Lan Yue's final communication with the Azure Cloud Sect was not a confrontation, but a declaration. In the quiet solitude of her room, as the morning mist clung to the city, she sat before a blank scroll. Her face was a mask of serene finality, her movements precise as she ground the ink.
She did not write a lengthy farewell. It was a report, as clean and sharp as a sword strike.
To the Esteemed Sect Master and Elders of the Azure Cloud Sect,
My investigation into the Void corruption is concluded. The source is not a demonic incursion as previously believed, but a betrayal from within. Elder Feng has conspired with forbidden powers, using Void artifacts to destabilize the mortal realm. His aim is a war that would benefit his own ascension.
Evidence of his treason, including smuggling routes and coded correspondence, has been compiled. I have acted upon this intelligence and will continue to do so, by any means necessary.
My path forward is one that the Sect cannot follow. This report serves as my final duty. Whether you choose to act upon this truth or dismiss it as heresy is a matter for the Sect's conscience. I consider my obligations fulfilled.
Lan Yue
She read the words one last time, her expression unreadable. There was no mention of her personal feelings, no plea to be believed. It was a statement of fact her final result, delivered with the cold, detached air of a scholar who no longer cared if the world accepted her thesis. She folded the scroll, sealed it with a drop of her own spiritual energy, and affixed it to a celestial messenger talisman.
Standing at the open window, she released the talisman. It flared with a brilliant white light and vanished into the sky, a silent firework marking the end of her life as a disciple of the righteous path. She watched it go, a sliver of melancholy for the girl she once was quickly replaced by a profound sense of peace. She was free.
She flew to the Whispering Pass. Xue Lian, Xue An, and the two commanders were waiting for her, a small, anxious family unit on the edge of the world. Xue An ran to her the moment she landed, grabbing her hand. "You came!"
"I promised," Lan Yue replied, her heart aching with a gentle warmth.
Xue Lian looked at her, a decade of pain and hope in her amber eyes. "Are you ready?"
"I am," Lan Yue said. "Let's go home."
With a press of her hand, Xue Lian opened the shimmering, smoky gateway of the Bloodline Ward, and together, the five of them stepped out of the mortal realm and back into the familiar, twilight gloom of the Netherworld.
Their arrival at the Silent Palace was met with a tense, waiting silence. The entire Imperial Court was assembled in the grand courtyard, a sea of hostile, curious, and hopeful faces. On one side stood Archduke Jin and the traditionalist lords, their expressions dark as thunderclouds. On the other, the reformist commanders and officials, their faces a mixture of relief and apprehension.
And in the center of the vast, open space, sleeping peacefully in a patch of magically cultivated crimson grass, was a creature of myth.
It was the celestial moon dragon. But it was no longer the two hundred foot behemoth that had terrified the capital. It had shrunk, its form now condensed to the size of a large, graceful panther. Its scales shimmered like liquid moonlight, and its sleeping breaths came in soft, purring clouds of silver mist.
"Xiao Xing!" Xue An cried out, her face lighting up with pure joy.
At the sound of her voice, the dragon's ethereal blue eyes snapped open. It stretched, a movement of impossible grace, and bounded over to the princess, nuzzling its celestial head against her hand with a low, rumbling purr.
The court murmured, their fear of the beast tempered by the undeniable bond it shared with their heir.
Then, the dragon's head lifted. Its gaze fell upon Lan Yue. A profound, instinctual recognition flared in its intelligent eyes. It left the princess's side and trotted directly to Lan Yue, its movements full of a strange, joyful purpose.
Lan Yue froze as the mythical creature approached. It did not show aggression. It showed… affection. It began to circle her, rubbing its shimmering, celestial body against her legs like a common housecat. Then, it flopped onto the ground at her feet and began to roll around playfully, its ethereal tail wagging.
As the dragon nuzzled against her boots, Nightfall Crescent, silent on Lan Yue's back, began to hum in response, not with alarm, but with a clear, resonant note of kinship.
Stunned, Lan Yue slowly knelt, her hand reaching out to touch the creature's moon scaled head. It felt like touching a piece of her own soul.
Xue Lian watched this bizarre, heartwarming, and deeply problematic scene unfold, and a dusty, half forgotten memory from the web novel she'd read a lifetime ago suddenly clicked into place with horrific clarity.
Wait a minute, she thought, her mind racing. The celestial dragon… Chapter 347. The heroine, Lan Yue, finds a dormant dragon egg… It hatches and becomes her powerful contracted beast...
Her gaze snapped from the purring dragon, to Lan Yue who was now gently stroking it, and then to her own giggling ten year old daughter.
So this thing… this ridiculously powerful mythical creature… was supposed to be Yue's fated animal companion. But it hatched for our daughter instead. It imprinted on her. Is it because Xue An has the actual DNA of the original heroine? Did she just… inherit her mother's plot armor and hijack her fated beast contract?
The sheer, universe breaking absurdity of it all made her head spin. Her 21st century brain, which had endured transmigration, demonic politics, and a decade of heartbreak, supplied the only possible response.
Bruh, that's way too OP. A ten year old with a celestial dragon contract that was meant for the protagonist? Ugh.
She stood there, watching her lover bond with the mythical beast that was supposed to be hers but was now their daughter's pet, as the entire demonic court stared in stunned silence. Her family was finally reunited, and their homecoming had just made the political situation in her empire a thousand times more complicated and unpredictable.