Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Su Qing fell to the ground, breaking countless bones.

It hurts, it really hurts.

She wanted to curse, but when she opened her mouth, she spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with pieces of internal organs.

Gu Xiang lay quietly beside him, the huge hole in his chest a shocking sight. He had long since bled to death, and his body was as cold as iron.

Su Qing struggled to turn over and crawled over little by little.

With each movement, another crack appeared on his body, and golden light emanated from the cracks—the dissipating divine soul.

She finally crawled to Gu Xiang's side, reached out her blood-stained hand, and touched Gu Xiang's face.

It's cold.

"Idiot," Su Qing called out, her voice hoarse as if she had swallowed a handful of sand.

Gu Xiang did not respond.

The scholar who would blush as he recited poetry, who would save the chicken leg for her, and who would foolishly stand in front of her, would never respond to her again.

Su Qing grinned, tears mixed with blood streaming down her face.

"Didn't you promise to draw my eyebrows for the rest of your life? You've only done it for a few days, and you're already trying to back out?"

She propped herself up, her hands trembling, and plunged them into her own chest.

"Pfft."

There was no cry of pain, only the dull thud of a sharp blade piercing flesh.

Su Qing gritted her teeth, her face ashen, and forcefully pulled a heart out of her chest.

That wasn't the Seven-Aperture Exquisite Heart that I had just swallowed, but rather the product of two hearts merging together.

Half of it is golden, righteous energy; the other half is red, the essence of the celestial fox.

The two forces intertwined, pulsating powerfully.

"I'm returning this heart to you."

Su Qing carefully placed her heart into Gu Xiang's empty chest.

The heart is back in place.

She formed a hand seal, her fingertips glowing with the last bit of spiritual light, and pressed them onto Gu Xiang's wound.

The skin and flesh twitched, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Thump."

"Thump."

The dull thumping of his heartbeat returned to Gu Xiang's chest.

Gu Xiang's originally ashen face gradually regained some color, and her breathing became steady.

Su Qing breathed a sigh of relief, her body went limp, and she collapsed onto Gu Xiang.

Her body began to become transparent, starting from her fingertips, gradually turning into red specks of light that drifted away in the wind.

This is a sign of the collapse of the external avatar.

The original body named Su Chang'an gave her life and a mission, but never this kind of heartache.

It turns out that loving someone can be more painful than death.

Su Qing struggled to move her body and pressed her forehead against Gu Xiang's forehead.

A warm sensation came through.

She greedily savored the last bit of warmth.

"Gu Xiang, I don't owe you anything anymore."

"This heart holds your noble spirit and my fox-like fate. From now on, as you live, you'll be living with me."

"Don't hate me, and don't look for me."

Su Qing pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her sleeve; it was her suicide note, which she had written long ago.

She slipped the paper into Gu Xiang's hand and helped him close his fingers.

My vision began to blur, and the world gradually darkened.

Looking at Gu Xiang's sleeping face, Su Qing suddenly felt a strong urge to kiss him again.

Unfortunately, he didn't even have the strength to lift his head.

She could only whisper:

"You were born before I was born, and I was born after you had grown old."

"You regret that I was born too late, I regret that you were born too early."

"If there is an afterlife..."

Su Qing paused for a moment, a bitter smile appearing on her lips.

"If there is an afterlife, don't be a scholar, it's too foolish."

The wind blows across the ruins.

The figure of the woman in red completely vanished, transforming into countless red petals that fell upon Gu Xiang, covering his blood-stained auspicious robes.

Only a faint sigh remained, swirling in the wind and lingering for a long time.

......

Gu Xiang had a dream.

It was very cold in my dream, and I was surrounded by dark, icy caves.

Then suddenly he felt hot, as if a ball of fire had been stuffed into his chest, making him tremble all over.

Those were Su Qing's hands, those were Su Qing's warmth.

"Su Qing!"

Gu Xiang suddenly opened his eyes, shouted, and sprang up from the ground.

The familiar beams of the Gu Family Ancestral Hall came into view, only half of them had collapsed, revealing the sky outside.

The sky was so blue, and the clouds so white, they stung the eyes.

The area was surrounded by people.

Grandpa, Second Uncle, Village Chief, and that frivolous Third Prince Li Yu.

They were all alive, standing there unharmed.

Everyone had tears on their faces, and their eyes were filled with pity and unbearable sorrow as they looked at him, as if he were a fragile porcelain doll.

Gu Xiang was stunned.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

The wedding ceremony, the toasting, Su Qing's expression changed, her grandfather disappeared, and he opened his heart...

He subconsciously reached out and touched his chest.

It was completely intact, without even a scar.

Beneath my palm, my heart was pounding powerfully, "thump, thump, thump," each beat sending shivers down my spine.

He's not dead?

Is your heart still there?

Gu Xiang was a little dazed. He turned his head and looked around, his eyes frantically searching through the crowd.

There was no trace of that red figure.

"Where is Su Qing?" Gu Xiang asked.

No one spoke.

The ancestral hall was eerily quiet, with only the mournful sound of the wind blowing through the ruins.

Grandpa turned his back, his shoulders twitching.

Li Yu's eyes were red, and she opened her mouth but didn't say anything. She just walked over and patted Gu Xiang's shoulder heavily.

"Brother Gu... please accept my condolences."

These two words struck Gu Xiang like a thunderbolt.

Gu Xiang shoved Li Yu aside and staggered to his feet.

"What are you mourning for! I'm asking you, where's Su Qing? Where's my wife?!"

He grabbed Li Yu by the collar with terrifying strength, his eyes bloodshot.

"Is she hiding? Is she still angry with me? Was that all a magic trick? Grandpa's here, she must be here too!"

Li Yu let him hold her, tears welling up in her eyes, and turned her head away, not daring to look Gu Xiang in the eye.

Gu Xiang let go of her hand and turned to run outside.

"Wife! Su Qing! Stop fooling around, come out!"

"I don't blame you for lying to me, nor do I blame you for scaring Grandpa. Let's go home, back to Shen Du. I'll buy you roast chicken, a whole cartload of roast chicken!"

He stumbled out of the ancestral hall and ran through the ruins, his steps uneven.

No.

There isn't anywhere.

The large red sedan chair that was originally parked at the entrance of the village was broken, and the red silk on the ground was burned to ashes.

Exhausted from running, Gu Xiang knelt down with a thud, staring blankly at the empty village entrance.

A white figure stood under the old locust tree.

He is the Imperial Advisor.

She had lost her former dignity; her face was pale, and she clutched half a broken mask in her hand.

Gu Xiang, as if grasping at a lifeline, scrambled over and knelt before the Imperial Advisor.

"Your Excellency, the Imperial Advisor! You are a deity, you must know where Su Qing is! Please, tell me where she is!"

The Imperial Advisor looked down at the disheveled scholar, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes.

"She's gone."

"Where did she go? Qingqiu? Or the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect? I'll go find her! I possess righteous energy; I can become a high-ranking official; I can plead with the Holy Emperor!"

The Imperial Advisor shook his head.

"Gu Xiang, touch your heart."

Gu Xiang's hand froze in mid-air.

"That's not your brilliant mind," the Imperial Advisor said softly, yet cruelly. "That's Su Qing's heart."

"She merged her essence with your heart and placed it back into your chest. She gave her life for yours."

Gu Xiang was struck dumb, frozen in place, unable to move.

The Imperial Advisor sighed and pointed to Gu Xiang's left hand, which he was clenching tightly.

"She left something for you."

Gu Xiang lowered his head and slowly opened his palm.

In the palm of my hand was a crumpled piece of paper, stained with blood and with a few red petals.

He unfolded the paper with trembling hands.

The handwriting was very messy, as if it was written in a hurry, and some words were blurred with blood.

【fool:

By the time you read this letter, I should already be gone.

Don't cry. Fox spirits don't look good when they die, and I don't want you to see it.

Actually, I really wanted to eat your heart at first, but you were so naive and easy to fool.

But later, the roast chicken was so delicious, and your eyebrows were so beautifully drawn, that I couldn't bear to part with it.

I'm returning that heart to you, but I've added a little something of my own to it. Now you can cultivate immortality too, isn't that amazing?

Don't look for me, and don't think about me.

Forget about me, find a good family's daughter, and have a bunch of chubby babies.

I lied to you in this life, but in the next life... I won't be a fox in the next life, I'll be a human, and I'll meet you sooner.

This was Su Qing's last writing.

Gu Xiang looked at the letter again and again.

He didn't cry.

I just felt a sharp pain in my chest, like a knife was cutting me with each beat.

Is Su Qing in pain?

"ah--!!!"

Gu Xiang suddenly looked up to the sky and let out a long howl, his voice mournful and sharp, like a cuckoo crying blood.

A mouthful of blood splattered onto the letter, staining the words "I don't want to be a fox in my next life" red.

A righteous spirit soared to the heavens, stirring up the winds and clouds.

Gu Xiang took out a pen from his pocket; it was the pen he used when he took the imperial examination to become the top scholar.

He used blood as ink and the sky as paper, writing wildly.

Large, blood-red characters appeared in the air, each one carrying intense sorrow and resolve.

"Severing Ties with My Wife"

As Gu Xiang wrote, he read aloud, his voice hoarse, each word filled with anguish.

"My wife, Su Qing, is cunning and loves to deceive people."

He once lied to me, saying: Demons don't eat people, they only eat roast chicken.

He once lied to me, saying: "The capital is prosperous and full of gold."

Now they lie to me again, saying: "The Great Way is ruthless, and neither of us owes the other anything."

Although Gu Xiang is foolish, his mind is clear; how could he be deceived by you again?

You gave your life for mine, and I will spend the rest of my life guarding your grave.

As long as your heart beats for a day, you live for a day.

This peaceful capital, this righteous world, all of it is your dowry.

Today I swear that I will cherish this homeland for the rest of my life, never to marry, never to take a concubine, and never to seek immortality.

I only guard this empty grave, and this one human heart.

If there is an afterlife, I will be a demon, and you will be a human.

"Let me lie to you instead."

You want me to forget you?

I don't think about it!

I will carry your heart and live as the most ruthless official in the world, killing all the unfaithful people and slaying all the heartless demons!

I want all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens to see that I, Gu Xiang, will never live alone!

The character is formed, but the brush breaks.

Gu Xiang coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground.

The Imperial Advisor stood in the wind, looking at the unconscious Gu Xiang, and remained motionless for a long time.

She touched her empty chest, where a heart had once beat for someone.

"Su Qing, you win."

The Imperial Advisor muttered to himself.

"When the monk died, I lived for three hundred years."

"If it were me, could I give him my heart like you did?"

The wind did not answer.

Only the blood-red characters filling the sky, dazzlingly red under the sunlight, lingered for a long time.