“Shengsheng.”
“Shengsheng?”
Wenren Sheng frowned. The soreness in his limbs flooded into his senses the moment he woke up, making him let out a soft hum of pain.
He instinctively leaned into He Mu’s arms—that was him who had caught him before they landed.
He Mu listened to Wenren Sheng’s little hums and couldn’t help but lower his head to kiss him.
“It’s normal for your body to ache after using so much spiritual power all at once,” He Mu said. “Shan Yue is still here. I’ll take you to her, Shengsheng.”
With that, he scooped the man up horizontally and headed straight toward the spot where the smoke from the explosion still lingered.
The moment Shan Yue saw Wenren Sheng, she hurried over anxiously. She pressed both hands to his chest and cast a healing spell on him.
“Thank goodness, young hero…” Shan Yue was shy by nature, but even she couldn’t hold back her tears at that moment. Her voice trembled as she said, “It’s just a minor injury. As long as you’re okay.”
Hearing this, Yi Fang felt all the strength drain from his body. He fell back onto the ground and let out a long breath.
“Thank goodness, thank goodness…”
He clutched his pounding heart.
“I really, really, really thought I was going to be scared to death!”
Yi Jinxiang, supported by Ye Lan, sat down beside Wenren Sheng. She brushed his hair back with the back of her hand.
She lowered her gaze halfway and said softly, “Thank you, Shengsheng.”
After the tumultuous clamor, Cangzhou City was like a bowstring stretched too taut suddenly relaxed. Everything fell into calm, plunging into silence at that moment.
Aside from the occasional footsteps of a few people, the only sound in their ears was slow, heavy breathing.
Everyone had given their all. They needed this moment of peace.
A long while later, the pain in Wenren Sheng’s body gradually faded, and he was finally able to open his eyes.
He let out a long breath and lowered his gaze. Only then did he notice that He Mu had been gripping his hand tightly the whole time.
“Brother,” Wenren Sheng hooked his fingers back around He Mu’s and said softly, “Siming…”
Before he could finish, a few rustling sounds came from beneath the collapsed giant tree. Everyone’s expressions tightened as they all turned their gazes toward the spot where Siming had fallen.
Wenren Sheng’s pupils contracted. His heart rate suddenly spiked. He fumbled on the ground for a couple of seconds and grabbed his sword.
“She’s still alive…” he murmured. “It’s not over yet. Everyone, be careful!”
He Mu frowned. He released Wenren Sheng’s hand and slowly stood up.
And in that very second, the sky-supporting giant tree shattered into bubbles with a boom.
At the spot where Siming had fallen, a figure slowly crawled to its feet. Her red hair hung disheveled, her neck was crooked, and there was a glaring red strangulation mark on her throat. Her flesh and blood body looked as if it had been sliced apart by a thousand knives, a horrific and terrifying sight.
Wenren Sheng felt a chill run down his spine. He gripped his sword and climbed to his feet, watching Siming tensely.
“You…”
“How?” Siming wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and stood up from the rubble. “Do you think I should be dead? That I shouldn’t be getting back up?”
Wenren Sheng’s brows furrowed. He snapped, “I’ve severed your root veins. You’re at the end of your strength. Why keep fighting us? Just rest in peace!”
Siming chuckled lightly. The bubbles from the giant tree slowly adhered to her body, bit by bit repairing her torn flesh and spilled blood.
She exhaled and said slowly, “This one is called Taiwu. The previous one was called Xuanyuan. The one before that was… what was it again…”
“Taiwu?” Wenren Sheng tried hard to make sense of her words. “The Heavenly Court’s emperor?”
“To be honest, I never had much hope for people like that anyway.”
Siming mocked with a curl of her lip and walked toward Wenren Sheng.
He Mu instinctively moved to block in front of Wenren Sheng, but he stopped him with a raised hand.
“There’s no divine graven aura on her anymore,” Wenren Sheng said. “Brother, hold off for now.”
He Mu was silent for a moment before he replied, “Don’t get too close to her. She’s completely insane.”
Wenren Sheng nodded, sheathed his sword, and stood in place watching Siming.
His eyes held no emotion, like a pool of calm water.
“What do you want to say?”
Siming finally stopped in front of Wenren Sheng. She panted heavily with difficulty but still raised her chin arrogantly.
“It doesn’t matter who sits on the Heavenly Court’s throne,” she said. “But without me, the gods of the upper realm can’t survive, and the lowly mortals of the lower realm can’t survive either.”
Wenren Sheng didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean, what?!” Siming got a little angry. “I mean, all those gods in the Heavenly Court right now—the Big Dipper Seven Stars, Wind Master Rain Master—they all have divine graven bestowed by me. I promoted every single one of them!”
Wenren Sheng’s eyes widened slightly. “You stuffed that many people into the Heavenly Court?”
He Mu picked up the sword from his arms and said, “She’s been controlling ascension to keep monsters out. The Heavenly Court was short on manpower, so she secretly promoted those with poor aptitude to ascend and cultivate her so-called ‘Emotionless Dao.'”
“Their aptitudes were lacking, so their dao hearts were all fake too. That way, most of the Heavenly Court’s gods had handles on them, letting her control the emperor and cover the sky with one hand.”
Wenren Sheng finally understood.
Just like the reasons they didn’t want to dismantle the Heavenly Court, the positions of gods weren’t something just anyone could fill.
To give the Heavenly Court fresh blood now, they could only wait—wait hundreds of years for new ascenders to gradually replace those gods Siming had secretly installed.
“Then what do we do…” Wenren Sheng fell into distress.
Seeing his helpless look, Siming felt even more smug. She gathered her sleeves and said, “You’ve been to the Heavenly Court, right? You saw it—the current emperor is just a powerless cripple.”
At this point, Siming couldn’t help but chuckle. “If you want to rely on him to clean things up, you might as well obey me obediently.”
Wenren Sheng didn’t respond. He thought for a moment, then turned back to Yi Fang.
“Yi Fang, can you contact that land god again and call the emperor down?”
Yi Fang opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by He Mu’s flat voice.
“No need.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, He Mu’s figure vanished from in front of Wenren Sheng.
A few seconds later, he reappeared, dragging a yelling Taiwu in one hand. He tossed the man in front of Siming.
Taiwu’s face hit the ground first as he skidded to a stop. “Ow!” He clutched his forehead.
“What the hell… Didn’t we already chop down the tree? Why do you still need this venerable one down here!”
The smile on Siming’s face froze. She frowned at Taiwu on the ground and demanded of Wenren Sheng, “What do you mean by this?”
But she saw Wenren Sheng lean in to whisper something in Yi Jinxiang’s ear, even shaking her hand coquettishly.
“Master, please~ You’re really, really perfect for it. It’ll only be for a short time, just temporary, okay?”
Yi Jinxiang used her fan to cover her face and looked away.
“Just temporary?”
“Yeah, just temporary. We’ll come help too!”
Yi Jinxiang pursed her lips. After a long pause, she finally agreed. “…Alright.”
Seeing this, a sense of unease rose in Siming’s heart. She hurriedly kicked Taiwu and demanded angrily, “What do you mean? What did you promise them?!”
Taiwu retreated repeatedly. “Noth…”
Siming glared at him and gnashed her teeth. “If you deceived me, I’ll kill you.”
Taiwu was truly scared. He shook his head frantically and said subserviently, “Uh… I, I’ve already agreed.”
“What did you say?” Siming roared at him. “What have you agreed to!”
Taiwu glanced guiltily at Wenren Sheng a few times and said in an even softer voice, “I agreed to let Wen… Wenqu Star…”
“…become the next emperor.”
“…………”
In an instant, Siming stood frozen in place as if she couldn’t understand human speech.
“You… you said…”
“The divine graven on your body saved your life once. Since you’re blessed with great fortune and longevity, we’re not out to exterminate you completely.”
Yi Jinxiang shook her fan lightly from a short distance away, casually interrupting her.
“You say the Heavenly Court can’t do without you? Then stay obediently in the Heavenly Prison and assist me.”
Wenren Sheng nodded too and said, “I’ve avenged the first life. Now, just atone properly and be a good ‘subordinate’ to my master. We’ll all understand!”
He emphasized the words “subordinate” on purpose, as if saying it deliberately for Siming to hear.
Siming stared wide-eyed in disbelief at Wenren Sheng. Just as she opened her mouth to say something, several land gods were thrown at her feet. They bound her up with hands and feet.
“Take her back, take her back!” Taiwu jumped up and directed hurriedly. “Lock her in the Heavenly Prison!”
Siming struggled for a moment.
“Wait, wait, I—”
Before she could finish, a circle of Earth-Shrinking Divine Curse runes appeared on the ground. In the blink of an eye, the gods vanished from in front of everyone.
Wenren Sheng let out a breath of relief and cheered as he jumped into He Mu’s arms.
“We did it!”
He Mu had been listening silently without interrupting Wenren Sheng. Now he finally had the chance to hold him.
“You’ve gotten smarter,” He Mu said with a smile, ruffling Wenren Sheng’s hair. “So impressive, Wenren Sheng.”
Wenren Sheng leaned in too, rubbing his face hard against He Mu’s like a child and repeating immaturely, “So impressive, Wenren Sheng!”
He Mu took advantage and kissed him twice more, until Wenren Sheng got a little shy and flailed to push his face away.
“There are still people around…”
He Mu glanced around at He Mu’s words and found everyone staring at them.
The moment their eyes met his, the crowd tactfully turned away and busied themselves with their own tasks.
He Mu didn’t care at all. After setting Wenren Sheng down, he pinched his cheek.
“This could go right into a storybook, couldn’t it, legendary hero?”
It was meant as teasing, but Wenren Sheng thought about it seriously for a bit before nodding.
“It could!”
After all, he really was a great hero now, with his very own heroic tale. What was strange about that?
Just thinking about how he was about to become a famous xia whose name shook the jianghu made the smile on Wenren Sheng’s face impossible to wipe away.
He covered his mouth and snickered, his fluffy tail wagging happily back and forth.
He Mu watched him smile brightly for a while. Once his excitement died down a bit, he reached out and pinched Wenren Sheng’s cheek.
“There’s one more thing.”
Wenren Sheng quickly composed himself and asked solemnly, “What is it?”
He Mu didn’t answer right away. His eyes curved as he leaned down slightly, bringing his mouth to Wenren Sheng’s ear.
“The matter of marrying me, Shengsheng.”
Wenren Sheng’s ears instantly turned red. He retreated a step in a panic, pushing at He Mu’s chest with both hands.
“Th-that, you don’t have to say it now! Why are you in such a hurry? It’s not like… not like I’m unwilling…”
He stammered on, and He Mu steadied his arms, asking, “Then when should I say it?”
When?
Wenren Sheng lowered his head, hearts bubbling in his eyes as he thought hard.
But he was too shy. His mind was completely blank; he couldn’t think of anything.
In the end, Wenren Sheng closed his eyes and replied in the faintest voice:
“After… we get back to Fragrant Ze Mountain… you can…”
“You can… marry me…”
