42 Chapter 42
◎Marriage◎
"Only for you."
Once he received the marriage certificate, Jiang Qiye spoke without his previous restraint, his tone filled with undisguised tenderness.
Pei Xueyan laughed and joked, "If you find out in the future that I'm not the kind of person you imagine, you'll probably regret what you did today and forget about me."
Jiang Qiye turned to look at her and said with great certainty, "No. No matter what you become, I will love you."
"Don't be so mushy." Pei Xueyan stiffened, a little overwhelmed by such blatant tenderness, and quickly changed the subject, "Who knows if you'll do something to betray me in the future? You can just find some excuse like 'having no choice' to get away with it."
He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment, then looked up again: "I won't. If that day ever comes, it will be because I'm sorry, and there will be no excuse."
Seeing his serious expression, Pei Xueyan stopped teasing him.
Whether he's sincere or not doesn't matter; men's vows are the least reliable anyway, and she won't listen to them.
Once she obtained the Escape Technique and the complete cultivation manual, she made a hasty escape.
"It's getting late, let's go back. We have the wedding tomorrow, so we need to get some rest and be ready."
Jiang Qiye: "Okay, I'll lead you."
"I can walk."
"The mountain road is slippery at night, walk slowly." He said, naturally taking her hand in his. His palm was warm and dry, just enough to envelop her hand.
Pei Xueyan tried to break free, but he held her even tighter.
"obedient."
Pei Xueyan couldn't stand such pretentious words: "Master Jiang, can you please stop saying such mushy things? It's not like you at all."
Jiang Qiye said, "I'll learn from you."
When did I say anything so cheesy?
“You’ve been talking like this ever since I met you.”
The way he spoke seemed a bit sarcastic.
As they walked hand in hand down from the Temple of the Matchmaker, the sky darkened, and Jiang Qiye stopped in his tracks.
Pei Xueyan saw him turn around and look at her, with a "lecherous" look on his face.
"What are you doing? There are people here."
Jiang Qiye shook his head: "It's so late, no one is passing by anymore."
"Then what are you going to do? In broad daylight, under the clear sky..."
He was very restrained, simply holding her tightly in his arms.
His palms moved restlessly, shifting suggestively around her waist, but there was no further action.
Pei Xueyan could clearly feel his rapid breathing and the increasingly unfathomable emotions in his eyes.
They returned to the elegant residence in silence. As soon as they opened the door, Jiang Qiye took the initiative to suggest, "We're getting married tomorrow. I won't practice mysticism tonight. Let's sleep in the bed."
Pei Xueyan: "......"
There's only one bed here, so naturally they sleep together.
She forced a smile and said, "Okay, okay, but I'm a little tired, I'm going to sleep now."
With that, she quickly slipped behind the bed curtains.
"What should I do? What should I do?" She patted her head, her mind racing.
It seems like we've really gone too far.
Originally, he planned to get the cultivation manual and then leave, but now, before even their wedding night has arrived, he's already so intimate with her. They'll be sharing a bed tonight; who knows what might happen?
She quietly lifted a corner of the bed curtain and peeked outside.
Jiang Qiye was standing inside the hall, his back to her, still admiring the contents of the marriage proposal.
Soon, the footsteps outside gradually approached. Pei Xueyan quickly shrank back, closed her eyes, held her breath, and pretended to be fast asleep.
Pei Xueyan's body was tense, and she could clearly feel the faint, cool fragrance emanating from him.
Before she could even catch her breath, she felt a warm hand gently resting on her waist.
The force was very light, with obvious restraint.
"Ah Zheng? Is she really asleep?"
Pei Xueyan held her tongue and continued to play dead.
He was silent for a moment, then tightened his grip on her waist slightly, pulling her closer to him.
The distance between the two instantly closed.
Jiang Qiye held her like that, remaining silent for a long time before slowly speaking, his voice as soft as a dream.
"What should I say or do? Will you resent me when you wake up? Whether you resent or hate me, from now on we are husband and wife, people who will be together through life and death. No matter how you treat me in the future, I will not blame you. All of this is what I deserve."
"I know you didn't like me at first, and I know you may have fallen for me again later. I don't care how much pretense and sincerity were mixed in your words, which were a mix of truth and falsehood."
He whispered as he hugged her and kissed her forehead: "I want you to forgive me and stop blaming me."
This time, there is a real demand for it.
She slowly drifted off to sleep.
I probably didn't hear anything.
Jiang Qiye held her for a while before getting up.
He slowly got up and sat back on the futon to prepare for cultivation.
Unable to calm his mind, the incantation of Xuanxiu kept circling in his head, but he still couldn't quiet his mind.
Jiang Qiye sighed softly, closed his eyes again, and tried to focus his attention on the circulation of spiritual energy.
But the more you try to restrain yourself, the more turbulent those suppressed emotions become.
The image of her lying in a pool of blood in the illusion, her painful groans when her cultivation was destroyed, her blank eyes after being given the potion of forgetfulness, and now her sleeping soundly without any defense.
Scenes flashed through his mind, intensifying the hidden pain in his dantian.
He knew he was gravely guilty.
He not only disobeyed his master's orders and deceived her feelings, but also ruined her original life.
Destroying her cultivation and forcing her to drink the potion of forgetfulness was the only way he could think of to protect her at the time.
The spiritual energy flowed slowly through the meridians, but always carried a slight stagnation.
Jiang Qiye could feel that his cultivation had been significantly depleted due to the previous spirit transfer, and now, with his mind unsettled, the recovery speed was even slower.
Perhaps because they were both preoccupied with their own thoughts, the night passed exceptionally quickly.
The next morning, before the wedding arrangements could be made, Pei Xueyan cautiously probed, "Husband, why do I feel numb all over and can't muster any strength? Is it because your cultivation level and my physique are not compatible?"
She tossed her hair in front of the bronze mirror and continued to feign illness: "I didn't sleep well last night either. My head hurts, my back hurts, and my legs hurt. Hey, could you transfer some more of your cultivation to me? Maybe more spiritual energy will help me recover."
"Okay, I'll send them all to you."
She thought she would have to persuade him a bit more, but Jiang Qiye agreed without even thinking about it.
"Huh??" Pei Xueyan turned her head and looked at him in astonishment.
He said softly, "After thinking it over, I realized that without the Core Formation, even with only half of your cultivation, you can only unleash one-tenth of your full potential. Why don't I give you everything, along with the complete cultivation method, and teach you it together? If you can comprehend it, you should be able to unleash half of your power, which would be enough to protect yourself in this immortal sect and make you hard to find an opponent."
Pei Xueyan was standing in front of the bronze mirror, her hairpin adorning her hair, staring blankly at him, unsure how to respond.
It seems to be easier than I expected.
He was actually willing to give up his years of cultivation for her?
"Then... what will you do?" she asked instinctively.
Jiang Qiye said calmly, "The Qing Sect has many profound yet simple spells, so it won't be difficult for me to start practicing them again. Moreover, I have memorized the mental cultivation techniques and related books. It won't take me more than ten or eight years to recover to my current level."
Pei Xueyan still couldn't believe it: "You... are you serious? If you pass it all on to me, you'll practically become a cripple. What if you encounter danger?"
He smiled faintly: "My reputation as a disciple of the Qingzong Sect still stands, and ordinary people dare not easily provoke me. Besides, there's you here too."
My master said that women should not be deceived by men, nor should they be soft-hearted.
It must not be influenced by any factors.
She was about to succeed and couldn't afford to hesitate.
"Alright, then I'll accept! Once I've mastered my cultivation, I'll protect you!"
They put on their wedding attire, and there was no one around, no guests, no matchmakers; it was as simple as children playing house.
There was no three bows, no worship of heaven and earth, no worship of gods; they simply picked up the remaining half-pot of Heqin wine, intertwined their arms, and drank it all.
After drinking the nuptial wine, the two sat down on the edge of the bed.
Jiang Qiye felt dizzy and collapsed onto the bed; it was the sleeping powder Pei Xueyan had given him.
Pei Xueyan felt relieved and immediately got up and rushed to the main hall, where she found the silk book filled with mental cultivation techniques in a wooden box next to the prayer mat.
After thinking it over, she realized that this man was probably lying to her. How could someone as shrewd as him not leave her with any of his cultivation?
The sleeping powder was probably not strong enough, because Jiang Qiye woke up in less than a quarter of an hour!
"You..." Pei Xueyan was so shocked that she took a half step back.
He touched his head, trying to wake up quickly. He didn't say anything, but just walked towards her step by step. For some reason, Pei Xueyan was so frightened that she instinctively turned around and ran away, staggering out of the elegant house while lifting her skirt.
He used all his strength to activate the cultivation technique he had just learned and dodge away.
Unfamiliar with the operation, they could only manage to escape to the nearby woods.
Soon, people started chasing after them.
Perhaps due to nervousness after doing something wrong, she didn't see the stone under her feet or the crater in the ground and fell straight down.
The feeling was dizzying, as if I could see torches chasing me from all around.
"Xue Lian! Xue Lian..."
Did she hear someone call that name?
In a daze, my mind went blank. Who was Xue Lian?
Why do people call her by that name?
Suddenly, the scene in her mind shifted, and she saw herself holding a long sword, the tip pressed against her heart, blood gushing down the blade, staining her plain dress red.
That sword... it's so familiar, so familiar.
There's so much blood on my body...
When Abao appeared in the golden wheat field, Pei Xueyan suddenly woke up. She stood up straight from the pothole, her eyes empty and blank.
More fragments of memory surfaced.
Those forgotten past events, those concealed truths, are now all brought back and pieced together.
He actually lied to her again!
Hearing the shouts behind her, Pei Xueyan knew he had arrived.
She really wanted to pretend to be the carefree "little liar" she had been a moment before, and to innocently deceive him.
But now, even if he were to obtain all his cultivation, it would still be difficult to quell the hatred in his heart.
She wanted to stab him a few times, to let him taste the pain of being torn apart.
Jiang Qiye stumbled into the woods and, by the moonlight, finally saw a figure standing straight in the ditch.
He jumped down, and Pei Xueyan had already turned around. She wanted to see his face clearly, but he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her fiercely.
This was not a test, nor tenderness; it was a forceful kiss driven by a desperate, reckless, and do-or-die mentality.
His lips were burning hot, tasting of blood, and he covered hers fiercely, with such force that he almost bit her lips and teeth to pieces.
He pried open her teeth, his tongue recklessly forcing its way in, stealing her breath, tracing her lips and teeth, pouring all his guilt, fear, resentment, and surging love into this almost brutal kiss.
Pei Xueyan's pupils contracted sharply, and her whole body froze.
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