Chen Yixin stared at the four characters for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Boring.”
Four words without beginning or end, and this was supposed to count as a prophecy? This Elder Tianji he had never met before had been far too perfunctory.
Chen Yixin continued rubbing his fingers over the brocade. Wenren Li stepped closer and saw the four characters as well, but his reaction was even flatter than Chen Yixin’s. After a single glance, his gaze returned to Chen Yixin.
As far as Wenren Li was concerned, those four characters were nowhere near as worth looking at as Chen Yixin standing before him in wedding robes.
“Boring!” Chen Yixin repeated more loudly. Another moment passed, and his expression chilled. “Is he sick in the head?”
Slay an Immortal to Attain Demonhood—was it saying that Chen Yixin was supposed to kill Wenren Li, or that Wenren Li was supposed to kill him? What a malicious thing to write!
“Good thing A-Li never looked at it. If you’d been wary and hostile toward me from the beginning, I probably wouldn’t have found it so easy to lure you… over to me.”
Chen Yixin had almost used the word seduce to describe what he had done to Wenren Li. Though really, he had taken a liking to Wenren Li, and he had wanted to use every method at his disposal to seduce him—until Wenren Li was completely captivated and utterly devoted to him.
“It really is boring.” Wenren Li raised a hand and stroked Chen Yixin’s hair, more concerned that the contents of the brocade might have angered him.
Chen Yixin glanced at Wenren Li, then looked back at the brocade. A tiny pale-blue flame drifted from his fingertip and landed on it, burning the fabric into nothingness without leaving even a speck of ash behind.
After burning the prophecy, Chen Yixin immediately looped an arm around Wenren Li’s and dragged him toward the door. “Come on. Let’s go get married.”
No one was going to disturb their state of mind with some ridiculous prophecy. The future was something Chen Yixin and Wenren Li would create together, not something anyone else could decide for them.
Besides, the Upper Realm was full of immortals and gods. If Wenren Li really needed to kill an immortal someday in order to attain his Dao, they could simply grab some unlucky immortal who had once schemed against them and kill that one. Chen Yixin and Wenren Li were going to live for a very, very long time—until the earth grew old and the seas ran dry.
“Mm. Let’s go get married.” Wenren Li matched Chen Yixin’s pace and repeated his words. Slowly, a faint smile appeared on his face, completely natural and entirely unforced.
Chen Yixin glanced sideways, one brow lifting slightly. His feet continued forward, but his body leaned toward Wenren Li, accurately finding the shallow dimple that had appeared on Wenren Li’s cheek. He kissed it once, then straightened again as though nothing had happened.
The wedding was not being held inside the main hall, but on a raised terrace in the center of the Likui Demon Palace gardens. Before formally bowing to Heaven and Earth, they still had several customary rituals to complete—bathing, offering incense, making ritual offerings… By the time they finished everything, the auspicious hour they had chosen for the bows had arrived.
During that half day, every guest who ought to have come—and plenty who had not been invited—had arrived. Quite a few people who lacked the qualifications to enter were still gathered outside the Likui Demon Palace, and merchants had even set up stalls in the nearby woods. Inside and out, the entire area was bustling.
“The auspicious hour has arrived! Welcome, Demon Lord and Demon Consort!”
Ping Cheng called loudly. At the entrance to the garden, Wenren Li and Chen Yixin appeared hand in hand, with the flat little Yinzi following at their feet. Wu Fei elbowed Ping Cheng, who immediately added, “Welcome, Young Lord!”
The dangerous gleam that had just appeared in Yinzi’s round eyes vanished instantly. Its tendrils bounced cheerfully, and it was clearly delighted. Yinzi did not care about possessing the title of Young Lord in some lower realm; what made it happy was that the title acknowledged it as the son of Chen Yixin and Wenren Li.
But when Yinzi reached the edge of the terrace, it stopped following them. What came next belonged to its Mother and Father. Yinzi only needed to stand with the other cultivators and witness it.
“Bow to Heaven and Earth!” Once Ping Cheng saw Chen Yixin and Wenren Li standing before the incense table, he wasted no more time and continued calling the ritual. “First bow!”
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li knelt together, then simultaneously turned their heads to look at each other. A smile spread across Chen Yixin’s face, while even Wenren Li’s expression softened almost completely. They turned forward again, bent low, and bowed.
“Rise.” Ping Cheng called again. Once they stood, he immediately continued, “Second bow!”
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li completed the second bow. Joy had appeared on Ping Cheng’s face as well. “Third bow!”
BOOM!
Before Ping Cheng’s words had even finished, a tremendous crack of thunder exploded across the clear blue sky as though directly beside everyone’s ears. Cultivators with lower cultivation immediately coughed up blood from the force.
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li’s expressions did not change in the slightest. They continued kneeling and solemnly completed the third bow. Then they helped one another upright, their gazes meeting, and neither could quite conceal the smiles appearing on their faces.
“Continue.” Wenren Li never looked away from Chen Yixin as he gave Ping Cheng the order. Today, whether gods themselves tried to stop them or demons stood in their way, nothing would interrupt his bonding ceremony with Chen Yixin.
“Bow to your honored elders!” Ping Cheng nodded and continued calling the ceremony. Chen Yixin and Wenren Li completed another three bows.
None of their elders had come. Even Yun Yazi, whom Chen Yixin had once regarded almost as a father, had not appeared. But none of that mattered. What mattered was the bow that came next—the one Chen Yixin had owed Wenren Li in their previous life, and the one Wenren Li had failed to complete with him a hundred years ago.
“Husband and wife, bow to each other!” Ping Cheng called loudly once more. Another thunderclap immediately exploded overhead, powerful enough that even Hei Yu and the other Demon Lords swayed where they stood. They stared at Wenren Li and Chen Yixin in alarm, clearly shaken. Never before had they seen Heaven and Earth produce such an omen during a bonding ceremony.
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li moved to opposite sides of the cushions. They exchanged a glance before bowing together, and the tops of their heads lightly bumped. Wenren Li instinctively shifted backward, but Chen Yixin immediately followed him forward.
“It’s more auspicious if our heads touch. Why is A-Li avoiding me?” The two straightened while still kneeling. Chen Yixin explained in a low voice, then lowered his gaze slightly and reminded him, “Two more bows. You’re not allowed to dodge.”
“Mm.” Wenren Li agreed. Without waiting for Ping Cheng to call the next bow, he bent down again. Chen Yixin followed, and the tops of their heads bumped together once more.
Thunder rolled without end as the sky suddenly darkened, but none of it could stop their final bow.
“From this day forward, I’ll follow A-Li through life and death.”
Chen Yixin spoke softly, yet the rumbling thunder failed to drown him out. He gave Wenren Li a brilliant smile and bowed. Now that he was marrying Wenren Li, whatever ending awaited them in the future, Chen Yixin would never regret it.
“Through life and death,” Wenren Li promised in return before completing the final bow they had been forced to postpone again and again.
“The ceremony is complete!” Ping Cheng finally called. His face was pale as he descended from the terrace. If Wenren Li had not shielded him, he would probably have collapsed from his injuries and coughed up blood long ago. That heavenly thunder was terrifying.
“Yay! Mother finally married Father!” Yinzi had not been affected by the thunder in the slightest. If Chen Yixin had not warned it beforehand, Yinzi would have wanted to fly up and swallow all that lower-realm heavenly lightning.
Yinzi’s voice finally brought the stunned guests back to their senses. One after another, they began offering awkward congratulations. “Congratulations… congratulations…”
Wenren Li took Chen Yixin’s hand and said to Ping Cheng and Wu Fei, “Begin the banquet.”
Then he looked toward Hei Yu and the others. “Everyone, please accompany us to Li Palace.”
Chen Yixin and Wenren Li still walked at the front while the others followed in something of a daze. The main hall of Li Palace was filled with the fragrance of fine wine and sweet scents drifting through the air, yet none of it could settle their thoroughly shaken minds. Heaven itself had sent thunder as a warning—what exactly had it been warning them about?
Among all the guests who had witnessed the ceremony, Han Zichuan was almost the only one who remained calm. His two young attendants, however, were frighteningly pale. Even after Han Zichuan gave them medicinal pills, their complexions did not improve.
“Demon… a terrifying demon.” The young girl trembled uncontrollably as she walked beside Han Zichuan and sent him a voice transmission. “I saw so much blood… so much, so much blood…”
“What about Tian’er?”
Han Zichuan turned toward the other twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy, whose face looked just as bad. These two attendants possessed exceptionally rare constitutions found perhaps once in a thousand years—one yin and one yang, perfectly complementing one another. Together, they could divine many things even Han Zichuan himself was incapable of calculating. The boy was named Tian Yang, while the girl was Ming Yue.
“What Ming’er and I saw were complete opposites. I saw an expanse of golden light, peaceful beyond description.”
Tian Yang answered Han Zichuan respectfully while taking Ming Yue’s hand. The two complemented each other, and his calm gradually spread to her until her abnormal reaction finally subsided.
Han Zichuan, however, became even more puzzled. Both had divined the future, yet Tian Yang and Ming Yue had seen two completely opposite futures. What could that possibly mean?
“Master, was that terrifying heavenly thunder connected to what Tian’er and Ming’er saw?”
Every time the two of them attempted to divine heavenly secrets, strange phenomena accompanied it. Tian Yang, whose nature was somewhat more innocent, could not help feeling guilty.
Han Zichuan remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. “No. It had nothing to do with you. Close your eyes and rest.”
“Yes.”
After Han Zichuan finished speaking to them through voice transmission, the two attendants sat quietly at their places. Wenren Li and Chen Yixin had taken their seats at the head of the banquet as well and were about to begin entertaining their guests. The two of them truly seemed completely unconcerned by the warning from Heaven and Earth.
The entertainments Ping Cheng and the others had arranged began one after another. Nearly an hour passed amid drinking and conversation before the dark clouds that had covered the sky above Yanzhou finally dispersed. Sunlight returned, and the guests gradually recovered from their shock and remembered the primary reason they had traveled thousands of miles to the Demon Palace.
“I offer this cup to the Demon Lord and Demon Consort. May you both attain the Immortal Dao, enjoy long life, and remain together for all the years to come.”
The speaker was a late-Nascent Soul independent cultivator who could be considered a great cultivator in his own region. His ancestors had shared some ties with Wenren Li, and those ties had never been severed. Even in his generation, Wenren Li had still sent him a wedding invitation.
“Together for all the years to come… I like the sound of that. True Lord Chenyu, please.”
Chen Yixin raised his wine cup and took a sip. Wenren Li likewise lifted his cup before drinking.
Independent Cultivator Chenyu was immensely honored and emptied his cup in one swallow. Yet he did not return to his seat because he still had something to say.
“To tell the truth, Demon Lord, Demon Consort, a junior belonging to a friend of mine was stranded inside the Fentian Nether Abode last month. Thanks to the care of the Demon Lord and Demon Consort, they were brought safely out. My friend prepared a gift and asked me to present it to the two of you as thanks.”
It had to be said that Independent Cultivator Chenyu, who had lived for more than three hundred years, knew exactly how to speak. His words opened the subject beautifully without offending Chen Yixin or Wenren Li in the slightest.
As he spoke, he took out a storage bag and bowed slightly. At Chen Yixin’s signal, Nan Ke approached carrying a tray. Chenyu placed the storage bag on it, and Nan Ke carried it back to Chen Yixin.
Chen Yixin took the storage bag and swept his spiritual sense through its contents before giving a small nod. “If True Lord is in a hurry, you can give Wu Fei their names now and he’ll take you to collect them. If you’re not in a hurry, you can find him after the banquet.”
Chen Yixin made absolutely no effort to conceal his money-loving, stingy ways. Even though this True Lord had ties to Wenren Li, Chen Yixin still handled business strictly as business.
“No hurry, no hurry.” Independent Cultivator Chenyu returned to his seat and continued drinking. Chen Yixin had accepted his ransom in front of everyone, so naturally there was no possibility of him going back on his word.
“True Lord, don’t take offense. It isn’t that I covet this little bit of spirit stone. But as Demon Consort, I can’t break the rules of the Demon Palace either. Still, A-Li and I discussed it. When you collect them, take two jars of wine with you. Consider it our payment for all the trouble your friend put you through.”
Everyone present understood perfectly well what the Demon Palace’s “rules” meant: take everything, give nothing back, and fight over every last scrap. Chen Yixin had not misstated them at all. Ping Cheng, whose complexion had finally recovered somewhat, looked openly approving, while the line of Protectors standing behind him nodded repeatedly.
Chen Yixin really was meant to be their Demon Consort. He and their Demon Lord were a match made in Heaven.
“Ah, many thanks, many thanks! Demon Consort, you’re far too generous.”
Independent Cultivator Chenyu looked genuinely delighted. The Demon Palace only took and never gave, and no matter how much Thousand-Year Dream they stored away, if none of it ever left the palace, outsiders could hardly drink it. For Chen Yixin to persuade Wenren Li to give some away was truly no easy feat.
Chen Yixin had already visited the place where the wine was brewed. All they did was add certain spiritual herbs grown within the Demon Palace to spiritual spring water. They could produce as much as they wanted. Considering how inseparable Chen Yixin and Wenren Li were, those herbs grew crop after crop without end. There was hardly any danger of running out of ingredients.
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