The Iron Ox Oath

The Rat exposed the records. Now the Ox exposes the law. After the hidden doors beneath Shengxiao Academy reveal that the Calendar’s lies were preserved in ledgers, routes, and minor records, Lian Su thinks she has seen the shape of imperial cruelty. She is wrong. The Iron Ox Oath wakes beneath the academy, and with it comes a brutal truth: some lies were not merely hidden. They were sworn into law. Bound into gates. Pressed into bodies. Passed from one generation to the next as sacred duty. Ox House believes endurance is honor. Han Tiesheng, the Ox prefect assigned to secure the awakened gate, has been trained to hold the line no matter what it costs. But when old vows begin to bruise living bone, Lian must decide whether breaking a sacred oath is rebellion… or mercy. Ren Longwei remains her Dragon witness, bound to procedure, command, and the dangerous habit of protecting her when no one is supposed to notice. Every choice he makes risks exposing what he feels — and what the Calendar still owns. As the academy tightens around them, Lian learns that a vow is not holy simply because it survives. Some promises protect the living. Some preserve the lie. And some gates only open when someone finally refuses to carry the weight. The Iron Ox Oath is Book Three in The Thirteenth Seal Academy, a dark academy romantasy series inspired by the Chinese zodiac, featuring forbidden magic, rival Houses, ritual trials, ancient oaths, political intrigue, imperial secrets, magical academy fantasy, and dangerous slow-burn enemies-to-lovers tension.