North of Gusu City.
Li Residence.
Li Su stared at the blood on the index and middle fingers of his right hand, uncertain what to make of it.
Just now, he had pinched at something inside the Fragrant Storage Pouch, but couldn’t pull it out. When he withdrew his two fingers, they were stained with blood.
He peered closely at the pouch’s opening. In the bottom-right corner, he could just make out a red line.
“Good thing it isn’t a human corpse.”
Li Su breathed a small sigh of relief, then looked at the three gold-edged booklets on the table.
Qiushui Sword Art.
Flying Immortal Sword Formation.
Ethereal Wandering Dragon Body.
“Either I had nothing, or I have everything.”
Li Su sighed. Before meeting the White-clad Heroine, he had desperately sought all kinds of cultivation methods but could never obtain any, so he had followed Commander Zuo, tempering his body and practicing a few basic martial arts.
Now, he was no longer short of profound cultivation manuals.
At dusk,
Commander Zuo drove a carriage into Li Residence.
Li Su stood in the courtyard, watching the carriage. His heart beat a little faster, as though he were about to meet a girlfriend he’d met online.
The first to step down was a tall woman dressed in a purple robe and skirt.
Li Su’s eyes lit up at once.
The woman in purple was exceptionally tall—at a glance, she looked at least 1.79 meters.
She was not only tall, but also had an astonishing figure, with very pronounced curves.
Her long black hair fell to her hips; her skin gleamed like jade, and she had red lips and an upturned nose. She had a decidedly mature, alluring air.
“She doesn’t look much like the portrait.”
As Li Su thought this, he caught sight of another figure emerging from the carriage, dressed in a bright-red bridal gown and wearing a red veil.
“Uh…”
Li Su was a little bewildered. Instinctively, he looked at Commander Zuo.
“This is Ziying, Qier’s maidservant,” Commander Zuo explained.
“Even the maidservant is this beautiful?” Li Su exclaimed, his gaze shifting to the woman in the bridal gown.
Tian Qi was Commander Zuo’s distant cousin’s daughter.
Unlike Ziying, who was tall, Tian Qi was of more average height. Her well-fitted bridal gown accentuated her shapely figure.
Her visible hands and neck were exceptionally fair, with a faint pink flush.
“Let’s go inside,” Commander Zuo said.
“All right.”
Li Su led the way. As Commander Zuo had said they should keep things simple, he had prepared only a table of food and wine. He had made no special arrangements for a bridal chamber or a wedding hall.
“Since there were no betrothal documents or gifts, nor the customary matchmakers and wedding gifts, Qier will be your concubine for now,” Commander Zuo said as they entered the hall.
Li Su froze, staring at Commander Zuo in astonishment. He wanted to ask:
“Is she really your niece?”
Commander Zuo kept a straight face, though inwardly he felt rather helpless.
After leaving Li Su that afternoon and returning to his residence, he had told Her Highness the Princess about their conversation. He had mentioned that without the betrothal documents and customary wedding gifts, it seemed very much like taking a concubine.
But for some reason, Her Highness the Princess had replied, “Then let her be a concubine.”
Commander Zuo had been stunned.
Though the Chu Kingdom had been conquered by Great Qian five years ago, a princess was still a princess. How could she become someone’s concubine?
“Since I’m not really marrying Young Master Li, there’s no need for me to take the place of the mistress of the Li household.” That was Her Highness the Princess’s explanation.
Commander Zuo had thought it over, then agreed.
“You’re sure she’s going to be my concubine?” Li Su stared at Commander Zuo.
In this era, a wife and a concubine were entirely different things.
A wife’s standing was, to some extent, equal to her husband’s. A concubine had little status at all, especially in a household like Li Su’s, where there were no servants for her to command.
Commander Zuo gave a muffled affirmative. Her Highness the Princess had already made her decision. What right did he have to object?
Li Su said no more, but a few doubts began to stir in his mind.
“Could Old Zuo’s niece be hideously ugly, so she’s being made a concubine—and he’s sent along a gorgeous maidservant as well?”
Commander Zuo took the seat of honor.
Li Su and Tian Qi stood in the middle of the hall. They bowed to Heaven and Earth, then to Old Zuo, and finally to each other as husband and wife.
The ceremony was so hurried and simple that Li Su hadn’t even changed into a groom’s outfit.
It left him feeling strange. Just like that, he had a concubine?
After the ceremony, Tian Qi and Ziying went together to Li Su’s bedroom.
Li Su and Commander Zuo went to the dining room, where a table of food and wine had already been laid out.
“What exactly is going on?” Li Su couldn’t help asking.
Commander Zuo calmly poured himself a cup of wine. “Isn’t it a good thing that I’ve sent you a beautiful bride?”
Li Su shot back, “Are you sure she’s really your niece?”
“Distant cousin’s daughter,” Commander Zuo corrected him.
Li Su was momentarily speechless. He stared at Commander Zuo. “Is she the daughter of one of your fellow prisoners? Are you trying to hide her from some investigation by placing her near me?”
“If she is, what would you think?” Commander Zuo asked, not denying it outright. The boy before him had published a collection of poems for profit before he was even ten. Calling him a genius would hardly be an exaggeration.
Some things, after all, couldn’t be kept completely secret.
Li Su furrowed his brow and asked quietly, “Is it a lot of trouble?”
“Their identities are aboveboard,” Commander Zuo said.
Li Su’s thoughts shifted. If their identities were aboveboard, then perhaps there was something wrong with their appearance, voices, or other identifying features.
“No wonder you chose me,” Li Su remarked. “Even staying cooped up at home can get you into trouble.”
“This time, do an old man a favor.” Commander Zuo picked up the wine flask and poured Li Su a cup himself. “In a little while, once you’ve reached the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, I’ll prepare a medicinal bath for you and help you break through.”
“The peak of the Body Tempering Realm…” Li Su was speechless. In fact, he had already felt that he’d reached that stage a few days ago. He had planned to consolidate his progress a little more before asking Old Zuo about breaking through.
He never expected that, while tempering his body in the woods outside the city, he would run into a poisoned heroine during a quick stop to relieve himself.
“Has anything happened around Gusu City lately?” Li Su asked. He wanted to learn the White-clad Heroine’s identity. There was nothing in the Fragrant Storage Pouch that could identify her; the only clue was a sharp sword with the two characters “Autumn Water” engraved on its hilt.
Commander Zuo naturally assumed that Li Su was trying to probe for information about Tian Qi and Ziying. Keeping his expression neutral, he said, “The biggest news is that the Millennium Blood Jiao in Taihu Lake, outside the city, has been slain.”
“The Blood Jiao has been slain?” Li Su was startled. He knew there was a huge Blood Jiao in Taihu Lake. It had appeared once six years ago and devoured many fishermen living nearby.
“Who did it?” Li Su asked curiously.
“The Daoist Celestial Sect’s Yuheng Fairy.”
Li Su blinked, his heart beating much faster. “Who’s that?”
“Someone of such importance that you’ll never cross paths with her in your life.” Commander Zuo poured himself another cup of wine. “Jiangnan has been in turmoil lately. Stay home and don’t go wandering around. It’s not safe.”
“All right,” Li Su said with a nod. He knew a little about the situation, too.
Over the past twenty years, the powerful Great Qian Dynasty had successively conquered Zhao, Yan, Chu, and Liang, bringing all Nine Provinces of the Central Plains under its rule.
The reigning Qian Emperor, known as the Martial Emperor, commanded the world.
Most ordinary people in Zhao, Yan, Chu, and Liang had submitted, but their martial circles, sects, and great families were far less compliant.
“Knights transgress the law with their martial strength; scholars disrupt it with their writing.”
Rebellions periodically broke out in the remote parts of the Nine Provinces. In Qingzhou, where Gusu City stood, bandits ran rampant. And strange beasts hidden in the deep mountains and vast marshes sometimes ravaged villages.
The two drank and chatted.
As evening fell, Commander Zuo rose to take his leave. Before departing, he warned Li Su, “You’ve spent nearly ten years tempering your body in the Body Tempering Realm. Don’t throw it all away at the final hurdle.”
Li Su’s face stiffened. With a strained smile, he said, “If you don’t want me to do that, why’d you send your niece to me as a concubine?”
“If you can’t withstand even this little test, you may as well give up the martial path,” Commander Zuo said with a snort, then turned and left.
Li Su walked him to the gate and watched the carriage drive away, sighing helplessly.
He wanted to tell Old Zuo: Some tests in this world aren’t a matter of whether you want to withstand them.
Against overwhelming strength, you simply have no way to resist.
“Old Zuo, you were the one who begged me to take this concubine. If I don’t consummate the marriage, wouldn’t I be letting down your kindness?”
Back in the courtyard, Li Su looked toward the bedroom serving as the bridal chamber, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.