The grand entrance gates of the Azure Sword Sect were massive, towering structures carved from white jade, designed to inspire awe and reverence in any mortal who dared to approach.
Right now, however, the atmosphere at the gates was incredibly awkward.
A gaudy, brightly painted wooden carriage was parked right in the middle of the stone path. Two heavily muscled mortal bodyguards stood by the wheels, trying to look intimidating.
Standing in front of the carriage, tapping her silk-slippered foot impatiently against the jade steps, was a sixteen-year-old girl named Su Rong. She was dressed in layers of expensive, tightly laced green silk that aggressively pushed up what little cleavage she had. She was clearly trying to look like a mature, wealthy woman, but her pretty face was currently twisted into a deeply arrogant, childish scowl.
"How much longer do I have to wait?" Su Rong snapped, glaring at the two sweating outer sect guards. "I told you, I am Yan Shuo's official fiancée! The Su Family of Jadefall City! Go up to the outer sect slums and drag him down here. Tell him I have a generous offer for him."
The two outer sect guards looked at each other, their faces completely pale.
They didn't dare move. They knew exactly where Yan Shuo was living now, and it certainly wasn't the outer sect slums. The entire mountain had been buzzing for two days about how the notorious cripple had somehow married the terrifying Saintess and moved into the Grand Elder's estate.
"Miss Su," one of the guards swallowed hard, his voice trembling. "We... we sent a message to the Sect Master. Please, just wait a moment."
"The Sect Master?" Su Rong scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Why would the Sect Master care about that piece of trash? Listen, I know the rumors. I heard Yan Shuo got lucky and found a rich backer in the Inner Sect. My father sent me here to officially finalize our childhood engagement so he can bring his new wealth into our family."
She crossed her arms, pushing her chest out to look as smug and imposing as possible. For ten years, she had completely ignored Yan Shuo's existence. He was a cripple who couldn't cultivate, destined to starve in the gutters. But yesterday, a merchant caravan had brought news down the mountain: Yan Shuo was suddenly wearing high-grade silk and throwing around spirit stones.
Naturally, the greedy Su family had dusted off the old arranged marriage contract immediately.
"He must be crying tears of joy right now," Su Rong laughed haughtily. "To think I would actually honor the contract and let him marry me. He should be on his knees thanking my—"
"Thanking you for what, exactly?"
A calm, deeply relaxed voice drifted down from the sky.
Su Rong looked up. The two outer sect guards instantly dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads against the jade steps.
A cloud of soft, flowing crimson Qi slowly descended from the peak.
Standing on the cloud was a young man in pristine white robes, with a completely unadorned, heavy black iron sword strapped to his waist. He looked incredibly healthy, his posture straight and his eyes gleaming with lazy amusement.
Su Rong blinked in surprise. Was this Yan Shuo? He looked entirely different from the starved, bruised, pathetic rat she remembered seeing a few years ago. He actually looked... handsome. And dangerous.
But what immediately caught her eye—and made her mortal breath hitch in her throat—was the woman standing next to him.
Tantai Zhi was clinging tightly to Yan Shuo's left arm. She wore flowing crimson robes embroidered with dark gold lotuses. Unlike Su Rong's stiff, tightly laced dress, the Saintess's inner silk robes dipped into a natural, elegant V-neck that highlighted a breathtakingly mature, well-endowed figure. Her beauty was so profound, so utterly flawless and majestic, that Su Rong instantly felt like an ugly, flat-chested toad standing next to a divine swan.
Su Rong instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly intensely embarrassed by her own outfit.
But Su Rong was a spoiled mortal merchant's daughter. She didn't understand the terrifying, suffocating difference in their auras. She pushed her insecurities down, assuming the breathtaking woman was just Yan Shuo's new employer or a high-ranking sect elder who had taken him in as a servant.
The crimson cloud landed softly on the stone steps. Yan Shuo stepped off, completely ignoring the kneeling guards, and looked at the girl in the green silk.
He searched the original body's memories. Yes, this was definitely Su Rong. She used to throw rocks at him when they were ten.
"Yan Shuo!" Su Rong recovered from her shock, immediately putting her hands on her hips and adopting a bossy tone. "There you are! Look at you, wearing nice clothes. I suppose the rumors were true. You finally found some inner sect senior to take pity on you and give you a job."
She completely dismissed Tantai Zhi, choosing to ignore the terrifyingly beautiful woman out of pure spite.
Yan Shuo just smiled. He didn't say a word. He let her keep digging her own grave.
"Well, don't just stand there like a mute," Su Rong huffed, pulling a folded, yellowed piece of paper from her sleeve. "I brought the contract. My father says since you're doing well now, we can finally proceed with the marriage. You will marry into the Su family. You'll move your things to our estate in Jadefall City, and naturally, whatever spirit stones your new 'backer' gives you will be managed by my father."
The air around the sect gates went perfectly, completely dead.
The two kneeling guards squeezed their eyes shut and started silently praying to their ancestors.
Beside Yan Shuo, Tantai Zhi had stopped moving.
She didn't blink. She didn't breathe. She just stared at the yellowed piece of paper in Su Rong's hand.
Marriage. Contract.
The temperature in the courtyard plummeted so fast that a thick layer of white frost instantly exploded across the jade gates. The two muscular mortal bodyguards standing by the carriage suddenly grabbed their throats, collapsing to their knees as the sheer, suffocating pressure of a peak-level expert crushed the oxygen out of the air.
Su Rong shivered violently, her breath turning into white mist. She looked around, confused and suddenly terrified. "W-Why is it so cold?"
Tantai Zhi slowly, mechanically turned her head to look at Yan Shuo.
Her golden eyes had completely dilated, swirling with a dark, violent, world-ending madness. The sweet, doting wife had vanished.
"Husband," Tantai Zhi whispered. Her voice sounded like two rusted swords grinding together in a dark cave. "Why does this loud, ugly pig have a piece of paper that says she gets to marry you?"
Su Rong froze. Her brain completely short-circuited.
Husband?!
Su Rong stared at the terrifying, god-like beauty in crimson, then back at the fifteen-year-old trash of the sect. They're married?!
"It's a very old piece of paper, Wife," Yan Shuo said reasonably, gently patting Tantai Zhi's hand, which was currently locked onto his arm in a vice grip. "My parents signed it when I was a baby. I honestly forgot it existed."
"It exists now," Tantai Zhi stated, her eyes locking back onto Su Rong.
A heavy, physical wave of killing intent slammed into the merchant's daughter. Su Rong screamed, falling backward onto the stone steps, scrambling away like a terrified crab. The yellowed contract slipped from her trembling fingers and fluttered to the ground.
"I am going to erase her entire bloodline," Tantai Zhi declared, casually raising her pale right hand. "I will turn Jadefall City into a lake of blood. I will grind her bones into powder and scatter them in the Southern Swamps. No one claims my husband."
"Wife, wait, wait," Yan Shuo chuckled, quickly wrapping both of his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest before she could launch a supreme-tier sword strike at a teenager.
"But Husband! She wants to take you to a mortal city! She wants to take my spirit stones!" Tantai Zhi protested, struggling weakly against his grip, though she clearly enjoyed being held by him.
"I know, I know. It's very rude," Yan Shuo soothed her, rubbing her back. He looked over her shoulder at the entrance of the sect.
Sect Master Zhao had just arrived, flying in on his sword, sweating profusely. He landed heavily, nearly tripping over his own robes when he saw the Saintess radiating enough killing intent to butcher a dragon.
"Sect Master," Yan Shuo called out casually, completely ignoring the terrified, sobbing girl on the ground. "Do me a favor and pick up that piece of paper."
Zhao scrambled forward, snatching the yellowed contract off the freezing jade tiles.
"Now," Yan Shuo said, his pragmatic, veteran business sense taking over. "By the laws of the mortal kingdoms, breaking an arranged marriage contract requires a buy-out fee, correct?"
"Y-Yes, Lord Yan!" Sect Master Zhao stammered, bowing deeply. "Usually, a sum of mortal gold or a few low-grade spirit stones is enough to sever the karmic tie."
Yan Shuo nodded. He didn't want to kill the Su family. They were greedy, annoying mortals, but slaughtering a merchant family over an old piece of paper was beneath him. He was a Demon Lord, not a petty thug. Plus, throwing money at the problem was much faster, and it would give him a chance to show off his new wealth.
Yan Shuo reached into his sleeve. He channeled a tiny fraction of his Qi into his high-tier storage ring.
Clatter! Clatter! Crash!
A massive, glowing waterfall of pure, mid-grade spirit stones poured out of his sleeve, crashing onto the jade steps. He didn't stop until a pile the size of a small house completely buried the front half of the Su family's gaudy carriage.
The ambient spiritual energy in the air was so dense that the outer sect guards nearly broke through to the next realm just by breathing.
Su Rong, sitting on the ground, stared at the mountain of glowing wealth. Her jaw unhinged. That pile of spirit stones was worth more than Jadefall City, the neighboring three cities, and her entire family's ancestral treasury combined.
Yan Shuo looked down at her, his expression mild, polite, and completely utterly detached.
"Consider the contract bought out," Yan Shuo said smoothly. "The engagement is broken. You can keep the change."
He turned to Sect Master Zhao.
"Sect Master, please tear that paper in half and formally register the dissolution of the karmic tie with the Heavenly Dao."
Riiiip.
Zhao didn't hesitate for a microsecond. He tore the contract into tiny shreds and tossed them into the wind.
Yan Shuo smiled in satisfaction. He turned back to Tantai Zhi, who was still glaring at the terrified mortal girl, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"See, Wife?" Yan Shuo patted her cheek gently. "All handled. No blood required. I'm all yours."
Tantai Zhi's terrifying aura finally began to recede. The frost on the gates melted. She looked up at Yan Shuo, her golden eyes softening into a puddle of absolute, obsessive adoration.
"You handled that so decisively, Husband," she praised him, leaning into his touch, completely ignoring the mountain of priceless spirit stones he had just thrown away like pocket lint. "You threw rocks at the ugly pig. I love it."
"They were very expensive rocks," Yan Shuo chuckled, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Now, I believe you promised me a massage?"
"Yes! Right away!" Tantai Zhi beamed, her bad mood entirely forgotten. She didn't even look at Su Rong again. The bug had been squashed under the weight of her husband's absolute wealth.
Yan Shuo turned around, guiding his beautiful, overpowered wife back up the mountain stairs.
As they walked away, he casually called back over his shoulder.
"Sect Master, please have the guards escort Miss Su and her carriage off the mountain. If she or anyone from her family steps foot on Azure Sword Sect territory again..."
Yan Shuo paused, his voice dropping an octave, carrying the heavy, ancient chill of a warlord.
"...I won't stop my wife next time."
Sect Master Zhao violently shuddered. "Understood, Lord Yan! Immediately!"
Su Rong sat in the dirt, surrounded by a mountain of wealth she could never have imagined, sobbing uncontrollably. She had come to the mountain to mock a cripple and assert her dominance. Instead, she had nearly been erased from existence by a goddess, and the "trash" she had ignored for ten years had just casually bought her entire bloodline's net worth with pocket change.
She looked up at the retreating backs of Yan Shuo and the Saintess, the bitter, crushing weight of absolute regret finally settling into her chest.
At the top of the stairs, Yan Shuo let out a relaxed sigh.
"Wife," he said casually as they headed back to their estate. "Remind me to ask the Sect Master for a comfortable reading chair tomorrow. My old bones are getting tired of sitting on bamboo."
"I will chop down the Heavenly Wood tree in the Central Continent and carve you one myself, Husband!"
Yan Shuo just smiled. Life was truly excellent.