The Xianzhou would never let someone selfish and violent become its Marshal.
"I-I wasn't worried about you."
He had called her Xuanbao in front of the Marshal and Jing Yuan, and even exposed what she had just been thinking. Especially with the three of them smiling for different reasons, Fu Xuan's face instantly turned scarlet.
She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into right then.
Thankfully, there weren't many people around today. If there had been any more, she couldn't imagine how she would ever show her face on the Xianzhou again.
"I-I'll be leav-"
"All right, Xuanbao. Nobody here will laugh at you."
Lingchen appeared before Fu Xuan in an instant and caught the little hand of the girl trying to flee.
Sparkle had been about to say that she would laugh, but then she met the glance Lingchen shot her way. Forget it. Arguing with an [Elation] Emanator wasn't worth it.
She wanted to find some amusement, not become the biggest joke herself.
Despite calling herself Lingchen's wife, she had only met him less than two system hours ago.
"Let go of me."
"Fu Xuan!"
Lingchen suddenly looked straight into Fu Xuan's eyes, his gaze serious.
There was a trace of pink in their amber hue, and strength and tenderness blended perfectly in the girl's eyes.
"Why are you suddenly so serious? And why did you grab me out of nowhere? The Marshal and the General are still here, you know~"
Fu Xuan felt a little lost.
Wasn't this moving a little too fast? I'm not ready yet.
If he confesses, won't that make me the first girl to agree to share him?
After all, she really did find it difficult to refuse Lingchen.
The care and attention he showed every time he purified her Divine Eye, his everyday concern for her, the occasional teasing...
There were all sorts of things. Put into words, many were trivial, but when she thought back on them, they were all precious memories.
"Nothing. I just suddenly felt like saying something."
"I stopped you because I wanted to tell you that, with me here, you can try using these eyes to see more of the world from now on."
"That's my promise."
The thought had come to him, so he said it. Why wait for the right atmosphere?
"..."
Fu Xuan fell silent for a moment, her thoughts unreadable. Then she looked up and met Lingchen's gentle yet resolute gaze.
Her expression gradually grew complicated. Honestly, at that moment, she wanted to throw herself into Lingchen's arms.
Because to Fu Xuan, what Lingchen had just said was the finest love letter imaginable.
She had kept her eyes closed for far too long. Only now did Fu Xuan abruptly realize that, although she had once performed countless divinations before doing anything to ensure the best possible result, she was now divining far less often in her daily life.
It was as though Lingchen possessed some kind of magic that let her feel completely at ease, no longer worrying about the future, no longer anxious or afraid.
She didn't have to maintain her dignified facade every moment. In front of Lingchen, she could say whatever she wanted.
She could complain, get angry, and enjoy every cup of milk tea Lingchen gave her.
The girl had long since forgotten what the milk tea sold in the Luofu's markets tasted like!
"Give me a little more time."
Fu Xuan's reply had nothing to do with what he had said, but Lingchen knew what she meant.
By now, she probably had very little aversion left to his choice to be with multiple women. Perhaps all she needed was an opportunity to come to terms with it.
Lingchen could understand that. As the saying went, after transmigrating, why would he tie himself to just one woman? He had long since recognized the baseness in his own heart. Of course, this universe's circumstances and his own strength had also given him the opportunity to make such a choice. Since he had chosen this path, Lingchen was naturally willing to admit that.
So he was willing to give them time, willing to work his way into their hearts little by little.
"All right. Thank you, Xuanbao."
Lingchen rubbed Fu Xuan's little head.
Sparkle crouched on the ground, drawing circles and muttering things like, "I came to find my fiancé with the biggest surprise and all my courage, so why did it turn out like this?" and, "The great Sparkle is all fired up now." Yet a little storm-cloud effect seemed to have appeared over her head.
"Ahem. You two, the Marshal is still here."
Seeing that Lingchen seemed to have become addicted to patting her head, Jing Yuan felt he had to remind him.
Marshal Hua was a very busy woman, after all.
Fu Xuan also emerged from her peaceful state of mind.
"Sorry, Hua."
Lingchen turned to Hua's projection as he spoke.
"It's fine. In fact, I'd say it's quite interesting."
Hua didn't mind at all. She was even hoping to see a little more.
If mutual affection between Lingchen and the Xianzhou's girls could make him even more partial to the Xianzhou, that would be ideal.
As for deliberately offering women to him, the Xianzhou wasn't about to stoop that low.
If Fu Xuan were unwilling and Lingchen tried to force her, Hua would not hesitate even if it meant going to war.
"As for the Taixu Swordsmanship you mentioned, that's no problem. The Heavenly Strike General, Feixiao, has been campaigning continuously for three months. When she passes through my area, I'll ask her to bring the swordsmanship to you on the Luofu and take a few days off while she's there."
Jing Yuan stood beside them without speaking. Marshal Hua naturally had her reasons for making this decision.
"All right. I'll wait here on the Xianzhou for the Heavenly Strike General's arrival."
Clearly, Marshal Hua was finding an excuse to give the Heavenly Strike General a few days of rest.
Lingchen was actually quite curious about this Heavenly Strike General, too.
Fu Xuan rolled her eyes at Lingchen in exasperation.
She didn't even need to think to see that Lingchen had definitely developed an interest in the Heavenly Strike General.
She recalled what Lingchen had said at the beginning: he knew a little about all of them.
Fine. Fu Xuan could only hope that this Foxian general would continue to have nothing but great victories on her mind.
"All right, now that we've finished discussing business."
Lingchen looked at Fu Xuan again, along with Sparkle, who had bounced over to Fu Xuan's side at some point.
"Next, I'll tell you about my authority."
In the eyes of the world, Aha wasn't nearly so [elated]. The Aeon lacked all self-awareness, was inscrutable, acted entirely on a whim, and toyed with the universe and its mortals like playthings.
To many people, Aha was a lunatic.
Yet Lingchen had given a different answer, one that delighted and excited Aha. Thus, as a reward, and to show Fuli that Aha wasn't a stingy Aeon-though Fuli probably didn't care-Aha had bestowed a special authority upon him.
A beam of multicolored light descended from the sky, illuminating the exact spot where Lingchen stood.
"Understanding joy is a privilege unique to intelligent beings. Neither stubborn stone nor stars can comprehend the humor of life."
"Seek a worthy opponent, seek games to while away the hours, seek endings that care nothing for victory or defeat."
"Seek side-splitting jokes, seek misunderstandings born of chance, seek songs that send the imagination soaring."
A candy with eyes and an eyeball flower appeared, one shedding tears while the other smiled with crescent eyes.
A pigeon magician with human legs danced with playing cards.
An owl-cat balancing on a ball laughed with piglike squeals. A jack-in-the-box sprang out with a moon-faced figure pulling faces, a wallet with false teeth stuck out its tongue, and two tiny clowns scattered streamers everywhere.
A faceless black silhouette became the backdrop against the dark sky behind Lingchen.
The corner of Lingchen's mouth twitched. After one glance, he ignored the special effects and instead looked at Fu Xuan and Sparkle, saying softly:
"Its name is Humor."
P.S. Thank you to Daoist Xianyin for the tip of 4,000 VIP points. Thank you for your generosity.
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The picture shows Sparkle.
I've been preparing for the national civil service exam these past few days, and I also have other things to do, with endless meetings and reports to write. That's why my upload times have been a little irregular. I'm truly very sorry.
Chapter 48: Boo-hoo, I'm scared too
[Humor]?!
The instant the name of his authority was revealed, both Jing Yuan and Hua felt an involuntary shudder in their hearts.
Both were highly accomplished in literature. Although humor's philosophical definitions were extremely complex, in that single instant, several related interpretations sprang into their minds.
Broadly speaking, almost every intelligent life-form was connected to it.
Just a little thought was enough to realize that Lingchen's combat power must now be terrifyingly strong.
He might well be the strongest Emanator in history.
Even Sparkle beside them had widened her eyes. She probably hadn't expected the God of Elation to put so much thought into Lingchen.
Of course, what Sparkle was actually thinking more about at that moment was: Those special effects are pretty good. Next time I make an entrance, I should make it a little more spectacular, too.
After all, although she envied his combat power, it wasn't as if she could get a share of it.
In that case, why bother being jealous? Rather than waste her thoughts on that, she might as well act cute with Lingchen and ask him for a mask.
Fu Xuan also stared blankly at Lingchen. As someone from a family of stargazers, it was perfectly fair to say that her literary accomplishments surpassed Jing Yuan's.
Only now did Fu Xuan understand just how powerful Lingchen was.
Each Emanator excelled in a different field. There were indeed differences in their combat power, but not to the point that fighting one another was completely impossible.
Yet merely hearing about Lingchen's authority instantly brought a single thought to mind: He cannot be defeated.
As Lingchen's voice faded, faint, shrill laughter drifted from the shadow behind him.
"You've come?"
Lingchen suddenly looked up and spoke with a world-weary expression.
"I've come."
A faint voice also drifted down from the sky.
"You shouldn't have come."
Lingchen's expression grew calm.
"But I came anyway."
"My dear Diting, everyone else is about to go to sleep. Why are you still here?"
"How about a game of cards? If you lose, you can roll right back to your nest and go to sleep."
Lingchen was rather speechless. Aha really was like a Diting, coming running at the first whiff of something interesting.
He clearly hadn't done anything amusing, had he?
Before they could even marvel at the vast philosophical scope of Lingchen's authority, Aha's laughter rang out once again.
Both Jing Yuan and Hua, on the other end of the projection, felt their breathing stop for an instant, as though their hearts had been seized.
That [Humor] authority was already absurd enough.
But Aha's subsequent laughter was even more absurd. What was going on? Did Aha have to join the performance even when Lingchen was merely explaining his own authority?
If they still couldn't figure out who had provided those special effects earlier, they really would have been rather stupid.
"Lingchen, that was Aha's laughter just now, wasn't it? And that voice, too? Also, the Diting you mentioned..."
Fu Xuan stepped forward and grabbed Lingchen's hand, trying to ease some of the panic in her heart.
An Aeon-and the most unhinged of all the Aeons, at that. There was no way Fu Xuan could remain calm.
She was only a girl a few hundred years old. She still wanted to live a few more years.