Chapter Eight: The Wedding Ceremony

Through the passage of time, never before had he felt such soreness all over his body—yet such comfort at the same time. These were the true marks of life! These were the true marks of life! However, the place where he slept was full of bumps and ridges. As Wuyun turned over, he looked speechlessly at what he had been lying on—it turned out to be a fan-shaped spiritual artifact belonging to Yue Luohua. On its surface were a few lines inscribed by Shengba, their raised and sunken characters pressing painfully into his body!

“Awakening from a great dream, I realize it is but a mirror in water. Unable to sleep from fear and panic, where can one forge a true spirit?”

Wuyun had never seen Yue Luohua flaunt this spirit fan before. Upon seeing it today, he suddenly gleaned a trace of Shengba’s intent: “The masters who escaped from the Dimension of a Billion Dreams wish to use chaos to forge true spirits and create immortal bodies, only then can they escape from the dimension that will soon be destroyed by awakening and attain eternity!”

After uttering these words, he glanced around. He now found himself in a massive stone chamber, its surface etched with all manner of defensive formations—an abode for cultivators.

Avoiding the alarm arrays, Wuyun had just stepped outside when he heard a raucous celebration. Joyous music thundered through the air, and the beat of drums shook the heavens!

Yue Luohua and his junior sister, Xiao Qi, had been joined as husband and wife!

And this was Xiao Qi’s hometown—Heilin Town!

The entire town was in jubilant uproar, for their ancestor, Xiao Qi’s forebear, after two thousand nine hundred years, was finally married! To mortals, this would be absurd beyond words, but for cultivators, it was but a fleeting moment!

“It’s a bit early, isn’t it? Which ice goddess doesn’t cultivate for hundreds of thousands, even millions of years before finding a sugar daddy? This is far too soon!” Wuyun was still unaccustomed to the ways of the mortal realm, but when he suddenly thought of his own lifespan, an urgent, burning anxiety seized him!

“I must cultivate, I must train! No, I must sift through the billions of cultivation methods and find one suitable for this realm!” Wuyun felt dizzy, but just as he turned his head, a bird floating in the air above the garden spotted him.

Soon after, Xiao Qi invited him to the most luxurious seat in the palace.

In the midst of great crowds, Wuyun tripped and nearly fell face-first, causing the powerful guests from various factions to exchange glances. They were all vassals of Heilin Town and assumed Wuyun was an elder from Sword Mountain Sect.

But he didn’t look the part! Instead, he seemed more like an idle scholar on the street, watching the girls passing by!

Wuyun cleared his throat, and seeing Xiao Qi’s displeasure, said, “In the mortal world, one must not recklessly use magical powers. If any stray bit of power causes casualties, wouldn’t that be disastrous?”

The entire hall fell silent at once.

A junior cultivator who had reached minor achievement snorted, “My aunt invited him. How could he be a mortal? If you don’t believe it, let me spar with him!”

“No, no!” Wuyun waved his hands like lotus leaves, refusing, “On such a joyous occasion, why stir up martial rivalries? Instead, let me point out the flaws in your cultivation method!”

This junior then slowly approached from the seats—he turned out to be an old man with snow-white hair and a beard reaching his waist. Ignoring Xiao Qi’s displeasure, he declared, “I am Xiao Qi’s second nephew, Dong Buyue!”

A chorus of gasps followed—Dong Buyue was actually the head of the Hidden Mountain Sect!

“Well then, Little Dong, what technique do you cultivate? Show me!” Wuyun, seeing nothing amiss, encouraged him. Dong Buyue pointed skyward, and a surge of purple energy rushed forth, instantly dyeing the clear sky with color.

Next, he summoned his artifact—a fearsome demon hammer. The hammer was enormous, filling the sky with its oppressive might.

All the wedding guests present, each a rare talent from Heilin Town, had barely reached minor achievement in their cultivation.

“Take a look at my hammer, will you? After countless trials, I forged it from a massive meteorite, and its power is immense. Other sects coveted it, but only I managed to craft it into a supreme treasure. It can even withstand attacks from those at the Deity-breaking realm!”

As he spoke, Dong Buyue was clearly proud. Any treasure capable of protecting its master even against higher realms was truly valuable.

“This chunk of meteorite has been ruined by your forging!” Wuyun shook his head repeatedly, feeling it was a monstrous waste. He had intended to offer some guidance on cultivation, but now he found himself needing to advise on artifact refinement.

Dong Buyue was furious—even Xiao Qi’s ancestor had praised his work, yet this fellow dared say it was ruined. Just as he was about to use the demon hammer to assert his dominance, Wuyun spoke calmly.

“First, the body is too big. The pressure is strong, but it’s slower than a smaller artifact!”

“Second, your forging technique is too crude. There are only two inscribed formations inside: one to increase pressure, the other to lighten the weight. The former is unnecessary, the latter is for flying artifacts and is totally unsuitable here!”

“The third point is most important: you nurture it in your dantian and use it as your trump card—completely wrong. With the weapon ruined to this extent, only a deity-breaker using the true Samadhi Fire to reforge it could barely make it usable!”

“Fourth…”

“And fifth…”

The more he spoke, the more animated Wuyun became. When he was previously captured by Shengba, he could only communicate through vibrations, and before that, he formed misty words from the clouds within his body.

On the great hall’s dais, Yue Luohua and Xiao Qi’s faces grew increasingly grim. When Wuyun finally stopped his self-important speech, the audience was left speechless.

Wuyun swaggered to the chief seat and sighed, “You two, I watched you grow up—especially Xiao Qi…”

Crash!

Xiao Qi struck Wuyun with a pulse, collapsing both chair and cloud beneath him.

She had returned to Heilin Town for the wedding, to entertain relatives and avoid calamity; her resentment toward this demon cloud was deep. In her view, many misfortunes were the result of this mischievous spirit!

“You demon cloud, don’t think you can act high and mighty just because the sect master rebuilt your body. If we respect you, you’re the sect’s one and only guardian beast. If not, hmph, you’re just an outer disciple at the Gathering Qi stage!”

With this threat from Xiao Qi, the demon cloud became much more honest and subdued.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense, Nephew Buyue,” she comforted the crestfallen Dong Buyue, “your treasure is unique as it is!” As head of a sect, his loss of composure was quite uncharacteristic.

But Dong Buyue was unable to calm his mind. Ignoring Xiao Qi’s reassurances, he rushed to Wuyun, presented a fine thousand-year peach wood chair, and respectfully invited him to sit in the place of honor!

“Now, this old fellow knows how the world works!” At last, Wuyun found his former sense of importance. After a moment’s satisfaction, seeing the other’s earnest plea, he gave a few pointers on how to modify the demon hammer. Dong Buyue, delighted, immediately left the wedding to work on the improvements.

“What’s this? None of the inner or outer sect disciples or elders have been invited? Or are you planning to hold another ceremony when you return?” Wuyun saw none of the others, only a copper incense burner wrapped in silk sitting timidly in a corner, nibbling on fruit.

Aside from that, there were only a few dozen inner and outer disciples, all from Xiao Qi’s clan in this town.