Chapter Text
It didn't take Wei Wuxian long to process that he would marry Lan Wangji; in fact, he even wanted to speed up the process. On the last day of the Conference, the two little Lans were brought in, and they witnessed the three of them kneeling three times to fulfill the marriage rites.
The little ones celebrated without really understanding what had just happened, and Wei Wuxian laughed and sent them back with Wen Ning while he and Lan Wangji went on to look for more problems to solve.
Now, a couple of weeks had passed, and they were at an inn in a town on the way to Lanling, so it wasn't really a surprise to run into Shen Yunyan, but...
“Come on, just a small incision will suffice.” The man was offering him a dagger with a smile.
He could sense that Lan Wangji was ready to move, but the cultivator in white hesitated. Wei Wuxian could also sense that something in Shen Yunyan's spiritual energy had changed; it felt much purer and stronger.
Not long ago, Hanguang-Jun was hailed as the most powerful cultivator in the jianghu, but now that didn't seem right.
“Okay. Shen-xiong, did your cultivation improve?” He asked curiously as he took the dagger. It was light, and the polished blade reflected his face. He pressed the edge into the palm of his hand. After a moment, it began to bleed.
“Yes, I broke through the bottleneck after the conference.” Shen Yunyan's gaze was on the blood that began to drip.
The man grabbed Wei Wuxian's hand and brought it closer, sniffing the blood while muttering unintelligible things. After a moment of consideration, he ran his fingers through the blood and tasted it.
Wei Wuxian shuddered slightly, pulling his hand back and allowing Lan Wangji to begin healing him with his qi.
No one had noticed that this body of his was different from the previous one, except for Lan Wangji. Everyone believed that his body had been restored through the intervention of Baoshan Sanren, but he knew that this was not his original body.
Now, Shen Yunyan had also noticed it, and Wei Wuxian didn't even think to hide it from him.
Shen Yunyan had already surpassed the peak of cultivation, becoming a being superior to them.
From their first encounter at Lotus Pier, he had felt that the other was interesting. During his time in Gusu, he had also been one of the few people willing to listen to his gibberish about resentful energy, giving him his own opinions on the matter.
The two Shen siblings were the only ones who approached him to give him advice when he ventured down the demonic path. It was a pity that at the time, he was too obsessed with the idea of saving everyone that he didn't listen properly and ended up sacrificing many.
So he didn't think to hide his special body from Shen Yunyan. The other had already figured everything out for himself, so there was no point in denying it.
“A fairly pure body, made to contain a lot of spiritual energy,” Shen Yunyan said lightly.
Wei Wuxian didn't have a golden core when his soul took possession of this body, but in just a few months, he had entered the core formation with infinite qi reserves.
He felt spiritual energy entering his body and looked at Lan Wangji's hand still holding his, then looked up and met Shen Yunyan's ever-smiling eyes.
Shen Yunyan didn't need a point of contact to make his spiritual energy run through Wei Wuxian's body, alerting Lan Wangji as well when the unknown energy forcibly expelled his own.
Wei Wuxian saw the other man lower his gaze, resting his chin on his hand as he began to think.
“What do you think?” he asked once the spiritual energy had receded.
“It's not human,” he said, “but it's surprisingly adept at qi. How lucky you are, this body won't be contaminated by resentful energy.”
Wei Wuxian let out a sigh of relief. He had used demonic cultivation a couple of times, but refrained from doing so due to Lan Wangji's undisguised concern.
“But you should be careful, if it becomes corrupted, it won't be able to withstand it,” he continued, dampening the previous excitement he had felt. “Besides, the two of you should also be able to overcome the peak of cultivation.”
He looked at Lan Wangji in surprise when he heard Shen Yunyan's last words. The cultivator in white did not change his expression, but the look in his eyes had softened.
“How did it feel when you broke through the peak?” he asked.
Shen Yunyan touched his chest unconsciously, then replied, “My qi almost deviated, and then I felt some pain. My spiritual energy was purified, and now I have something extra in my dantian.”
“Something extra?”
“Like a little soul.”
His eyes turned to where the other's golden core should be, almost wanting to be able to see what was there.
Not much was known about those who had surpassed the peak of cultivation. Baoshan Sanren became a mountain hermit, and the disciples who came down from the mountain usually had no knowledge or did not share what they knew about her cultivation.
“Why do you think we will succeed too?”
That was Lan Wangji's longest sentence today.
“If there are no heart demons, it won't be difficult for Wei Wuxian. As for you,” Shen Yunyan chuckled, “dual cultivation with that spirit body is helping you a lot.”
Wei Wuxian coughed embarrassedly. Although he was very enthusiastic during the nights, it was different when someone said it to him with such a calm face. Feeling Lan Wangji's gaze on his face, he thought that at least “Every day is every day” was helping somewhat.
The Discussion Conference went smoothly, although Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were absent on the last day. Upon returning to Lotus Pier, there was a lavish invitation letter about her brother and Jin Xuanyu's engagement banquet.
Heh, that idiot would have to deal with a luxurious banquet full of people.
It was endearing to see that her brother would accept this kind of flashy event just to protect his fiancée. The man had finally found someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and that was a very good thing.
That was how she ended up welcoming her family to Lotus Pier. Both her parents and Shen Yunrou and Qin Xuyuan were here, while the twins had stayed behind in Luyu Shen. Her mother was most excited to see Fairy and Cherry and played with them for a good shichen.
Shen Yuntian left her two disciples in Yunmeng, and Jiang Wanyin left some trusted disciples in charge of keeping watch before leaving. They departed a few days later for Lanling Jin, immediately sensing the festive atmosphere as soon as they entered the Koi Tower.
Although the celebration banquet would not begin until the next day, the place was already very lively . There were musicians and dancers on the outdoor platforms in the gardens of the Koi Tower, as well as many snacks and guests chatting casually.
Madame Jin approached them with Jin Xuanyu to greet them and led them to some free tables near the main platform. They chatted for a while, and their parents asked some questions about the engagement since it had been Shen Yunyan who had taken care of most things.
“Where is my brother?”
Jin Xuanyu laughed when he heard her question and looked around before his eyes landed on the platform: “Over there.”
Shen Yunyan was laughing loudly as a strangely unsteady Lan Xichen dragged him onto the platform. Nie Mingjue, frowning and with a blush on his cheeks, supported Lan Xichen so that he wouldn't fall.
Lan Xichen broke free from the other's grip and drew his Shouyue sword. Her brother signaled to the musicians, and cheerful music began to play as Leader Lan began to perform a sword dance.
“They have a lot of energy,” sighed Madame Jin, in a tone that said she was already used to it.
“Shen-xiong!”
Wei Wuxian climbed onto the platform as well, carrying a jug of wine in one hand and Lan Wangji in the other. Lan Wangji, with his unfocused gaze, and Lan Xichen, with his overly cheerful smile, were obviously drunk.
It was barely early evening, and they were already like this. Shen Yuntian felt that they should have asked to be taken to their rooms, but it was fun to watch, so they just stayed and chatted while the rowdy group played on the platform.
Madame Jin's gaze turned more than once to Qin Xuyuan, who had been taken by Jin Ling and his group of friends to play, but she said nothing. Jiang Ming was dozing on Jiang Wanyin's chest, and Shen Yunrou had run to hold onto the sleeves of Nie Huaisang, who, for some reason, had left a good impression on her the last time she met him.
The dinner was luxurious as dictated by Jin customs, and the dog food that her brother and Jin Xuanyu spread around rivaled that of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian. But the winners were undoubtedly her parents. Those two old people with their never-ending romance were too cloying for the eyes.
Shen Yuntian didn't know that she and Jiang Wanyin were also in a good place in this meaningless competition, and that little Jiang Ming helped them look very sweet to others.
Her brother approached her when things were calmer.
“Meimei, I made a lot of money thanks to you.”
“...”
Oh, that's why her mother had complained that she found out about the engagement too quickly. It's not like they could hide something like that from her, the Chief Cultivator.
“I still have to wait for A-Ling to grow up,” her brother sighed regretfully.
Shen Yuntian was amused by his expression. She had also been impatient about the subject of her marriage. She had been engaged to Jiang Wanyin for several years, but the situation was not ideal at the time, and she had to remind him of that when everything stabilized.
“I found out why you suddenly decided to get engaged.”
“It wasn't a hasty decision,” her brother smiled, “I had been negotiating with Madame Jin for some time, that event was what led me to accept this celebration.”
“You're not having a hard time,” she said, thinking of her brother's ease with his... friends.
“The Lans are fun.”
Of course, it's fun to watch them fall for a drink.
Shen Yuntian said nothing, looking at her brother with narrowed eyes, sensing that something had changed. Her brother raised an eyebrow and saw through her thoughts without much effort.
“My cultivation level has improved; that's why I left the conference so quickly.”
“Huh?” She looked at her brother in surprise.
Her brother's cultivation had always been quite good, but he had reached a bottleneck after the Sunshot Campaign, and his progress had stalled. However, her brother should have already reached the peak of his cultivation, even if he was advancing slowly.
In her previous life, there were many more cultivation levels than here, probably because of the incredible amount of artifacts, plants, and arrays to promote levels, and places with abundant qi to cultivate . In this place, a cultivator at their peak would be considered a cultivator in the late golden core stage in her previous life.
If she wasn't mistaken, her brother was already about to reach his peak the last time she saw him. Shen Yuntian looked at the man in front of her without understanding .
Shen Yunyan said nothing, but she heard a voice echoing directly in her mind: “Can you hear me?”
She felt a chill run through her body, a soft pressure enveloped her body before leveling off into something that felt like a light layer of energy around her. She nodded, equally horrified and intrigued.
“I don't know, there was a change in my soul or something, but I've never read about that. Could I ask you to look into it at Gusu Lan? I'm banned from the library...”
Yes, she could go look and see if she could find anything; if not, she already knew that her brother had become a Nascent Soul cultivator!
“You could also ask Xiao Xingchen.”
Baoshan Sanren should be a very powerful cultivator; perhaps she had already passed the Soul Transformation or Spiritual Ascension. She might know more about these things and the immortals who existed before.
But her brother... he could already be considered an immortal. Shen Yuntian had to feign ignorance until she found information about it.
At least she could say that it wasn't a unique case, taking Baoshan Sanren as a reference, but it was still a small possibility!
Records of immortals were scarce; most cultivators reached their peak when their golden core was strong enough, and that was it. In her former life, cultivators used artifacts to break through to the Nascent Soul stage or went to places like the Lingxi Caves to obtain enough spiritual energy, but even then, the possibility was small.
It took a lot of preparation to enter the Nascent Soul stage; otherwise, Liu Qingge would not have suffered a qi deviation when he was breaking through in the Lingxi Caves.
And here was Shen Yunyan, in a world where Nascent Soul cultivators were already considered immortals due to the high difficulty.
“I'll ask him later. See you later.”
She had to restrain her expression in front of her overly observant brother. When he left, she walked dazedly to Jiang Wanyin and sat down next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Are you tired? Should we go inside?"
She shook her head at her husband's concerned questions. But then she thought about it and nodded.
They retired to the chambers that had been prepared for them, and Jiang Wanyin laid Jiang Ming on the bed before joining her at the low table. Shen Yuntian cast a noise-canceling talisman and removed her hair accessories.
“Da-ge surpassed the peak of cultivation.”
“Huh?”
Exactly!
Jiang Wanyin's expression of disbelief perfectly portrayed her feelings. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling that this was too much to take in. Shen Yunyan had spoken directly into her mind! That spell must have been invented by him, as he couldn't have learned it from anywhere else.
It was so convenient! If only she could have something like that!
“Are you saying... Yunyan-ge is an immortal? Like Baoshan Sanren?”
“Well, obviously not at the level of Baoshan Sanren, but he's more powerful than everyone else now.”
“That's... incredible.”
Incredible. That was a good way to put it.
Shen Yuntian had to make a sudden trip to Gusu Lan. She only brought Xue Yang with her and left the boy outside while she talked to Lan Qiren about her reason for wanting to visit the library.
After hearing that her brother had surpassed the peak of cultivation, Lan Qiren didn't seem very surprised. The man stroked his beard and then sighed, “There have been few cases of people who have managed to break through beyond that, but I guess Leader Shen was always someone with potential.”
Lan Qiren seemed to have eaten a lemon when complimenting his brother. The man helped her search through the known records, and she was disappointed to see that there were only three thin books.
As expected, they had no substantial information other than saying that it was an immortal state beyond that; only the luckiest could achieve it. Not much was known about the people who had crossed that threshold either; some died directly from not being able to withstand the change in their souls, and others secluded themselves in the mountains after gaining more power, never to be seen again.
Although it was known that there were levels beyond what could normally be achieved, they still had no names given to them. Shen Yuntian quickly put together a loose explanation based on her own knowledge and sent it to her brother. He should temper his cultivation well to avoid falling into a qi deviation.
Thus, time took its course, and the seasons passed. When it was Qinghe Nie's turn to hold the conference, she left Jiang Ming in Yunmeng for fear that he would fall ill due to the change in climate .
Qinghe Nie was much more cheerful since the new method for suppressing qi deviations was introduced. And under Nie Mingjue's command, no one dared to let their guard down. Shen Yuntian was in a pavilion prepared by Nie Huaisang for early arrivals to chat. She found Su Xiyan and was chatting with her when she felt someone's gaze.
A young boy in black and white robes, a firm ponytail on his head, and an unmistakable mole under the corner of his eye. He was a young man of slim build, looking more like a scholar than a cultivator, but the fire in his eyes was that of a warrior.
She was internally surprised to see Liu Qingge there.
Liu Qingge was with Xiao Xingchen and wore Luo Xiao robes, so he must be the disciple the man had mentioned in a letter he had accepted into the sect, despite being a little older.
She didn't expect to meet anyone from her past. Su Xiyan had already been a surprise, but the two handled it quite well. Now there was Liu Qingge.
She approached them and laughed when she saw the other being so obedient, and took him to meet Su Xiyan.
“What is this appearance of yours?” she teased, unable to help herself.
“I should be asking you that,” Liu Qingge muttered.
“Being a woman is quite nice,” Shen Yuntian did not fall for his provocation.
She didn't expect that after saying that, she would hear a voice behind her: “So you used to be a man? I guess that makes sense.”
How could she have forgotten that her brother was here? Shen Yuntian stiffened and cursed as Su Xiyan escaped. She introduced her brother and Liu Qingge, expecting the man to mention her slip about past lives when she heard the idiot speak.
“Leader Shen, can I train with you?”
“Sure, we'll do it later.”
Liu Qingge perked up: “Can I call you Da-ge too?”
“No, you can't!” Shen Yuntian snapped. This was her da-ge... and Rourou's.
“It doesn't bother me.”
Then Liu Qingge came over and started asking her brother lots of questions. Shen Yuntian glared at him until Jin Xuanyu approached.
Those two had been closer since they officially got engaged, so she looked away when she saw her brother pull the other into his arms and kiss him. She expected a speech from Liu Qingge, accusing them of being immoral and such, but what the other said...
Liu Qingge bowed respectfully to Jin Xuanyu: “Shimu.”
Liu Qingge wasn't even her brother's disciple!
She looked at the other man in disbelief, feeling an impending headache coming on.
It made some sense. Liu Qingge was someone who respected the strong; if Qiong Ding hadn't been such a diplomatic genius, he might even have asked the Sect Leader to accept him as a disciple after defeating his former Shizun.
A while later, she went to a hall with her brother. Shen Yunyan only gave her a glance before sitting down in the empty seat and resting his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand.
Silence descended on the room, heavy and laden with her brother's qi. Shen Yunyan said nothing, but she knew he was waiting for an explanation for what he had heard.
She thought of ways to deflect the question, but to no avail. Her brother also grew tired of waiting and sighed.
“You were always very strange. You pretended not to know certain things and then gradually ‘improved.’ When I became a Nascent Soul cultivator, as you said, I noticed that the age of your soul did not match your body.”
As you said... Her brother also knew that the materials she sent him did not come from the Lan library. Liu Qingge seemed to have mentioned it in the conversation as well .
She couldn't escape this. Still with her body stiff, she slowly opened her mouth. She hoped her voice would come out steady and not the tremor that threatened to pierce her senses.
“In my previous life, I was a man,” she began, feeling each word heavy as an anvil, “Shen Jiu, courtesy name Qingqiu. I was the second-in-command of a large sect. That guy was my shidi, Liu Qingge. I accidentally killed him while trying to save him from a qi deviation.”
She did not mention her past as a slave or the torture that followed. But Shen Yunyan reached out an arm across the table and pressed it between her collarbone: “Your soul has some cracks that are still healing. I can assume that your death was not a peaceful affair.”
Damn man, too smart... and powerful.
She wondered if Shen Yunyan had been her brother in her previous life. She only knew that Yue Qi had found a child in a ditch, but she never remembered anything about her life before becoming a beggar and slave.
“I made many mistakes and ended up dying at the hands of one of my disciples.”
Her brother tapped the table a couple of times with his index finger before nodding. Shen Yuntian could feel the energy around them shifting before settling and returning to the other's body. Shen Yunyan relaxed in his seat, looking at her with a small smile.
“I won't ask you to tell me more if you don't want to. Thank you for trusting me and telling me this.”
“It's not like you gave me a choice,” she muttered. She had felt that her brother might point his sword at her if she didn't answer truthfully.
“I suppose so. But you can tell me other things when you're ready, or not. You could also consider telling Wanyin.”
“I know.”
A while ago, she had been considering how to tell Jiang Wanyin to finally get rid of that past she still remembered.
She headed toward the rooms she shared with Jiang Wanyin, and her husband was still awake, waiting for her. Jiang Wanyin came to her side and didn't ask what she had talked about with her brother, but helped her undo her hairstyle.
“Wanyin, I...” She shifted slightly on her feet, met Jiang Wanyin's gaze, and suddenly felt emboldened when she saw concern, affection, and trust. “I have something to tell you.”
The idea that someone could be reincarnated without losing their memories was not completely far-fetched. Wei Wuxian had studied a way to revive the dead through demonic spells, not to mention that the man himself was back after dying.
Shen Yuntian decided to tell Jiang Wanyin the whole truth, not a superficial explanation like she did with her brother. Not because she trusted one more than the other, but because she knew that loyalty and truth were much more important to Jiang Wanyin.
There were many things Jiang Wanyin hated, but being kept in the dark could top the list if it weren't for the fact that the idea of losing his family was even more hateful to the man.
She felt disconnected from her body in a way she hadn't experienced in years, like when she had to learn to speak again after not having a tongue for years, or when she began to stand on her own two legs in a way that was so shaky it wasn't feigned.
Jiang Wanyin listened to everything, without interrupting her story or commenting on anything. She could see him moving Zidian on his finger and suddenly stiffened at the thought that he might use the weapon against her to try to expel her soul, but that was impossible, and Jiang Wanyin must have noticed her tension, because he took off the ring and set it aside.
She felt so pathetic for thinking that her husband might raise his weapons against her, but it also made her expect some kind of rejection. It's not usual for your wife to suddenly tell you that she was a man in her previous life and that she killed countless men to make her way.
“And then... I woke up as a baby. I thought it was another dreamscape, but it felt too real, and I realized that this life was a second chance for me.” She clasped her hands in her lap, breathing deeply: “I understand that it may be too much to process, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. If you want time to take it in, I can go back to Luyu Shen and...”
“It's not necessary.”
“Hmm?” She raised her head and looked at the man in confusion.
Jiang Wanyin sighed. The man's hair was completely loose, and he had only carelessly thrown an outer robe over his nightclothes. The soft light of dawn filtering through the windows gently illuminated his face, giving him an aura that was too warm for the title he held.
“I don't care what you did in your past life. You have helped me a lot in this life, and I married you. Remembering that the past doesn't change who you are.”
Shen Yuntian felt that her husband had improved a lot with those words. She still remembers the stammering disaster when they started courting and how Jiang Wanyin always stumbled over the right words to say.
The tension in her body eased, but it didn't go away completely: “I killed a lot of people,” she said, because massacring the members of the Qiu Mansion was a real charge, as were all the people Xiao Jiu killed later during his time with Wu Yanzi.
“Yuntian.” Her husband closed his eyes, and she could see him clench his jaw before speaking; “I am not without sin. You know what I did, and yet you still chose to be with me. It's the same now, right?”
Ah, Jiang Wanyin must be talking about the siege. That didn't change Shen Yuntian's feelings for him, mainly because he knew that event had been instigated. Was it really the same?
“It's okay,” she finally consented, ending that overly heavy conversation.
She had tried to forget everything, but the appearance of someone like Liu Qingge made her remember and talk about it. Jiang Wanyin must have sensed her discomfort, as he approached and lifted her in his arms to carry her to the bed.
Shen Yuntian watched him in confusion as the man loosened her outer robes, her eyes widening in surprise when he pulled off her undergarments and knelt at the edge of the bed.
“What are you doing?!”
Her husband began to leave marks on the inside of her thighs, ignoring Shen Yuntian's struggle between pushing him away and pulling him closer.
“You're too tense, I'm trying to relax you.”
Weren't there easier options? Having tea or playing a round of weiqi? This... Shen Yuntian covered her face with one hand, her legs trembling as she felt her husband's tongue passing very close to that place.
They weren't even in the sect.
Actually... She made a gap between her fingers and looked at Jiang Wanyin. The man almost seemed reverent, devoted, and full of adoration. Her husband looked quite content with his head between her legs, as if it were something he had wanted to do for a long time.
She let herself fall limply onto the mattress, covering her face completely with her arms as she wrapped her legs around Jiang Wanyin's shoulders and silently invited him to come closer.
All right, her husband's plan to stop her from thinking about useless things was really working.
The next day, when she went with Jiang Wanyin to introduce him to her shidi from a past life, she couldn't help but grimace when she saw Liu Qingge following her brother around like a little tail.
Shen Yunyan had to apologize to Xiao Xingchen for accidentally stealing a disciple, but Song Zichen seemed relieved.
It seemed that Liu Qingge was a difficult disciple to handle. Despite having started late and still having a weak body, those things made Liu Qingge want to spend all his time training.
It was a nuisance to have such an enthusiastic disciple, but her brother thought this was perfect; Rourou and Liu Qingge could destroy each other and thus not bother anyone.
Jiang Wanyin, who was standing silently beside her, chuckled: “This kid isn't bad.”
Shen Yuntian nudged her, looking disdainfully at that former shidi.
When only the four of them who knew about the rebirth were left, she couldn't help but ask, “Why do you seem calmer now?”
Liu Qingge crossed his arms: “This is my third life.”
“What?” She thought she didn’t really want to know and quickly said, “Forget it. Let’s not mention the past anymore.”
The young man frowned: “I will always owe you my life.”
Shen Yuntian rolled her eyes, remembering why Liu Qingge had seemed so annoying to her in her previous life. He was too honorable a man.
“We'll think about that another time. Don't cause trouble for my brother.”
“I won't.”
She returned to Yunmeng with Jiang Wanyin, hoping not to see Liu Qingge for a long time.
But her luck was not very good, as she was urgently called back to Luyu Shen by her parents.
Surprised, she took Meng Yao with her and traveled nonstop until she reached her sect. When she passed through the gates of the place, the disciples of her generation approached her and took her without explanation to a training camp.
There was a woman training with her brother. Their blue robes were designed for combat and allowed her to move with great ease.
Shen Yuntian knew this woman.
“Zhang-jie?”
The woman stopped, looked in her direction with a smile, and approached her: “Yuntian!”
Her mother was a rebellious cultivator before she married her father, and from time to time, some of her friends would come to visit her, and this woman's mother was one of them.
This woman's name was Zhang Li; she was two years older than Shen Yuntian, and she was also raised as a cultivator. Her mother was a rebellious cultivator named Zhang An. As for Zhang Li's father, as far as Shen Yuntian knew, he was Zhang An's childhood sweetheart, but she did not give her daughter his surname because she did not want to tie her to the man's family of officials.
“Did you come to visit with Aunt Zhang?”
Although they had not seen each other many times, Shen Yuntian liked this mother-daughter duo.
Zhang Li smiled: “Originally, I came with my mother. But now, I'm here to ask your uncle for marriage!”
Shen Yuntian choked and coughed heavily several times before composing herself, looked at this woman in astonishment, and then turned her gaze to her brother.
“Zhang-jie fell in love with Shen Yu,” her brother stated.
“Why didn't you tell me you had a relative like that?” Zhang Li complained with a pout, “It took so long to find someone, and it turns out he was right next to me!”
Her brother kindly explained the matter to her afterwards. The matter was really simple .
Zhang An came to visit her good friend Qian Xiuying and brought her daughter with her as usual. When she came before, they had to avoid the gaze of old Shen, who had always disapproved of his son's engagement to a rebellious cultivator, but now that the old man was gone, Zhang Li could wander around more freely.
Then she met Shen Yu, who knew that she was Qian Xiuying's guest and accompanied her to train and play.
That was how Shen Yu, a lively person, got along with Zhang Li, an outgoing girl.
Now, the two siblings Shen and Shen Guang looked at the younger twin as if they had just met him.
“Don't look at me like that! How was I supposed to know that she...?”
After falling in love with Shen Yu, a man who treated her well without pretension, who was kind and caring, but who did not look down on her for being a woman, Zhang Li ran to Shen Yunyan and declared her intention to marry Shen Yu.
Shen Yunyan, the sect leader and the one who made all the important decisions, was stunned when someone suddenly came to ask for a marriage.
The twins' parents agreed; they didn't care much about what their children did and left everything in the hands of the sect leader. Those people were living very peacefully in seclusion after the death of old Shen. So Shen Yunyan told Zhang Li that they should first exchange a few blows on the training ground.
But one thing was certain, and that was that the marriage was basically already arranged.
At that moment, the Shen brothers and Shen Guang collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
The family line had been saved!
Although Shen Yuntian could give birth to a child who would inherit Luyu Shen, they would have to separate the child from his mother to raise them in the sect. Shen Guang also preferred men like Shen Yunyan. As for Shen Yunrou... it was better not to get their hopes up.
“Congratulations on your marriage, Uncle Yu.”
“It seems you've beaten me to it. Gege will take care of building a residence for you and Miss Zhang.”
“I'm upset because it's obvious that I got engaged to Xuanyu first, and now you're getting married first, but I give you my sincere blessing.”
Shen Yu thanked him for their good wishes with a blank expression.
She ran into Liu Qingge after the conversation, and the man, who had seen the whole process, said, “This place is very entertaining.”
Shen Yuntian had to agree.
The wedding was a simple affair with few outside guests, but it was given great importance, and the celebration was luxurious. Shen Yuntian sensed that Zhang Li's presence would be chaotic within Luyu Shen, but it would also be fun.
After much negotiation, the Watchtower plan that Meng Yao had created was launched with some modifications, including the active participation of all sects instead of the Jin surveillance that the guy had wanted to create before . The plan would take some time to implement, but locations for the facilities were already being sought.
The Jin Sect, under the command of Jin Xuanyu and Madame Jin, no longer gave priority only to the highest-paying missions, but also paid attention to those who could not afford to pay.
Jin Ling was training in diplomacy and had already formally begun cultivating himself according to the Jin teachings , and Madame Jin had given him the Suihua sword that belonged to Jin Zixuan.
On the other hand, she became the new bearer of the Zidian weapon, much to her husband's dismay and delight.
When she asked Jiang Ming if he was interested in becoming a sect leader in the future, the boy didn't even look at her when he replied, “Can't you make another baby?”
She was too busy being stunned to scold Jiang Wanyin for snorting in a poor attempt to stifle her laughter.
“Well, what will you do when you grow up?” her husband asked slowly.
Six-year-old Jiang Ming puffed out his chubby cheeks: “I don't know. But I don't want to work.”
Jiang Wanyin raised an eyebrow: “I don't want to either, so what do we do?”
Her son perked up immediately: “A didi!”
“You're right, I'll try harder starting today.”
Jiang Ming's bright gaze was what saved Jiang Wanyin from getting hit on the head.
How could he say things like that to a child?!
And was he serious about another child?
She hadn't thought much about it before, but it seemed like a good time...
Be that as it may, Shen Yuntian felt blissful. She had left behind a past that had only torn her apart, and here she had everything she had ever wanted and even more. As her brother mentioned, she had been repairing all the damage she had received before, and she could feel herself moving forward more and more.
Once, when Shen Qingqiu was locked up in the water prison with his limbs torn off and his name tarnished, he thought someone like him couldn't obtain anything resembling happiness. But here, she discovered that nothing was impossible for the Jiangs and came to understand everything that motto meant.
She found a family and many friends who supported her strange ideas, resolved the deep-rooted resentments of a past life, and started over as a blank canvas.
“Jiang Cheng.”
Her husband looked up, his almond-shaped eyes that had once lost their sparkle by the fire containing a deep sweetness, a spark of admiration and longing that prevailed even at his lowest point.
She smiled softly, sitting next to her husband and intertwining her fingers with his. She kissed the man who had accepted that past full of regrets on the cheek and asked, whispering as if it were a great secret.
“Have I told you that I love you?”