The group wandered through the bustling lanes of Black Wind Marketplace, the air thick with sizzling food, clinking metal, and the buzz of lively chatter. Stalls were lined up on both sides, showcasing martial tools, rare herbs, beast meat skewers, trinkets, and all kinds of oddities.
Nie Yong stumbled forward with a wide grin, swaying slightly with every step. "Shu Mu, my bruvver, I love this place! S'got... s'got spirit!"
"It's Su Mu, senior brother," Su Mu corrected with a strained smile, supporting Nie Yong before he tipped over into a pot of roasted spirit fish.
Zhang San chuckled behind them. "He's really out of it, huh?"
"At least he's not yelling about Hu Mei'er again..." Lin Yun Tian muttered.
They passed a row of small wooden cabins tucked behind a group of old trees, away from the chaos of the market. More peaceful. More private.
Nie Yong's eyes suddenly widened.
His drunken haze cleared just enough for a wave of nostalgia to strike him like a sledgehammer.
Those cabins...
Su Yan lived there.
In his past life, she had been his favourite waifu. The cool, aloof beauty who'd stolen his heart through panels and pixels.
So when his blurry vision landed on that very place, his restraint collapsed completely.
"Oi!" he suddenly screamed, pointing a shaky finger straight at one of the wooden houses. "My future wife lives there!"
Heads turned. Passerby cultivators stopped. Merchants paused in mid-haggle. Silence fell like a blade.
Su Mu's eyes widened, his face draining of color.
No... that house... that's where—
"Ehm, senior brother Nie..." Su Mu started, trying to defuse the impending bomb. "I think you might be pointing at the wrong hou—"
"I'm not!" Nie Yong cut him off, puffing out his chest. "Su Yan! I love you!!"
Gasps erupted around the marketplace. A few girls giggled. Someone dropped a pot.
Su Mu and his friends froze.
He didn't get the house wrong.
"I want to have fifty kids with you—"
Su Mu tackled him mid-sentence, slapping a hand over his mouth in desperation. "Senior brother! Please!"
Nie Yong wriggled under the hold like a man possessed. "Mmmph! Mmmmrrp—"
"No!" Su Mu insisted. "You cannot just scream that kind of thing in front of her house!"
Nie Yong finally shoved his hand away. "I just want to express my true, burning feelings!"
He turned toward the cabin again. "Su Yan! Please—"
"Please, senior brother!" Su Mu interrupted again, all but begging.
Nie Yong paused… then nodded solemnly. "Okay… okay…" He swayed gently in place, then raised a single finger. "B-But you have to make me meet her..."
"Ah?" Su Mu and his friends all gaped.
He really wants to die.
Su Mu's face went pale. Su Yan will kill him.
But before Su Mu could try to talk him down, Nie Yong let out another drunken shout. "Su Yan—!"
"Okay, okay!" Su Mu caved, heart pounding. "I'll let you meet her! Just—just follow me!"
He turned toward the house, dragging his feet like a man walking to his execution.
Behind him, the others stared in disbelief.
"…We're really doing this?" Zhou Huo whispered.
"Apparently," Wang Li replied, wide-eyed.
As they approached Su Yan's door, Su Mu could already feel the pressure in the air getting colder.
This is going to end in blood…
...
Su Yan sat cross-legged in the center of her cabin, her slender figure enveloped in a serene, icy aura. Her long black hair cascaded down her back like a frozen waterfall, shimmering faintly in the dim light. Her delicate features, flawless like jade carved by an immortal artisan, were composed and calm. Clad in flowing white robes that matched the frost in her Qi, Su Yan looked ethereal, otherworldly—like a snow lotus blooming in a world of violence and chaos.
She was cultivating with her full focus, the flow of her True Ice Qi circulating smoothly through her meridians. Misty cold swirled around her body, and the temperature in the room had long dropped to freezing. In this state of deep concentration, she couldn't hear the outside world. Her senses were drowned in the profound silence of cultivation.
Still, even at her most focused, Su Yan always kept a part of her awareness trained on her surroundings. A habit formed from years of experience—madmen roamed this world, after all. It was always better to be safe.
Then it happened—seven distinct Qi signatures clustered right outside her door.
She opened her eyes slowly, and the frost in the air faded just enough for breath to form without freezing. Her calm gaze turned toward the door. A knock came moments later.
"Who is it?" she asked softly, her voice cool and clear.
"It's me, Su Mu," came the muffled voice through the door, laced with hesitation. "I wanted to... introduce you to the one who saved me and my friends the other day..."
Su Mu winced as he said it. What was he supposed to do? Tell his sister that the only reason they were here was because a drunk senior brother had been shouting love confessions at her door?
'Please say no, please say no, please say no—' he prayed in his mind, hoping she'd refuse and save him from this disaster.
"Come in," Su Yan replied without hesitation.
'Fuck!' Su Mu cursed internally, his face crumpling as his worst fear came true.
Still, he had no choice. He pushed the door open slowly and stepped aside, letting Nie Yong and the others in, all while silently regretting every decision that had led to this moment.
As soon as they stepped inside, Su Mu lowered his head slightly and gestured toward the still red-faced Nie Yong, who was standing upright but swaying slightly, a dopey smile plastered across his face.
"Sister…" Su Mu said cautiously, pointing toward him, "this is senior brother Nie. He's the one who saved us from the Storm Manor disciples."
There was a moment of silence.
Thud!
Su Mu winced as Su Yan's knuckles landed squarely on top of his head.
"Do you know why I hit you?" Su Yan asked, her voice calm, but the cold pressure in the room rose sharply.
"Yes, sister…" Su Mu replied weakly, already sensing what was coming next. 'This is the least…' he thought, dreading the next few seconds.
He glanced sideways just in time to see Nie Yong move.
A blur.
The next moment, Nie Yong was standing right in front of Su Yan, one arm gently around her waist, staring directly into her eyes. His movements had been absurdly fast—even Su Yan had been momentarily caught off guard. There was no hostility, no lust, no improper Qi fluctuations.
"Senior sister Su…" Nie Yong said, his voice soft and terribly earnest. "Please marry me. I love you."
Everyone else in the room froze. Even Su Yan was stunned for half a second. The gall of it. The sheer absurdity. She couldn't sense any mischievous thoughts. Just pure, raw, foolish adoration—fueled entirely by alcohol.
Her eyebrow twitched.
A second later, a burst of chilling aura exploded from her body.
Boom!
Nie Yong's body flew out of the house like a broken arrow, crashing through one wooden wall, then another, before finally smashing into an outdoor marketplace stand several meters away.
Wood splinters rained down like confetti.
"Ugh—!" Nie Yong grunted from the wreckage, dazed and blinking stars.
Back inside the cabin, no one dared breathe.
Su Yan's expression had returned to serenity, but a faint icy mist curled around her form again.
Su Mu sighed quietly. 'I knew it... he's dead.'
To be continued...
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And yes, I cringed as well writing this.