Married?

Falling Cloud City.

The Cloudfront Office.

Inside a thatched hut at the edge of the stables.

A faint fragrance mingled with the heavy stink of sweat.

The pungent smell made the half-asleep Jiang Man wrinkle his nose, and he instinctively raised his sleeve to cover it.

But the instant his sleeve neared his nose, the sour stench accumulated over days shot straight into his head, making him shudder and wake fully.

The moment he opened his eyes, he froze.

He was standing before a crude wooden bed, surrounded by mottled earthen walls. A tattered double-happiness character hung on the wall, as though it had been torn off somewhere else and pasted there.

Aside from a wooden bed and a set of chipped furniture, the room was almost empty.

Most striking of all was the woman in coarse hemp clothing seated on the edge of the large bed before him.

There was nothing remarkable about rough clothing appearing here.

What inspired wonder was her face, so exquisite it seemed no earthly thing, like a masterpiece painstakingly carved by a master. Her almond-shaped eyes resembled obsidian immersed in a clear spring, their shifting gaze carrying a hint of shyness.

Her crimson lips were lightly pressed together, as tender as cherry blossoms.

Such beauty belonged only in heaven; how could it have been born among thatched huts?

"Won't you let go yet, husband?" she asked softly, her voice as pleasing as a clear mountain stream.

Jiang Man froze at her words.

Only then did he register what she had said.

Husband?

Me?

Only then did he realize that his rough, broad hand was gripping a rusty key, while the woman's slender, jade-like fingers rested over its upper half.

Instinctively, Jiang Man started to let go.

But suddenly, a faint stabbing pain came from his mind.

Then memories surged in like a tide...

At the beginning of his memories, he had known he had transmigrated, arriving inside his mother's womb.

But for some unknown reason, he had suffered a tremendous impact before he was even born.

At the time, he had thought she intended to abort him. Unwilling though he was, he had no strength to resist.

Then he had fallen unconscious.

He had plunged into endless darkness.

When he woke, he was here.

But he soon learned the broad outline of what had happened.

The abortion he had anticipated had never happened. He had indeed been safely born.

But because his mind was impaired, he had apparently been abandoned.

He had eventually gone to a rather remote village at the foot of a mountain.

It was one of the towns and villages governed by one of the three great sects under the immortal school.

As soon as he arrived, he began working in the fields.

When he was ten, he was allotted a yellow ox.

When he was sixteen, because the village had so few people and he alone met the age requirement, he was sent to Falling Cloud City to take part in the cultivation selection, joining the Azure Cloud Pavilion of the Cloudfront Office with his old yellow ox.

This year, when he was eighteen, the old yellow ox had spoken in a human tongue without warning.

It had asked whether he wanted a wife.

In his simple-minded state, he had paid no attention to the fact that an ox could speak. He had merely envied other people for having wives, and ultimately nodded that he did.

The old yellow ox then told him that three days later, at noon, a stream would appear behind the mountain. Following it upstream, he would find an immortal lake, beside which some immortal robes would fall.

Whichever woman's immortal robes he took would become his wife.

He believed it and did as he was told.

In the end, he really did bring back a woman as beautiful as a heavenly immortal.

The very woman before him.

They had just bowed to heaven and earth during the day.

Now, that very evening, she had told him in a gentle voice that since they had bowed to heaven and earth, they were husband and wife.

They must make a good life together from now on.

She had even offered to clean and help with the work, but the iron chain around her ankle restrained her. If he could find the key and unlock it, she could truly contribute to their home and build a happy, fulfilling life with him.

Simple-minded as he was, he could not withstand the lure of her every smile and frown, and naturally believed her again.

And now, what he held in his hand was that key.

As his memories returned, Jiang Man felt a trace of something strange.

A talking ox, her missing robes, me getting married...

Why was this plot so familiar?

Then Jiang Man glanced at the iron chain around her ankle.

This...

Wasn't this abducting an immortal maiden?

Would an immortal maiden like her willingly stay with me just because we had performed the wedding bows?

Jiang Man did not believe it.

This shabby home, the unyieldingly hard bed boards, the dried muddy marks still staining the foot of the bed in a dark patch.

How could a home like a pigsty give her any sense of belonging?

Then there were these coarse hemp clothes. Even he found them prickly, especially with that nauseating stink of sweat.

How much worse must it be for an immortal maiden with delicate skin, accustomed to a pampered life?

She was probably enduring it with difficulty every moment.

An immortal maiden was no fool.

How could she willingly help with the work? Tend her husband and raise children?

If he handed over this key, revenge would soon arrive. He probably would not survive the day.

Having offended someone like her, what awaited him was a calamity that would drown him.

Such stories might have happy endings in storybooks, but reality was no storybook.

Even if an immortal maiden from the highest heavens had lost her senses, she could never truly give herself to a country bumpkin!

At this thought, Jiang Man abruptly tightened his grip on the key and tried to pull it back.

But...

It did not budge.

His heart sank, and he instantly realized something was wrong.

Could holding the key for long enough restore her Law Power too?

Jiang Man's whole body tensed, his thoughts twisting through countless turns.

Finally, he forced himself to remain calm and slowly said, "Immortal maiden, if I said this was all a misunderstanding, would you believe me?"

The immortal maiden's shy, bashful look had already turned icy as she gazed at him.

Jiang Man understood. She did not believe him at all.

"Immortal maiden, if I let you leave, can you spare me? I was young and ignorant, deceived by a villain. Only today, waking from my dream, did I realize I had committed a mistake that blotted out the heavens," Jiang Man asked, struggling.

As he spoke, he secretly exerted force with his hand, trying to wrest back the key.

Yet the key seemed embedded in her hand, utterly motionless.

"What are you saying, husband? You and I are husband and wife who have bowed to heaven and earth. What talk is this of sparing you?" The immortal maiden's crimson lips parted slightly, her icy words making Jiang Man shiver despite the August weather.

Before her words had faded, Jiang Man suddenly felt stabbing pain all over, as though countless needles of ice were piercing his marrow.

He even felt as though his body was about to be torn apart.

Instinctively, he tried to release his grip and retreat.

But the hand gripping the key seemed glued to it.

Now he could neither advance nor retreat.

She really was an immortal maiden.

"Do you know what happens when you perform the wedding bows with me, husband? I have never met anyone who dared do so. You must be a Peerless Heavenly Prodigy, husband?" The immortal maiden looked at Jiang Man, a barely perceptible trace of mockery in her eyes.

Jiang Man stubbornly insisted, "I truly was victimized by a villain."

I had only just woken up. It was that old yellow ox's fault.

Moo!

Just then, an ox's call came from outside the courtyard. It was not loud, yet he heard it exceptionally clearly.

At that moment, Jiang Man felt the key in his hand tremble.

Even the grip of the person before him seemed to weaken.

Very soon, she tightened her hold on the key with a little force.

The immortal maiden's gaze shifted slightly. She glanced at the door, and when she looked back at Jiang Man, her eyes were utterly indifferent. "Husband, you even keep an evil god as livestock. No wonder you dared perform the wedding bows with me. Presumably, you also understand what you must endure for doing so."

Before her words had faded, the key shattered with a bang.

Even the iron chain vanished with it.

Then Jiang Man felt some abnormal change in his body, as though something had burrowed into his mind.

But before he could attend to it, the figure before him slowly faded.

Her soft voice rang out again. "One day as husband and wife brings a hundred days of affection. You must work hard, husband. The price of our wedding bows will not be easy to bear. Also, your livestock offended me. My punishment will arrive very soon.

"We may meet again at any time. I simply do not know whether, when we meet again, you will still be alive as you are now, husband, or whether your withered bones will already lie beneath the earth."

After that, she vanished completely.

Immediately afterward came a bang.

The dilapidated wooden door toppled at the sound.

My door. Jiang Man instinctively felt a pang.

Now, through the doorway, he saw an old yellow ox, disdain in his eyes.

Jiang Man's heart tightened as he recalled what the immortal maiden had said.

This was an evil god.

The ox he had depended on for survival was actually an evil god everyone clamored to beat and kill.

I'd better keep playing the fool, Jiang Man thought.

But suddenly, he felt another stabbing pain in his mind.

An unidentified golden object floated within his mind.

With a slight stirring of his thoughts, he tried to work out what it was.

Then the unidentified golden object seemed to be deciphered, presenting itself as text.

[Peerless Heaven's Chosen Destiny]

[As a Peerless Heavenly Prodigy, you will surely achieve Qi Introduction within three days.]

[If Qi Introduction fails, your Fate Pattern will backlash.]

[Sudden death may occur at any moment.]

Jiang Man was stunned. "..."

Was this the price of the wedding bows she had spoken of?