An Alchemist's Path to Eternity - Chapter 12: Dahe Market’s Unique Way of Life

Seol Woon-hwi, the Blood Heaven’s Righteous Blade, rose to power, becoming second to none under the heavens, reigning just beneath the sky itself.Yet, at the height of absolute power, he finds himself returned to his past—back to his days as the scorned illegitimate child of the Everlasting Snow Palace.

Shen Chen starts living a life of unrestrained indulgence since marrying Shi Yu. The most beautiful lovers’ prattle she has ever heard is “I will punish those whom you have offended.”Skit:“A handsome man delivered a parcel to your wife just now, Sir.”The young master acknowledged with a lazy “Mhm.”Half an hour later, all courier companies in the city go belly up.“Your wife has offended someone, Sir.”“Mhm.”Ten minutes later, that person is left to die in a desolate mountain.

Bai Yanliang, male, 23 years old, unmarried.Condition improving, good personality shaping, has met the discharge criteria.Today, discharged.

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.