Wen Ling carefully estimated and said with great seriousness, “Probably less than half a year. This Evil Heart is already very powerful now!”
“So, in less than half a year, I’ll become a mindless lunatic…” Gu Chenran muttered to himself.
He suddenly let out a self-mocking laugh. He had thought he finally saw a glimmer of hope, only to face yet another disappointment…
He took a deep breath and looked at Wen Ling again. “Regardless, I still want to thank you. At least you’ve given me half a year to live as a normal person.
During these six months, I’ll find an opportunity to divorce you, so you can at least be free and not have to spend the rest of your life widowed for my sake.
Take whatever you fancy from the prince’s mansion.
I know your situation in the Wen family isn’t good either. Having some possessions to rely on can ensure you live comfortably for the rest of your life.”
Wen Ling sighed with emotion. “You’re actually quite a good person.”
Gu Chenran: …
He gave a bitter smile. “You should rest well first. Tomorrow is the day you return to your maiden home. I’ll accompany you to the Wen family and take the opportunity to see how to deal with Gao Zhi’s matter.
Don’t worry. Although I’m a useless prince, I am still a prince after all. We are husband and wife for now, and I won’t treat you unfairly.”
“You really are a good person,” Wen Ling said with utmost sincerity.
Gu Chenran, who had just received his second “good person card” in a row: “…”
Gu Chenran sighed softly. “What does it matter whether I’m good or bad? I only have half a year left to live anyway.”
Wen Ling was puzzled. “Why only half a year? You can live much longer.”
“Didn’t you say it yourself? The Evil Heart can only be sealed for half a year. I won’t let it take over my body and turn me into a monster, neither human nor ghost.
So, on the day you can no longer seal my Evil Heart, I will end my own life.”
As Gu Chenran said this, his brows carried a resolute determination—his final pride.
Wen Ling scratched her head. “No, I didn’t say I definitely wouldn’t be able to seal the Evil Heart after half a year. I said my current ability can only seal it for half a year.
But my Cultivation Base will also improve during these six months. Maybe after half a year, I’ll be able to seal it for another half year?”
This tongue-twister-like explanation left Gu Chenran utterly confused.
He tried to sort out the meaning but couldn’t help asking, “So, can it be sealed after half a year or not?”
“Ah, since you’ve asked so sincerely…” Wen Ling let out a deep sigh.
Despite being only eighteen, with a bit of baby fat on her face and a somewhat youthful appearance, her sigh somehow gave off an air of feigned maturity.
It was like a child pretending to be a profound adult.
“I’m telling you this because you’re a good person. Actually, the Evil Heart inside you can be extracted. It just requires many rare treasures to set up a massive Magic Array.”
“What rare treasures are needed?” Gu Chenran pressed, suppressing his wildly beating heart.
No one knew how much humiliation and mockery he had endured in the twelve years since he contracted this “madness” at the age of eight.
Before he turned eight, he was the most outstanding prince, a prodigy favored by heaven.
After eight, it was as if he had fallen from heaven into the mud overnight.
Those good-for-nothing elder and younger princes—no, almost everyone—could step on him.
Those who once flattered him had become the ones who trampled on him most viciously behind his back.
His self-esteem had been completely trampled.
Wen Ling said he was remarkable, able to maintain his sanity and self-awareness despite being entangled by the Evil Entities drawn by the Evil Heart for so many years.
In truth, it wasn’t that he was remarkable—he just couldn’t swallow this injustice.
He always hoped for the day when his “madness” would be cured and he would recover, and then everyone who had ever bullied him would have to die, one by one.
Wen Ling said he was a good person. No, he wasn’t.
He was merely a demon who hadn’t yet found the chance to rise.
Wen Ling counted on her fingers, item by item: “The Streaming Light Golden Bell, a thousand-year-old ginseng, and the Living Buddha Sarira—these three are the most basic. I sensed it, and these three items should be in the capital. However, my Cultivation Base hasn’t improved enough yet, so I can’t pinpoint their exact locations. You might need to send people to investigate in detail where they are. As for the remaining forty-nine medicinal herbs, I can make a list for you later. They probably won’t be easy to find either, so you’ll need to send people to search for them yourself.”
Gu Chenran seemed to see a glimmer of hope: “Is it enough as long as we find these three items and the medicinal herbs?”
Wen Ling shook her head: “These are just the basics. Only after finding these things will we have the conditions to set up the array and extract the Evil Heart. The most important thing is that I need to accumulate Karmic Merit to improve my Cultivation Base. If my Cultivation Base doesn’t improve, then all of this will be in vain.”
She spoke with utmost honesty: “This Evil Heart has been inside you for twelve years and has already merged with your body. Extracting it without harming you is inherently difficult. If you hadn’t met me, seeing the black aura lingering around your forehead, you might have gone completely mad this very month!”
Gu Chenran: “…” There’s no need for you to be so brutally honest!
He took a deep breath and said solemnly: “No matter what, as long as there is hope, we cannot give up. Please, Miss Wen, list all the required items, and I will send people to search for them. If Miss Wen needs any assistance in her daily cultivation, I will also fully cooperate!”
“Alright.” Wen Ling didn’t stand on ceremony.
As Gu Chenran had said, even husband and wife can divorce; even as one, they can separate.
But if Gu Chenran could recover and regain the Qi Fortune of the True Dragon Son of Heaven, binding herself to him as his wife would bring Wen Ling immense benefits.
To put it simply, one could think of Gu Chenran, once healed, as a high-capacity power bank, ready to recharge at any time, which would also help improve her cultivation speed.
However, there was no need to tell Gu Chenran all this. He had been told what he needed to know.
At noon, Gu Chenran ordered a feast from the capital’s Taotie Restaurant to be delivered to the prince’s residence.
He came over to have lunch with Wen Ling.
This was the first meal the two of them shared together.
Throughout the meal, Wen Ling was the one eating, while Gu Chenran barely touched his chopsticks.
Wen Ling took a bite of the tender, juicy beggar’s chicken leg, and her eyes lit up instantly. She praised: “Delicious!”
She took a sip of shark fin soup, and her eyes lit up again. She exclaimed: “So fresh!”
She ate a piece of boiled meat slices, and this time her entire face flushed red, but she couldn’t bear to spit it out: “So spicy! So fragrant!”
Eventually, it turned into Gu Chenran silently serving her dishes.
Almost the entire table of food ended up in Wen Ling’s stomach.
By this point, Gu Chenran’s impression of the Wen family had plummeted to rock bottom: “The Wen family treated you very poorly, didn’t they?”
Otherwise, how could the dignified eldest daughter of the Wen family eat so ravenously?
It was obvious she hadn’t eaten anything good in a long time.
Wen Ling didn’t know how to explain that it was because she couldn’t taste food when she was a Word Spirit, and she also thought about how poorly the Wen family had treated her before.
So she simply nodded: “When I was still foolish in the Wen family, I really lived worse than the servants.”
Gu Chenran hummed in agreement: “Then we’ll find an opportunity to teach them a lesson later.”
Wen Ling happily took a bite of the rich Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, showing her little white teeth as she smiled: “They definitely need to be taught a lesson.”
She thought to herself, I don’t even need to wait for later—tomorrow when I go back, I’ll send Malevolent Spirits to teach them a lesson!
What Wen Ling didn’t know was that the “lesson” Gu Chenran, with his black sesame filling, had in mind was even more terrifying than Malevolent Spirits coming for their lives!