When Xu Zhijian becomes a full-fledged demon hunter, he is given a talisman to summon his familiar. However, he ends up calling forth the sleeping 'Demoness' and finds himself bound to her without a choice.
Days go by and he begins to discover that...
According to the tales retold by countless people, she was a living legend; one who often appeared in times of need and disappeared without a word. She was a formidable sorceress and the chances of glimpsing her face were slim. Even her age was a mystery, with the rumour saying that she retained her youthful appearance despite being over two hundred years old.
As the story went, she had appeared during the annihilation of the Bai clan. She was also the one who sealed the Demoness on the island, forbidding her to bring harm upon anybody again.
Hence, when she observed Xiaoyu intently, his blood ran cold. He stepped protectively in front of her and fixed the older woman with a hard cautious stare, trying to figure out if she had come to seal the Demoness once again.
"The Legendary Enchantress?" he asked in a stiff voice. "Why are you here?"
She held up her hands in defence. "I came because I want to help. With the circulating rumours in a few towns about the Demoness's reappearance, it got me worried."
As convincing as she sounded, he found it hard to trust her. If there was one thing that he had learnt from before, it was that appearances are deceiving. Humans were capable of lies and deceit, and sometimes they could be far worse than demons.
Like the Jiang clan.
Zhijian watched her in scepticism. "You're worried for who?" he demanded, his tone slightly harsher than usual. "For the people or for her?"
"For her," the Legendary Enchantress reaffirmed. "I'm not the enemy. The only reason that I put her to sleep twenty years ago was only because a young girl sought my help then. Begging me to save her precious little sister."
With a frown, he turned towards Xiaoyu for confirmation. Her hand grasped his arm as she looked up at him with a slight nod of her head. There was a clear message that he understood immediately in her wide, glossy eyes.
Not a foe.
This was somebody they could trust.
"So..." The wise woman canted her head at them in curiosity. "I take it that you're the one who woke her up?" She inclined her head towards Xiaoyu, who was still befuddled by her abrupt appearance.
For someone that they had just met, she caught on things pretty fast without anybody telling her.
"What makes you say that?" he questioned, unable to hide an undeniable interest.
The Legendary Enchantress stood at ease and showed a roguish grin. There was no sense of threat or malice coming from her. "I see the way you look at each other," she explained. "It's not that hard to figure out that you guys are soulmates."
A slight blush rose to his cheeks and he averted his eyes awkwardly. "Not anymore," he mumbled dryly. "We're no longer soulmates."
She arched an eyebrow, finding amusement in his sullen expression. "Soulmates..." she mused. "They exist but they are very few in number. From what I've seen, the Red String of Fate can get twisted or tangled, but it can never be severed."
Zhijian reeled back in surprise, then did a double take. He couldn't believe his ears. Often, he would recall the dreadful night where their soulmate connection was severed, but despite that, a part of him had always hoped that they were still soulmates. Was it selfish of him to want Xiaoyu to always be his, not just this lifetime but many others to come?
"You're joking."
"I'm not," the Legendary Enchantress insisted with clear conviction in her eyes. "You can hear her voice without being influenced, can't you? That itself is already the evidence."
A flicker of hope was building up within him, but he wasn't going to let himself be completely convinced, lest he faced another disappointment. "But what about the fevers? For over a month, I didn't receive the Healing Fire. How could I've survived being away from her that long?"
"Well..." she pondered thoughtfully. "Even when you guys were separated, you held onto a piece of her, right?"
Zhijian's face scrunched up in confusion as the wheels in his mind slowly turned. His hand slipped into his pocket and pulled out the small pouch that he had been carrying around with him. What could be found inside was the necklace that Xiaoyu had given him before she left the Xu residence for the Jiang clan.
"If you had kept it on you always, the fevers would never come."
The more the Legendary Enchantress explained, the more he was convinced. Everything that she said made sense. If they were still soulmates, the fact itself thrilled him beyond words.
Sneaking a glance at Xiaoyu, he found her expression mirrored his — surprise, relief and joy.
He remembered one of the lines from the Book of Ancient Runes. In order for the fevers to go away, both soulmates have to grow to love and accept each other as their partners.
And now that their feelings were mutual, he didn't have to keep the necklace anymore.
He handed the pouch to her without a word. Puzzled, she peeked at the content and he saw recognition lit up in her face. Her gaze soon returned to him, her eyes growing wide with shock.
Even if she didn't speak, he could almost hear her thoughts in his mind.
You kept it.
His hand reached for hers and closed her fingers around it, knowing how much she treasured it. "You saved my life again," he said softly. "And now, you can take it back. You're the rightful owner, not me."
Xiaoyu swallowed hard as tears dewed her long lashes. Even if there were no words between them, he could feel her heartfelt gratitude towards him. The birthstone woven into the necklace was a part of her and the only thing left that connected her to her birth roots and loved ones.
She smiled at him. Thank you.
Watching their exchange, the Legendary Enchantress grew satisfied. She crossed her arms with a triumphant smirk. "You believe me now, don't you? That I'm on your side."
Zhijian turned to face her and gave a short nod. "Thank you for saving us back there. We're in your debt."
She dismissed his words with a wave of her hand. "Anyway, where are you guys heading? Do you have a plan? Or are you going to keep running away from the Jiang clan like this forever?"
He exchanged a look with Xiaoyu. Knowing that she feared to speak in the presence of others, he answered on their behalf. "We don't know. From the moment we left their grounds, I knew that our plan was lacking, but it wasn't like we had many options then."
The Legendary Enchantress snapped her fingers. "If that's the case," she said, "We should get going."
Confusion flickered across his face. "To where?"
"To see a certain person," she answered with a determined gaze. "Someone who will be able to help you guys."
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