Cold spiritual energy rushed past Chao Lun Hui as he fell through the Fate Trial boundary.
He reached towards the last place he had seen Shen Yan Ting, but his fingers caught only darkness.
A moment later, the ground introduced itself to Luo Yanhe’s face.
He landed with a muffled thud and remained there for several breaths because his dignity required a private funeral.
Luo Yanhe : “Why?”
The Trial of Fate offered no answer.
Chao Lun Hui slowly pushed himself upright and brushed dust from his cheek.
Luo Yanhe : “Why does every trial involve this disciple attacking the earth with his face?”
Still nothing.
Luo Yanhe : “The ancestors have developed a personal grudge against my face.”
Golden writing appeared above the road.
『FATE SCENARIO ONE COMMENCING 』
A second message followed.
『OBSERVATION ONLY 』
Then a third.
『INTERFERENCE PROHIBITED 』
Luo Yanhe : “The trial can provide rules but not landing instructions.”
The messages vanished without defending themselves.
Chao Lun Hui looked around and immediately became suspicious.
The town before him was cheerful.
That was rarely a good sign.
Red silk stretched between prosperous shops.
Golden lanterns hung beneath tiled roofs, their tassels moving in the warm breeze.
Flower petals covered the main street, children carried blessing charms shaped like paired birds, and food stalls offered enough sweet cakes to distract half a cultivation sect.
Cultivators and ordinary townspeople moved through the celebration together.
Musicians played near the square while fireworks burst above them in broad daylight.
Chao Lun Hui looked towards the bright sky.
Luo Yanhe : “Daylight fireworks are an attack on common sense.”
A passerby grabbed his sleeve.
Passerby : “You are late!”
Chao Lun Hui glanced at the stranger’s hand with the caution of someone deciding whether trial illusions could be prosecuted for unwanted contact.
Luo Yanhe : “Late for what?”
The passerby stared at him.
Passerby : “The wedding!”
Luo Yanhe : “What wedding?”
Passerby : “The wedding.”
Chao Lun Hui inhaled slowly.
Luo Yanhe : “That explains nothing.”
The passerby pointed towards the centre of town, where the largest estate had been dressed in red silk and gold.
Passerby : “Immortal Shen’s wedding!”
A child ran past with two sugar sculptures and the expression of someone who had already stolen a third.
Inside Chao Lun Hui, logic collapsed quietly.
Luo Yanhe : “What?”
Passerby : “You truly did not know?”
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
Passerby : “Everyone knows!”
Luo Yanhe : “Clearly not everyone.”
The stranger pointed again, apparently convinced that greater force would improve the information.
Passerby : “Immortal Shen is getting married today.”
Chao Lun Hui’s first reaction was disbelief.
His second was curiosity.
His third was an entirely reasonable concern for the unknown victim.
Luo Yanhe : “What poor soul agreed to that?”
The passerby gasped.
Passerby : “Immortal Shen is perfect!”
Luo Yanhe folded his arms.
Luo Yanhe : “Have you ever tried speaking with him?”
The passerby opened his mouth, paused, then failed to produce an answer.
Chao Lun Hui nodded solemnly.
Luo Yanhe : “Exactly.”
Passerby : “He is dignified.”
Luo Yanhe : “Yes.”
Passerby : “Powerful.”
Luo Yanhe : “Unfortunately.”
Passerby : “Wise.”
Luo Yanhe : “Usually.”
Passerby : “Then what could possibly be wrong with him?”
Chao Lun Hui considered punishments disguised as training, emotionally devastating one-word answers and Shen Yan Ting’s ability to turn a simple correction into a spiritual crisis.
Luo Yanhe : “How much time do you have?”
The passerby pulled his sleeve free and left looking offended.
Chao Lun Hui remained in the flower-lined street.
Shen Yan Ting, getting married.
The image refused to settle properly in his mind.
Shen Yan Ting could prepare for a battle, a formation failure or an attempted assassination.
He could prepare six hours of training and call it a light exercise.
Wedding decorations were another matter.
Shen Yan Ting choosing flowers seemed unlikely.
Shen Yan Ting discussing table arrangements seemed impossible.
Shen Yan Ting permitting daylight fireworks seemed like evidence of mind alteration.
Chao Lun Hui decided that the scenario required investigation.
Purely practical investigation.
He was not curious about the partner.
He was certainly not interested in whether Shen Yan Ting looked happy.
The Trial of Fate had created a suspicious situation, and responsible disciples examined suspicious situations.
Five minutes later, he was climbing the estate wall.
Hypocrisy was a small price to pay for information.
The estate looked magnificent in an annoyingly expensive way.
Fresh flowers lined the stone paths.
Servants carried trays of ceremonial wine beneath swaying silk, while cultivators adjusted protective formations hidden among the lanterns.
Chao Lun Hui crouched on the wall with the seriousness of a professional investigator and the posture of a man who would deny everything if questioned.
Luo Yanhe : “Master actually agreed to this?”
Servant : “Of course he agreed.”
Chao Lun Hui nearly slipped.
A servant stood below him holding a tray of wine.
Luo Yanhe : “Please stop appearing beneath people without warning.
That habit is already occupied by my master.”
The servant looked puzzled.
Servant : “Were you invited?”
Luo Yanhe : “I am investigating.”
Servant : “From the wall?”
Luo Yanhe : “It offers a wider perspective.”
The servant studied his position.
Servant : “You are hiding behind a roof ornament.”
Luo Yanhe : “A wider and discreet perspective.”
The servant appeared unconvinced but continued cheerfully.
Servant : “The groom has been preparing for months.”
Chao Lun Hui forgot to maintain his professional expression.
Luo Yanhe : “Months?”
Servant : “He inspected every formation himself.”
That sounded like Shen Yan Ting.
Servant : “He approved the lantern placement.”
That did not.
Servant : “He also rejected three arrangements for the ceremonial path.”
Chao Lun Hui gripped the wall.
Luo Yanhe : “He discussed decorations willingly?”
Servant : “He said the path had to be correct.”
Of course he had.
Shen Yan Ting could transform romance into structural accuracy.
Luo Yanhe : “Is he happy?”
The question escaped before Chao Lun Hui decided whether he cared.
The servant smiled.
Servant : “Very.”
An unpleasant pressure settled beneath Luo Yanhe’s ribs.
Chao Lun Hui adjusted his grip on the tiles and told himself it came from the Heart Trial.
Spiritual criticism probably had delayed effects.
Servant : “Everyone says Immortal Shen has waited a long time.”
Luo Yanhe : “Waited?”
Servant : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe looked towards the inner courtyard.
Luo Yanhe : “For whom?”
The servant laughed softly.
Servant : “For his beloved.”
Chao Lun Hui disliked the word immediately.
It sounded unnecessarily confident.
Luo Yanhe : “Perhaps his beloved is blind.”
The servant stared.
Chao Lun Hui corrected himself with dignity.
Luo Yanhe : “Kind.
Perhaps they are kind.”
Servant : “Those are different words.”
Luo Yanhe : “The wind interfered.”
There was no wind.
The servant’s concern shifted from suspicion to sympathy, which was somehow more insulting.
Servant : “The ceremony begins when the sun reaches the centre of the square.”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple did not ask.”
Servant : “You have asked six questions.”
Luo Yanhe : “That was investigation.”
Servant : “Of the wedding.”
Luo Yanhe : “Of fate.”
The servant walked away with the expression of someone who had decided not to continue speaking with an unstable cultivator.
Chao Lun Hui remained on the wall.
The partner had supposedly been awaited for years.
Shen Yan Ting had prepared for months.
He was happy.
None of that should have mattered.
Yet Chao Lun Hui stayed.
By midday, the streets had filled completely.
Children waved blessing charms from their parents’ shoulders.
Musicians gathered at the estate entrance, and red petals drifted from formation lamps above the ceremonial path.
Chao Lun Hui relocated to a nearby rooftop for improved observation.
Purely improved observation.
From there, he could see the central courtyard.
An officiant waited before a raised ceremonial platform.
The crowd formed two orderly lines around a path covered in white flowers and bordered by red silk.
Then Shen Yan Ting appeared.
He wore refined ceremonial robes in red and gold, their structure formal without becoming excessive.
His long black hair had been secured for the ceremony, and his pure golden eyes remained calm as he crossed the courtyard.
The crowd cheered.
Chao Lun Hui frowned.
Luo Yanhe : “Showing off.”
Shen Yan Ting was only walking, which made the accusation more irritating.
The scenario had not transformed him into a smiling stranger.
His posture remained controlled, his expression restrained and his movements precise.
Yet the tension that usually guarded his shoulders was absent.
He looked peaceful.
Chao Lun Hui shifted behind the roof tiles.
Shen Yan Ting took his place at the end of the ceremonial path.
He answered the officiant’s instructions with brief nods and waited without impatience.
That was suspicious too.
The music softened.
The crowd turned towards the estate gate.
A white-robed figure appeared beneath an arch of red silk.
The ceremonial partner was taller than Shen Yan Ting and broad through the shoulders, with the balanced strength of an experienced cultivator.
Layered white robes moved around a powerful masculine frame.
Long black wavy hair fell down his back beneath a translucent crimson veil embroidered with gold.
Chao Lun Hui stopped criticising the flowers.
The veiled partner walked with measured certainty.
There was nothing delicate or hesitant in his posture.
Each step carried quiet familiarity, as though the path had been crossed before, although Chao Lun Hui knew that could only be the trial creating an impression.
Luo Yanhe’s body reacted anyway.
His chest tightened.
His fingers pressed against the roof tile.
An urge to descend into the courtyard arrived without permission.
Chao Lun Hui remained where he was.
The trial had ordered observation.
More importantly, he had no reason to approach a stranger whose existence was probably symbolic, misleading or both.
Shen Yan Ting looked towards the veiled partner.
The entire ceremony changed in that single restrained movement.
He did not grin.
He did not abandon his dignity or perform anything dramatic.
His shoulders relaxed, and the guarded distance in his gaze disappeared.
Every part of his attention settled on the man approaching him.
Chao Lun Hui felt as though he had been excluded from a promise he could not remember.
The thought made no sense.
He did not possess Luo Yanhe’s memories.
He had no past wedding to recall, no agreement with Shen Yan Ting and no right to resent an unknown future image.
Still, Luo Yanhe’s body recognised the gaze.
The familiarity came with grief so sharp that Chao Lun Hui nearly stood.
He forced himself to remain behind the roof ridge.
This was a trial scenario, not proof.
The veiled partner reached Shen Yan Ting.
Shen Yan Ting extended one hand.
The white-robed figure placed his own hand into it with no hesitation.
Chao Lun Hui’s jaw tightened.
The unknown partner’s hand was too familiar.
That was absurd.
Hands did not become suspicious through familiarity.
The Trial of Fate was manipulating him.
The officiant raised both palms, and the music faded.
Officiant : “Today, before heaven, earth and those who have gathered in peace, two souls choose one path.”
Choose.
The word mattered more than Chao Lun Hui expected.
The ceremony did not claim fate had chained them together.
It presented the moment as a decision freely made.
Shen Yan Ting turned slightly towards his partner.
The crimson veil moved in the breeze.
Only a fraction of the face beneath became visible: the edge of a strong jaw, the line of one cheek, part of a dark silver-grey eye and the shape of a familiar mouth.
Chao Lun Hui forgot the crowd.
The figure looked disturbingly similar to Luo Yanhe.
Not identical enough to become certainty.
The veil, the angle and the trial’s shifting light prevented that.
It could have been another Luo descendant, a symbolic projection or a future invented from his own face.
Yet the resemblance struck Luo Yanhe’s body with immediate recognition.
Chao Lun Hui rose before deciding to move.
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
Below, the veiled partner turned his attention back to Shen Yan Ting.
The visible part of his expression carried quiet trust.
Pain spread through Chao Lun Hui’s chest.
The sharp resentment tangled with grief until neither could be separated cleanly.
He resented the partner for receiving Shen Yan Ting’s gentleness.
He resented Shen Yan Ting for looking at someone else that way.
Most of all, he resented the possibility that the stranger resembled the man whose life Chao Lun Hui believed he had entered.
The red silk began to dissolve.
Music broke into scattered notes.
The crowd faded from the courtyard in pale fragments.
Shen Yan Ting’s hand disappeared from the ceremonial partner’s grasp.
Chao Lun Hui reached towards them.
His fingers caught collapsing light.
The estate, the rooftops and the peaceful town shattered into thousands of golden threads.
『SCENARIO COMPLETE 』
Luo Yanhe : “Explain.”
『EXPLANATION REQUEST DENIED 』
Luo Yanhe : “You cannot do that.”
『I JUST DID 』
Chao Lun Hui stared upwards.
Luo Yanhe : “The audacity.”
The trial remained silent.
Luo Yanhe : “Was that the future?”
No answer.
Luo Yanhe : “Was the partner Luo Yanhe?”
Nothing.
Luo Yanhe : “Was the entire scenario designed to ruin this disciple’s peace?”
Golden threads gathered beneath his feet.
Luo Yanhe : “Fate has officially joined the collection of entities determined to make communication impossible.”
The threads pulled him down.
He landed on a narrow path suspended within a pale-golden void.
Countless strands crossed above and below it, joining distant gates before separating again.
This time, his face remained safe.
Chao Lun Hui counted that as progress.
A figure emerged from a nearby curtain of light.
Shen Yan Ting stepped onto the path, calm at first glance but more alert than before.
His gaze found Luo Yanhe immediately and remained there long enough to confirm he was unharmed.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe studied him for evidence that he had seen the wedding.
Shen Yan Ting’s expression offered nothing useful.
Luo Yanhe : “Did Master see anything strange?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Chao Lun Hui waited.
Shen Yan Ting did not continue.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “Usually when people answer yes, they add details.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Not always.”
Luo Yanhe inhaled with the patience of a man repeatedly betrayed by communication.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple is surrounded by mysterious objects and mysterious people.
Master has joined the conspiracy.”
Shen Yan Ting stepped closer, studying him.
Shen Yan Ting : “You are unsettled.”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple fell through a trial.”
Shen Yan Ting glanced at his face.
Shen Yan Ting : “You are not injured.”
Luo Yanhe : “The injury is to this disciple’s peace.”
Shen Yan Ting’s attention remained on him.
Heat rose towards Chao Lun Hui’s ears as he remembered the white robes, the veil and Shen Yan Ting’s gentle gaze.
Luo Yanhe : “Master should not look at this disciple like that.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Like what?”
Luo Yanhe folded his arms.
Luo Yanhe : “Like Master is trying to solve me.”
Shen Yan Ting considered him.
Shen Yan Ting : “You are difficult to solve.”
Despite himself, Chao Lun Hui laughed once.
Luo Yanhe : “Is that criticism or praise?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Both.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master’s compliments continue to deteriorate.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What did you see?”
Chao Lun Hui looked towards the fate threads.
Luo Yanhe : “A wedding.”
Shen Yan Ting’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Shen Yan Ting : “Whose?”
Luo Yanhe : “Someone suspicious.”
Shen Yan Ting : “That is not an answer.”
Luo Yanhe : “It is enough.”
The words earned him a quiet look of recognition.
Chao Lun Hui had borrowed Shen Yan Ting’s own defence and used it against him.
Luo Yanhe : “What did Master see?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Something strange.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master copied this disciple’s answer.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Effective answers should be reused.”
Luo Yanhe : “That principle was already dangerous when applied to arguments.”
Neither man offered more.
They walked along the pale-golden path while the wedding gate closed behind them.
Chao Lun Hui could still feel the ache left by the veiled partner’s resemblance, but he refused to turn an unexplained image into certainty.
Beside him, Shen Yan Ting remained more watchful than before.
Whatever his linked scenario had shown, he guarded it just as carefully.
A second gate appeared ahead.
Its surface shimmered with gentle daylight and the distant sound of village bells, but the image vanished before Chao Lun Hui could identify anything else.
Luo Yanhe : “Will the trial explain the next scenario?”
No response came.
Luo Yanhe : “Naturally.”
Golden writing formed above the gate.
『FATE TRIAL CONTINUES 』
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.
The chapter has now been updated to the latest revised version.
I truly appreciate everyone who waited and continued supporting this story while I worked on improving it.
I hope this updated version gives you a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience.
Thank you for staying with me.
Happy reading!