Zhang Mingyuan's body jerked as if pricked by a needle, and he abruptly took three large steps back.
He stared at Su Jinxue with an expression as if she weren't some Red Dust Immortal, but a terrifying beast that had crawled out of nowhere.
“Y-y-you... are you crazy?!” He pointed at Su Jinxue, his voice cracking.
This woman was indeed out of her mind!
One second she wanted nothing more than to stab him, and the next she was inviting him to share a bed?
What kind of mind-boggling plot twist was this?!
Seeing his ghost-stricken expression, a flash of intense awkwardness crossed Su Jinxue's cold face, but it vanished in an instant.
She quickly regained her icy composure, her tone stiff. “Don't get the wrong idea.”
She turned her face slightly, avoiding his gaze, her voice laced with deliberate coldness:
“We are restricted by the marriage certificate to remain within a hundred Zhang of each other. By staying in the same room, our spiritual energy and aura will naturally blend...
Perhaps it will trigger a response from the Concentric Lock.
Do not overthink it. This Seat merely wishes to avoid suffering that pointless heart-devouring pain.”
The explanation sounded perfectly reasonable, but her stiff tone and eagerness to distance herself only exposed her inner discomfort.
Zhang Mingyuan stared at her skeptically.
Heart-devouring pain... These words were like a death warrant, possessing immense deterrent power.
A battle raged within his mind, but in the end—
He let out a heavy huff and said stubbornly:
“I'll admit you have a brain after all! But let's get one thing straight: you sleep on the inside, I sleep on the outside, and we draw a line down the middle. Whoever crosses it is a dog!”
So what if they shared a bed?
The bed was ridiculously massive anyway; the distance between them was enough to fit three more people.
Mumbling under his breath, Zhang Mingyuan "highly reluctantly" shuffled toward the large bed.
Yet, as he drew closer, his gaze was involuntarily drawn to Su Jinxue, who stood by the bedside.
She was still wearing her vibrant, fiery red dress. Contrasted against the cold, moonlit sheen of the cold jade bed, her figure appeared breathtakingly elegant, her stunning curves outlined to perfection.
The candles in the hall flickered, casting warm, golden shadows across her profile. The usual frost that kept everyone at a distance seemed to melt slightly under this warm light, revealing an otherworldly allure.
She was... a little too beautiful.
An incredibly absurd thought popped into Zhang Mingyuan's head, completely out of his control:
If she was already this stunning in an ordinary red dress, what would she look like if she actually wore a bridal crown and gown?
This thought gave him quite a fright.
He quickly shook his head, cursing himself inwardly for being so spineless. How could he be mesmerized by this crazy woman's beauty?
Yet, betraying his thoughts, his cheeks grew slightly warm.
The two lay down on the same bed in extreme awkwardness.
The distance separating them indeed had enough room for three more people.
True to his word, Zhang Mingyuan raised his hand and drew a line of light between them, establishing a clear boundary.
Having done this, both of them lay with their eyes wide open in silent agreement, staring intently at the ornate bed canopy above, neither uttering a word.
The atmosphere was so awkward it felt almost frozen solid.
Time ticked away.
Late at night, dead silence enveloped the world.
With their level of cultivation, they had long since abstained from food and had no need for sleep.
But too much had happened today—from the forced kiss to the Heavenly Dao-bestowed marriage, and then to this forced cohabitation. Their mental exhaustion far exceeded any physical fatigue.
Zhang Mingyuan stared into the dark, counting sheep for a long time, until his eyelids gradually grew heavy.
A wave of drowsiness unexpectedly washed over him.
In his half-awake, half-asleep state, the defensive barriers of Zhang Mingyuan's consciousness became incredibly fragile.
Five thousand years of disguise and resilience quietly crumbled at this moment.
He murmured unconsciously, his voice slurred, carrying endless homesickness and guilt:
“Mom, Dad... Your son is unfilial. I couldn't even care for you in your old age or lay you to rest...”
The murmur was extremely faint, so soft that it seemed a gentle breeze could disperse it.
Yet, in the silent hall, to Su Jinxue, who was already a Red Dust Immortal, it was as clear as if it had been spoken right next to her ear.
She opened her eyes, her crimson pupils filled with astonishment as she turned her head to look at Zhang Mingyuan beside her.
The sorrow, loneliness, and regret contained in those words were like an invisible needle, sharply piercing her soul.
At this moment, Su Jinxue's Dao Heart wavered violently.
It had been five thousand years.
She had seen this man being arrogant and domineering, she had seen him being cynical and playful, she had seen him being so obnoxious that it made her teeth itch... She had seen all of his irreverent sides.
She had always thought he was like a sun that would never burn out—always dazzling, always energetic, and always heartless.
But she had never imagined that this man, who always wore a grin, harbored such a bottomless abyss in his heart, one so heavy that even she felt her heart sink.
Perhaps... this was the reason he had delayed crossing his tribulation to ascend?
Because of this obsession buried deep in his heart, his Dao Heart had never been able to reach great perfection.
Buzz—
Right at this moment, the Heavenly Dao marriage certificate hanging directly above the hall suddenly burst with an incredibly brilliant golden light!
The light was brighter than ever before. A warm, powerful resonant force instantly enveloped the entire cold jade bed, wrapping both of them inside.
Next to the three large characters for "Concentric Lock" on the marriage certificate, a golden progress bar appeared out of thin air and was instantly filled by a full thirty percent!
【First Trial of the Heavenly Marriage: Concentric Lock. Progress: Thirty Percent.】
A line of small golden characters emerged beneath the progress bar, then slowly faded away.
This massive commotion instantly startled Zhang Mingyuan awake.
He sat up abruptly, completely dumbfounded by the astonishing change in the marriage certificate.
“What's going on? What happened? I think I fell asleep just now... Did we succeed?”
Su Jinxue quickly composed herself, her crimson eyes returning to their usual coldness.
She cast a flat glance at him and said, “It seems sharing a room is indeed effective.”
She did not mention the sleep-talk she had just heard, only telling Zhang Mingyuan to go back to sleep in a rare, soft voice.
Zhang Mingyuan felt this voice was very familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.
He fell asleep.
...
Early the next morning.
The Grand Elder of the Myriad Snow Palace led a grand procession of elders and core disciples to pay their respects.
Within the ranks, Bai Yao was also present, holding a jade box and silently following at the rear of the crowd.
They carried all sorts of wedding gifts that shimmered with divine light and overflowed with spiritual treasure energy, claiming to bring joy and good fortune to the Immortal Lord and the Sacred Lord. In reality, their gossipy eyes completely exposed their true motive of snooping.
Thus, Zhang Mingyuan and Su Jinxue were forced to put on a show of being a "loving couple" in front of everyone.
“Sacred Lord, this is the Hundred-Seed Lotus Heart Red Date Soup that this old body specially prepared for you and the Immortal Lord. It is highly nourishing!”
The Grand Elder smiled, his face wrinkling up as he handed over a steaming bowl of soup.
Under Su Jinxue's death stare, Zhang Mingyuan squeezed out a smile that looked worse than crying and stiffly accepted the bowl of soup.
And then drank it...
Having finally sent away the gossipy gift-givers, only the two of them remained in the hall, and the atmosphere became even more delicate.
Zhang Mingyuan was completely baffled by the thirty percent breakthrough from last night. He scratched his head in frustration, unable to fathom how they had connected their minds just from him taking a nap.
Meanwhile, Su Jinxue would occasionally gaze at him with an inquiring, complex look that even carried a trace of pity, making him feel entirely uneasy and giving him goosebumps all over.
“What are you looking at? Do I have a flower on my face?”
Su Jinxue withdrew her gaze, ignoring him.
Time flew by. With only one day left of the three-day deadline, the progress bar remained stubbornly stuck at thirty percent, showing no further movement.
Just as they were at their wits' end and Zhang Mingyuan was bracing himself for the heart-devouring pain, new text appeared on the Heavenly Dao marriage certificate once more:
【A connection of minds is not found in words or deeds, but in the soul. Please share a deeply buried past event that is completely unknown to the other.】
Seeing these words, Zhang Mingyuan's heart skipped a beat.
A deeply buried past event completely unknown to the other?
Should he tell Su Jinxue about him being a transmigrator?
No, wait. He had already told her before that he came from another world.
Then what else was there to say? He had fought with her for so many years; what secrets could he possibly have left?
At this moment, Su Jinxue's gaze turned incredibly deep.
She looked at him quietly. After a long silence, she spoke slowly.
Her voice carried a hint of softness that even she herself had not noticed.
“Zhang Mingyuan, in your dream last night, you said... 'unfilial.' What exactly did you mean by that?”
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