Chapter 10: A Gift That Will Make Him Obedient

The wedding hall was crowded with people.

Perhaps feeling that yesterday's wedding had been too absurd — no relatives or friends present, only cold soldiers standing witness — the old man had issued a decree this morning that all the Yue family members who were supposed to be there should be there, and that the new bride should not be neglected.

Yue Huaile frowned. "Brother, what do you think Grandfather means by this?"

"What does he mean?" The purple-clad youth sneered. "The old man is getting old, blind in heart and eyes. He just handed the Yue family over to that bastard, and the next day he sided with the dynasty. Do you know how much the people have cursed me these past few years?"

Although no one dared to say it to his face, his hearing was excellent, and he had heard quite a bit. Not only that — even his former friends had long since severed ties with him, becoming like strangers.

The purple-clad youth was named Yue Wujiu, born to the second branch of the Yue family, making him Yue Zhiheng's cousin. Yue Huaile was his younger sister, only four years younger.

Upon hearing the word "bastard," Yue Huaile's expression changed. She quickly tugged at his sleeve. "Keep your voice down. Don't let that person hear you."

"So what if he hears me!"

"Have you forgotten what happened to Master?"

Yue Wujiu's memory stirred at these words. His face darkened as he recalled the incident his sister had mentioned.

---

A few years ago, when Yue Zhiheng had just joined the dynasty, someone in the clan had pointed at him and spat, calling him filthy, a beast in human clothing.

This old man was a clan elder, quite prestigious. Because he had taught many disciples etiquette, he was respectfully addressed as Master by the entire Yue family.

Yue Wujiu remembered — it had been a winter day. Master was heartbroken that the Yue family's thousand-year-old foundation and reputation had been destroyed by Yue Zhiheng.

He took off his boots and hat, dressed himself in tattered cotton and linen clothes, and stood on the path Yue Zhiheng was certain to take, preparing to denounce Yue Zhiheng's crimes.

Before this, Yue Zhiheng had been unknown in the Yue family. No one knew what kind of person he was. Therefore, many people went to watch the spectacle, wanting to see Yue Zhiheng's pathetic state after being reprimanded.

The snow was falling heavily. Yue Zhiheng, dressed in a cloak, looked at the white-haired old man before him and said: "If you have something to say, come inside and we'll talk."

The old man laughed loudly.

"Shameless scoundrel! Do you still have any sense of shame? You arrogant brat — heartless and treacherous, already covered in filth, now you commit even more despicable acts. You'll reap what you sow!"

Yue Zhiheng looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

The old man spat fiercely. "Even if I lose my life today, I will denounce your crimes to the world, so that my Yue family descendants will see that they will learn from pigs and dogs, but never from you, Yue Zhiheng."

Yue Zhiheng listened quietly with his eyes lowered. After the old man finished speaking, he smiled. "I heard that you were once called 'Master' in the Yue family?"

"So what?"

"Since you are 'Master,'" Yue Zhiheng said coldly, "I, Yue, have never learned propriety and shame since childhood. Today, I am fortunate to meet you, Master, and I should ask for your guidance. Since you are willing to risk your life to set things right..."

He raised his lips in a sinister curve. "Then let's see if I can be educated."

That day, almost all the descendants of the Yue family remembered his smile — reflected in the cold snow, it was even more chilling than the snow itself.

Even the Master, who had been speaking so eloquently, vaguely felt fear.

Yue Wujiu was only sixteen years old that year. He would always remember the scene when the Master returned three days later. The old man's tongue had been pulled out. He staggered through the snow.

He held a blood-stained plaque in his hand.

"To obtain the Qilin Child is to bring prosperity for a hundred years."

How ironic! What had the dynasty done to him to make him willingly hold that blood-stained plaque and call that scoundrel "Qilin Child"? The gentleman walked past every door of the former Yue family, finally breathing his last with his eyes open.

The second wife tightly covered her daughter's eyes.

Old Master Yue shook his head and went into seclusion, never leaving the weapon-refining pavilion again.

From then on, no one in the Yue family dared to speak ill of Yue Zhiheng, nor dared to show him any disrespect.

So many years had passed, and Yue Wujiu still wanted to ask his grandfather if he regretted handing the Yue family over to such a vicious villain. However, the old man was focused on weapon refining and never saw him.

But whenever he stormed into the weapon-refining pavilion, only a weathered yet authoritative voice could be heard: "Drive the second young master out."

In all these years, the old man's second order was for them to treat Zhan Yunwei well.

Regardless of what others thought, the two younger generation members were in turmoil.

Yue Huaile gossiped: "I never imagined that someone like Yue Zhiheng would one day get married. And to the former number one beauty of the Immortal Sect, Zhan Yunwei! The number one beauty! Just how beautiful is she?"

After asking, seeing her brother's gloomy face, Miss Yue awkwardly shut her mouth.

She knew this was her brother's sore spot. Her brother had been obsessed with swordsmanship since childhood, and the person he admired most was the sword immortal Pei Yujing. Zhan Yunwei, as his idol's fiancée, had ended up marrying their most hated cousin.

This was even more painful than Yue Wujiu having his own fiancée stolen!

Seeing that Yue Zhiheng and his new wife were still not up, Yue Wujiu grew even more furious.

A gentle embrace, huh?

His eyes darkened. "Fine. Mother won't allow me to provoke that evil star, but I can at least teach this cowardly woman a lesson!"

The Yue family had been living a secluded life in Fenhe County for years, and apart from Yue Zhiheng, no one else served in the dynasty. Therefore, they didn't know the specifics of the sealed-off Immortal Sect war, nor did they know that anyone from the Immortal Sect had been detained.

For the past two days, rumors had been circulating in Fenhe County that the pampered beauty of the Zhan family, seeing the Immortal Mountain crumble, had feared a life of hardship and thus followed Yue Zhiheng.

After all, most people's preconceived notion of Spirit Masters was that they were delicate, unable to protect themselves, and incapable of enduring hardship. The rumors intensified, and while the Second Madam might still harbor doubts, the two more naive younger members believed them.

Therefore, Yue Huaile only instructed her brother: "Then be careful. Don't let Yue Zhiheng recognize you."

"Don't worry."

He only wanted to see the cowardly Miss Zhan lose her composure in front of everyone. He didn't actually want to kill her.

The Yue family was now roughly divided into two categories: one group disliked Yue Zhiheng but only dared to curse him behind his back and in their hearts; the other group harbored wicked thoughts, seeing Yue Zhiheng's current rise to power, wanting to ride his coattails and curry favor.

Yue Wujiu glanced at those sycophants and sneered.

---

When they rounded the winding corridor and saw the front hall, Zhan Yunwei was stunned.

She had expected the Yue family to have many people, but not this many. Looking around, she saw people standing or sitting in the front hall, the front yard, and even the small garden.

She asked Yue Zhiheng: "Your family... has this many people?"

Yue Zhiheng glanced around. "Probably."

Almost everyone related to him had come. It seemed the old man truly felt Zhan Yunwei was wronged by marrying him; otherwise, he wouldn't have summoned even distant relatives.

Zhan Yunwei asked: "How many of them have a grudge against you?"

"Why ask that?" If you really counted, probably everyone had a grudge.

Yue Zhiheng heard the girl beside him mutter a complaint: "I have to calculate how many people I need to argue with..."

For a moment, a strange feeling arose in Yue Zhiheng's chest. He paused, then said coldly: "You can join them in cursing me."

She said: "Won't you be angry?"

"Yes," he said. "Just don't let me hear it."

If he didn't hear it, he wouldn't bother.

Zhan Yunwei hadn't expected this answer. She had actually heard about the "Bloody Master" incident three years ago.

That year, the academy's assessment was divided into literary and martial arts competitions. She remembered that the winner of the literary competition was someone who had written an article vehemently criticizing Yue Zhiheng. This fellow cultivator was exceptionally talented — the entire article was filled with insults, each one laced with profanity, yet none of them were entirely vulgar. Later, the article circulated, and common people parroted it, secretly cursing Yue Zhiheng.

By the fourteenth year of Shengping, the article was even directly cited as evidence of Yue Zhiheng's crimes.

Zhan Yunwei had thought that such an arrogant person as Yue Zhiheng would probably think highly of himself, but she hadn't expected him to know his own reputation so well.

She couldn't help but ask: "The Bloodstained Master incident — is it true or false?"

"What Bloodstained Master?"

"The gentleman who cursed you in the snow three years ago, and whom you later took away."

Yue Zhiheng paused. He turned to look at Zhan Yunwei and smiled faintly. "Miss Zhan, what does it matter if it's true or false?"

Do you want to examine me through the filth, or can you kill me under this impenetrable shell?

Zhan Yunwei pursed her lips. "I'm just curious about the truth."

Many truths.

Yue Zhiheng looked at her and said coldly: "It's all true."

Zhan Yunwei felt a chill for a moment, and her heart sank. Was her conjecture and wishful thinking wrong?

In the silence between them, they arrived at the front hall.

---

Before Zhan Yunwei could prepare herself, a crowd gathered around her.

"This must be Aheng's new wife, right? She's as beautiful as the rumors say — a real beauty. Aheng is so lucky. I'm his aunt. We're family now."

Zhan Yunwei was caught off guard, her hand suddenly grabbed. She'd been expecting hostility all the way here, but this was the opposite of the scene she'd been anticipating. Even a young girl exclaimed enviously: "Sister-in-law, your lipstick is so pretty! Is it the new lipstick from Baizhen Pavilion?"

Zhan Yunwei was amazed at their blatant opportunism, but thankfully, the suffocating silence from before had been broken by the lively chatter.

She looked around and saw a small group of people fawning over her and Yue Zhiheng. But there were others — standing at a distance, not coming over, their eyes filled with hatred and disgust as they looked at Yue Zhiheng.

These were probably the former loyalists of the Immortal Mountain.

Seeing that this group made up the majority, Zhan Yunwei's eyes flickered. It seemed that not everyone in the Yue family was loyal to the dynasty.

This morning, following the old man's instructions, members of the Yue family's collateral branches had also arrived. Many unscrupulous individuals, eager to curry favor with Yue Zhiheng, had prepared gifts for Zhan Yunwei.

Now, her aunts and uncles pulled her aside to speak, shoving their prepared gifts into her hands.

Zhan Yunwei couldn't refuse, but thankfully Bai Rui and Shi Hu behind her lent a hand, accepting the gifts.

Finally, a remarkably elegant lady — surnamed Zhao, a distant relative of the Yue family — stepped forward. Her every glance exuded an indescribable charm.

Madam Zhao, holding a feather fan, smiled. "Young Madam, did you have a quarrel with the head steward just now? I noticed you and the head steward didn't look too good when you came over."

Zhan Yunwei hadn't expected her to be so observant. "It wasn't exactly a quarrel. Just a slight disagreement."

"Young Madam, don't worry. Newlyweds — no man would truly hold a grudge."

Zhan Yunwei smiled, finding it inconvenient to explain further.

Madam Zhao stepped forward and placed a box in her hand. "This gift I prepared is exactly what the young mistress needs most right now. I'm sure you'll like it."

What she needs most?

It was no wonder Zhan Yunwei's thoughts wandered. After the Bai Rui incident, she now felt that anyone could be someone who had infiltrated from the Immortal Mountain.

Madam Zhao's expression was secretive, and her movements were very careful, not daring to be seen by outsiders. Yunwei's heart skipped a beat. Could the gift contain a secret message from the Immortal Sect?

She dared not be careless and quickly hid the object.

Madam Zhao gave her an approving look and chuckled softly. "Take a look when you get home tonight, and use it secretly. The Master will definitely... be completely obedient to you."

Now, not only Zhan Yunwei, but even Bai Rui behind her couldn't help but raise her eyes.

What a wonderful thing this was, both of them couldn't help but think. Even better than the Demon Puppet Pill? It could make Yue Zhiheng completely obedient!