Su Yuexian

Seeing Sikong Jing's bewildered expression, Su Yuexi's exquisitely beautiful face flushed crimson.

Of course, she couldn't tell him she'd thought they were about to consummate their marriage in broad daylight. She could only stammer, "Th-then turn around."

Sikong Jing froze, only then realizing that he wasn't in the army anymore, and the person before him wasn't one of his iron-willed comrades. She was his wife.

A peerless beauty whose appearance had been restored.

At last, he turned around with a stony face, listening to the sound of one piece of clothing after another hitting the floor.

Sikong Jing's heart began racing too. He had never felt anything like this before.

After a long while, Su Yuexi's dry, hoarse voice finally sounded. "Jing Gege, I'm ready. Could you turn around now..."

Before she could finish, Sikong Jing instinctively turned around—and stood there, dumbstruck!

His heart burst into a wild, frantic beat!

Even his first time on a battlefield hadn't made his heart pound so violently.

Su Yuexi was too beautiful, like a work of art crafted with peerless skill.

After an unknown amount of time, Sikong Jing rasped, "Actually, you didn't have to take everything off."

"Ah..."

The next moment, Su Yuexi's scream rang through the room.

A quarter of an hour later, in Su Yuexi's room.

Wearing a thin nightdress, Su Yuexi sat cross-legged, with Sikong Jing seated the same way behind her.

He pressed both hands against his wife's back. His true energy entered her body, guiding the martial seed that had lain dormant for ten years.

Buzz!

After an unknown amount of time, the martial seed inside Su Yuexi ignited, and a thread of true energy flowed through her meridians.

Her true energy continued to grow stronger!

Another quarter of an hour passed before Sikong Jing spoke again. "Yuexi, your talent is even greater than I imagined. If I let your true energy run freely right now, you could reach at least the third level of the Bright Realm."

"But you're not ready yet. You still don't have a suitable cultivation art, so you must first keep your true energy suppressed at the first level of the Bright Realm."

"For now, stay here and keep it under control. I'll go find a cultivation art for you."

With that, Sikong Jing stood up and left Su Yuexi's room. Then he walked out of Su Mansion.

Cultivation arts were crucial to martial artists. The more powerful the art, the more strength an artist could unleash at the same level.

Take Sikong Jing's Emperor-Slaying Prison-Breaking Art, for example. It was a terrifying art capable of reaching through heaven and earth.

Even when facing an opponent a whole major realm above him, it could let him fight with unmatched might!

But whether a cultivation art suited its user mattered just as much. Su Yuexi clearly didn't have the Blood of Ten Thousand Beasts, so she definitely couldn't cultivate the Emperor-Slaying Prison-Breaking Art. Besides, she was a woman, so it would be best for her to practice an art suited to a woman.

At that moment, Sikong Jing already had a plan in mind. He had long since mapped out Su Yuexi's cultivation path.

After leaving Su Mansion, he headed toward the Heaven Martial Pavilion.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, he brushed past a Black-Clad Woman on the street, not far from the entrance to Su Mansion.

Sikong Jing paused, then turned to watch her tall, cold figure stride away. Human Realm peak.

He hadn't paid attention to her face; from that brief glance, he'd only gathered that she was young.

It seems Yunye City isn't as weak as I thought. I can't afford to slack off for even a moment when it comes to Yuexi's growth. Sikong Jing was privately surprised. A young woman at the Human Realm peak was unexpected.

After all, ten years ago, his father-in-law, Su Zhenglong, had become one of Yunye City's Heavenly Prides at the seventh level of the Human Realm.

And Su Xuefeng had been able to hold onto his position as head of one of the four great lineages at the Human Realm level. Naturally, the sudden appearance of such a young expert at the Human Realm peak put Sikong Jing on guard.

Of course, the Black-Clad Woman might simply have been passing through.

Sikong Jing shook his head, put the matter aside, and strode toward the Heaven Martial Pavilion.

What Sikong Jing didn't know was that, as he walked away, the Black-Clad Woman also turned her head slightly. She wasn't unattractive, but a hideously twisted scar cut across her face.

It made her look feral.

Dressed entirely in black, she carried a cold, sinister air that seemed to warn everyone to stay away.

"What terrifying battle intent. What terrifying killing intent. This man must have killed many people."

The Black-Clad Woman's voice was pleasing to the ear, yet it carried the oppressive weight of a dark hall, leaving those who heard it feeling stifled.

"Why does he give off that feeling when he's only at the ninth level of the Bright Realm?"

"He came out of Su Mansion. Does the Su Clan have a guest like that?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the Black-Clad Woman stopped before Su Mansion's gates, staring at them. Then the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.

"Su Zhenglong, are you dead yet?"

As she spoke, the scar on her face twisted even more fiercely.

Suddenly, she vanished from where she stood.

When she appeared again, she was outside the courtyard where Su Yuexi's family lived. No one noticed her arrival.

She slipped inside like a ghost, first stopping outside Su Yuexi's room.

Looking through the window, she saw Su Yuexi with her eyes shut, practicing her cultivation.

After a long while, the Black-Clad Woman raised a hand and gently touched the hideous scar on her face. Her lips curled slightly. "Little sister, you're so beautiful."

With that, she turned and left.

She came to the entrance of the main hall. Just then, a figure hurried out—it was Mei Xiaofang.

She stumbled and scrambled along as she shouted, "Doctor Sun, my master's coughing up blood again!"

The Black-Clad Woman watched her figure fade into the distance. Her lips trembled as she murmured, "Mother, you've lost weight."

Then she flashed into the main hall and straight into Su Zhenglong's room. A pool of blood lay on the floor, and Su Zhenglong lay in bed, his face pallid and his breathing faint.

The Black-Clad Woman clenched her teeth and walked toward him, one step at a time, staring fixedly at Su Zhenglong.

"So you're still alive, after all?"

Her eyes burned with hatred. She slowly sat on the edge of the bed, a mocking smile gradually appearing on her face. "But it seems you're not far from death. Good..."

As she spoke, her face contorted, her expression steeped in utter madness.

"Su Zhenglong, do you know how I've lived these past ten years?"

"You don't. All you know is how to dote on your youngest daughter. Even after suffering such terrible injuries, you still went out and found the antidote to the Crimson Spider Poison for her. Do you know how jealous that makes me?"

"Why could you be so cruel to me, yet dote on my little sister so much?"

Her words came squeezed through gritted teeth.

The Black-Clad Woman was none other than Su Yuexian, who had been taken away by a Noble Young Master ten years ago.

In her mind, Su Yuexi's restored appearance could only mean that Su Zhenglong had risked his life to obtain the antidote. She knew full well how difficult it was to find a cure for the Crimson Spider Poison, yet Su Zhenglong had still managed to get it, even with his grievous injuries.

After sitting there for who knew how long, Su Yuexian stood up and sneered. "Forget it. You'll be dead soon anyway."

"I only stopped by to see how miserable you were. Now I've seen it."

With that, Su Yuexian turned around...

The next moment, Su Zhenglong, unconscious behind her, suddenly spat out another mouthful of blood.

Su Yuexian's shoulders trembled.

She spun around, pulled a pill from her belt, and stared at Su Zhenglong. "I don't want you to die too quickly."

With that, she flicked the pill into Su Zhenglong's mouth.

The next moment, Su Yuexian vanished.