Chapter 556: Getting Married

Festive music from erhus and pipas filled the air as joyous crowds flooded into the Zhu Mansion.

Today was the day of Zhu Ying’s wedding.

「In the rear courtyard of the Zhu Mansion.」

Aunt Liuu was constantly wiping away tears as she gently placed the bridal veil over her equally tearful daughter.

“Mother!”

“My daughter!”

With their parting imminent, the two couldn’t help but embrace and weep, only separating reluctantly after others intervened.

“If you’re so reluctant to see her go, why did you arrange a marriage for Sister Yingg so early?” Zhu Nan asked, her face full of confusion.

“Big Brother said she didn’t have to get married so soon.”

“What do you know!” Aunt Zhou rapped the back of her head, her expression complicated as she spoke.

“A woman always has to marry. It’s better to marry early than late; you can find a better family that way.”

“Not everyone wants to practice Martial Arts and become strong. A simple, quiet life is the true truth.”

“Sigh!”

Although she had never gotten along with Aunt Liuu, the sight still made her heart ache.

Her children would eventually leave her. If Nannan were to marry, she would truly have no one left by her side.

“Mother.”

Zhu Nan’s eyes flickered as she said in a low voice,

“I heard Sister Yingg is bringing a huge dowry, and she even bought a small courtyard.”

“Isn’t the Nie Family very wealthy? Why is she spending the Zhu Family’s money on everything?”

“Hmph!” Aunt Zhou pursed her lips.

“The Nie Family might be powerful, but that doesn’t mean Nie Sheng is rich. Your Aunt Liuu wanted her daughter to marry up, but she never expected this marriage would be nothing but paying out of our own pocket.”

“The groom’s side only prepared a carriage, servant women, and some books. Everything else belongs to Zhu Ying.”

“And your big brother… he’s being so generous with his sister’s wedding, giving her whatever she wants. I just hope he doesn’t play favorites when it’s your turn to get married.”

“I don’t want to get married,” Zhu Nan said.

“I want to stay with you forever, Mother.”

“Silly girl.” A smile touched Aunt Zhou’s face, but she still said,

“Not getting married is impossible. Haven’t you seen? Even a daughter of the Zhou Family has moved into our house.”

“Oh…” Zhu Nan’s lovely eyes flickered, and she asked in confusion,

“Why isn’t Big Brother holding a wedding ceremony?”

Half a month ago, Zhou Ruxuan had moved into the Zhu Mansion, becoming the mistress of the house in the servants’ eyes.

But.

There was no wedding ceremony.

“I don’t know.”

Aunt Zhou also looked confused.

“But your big brother definitely has his own plans for everything he does. We… shouldn’t get involved.”

“Mhm.”

Zhu Nan nodded emphatically.

「Elsewhere.」

As the master of the Zhu Mansion, Zhu Ju stood with his hands behind his back, watching the moving figures in the rear courtyard.

“Marry a rooster, follow the rooster; marry a dog, follow the dog.”

Zhou Ruxuan’s expression was complicated.

“To entrust your fate to someone you’ve barely met… and yet so many people are willing to do it.”

“Your sister is very lucky.”

“That boy, Nie Sheng, is kind-hearted and gentle. This time, the Nie Family didn’t provide much in terms of assets, and with a powerful older brother like you, Zhu Ying at least won’t be mistreated after her marriage.”

“Mhm.” Zhu Ju nodded.

“He’s a good kid.”

Nie Sheng was quite handsome, with a scholarly air about him. Perhaps that was what had attracted Zhu Ying in the first place.

As for Yangg Yi…

That was already in the past.

After marriage and having children, the impulsive feelings of one’s youth would naturally fade away.

“A toast!”

As the Patriarch of the Zhu Family, Zhu Ju accepted the offered cup of wine and glanced at Zhou Ruxuan.

Zhou Ruxuan raised an eyebrow and accepted a cup as well.

Although the two of them weren’t married and hadn’t completed the rites, she still considered herself the mistress of the Zhu Mansion.

And she demanded that others do the same.

“The wine is frozen.”

Zhu Ju offered this reminder, then raised his cup, drained it, and smiled at the kneeling newlyweds before him.

“I wish you the swift arrival of a healthy son and all the best.”

“The ceremony is complete!”

“To the sedan chair…”

In the end, Zhou Ruxuan was unable to drink her wine, because the cup and the wine within it had frozen into a solid block of ice.

She had just broken through to the Sixth Grade and could not yet perfectly control the Qi Blood within her body.

The slightest emotional disturbance would cause her Qi Blood to surge and overflow, freezing everything around her.

“The Profound Ice Force is this powerful after advancing to the Sixth Grade?”

Zhu Ju held the cup, now a block of ice, and felt the chill from within it, a look of astonishment on his face.

‘This shouldn’t be possible…’

It wasn’t that he had never seen a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist—he had even killed a few. While their Qi Blood was formidable and possessed a certain profundity distinct from that of the Lower Three Grades, it was never this terrifying.

If any one of them had possessed such powerful Qi Blood Gang Force, he feared he would have chosen to flee long ago.

“Hmph!”

Zhou Ruxuan snorted lightly.

“You’re just too inexperienced. Sixth-Grade Martial Artists can condense Gang Force, and the Profound Ice Force has High-Tier Methods as well.”

“You can call it…”

“Ice River True Gang!”

‘Ice River True Gang?’

Zhu Ju turned his head, a divine light flashing in his eyes.

Under the illumination of the Formless Divine Light, Zhou Ruxuan’s entire body was enveloped in a layer of ice-crystal-like cold Qi.

And in her Dantian.

Something was rising and falling.

Even his Invisible Divine Light couldn’t see through her completely. This had never happened before.

“Did you switch Cultivation Techniques?”

“Hm?”

Zhou Ruxuan raised an eyebrow, giving an ambiguous answer.

“More or less.”

“The Qi Blood developed from cultivating Profound Ice Force varies in quality and strength. If it reaches a certain level, one can switch to another Cultivation Technique from the same lineage.”

“By the way.”

She remembered something and asked,

“Your Pure Yang Qi…”

“What about it?”

“Nothing.”

Shaking her head lightly, Zhou Ruxuan suppressed the doubt in her heart.

For a Middle Third-Grade Martial Artist, the key to advancing further lies in the quality of their Qi Blood, or rather, the intensity of the Gang Sha Qi they refine.

The higher the quality of one’s Gang Qi, the stronger they become, and the greater their chance of breaking through to the next Realm.

For an ordinary Sixth-Grade Martial Artist to break through, they not only need to accumulate Qi Blood but also enhance the quality of their Gang Qi.

But she…

…had directly crossed a threshold and cultivated the Ice River True Gang, a Gang Qi effective all the way up to the Third Grade.

‘Looking back on my breakthrough, I feel it was possibly related to the Pure Yang Qi that Zhu Ju gave me.’

‘It was precisely with the help of the Pure Yang Qi that my Qi Blood underwent a qualitative transformation.’

However,

she wasn’t certain.

‘After all, the harmony of Yin and Yang is known to aid Cultivation. Perhaps others would have a similar experience with the help of Pure Yang Qi; I might not be a special case.’

In reality, not even Zhu Ju was clear on this point. Although he was in the Third-Grade Realm, he didn’t know much about Martial Arts and genuinely thought Zhou Ruxuan simply had exceptional Talent and had cultivated an extraordinary Cultivation Technique.

“Let’s talk business.”

Setting aside his distracting thoughts, Zhu Ju straightened his back.

“What’s the situation over at Ze Lake?”

Zhou Ruxuan’s lovely eyes flickered.

*

*

*

「One month later.」

An unremarkable carriage appeared on the main road to Ze Lake.

Mok Ying, wearing a conical hat and holding a Longsword, expertly controlled the reins and guided their path.

He was a Puppet refined by Li Chengxia, then re-refined by Ming Nianwei after Li Chengxia’s soul scattered.

His Cultivation was a bit weaker than before, but he was still at the Sixth-Grade Realm, making him a top expert in a small place like this.

What’s more,

there were three other people inside the carriage.

Though their numbers were few, they had no need to worry about safety while traveling the main road.

“The Pai Sect once tried to spread its doctrines and has a record of causing chaos in the region. After being suppressed by the Divine Dynasty, it became much more docile and hasn’t dared to expand its territory in all these years.”

“But its shadow can be found everywhere along the hundreds of thousands of miles of rivers and lakes, and even in the nearby cities.”

Zhou Ruxuan unfolded a map and said,

“For example, the Sanhe Gang in our Prefecture City. Its Gang Leader is backed by a certain Pai Sect Elder.”

“My older brother…”

“…also took a Pai Sect Hall Master as his teacher.”

“Our destination, Ze Lake, is near the territory controlled by the Pai Sect, so there are many experts. Sixth-Grade Martial Artists are not uncommon, and we might even run into Fifth-Grade Experts who can fly through the sky and burrow through the earth. We must be careful.”

“Mhm.” Zhu Ju nodded.

“Tell us something we don’t know.”

“Don’t be so hasty.” Zhou Ruxuan rolled her eyes.

“The place we’re going to is near the southern shore of Ze Lake. There’s a gang there called the Black Dragon Gang. I have an aunt who married the Vice Gang Leader of the Black Dragon Gang, so we can use her to quickly get a sense of the situation.”

“The place you mentioned, is it perpetually shrouded in fog?”

“Yes.”

Ming Nianwei nodded.

“It’s caused by an Array. The fog lingers all year round. Ordinary people who enter it will lose their way and eventually turn into skeletons.”

Li Chengxia had a Flying Escape Spiritual Artifact and always traveled high above the ground. Although she remembered the location of the treasure, the specific details were unclear.

“A place like that shouldn’t be hard to find,” Zhou Ruxuan said thoughtfully.