Elder Mo's lips curled ever so slightly as he lifted his hand in a casual gesture.
A soft rustle of robes followed as a young woman stepped forward from the Divine Ice Sect entourage.
She moved with an elegance that silenced the air again with cold and composed like falling snow.
Her presence didn't scream for attention; it simply made others step back without realizing why.
She wore pale cyan robes with silver embroidery shaped like blooming lotuses, and her dark hair was bound by a thin band of froststeel.
Her expression was as still as a winter lake, her gaze calm and unflinching.
"This is Gu Xin," Elder Mo announced, turning just slightly so the entire pavilion could see her clearly. " She's a Direct disciple of our sect Master and also happens to be the one engaged to your younger brother, Fang Tian."
When Elder Mo mentioned that Gu Xin was the direct disciple of the Divine Ice Sect's Sect Master, the entire pavilion trembled, not with sound, but with suppressed disbelief.
Whispers bloomed like wildfire behind silk sleeves.
Even the four great elders, who had maintained the poise of weathered stone until now, couldn't help but lean subtly toward one another, voices lowered to the barest hum of spiritual transmission.
"Did he say... direct disciple of their sect master?"
"Impossible. A girl like that… engaged to Fang Tian?"
"She must be a decoy. No way the Divine Ice Sect would throw a pearl at a pig."
"Unless... the pig is holding something we don't see."
Their eyes flicked toward Fang Yuan with sharpened calculation.
This changed everything.
If the engagement was genuine, if the Divine Ice Sect truly intended to bind themselves to the Fang clan through Gu Xin, then the balance of power in Coldwind City had just shifted.
No longer would the Fang family be the convenient "fifth wheel" among the great families.
This wasn't a political maneuver from a mid-tier sect or a perfumed alliance from a noble house.
This was the Divine Ice Sect, a force recognized by the imperial court itself.
And the girl they sent wasn't just any inner disciple, she was the personal protégé of the Sect Master.
Even if Fang Tian was talentless, no, especially because he was talentless, the gesture now seemed intentional, symbolic.
Which meant Fang Yuan… was no longer just a fellow family head.
He was a potential bridge to the highest peaks of power in the Tharz Kingdom.
The elders exchanged slow, deliberate glances across their lacquered seats, each smile a little tighter than before.
Whatever came next, one thing was clear.
If this marriage went through they would all need to reconsider their approach to the Fang family.
But at the same time Fang Yuan blinked in confusion.
Gu who now?
He looked at her again, this time with a polite nod and the perfectly neutral expression of someone whose mind was screaming I've never seen this woman before in my life.
But before his thoughts could stretch too long, Elder Mo offered a helpful nudge, his tone light but cutting. "Ah… Perhaps Clan Head Fang has forgotten. Years ago, your late parents formed a marriage alliance between the Gu family and the Fang clan. This was when Gu Xin was still a child. The engagement was made in writing, I believe."
Fang Yuan's fingers twitched behind his back.
Oh.
Now that Elder Mo mentioned it… yes. Something tugged at the back of his memory. A dusty jade scroll from over a decade ago.
His parents had spent weeks fussing over the alliance. It had been considered a tremendous gain at the time.
The Gu family was a noble cultivator lineage in the northern reaches. In fact he still recalls that his father and the current head of the Gu family were like brothers.
Fang Yuan exhaled slowly through his nose, keeping his expression composed. "Of course. I remember now. My father and mother often spoke of their hopes for Fang Tian's future. It seems the heavens are finally moving that piece forward."
A flicker of emotion touched Elder Mo's expression which disappeared the instant it appeared.
The crowd, however, was stunned.
Fang Tian?
That Fang Tian?
The entire pavilion was too polite to gasp, but many choked on their wine.
Fang Tian, the younger brother of Coldwind's most famous cultivator, had always been a sore subject.
Born under high expectations, raised under Fang Yuan's towering shadow.
Where Fang Yuan had advanced with terrifying speed.. Qi Realization at age seven, Qi Condensation at twelve, Qi Transformation at seventeen, Golden Core at twenty, and by twenty-five, already a half-step Nascent Soul realm cultivator...
Fang Tian had... not.
Now twenty years old and still languishing in Qi Condensation, he lagged behind even the average outer court disciples. His spiritual roots were shallow, and his battle sense was mediocre at best.
Some whispered he had no talent at all.
Others, crueler, suggested the heavens had balanced the scales, if one brother soared, the other must crawl.
But for Fang Yuan, he actually never really bothered much about what his brother had become.
He had simply smiled when Fang Tian brought up spirit herbs, or asked questions about sword forms, or stared too long at passing mortal girls instead of cultivating.
Fang Yuan only hoped his brother could one day find happiness.
And now…
Here stood Gu Xin, cold and graceful, representing a sect powerful enough to erase Coldwind City from the map with a sneeze… and she was engaged to that same Fang Tian.
Fang Yuan's thoughts spun like a storm cloud behind his calm smile.
But was this really a marriage alliance... or a test? A warning? Or something more?
Still smiling, he raised his cup again and addressed Elder Mo with perfect composure.
"The Fang family is honored by the Divine Ice Sect's faith in this union. Though my brother is... modest in cultivation, he is sincere and loyal. I trust Lady Gu Xin will find him a worthy partner in time."
Gu Xin's expression remained unreadable.
She simply bowed her head in acknowledgment, offering nothing more.