Pfft!

Gao Feiyang sprayed a mist of wine across the table, soaking half of Zhou Kai’s robes. Zhou Kai, however, didn’t even blink. He merely stared wide-eyed at his companion.

“Zhou… Senior Brother Zhou, you… you’re seriously targeting the Young Miss? Do you think a Heaven’s Pride like her just gets married?”

Gao Feiyang looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

Zhou Kai casually wiped the wine stains from his face. “Is the Young Miss destined to never have a Dao Companion?”

“But… that’s different!” Gao Feiyang sobered up instantly. “Senior Brother, you don’t understand. With the Young Miss’s status, even if she takes a Dao Companion, the man would almost certainly have to marry into the family as a live-in son-in-law! Furthermore, I’ve heard rumors that the Young Miss might compete for the position of Saintess!”

“Saintess?” Zhou Kai raised an eyebrow.

“Correct! Our Calamity Abyss Valley will have only one Saint Son or Saintess, and that person becomes the future Sect Leader!” Gao Feiyang’s tone turned reverent.

“Once they assume the position of Sect Leader, they must swear a Heavenly Dao Oath: sever ties with their clan, change their name, and remain unmarried. They must devote their entire body and soul to the Sect until… until they step down from the throne. Only then can they consider romance.”

Zhou Kai’s heart sank slightly.

He recalled the discussion on the Exploring Spring Flower Boat. Li Youci had mentioned that Li Qiwen was fighting Yang Ling for the position of Saint Son. Since someone from the Li family was already competing, Li Youci… probably wouldn’t get involved, right?

Thinking of this, he felt a little more at ease, though his face remained impassive.

The two continued to drink, clinking cups until the moon reached its zenith.

Zhou Kai purchased a large quantity of spirit herbs for pill refining from Gao Feiyang using Spirit Stones, and only then did they part ways. Gao Feiyang, draped over Zhou Kai’s shoulder, drunkenly promised that next time he would definitely take him to “experience” the top courtesan of the Exploring Spring Flower Boat.

Back in his own courtyard.

Zhou Kai stood with his hands clasped behind his back by the window. Moonlight spilled over him like water, casting a long, solitary shadow.

A moment later, he turned and walked out, heading straight for Shen Hanyi.

She seemed to have just finished her sword practice. Standing there, cool and ethereal like a fairy beneath the moon, her Heaven Queer Sword pointed diagonally at the ground, a faint light swirling at its tip.

“Husband?” Her voice was as clear and cold as ever, void of unnecessary emotion.

Zhou Kai looked at her, carefully weighing his words before speaking slowly.

“Hanyi, tell me… if there is a person who is clearly with you, yet you always feel as if she could drift away at any moment—unable to be grasped, unable to be seen through—why is that?”

He didn’t name Li Youci, but Shen Hanyi was ice-snow intelligent; she naturally understood whom he referred to.

Shen Hanyi’s gaze flickered slightly as she looked up at the lonely moon. After a long silence, she softly uttered three words.

“I know not.”

She added another sentence, her voice as light as the wind. “Just as I know not why I chose you as my Dao Companion…”

Her voice held a trace of confusion, or perhaps a sense of destiny she herself had never deeply examined.

Zhou Kai was momentarily at a loss for words.

Returning to his cave dwelling, Zhou Kai cleared his mind of distractions and began refining pills.

Spirit fire danced, and the rich aroma of medicine filled the air. It wasn’t until the horizon turned the color of a fish’s belly, signaling dawn—which eventually gave way to the red hues of sunset—that he let out a long breath and stored away the final batch of pills.

Standing up to stretch his stiff limbs, Zhou Kai decided it was time to find “Xia Min.”

He felt it was time to lay his cards on the table.

Just as he stepped out of the refining room, a delicate figure approached him.

“Big Brother Zhou, you’re done refining?”

Chen Ziqing held a small food box, her face etched with grievance. “Is Big Brother Zhou going to see Sister Xia Min? She… even though she’s just the Young Miss’s maid, her temper is awful. She’s always so cold and aloof. Back in the Crouching Tiger Mountain market, whenever Big Brother Zhou returned, you would always come find Ziqing first…”

“Ziqing, relax. Perhaps… after tonight, there might be a surprise?”

Zhou Kai said no more, stepping around her and heading straight for the bamboo pavilion where Xia Min resided.

Today, “Xia Min” seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.

She wasn’t cultivating. Instead, she sat by the window, her chin propped up by a fair hand. A small cluster of flame danced merrily at her fingertip, casting shifting shadows across her beautiful face.

Seeing Zhou Kai enter, the corners of her lips curled up slightly, and the yellow flame jumped with renewed vigor.

Zhou Kai walked up to her, his gaze profound.

Li Youci felt somewhat uncomfortable under his intense stare. She was about to speak when she saw Zhou Kai suddenly smile.

He extended a finger. Without touching her, he pointed gently at the dancing flame on her fingertip.

“Stop playing,” Zhou Kai said with a playful smirk. “Is that Soul Fire or Nether Fire? Since when did it turn yellow?”

“Youci, I’ve known your identity since the Netherworld Secret Realm.”

BOOM!

Li Youci felt an explosion in her mind. All her good mood, all her playful disguises, shattered instantly!

She violently shoved Zhou Kai away, the force so great that he staggered back a step.

In the next instant, the appearance of “Xia Min” melted away.

She stood revealed in her true form—clad in black robes and a black skirt, black and white flames intertwining around her body. Her brows were knit with icy, murderous intent.

With a single step, she ascended into mid-air. Dark clouds churned beneath her feet as the Dark Cloud Soul Chasing Sedan materialized out of thin air. Li Youci stood proudly atop the sedan, her eyes blazing with fury.

Simultaneously, a figure separated from her body, clutching a Myriad Soul Banner! The ghost body emitted a bone-chilling aura, a stark contrast to the blazing Nether Fire of her True Body.

Boom!

The elegant bamboo pavilion, unable to withstand the shockwave of her aura, was instantly pulverized into dust!

“Zhou Kai!”

Li Youci’s voice seemed to drift up from the Nine Netherworlds, carrying a piercing chill and suppressed rage.

She gave him no chance to explain. Black and white flames erupted from the sedan, soaring into the sky. The ghost clone shook the Myriad Soul Banner, and countless ferocious beast souls roared, sweeping across the heavens to devour Zhou Kai!

Zhou Kai’s expression changed drastically. This woman really goes for the kill when she’s mad!

He quickly formed hand seals, deploying an invisible Soundproof Barrier to envelop the area.

“Youci! Have you gone mad?!” Zhou Kai dodged awkwardly between the flames and beast souls, summoning his Chaotic Sky Hammer and Hundred Beast Banner to barely defend himself.

Li Youci remained silent, her attacks growing increasingly vicious. She was truly enraged, unleashing her full power and completely suppressing Zhou Kai!

The black Nether Fire incinerated everything; the white Soul Fire corroded the spirit; the beast souls were relentless.

Zhou Kai was forced to retreat step by step. Anger welled up in his chest. He had thought revealing the truth would bring them closer. Who could have predicted this disaster?

“I refuse to believe my supreme, sun-scorching Vitality can’t suppress a mere ghost cultivator!”

Zhou Kai roared, and the Five Emperors Prison Suppression Sutra within him thundered into action.

Rumble!

His body swelled, transforming in the blink of an eye into a giant over ten zhang tall. He radiated an aura of majesty without anger. In his hands, he gripped the twenty-zhang Chaotic Sky Hammer, five-colored light swirling endlessly around its head!

ROAR!

Behind him, five towering Emperor Phantoms manifested! The Green Emperor breathed life, the Red Emperor ignited flames, the Yellow Emperor stood heavy as a mountain, the White Emperor shone with peerless sharpness, and the Black Emperor loomed deep as the abyss!

Although the phantoms were blurry and their foundations unstable, the moment they appeared, a terrifying Aura Pressure descended, suppressing heaven and earth and dominating all directions. The very air trembled.

Zhou Kai’s momentum skyrocketed, resembling an ancient God of War!

However, seeing Zhou Kai’s imposing display, the fire in Li Youci’s eyes only burned hotter.

Suddenly, her attacks stopped.

She hovered atop the Dark Cloud Soul Chasing Sedan, looking down at him with eyes filled not with fear, but with disappointment and disdain.

“Put away that human-posturing, dog-like divine ability of yours!” Li Youci sneered coldly. “During the battle with Di An, what did you actually do? Attacking the crotch—vulgar and despicable!”

“You ran to the front lines only to bully those with low cultivation. The moment you encountered someone slightly stronger, you oiled the soles of your feet and ran faster than anyone! And now? Now you have the guts to show off your might against your own woman?!”

Zhou Kai’s heart skipped a beat. His massive face stiffened.

Li Youci’s beautiful eyes blazed, showing no mercy.

“Since you knew my identity long ago, why did you keep acting? Why did you play me for a fool?”

“Every time you came to see me, you acted like a thief! Sneaking around, setting up an Isolation Grand Array, terrified of being seen! And just now—you even set up a Soundproof Barrier!”

“What? Is I, Li Youci, something shameful that cannot see the light? Or are you afraid that if my elder brother finds out, he’ll run you through with his spear?”

Her chest heaved violently, her anger palpable.

“I am already yours, and I am not afraid. So what are you afraid of?! You are a grown man! Look at yourself right now. Aside from hiding and sneaking, where is the arrogance a Heaven’s Pride should have?”

“Just based on this… are you worthy of marrying me?”

“The man of I, Li Youci, how could he be a rat?!”

Each word struck the heart!

Zhou Kai trembled. The five Emperor Phantoms behind him shook violently, flickering on the verge of collapse.

His ten-zhang giant form seemed to shrink under the weight of Li Youci’s interrogation.

A long, long time passed.

The five-colored light on Zhou Kai’s body dimmed. The Emperor Phantoms dissolved into mist. His massive body rapidly shrank, returning to his original human form.

He put away the Chaotic Sky Hammer and stood silently in the ruins, his expression shifting uncertainly.

Finally, he raised his head. Facing Li Youci, who still hovered in mid-air with unquelled anger, he solemnly bowed with a cupped fist.

“I understand. Thank you for the… instruction, Young Miss.”

With that, he didn’t look at Li Youci again.

With a flip of his hand, a small Spirit Boat appeared and expanded in the wind.

Zhou Kai stepped onto it without hesitation. He transformed into a streak of light, speeding toward the south of Crouching Tiger Mountain, vanishing into the horizon in an instant.

Only Li Youci remained.

She stood alone in the sky, staring at the direction he had fled. Her delicate body trembled slightly—whether from anger or… something else.

The dark clouds churning across the sky and the flames atop her sedan seemed to flicker uncertainly, mirroring the chaos in her heart.