Gusu City, north district.
On a bustling street stood a shop selling calligraphy and paintings.
Boyang Calligraphy and Painting Shop.
It was Li Su’s public-facing business.
Behind the shop was his home: a two-courtyard residence.
In the main hall.
“Get married?”
Li Su had only just returned home when he stared wide-eyed at Commander Zuo.
“My distant cousin’s daughter suffered a flood in her hometown and has come to stay with me,” Zuo Lin said. Dressed in a fish-and-dragon robe, he sat in an armchair and took a sip of tea. “She’s lovely and refined, more than good enough for you.”
The image of the white-clad Heroine from the night before rose in Li Su’s mind. He doubted that even Commander Zuo’s distant cousin’s daughter could be more beautiful than her.
“You know I’m not thinking about marriage or children just yet,” Li Su said tactfully, turning him down. He had never planned to marry so early.
“Marry her for now,” Commander Zuo said with a smile. “It’ll keep those matchmakers from pestering you every day.”
Li Su let out a dry laugh and shook his head. “I’m still young. I plan to travel the world someday. Getting married now would be like putting myself in shackles.”
Commander Zuo frowned. He hadn’t expected Li Su to brush him off so firmly.
“Though you never took me on as your disciple, I’ve always thought of you as my master.” Li Su picked up the teapot and poured Commander Zuo a cup of tea. “Getting married now really is too soon for me.”
“What if I insist you marry her?” Commander Zuo asked, his expression serious. He had already made a firm promise to Her Highness the Princess. If he couldn’t arrange this marriage, how would he explain himself when he got back?
“Do you really think that highly of me?” Li Su teased with a light laugh.
“I wouldn’t say you’re exceptional,” Commander Zuo replied calmly. “It’s mainly that I know you well, and I trust you.”
Li Su said helplessly, “You ought to know me well enough to understand how hard it is for me to marry at a time like this.”
Commander Zuo fell silent.
He had watched the boy before him grow up. He knew that all the boy cared about was cultivation.
Once he broke through the Body Tempering Realm, he would probably want to leave Gusu City, travel the world, and seek higher-grade cultivation techniques.
“My niece is stunning,” Commander Zuo said, the only argument he had left.
Li Su looked at him and suddenly asked, “Do you believe I could visit a brothel without spending a single silver?”
Commander Zuo froze. Then his face darkened. “You’re comparing my niece to those brothel women?”
“Of course not.” Li Su hurriedly shook his head. “I mean—”
Commander Zuo cut him off before he could finish.
“I don’t care what you mean. I’ve already arranged this marriage for you.”
He gave a quiet snort. “Whether you want to marry her or not, you will.”
Li Su’s expression darkened. “I can’t believe this. You were the one who repeatedly warned me that I absolutely mustn’t lose my virginity while I’m in the Body Tempering Realm. And now you’re trying to tempt me with a beauty?”
“Just tell me: will you do me this favor or not?” Commander Zuo fixed his gaze on Li Su.
“…”
Li Su was suddenly quite troubled.
He was very close to Commander Zuo, who was much more to him than a teacher.
Over the years, without Commander Zuo’s help—both open and behind the scenes—even with all the ways Li Su knew to make money, other people would have swallowed him up, bones and all.
And when he’d earned his first fortune and been robbed, he might not have survived to this day if Commander Zuo hadn’t come to his rescue.
After a long silence, Li Su asked, “Do you have a portrait?”
Commander Zuo’s expression softened. He took a rolled-up sheet from inside his robes and handed it to Li Su.
Li Su unrolled it and raised an eyebrow slightly.
The woman in the painting had exquisitely drawn features and was beautiful beyond compare. Her eyes shimmered with a lively, autumn-water gleam, as though they could speak; her cherry-red lips seemed about to part, so vivid was the painting.
If she truly looked like that, she was indeed a peerless beauty.
Unless the portrait had been doctored, Li Su thought to himself. He considered it for a moment, then made up his mind.
The white-clad Heroine had already taken his virginity, so now he could get close to women. And with the Supreme Imperial Cauldron Art in hand, he could cultivate even if he stayed in Gusu City.
The only uncertain factor was whether losing his virginity in the Body Tempering Realm would affect his cultivation of Daoist techniques.
Li Su shook his head to himself, then looked at Commander Zuo and said seriously, “For your sake, I’m willing to marry your niece. But if I meet a woman I fall for in the future, you can’t stop me from marrying again…”
“Men having three wives and four concubines is perfectly normal,” Commander Zuo said, unconcerned.
“I see.” Li Su relaxed and nodded. “Then you can make the arrangements. Since I’m getting married, the three letters and six betrothal gifts, the matchmaker, the wedding rites—none of it should be left out.”
“We can keep things simple,” Commander Zuo said, taking a sip of tea. A grand wedding would draw too much attention; it was out of the question.
Besides, Her Highness the Princess couldn’t possibly really marry this young man as his wife.
Li Su looked at Commander Zuo in surprise and asked hesitantly, “Is she your biological niece?”
“My distant cousin’s daughter,” Commander Zuo corrected him.
“She’s still your niece,” Li Su said with a smile. “Since I’m marrying your niece, I should give her the most perfect wedding possible.”
“Not necessary.” Commander Zuo shook his head, still firm. “We’ll keep everything simple.”
Li Su grumbled, “If we keep everything simple, it won’t be a wedding. It’ll be taking a concubine.”
“Taking a concubine…”
Commander Zuo’s face twitched. Who in this world had the right to take Her Highness the Princess as a concubine?
“Why don’t you ask the young lady what she wants?” Li Su thought there couldn’t be a girl who didn’t want a perfect wedding.
“No need.” Commander Zuo’s face was expressionless. “You don’t have any family, anyway. Go prepare a banquet. Tonight, I’ll bring her here, and the two of you can bow to each other in front of me. That’s all.”
Li Su: “???”
Was this really how you married off your niece?
“Old Zuo,” Li Su said, staring at Commander Zuo.
Commander Zuo remained expressionless. “Don’t ask questions. Once you break through the Body Tempering Realm, I’ll give you a great opportunity.”
Li Su’s heart stirred. “What great opportunity?”
“I haven’t decided yet. We’ll talk after you break through.” Commander Zuo left.
Li Su was speechless. He glanced at the portrait in his hand and muttered,
“Why do I have a feeling this portrait’s been doctored?”
Thinking of all the doctored pictures that had proliferated in his previous life, Li Su felt uneasy.
“I was careless. I should’ve met her before deciding.”
He shook his head, went to the study, and took out the Supreme Imperial Cauldron Art to make a copy.
He was more worried that the white-clad Heroine might come back to take the Fragrant Storage Pouch than he was about being fooled by a doctored portrait.
After all, a storage pouch wasn’t an ordinary object. Even the Great Qian imperial family wouldn’t dare just throw one away.
In this life, Li Su had had an excellent memory since childhood. By the time he finished copying the text, he had already memorized the entire Supreme Imperial Cauldron Art.
He put the handwritten copy away somewhere safe, returned to the main room in the rear courtyard, and continued exploring the Fragrant Storage Pouch.
…
Outside Gusu City, at Hanshan Temple.
A white-clad woman with a light veil over her face stood atop a ruined temple, gazing into the distance, her elegant brows drawing together slightly.
“That Enchantress has been here…”
The white-clad woman spoke softly, her gaze gradually settling on Gusu City.
She was Yuheng Fairy, the current female leader of the Daoist Celestial Sect. She had recently come to the Gusu area at someone’s invitation to eliminate a Blood Flood Dragon in the Taihu Lake basin.
After killing the Millennium Blood Jiao with three sword strikes, she had gone to bathe on an uninhabited island deep in Taihu Lake. That was when she encountered Enchantress Gu Qingyan.
In a direct fight, she had nothing to fear from Gu Qingyan.
But the Enchantress was the Enchantress—utterly despicable. Instead of fighting her, she had secretly stolen the Daoist robe Yuheng Fairy had left on the shore, then fled without a trace.
Her storage pouch had been inside the robe.
“The Enchantress must have wanted the Millennium Blood Jiao Core,” Yuheng Fairy murmured, a trace of amusement in her eyes. “Too bad she didn’t know that the Millennium Blood Jiao was lustful by nature.”
The lingering scents inside the ruined temple beneath her feet confirmed that Enchantress Gu Qingyan had already consumed the Blood Flood Dragon Core from the storage pouch, and that its unusual poisonous properties had begun to take effect inside her.
“The Enchantress’s cultivation technique is unusual. She should be in a weakened state right now…”
Yuheng Fairy spoke softly. Thinking of the several inherited techniques of the Celestial Sect and her Autumn Water Sword still stored in the pouch, she dared not delay. With a flash, she set off for Gusu City.