The entire vestibule was frozen.
Ye Lingxiao lay crumpled against the cracked pillar as thick blood dripped from the corner of his perfect lips onto his sky-blue robes.
Ten black-clad Dao protectors materialized in ten flashes of sword-light.
Seven swords hissed out of their sheaths and pointed at Li Qingmu's throat.
The remaining three dropped beside their young master.
"Young Master, are you alright!?"
Ye Lingxiao slapped their hands away and smeared blood across his own cheek as he staggered up.
His handsome face twisted like a feral beast.
"Kill him!"
He screamed furiously.
"Kill that peasant right now or I'll do it myself!"
He coughed another mouthful of blood.
The onlookers were in shock.
"A mere Sea Opening waste actually injured Late Foundation Establishment Young Master Ye!?"
"Impossible! He must have used a dirty trick!"
"Ungrateful dog! The Ye family gave him face by even letting him stand in this hall!"
"Jealous trash—he just can't bear to watch Fairy Zhen belong to a real man!"
Ye Zichen, captain of the Dao protectors, grinned like a wolf scenting blood. He and the other six stepped forward in perfect unison as they chuckled.
Their cultivation flared.
Early Foundation Establishment auras!
Li Qingmu is not sure he can take them on at once.
Ye Zichen could tell and felt more confident.
"You dared to touch the Young Master…"
His sword tip hovered an inch from Li Qingmu's eye.
"You made me lose face in front of the sect. I'm going to take my time carving you."
They glanced toward the white-jade dragon throne.
Patriarch Ye flicked his long beard once.
A single, furious nod.
Kill.
Seven swords rose.
Li Qingmu's hand was already in his storage pouch.
He would use the Map of the Nine Mountains!
But then…
Shhhhhhhing!
A sword of pure golden light blossomed in the air like a blooming lotus.
With one lazy, almost dancing slash, Song Yan swept the blade in a perfect circle.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
Seven treasured swords shattered into glittering metal dust that rained down like silver snow.
Dead silence.
Song Yan stood in front of Li Qingmu, one hand on her curvy and delicate hip as the golden sword rested lightly on her sylph-like shoulder.
Moon-white robes fluttered without wind.
Her face was cold enough to freeze a volcano.
"No one will touch this man tonight."
Her voice is soft like a pillow.
The Immortal Officials lost their minds.
"Grand Elder Song, have you gone insane!?"
"That peasant isn't worth the dirt under your shoes!"
"I offered you three cities and you protect this trash!?"
"Whore! You'll regret—"
Song Yan didn't even look at them.
She reached down, took Li Qingmu's hand in her small, cool one, and pulled him to his feet.
Li Qingmu opened his mouth. "Th—"
A jade finger pressed against his lips.
"Shh."
The officials screamed louder.
"Shameless! He really dares to stain Fairy Song's hand with his beggar blood!"
"Disgusting!"
Song Yan ignored them.
She lifted the torn sleeve of his shabby robe and ran two fingers along the rip.
Blue spirit threads danced like living silk as they stitched the fabric whole in a second.
Li Qingmu stared like he was enchanted.
This ice-cold fairy is beautiful and kind!
"…Thank you…"
Song Yan tilted her head as her frost-coloured eyes softened by half a degree.
"Your parents gave you this robe, didn't they?"
She bit her lower juicy lip to think.
"Then it's important."
Li Qingmu felt heat crawl up his neck.
Everything she did was an attraction.
Ye Lingxiao finally found his voice.
"Grand Elder Song! What is this madness—!?"
Song Yan turned.
Her peak Nascent Soul pressure crashed down like an ice-age glacier.
It centred entirely on Ye Lingxiao.
He dropped to his knees with a strangled gasp.
His bones were already breaking.
"Shut. Up."
Her voice was sweet, almost gentle.
"Show respect when your elders are speaking."
Li Qingmu's chest swelled.
He couldn't help the proud little smirk that tirelessly tugged at his mouth.
Patriarch Ye's teacup cracked in his grip.
"Song Yan explain yourself. Now."
Song Yan smiled like spring snow melting.
"Not until everyone is present."
Minutes later the hall rearranged itself.
Patriarch Zhen entered on his own nine-dragon throne of black gold.
Zhen Rou was dragged in behind him, forced to sit at Ye Lingxiao's side in a chair of phoenix feathers.
Her pretty face was pale, eyes red, but she kept them fixed on Li Qingmu.
The sight of her next to that bastard made Li Qingmu's blood boil.
Only Song Yan's quiet presence at his shoulder kept him from exploding again.
Both patriarchs spoke at once.
"Speak, Song Yan!"
She curtsied, graceful as a falling petal.
"I merely feel it is… cruel to dissolve a marriage without giving a hardworking husband who has done so much for his wife a fair chance to fight for her."
Patriarch Ye's face turned purple.
"Peasants do not deserve chances! This union is political! It will bind two of the three great powers of the Eastern Reaches so we may march on the Central Heartland before the Western Expanse dogs!"
Patriarch Zhen nodded solemnly.
A political marriage is still a marriage.
Zhen Rou stood up.
Her voice rang like a bell.
"I love my husband. I want to stay married to him."
Patriarch Ye roared like an old beast.
His King Realm pressure surged toward her.
Patriarch Zhen flicked a hand and his golden dragon aura swatted the attack aside like a mosquito.
They are both on the same level.
But Zhen Guang is a hard beast to challenge!
"Do not raise your voice at my daughter…"
He warned with narrowed eyes.
"She has a say."
Zhen Rou lifted her chin.
"My husband deserves the right to fight for my hand if he wishes it!"
The hall erupted in scandalised gasps.
Ye Lingxiao's hands shook with rage.
『This dumb bitch! Tch, I have never wanted to slap a woman this badly in my life.』
Patriarch Zhen sighed, disappointed, but waved a hand.
"Very well. A duel. The boy will lose anyway."
Ye Lingxiao shot to his feet, fan snapping open.
"Fine, fine! I accept your shameless sneak-attack as a challenge, peasant. Heh, but are you brave enough to face me for real?"
Li Qingmu lowered his head and smiled.
"I accept."
Zhen Rou's entire face lit up like sunrise.
Ye Lingxiao laughed, cruel and loud.
"Idiot. I'm Late Foundation Establishment. I can already feel the golden core spinning in my dantian. You won't just lose—you won't walk out alive."
He leaned in with a venomous voice.
"Still begging for death? You're scared of all the fun I'll have with Zhen Rou in bed tonight."
To him, this challenge was just to delay the inevitable.
The young master wants to impregnate Zhen Rou too.
Li Qingmu brushed his messy hair back with one hand.
His eyes were half-lidded… utterly calm.
"What makes you think I'm doing this for her?"
The entire hall went still.
"Me. It's for me."
Li Qingmu pointed straight at Zhen Rou's full chest.
"Those milk-makers are my investment. When she was still a 300-jin boar with a face like a pig spirit beast's ass, I was the one who fed her spirit pills every day, massaged her meridians every night, endured her snoring that shook the roof beams, and paid for every beauty treatment out of my own pocket!"
Gasps. Choking sounds.
Someone dropped their wine cup.
"I turned a wild boar into the celestial fairy you all lust after with these two hands! I risked my life, my fortune, my future! Those perky, milk-heavy breasts? Mine. That peach rear that jiggles when she walks? Mine. The womb that will carry my seed? MINE!"
He stabbed a finger at Ye Lingxiao.
"Find your own investment!"
Zhen Rou made a strangled squeak, slid down in her phoenix chair until only her scarlet ears poked up as her tiny jade hands hid her burning face.
『Husband you absolute shameless beast I will kill you later aaaahhhhh♥️』
Patriarch Ye's teacup finally shattered in his hand.
Patriarch Zhen's white beard trembled so hard it looked ready to fly off.
Ye Lingxiao's mouth opened and closed like a dying fish.
Song Yan alone pressed her lips together as she tried to hold back her laugh.
『I would like a man to be this forward about me~』
She smiled inwardly.
Li Qingmu glared at the young master.
"Accept the challenge."
The Ancestral Hall had never been so quiet.