Mystique Soul: A Cultivator's Flame
Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Chapter 76

The banquet hall shimmered with golden light, the soft glow of floating lanterns casting elongated shadows against the polished floors. Laughter rippled through the crowd like a gentle breeze, weaving between clinking cups and the distant melody of zithers.

Constant visitors offers they’re gift to the Patriarch who stoically recieves them all while chatting with those in his generation that he was actually close to.

On one side, Feng Jiao Xue stood beside Liang Feng as they both observe the crowd, their conversation light and unhurried.

The crown prince was dressed in deep blue robes embroidered with golden dragons, exuded an air of easy warmth, his ever-present smile laced with a quiet elegance.

Unlike the many nobles in attendance, he spoke to Feng Jiao Xue with a rare sincerity, his laughter unguarded, his words free of pretense.

"Your going to like it there" Liang Feng muses his eyes bright with eagerness. "The cultivator sector of the academy is the best of the best. Of course, the tests often changes so it’s not easy getting in but I can vouche for you and father could also"

Feng Jiao Xue lifted a brow, sipping from her teacup. "I want to take care of everything in the clan first. Are you going back soon?"

Liang Feng shaked head. "Not yet, I also need to deal with something here"

"The one hidden in the shadow?" She raised a brow while Liang Feng nodded and glanced towards where the third prince was trying to gain Feng Mei’s favor by talking to her.

"Not as hidden as they might believe. Mother didn’t become empress just from father’s favor." He replied meaningfuly.

Feng Jiao Xue just nodded. She is not really that familiar with the powers and influences in the empire aside from the crown prince but that was more because her grandfather used to visit the emperor and introduced them to each other and he chosed to stick around... from time to time.

They continued to talk, ignoring those contemplating and plotting gazes around them like voltures waiting to profit or envious looks that yearns to make connection to either the crown or the clan and even both.

But not far from them... Mo Tianze silently was sulking.

The usually soft-spoken, good-natured youth, now sitting stiffly, his arms folded across his chest, his cheeks puffed out in a childish display of irritation.

His silver-white robes, ornately embroidered with elegant cloud patterns, only heightened the contrast between his usual gentle demeanor and the unmistakable gloom radiating off him like storm clouds.

His ears lay flat atop his head as his tails lowered down droopily. His spirit low.

He didn’t even attempt to disguise it.

Every time Liang Feng laughed, his eyes narrowed while his ears twitch.

Every time Feng Jiao Xue smiled, his lips quivered into a pout.

Every time they exchanged another word, his fingers tapped impatiently against his sleeve.

It was adorable, really. Feng Jiao Xue’s gaze flicked toward him, amusement dancing in her eyes.

The crown prince chuckled. "Aren’t you going to coax your little wife" he teases making Feng Jiao Xue raise a brow at that.

"Kidding, Kidding" Liang Feng raised his hands in surrender. "Just that... everytime you look at him, your eyes softens significantly. And you haven’t stopped checking on him once in a while."

"His not that difficult to be fond of" Feng Jiao Xue replied. "But, I want him to try to socialize with others to"

"Well, that isn’t working" He pointed out pushing her slightly to the demi-beast that had turned his backs on them acting as if he didn’t care yet his ears strained in their direction.

Feng Jiao Xue chuckles and put her glass down before walking to the corner where Mo Tianze was lonesomely sulking.

"...Tianze." Her voice was smooth, cool, but laced with unmistakable amusement.

Mo Tianze immediately straightened, his gaze snapping to her like a puppy caught sulking. "What?"

She let the silence stretch for a moment watching him squirm.

Then, with the barest tilt of her head, she held out a hand.

"Dance with me."

The entire hall stilled. Some frowning at her.

A breath of stunned silence swept through the crowd before the murmurs began. ’How could she, a young miss of a prestigious clan, dance with a lowly beast!"

Mo Tianze’s whimpered and backed away from her. "Sister, sister can dance with Liang Feng instead." he replied as his excited tail that just perked up sagged again and his ears sinked down flat on his hair, ashamed of himself.

Feng Jiao Xue frowned she rarely entertained anything so frivolous. And yet the more she listens to the murmurs here, she was openly held his hand and pulled him to the center, not only to dance but to stand by his side to show that Mo Tianze is not just a demi-beast but someone special to her.

Liang Feng leaned back slightly, his lips twitching in amusement as he threw Mo Tianze a pointed look. "Well? You heard the lady."

For a split second, Mo Tianze just blinked, his usual soft expression frozen in sheer disbelief.

Then almost as if startled by his own actions, he finally held her hand too.

The moment their fingers touched, magic seemed to hum in the air.

"Sister- I- I don’t know how to dance..." He mumbled in embarassment but Feng Jiao Xue gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don’t worry, I’ll lead. There’s no rules in dancing so you can’t mess it up as long as you enjoy the music" She assures him. ’Even bad dancers are allowed to dance as long as they enjoy it’

Feng Jiao Xue guided his hand to her shoulder blade before placing hers around his waist to easier guide his movements.

"Eyes on me. Only me."

She smiled—soft, reassuring—as if offering him an unshakable anchor in the midst of the murmuring crowd. With a featherlight touch, she pinched his chin, tilting his face toward her, ensuring his gaze stayed locked onto hers.

Mo Tianze swallowed, the warmth of her fingertips lingering like a phantom trace on his skin. He wanted to look away—self-conscious, hyper-aware of the countless pairs of eyes dissecting his every move—but before he could, her hand returned to his waist, steady and sure.

"Don’t let their words get to you" she murmured, her voice quiet yet firm, as if uttering a truth too absolute to be questioned. "You are more than they could ever be."

His breath caught.

She said it so simply, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if she had always believed in him, even when he struggled to believe in himself.

The musicians, caught off guard at first, scrambled to shift the melody, soft notes drifting into a slow, elegant rhythm.

Feng Jiao Xue was light as mist, her every step effortless, her robe swirling in a cascade of silver and violet silk. She moved with a quiet confidence, as though the world itself bent to accommodate her presence.

Mo Tianze followed instinctively, his body attuned to her unspoken cues, his hands steady despite the wild hammering of his heart.

But it was more than that.

The moment their bodies moved in tandem, the space between them seemed to shrink. The glow of lanterns blurred into golden halos around them, the murmurs of the crowd fading into the distant hum of the zither’s melody.

He could feel her warmth, the subtle rise and fall of her breath, the way her fingertips barely pressed against his.

Each step was a silent conversation.

Each glance an unspoken promise.

He wondered if she knew.

If she noticed the way his pulse stuttered under her touch. If she felt the way the world grew smaller, quieter, until it was just them, two souls moving as one, as if they had always belonged here.

And in that fleeting moment, with her guiding him through the dance, he swore,

He would never let her slip away.

She guided.

He followed.

And though his mind reeled at the sheer unreality of the moment, his body moved as if it had always known how.

Briefly, Mo Tianze remembered her question again. "Do you love me?" She asked him before and he had answered yes. "What your feeling isn’t love, but gratitude" Feng Jiao Xue had replied to him but as he looks in her eyes, remembers nothing but kindness in those cold eyes and he knew, with terrifying clarity, that it wasn’t gratitude that made his heart ache when she turned away. It wasn’t admiration that made him wish to stand beside her, to shield her from the weight of the world yet to be the one to stand by her side,

Gratitude didn’t make his breath hitch when she touched him.

Gratitude didn’t make his world tilt whenever she so much as spared him a glance.

Gratitude didn’t make him yearn.

His fingers tightened against her as if anchoring himself to reality, to her, afraid that if he let go, this moment would slip away like a dream upon waking.

No, this wasn’t gratitude. He wanted to ask her, someone, anyone, ’Is that love? How can someone tell? How do you know if your in love? or is Feng Jiao Xue right? Is this just because... she saved him?"

The crowd watched in silence, mesmerized.

A contrast of cold grace and warm devotion.

Where Feng Jiao Xue was poised and deliberate, Mo Tianze was gentle yet firm, his movements unfaltering despite the obvious flush of pink on his cheeks.

A perfect balance.

An unspoken harmony.

For the first time that evening, the attention had shifted completely away from Feng Mei,all eyes locked onto the pair weaving effortlessly across the floor.

And somewhere, amidst the lanterns and the melody, Mo Tianze realized something terrifyingly undeniable,

’He never wanted to let go. Whatever he was feeling, being with her... felt the rightest and happiest thing in the world. No matter how mundane, as long as his with her... its a special day.’