Chapter 39: As Long As It’s You

“Hmm??”

It started off fine, but the more Lin Xun listened, the more something felt wrong.

He couldn’t help but imagine himself buried beneath that stone, with Qinger sitting beside it, her slender arms wrapped around the rock, the breeze ruffling her hair, recounting the events of each day, all while wearing a broken smile.

Lin Xun couldn’t help but shudder.

He absolutely could not let Qinger know about Wang Chen, nor could he let Qinger know that he once had an engagement with Sikong Wangxing of Tianji City!

Being buried wasn’t the important part; the main thing was that he didn’t want to see Qinger sad.

“Husband, what’s wrong? Why is your heart beating faster again?”

In Lin Xun’s embrace, Jiang Qingshang spoke softly, her fair fingers slowly tracing circles on his chest.

“Husband, you don’t actually have other women in your heart, do you?”

“No! I, Lin, am devoted solely to my wife!” Lin Xun seriously raised four fingers and swore to the heavens.

If swearing was effective, Lin Xun felt he should have been carried off by wolves when he was six.

“Hmph, I dare say you wouldn’t.”

Jiang Qingshang closed her eyes, snuggling her small head deeper into Lin Xun’s embrace, greedily inhaling his scent.

“Husband.”

“Present!”

“If… Qinger is just saying ‘if’… if both Husband and Qinger were able to cultivate, what would happen?”

Jiang Qingshang asked softly, her tone muffled, not daring to lift her head, just lying prone in Lin Xun’s arms.

Lin Xun was stunned, realizing Qinger had actually brought up this question herself.

But upon reflection, it was understandable. After all, the Female City Lord of Luo City was a Golden Core Realm Cultivator, and Qinger, being her personal secretary, naturally had much exposure, making this assumption inevitable.

Moreover, listening to Qinger’s tone, there seemed to be a hint of apprehension. Could Qinger be worried that if she became a Cultivator, he would forget her?

Are you kidding? How could cultivation be more important than my wife!

Regardless, this was a good opportunity. Since Qinger asked this, it meant she wasn’t particularly resistant to Cultivators.

He could use this chance to guide Qinger, ensuring she developed at least some anticipation and confidence regarding cultivation.

“If we were Cultivators…”

Lin Xun gently stroked the ends of her hair, speaking slowly in a gentle tone.

“Then we would be a husband-and-wife Dao Companion pair, cultivating together, living an ordinary life together. We wouldn’t force anything; whatever level of cultivation we reached, we’d reach. At the very least, we could be together for hundreds or thousands of years—maybe even tens of thousands.”

“Husband, you don’t dislike being a Cultivator?” The young girl, curled up in Lin Xun’s arms like a kitten, lifted her head, her jewel-like eyes blinking softly.

“Why would I dislike it?” Lin Xun leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Being with Qinger, tens of thousands of years wouldn’t feel like enough.”

“Tens of thousands of years… Husband, will you really not get tired of Qinger?” the girl, whose anxiety was gradually fading, teased.

Lin Xun seriously stroked his chin: “That is a problem.”

“Husband!”

Jiang Qingshang looked up and saw her husband grinning mischievously.

“You bad egg.” Realizing she had been tricked, Jiang Qingshang pouted, clenching her small fist and lightly thumping Lin Xun’s chest muscle.

“Hehehe,” Lin Xun gently stroked his wife’s back. “In short, the only useful bonus a Cultivator gives me is longevity—the ability to be with you for a longer time.”

“Of course,” Lin Xun added, “even if we aren’t Cultivators, it’s fine. Things are great now. Even if a lifetime is only a few short decades, I will accompany you through Reincarnation. Next life, I’ll be reborn right next door to you, and we’ll know each other from childhood.”

“Hmph, I only married you this life because you tricked me.” The girl smoothly turned over in Lin Xun’s arms.

However, Lin Xun’s arms wrapped around Jiang Qingshang did not separate. Instead, he shifted to lying on his side, embracing his wife from behind and inhaling the fragrance of her hair.

“So,” the girl, whose back was facing her husband, spoke slowly, “if we really reach the next life, you have to trick me again, got it?”

“Huh? What if you become smarter next life?” Lin Xun blinked “innocently.”

Not getting a definite answer from her husband, the girl was so annoyed that she lightly bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth, and her small foot beneath the covers lightly kicked his calf with her heel.

“Hmph! I don’t care! Anyway… I’m very easy to trick,” the girl said, her cheeks as red as fresh strawberries, looking as if they might drip water at any moment. “As long as it’s you.”

In the western part of Qianye Continent, within the spiritual mountain range layered with protective formation arrays, lies the Ten Thousand Demon Sect—the head of the Demonic Path in Qianye Continent and one of the Four Great Demonic Sects of the Nine Continents.

Unlike the common impression of Demon Sects being murky and chaotic in the Mortal world, the Ten Thousand Demon Sect is full of birdsong and floral fragrance, with pure and abundant spiritual energy. Even Spiritual Deer leap in the mountain streams, teeming with endless vitality.

The Ten Thousand Demon Sect is known for “Ten Thousand Paths Entering the Demonic Path.” It has countless halls and peaks under its Sect, with every peak and hall representing a major Dao.

Under the same Sect, the doctrines of the various halls and peaks differ, but the Sect rules of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect boil down to one thing: “Karma is self-borne; Ten Thousand Paths Form One Sect!”

Thus, in the Ten Thousand Demon Sect, you can see lightly dressed dancing girls performing sensual dances, drunkards addicted to alcohol, scholars full of scholarly spirit, and even technology otaku constantly tinkering with machines.

All the halls and peaks are independent yet belong to the same Sect, seeking harmony amidst contradiction.

Therefore, to suppress internal conflicts within the Sect, every Sect Master of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect is held by the strongest person.

But even so, for every Sect Master, some submit while others do not, and the various halls and peaks of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect always maintain their distance.

However, during the past ten years, the Ten Thousand Demon Sect was surprisingly united!

Even regarding some “rude” new rules implemented within the Sect, no one dared to breathe heavily, let alone complain. Those Hall Masters and Peak Masters even convinced themselves and tacitly agreed.

For example, rules like: “Peaks and factions must not interfere with each other’s cultivation!” “The Sect prohibits forced robbery and plunder,” “For deaths within the Sect, the culprit must be investigated,” and “No interference with or oppression of Mortals; violators will be punished according to Sect rules.”

Forget about enforcing them; ten years ago, if anyone had dared to even suggest them, those Hall Masters and Peak Masters would probably have been furious!

If these Sect rules were enforced, what kind of Demon Sect would they be? When did a Demon Sect ever care about Mortals?

Especially for the Rampant Peak—if you tell those great bandits not to rob Mortals to recruit as Disciples, are you expecting them to learn deception and fraud from the Plotting Sect instead?

But

Whenever they saw that spear-wielding youth…

Rampant Peak didn’t dare utter a peep.

The Peak Master of Rampant Peak even wished he could hang a banner on the summit reading “Long Live the New Sect Rules.”

But during those ten years, despite being constrained by many new Sect rules, the strength of the Ten Thousand Demon Sect actually grew stronger, and everyone tacitly agreed to and maintained them. The Sect was even peaceful!

However, all of this subtly changed after the Old Sect Master entered seclusion unto death and the Demon Son “fell.”

“Elders, what is the meaning of this?”

The girl with long cherry-pink hair sat in the main seat, her cherry-pink eyes slightly curved.