Chapter 530: There's a Simple Question, What Is Love?

【It took you a long while to snap out of your daze amid the Ten Thousand Souls Banner's howling laughter.】

【"Hahahaha! That Old Chen is up in years already, but he's still playing at young folks' games, Sweet Tyrannical General Falls in Love with Me! Brother's gonna be laughing at this for a whole year! No wait! A decade! Hahahaha!"】

【You were so depressed you didn't even feel like chewing out the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.】

【You sat on a large rock, your brows tightly knitted.】

【"Where did it all go wrong? Why isn't the script playing out like it's supposed to? Last time, on our trip out, we met for the first time. That stuff about marrying her, marrying her. Wasn't that supposed to be dissing the honest truth under the cover of a joke?"】

【If you'd equipped the Built-In BGM trait tag at that moment, you would have heard:】

【♫ There's a simple question, what is love?】

【♫ Is it a kind of flavor? Or gravity?】

【...】

【♫ Love is like blue skies and white clouds, a clear boundless day, suddenly a rainstorm...】

【No way!】

【Sixty-second year, eighty-eight years old.】

【Ji Wuqing still occasionally came to the base, but she no longer came to see you. She'd already branded you with the label of complete pervert.】

【You knew you'd picked the wrong strategy guide this run, so you simply stopped bothering, and focused on cultivation.】

【Using the "Ominous in Old Age" trait tag, you converted a patch of wasteland in the base into a spiritual vein, and your cultivation speed rose yet another notch.】

【This was a First-tier Star environment now, and raising the intensity of its environment on that foundation, stacking amplification from multiple trait tags, your cultivation speed wasn't one bit slower than some of the geniuses in the base.】

【Sixty-third year, eighty-nine years old.】

【Ah Dou grew, year by year.】

【At your age and realm, every year seemed to change little, and the days were like endlessly repeating yesterday.】

【But for Ah Dou, every single day had new changes.】

【The unchanging thing was that in the Torch Society base's genius class, he'd become king of the kids.】

【Wrong, he wasn't a kid anymore, he was a teenager now, king of the boys.】

【You didn't hide the Sun Halo Ring's existence from He Xiangdong. They knew the Sun Halo Ring was in your hands.】

【Ah Dou wasn't the only Child of Destiny in the base either, and you thought that after they attained a certain realm, you'd let them try to see whether they could activate the Sun Halo Ring.】

【Otherwise, an object with such tremendous might, even if they were Children of Destiny, they might not be able to withstand it in the process of using it.】

【He Xiangdong and the others had no objection to this, and allowed you to temporarily hold onto the Sun Halo Ring.】

【Counting the days, the Star Apes should have arrived.】

【It just so happened that on this day, Ji Wuqing came to the base again to deliver supplies.】

【The supplies she delivered, of course, she'd obtained legally from the Ji family's warehouse through all sorts of pretexts.】

【You found Ji Wuqing and said to her.】

【"Wuqing, I want to come with you to the Ji family."】

【Ji Wuqing rolled her eyes on the spot.】

【"Why won't you give up, you total pervert?"】

【He Xiangdong was conducting an inventory of the supplies nearby. Hearing Ji Wuqing speak to you like that, he immediately put on a stern face.】

【"Wuqing, you must not be disrespectful to Brother Chen. When you're insolent normally, I only take it as your free-spirited personality, but how can you take such a tone with Brother Chen?"】

【A helpless Ji Wuqing had to explain, going into detail about your earlier Jiahao Behavior.】

【You scratched your head awkwardly.】

【"That, that was a misunderstanding..."】

【But He Xiangdong said gravely.】

【"A grown woman should marry. Aren't you always fretting about how you can't find a husband?

Brother Chen Dong is handsome in features, noble in moral character, auspicious in combat power, with both courage and strategy. Which part of that is unworthy of you?

Since Brother Chen is willing, why be so picky on your side? I may not be your father, but I count as half your master and have watched you grow up. I've decided this matter. Pick a day and hold the wedding!"】

【You and Ji Wuqing waved your hands at the same time.】

【"No no no!!"】

【You gave a bitter laugh.】

【"A matter like this still needs both sides to be mutually drawn to each other. I don't want to force someone against their will, and the reason I'm going with Wuqing to the Ji family today isn't this..."】

【You told Ji Wuqing that you knew the Star Apes had arrived, and that they were looking for people to go to the Void Realm in search of their prince.】

【And you were the perfect fit, and you knew where their prince was.】

【Ji Wuqing studied you suspiciously.】

【"How do you know where their prince is? Why are you the perfect fit?"】

【"Because... I come from the Void Realm!"】

【You once again stunned He Xiangdong, Ji Wuqing and the others.】

【"An Ascender?!"】

【"Exactly."】

【"According to our Torch Society's intelligence records, the whole cosmos should have gone tens of thousands of years without a human world Ascender, and the human world seems to have declined as well. I never expected to actually see an Ascender."】

【"Actually, the human world has always had Ascenders, it's just that they're all traitors who join the Alien Race faction the moment they come up. It's a long story, another day I'll give you all a detailed introduction."】

【This was another lengthy tale entirely, one you'd spent a full five simulations to figure out.】

【So you had no time now to explain it to He Xiangdong and the others.】

【Ji Wuqing remained half-doubting.】

【But He Xiangdong and the other base higher-ups trusted you deeply, and vouched for you.】

【A helpless Ji Wuqing, holding to the attitude of treating a dead horse as if it were alive, took you away from the base and headed for the Ji family.】

【Before you left, you gave the Celestial Empress's Cloud Mist Feather Robe to Ah Dou.】

【Ah Dou was young and hot-blooded, and truly had no interest in a set of brightly-sleeved, fluttering dress, even though you told him its defensive power was extremely strong.】

【For Ah Dou's safety, you still forced him to keep the thing on his person, and to put it on the moment there was danger.】

【Ah Dou had no choice but to agree.】

【The plot after returning to the Ji family was the same as what you were familiar with. No unexpected trouble cropped up.】

【Ji Wuqing brought you back to the Ji family and attended the Star Apes' "bidding meeting."】

【Using your identity as a member of the Ji family, you obtained a chance to speak with the Star Apes privately, revealed to them that you came from the Void Realm, and explained in detail the situation of the two princes in the human world.】

【What could those Star Apes say to that? You could practically tell them how many hairs on the prince's body there were, so if they didn't pick you as this "projector," who else could they pick?】

【While the Star Apes were making preparations, Ji Baiming, the head of the Ji family, called you over.】

【"This is what my Ji family's think tank has compiled, regarding some of the projects for exploring the Void Realm..."】

【Ji Baiming produced his thick index.】

【Before he could finish, you pulled out a book taller than you.】

【"I've already written it."】

【Ji Baiming and Ji Wuqing were both stunned on the spot.】

【Ji Baiming looked at the index in his hand.】

【"I hadn't even finished? You... have precognition?"】

【You smiled.】

【"Don't mind these details. Please see my sincerity. A pleasant cooperation."】

【Ji Baiming nodded blankly.】

【"Ah, pleasure, pleasure..."】

【After you walked out of the room, Ji Baiming leafed through the pile of books you'd given him and found their contents indeed tallied one by one with their index.】

【"Ghosts..."】

【Ji Wuqing followed you out of Ji Baiming's study, circling around you, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on you.】

【"How'd you suddenly get so mysterious?"】

【You said calmly.】

【"Don't mind these details. Focus your energy on real work!"】