I looked at her, surprised. Her senses were that sharp? She could feel the presence of the soul in the ring? Of course she could. I kept forgetting that the woman beside me was no ordinary cultivator. She also possesses Golden Luck.
"He is more dangerous than he seems," I said, which was a significant understatement.
"All the more reason to crush him before he can grow," she replied with a hard resolve that sent a shiver down my spine.
Before we could say more, a presence interrupted our quiet moment, as subtle as a charging rhinoceros.
"Young Master Arya! Young Miss Meira!"
The voice boomed across the hall, causing several nearby guests to flinch. It was our host, Elder Lei Bao, the patriarch of the Lei Family's Clearwater City branch. He was a barrel-chested man, his face ruddy from years spent near the forge and probably a fair amount of spiritual wine tonight. A hearty laugh followed every sentence.
"The golden couple graces my humble celebration!" he roared, clapping me on the shoulder with a hand the size of a small ham. The force almost made a lesser cultivator stumble, but I stood my ground, my Golden Core easily absorbing the impact. "You honor this old man! Truly, you do!"
I quickly shifted from being a cold observer to a respectable heir. I placed a hand on Meira's back in a possessive gesture and smiled warmly at the elder. "Elder Lei, the honor is all ours. How could we possibly miss the seventieth birthday of a respected senior like yourself? We wish you many more years of health and happiness."
Meira, always graceful, offered a polite curtsy. "Indeed, Elder Lei. Your reputation as a master craftsman is known throughout the domain. It is a privilege to be here."
Our words were perfect, and our smiles flawless. We were the "golden couple," a combination of power and grace. Lei Bao beamed with pride. He was a straightforward man, and he appreciated the respect shown by the younger generation's most prominent figures.
He launched into a loud story about a particularly difficult weapon he forged in his youth, his voice echoing through the hall. I listened with half an ear, nodding and smiling at all the right moments, my expression one of rapt attention.
But while we were caught up in the social whirl of the banquet, my mind was a separate entity, swirling with racing calculations.
Jin Hao was here.
The thought repeated like a drumbeat in my head. The protagonist, the Son of Heaven, the man with plot armor, was in this very room. The clock had officially started. Every action, every word from this moment on was a move on a celestial chessboard. I was in the same room as the bomb that would detonate and destroy my entire world.
My senses were on high alert. While I laughed at Elder Lei's joke, I was tracking Jin Hao's position out of the corner of my eye. I cataloged his every move and every subtle shift in his expression. I saw him standing awkwardly with the more prosperous members of his family, a clear outcast in his own clan. I noticed how his eyes darted around the hall, filled with envy as he took in the wealth and power on display.
My mind raced, connecting the dots between the text of the novel and the reality unfolding before me. This banquet was the first major event in the book. This was where he would meet Su Lian. This was where his jealousy for me would ignite. This was the first domino.
Every smiling face in the room, every polite conversation, was a potential piece of the puzzle. I saw the Patriarch of the Jin Family, Jin Bolin, speaking with an elder from the Spirit Cauldron Sect. In the book, that conversation marked the start of a secret alliance, a plan to take down the Chen Family's influence. I saw a core disciple from the Verdant River Palace glance at me with a competitive fire in his eyes. In the book, he would become one of Jin Hao's earliest allies, a "righteous" cultivator who believed he was helping to take down an arrogant tyrant, me.
I stood amid a web of future betrayals and alliances, and I was the only one who could see the threads. This knowledge felt heavy, but it was also my greatest weapon.
My thoughts kept returning to Jin Hao. I studied him with the cold precision of a general sizing up his enemy. He was weak; his cultivation was laughably low. But I could see the blazing Gold Luck around him, a shield of destiny that would protect him from conventional threats. A simple assassination attempt would fail. He might trip and fall, causing the assassin's blade to miss and strike a random bystander, who would turn out to be the assassin's long-lost brother, leading to a dramatic change of heart. That was how protagonist luck worked.
As Elder Lei finally moved on to greet another guest, Meira turned to me, concerned on her face. "You are distracted," she said softly. "Your mind is elsewhere."
I looked at her, at the genuine worry in her eyes, and part of my cold calculation softened. "Just observing the players on the board," I replied quietly. "It is a dangerous game we are in."
"Then it's a good thing we are playing it together," she said, taking my hand and squeezing it firmly.
Her simple trust felt like a grounding force amid the nest of vipers I was mentally cataloging. It reminded me of what was truly at stake.
Being with her in public as her betrothed was a new experience. Every time I refilled her cup, brushed hands with her, or shared a glance, it felt like a secret victory. We moved together, a coordinated pair that presented an unbeatable front of unity and power. Our alliance was public, and I could see the unease it caused in the eyes of the Jin Family elders.
Later, as Meira and I spoke with one of her family's elders, a commotion near the entrance caught my attention. A new group had arrived, late but fashionable. It was a smaller delegation from the Su Family. At its head was a young woman in a pale green dress, moving with practiced grace that drew every eye in the room.
It was Su Lian.
She was beautiful, like a perfectly crafted venomous flower. Her features were exquisite, her smile a sweet, and every movement exuded charm, the work of her Illusion Fox Bloodline. She was a master of appearances, designed to captivate and ensnare. I felt a cold knot of disdain tighten in my stomach. She was responsible for the original Arya's downfall, the viper who stabbed her own sister in the back.
As she entered the hall, her eyes quickly scanned the room, taking in the power dynamics, alliances, and opportunities. When her gaze fell upon me and Meira, I caught a flicker of pure venom in her eyes when she looked at her sister. It vanished instantly, replaced by a bright smile as she approached us.
But it was too late. I had already looked away, my attention snapping back across the room to the man whose fate was so tightly linked to hers.
Jin Hao.
He had been sulking in his corner, a forgotten figure of resentment. But now, he stared, completely transfixed. His gaze was locked onto Su Lian, with a look of awe replacing the resentful fire in his eyes. It was the exact look of "love at first sight" that the novel described in detail.
It was happening. The first connection of the original plot was being forged right before my eyes.