The Wedding

Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan's wedding soon began under the urging of the Heavenly Emperor. It was clear that Eastern Emperor Taiyi really wanted to get rid of Jiang Lan, this potential threat, as soon as possible.

The wedding was held in Bai Qiuran's Divine Palace. Jiang Lan's side had poor interpersonal relationships, so only a few maids came to offer their blessings from a certain goddess. However, Bai Qiuran's side had distributed all the wealth bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Emperor during this period to cultivate relationships in heaven and on earth. Therefore, even though he was unhappy, many Heavenly Gods still came to congratulate him on his Wedding day out of respect for him.

Even many of the celestial Heavenly Gods he had never seen before came.

The two went through the procedures of Heavenly Gods wedding in this era, and Jiang Lan, who took off her simple Beast Hide coat and put on a phoenix coronet and wedding gown, truly amazed Bai Qiuran.

After the wedding ended and the guests who came to celebrate had left, Bai Qiuran soon received an invitation from the Heavenly Emperor.

Eastern Emperor Taiyi set up a banquet and invited him and Jiang Lan to heaven to celebrate his marriage.

With Jiang Lan's help, Bai Qiuran arrived at the Heavenly Palace and was soon taken by some Heavenly Gods to a beautiful garden.

"Wait a minute."

Standing at the entrance to the garden, Jiang Lan called out to Bai Qiuran and then took his hand.

Bai Qiuran looked at her with great confusion. Jiang Lan paused for a moment and replied, "At least in front of Eastern Emperor Taiyi, we should act as close as possible."

The two entered the garden hand in hand, where the Heavenly Emperor had already prepared a banquet. The Heavenly Emperor himself was hidden behind a curtain. Seeing Bai Qiuran bring Jiang Lan over, he smiled and said, "Not bad, it seems the two of you are very much in love after your marriage."

Bai Qiuran greets Your Majesty.

Bai Qiuran stopped and bowed to Eastern Emperor Taiyi behind the curtain.

"Jiang Lan greets Your Majesty."

Jiang Lan also followed Bai Qiuran's posture and greeted Eastern Emperor Taiyi.

"No need for formalities, my two esteemed subjects."

Eastern Emperor Taiyi smiled and said, "Please take a seat."

Bai Qiuran led Jiang Lan by the hand to the left side below the Heavenly Emperor, where two low tables had been specially arranged by the Heavenly Emperor.

At the banquet, there were other invited Heavenly Gods. These Heavenly Gods all looked strange and unusual, but they all had some Human Race characteristics. Apart from Lu Wu, Bai Qiuran did not recognize any of the other Heavenly Gods.

Those are the Four Directional Heavenly Emperors.

Jiang Lan whispered to Bai Qiuran, "There are also the other supreme True Gods who govern the Nine Divisions of Heaven."

After Bai Qiuran sat down, the Heavenly Gods all paid their respects to Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan, and Bai Qiuran returned their greetings. After the pleasantries, the Heavenly Emperor spoke, "Since taking office, Minister Bai has successfully quelled rebellions many times, enhancing the prestige of our Heavenly Court. Not long ago, you even eliminated Xingtian for me, making a great contribution. Today, Minister Bai and Minister Jiang are a perfect match, a match made in heaven. Coincidentally, a group of dragons and phoenixes were causing trouble in the Western Celestial Extremity, and the Western Emperor captured them for me. They will be used to celebrate Minister Bai and Minister Jiang's wedding."

After Eastern Emperor Taiyi finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and soon a minor Heavenly Gods pushed a huge cage in from outside the garden. Inside the cage were several listless dragons and phoenixes.

The Heavenly Gods pushed the dragon and phoenix to the middle of the garden, then began sharpening his knife, preparing to slaughter them.

Bai Qiuran calm and composed; he had already anticipated this situation. However, Jiang Lan raised her eyebrows somewhat uncomfortably.

Seeing the Heavenly Gods being open the cage and pull a golden dragon out, the dragons and phoenixes in the other cages began to struggle, beg for mercy, wail, and curse.

However, Eastern Emperor Taiyi and the surrounding Heavenly Gods remained calm. The Heavenly Emperor even smiled and introduced the dragon liver and phoenix gall to Bai Qiuran and Jiang Lan, saying, "My two beloved ministers, fresh dragon liver and phoenix gall are rare delicacies in this world. Even I rarely have the opportunity to taste them. You two are truly fortunate. Of course, I also want to thank the Western Emperor for presenting these dragons and phoenixes to me and all my beloved ministers."

Below the Heavenly Emperor, a deity with a white tiger's head smiled and bowed to the surrounding Heavenly Gods.

Amidst screams, the Heavenly Gods being skillfully skinned and gutted the dragon and phoenix in the cage, removing their livers and gallbladders. After being slightly processed by the attendants, the contents were presented on a tray and placed before the assembled Heavenly Gods.

The other Heavenly Gods had already begun to enjoy their food, but Bai Qiuran looked at the still steaming, blood-streaked liver and gallbladder in front of her and had no appetite whatsoever.

It wasn't that he couldn't accept eating parts of dragons and phoenixes—after all, it wasn't cannibalism—but the Heavenly Emperor's insistence on bringing these talking dragons and phoenixes before him to slaughter them, and even eating certain parts of their bodies raw, was extremely barbaric and disgusting.

He turned to look at Jiang Lan, only to see Jiang Lan staring at the silver plate in front of her. Suddenly, she covered her mouth and began to gag.

"Ha, after all these years, Minister Jiang still hasn't gotten rid of this bad habit."

Behind the curtain, Eastern Emperor Taiyi's shadow put down his chopsticks and laughed, "What a pity, I'm afraid Minister Jiang is not fortunate enough to enjoy all the delicacies in this world."

The other Heavenly Gods also began to laugh. Bai Qiuran looked up and around, only to see that their mouths were all smeared with blood, as if he had not come to the abode of Heavenly Gods, but to a feast of a group of barbarians who ate raw meat and drank blood.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

He put his hand on Jiang Lan's shoulder and said to Eastern Emperor Taiyi, "My wife seems to be feeling unwell..."

"Minister Bai is still as tender-hearted as I know him."

Eastern Emperor Taiyi's voice sounded somewhat regretful.

"Very well, you and Minister Jiang are newlyweds. In that case, Minister Bai, you should take Minister Jiang back and pamper her properly."

Bai Qiuran to take his leave. Amidst the laughter of the Heavenly Gods, some with goodwill and others with deeper meaning, he helped Jiang Lan out of the garden and left the Heavenly Palace.

Once outside the Milky Way's range of the Heavenly Palace, Jiang Lan's expression immediately improved. She took Bai Qiuran's handkerchief, wiped her mouth, and then asked, "How was it? These are the Heavenly Gods of this era."

"They ate raw meat and drank blood, yet they weren't afraid of getting sick."

Bai Qiuran frowned and said with disgust, "They're simply a bunch of barbarians."

He then looked at Jiang Lan and asked, "You're not nauseous anymore now?"

"I've seen plenty of this before. It's certainly disgusting, but not this disgusting."

Jiang Lan calmly wiped her mouth clean, then used her Divine Power to clean the handkerchief.

"If I didn't pretend to be disgusted, they wouldn't let you go until you finished that serving of raw liver. Didn't that make you feel disgusted?"

Bai Qiuran recalled the raw dragon liver placed in front of him, which reeked of blood, and said awkwardly, "Thank you."

No need to thank me.

Looking at the dark starry sky around her, Jiang Lan said, "We're in this together now, like grasshoppers on a string. Our fates are intertwined; helping you is helping myself."