Chapter 1: Daoist Couple Married for Three Years

"Madam, it's time to get up."

The sun was high in the sky, and the glazed tile eaves glistened with pearls. A maid knocked three times in front of the tightly closed door, and finally, a rustling sound came from inside.

It was as if he rolled around in the blankets on the bed twice, then collapsed onto the bed and didn't move. Then, a muffled, dissatisfied voice came out.

"Sleep for another 15 minutes, and... don't call me that."

...The same excuses for sleeping in every time.

The maid Jingxi sighed helplessly, and was about to call out again when a dark figure nimbly leaped down from the tree behind her. The young man walked to the door, revealing a blank face and a tone devoid of emotion:

"Young Miss, there is only a quarter of an hour left before the start of the final match of the Heavenly Star Ranking."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

The sounds that came out this time were much clearer, and were accompanied by a very faint rustling sound of fabric rubbing together.

"Oh, what does that have to do with me?"

Jingxi gently reminded her, "Madam, the last match is the Sword Master's contest."

A woman inside the room scoffed, "Let him compete, what does it have to do with me? I didn't say I was going to watch, so don't call me."

After she finished speaking, there was no more movement in the room, and Jingxi frowned in distress.

The black-clad youth beside him remained calm and composed, standing with his sword at his side.

"husband……"

The door was flung open, and Jingxi paused in her speech, looking at the beautiful, aloof face of the girl before her. Her eyes were like stars, her thick eyelashes trembled slightly, but her complexion had a sickly pallor, and she exuded a faint medicinal fragrance.

However, the bright red dress perfectly masked the unsettling sickness, making her skin appear even more fair. Perhaps she had gotten up in a hurry, as her hair and collar were somewhat disheveled.

Jingxi smiled gently: "Madam, we still have some time. Let me comb your hair again."

Sang Ying immediately turned away, her face cold: "Who said I was going to watch the competition? We're out of talismans at home, and I need to go out and buy some urgently."

After walking a few steps, before even leaving the courtyard, Sang Ying turned back to the black-clad boy following behind her and said, "Cold Face, you don't need to come with me today. Stay home."

With a cold expression, he held his sword and said calmly, "The arena is in Wanbing Valley, which is two thousand miles away. Only I can get there in a quarter of an hour."

Sang Ying: ?

"They've always been in Minghua Mountain, so why did they suddenly run off to Wanbing Valley in the middle of nowhere?"

The cold-faced man remained indifferent: "A month ago, during a duel, Sword Master accidentally destroyed a nearby peak with a single sword strike. Since then, all the duels that Sword Master has participated in have taken place in Wanbing Valley."

Sang Ying took a breath: "...How much money did you lose?"

"One hundred thousand spirit stones."

Sang Ying gritted her teeth: "What a spendthrift! Why did he exert so much effort? Doesn't he know how hard it is to make money these days? How difficult it is to find a job? There are sword cultivators all over the streets who can't make money and are driving for sects and taking Didi (ride-hailing services)..."

Lengmian: "In this past month, Sword Lord has already earned back the spirit stones he lost."

Sang Ying: "It's only natural to strive to win."

After all, the Heavenly Ranking is a real ranking of strength in the cultivation world. The Heavenly Star Ranking does not restrict cultivation level or race, but only age. It ranks people under fifty years old based on their strength within that age group, with a total of fifty people.

Those who won the top rankings were all geniuses in the cultivation world, destined to become powerful figures in the cultivation world in the future.

but……

Sang Ying was puzzled. "How come I don't know anything about what happened a month ago? I have no recollection of it at all."

With a cold expression, he stepped on the sword light. "The young lady was sick and unconscious for two days. By the time you woke up, the Sword Master had already taken care of everything."

Lengmian handed her sleeve to Sang Ying, who grabbed it thoughtfully. It seemed that she had fallen asleep after expending too much spiritual energy while drawing talismans back then? Never mind, it's not important.

She narrowed her eyes, her tone sinister: "So, to avoid my wrath, you also helped him keep it from me, concealing the truth, right?"

"No, I took the money this time."

With a cold, expressionless face, he said, "The Sword Lord has given far too much."

"..."

Sang Ying gritted her teeth: "You spineless traitor! You were bought off with just a few spirit stones."

With a cold and calm expression, he took out a spirit stone bag from his storage ring: "You get six, I get four."

Sang Ying patted him on the shoulder approvingly: "Cold Face, your tactics for infiltrating the enemy are getting more and more brilliant!"

Before her hand could even touch his shoulder, Lengmian turned around to look away, pointing to a vast expanse of darkness in the distance. "Young Miss, that's the arena over there."

Sang Ying subconsciously looked over as well, but there were too many onlookers, and she couldn't see the situation on the field from this angle.

The shouts could be heard from a distance; many cultivators were spontaneously chanting encouraging slogans. However, the majority of them were young and beautiful female cultivators, all chanting the same name.

"—The Jade Sword Master!"

The most promising candidate to win the top spot on this year's Heavenly Star Ranking is the personal disciple of the former sect master of the Wuwen Sect, the number one sect in the world, and a demon cultivator genius with outstanding talent in the cultivation world in recent years.

The Jade Sword Master, Xie Lingyu.

Also... her Daoist partner of three years.

No, it seems to be two years, ten months, and eight days, nine days, or ten days?

Sang Ying counted on her fingers as Leng Mian Yu, wielding his sword, landed in an empty spot outside the arena. The chill of Wanbing Valley rushed up, and she couldn't help but sneeze, covering her reddened nose.

Lengmian took out the white-feathered fox fur cloak and the steaming food box that Jingxi had given him before he left from his storage ring and handed them to her.

He then cautioned, "It's freezing cold here. Staying too long could expose you to the cold. You can stay for a maximum of two hours, then I'll take you back."

"Young Miss, did you hear that?"

Sang Yingying buried her fair face in the fox fur, but her clear, bright eyes kept darting around in the distance. While munching on a bun, she impatiently mumbled, "I heard it, I heard it, I heard it with both ears."

"Cold face, isn't this a bit too far? The host is like a bird, oh, the bird is talking, it seems to have started? Damn it, I can't see anything at all."

"Didn't the young lady tell Sword Master a few days ago that she wasn't interested in a contest?"

The cold-faced man stood with his sword in his hand, glancing at her indifferently: "If we get too close and the Sword Lord sees us, how will you explain, Miss? Going out to buy talismans and getting lost in the Ten Thousand Ice Valley, two thousand miles away?"

Sang Ying: "..."

The cold-faced man seemed to sigh softly: "Why can't you be more honest, young lady? Your sword tassel has been ready for a long time, hasn't it?"

"..."

Sang Ying ate the hot bun in one bite, then looked down and pulled out some talismans: "Don't worry about that, I have my own rhythm."

"According to my plan, I was supposed to be a well-read woman who captivated countless young men in Qinghe Town, with everyone in the town scrambling for my merchandise. But the plan has run into a little trouble, and right now I'm just a very full woman."

Sang Ying patted her chest and hiccuped.

Cold Noodles: "...I told you to eat slower. Only a loudspeaker would try to take it from you."

Condensing her spiritual power, Sang Ying drew two disguise talismans with the stroke of her brush, and then slapped them onto Leng Mian's forehead.

The black-clad youth's face rippled like water, and in the blink of an eye, it had transformed into the face of a completely unfamiliar young man. His height also increased out of nowhere, becoming that of a young man.

Sang Ying also put up a picture, and was thinking of changing it when she suddenly paused as if she had thought of something, then changed her mind and changed her face.

The cold-faced man sheathed his sword, turned his head, and came face to face with a heavily made-up, bright red and purple face, covered in three pounds of powder, looking like a ghostly madam.

The boy subconsciously took half a step back, and for the first time in his life, a crack appeared in his usually calm expression, as shock slowly shattered in his eyes.

"Young Miss, you..."

Seeing his reaction, Sang Ying nodded in satisfaction, then affectedly flicked her pink handkerchief, which reeked of perfume, and said in a coquettish tone, "Oh dear, why is this young master staring at me so intently? I'm so embarrassed~"

cold noodle:"……"

Miss, whatever makes you happy.

...

"Big brother, could you lower yourself a little? Your spiky ponytail is blocking my view."

The boy, who was intently watching the game, was disturbed when his shoulder was tapped. He frowned impatiently and turned to look behind him.

A deathly pale face, as white as a ghost, came into view.

One-hundred-and-one-second later, the boy screamed, his face turning deathly pale, and shouted that there was a demon or ghost, then quickly ran away.

Sang Ying watched the person disappear. Hmm... was it really that scary? She thought it was fine. Didn't she think her makeup was quite artistic?

An opening appeared in front of her, a gap formed in the crowd. Sang Ying was about to stand on tiptoe to look when the audience in front of her, drawn by the boy's shout, turned their heads.

They looked at each other.

Sang Ying blinked innocently, a wisp of powder falling from her eyelashes.

A few seconds later, screams erupted from a small corner of the audience, but they were not very noticeable amidst the cheers of the crowd.

After a commotion and a flight of people, Sang Ying unknowingly separated from Leng Mian and was pushed to the front, standing against the fence with protective barriers.

With her view widening, Sang Ying looked up and immediately saw the white-clad youth in the air. His swordplay was as graceful as a dragon soaring through the air, as swift as a startled swan, deftly deflecting his opponent's moves and repelling the relentless advance of his opponent with sharp sword energy.

Compared to what I saw a few days ago in the back mountain, his swordsmanship seems to have become more refined.

Sang Ying was unusually quiet, her eyes unblinking as she leaned against the railing and gazed at the scene.

Suddenly, the opponent used a teleportation technique and disappeared, leaving only the young man in the thick smoke.

Sang Ying frowned, her hands unconsciously forming a divination seal as she carefully sensed the surrounding energy. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and instinctively called out, "Xie Lingyu, seven steps to the left behind you!"

Her voice was very soft, and it was in the corner, completely drowned out by the noisy crowd inside.

To prevent interference and cheating, the arena is also protected by barriers set up by powerful beings, so those inside cannot hear any sounds from outside, and even spells such as telepathy cannot be used.

For some reason, the white-clad youth in mid-air suddenly looked in her direction.

From afar, through the faint smoke, Sang Ying's eyes met his suddenly, and her heart skipped a beat.

However, the young man quickly looked away, as if he had only glanced at it unintentionally, and then slashed his sword to the left behind him. The sword strike landed solidly, and his opponent, who was about to launch a sneak attack, was caught off guard and hurriedly put up a defensive stance.

Sang Ying breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out they were just trying to locate their opponent.

She knew it! With so many people at the stadium, how could he possibly see her? And who would dare to look at her more than twice in her current state?

"Found it! The demon is here!"

Suddenly, a commotion arose behind her. Caught off guard, Sang Ying was bumped violently by the person next to her. She swayed and grabbed the railing, feeling a piercing pain in her ankle.

"Demon! This is not a place for you to haunt!"

Sang Ying turned around, and accompanied by a shout from a boy not far away, a golden magic weapon, the Blood Droplet, struck her with a bloodthirsty force.

Her gaze instantly sharpened, and she gripped the exorcism talisman with her fingertips, using her spiritual power to break it.

A bluish-white light beat her to it, the wind whistling past her ear, and before her, it fell silently like a bamboo leaf.

The blood-dripping guillotine, now dull and lifeless, rolled twice on the ground, drawing the attention of the entire audience from the center of the arena to this corner.

The surroundings fell silent; not a pin drop could be heard.

The pale blue scabbard slowly flew back and gently landed in Sang Ying's palm.

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I wrote the opening paragraph for my best friend to see, and he commented: "Who will confess first, the haughty young lady or the reserved, detail-oriented guy?" _(:з」∠)_