Within the Wilds Ruins, above a sea of clouds, lay a secluded courtyard untouched by the world.
“Stop sleeping and get up!”
Lou Yue raised a hand to cover her ears, rolled over, and turned toward the wall.
Standing beside the bed with her hands on her hips, Liufeng Xin let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re getting lazier and lazier!”
“If the people in the alliance found out that their legendary, mighty leader is actually a hopeless sluggard in private, where would you put your dignity?”
Lou Yue had heard those words so many times that they had practically grown calluses on her ears. Her heart remained utterly unmoved, and she did not even lift her eyelids.
“Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve! It’s such an important day—how can you spend it sleeping? Get up, hurry!”
Liufeng Xin climbed onto the bed and began tugging at her.
Lou Yue could not be bothered to pay attention to this woman who was using tomorrow’s date to force her out of bed today.
“Even Hong Chou knew to hurry back early. As the alliance leader, you should set an example too.”
No matter how much Liufeng Xin pulled, Lou Yue remained perfectly still. She merely said, “Whoever proposed throwing a grand New Year’s Eve celebration should be the one to set an example.”
Liufeng Xin choked for a moment. “I only wanted everyone to have some fun. Once we held it the first year, it would have been inappropriate to stop the second year. And after holding it the second year, how could we possibly not continue this year?”
“You have no idea. Those scions of noble families act all sarcastic about cultivators celebrating a mortal holiday, but secretly, they’re green with envy.”
Every year around this time, Fat Second would catch a group of people secretly hiding in the Wilds to watch the fireworks. Their territory had practically become a New Year’s Eve tourist attraction.
She continued, “Besides, this year Aiai’s Trade Hall made a fortune off the Four Great Families. She and Godfather discussed it, and this year’s fireworks and firecrackers budget has been doubled outright.”
Seeing that Lou Yue still showed no reaction, Liufeng Xin simply sprawled across her. “Get up! Godfather personally sent me to fetch you, and everyone is waiting!”
Lou Yue ignored her. Waiting for her? It certainly could not be for official business. These days, alliance affairs no longer required her personal attention.
Over the past three years, the Loose Cultivators’ Alliance had gotten onto a steady footing. Building on its original framework, it had established various halls and used the Wilds and the ruins to attract and cultivate capable talents.
Lou Chengfeng presided over the Council Hall, overseeing the various branches and the Mission Pavilion. Later, he appointed Big Brother Wei as vice hall master to assist him.
Liufeng Xin and Xiao Aiai respectively took charge of the Medicine Hall and the Trade Hall, while Hong Chou led the Intelligence Hall.
Fat Second and the others took charge of positions such as the Patrol and Defense Hall.
When they had first begun, everyone—including Lou Yue herself—had stumbled through their duties. There had been far too many people who refused to submit. Yet along the way, they had supported one another and weathered one crisis after another.
Now, not only had the Loose Cultivators’ Alliance become the choice of the overwhelming majority of loose cultivators and the fifth-largest power in the cultivation world, but everyone’s cultivation and strength had also risen dramatically. They were all capable of standing on their own.
As for Lou Yue, she had entered the legendary Divine God Realm in a single breakthrough one month ago.
Liufeng Xin suddenly paused. “Oh, right. Hong Chou just received word that Cangya Lan has ended her seclusion and appeared at the summit of Cangya Peak. She sent you a message, but you didn’t respond, so she asked me to tell you while I was here.”
Lou Yue slowly opened her eyes.
Liufeng Xin immediately began scolding her. “I talked for ages, and in the end, the words ‘Cangya Lan’ were all it took.”
Still, grumbling was one thing; she knew what mattered. “Can you get up now?”
Lou Yue sat up and lazily yawned. Under Liufeng Xin’s urging, she changed her clothes.
Liufeng Xin dragged her toward the door. As they passed through the courtyard, she instinctively glanced upward. Then she suddenly stopped and cried out in delight, “Oh! That tree is finally bearing fruit!”
Lou Yue froze slightly and slowly lifted her head.
The Chunhua fruit tree, which had still been covered only in lush green leaves yesterday, was suddenly laden overnight with clusters of tiny white blossoms. They seemed like heaps of fine frost, floating beneath the morning light with a gentle, pale radiance.
The tree had been planted nearly three years ago. Thanks to the pure spiritual energy here, it had grown wildly, yet it had never bloomed or borne fruit.
Back then, Lou Chengfeng had even told her to pull it up and plant another, saying there might be something wrong with the seed. But she had refused to believe it and insisted on waiting for it to flower and bear fruit.
A breeze brushed past, sending the frost-white petals trembling softly upon the branches.
The wind skimmed past Lou Yue’s temples, lifting a few strands of hair and causing her long, butterfly-wing-like lashes to flutter gently.
“Come on, let’s go. Godfather and the others will be waiting forever.”
Liufeng Xin resumed dragging Lou Yue along. With the golden leaf Lou Yue had given her, she could also travel freely through the ruins.
Lou Yue simply let herself be pulled along, happy to conserve her energy. As they walked, she asked, “Has Yu Youchun woken up?”
Liufeng Xin replied sourly, “How could he wake up that quickly? Even if you’re in the Divine God Realm, a method of being reborn through another body goes against the laws of Heaven. You suffered backlash from it, and even if he wakes up, he’ll probably have to undergo a lightning tribulation, just like in those books.”
She waved a hand. “Don’t worry. The moment anything happens, you’ll be the first to know.”
Lou Yue gave a quiet hum.
After leaving the ruins, the two of them used the teleportation array that had cost a fortune to build and arrived in the territory of the Loose Cultivators’ Alliance.
“Godfather really was clever to build this teleportation array. Otherwise, my legs would have fallen off from running to find you every time.” Liufeng Xin complained, though there was a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “He says you deliberately hide away in the ruins so you can dump the whole mess on him.”
“I’m simply putting his instructions into practice and acting as a mascot,” Lou Yue replied blandly.
Liufeng Xin was caught between laughter and tears. “That doesn’t mean you can ignore everything. Especially after entering the Divine God Realm—you’ve spent the entire month curled up in the ruins sleeping. Don’t you get bored?”
She turned back to look at Lou Yue, her brows drawing together slightly. The words “He’s actually a little worried about you” reached her lips, but she swallowed them and replaced them with a complaint:
“He misses you terribly. He talks about you every day. My ears are practically callused.”
Even Blackfur and Whitefur, the two marmots, had been driven to distraction by Lou Chengfeng’s endless muttering. They staged a performance of running away from home almost every day.
In Liufeng Xin’s eyes, Lou Yue did not need them to worry about her. She was Lou Yue, after all. She would never do anything rash.
Recently, Lou Yue had likely reached the highest realm attainable by the cultivators in the book and lost her goal. And then there was Xiao Rangchen…
So perhaps, for the moment, she simply could not summon much enthusiasm.
But that was precisely what family meant. Whether she was spirited and triumphant or quiet and dispirited, they would remain steadfastly by her side and accompany her through this stretch of time.
That was also why, when she had proposed holding a grand New Year’s Eve celebration, everyone had supported her without hesitation.
As soon as Liufeng Xin pulled Lou Yue onto the alliance’s main street, she released her hand and once again assumed her aloof, saintly exterior. Together, she and Lou Yue headed toward the Council Hall at the very center.
The streets were crowded with people. The moment they saw the two women, everyone stopped in their tracks.
Of all the branches, the Medicine Hall had the most contact with the alliance’s loose cultivators. After all, whether they needed to collect pills or have their injuries treated, they had to visit the Medicine Hall. As its master, Liufeng Xin was not only strikingly beautiful, but her mastery of alchemy was so extraordinary that countless alchemists felt ashamed in her presence.
By now, everyone in the cultivation world knew that the Loose Cultivators’ Alliance possessed the Red-and-White Beauties—the alluring and glamorous Red Beauty, Hong Chou, and the cool, saintly White Beauty, Liufeng Xin.
Everyone on the street recognized Liufeng Xin at a glance. Yet at this moment, every gaze was drawn involuntarily to the woman beside her—Lou Yue.
Her hair was swept into a high coiffure, adorned with intertwined, gilded branches that rose like thorns, their sharp edges radiating an air of both grandeur and menace.
Her ivory-apricot gown began at the shoulders and throat, where layers of gilded embroidery spread outward. Like the feathered scales of a phoenix spreading its wings, the patterns flowed down along the fabric’s natural lines. With every step, they shimmered and shifted, as though she were walking upon streams of light.
An outfit so dignified and lavish would have overwhelmed an ordinary person, making the clothing more eye-catching than its wearer.
But on her, it was merely an embellishment.
Because her presence was far more dazzling than any finery.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, though hers was a beauty unlike that of the Red-and-White Beauties.
Her brows were sharply defined, and the corners of her eyes lifted slightly. When her gaze lowered, she seemed languid and unconcerned; yet when she looked up, there was an imperious arrogance in her eyes, as if she looked down upon all living things.
It was the kind of beauty that struck the heart at first sight—
So this was the sort of beauty that existed in this world: vivid, uninhibited, and so dazzling that people hardly dared to look directly at her.
And someone like her was also the only person in the entire cultivation world to have entered the legendary Divine God Realm.
A month ago, she had undergone her tribulation deep in the Wasteland. Her figure standing proudly between heaven and earth as dark-gold lightning and flames filled the skies had already been etched deeply into the hearts of countless people.
“L-Leader, Leader!”
“Leader!”
The surrounding cultivators suddenly came to their senses and hurriedly bowed in greeting, unable to conceal the awe in their voices.
Lou Yue’s indifferent gaze swept over them. She gave a slight nod, then entered the council hall with Liufeng Xin.
The moment the two figures disappeared, the street fell silent for an instant. Then it erupted.
“I actually saw the Leader! The last time I saw her was a whole year ago!”
“You think that’s a long time? The last time I saw her was during New Year’s Eve two years ago!”
“Heh heh, I happened to be in the Wasteland when the Leader underwent her tribulation. Heh heh heh…”
The moment he finished speaking, the man was soundly thumped by his companions on both sides.
“Ahhh, the Leader is so beautiful! I want to have her babies!”
“…She’s a woman, and so are you…”
“So what? Ah, the Leader really is an inspiration to all women!”
“Hey, did you know? The Leader actually has a furnace physique…”
“So what if she does? Who in the entire cultivation world would dare to lay a hand on her now? Are they tired of living?”
“The heads of the Cangya and Yue families came here more than two years ago, didn’t they? They didn’t gain even the slightest advantage, and ended up disgracing themselves instead. Hahaha!”
“Haha, I know! The Leader not only didn’t lose to them, she even cursed them out until they were covered in blood! And she did it without using a single dirty word the entire time. Tsk, tsk…”
…
The commotion outside was thunderous, but Lou Yue paid it no mind.
Liufeng Xin turned her head, barely suppressing a laugh. “How many times has this happened already? Every time you show your face, they get excited for the entire day.”
Lou Yue glanced at her from the corner of her eye but said nothing. She walked straight up the stairs and entered the upper level of the council hall.
The moment she appeared, Lou Chengfeng let out a heavy snort. “So you finally decided to come out.”
Leaning against the railing, Hong Chou withdrew her gaze from the street outside and turned it toward Lou Yue, her voice carrying a sultry, teasing smile. “Yueyue, I’m honestly jealous of how popular you are~”
She drew out the final syllable playfully. “I suppose this is what they mean by the one you can’t have is the one who keeps you restless.”
Lou Yue walked straight over and lay down on the reclining chair beside Xiao Aiai. Looking toward Hong Chou, she asked in a cold voice, “Has Cangya Lan emerged from seclusion?”
Hong Chou nodded, her smile fading as she became unusually serious. “I suspect he’s already allied himself with the other clans and is preparing to surround and attack the Wasteland.”
She folded her arms across her chest, her tone grave. “The news that you’ve reached the Divine God Realm can’t be kept secret. The four great clans must all know by now. It’s possible Cangya Lan’s emergence from seclusion is related to this.”
“Over the past two days, we’ve received frequent reports that the four great clans have been secretly recalling their experts.”
Lou Yue’s brows lifted slightly. Her manner remained casual, yet her words gleamed with sharpness.
“Let them come. It’ll be the perfect chance to wipe them all out.”
-----------------------
A man whose wife is far too beautiful needs to get used to days like this early on.
