My Husband’s Ascension C78
Chapter 78 Extra 6
Zhao Zhao stared at him blankly, forgetting even to breathe for a moment.
“…May I?”
The youth’s voice was very soft. His dark hair hung loosely, brushing against her cheek. Though he looked down at her from above, the gentleness of his tone and the clarity of his gaze carried a reverence that felt almost like a prayer before a deity.
May I touch you?
May I stain you?
May I be granted such permission?
The slender youth had only just exhausted his spiritual energy. With a body so fragile, she could shatter him with a mere thought.
Yet something seemed to bind her in place, or perhaps the person before her was a phantom born of her own longing. That was why he could so easily bewitch her, lure her in, and draw her into the web he had spun.
And so his hand came to rest over hers. Though his words were a pious plea, his actions compelled her tightly clenched fingers to loosen. His callused fingers wound firmly around hers, threading through the gaps between them and locking together.
“Do you permit me to do this?” He asked, softly.
Snow fell in a gentle hush, and peach blossoms scattered like rain.
Zhao Zhao exhaled a cloud of white mist and looked into his eyes. “Who requires my permission? Who are you?”
His thumb brushed slowly over the back of her hand as the youth replied with a question of his own. “Who do you wish me to be?”
A breeze carrying scattered petals drifted between them. In that single instant, countless days and nights swept through Zhao Zhao’s mind.
Those years she had once spent with Xie Lanshu when she was still a mortal… the bitterness and quiet pain she swallowed after learning he was Dao Lord Tianshu… a hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye. Looking back now, the fierce love and hatred of those days had softened into a calm, enduring current, flowing gently over the edges that time had never quite worn smooth.
And the figure that remained deepest in her memory…who was it?
Was it the husband with whom she had once tied her hair in marriage? The Dao Lord who had yearned for her love until his dying breath?
Or the youth before her now, who had crossed countless mountains and rivers to find her?
She felt she had no way to give a definite answer, so she simply gave up thinking about it.
The one who had posed such a troublesome question was equally troublesome—so she might as well make him stop talking.
By the time she came back to herself, Zhao Zhao had already lifted her head and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to him.
The youth she kissed fell into a daze, unable for a moment to tell whether this was a dream or reality. A mist of confusion clouded his glass-clear eyes.
Amid the heavy snowfall where every breath turned to white mist, the flow of his blood suddenly quickened, and the heart within his chest trembled in a way he could scarcely believe.
The loneliness and bitterness of the past hundred years were soothed in that instant. An unprecedented happiness filled his entire being, so much so that even if he were to die the very next moment, he would feel no regret.
“…Is that all?” When Zhao Zhao pulled away, the dark-haired youth’s gaze carried a soft, clinging desire.
That kind of gaze was almost enough to swallow a person whole. Zhao Zhao flushed red and retorted, “And what more do you want?”
“Because it feels good, I’d like to continue.” Xie Zhu answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A smile lingered on his gentlemanly face, clear and bright as moonlight in a spring breeze, without the slightest trace of embarrassment.
“….” Zhao Zhao felt she might have miscalculated.
This remnant soul who had lost his memories did not seem nearly as easy to control as she had imagined.
…
“…Are you sure he really isn’t Tianshu?” After the trial ended, Shi Lanyan met Zhao Zhao at a tavern outside the snowfield blessed land.
After carefully sizing up the youth seated beside Zhao Zhao from head to toe, Shi Lanyan grew uncertain again.
If one insisted they were exactly the same, that would be an exaggeration. But aside from Tianshu, she had never in her life seen a second person with such bearing and manners. It was truly difficult for her to believe otherwise.
“If not, then I’ll send a message to Kunwu and have Tianshu’s two personal disciples come over. They’ll surely—”
“There’s no need to notify Kunwu.” Xie Zhu cut off Shi Lanyan’s words. His tone was gentle, but his enunciation carried firm certainty. “I’ll be following Zhao Zhao back to Cloudculm Abode. The affairs of the outside world have nothing to do with me.”
Shi Lanyan: “…”
She turned to glance at Zhao Zhao, hesitated as if wanting to say something, and ultimately asked in a low voice, “Although I feel it’s probably impossible, I still have to confirm with you—if he really isn’t Tianshu, then why are you bringing him back?”
Zhao Zhao’s gaze drifted away.
Shi Lanyan’s eyes widened, and she lowered her voice even further, “You’re not keeping him as a substitute, are you!?”
Zhao Zhao nearly choked on the wine, coughing several times as the heat caught in her throat.
Whatever story Shi Lanyan had concocted in her head, she no longer bothered whether he was Tianshu or not. She simply looked at Zhao Zhao, stunned and disbelieving.
“I thought you were someone who could rise from the mud without being tainted. Who would’ve guessed you’d end up picking up the same habits as those female cultivators of Jimo Sea, keeping three husbands and four paramour—you really know how to indulge…”
Zhao Zhao’s face turned red, whether from coughing or embarrassment it was hard to tell, as she hurriedly protested, “I’m not—”
“Miss Immortal needn't say anything more,” Xie Zhu said calmly as he poured Zhao Zhao a cup of tea to soothe her throat. “As long as I can remain by her side, it doesn’t matter who she takes me for.”
Zhao Zhao: ?
How did he stab her in the back like that??
Shi Lanyan let out a small “wah,” her mouth opening slightly in surprise, before she quickly composed herself, though the look in her eyes now carried a hint of envy. “Since one of you is willing to strike and the other is willing to endure, I won’t say anything more. After I return from the succession trial, there are still several courses waiting for me. I’m afraid I won’t have time to attend your wedding. So here, take this.”
Shi Lanyan tossed a radiant, iridescent pearl to Xie Zhu. “This pearl is called the ‘Pearl of Cold Aroma (泠香珠)’. I fished it out of an icy lake. It nourishes the skin and leaves a lingering fragrance. You could have it set into a hairpin or embedded in a jade ring or something like that. Consider it my wedding gift.”
Xie Zhu smiled faintly. “Many thanks.”
Shi Lanyan looked at his familiar expression and nudged her Dao companion beside her.
“I still think he’s Tianshu. Zi Qian, you were acquainted with him before too. Take a look, isn’t he really not?”
Zi Qian replied, “I wouldn’t call it much of an acquaintance. You shared a childhood bond with Dao Lord Tianshu—if even you can’t recognize him, then I certainly can’t.”
“…Jealous?”
“No.”
“My liking for Tianshu is ancient history by now. You’re still jealous over that?”
“I. Am. Not.”
After watching the couple bicker their way out of sight, Xie Zhu, who had said very little all this time, suddenly spoke, “Was that Miss Immortal… Dao Lord Tianshu’s childhood sweetheart?”
Zhao Zhao nodded. “Yes.”
“She…once liked Dao Lord Tianshu?”
“That’s right.”
The youth looked at her, paused for a moment, then said, “Unless it becomes necessary, I won’t speak to her again in the future.”
Zhao Zhao hadn’t expected him to say something like that. She froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. “It’s fine. Miss Immortal Lanyan already has a Dao companion, and the two of them are childhood sweethearts too. Not to mention you, even if the former Dao Lord Tianshu were the one talking to her, I wouldn’t be jealous. Who doesn’t have a few admirers? There’s no need to be so tense.”
Xie Zhu seemed to have anticipated her response and did not appear surprised. He only smiled faintly. “Other than fidelity, I possess nothing. I only wish for you to understand my feelings for you.”
Zhao Zhao averted her gaze and replied, “…I understand.”
If she had known, she wouldn’t have kissed him; after that first response, he seemed to grow bolder.
“So…who are your admirers?” The youth smiled gently, topping up Zhao Zhao’s cup of wine with deliberate ease.
“…”
Dodging that topic, Zhao Zhao escorted Xie Zhu back to Cloudculm Abode.
Unsurprisingly, his face caused quite a stir within the sect.
“I knew it! Sooner or later, this day would come!” Daoist Ming Jue looked at Zhao Zhao in dismay, shaking his head. “Your master knows your longing has consumed you, but you can’t harm an innocent person for it! Young man, do you even understand the past between Miss Immortal Tanzhao and Dao Lord Tianshu? Do you know who she must have thought you were?”
Xie Zhu: “I know. I came of my own will.”
Daoist Ming Jue was utterly shocked.
Zhao Zhao was nearly speechless.
The key point: aside from Daoist Ming Jue, even Li Feng, Xiao Bai, Yao Ling, Rong Yu, and Zhongli Shun all thought Zhao Zhao had brought back a substitute.
Li Feng: “Well uh… as long as you’re happy.”
Xiao Bai: “If Master favors that face, and he can, why can’t I?”
Rong Yu: “? I thought you and Master already…”
Zhongli Shun: “Huh? You haven’t? I thought…”
Yao Ling: “Whether he’s a substitute or not doesn’t matter, but now the sect has him—how exactly should we arrange things? The elders are testing me tomorrow, Master, you’d better tell me how to settle him properly beforehand!”
That question genuinely stumped Zhao Zhao.
Cloudculm Abode was loose and free in atmosphere, but its management was meticulous; every blade of grass and stone had its place. And now there was a living, breathing person to accommodate.
With Xie Zhu’s cultivation and aptitude, he was far too exceptional to simply be a disciple, yet not qualified to be an elder.
Zhao Zhao had brought him back on impulse, without considering how to officially position him.
Yet she hadn’t expected that by the very next morning, Xie Zhu had already found a suitable place for himself.
Watching another disciple being kicked off the practicing platform, Yao Ling, feeling the loneliness of being unmatched, heard a voice call out from below:
“I’ll spar with you. How about it?”
The nineteen-year-old Yao Ling was a little surprised to see a young version of the Dao Lord Tianshu, who looked roughly her own age.
She didn’t particularly care about his true identity, be it Tianshu or Xie Zhu, so long as Master was happy, Yao Ling felt she could accept it.
Moreover, among the sword practitioners of Cloudculm Abode, aside from Zhongli Shun, there was no one left who could challenge her. Even Zhongli Shun had become dull to her, since they shared the same lineage and moves.
So she agreed without hesitation. “Master said you’re a talisman cultivator. You can use a sword?”
Xie Zhu looked around and picked up an iron rod.
“I can’t… but after today, who knows?”
Yao Ling: ?
She had never met someone this brazen before!
Without another word, she drew her sword and leapt, aiming straight at Xie Zhu’s face.
…
By the time Zhao Zhao received the news of Xie Zhu being injured and hurried to his courtyard, the youth was staring absentmindedly out the window at the gongfen plum blossoms.
“You’re truly fearless. Yao Ling is now in the third great realm, unmatched with the sword, and even the top disciples of Kunwu wouldn’t dare underestimate her. And yet you, armed with just an iron rod, dare to spar with her? That’s practically courting death!” Zhao Zhao grabbed his arm, eliciting a muffled grunt, and only then did she notice that his injuries hadn’t healed at all.
With so many Divine Farmer practitioners in Cloudculm Abode, pick any one and they wouldn’t have left him unattended like this.
“Why are you—”
His cool fingertips gently brushed her cheek. His eyes, carrying a smile, were almost intoxicating. “You’re worried about me.”
The slight upward lilt at the end of his words made it sound almost playful.
Zhao Zhao composed herself, narrowing her eyes at him. “Did you injure yourself on purpose?”
Xie Zhu shook his head. “I didn’t hold back. You’re right, Yao Ling’s strength is formidable; she’s an opponent you must face with full force.”
“Then why did you—”
“I just wanted to stay here under a plausible identity.” He spoke in a calm tone, the words stirring a swirl of emotions within Zhao Zhao.
“That’s not necessary…” Zhao Zhao drew a deep breath, hesitating. “Actually, you could have stayed using another identity.”
Xie Zhu had already anticipated her answer; his refined, serene features relaxed even further.
“Zhao Zhao…” Like a soft exhale, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, gently yet tightly drawing her close. What seemed like a simple gesture of leaning for comfort carried the subtle precision of a predator, layer by layer dismantling her defenses and securing her within his embrace. “I’m happy… truly, truly happy…”
Though he said he was happy, there was an inexplicable thread of melancholy woven into his tone.
Zhao Zhao couldn’t see his expression, only feeling the warmth of his breath brushing against her neck like feathers, stirring delicate shivers.
In a fleeting moment, their positions had reversed. Zhao Zhao, gently set down on the bed, grabbed his sleeve and said, “Your wounds… they’ll hurt. Maybe you should—”
“No matter.” He absorbed each gentle syllable into himself, brushing aside her stray hair, entranced. “The pain you bring… only brings me pleasure.”
