Chapter 77 Part 1: The one and only? The one and only.
On both sides of the Endless Sea, a giant gate melted open by the Nanming Li Fire appeared respectively.
The crowd was silent.
It wasn’t just because of Ming Zelin’s words. Another reason was that two things suddenly walked out from both sides. On one side was a huge blood beast. The people of the immortal sects looked at each other, unable to believe that the ferocious and not ugly blood beast was actually from the Yan Clan of Hutian.
And in the hole on the other side, a young bird whose feathers had not yet fully grown flew out with a “ji jiu” sound. The small tuft of feathers on its head had already become a half-finger-long tuft. This time, it wasn’t just the immortal sects. The demonic race also straightened up one after another.
“A, a phoenix…”
“How can there be a phoenix?!”
“Liao Chen caught a phoenix?”
“Didn’t the phoenix clan die out long ago?”
Amidst the rising and falling voices, Ming Zelin and Qi Mufang were very calm. The former said, “It is the adopted son of the Immortal Lord and the Demon Lord, named Gui Yu.”
The phoenix clan had always been the leader of the feathered race. Gui Yu, meant the return of the feathered race.
Qi Mufang also quieted down.
This name was given by the Immortal Lord. At that time, he had given two names, one was Qi Yan, and the other was Gui Yu. Qi meant great, and prosperous. It was the magnificent ancient sound between the vast heavens and earth. Yan was a double fire character, which meant to burn out and to ignite, and also to inherit and to be reborn.
Liao Chen’s answer at that time was: “Too big, and too prosperous.”
Only then did the Immortal Lord choose another one, Gui Yu. It was the first time Qi Mufang had seen Liao Chen show an expression that was almost gentle, looking at the little phoenix who was showing off its might in front of the blood beast, and said, “Let’s call it this.”
He looked at the bird, and in that instant, he suddenly seemed to have realized something.
Li Xiao and Mo Ting also exchanged a glance. Yu Qiuye stroked his chin. Mo Xia’s eyes suddenly stared at the young bird, her two eyes emitting a greedy light. “A phoenix…”
Mo Dong timely pinched her. Mo Xia immediately came back to her senses and said in a small voice, “The adopted son of the Demon Lord and Yan Jingyu?”
Even though her brain was not very good, at this moment, she had already understood that these two people were going to use the matter of getting married today to establish a name and authority for the phoenix clan.
Phoenix returning to its feathers… meant returning home. And Yan Jingyu and Liao Chen would be the safe harbor for all the phoenixes.
The immortal sects and the demonic race were silent at the same time, watching the little phoenix that was flying with some difficulty, constantly rising and falling, until a man slowly walked out from behind him.
The Nanming Li Fire spread from under his feet, surging towards the central contract platform like an arrow leaving the bow.
And under the blood beast’s feet, a path of ice suddenly spread out, like the snow bones of Kunlun, also surging towards the central high platform.
Someone murmured, “Cutting water and cold shallows… the highest realm of the water element… the gods observe the heart, and all streams return to their source, sealing the mountains and rivers with a single thought…”
Boom—
The Kunlun snow bones and the hellfire suddenly collided on the high platform. The ice did not melt, and the fire was not extinguished. On the contrary, they merged and connected in the center of the high platform, condensing into a pillar of worship where ice and fire merged.
Yan Jingyu’s figure slowly walked out from behind the blood beast.
He stepped on a path paved with glaciers, draped in clothes of pearl and brocade. Every step he took reflected a faint light and shadow on the glaciers. His calm eyes, when they met the person opposite him, revealed a faint smile.
Below the stage, Qin Zhongyou and Zeng Huacai sat together, their eyes covered with a white film, their expressions calm and pale.
He can’t see… he thinks, maybe not seeing is for the best. Anyway, he came, he knew, that’s enough.
A hand rested on his shoulder. Zeng Huacai’s gaze was also on Yan Jingyu’s body, his expression faintly sad.
No one had thought that after a hundred years, these two who were once arch-nemesis would actually meet again at the Endless Sea and form a marriage contract here.
A soft gasp suddenly came from his ear. “The Golden Silk Thunder Pattern… the Immortal Lord was actually willing to give him the Golden Silk Thunder Pattern…”
After the rules disappeared, Wen Renying had recorded everything in his vast sea. Although Yan Jingyu had not sent him back to the treasure pavilion of Hutian, he had allowed others to borrow and read it. Therefore, many things were no longer a secret in the eyes of the upper echelons of Hutian.
The two of them stepped onto the contract platform at the same time. Before Yan Jingyu could get close to the sacrificial pillar, he heard Liao Chen’s sound transmission. “My fire got there first.”
“Believe it or not, I’ll wring you out?”
“If you’re not afraid I’ll melt you…”
When they exchanged the wicks of their bonded lamps, the people below the stage had various expressions. Only Ming Zelin was sincerely happy and relieved.
Great. Once the lamp wicks are exchanged, I can stay by the Immortal Lord’s side forever, and I don’t have to worry about being snatched away by Liao Chen alone…
He looked at this scene with a moved expression, not knowing that the two people on the stage, who looked so affectionate, had already had another falling out inside.
“Sleep at the Demon Palace tonight.”
“My Yan estate is also well-arranged. On what grounds should I go to your Demon Palace?”
“You are an estate, I am a palace. Is there any need to ask which is more comfortable?”
“Ha, are you referring to that dilapidated hall that doesn’t even have a bed? Oh, I almost forgot. You only know how to build a nest, not how to make a bed.”
“Didn’t you hear what they said? You never come to the Demon Palace to find me. You definitely don’t love me.”
“Didn’t you hear what Xiao Lin said?”
“What did Xiao Lin say?”
“…”
The wicks of the soul-lamps brushed past each other between their eyebrows and poured into the other’s glabella. The two of them trembled slightly at the same time.
In that instant, Yan Jingyu vaguely seemed to feel all his emotions through the other’s lamp wick, whether it was the carefree days when he was with his mother in the phoenix clan as a child, or the grievance of being trapped in the jade for many years, and also the resentment of being captured by the human race and almost being crushed…
He seemed to have an endless resonance with Liao Chen in a flash of lightning, and even saw his youth being repeatedly hung in purgatory and beaten by Chi Yuan.
“Yan Qi?”
Liao Chen’s voice came. Yan Jingyu suddenly came back to his senses and looked at the man opposite him.
He looked as if he had not been affected. Yan Jingyu immediately realized that this was a side effect of his own laws of the Heavenly Mandate.
The wedding day was indeed a bit tiring. After all, the people of the immortal sects had to go back to the Yan estate for a banquet, and the people of the demonic race had to go back to the Demon Palace for a banquet. Although no one needed them to toast, Yan Jingyu couldn’t just let Qi Mufang and Ming Zelin be busy alone.
Not until this moment did he suddenly realize that the Yan estate might really have too few people…
On the wedding night, in the end, they went neither to the Yan estate nor to the Demon Palace, but turned to Jiuyi Mountain.
The two people in wedding clothes stood on the ruins. The midnight cold wind howled past them. Yan Jingyu first turned his face to look at Liao Chen. “Don’t tell me you’re going to let me spend my wedding night with you in the wilderness.”
“…It wasn’t you who insisted on coming.” Liao Chen was helpless and had no choice but to flip his palm and tidy up.
The ruins were quickly cleaned up. He took out a few more houses and placed them around, then looked at Yan Jingyu.
In the middle of the night, Yan Jingyu had no choice but to drive his spiritual energy and make Jiuyi Mountain become a lush green again.
He strode into the central house. Liao Chen quickly followed him in. Yan Jingyu looked left and right and found that this house was actually fully furnished with tables and chairs. Before he could sit down, Liao Chen had already cast a Dust-Cleansing Art, and at the same time, he took out a clean mattress from his Qiankun Pouch and spread it on top.
Yan Jingyu watched him busy himself in the room, his gaze falling on the pillow on the small couch by the window. He walked over. “Did you buy a new one?”
“I bought it in the demon city.”
He’s showing off his city again at every opportunity. Yan Jingyu smiled. “You also know I like new things?”
Liao Chen shook out the bedspread and turned his face to look at him. “What do you mean, ‘me too’?”
“What I mean is…”
“You saw me changing things for you, and you thought of Qin Zhongyou again?”
“…” Yan Jingyu gave him a white eye. “Hurry up and hang the bed curtains.”
Liao Chen was slightly unhappy, but he did not pursue the matter and continued to hang the bed curtains.
Yan Jingyu, on the other hand, came to the table, took out a red cloth from his own storage ring and spread it on the table. He raised his hand and flicked it, and soon, red double happiness characters were pasted on both sides. He then placed some auspicious objects on the table.
The cultivation world was different from the mortal world. Even when a man and a woman got married, it was not mainly about having children and continuing the family line. Therefore, what he placed were some fresh fruits and spiritual cakes, and also things like “forever together.” As for “a hundred years of good union,” in the cultivation world, that was a curse. No one wanted to live for only a hundred years.
After he had done all this, he glanced at Liao Chen’s back again and placed a wine pot on the table with a mischievous smile.
Just as he had placed the wine cups, Liao Chen turned around. “It’s done.”
As soon as he saw the red double happiness characters and the red candles around him, he was stunned for a moment, his eyes softening a lot. He walked all the way to sit beside Yan Jingyu and coughed lightly.
Yan Jingyu looked at him.
Liao Chen coughed again. “Hmm…”
“Want to thank me?”
“Perhaps, I should have gone to the Yan estate with you.” After exchanging the lamp wicks, his attitude seemed to have become much more sincere. “Here, you have been wronged a little.”
“I’m not wronged.” Yan Jingyu was still playing tricks, a little impatient. “Let’s drink the wedding wine first.”
Although Liao Chen had said some messy things to people at that time, the cultivation world had always been one where strength and character spoke. Just like how Qin Zhongyou’s mother was more assertive, so he took his mother’s surname, and the entire family also took the surname Qin from Qin Rui. Qin Rui was the head of the clan. Ling Dannan was more assertive than Ruan Qingchen. If it were a junior of the clan, they would also address him according to Ling Dannan’s seniority. But whether it was a man or a woman, when they went out, they were either an immortal master or an immortal aunt, and they all had their own names.
In Yan Jingyu’s family, his father was more assertive. But even so, his mother also had her own disciples in the clan, and the disciples would also have other disciples, but they all belonged to the Yan estate. The mother’s disciples would call the father “Grandmaster” or “Master-Father,” and the father’s disciples would call the mother “Mistress.” In the cultivation world, there was no saying of a wife following her husband, or who was dependent on whom. At most, it was just two people partnering to run a sect and sharing the authority of the household.
But he also knew the rules of the phoenix clan.
The phoenix clan, relatively speaking, was one where the male took more care of the female. And the phoenix clan had always been famous for its loyalty, with the saying of “one dies, one returns to the ruins.” But these were actually things he had only recently learned… this made him think of the well-behaved and docile way Liao Chen had behaved when he was courting him at that time. That seemed to be a tradition of the male phoenix…
This time, Liao Chen did not hesitate. He quickly poured the wine and even took the initiative to hand it to Yan Jingyu.
Yan Jingyu immediately took it. As he looked at him, he tentatively clinked his cup with his.
Liao Chen paused slightly. “In the mortal world, you have to cross arms.”
“Cross arms… you won’t secretly pour it away behind my back, will you?”
“Of course not.” Liao Chen held up his wine cup and wrapped his arm around his neck. Yan Jingyu had no choice but to observe him with his divine sense while he rested his head on his shoulder. After he had drunk the wine in his mouth in one gulp, the two of them slowly separated. Liao Chen turned his wine cup upside down. “You see.”
“…” He finished it.
