Series: Love Spell

At the base, we ran into Qiu Lu and the others. They were surrounded by a group of villagers, happily walking together. Though they didn’t share a language, gestures conveyed enough, and from afar, I could see their faces nearly frozen in laughter. A young man in dark gray Miao clothing walked beside Wen Lingyu,…

“How’d you sleep last night?” I went downstairs. Shen Jianqing had just finished making breakfast and was already eating. Holding a rough ceramic bowl, he was taking small sips of thin porridge. When he saw me, he lifted his head with a friendly smile and greeted me politely. But the moment he mentioned last night,…

By the time the sky started to darken, we headed out together to take part in the fire-cutting ritual. As soon as we stepped onto the arch bridge, we could already see the massive bonfire blazing on the wide embankment, sparks bursting upward like glitter in the night. The heat rolled toward us as we…

We needed to leave. That was the only clear thought in my head. What exactly was the purpose of the Kan Huoxing ritual? What did it mean to the Shengmiao people? Everything about how they’d treated us was strange—guarded suspicion on one hand, and yet an invitation to their grand ceremony on the other. Contradictions…

What kind of person is Shen Jianqing? I once thought he was gentle and pure, that even if his upbringing wasn’t ideal, he had somehow grown into someone radiant. Now… I wasn’t so sure. Is he really who he appears to be? Does the path he pointed out really lead us out? Does he… truly…