Chapter 62
“Girl…”
Haowei dr4p3d a coat over himself and glanced at the sleeping Si Lan. Although Si Lan’s delicate appearance after being bullied might make him look somewhat feminine, it wasn’t to the extent of being mistaken for a woman.
Haowei stepped out from behind the curtain and lowered his voice. “Divine Mother, what brings you here?”
“I heard you brought a girl back to Yuqing Palace, so I came to see.” The Divine Mother withdrew her gaze from the curtain and looked at him with an expression that suggested he was teachable. She took his hand, leading him out of the hall while gently asking, “Which celestial maiden is she?”
Haowei hesitated. “He’s not from the Heavenly Realm.”
The Divine Mother paused, a look of conflict crossing her face. Slowly, she said, “As long as she’s not from the Demon Realm.”
“…” Haowei.
Seeing Haowei’s silence and noticing his peculiar expression, the Divine Mother felt a chill in her heart. “She… she isn’t really from the Demon Realm, is she?”
“Yes,” Haowei replied.
“…” The Divine Mother.
Haowei saw the Divine Mother’s thunderstruck expression and hesitated on how to communicate with her to alleviate her prejudice. The Divine Mother, being of advanced age, had experienced the three great wars between the heavens and demons, which had deeply ingrained her biases against the Demon Realm.
At this moment, the Divine Mother sighed deeply as if preparing herself mentally. “It doesn’t matter as long as she’s a woman.”
Having lived over eighty thousand years, she had seen many kinds of love and hate across the six realms. Being from the Demon Clan wasn’t unacceptable; age, status, and position were not the most important things. The crucial thing was that this girl had genuine feelings for Haowei and could give birth to a couple of children for him soon.
But after she finished speaking, she noticed Haowei’s strange silence again.
The Divine Mother’s arm trembled slightly. Looking at Haowei’s handsome face, she found it hard to believe. “You… you’re not going to tell me that he’s not even a woman…”
Haowei nodded with difficulty and reached out to support her, afraid she might faint.
Indeed, the Divine Mother staggered, her pearl hair ornaments shaking like her chaotic heart. With a pained expression, she grasped Haowei’s hand, her lips moving as if to say something but unable to articulate it.
She had never imposed her will on others and had rarely interfered in Haowei’s growth. But this time, Haowei’s matter truly shocked her.
After a while, she regained her composure. “A man? From the Demon Realm?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, is there anything else you need to tell me?”
“He’s also been married three times.”
The Divine Mother staggered again, gripping Haowei’s hand even tighter. She turned around, her eyes filled with helplessness and pain as she looked at Haowei. Though she said nothing, her eyes clearly asked, “What on earth do you see in him?”
Haowei spoke with utmost sincerity. “Divine Mother, the story between him and me is too complex to explain briefly. Because of various reasons, he doesn’t have a good reputation in the Six Realms. But after getting to know him, I am grateful that I saw through those unreliable rumors and understood the real him, and fell in love with him.”
The Divine Mother had never heard Haowei speak so many words in one breath. In her memory, Haowei, like his father Taiwei, was taciturn and stoic. Yet both would speak passionately for their loved ones.
So, it turns out, this deep affection can also be inherited.
The Divine Mother couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. She sat in the octagonal pavilion, her gaze drifting. Seeing this, Haowei quietly stayed by her side.
He knew the Divine Mother cared for him and wouldn’t hurt his feelings.
After a long silence, the Divine Mother recovered. “Haowei, I fear that your life has been too smooth, without much hardship, and you might be blinded by temporary happiness.”
“Divine Mother, I understand your concern. My feelings for him are not a fleeting infatuation.”
“Then… what exactly attracts you to him?”
Haowei smiled. “Divine Mother, you should ask what doesn’t attract me to him.”
The Divine Mother changed her question with resignation. “Fine, then what doesn’t attract you to him?”
“Nothing.”
“…” The Divine Mother.
Seeing Haowei’s firm demeanor, the Divine Mother felt both helpless and amazed. She became increasingly curious about Si Lan. “May I see this girl—no, this young man? What kind of person has so thoroughly captivated you?”
“He’s still sleeping. Perhaps you could visit another day.”
Upon hearing this, the Divine Mother couldn’t help but click her tongue inwardly. Haowei, who hadn’t even married yet, was already considering his future spouse, seemingly forgetting about his grandmother.
She teased, “I see he must be very tired, having suffered a lot. This sleep must be deep.”
Although Haowei’s face showed no change, the tips of his ears turned inexplicably red. He lowered his head slightly without saying a word.
“Well, whether it’s a woman or a man, if you want to be with him, you need to show some sincerity and send someone to the Demon Realm to propose soon. If he’s reasonable, ask if he’s willing to leave the Demon Clan and join our celestial ranks.”
“Yes,” Haowei replied, his face tight.
The Divine Mother stood up and walked out of the octagonal pavilion, sighing deeply again. Thanks to her years of self-cultivation, she had managed to accept many things, including her dignified and graceful grandson being with a man from the Demon Clan who had been married three times.
As she was leaving, the Divine Mother seemed to remember something and reminded him, “I can accept him as your consort, but the celestial beings may not. Haowei, you need to handle this matter carefully.”
“Yes,” Haowei bowed his head.
“Luckily, you have a child, so at least there won’t be no successors, which makes me feel a bit better.”
“…” Haowei.
Haowei couldn’t bear to tell the Divine Mother that the child was actually a form he had taken. He feared that revealing this would be too much for her to handle, so he kept it to himself.
After seeing the Divine Mother off, Haowei stood silently under the octagonal pavilion, then used his spiritual sense to communicate with Yu Wudao to find out how much the celestial realm knew about him and Si Lan.
Yu Wudao quickly responded, informing Haowei that there were many rumors in the Heavenly Realm, mostly badmouthing Si Lan. The celestial beings were divided into three factions regarding their relationship. One faction supported their love and approved of them being together. Another faction strongly opposed it, believing Haowei was blinded and not thinking clearly. The third faction remained neutral, watching the other two factions argue.
Haowei instructed, “Wudao, first try to stop the false rumors, then spread the news about the upcoming union between the Heavenly Realm and the Demon Realm.”
“Understood.”
—
Haowei thought Si Lan was still asleep, but when he lifted the curtain, he met a pair of pitch-black eyes.
Si Lan had woken up at some point and was leaning against the bedrail, his expression unreadable.
Haowei walked up and touched his forehead, noticing Si Lan’s slightly flushed cheeks and thinking he might have a fever. He then checked his elbow to confirm his condition.
“Do you feel unwell?”
“No.” Si Lan got out of bed, initially pretending he hadn’t heard anything, but he couldn’t help asking, “I won’t leave the Demon Clan.”
Haowei realized that since Si Lan was awake, he must have heard everything. “The Divine Mother wasn’t forcing you to leave the Demon Clan.”
“Oh.” Si Lan’s face turned even redder, feeling that they were discussing engagement and leaving the clan when their relationship wasn’t even fully established yet.
If Haowei could hear his thoughts and knew that Si Lan still saw their relationship as tentative, he might have been exasperated. To Haowei, Si Lan was already his consort, only lacking an official ceremony.
“Do you need more rest?”
“No, we should investigate Yu Wujia’s situation as soon as possible.”
The matter of Yu Wujia was like a heavy stone on their hearts, causing anxiety. The repeated failures to stop Yu Wujia in past reincarnations weighed heavily on Si Lan, making him reluctant to delay any longer.
“Alright.”
Initially planning to go directly to Linglong Mountain, they remembered that the God of Worry had mentioned that the Netherworld’s Tianmen Pass array had been set up a hundred years ago. So, they decided to check the Netherworld first.
Now that everyone in the Nine Heavens knew about their relationship, there was no need to hide. They openly left the Heavenly Realm shoulder to shoulder, flying towards the Netherworld’s Tianmen Pass.
Nothing significant had happened in the Netherworld for the past hundred years. They didn’t know who would be sacrificed.
Si Lan frowned the entire way, thinking through every possible candidate until he landed on an impossible name, causing his heart to clench.
He tentatively asked Haowei, “Who do you think the person sacrificed at Tianmen Pass might be?”
“Xue Rong,” Haowei replied concisely.
After subduing the Ghost Realm, Haowei had sealed the Ghost King and, to be fair, had allowed the ghosts to select a new Ghost King through a tournament. Three hundred years later, Xue Rong had challenged and defeated the new Ghost King.
Haowei had only seen Xue Rong once at the coronation ceremony and had not seen him since, except for their encounter on Yingzhou Island.
Si Lan had also thought of Xue Rong. He frowned. “The person we met last time…”
“Wasn’t Xue Rong.”
To impersonate Xue Rong and deceive them, there was only one person they could think of: Yu Wujia.
Si Lan’s expression turned ugly. If this suspicion was confirmed, he would feel like a fool being played by Yu Wujia again, which infuriated him.
But it would explain why Yu Wujia had disappeared for centuries. He must have killed Xue Rong and operated in the Netherworld in his guise.
They landed at Tianmen Pass in the Netherworld, finding the scarlet gates tightly shut. The faint sounds of wailing ghosts came from within the walls. Ghostly clouds billowed, swirling above the pass.
As soon as Haowei landed, the ghostly aura retreated as if harmed, shrinking back into the ghost gate.
In the ghost hall, Haowei grabbed an elderly ghost servant and asked, “Where is Xue Rong now?”
“His Highness Xue Rong… he left the Netherworld a few days ago and hasn’t returned.”
“How long have you served in the ghost hall?”
“More than three thousand years…”
“Do you know much about Xue Rong?” Haowei asked.
“Quite a bit…” The ghost servant replied, trembling with fear, his eyes darting back and forth between Haowei and Si Lan. “Ask me anything you want to know. I’ll tell you everything clearly.”
“Did anything unusual happen to Xue Rong over a hundred years ago?”
The ghost servant furrowed his pitch-black brows, struggling to recall. “No… nothing…”
After a pause, the ghost servant continued, “However, over five hundred years ago, something strange did happen around His Highness Xue Rong.”
“What happened?”
“His Highness Xue Rong’s cultivation suddenly increased dramatically, and he defeated the old Ghost King in the tournament. When the old Ghost King was dying, he pointed at His Highness Xue Rong and cursed him as… as… a demon monk.”
T/N: Hey there! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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