My name is Xu Jiangyin. I was born at the hour of Wu, when yin energy is at its strongest.
On that freezing night, crows circled overhead. As Granny Wu cut my umbilical cord, she saw a winding cinnabar birthmark on my wrist. In her cloudy eyes, candlelight flickered as she murmured, “A lone star shines over the palace of your fate beneath a cold moon. When you turn eighteen... I fear you’ll face a trial between life and death.”
The day they covered my face with red silk was also my birthday. A cinnabar bracelet with dark red tassels swayed as the wedding sedan carried me along. When we reached the wilderness, paper offerings filled the air. Suddenly, the jade bracelet began to hum. A flash of icy light burst out, and the sedan was wrecked, leaving my life in danger.
I thought the King of Hell was about to claim me, but then I saw the hem of a black robe embroidered with golden dragons whip through the air. The man’s green jade thumb ring grazed my neck, and my blood-red wedding robes snapped in the biting north wind.
I thought it was a dream.
But when the dream returned, the scent of plum blossoms mingled with blood as it pinned me to the brocade bedding. Mu Chenyuan’s lips grazed my trembling lashes. His green jade thumb ring traced my collarbone, while his fingertips toyed endlessly with the red mole on my wrist. A bone-deep ache surged with every breath. “A Yin, you’ve finally come back.”
Blood traced a path across jade-white skin. He held my bloodied fingertip between his teeth. “You cut out your heart to suppress my dragon veins back then. Now it’s time to repay your debt.”
The cinnabar mole burned between our tangled hair. Only then did I realize that this birthmark was the seal I had personally branded over his heart three hundred years ago.
“Your heart’s blood will break the curse of my immortality.”
When he bit through my lip, the scent of plum blossoms mingled with the taste of rust between our teeth.
“This time, you’ll be trapped with me in eternal night.”
