Snow was meditating in her cultivation chamber. For some reason, she was failing to concentrate, and thoughts of Edward kept appearing in her mind. She was quite confused, as she has seen many handsome boys and powerful men but none had ever managed to leave an impression within her heart. This ordinary mortal boy seems to have left an impression in her heart.

First of all, his determination, confidence, and potential amazed her, but that wasn’t something too extraordinary. In the twelve zodiac clans, brave and heroic persons are not rare, even in the young generation. The clans were full of talented individuals, and many of them also had strong willpower and determination, brimming with confidence. The thing that made her remember Edward, again and again, is his familiar aura. It was as if deep in her heart, she knew him somehow.

What was really shocking was the breaking of her seal. She had already noticed that there was a foreign aura inside her body that bore a majestic might, and this aura was responsible for breaking the seal placed on her. She noticed this soon after she regained consciousness after battling the demon reinforcements. It turned out Edward lied about her final attack finishing off the demons, and this aura was the actual thing responsible for killing the demons. She did not know what Edward had to hide, but she realized that even Edward doesn’t know much about this aura. There seems to be a hidden power deep within Edward’s soul about which even Edward doesn’t know much. When she checked Edward’s soul before introducing him to martial cultivation, she found out this aura belonged to Edward’s soul. If there wasn’t a trace of the same aura remaining in her body, she wouldn't have even noticed the aura within Edward. It seems that Edward subconsciously injected a bit of his hidden aura inside her while trying to protect her from the demons.

But this aura was so mighty and majestic, how could something so powerful exist in this world? Not to mention, it existed inside a mortal’s body, a mortal with an incomplete soul and no cultivation.

Only a little amount of aura was injected inside her body, yet it is empowering her every single second, and she could feel her cultivation increasing every single second, she felt like she had grasped the truth of Heavenly Wisdom. She was pretty sure this aura was like a protecting charm to her, protecting her from all kinds of danger, as well as increasing her power every single moment.

With the help of this aura, she will remain completely safe for who knows how long, and it seems that at most within two years, she can reach the Heavenly Wisdom realm and catch up to Julian. With that, she can probably be free from the marriage pact.

“Just what are you? What kind of secret is hidden inside you, Edward?”, she mumbled.

*******

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Tulip Village was surrounded by mountains on two sides and forest on one side. The was only one route to leave the village, and that was towards the north. After crossing the borders of tulip village, there are several other villages, then a lot of grasslands, then a few small towns, two medium-sized cities, and finally, an extremely large city with a radius of 300 Kilometers. This city was surrounded by walls that were 500 feet high and had only four entrances in four directions. Each of these entrances was heavily guarded by armed soldiers, and the overseer of each gate was a decently powerful martial arts cultivator. Above the city walls were the archery unit and surveillance unit. The archery unit was responsible for protecting the city by shooting arrows from above. And the surveillance unit was for keeping an eye inside and outside the city from above. One could see the entire city from above the city wall, and the city was surrounded by archers and monitors up above the wall. One could clearly imagine how important of a city it was from this description.

The name of this city was Southern City. This was a simple name, and the reason for this was that this city was located in the south-most part of the country's mainland. There are only 3 other cities of this caliber in the Green Veil Country. These are the Northern city in the northmost part, Eastern city in the east-most part, and the Western City in the westside borders. These four cities were the four major cities of Green Veil Country, and these four cities were only second to the Royal Central City, which was the capital of the country.

The four major cities were the starting point for many talented youths from noble families, as well as some exceptional ones from middle-class families. The four cities each had a martial arts academy, known as Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Western Academy respectively. All four of these martial arts academies were very strict in selecting students. Very few managed to get in unless they had enough money to pay the studentship fee. Thus, from rich and influential families, the young generation members could easily get admitted by paying the fees, while students from middle-class families and poor families had to go through an intense competition to become students. As they lacked the money to pay the fees, their only way was to prove their talent in the selection exams and get selected.

But having money didn’t guarantee admission, as even those who paid admission fees had to go through a selection process, although it was less strict.

*****

At this moment, a boy reached the city gates riding on a horse. He had his dreams, dreams to become strong, dreams to grasp his fate in his own hands, dreams to pursue the girl she loved, and be worthy of her. Unbeknownst to the boy, his trace has been permanently taken shape in the heart of the girl he calls ‘Snow’. Along with his aura, and the name ‘Edward’, his trace shall remain within the heart of the girl he loved, forever.

END of ARC 1: 'A Fateful Encounter'.