In truth, Dongfang Lin already knew what condition his daughter intended to add, because it had been his arrangement all along.
He was only pretending to be curious!
"Father, the condition I want to add is..."
Dongfang Yao paused briefly and gently stroked Lin Heng's forehead. Then she continued, "He must reach the Martial Emperor Realm before he turns thirty, or the marriage contract will be void!"
"Well..."
Dongfang Lin kept up the act, deliberately furrowing his brow. "Yaoyao, becoming a Martial Thearch before thirty is a bit too much to ask! Throughout the entire history of the Divine Firmament Human Race, the people who managed to become Martial Thearchs before thirty can be counted on one hand!"
"Father, it's not too much at all. If anything, the requirement is too low!"
Dongfang Yao said, "Aunt Liu became a God Realm expert before she even turned thirty. Of course we can't set the bar too low for her son!"
"That does make some sense!"
Dongfang Lin nodded.
He and the Great Xia Imperial Clan wanted to add this condition because they were worried that Lin Heng might turn out to be too ordinary.
Liu Ling'er had indeed reached the God Realm, but the way she had attained it was quite miraculous.
The same miraculous experience might not happen to Lin Heng.
Even for a God Realm expert, raising one's child to the Martial Emperor Realm before the age of thirty was no easy feat.
Liu Ling'er would have to put more effort into Lin Heng!
Dongfang Lin and the Great Xia Imperial Clan had another worry: Liu Ling'er might suddenly lose her God Realm cultivation!
If that really happened and Liu Ling'er suddenly became an ordinary person again, her son would no longer be worthy of Dongfang Yao!
They couldn't voice these concerns openly, which was why they had proposed this condition.
"Sister Liu, do you think we can add this condition?"
Dongfang Lin asked first, then added with an apparent show of straightforwardness, "If you don't think it's necessary, Sister Liu, we won't add it!"
Lin Changqing and Duanmu Lan both looked at Liu Ling'er.
Both of them thought Dongfang Yao's condition was excessive.
That was especially true of Lin Changqing. He had received abundant cultivation resources from the Chishui Royal Clan since childhood, yet he was now over fifty and had only recently advanced to the Martial Emperor Realm.
He had become the ruler of the Chishui Kingdom without a single member of the Chishui Royal Clan objecting. His cultivation talent was by no means lacking.
"There's no harm in adding it."
Liu Ling'er replied indifferently.
She believed her son was anything but ordinary. With her own strength and her wholehearted guidance, it shouldn't be hard to make him a Martial Thearch before he turned thirty.
Even if it proved difficult, she believed she could overcome it!
"Wait!"
At that moment, Lin Heng, who was still cradled in Dongfang Yao's arms, suddenly spoke. "Dongfang Yao, can you reach the Martial Emperor Realm before you turn thirty?"
"Me?"
Dongfang Yao was taken aback. "I don't know. Maybe I can, maybe I can't."
"Just tell me how confident you are!"
"Uh..."
Dongfang Yao thought for a moment. "About thirty percent!"
"You're only thirty percent confident yourself, so how can you have the nerve to set a condition like that for me?"
Lin Heng demanded irritably.
Everyone was even more astonished!
That was nothing like what a newborn child could say!
"I'm a girl!"
Dongfang Yao argued, "That's the custom among the Divine Firmament Human Race. When two families join in marriage, the man has to be superior to the woman! Besides, I come from the imperial clan, and you come from a royal clan. My status is more exalted than yours. If you can't be more outstanding than me, what gives you the right to marry me?"
She might have been young, but it had to be said that her words were well reasoned!
"Your status is more exalted than mine because you come from the imperial clan? I don't think so!"
Lin Heng retorted indignantly, "On the Divine Firmament Continent, strength is what counts. My mother is invincible in the God Realm. That alone means you aren't one bit more exalted than me!"
Lin Heng spoke with just as much confidence!
Everyone was even more surprised. This little baby really was extraordinary!
He was barely this big, and he could already argue!
"Little one, you're only saying that because you don't have confidence, aren't you?"
Dongfang Yao looked down at Lin Heng in her arms, deeply displeased with the baby.
He loved arguing just after being born. What would he be like when he grew up?
"I'll definitely reach the Martial Emperor Realm before thirty!"
Lin Heng was full of confidence.
"Then what are you complaining about?"
"I just think that when you make demands of someone else, you should first ask yourself whether you can meet them."
Lin Heng continued, "You want to add a condition, and so do I! If your cultivation is more than one major realm below mine before you turn thirty, I have the right to unilaterally dissolve the marriage contract!"
These weren't words spoken in anger, nor was he merely turning the tables on her!
He was leaving himself a way out of the marriage contract in the future!
Of course, he had only said he had the right to dissolve it unilaterally, not that he definitely would!
What if he fell in love with Dongfang Yao by then?
So he couldn't make an absolute statement!
Dongfang Yao still had twenty-one years until she turned thirty...
That was surely enough time!
"The little prince's condition isn't excessive. We're willing to accept it!"
Dongfang Lin agreed.
Indeed, the woman's side couldn't be the only one making demands. The man's side could make demands too. That was fair!
What was more-
In Dongfang Lin's view, his daughter had begun cultivating several years ago. Over the next twenty-one years, she was unlikely to fall more than one major realm behind Lin Heng.
"Mm!"
Liu Ling'er nodded as well.
Thus, Dongfang Lin added the conditions both sides had just proposed to the two sheets of white silk.
Afterward, Dongfang Lin and Liu Ling'er signed them. Their signatures, made with divine power, would remain on the two specially made sheets of white silk.
Lin Heng and Dongfang Yao then pressed their bright red handprints onto the silk, one after the other!
Next came Duanmu Lan, who signed as a witness, likewise using his own divine power!
With that, the marriage contract was sealed!
Lin Changqing was deeply frustrated. As Lin Heng's biological father, he wasn't even qualified to sign the marriage contract!
Frustrated as he was, he was also delighted. After all, this meant the Chishui Royal Clan and the Great Xia Imperial Clan had become related by marriage!
The occasion was certainly worth a grand celebration.
Lin Changqing held a grand celebratory banquet in the royal palace!
News of Lin Heng and Dongfang Yao's engagement soon spread throughout the Divine Firmament Human Race. Even the Demon Race and the Devil Race received word.
At the banquet, Dongfang Lin asked Liu Ling'er whether they should launch a counterattack against the Demon and Devil Races.
Liu Ling'er shook her head. "My son is too young. As his mother, it wouldn't be right for me to leave him, much less take him to war with me."
Dongfang Lin saw her point and said no more about it.
The Mist-Hidden Forest in the Demon Race's territory was shrouded in fog all year round.
It lay at the southwestern corner of the Nanhua Kingdom, bordering not only Human Race territory but also the lands of the Demon and Devil Races!
It belonged to no race, yet its existence held a uniquely important significance.
The ascension passage between the Divine Firmament Continent and the God Realm was located here!
The so-called ascension passage was actually a spatial rift connecting the two realms!
The rift had always been unstable, but in the past, the more powerful God Realm experts had been able to enter it and ascend to the God Realm.
Many years ago, an expert from the God Realm descended and sealed and concealed the entrance to the spatial rift on the Divine Firmament Continent's side.
Ever since then, it had been very difficult for Divine Firmament experts to ascend to the God Realm!
In recent days, a great many experts from the Demon and Devil Races had entered the Mist-Hidden Forest. Clearly, they were planning something big!