My Husband’s Ascension C82
Chapter 82 Extra 10
Outside the doors, the rain whispered and drizzled.
The Demon Realm was damp by nature, and spring brought frequent showers. From midnight onward, the earthy scent of wet soil had floated through the air, the rain falling unceasingly throughout the night.
Zhao Zhao, utterly exhausted, had slept deeply through the storm. When she awoke in the early morning, fully conscious, she realized that her dry inner garments had been quietly arranged by Xie Lanshu, and her body was now gently but securely held against his chest.
Raising her head, she met a pair of eyes clear and bright, watching her intently.
“…Did you actually sleep?” she asked.
“Of course.” His fingers unconsciously smoothed her long hair. “Though you looked so peaceful in sleep, I could not bear to rest too long myself. I wished to watch you a little longer.”
“….”
Whenever he spoke like this, his expression was unusually serene. Zhao Zhao prided herself on being unashamed and bold, yet each time she met that utterly unabashed gaze, she found herself disarmed.
“I haven’t asked—” She suddenly remembered her pressing concern and sat upright on the bed. “How did you discover my whereabouts so quickly?”
Last night, he had deftly diverted her question, but Zhao Zhao was not one to let such things go.
The youth leaned back slightly on one elbow, his snow-white robes loose and open, revealing the faint traces she had left upon him, partly coaxed, partly compelled.
Xie Lanshu smiled faintly and asked, “Is this question truly so important?”
“Of course,” Zhao Zhao said firmly. “As sect master of Cloudculm Abode, if I overlook even this, what stops you from betraying me in the future?”
She straightened his robes with an air of authority.
No use trying to charm me, she thought.
Xie Lanshu studied her for a moment before speaking softly, “How could I ever… Very well.”
He paused, then revealed everything.
Those snow doves that delivered his letters had truly only carried messages on his behalf. In fact, it was Zhao Zhao’s spatial storage pouch that had been marked. At some unknown time, he had secretly slipped a tracking talisman inside, which allowed him to detect her movements.
He had expected she might be displeased and made a gesture to retrieve the talisman.
“No need,” Zhao Zhao said after a moment’s thought, opening her hand toward him. “Give me one as well. I should know your movements too.”
His faintly furrowed brows softened, and those crystalline, limpid eyes shimmered like sunlight rippling across a lake, flecks of gold glinting within. “Zhao Zhao—”
She spoke calmly, adding, “So that next time I undertake something I would rather you not know, I can prepare accordingly.”
The hand offering the tracking talisman froze.
Suddenly, the world seemed to darken as the mingled scent of sarcodactylis and acronychia pedunculata enveloped her. Lingering kisses traced along her ear and neck, making her laugh with a delicious shiver.
“You’re only pretending to be angry out of shame! Who knows if you secretly place a tracking talisman in my pouch to guard against me?”
“How could you even think of such a thing?” His voice carried a faint edge of anger, pressing against her with a hint of teeth-gritted intensity. “How could I ever guard against you, Xie Tanzhao? Do you even have a conscience?”
The amusement in her chest dimmed slightly at the sting of his words. Seeing that he seemed genuinely provoked, she softened her tone. “I was only teasing. Who asked you to act first and inform me after?”
“….”
“Are you truly angry?” Zhao Zhao tilted her head, watching the slightly stern lines of his brow, blinking with mock innocence. “Lanshu? Husband? Are you ignoring me now?”
He shifted his gaze back toward her, eyes calm but firm. “Such words must not be spoken again.”
Zhao Zhao smiled, nodding.
“And…” His gaze locked on hers with serious intent. “Say ‘husband’ again, just like you did earlier.”
“….”
Before she could speak, hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor outside.
“Master! Master! I’m so furious!!”
At the sound, Zhao Zhao immediately knew it was Yao Ling.
The girl had raced at incredible speed. Fortunately, both Zhao Zhao and Xie Lanshu were at least clothed, yet when Yao Ling suddenly pushed open the door, she still froze at the sight of them seated together under the covers.
“Before entering your master’s room, remember to knock,” Xie Lanshu reminded lightly.
Yao Ling: “…I’ve never needed to knock on Master’s door in my entire life!”
“That was before,” he said with a faint smile. “Things are different now.”
Yao Ling ground her teeth, itching to leap forward and rip that calm, unbothered expression from his face.
“What happened?” Zhao Zhao cut through their silent standoff, drawing Yao Ling’s attention.
Only then did Yao Ling explain her purpose for coming. It seemed that not long after Zhao Zhao and Rong Yu had departed yesterday, she had overheard a disciple friendly with Rong Yu speaking casually within the sect.
“Senior Brother Rong Yu is really lucky. On one side, he is our sect master’s direct disciple; on the other, he's the successor to the Demon Realm. And now I hear the Demon Palace is even selecting Holy Maidens for him! Those girls are to be raised as his concubines, he doesn’t even realize his fortune and complains as if it’s a burden! People like that, ugh, it’s infuriating…”
Yao Ling slammed her hand on the table and sprang to her feet. “Disgusting! Who does he think he is, daring to choose brides! When he comes back, I’ll twist his head off myself—”
Xie Lanshu rose from the bed, draping his outermost robes, casting a single glance at the indignant Yao Ling. He had no patience to bother with children and their naive quarrels.
Zhao Zhao, however, was thoroughly entertained. Listening to Yao Ling, she laughed so heartily that her eyes curved into crescents. “Though choosing concubines is improper… why are you so angry?”
Like a fuse abruptly snuffed out, Yao Ling’s fury evaporated. The usually forthright girl sank back into her seat, mumbling awkwardly for a moment. “…I just fear that if he lingers too long in the Demon Realm, he’ll become corrupt! In our Cultivation Realm, Dao companions are meant to remain devoted for life—just like you and him, Master. How could Rong Yu pick up such improper habits?”
At that, Xie Lanshu felt a rare surge of patience for the little girl.
Zhao Zhao propped her chin on her hand. “Yet you’ve always supported me taking eight or ten paramours of my own, haven’t you?”
Xie Lanshu: ?
“That’s different!” Yao Ling waved her hands dramatically. “Master only needs to be happy, but Rong Yu, he…”
“What about him?”
“He…” Yao Ling faltered, caught off guard.
Indeed. Why was she so furious? Even if Rong Yu really were choosing concubines in the Demon Realm, and even if he chose someone else, it did not affect their bond. Why did her temper flare as if the heavens had fallen?
Zhao Zhao smiled warmly at her most beloved little disciple. “He occupies a different place in your heart than anyone else, doesn’t he?”
Yao Ling scrambled to her feet, nearly overturning the table in her haste. “No!”
“Then why are you so flustered?”
“That’s because… because…” Yao Ling faltered, fumbling for words, finally giving up and pointing an accusatory finger at Xie Lanshu. “It’s all your fault!”
The youth, expression calm and unruffled, met her outburst with serene indifference.
“It’s your head, full of love and romance, that brought all these bad habits into our sect!”
“….”
Flustered and embarrassed, Yao Ling stormed out, leaving behind a silently exasperated Xie Lanshu and Zhao Zhao, whose smile was gentle and amused.
Once the girl had disappeared down the corridor, Zhao Zhao retrieved a message jade slip and informed Rong Yu, who was out attending to matters, about Yao Ling’s pursuit.
The two of them exchanged messages with lively excitement. Zhao Zhao’s emotions swung from joy to worry, and she repeatedly stressed: do not scare Yao Ling, and do not bully her.
“Being both wife's mother and husband's mother at the same time is exhausting,” she muttered, holding the jade slip with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
Xie Lanshu dressed her in her outer robe, then said with a weight of meaning, “Nothing in my life has made me happier than this.”
Zhao Zhao looked up. “What?”
"Difficulty in conceiving."
…
By the time spring yielded to summer, the two childhood companions finally began awkwardly holding hands as they moved about the sect.
Yet in crowded settings, Yao Ling remained too shy to reveal this tender, girlish affection. She believed such romantic displays would tarnish the dignity of Cloudculm Abode’s Senior Sister, and the pair often quarreled over these trivial, peculiar matters.
Zhongli Shun was reluctantly cast as the bridge between the awkward young couple, frequently tasked with conveying messages whenever they bickered.
“Truly childish.”
Zhao Zhao once wrote in a letter to Xie Lanshu.
Though he had little interest in others, Xie anshu could not skim these letters casually, for every word from Zhao Zhao carried a weight of feeling. Still, he could not understand what pleasure these two children found in courting; they were too indecisive and fussy.
One day, when Zong Fei delivered sect documents, he happened upon the letter Zhao Zhao had sent, left aside by Xie Lanshu. Seeing him poised to write a reply, he remarked offhandedly, “Writing another letter to shiniang, Master? Last time you had me inquire where the lotus blooms best in the Cultivation Realm. Could it be that you intend to take shiniang to view them?”
Xie Lanshu’s brush froze mid-air.
“Though I haven’t heard Master take leave these past few days, if you don’t depart soon, the lotuses will already be fading. Do you have some other plan in mind, Master?”
In truth, the inquiry about the lotus blooms had been a month ago. Though Master had recently passed the sect’s grand competition and officially become an inner disciple, the inner disciple duties were hardly burdensome for him. There would be no reason he could not spare the time.
“Zong Fei.”
“Yes?”
“If you have nothing else to do, go outside and collect all the cicadas on the trees.”
“?”
Puzzled and completely unsure what had incurred Master’s displeasure, Zong Fei wandered out. Left alone, Xie Lanshu stared silently at the letter upon the table.
Outside, the summer cicadas cried incessantly, one trill piling atop the next. The lotuses in the pond were in full bloom—if he hesitated further, this year’s viewing by boat would be lost.
However…
Xie Lanshu closed his eyes, and the resolute words she had once spoken still echoed in his mind.
Words once spoken cannot be withdrawn, and the scars they leave will not vanish merely because one chooses to ignore them.
Xie Lanshu’s brush hovered for a long moment before he began, each stroke upon the fine rice paper weighed with all the courage he could muster.
A snow dove bore his tangled emotions, heavy as lead, across mountains and rivers, soaring toward her.
That day, he sent no other tender letters, as he had in the past.
Nor did he wait for her reply.
The following day, still no letters were exchanged.
On the third day—
Unable to remain seated any longer, Xie Lanshu could not endure waiting at Immortal Realm of Kunwu for her response. Just as he prepared to return to Cloudculm Abode, his tracking talisman stirred.
“Lanshu.” Zhao Zhao appeared within Immortal Realm of Kunwu.
This time, before she could even ascend the long stairway to Separation’s Regret Heaven, he had already hurried down from the high, unreachable clouds, stumbling toward her side.
Then he pressed her tightly into his arms.
“…Why didn’t you reply to my letter?” His voice quavered slightly, as though restraining some deeper emotion.
Here, with people passing all around, under countless eyes, Zhao Zhao felt her ears burn. She tried to push him away, but could not.
“I went to the Demon Realm and did not receive your letters. I thought you knew… and as soon as I finished my work, I thought I might as well come straight to Kunwu to find you. Which is why—”
“Which is why you did not see my letter.” He completed her words, though he already knew the answer.
Zhao Zhao paused, sensing something amiss. “Was there something important you wished to tell me? If you say it now, is it still in time?”
“…Too late.”
A trace of apology surfaced in her expression. “I’m sorry, I forgot to mention it to you…”
“I mean, I should have said these words much earlier.” Slowly, he released her. Standing at the foot of the long ascending steps, there was none of his usual composure in his features.
He had mocked Yao Ling and Rong Yu before, yet in this moment, Xie Lanshu knew he was no better than they.
Because—
The more one treasures something, the more carefully one handles it.
And the more one fears losing it, the more one hesitates at every step, dreading to take that final stride.
“You once asked me if it mattered to me if you spend the rest of the years I once promised you with someone else…” He spoke with great deliberation, his throat so dry it seemed each word might cut against his tongue.
Yet he knew this was the bitter fruit of his own making, and he alone must swallow it. “If I were to say that, in every day and night since we parted, I have regretted my answer to that question… would you believe me?”
“If I were to ask you, no, to beg you not to let there be anyone else, and for the rest of our lives I would accompany you to revel in the pear blossoms of Yingzhou in spring, the lotus-filled lakes of summer, the red leaves of autumn, and in winter, share roasted lamb together… would you be willing to grant me such a chance once more?”
Cloudlight stretched across the sky, settling upon the long stairway behind him.
Zhao Zhao gazed into his eyes for a long while before speaking quietly, “What has happened, what has once been said—none of it can simply vanish.”
“But you have already walked paths far more difficult than this long stair, carrying me step by step across them.”
“Xie Lanshu, have you not realized?” She smiled faintly. “In the spring, at the Zhongli Residence, you personally made me a bowl of yangchun noodles; in the summer, beneath the mechanisms of Mount Ling, you cut your wrist to feed me your blood and saved my life. After my death, the fragment of your divine sense remained with me through the passing of autumn into winter at Mistflow Peak.”
“Through the turning of the four seasons, you have long since accompanied me, year after year.”
A heart long sunk in a mire of darkness felt as though it had been gently lifted by unseen hands.
Xie Lanshu had never imagined that a mere few words could draw him out from endless suffering.
Zhao Zhao cut a few strands of her hair.
One end she tied about her own finger, the other she bound to his little finger. She hooked her finger lightly and raised her head, smiling at him with the same radiant warmth as before.
“That red thread was already tied anew long ago.”
Gazing at her smiling face, a sudden thought came to Xie Lanshu.
How had he once mistaken this for a mere tribulation?
It was clearly the Heavenly Dao setting all things aright, a miracle cast into the haze of his muddled life, allowing him at last to see—
In all the vastness between heaven and earth, she alone was the sole Dao he would pursue for the rest of his life.
The end
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Author’s Note: It’s finished!! Thank you all for accompanying me for the past two months. Zhao Zhao and Xie Lanshu’s story ends here, but in their world, they will continue to live happily together. If fate allows, we will meet again in another story!
TL Note: And that’s a wrap!
Personally, I was already satisfied with the main story’s ending and found the extra somewhat redundant (even if the ML is a changed man -once a scumbag, always a scumbag! ( •̀ ᴖ •́ )), but as the translator, I’m obligated to share everything in full. So here we are!
Thank you so much for reading and staying with me all the way to the end. It took several months to finish, with the earlier chapters taking hours to complete each, so I really really appreciate everyone who followed along, commented, supported, and enjoyed the journey. You make all my hard work worth it.
Also, a special thank you to 旭亭 for taking the time to proofread my work; she even went above and beyond by checking the translations against the raws. I truly couldn’t have done this without her. (❀❛ ֊ ❛„)♡
Tata, see you again in my next project!
Lots of love,
Pure
P.S. If you enjoyed this story, be sure to check out my other translations!
