Wedding

After this heart-to-heart, the two finally broke down the barrier between them.

Dongguan and Zhang Yu walked into the living room hand in hand, with Zhang Gui following behind them.

Li Shilan was sitting on the living room sofa, watching television.

It was a rerun of an old drama from before the Great Nirvana. The male and female leads poured their hearts out to each other and, after a string of hardships and misunderstandings, finally found their happy ending.

After a passionate kiss, the male lead took out the ring he had prepared long ago and slipped it onto the female lead's finger in the pouring rain.

"Marry me."

"Yes." The female lead shyly extended her right hand, and the ring slid onto her ring finger.

The end.

Li Shilan turned to look at Dongguan and Zhang Yu.

"When are you two getting married?"

They were already living together, but without a proper title, their relationship still lacked legitimacy.

The old woman had noticed that both of them had things weighing on their minds, so she had never brought it up.

Now, at last, she had found her chance.

"Mom, what are you saying?" Zhang Yu showed a rare hint of shyness, then looked at Dongguan, her eyes filled with anticipation and unease.

Li Shilan continued, "I can feel that I don't have much time left. It's time for me to go see him. Before I die, I want to see our daughter truly find a home, in every sense of the word. Can you grant me that wish?"

Li Shilan was nearly seventy now. Her face was covered in wrinkles, her hair was completely white, and her whole body gave off an air of decay.

With the improvement in human physical fitness after the Great Nirvana, she should never have reached this state, even as an ordinary person.

Li Shilan's physical fitness as an intermediate student surpassed that of the vast majority of people before the Great Nirvana.

But her life had been too full of hardship. Her exhausted spirit had caused her body to deteriorate as well.

The last time Dongguan had given her a mild spirit of plants and trees, she had been almost too frail to withstand even its nourishing effects.

First, she had lost her parents during the Great Nirvana Period, then her husband. Her only daughter had never married, and after her career stalled, she had become pregnant out of wedlock.

The old woman's life had been terribly hard. She was still holding on only because her daughter and grandson still needed a family member.

Dongguan's reappearance a year earlier had given her grandson a father and her daughter someone to come home to. It was one of the few things that had made her happy.

Now, her only wish was to see her daughter's wedding.

Dongguan decided to grant the old woman that wish.

"Let's get married." He looked at Zhang Yu and went down on one knee.

"I've already had a child, and you're still doing this?" Zhang Yu's cheeks grew hot.

"And that child is mine."

Something suddenly occurred to Dongguan. He vanished in a streak of light and returned to the same spot in less than a second, now holding a black cap.

"I don't have a wedding ring, so I'll use this instead."

"What is this?" Zhang Yu looked puzzled.

Li Shilan was just as confused.

If he wasn't giving her a ring, a bouquet would have been fine. But what was a black cap supposed to mean as a proposal gift?

"The Black God Set!" Zhang Gui exclaimed in surprise.

Li Shilan and Zhang Yu turned toward him, waiting for an explanation.

"The Black God Set is a reward you can only earn by reaching level 5 in the Elite Training Camp's Trial Tower. It's something even War Gods long to obtain." At this point, Zhang Gui's expression grew a little odd.

In terms of physical fitness alone, his mother could already be considered a War God. The speed with which she had removed his forehead protector earlier proved that.

Yet officially, she was still a Quasi-Martial Artist.

Zhang Gui's words deeply moved Zhang Yu.

"How do I use it?"

"Just put it on. It'll seep through your skin and absorb your blood. It becomes like a part of your body, so it's very easy to control," Dongguan said with a smile.

Zhang Yu put the cap on, and it soon began merging into her skin.

"Sss..." It hurt a little.

The cap turned into black droplets, absorbing her blood and constantly changing shape.

While they waited, Dongguan said to Zhang Gui, "I originally prepared this for you. Do you feel disappointed?"

"No." Zhang Gui shook his head. "If it can protect Mom, it's worth it. As for me, I'll earn a Black God Set at the Training Camp."

"Good," Dongguan praised him. "But you should know that if you obtain a Black God Set through the Limitless Martial Arts Hall's regular process, you'll have to enter the No. 9 Ancient Civilization Ruins in the future. Before you go, remember to pay more attention to cultivating your Spiritual Force."

A Brain Domain Width of "18" would trigger the Death Trial. In the original story, Luo Feng had been the only person on Earth to reach that threshold.

Dongguan did not know whether Zhang Gui could reach it, but even if he couldn't, Psychics had a far greater advantage than martial artists in the ruins of the Yunmo Star Lineage.

"All right, I understand." Zhang Gui was puzzled, but he still took the advice to heart.

His father, who was already a Councilor, surely knew far more about Ancient Civilization Ruins than he did.

About fifteen minutes later, the Black God Set finally finished recognizing Zhang Yu as its owner.

As she controlled the Black God Set and made it spread over her body, she couldn't help remarking, "How convenient."

"It really is a wonderful gift," Li Shilan added.

February 1, 2058.

Inside a townhouse in the Anping Residential Complex.

Dressed in a wedding gown, Zhang Yu waited quietly in her room.

No one had lived in this house for a year, but it had been thoroughly cleaned to serve as the bride's family home for the wedding ceremony.

A large crowd had gathered in the residential complex's courtyard, with neighbors all talking over one another.

"Isn't that the woman from the Zhang family? I remember she already has a son," one middle-aged woman watching the excitement said.

"Exactly. She's about my age, too. With a figure like that, she's caught someone's eye again." Another plump middle-aged woman looked rather envious.

"She got pregnant before marriage back then. I heard this man is her son's father."

"I wonder what kind of car they'll use to pick up the bride."

The crowd kept talking, though they actually knew very little. They had simply become familiar with this neighbor over the years. Her family had moved away a year ago, then recently returned and announced that they were holding a wedding.

They were curious to find out just who was marrying this older bride.

"He must be a martial artist. Miss Zhang may be getting on in years, but she's still beautiful, and her son became a martial artist a year ago," said a middle-aged man who knew a little more than the others.

"There are different ranks among martial artists, too. Warrior Level, Warrior General level, and War Gods are completely different."

"My guess is some retired War General saw potential in her son and wanted to take him as a disciple, then decided to make the relationship even closer through marriage."

"Stop guessing. He'll be here soon."

Gradually, the time approached nine in the morning.

A purplish-red triangular fighter descended from the sky and hovered above the residential complex.

The hatch opened, and Dongguan stepped out in his groom's attire. He turned into a streak of light and appeared at the villa's entrance in an instant.

He opened the door, went inside, picked up the bride, and returned to the fighter, all in one seamless motion.

"What was that just now?" The crowd's jaws dropped.

"That was a fighter, wasn't it? They're usually saucer-shaped. I think triangular fighters are exclusive to the Limitless Martial Arts Hall."

"What was that turning into light thing? Even War Gods can't do that, can they?"

If he wasn't a War God, he could only be above the War God level. Hong, the name they heard most often, was an existence at that level, someone who could speak to nations as an equal.

Silence fell.

Aboard the Intelligent Fighter.

Through the fighter's window, Zhang Yu watched the scenery flash past.

"This doesn't look like the way to the Oasis Residential Complex."

"Of course not. Over the past few days, I felt that living in the Oasis Residential Complex wasn't very convenient, so I found us somewhere bigger."

"Where?"

"The Sand Sea Villa."

Zhang Yu was puzzled. She had never heard of a villa complex by that name.

But on second thought, she had never paid much attention to such things before. It was perfectly normal for there to be places she hadn't heard of.

The fighter was fast, and soon left the urban area of Northern Frontier Base City.

"It's outside the city? Is it in a Satellite City?"

Northern Frontier Base City naturally had Satellite Cities as well.

The Satellite Cities were not as prosperous as the Base City's main urban area, but they were still important residential centers. The vast tracts of land between them and the main urban area produced the food needed to feed the Base City's enormous population.

When they reached a Satellite City, the fighter finally slowed down.

"It's in a Satellite City?" Zhang Yu couldn't understand why they would leave the main urban area to live there.

They passed beyond the Satellite City and entered the Wilderness Zone. A little farther ahead lay a military base.

"All right, we're here."

The aircraft slowly descended toward an enormous villa-or rather, what could simply be called a small fortified city.

Carved railings and jade-like masonry gave it the charm of Huaxia's ancient style, yet it also possessed a fresh grandeur.

It occupied an area a full ten kilometers across, enclosed by walls. Apart from the villa buildings in the center, everything around it was desert.

No wonder it was called the Sand Sea Villa.

Zhang Yu finally understood why it wasn't inside the city.

Space in the Base City was already scarce. As a Councilor, Dongguan could certainly have obtained such a large plot for his residence if he insisted, but that would have meant squeezing ordinary people even further. That was not what he wanted.

Martial artists should challenge the strong. What was impressive about bullying ordinary people?

"This is our new home. Impressive, isn't it?" Dongguan said with some pride.

He had built the surrounding walls with his Spiritual Force and transported the construction materials for the villa himself. Only the actual construction had been left to the workers.

No one had interfered with him claiming a stretch of land in the Wilderness Zone.

"It's impressive, all right, but it's so inconvenient, and it isn't safe either." Zhang Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

This place was some distance even from the Satellite City, let alone the main urban area.

Besides, monster attacks were unavoidable in the Wilderness Zone.

"With the fighter, getting around is easy. As for safety, there isn't a single Lord-level Monster here. How could it be unsafe? I've also installed Laser Cannons," Dongguan replied with a smile.

"But the fighter is yours."

"Heaven and Earth," Dongguan suddenly instructed the fighter's AI, "set up secondary access permissions for her."

He called them secondary permissions, but they were actually tertiary permissions. The hidden primary permissions belonged to Hong.

"If I use the fighter, what will you use?"

"Unless I'm going to another Base City, I can just fly. Besides, I spend most of my time cultivating, so I don't have much use for it."

That was true. Ever since returning to Northern Frontier Base City, he had been cultivating diligently and rarely went out. The fighter had barely been used.

"Thank you."

"We're husband and wife now. What's there to thank me for?"

The fighter landed on the central building's landing pad, and its hatch slowly opened.

Other fighters were already on the landing pad. Fortunately, the Sand Sea Villa was large enough, and its landing pad had been built big enough to accommodate them all.

Inside the hall, the guests looked outside at the perfectly matched couple, a talented groom and a beautiful bride.

Though both were already several decades old, they still looked young, and would retain that appearance for a long time to come.

Watching the newlyweds, Luo Feng couldn't help thinking about his own relationship with Xu Xin.