Taiyi Dao Fruit - Chapter 223 - 219: Life in Desolate Places, Blooming Without Defeat

Alexander walked into the room, dressed in his royal white robe that shimmered faintly under the soft glow of the candlelight. His dark hair was slicked back neatly, revealing a face carved with precision and power — sharp jawline, high cheekbones, and lips that curved with quiet confidence. His midnight eyes, deep and commanding, scanned the room before landing on the figure sitting gracefully at the edge of the bed.Serena.Her emerald-green eyes locked with his, stealing his breath for a moment. The flickering light danced across her skin, giving her an ethereal glow. Her long ginger hair cascaded down her shoulders like streams of fire and sunlight combined, adorned with delicate golden hairpins that shimmered with every movement. She was dressed in a flowing white gown that mirrored his — simple yet enchanting, the fabric hugging her form in all the right places, making her seem like a divine vision come to life.For a brief moment, Alexander simply stared, unable to speak. Then, almost reverently, he crossed the room and knelt before her. His cold, powerful hands gently took hers — smaller, softer, trembling ever so slightly.“You look…” he paused, his voice low and rough, “…breathtaking.”Serena’s cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink, her lips parting slightly as she met his gaze. “You always know what to say,” she whispered, her tone barely above a breath.He smiled faintly — that rare, almost forbidden smile that softened his usually stoic face. “Careful, Serena,” he murmured, his thumb tracing circles over her knuckles. “If you keep looking at me like that, you’ll make me lose myself.”Her eyes softened, the corner of her lips curving into a teasing smile. “Then lose yourself my king,” she replied, her voice calm yet filled with unspoken desire. “loseyourself.... In me.”Alexander didn't hesitate. He rose to his feet, his hands cupping her jaw as his thumb brushed against her lower lips. Their eyes met one more- predator and , darkness and light before he closed the distance between them.His lips crashed against hers, hungry and desperate, as if the world outside no longer mattered, Serena responded with equal passion, her hands tangling in his dark hair, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them.

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

Curses that are placed on people works on some and doesn't work on some, that depends on how aggrieved the curser that decides to lay the curse.Amelia Smith in her agitation as she felt her life slipping away after the death of her child, laid a curse on her scum of a husband and his mistress that her spirit would forever hunt them.Then the devil himself decided to grace the curse and gave her the opportunity to transmigrate to hunt her husband and his mistress getting double portion of the things that were taken from her no matter the consequences and repercussions she must get her revenge.But he really there just to help, or for his own personal interest.“Give it up, you can't run from me no matter how you try.” The devil breathed into Amelia's ears heavily trying to contain his anger.“You are mine, and mine alone.” He yelled turning his back at Amelia, ripping the heart of the human that stood beside him with his sharp nails.

“Corpse Processing” is over, but the lord has a lot to write, so this is it.

A person is a mage.

Three people are a team.

A group of people is a territory.

A group of people is the rise of an era.

I, Karen Heise, want to lead an era. If you think you are young and self-motivated enough, send your resume here.

My address: Gold Flash Town, the center of the world.

- Description from novelbuddy