future, if she were to have any other thought, or would want to act on something, she would first discuss it with him before making a move.

"Honestly, I envy you."

How utterly envious you guys are…

How fortunate you are to be given a chance to start again… how fortunate you are to have the chance to be together like this…

How fortunate you are to have the chance to love a person… and be loved back...

Jiayi couldn\'t help but finally remove the calm and gentle smile on her face when she remembered the person she couldn\'t be with, the person from whom she would never receive the love she desired the most.

"As long as everything turns out alright, I will fulfill your wish."

Shao Cheng finally chose to answer after a few seconds of silence as the young Jiayi reminisced about her other wish that she didn\'t ask for her own selfishness in the previous life, only choosing to take care of that person\'s well-being.

He knew that if there was even a bit of selfishness, that grown-up Jiayi would definitely ask to be with the person she had always secretly loved instead of asking to end the long-lasting tradition of having a High Priestess in the Chang Empire.

Choosing to be the last one, desiring to free the following High Priestesses from experiencing the burden their identity carried and demands.

Freedom, huh...

"I know."

Jiayi quickly shook the thought that wanted to stir her will and reason.

"As long as one of you sits on that chair, the promise will definitely be fulfilled."

Failing the fight for the throne… then it\'s the end for the two of us.

"You and I can only win this fight."

Jiayi let out a soft cough as her chest felt like it\'s being stabbed and thorned from pain while in the deepest part, she could feel the damage that had been caused in her soul for performing the taboo.

"There is no need to worry. I will do everything I can to win."

If somehow, I still fail, then I can only accept such an end since I have already done everything I can.

Shao Cheng\'s and Jiayi\'s eyes met with open seriousness, after all, the two of them understood what sacrifice they made and would do in order to fulfill what they desired the most.

One had made a deal with the Chang Spirit, and the consequences of such a deal with powerful existence weren\'t just simple and easy as they seemed.

While the other received an extremely severe backlash to her soul after helping out a special soul successfully arrive in their world. Which was a supposedly impossible act beyond what was supposed to happen.

Nonetheless, they accepted the cost of their own actions and choices.

"Let\'s start."

"Ok, I\'ll let someone wake that person up."

Shao Cheng\'s sapphire pupils turned towards the unconscious Lin Renshu placed aside, who was put to sleep in order to remove any chance of their discussion from being heard even though there was a spell and martial art skill to stop anyone from hearing what they were saying.

But it was better to be safe than sorry, as, for the other people who followed the young Jiayi, Shao Cheng knew that every High Priestess would train their own people. And the fact that there was also a way for them to make them unable to betray the master they follow.

Which was in Shao Cheng\'s understanding a bit similar to the way that he had gotten the loyalty vow from his older brother\'s subordinates after the ambush event, the force that bound Pengfei with the help of the Chang Spirit and because of which the Little Devil and Xiaodan promised or vowed to follow him.

Although, Shao Cheng\'s special binding was far powerful and different, which was a more complete vow that couldn\'t be tampered with, broken, or detected.

"Please take your seat."

In the knee-length clear pool with various marks and runes written and carved around, Shao Cheng walked toward the opposite pool where Lin Renshu had been guided after being woken up, which was the familiar sign similar to yin and yang.

Splash.

Shao Cheng disregarded the bottom of his pants getting wet after stepping in the clear water, and calmly sitting in a meditation posture in the middle of the half shape yin and yang. Which was facing the young Jiayi who had her own spot at the edge of the yin yang pool with various paper talismans and tools for ritual.

"Please bear with the pain. This purification wouldn\'t be easy even with my help. Young Man, all you need to do is sit there and endure. No matter what happens, don\'t leave the pool."

"I just need to endure and sit here? There is nothing else I need to do?"

Although Lin Renshu had his doubts and suspicions waking up after being knocked out, he understood that there was some secret that they wanted to keep, so he wasn\'t going to be noisy, especially when they were helping him out.

"Yes, because I will connect the curse to Young Master Cheng, which would lead him to bear all the brunt of the curse for you."

"...!!

Jiayi gently smiled at the widening eyes of Ling Renshu, who wasn\'t informed of the consequences of purification. After all, this was a powerful spell that could last for a generation, until the bloodline that carried the curse was annihilated.

Which had also sacrificed the life of countless special people in order to make the curse work and be long-lasting.

"The main core of this curse is torturous pain, physically and mentally, until the person is dead. If I don\'t transfer it, then when the curse starts to fight back, there is a high chance that you are going to die because you don\'t have any special aura."

… You are quite lucky to have been acquainted with the people this person cared….

Honestly, the sacrifice this supposedly cold-blooded young man in snow white robe can do for the people he accepted as his own is beyond unbelievable.

Jiayi learned that the main reason for helping this young man out was for the sake of his younger brother\'s sake and feelings.

"So, please endure alright? Young Master Cheng is a bit special, and can survive no matter how strong the curse is."

… It might be painful though, and the effect of transferring the curse could be severe, but the most important fact was that no matter how powerful the curse was, it would never be able to put this person to death.

That was how extremely special the purple aura the future Emperor had was.

"W-Wait! How could it be like this? Cai will hate me for hurting his precious Third Brother and Ren Yuan will definitely kill me if he learns about the harm I caused to his Special Friend!"

Shao Cheng ignored the sharp, anxious and unbelievable gaze from the opposite person sitting on a different clear pool, who wasn\'t informed of the purification process.

"Jiayi, stop talking and start it."

"Ah, then… I\'ll start."

Then, Shao Cheng experienced an unbelievably torturous pain that his present physical body couldn\'t handle.

And in just a few minutes while the bloody and eery red aura continued to slowly shift towards his body, the water in the clear pool colored in pinkish color as droplets of crimson blood dropped over it.

Which came from the bleeding pale lip of the beautiful pale face young man that had violently bitten his lip in order to not let out a single painful sound.

And yet, only one thought remained strong in Shao Cheng\'s mind during the process of transferring the curse before the true purification begin.

… I\'m glad… that Ren Yuan would not see me like this...