The Master of Ceremonies: “…”
You’ve gone to such lengths to calculate this, yet claim you don’t mind?
Although the Sect Leader favors sky-blue, isn’t sending a green robe for his grand wedding a bit petty, suggesting some deep personal grudge?
Wen Mian, who had been joyfully running around, immediately rushed over upon hearing her father’s words.
“Yes, yes! And will Princess Auntie be wearing pink today?”
The Master of Ceremonies’ face changed even more.
Princess Nanchan’s wedding with the Sect Leader is a sacred union commanded by the religious order!
How could the bride possibly wear pink! Pink!
The Master of Ceremonies dared not voice his anger.
“Sword Sovereign, having been away from mortal affairs for so long, you might be unfamiliar with worldly customs. For a wedding, pink and green really aren’t suitable combinations.”
Wen Shubai wouldn’t allow anyone to easily contradict him in front of his daughter.
“Oh, so Fang Jixue isn’t wearing green today? Then there’s nothing worth seeing.”
He beckoned to Wen Mian, “We came all this way for nothing. Let’s go back.”
Wen Mian shook her two little buns: “Mm-hmm!”
With the atmosphere built up to this point, the father-daughter pair suddenly turned to leave?
How could the Master of Ceremonies dare let the Sword Sovereign leave like this?
If word got out that on the day of Thousand Machines Sect’s grand celebration, they offended the savior of Northern Xuan right at their doorstep, it would greatly damage the Sect Leader’s reputation.
Who would believe that the Sword Sovereign turned to leave simply because he couldn’t see the groom in a green robe?
Even the Sect Leader himself wouldn’t believe it.
He would certainly blame the Master of Ceremonies for doing something wrong to offend this venerable one.
The Master of Ceremonies hurriedly said, “Sword Sovereign, please wait! All wedding arrangements were decided long ago. For something as major as changing the wedding attire at the last minute, please allow me to report to the Sect Leader for a decision.”
He deftly passed this problem to Fang Jixue.
Only then did Wen Shubai stop, turn around, the silk gauze covering his eyes hiding his expression, but when the corners of his lips curved into a smile, there was an almost imperceptible downward tilt, quite contemptuous.
“Very well, I’m truly looking forward to it.”
All these years, his greatest pleasure had been tormenting Fang Jixue.
Sparring with a master brings endless delight.
Teasing a master brings even greater delight.
Wen Shubai gracefully led Wen Mian up the steps, accommodating his daughter’s short legs.
Thousand Machines Sect’s Moon Shade Hall stood too high, with over three hundred steps. The five-year-old Wen Mian hopped and skipped, stopping and starting.
The entire entourage behind them had to follow the Sword Sovereign’s pace, patiently waiting, none daring to complain.
Even if the Master of Ceremonies had other matters to attend to, he didn’t dare make a sound.
Chu Weiliang followed behind, watching Wen Mian’s adorable little figure as she entered Moon Shade Hall step by step.
After a thousand years, she stood here once again.
Back when she first held Fang Jixue’s hand, she had been only five years old too.
That year, the Chu family had provoked evil demons, resulting in the entire household being brutally slaughtered. She survived by hiding in a pile of rubble among her family’s bodies, only to be found by the passing Fang Jixue.
From that first glimpse of him amidst the blood and gore, she had worshipped him as a deity.
Those with extraordinary talent who gain enlightenment too early have no childhood.
From young, Chu Weiliang practiced cultivation day and night without rest. Back then, eating and sleeping were wastes of time – only cultivation mattered!
Yet no matter how hard she tried, she could never gain Fang Jixue’s approval, nor could she earn the sect’s recognition.
Because entwined around the spiritual root within her body was an evil root.
This Evil Root made her temperament extreme, unable to empathize with others, often failing to understand normal people’s thoughts, yet it made her exceptionally appealing to Monsters.
Those creatures, upon catching even a hint of her aura, would desperately seek to approach her, swirling around her like drunkards drawn to wine or cats to catnip.
Because of this, Chu Weiliang was not only completely isolated by her fellow disciples but also frequently caused trouble for the sect. Since she joined, the Thousand Machines Sect had been harassed day and night by Monsters, without a moment of peace.
Moreover, sometimes, even as her cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, she would unwittingly veer into the demonic path, forcing Fang Jixue to sacrifice his own cultivation to correct her, for which she endured condemnation from the entire sect.
Until one day… she stood before Fang Jixue’s door, a small figure drenched in blood from the waist down.
She had endured unimaginable pain, cutting open her own body to sever that Evil Root.
With the Evil Root gone, her talent was greatly diminished, but her surroundings finally grew quiet. She could at last hold her head high among her sect.
That lifetime, everything was earned step by step with bloody footprints.
Finally, she saw Fang Jixue seated high above, smiling approvingly and nodding at her.
She had become what he wanted her to be.
But what was the result…?
The Ten Thousand Swords Punishment, to cleanse her sins?
Ha!
Not a single person in this Thousand Machines Sect is innocent.
Every sect present in the Moon Shade Hall to witness the ceremony has blood on their hands from her.
Chu Weiliang stood at the entrance of the Moon Shade Hall, a translucent green butterfly having alighted unnoticed on her shoulder, slowly fluttering its wings.
Behind her, in the distance, the dark Demon Suppression Tower and the Myriad Forms Demon Subduing Array shone with purple light, ten thousand demon-subduing bells like ten thousand eyes silently overlooking all directions, utterly motionless.
Chu Weiliang glanced back: I have returned. How have you all been?
Not far away, on a high tower’s balcony, someone quietly watched her figure, holding a string of beads, slowly rolling the Jade Beads one by one through their fingers.
Fang Jixue’s figure stood alone in the clear breeze, like the sky after rain—cold and desolate—as he watched Wen Shubai and his party enter the Moon Shade Hall.