"Wait!" Su Yueru's voice was sharp, cutting through the remnants of the awkward silence.
She sat motionless, her expression a careful mask of surprise and confusion. She had distinctly sensed a faint, familiar emanation of Spiritual Qi rising from Lin Ming, an energy that should be impossible for a mortal cripple. Could it be the Spirit Root Revival Pill I gave him? she pondered. No, he himself had confirmed its failure. How could one revive a root that was never there?
Her face quickly turned ugly as sinister thoughts crept into her mind. Is he a demonic cultivator? Did he steal someone's Spiritual Root?
She instantly flooded him with her Divine Sense. She did sense a profoundly high-grade Spiritual Root now residing within him—a root so potent she couldn't make out its precise elemental nature. Her cultivation was not yet deep enough to discern its type. She pondered the contradiction, concluding tentatively that the massive spiritual pressure of her recent breakthrough must have awakened a dormant, high-tier root. But the more she considered the notion, the more ridiculous it sounded; she quickly brushed off the theory.
Then, the true, dreadful implication of the situation struck her. He can cultivate.
Lin Ming was no longer a mortal. He was now someone walking the same immortal path as her, albeit at the absolute starting point. He had entered the Body Tempering Realm. This meant his minimum lifespan was no longer seventy years—the average male expectancy in the Country of Jiang, but at least ninety years. The core reason she had agreed to the marriage was shattered, the marriage was supposed to be a short-term, necessary endurance to avoid a future Heart Demon caused by a broken vow. But now, Lin Ming could cultivate, increase his lifespan, and cling to her for decades, potentially centuries, demanding her attention and threatening her purity of the Dao.
The thought was dreadful. Utterly confused and facing an uncertain marital future, she shot out of the chamber and mounted a crystalline blue flying sword and flew rapidly toward her special, isolated cave dwelling behind the Spirit Vein Peak, the same sanctuary where she had humiliated Teng Chi. She landed, sat upon her lotus mat, and immediately began forming seals. In this period of chaos, the only thing that could smooth her mind and reassert control was cultivating. To Su Yueru, the Dao was her life, and her life was her Dao.
....
Back in the wedding chamber, Lin Ming heard the faint system notification confirming Su Yueru was cultivating. He let out a soft, satisfied laugh. He was happy to see the undisguised dread on her face, the realization that she could no longer wait for him to die, and the panic that the once-mortal cripple now had the right to call himself an immortal.
He quickly tossed aside the ceremonial robes and jumped onto the martial bed, finding immediate comfort and rest. His body instantly began to absorb the ambient spiritual energy, feeling the same rapid condensing sensation he had experienced when Su Yueru first cultivated in the room. He was cultivating while he slept, he was once again cultivating without cultivating.
As morning dawned, Su Yueru was no longer in her cultivation cave. Driven by urgency, she had flown to the sect's Alchemy Hall. In the hall, she began looking for a recipe, an Epic-ranked pill recipe, the kind of rarity that would allow her to forge her Golden Core quickly.
She greeted the Hall Master, an old man with long white bread and bald head. "Disciple greets the Hall Master. I request guidance on where I might find an Epic-ranked pill recipe."
The Hall Master chuckled, shaking his head. "Such treasures are not simply lying around in a Rank 4 nation, Child. You must wait for a Grand Auction, perhaps at the Provincial Refining Pavilion in the Demon Sea Region. Recipes of that rank are occasionally sold there."
With unexpected haste, Su Yueru quickly flew toward the Demon Sea, intending to wait there until news of such an auction surfaced. Every action was driven by a frantic desire to accelerate time, as if she could simply outpace the affliction Lin Ming represented.
As all this transpired, back in the wedding chamber, Lin Ming received a torrent of system notifications;
[Your Wife has cultivated overnight: Spiritual Qi +5000, Comprehension +10!]
[Host has absorbed enough Spiritual Energy for Perfect Refinement, Breakthrough to Qi Refinement Realm Successfully!]
He opened the Heavenly Marriage System and gasped at the radical transformation of his stats;
[Host: Lin Ming]
[Age: 19]
[Spiritual Qi: 5850]
[Comprehension: 15]
[Realm: Sixth Stage of the Qi Refinement Realm]
[Spiritual Root: Profound Ice Root (Legendary Grade)]
[Physique: Ice Spirit Physique (Epic Grade)]
[Abilities: Glacial Stasis Field (Legendary Grade), Perfect Hands (Rare Grade)]
[Wife Candidates]
[Wife log]
[Wives: 1]
[Fiancée: 0]
Lin Ming had leaped from a mere mortal to the Sixth Stage of the Qi Refinement Realm overnight.
At the Qi Refinement Realm, cultivators focus on gathering external spiritual energy and circulating it through the meridians, depositing a pool of refined Qi within the Dantian. This realm lays the essential groundwork for all future cultivation, defining the volume and purity of one's energy pool before attempting the breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.
It was a staggering leap. He had bypassed the entire Outer Sect and now stood firmly among the strongest Inner Disciples. In the Jade Harmony Sect, most Inner Disciples hovered around the Qi Refinement Realm, with the best of them only reaching the early stages of Foundation Establishment. Lin Ming, by passively absorbing his wife's cultivation, had instantly become one of the most talented members of his generation. He was only slightly behind the core disciples, the strongest of whom, Teng Chi, was at the peak of the early stage of Golden Core.
Lin Ming knew he would be the center of attention today. How could a perceived cripple reach the Sixth Stage of Qi Refinement in a single night? At most, he could have some fun with the mystery.
....
Now walking through the inner courtyard, Lin Ming couldn't help but smirk at the few disciples who were already present. They were largely Inner Disciples, focused on their morning duties, and they either ignored him or cast quick, contemptuous glances at the "mortal who married the sect's Fairy."
Out of a genuine surge of mischievousness, Lin Ming muttered, "Ignorant!" and released his newly acquired aura.
The spiritual pressure of a Sixth Stage Qi Refinement cultivator instantly gushed out. Several Inner Disciples below the Fifth Stage staggered, falling to their knees. Some even coughed up blood from the sudden, unexpected force pressing down on them.
A few disciples, those who were Sixth Stage and above, did not falter, but their faces were contorted in shock. They immediately began muttering among themselves.
"Did you feel that? Sixth Stage Qi Refinement! That's definitely his aura!" a lean male disciple, gripping his sword hilt, hissed to his neighbor.
"Impossible! They said he failed his spiritual root test! I watched him a day ago, during the wedding, he was a mortal," another female disciple whispered, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief. "He must have inherited some hidden treasure from the late Sword Elder, but even with a pill, going from zero to Sixth Stage overnight... it defies logic!"
"Silence, fool! If he truly is Sixth Stage, he is already stronger than half the Inner Gate! We must report this immediately—the cripple is now a cultivator!"
Lin Ming had never been fond of immortals. Despite now being one himself, he thoroughly enjoyed seeing their arrogance crumble under a force they could not understand. He had succeeded in creating the perfect distraction.
The commotion and the sudden release of Qi quickly drew attention from the higher peaks.
A formidable shadow fell across the courtyard. An aura of cold, aggressive focus descended upon the surprised disciples.
Teng Chi had arrived.