Xuanchen smiled and said, "For instance, if we hold a grand wedding and invite all those unwanted suitors of yours to witness it, I think at least eighty percent of them won't dare pester you again."
Xia Yueyou pretended to think seriously before replying, "That sounds nice, but what about the remaining twenty percent?"
"If the remaining twenty percent still refuse to give up, it proves they have immense perseverance. We can send them into some ancient Demonic Beast Secret Realm to temper themselves. If they manage to come out, they're bound to be powerhouses in the future."
Hearing this, she speechlessly looked up and rolled her eyes at him. He was truly a ruthless man.
"That sounds fine, but what if I don't want to have a wedding yet?"
Xuanchen coaxed her patiently, "Simple. We can register our marriage first, and then send them our marriage certificate to look at."
Xia Yueyou stared earnestly at his face, trying to gauge how thick-skinned he really was.
Amused, she asked, "So both of your methods boil down to insisting on marrying me?"
Xuanchen shook his head slightly and said, "You can marry me instead; I don't mind."
"I certainly won't marry you. If you want to marry me, that depends on whether you can move my heart."
With a smile, she broke free from his hand and walked toward the front lobby.
Xuanchen watched her retreating figure, a charming smile curving the corners of his lips, causing some young girls nearby to stare at him with starry eyes.
...
In a sprawling courtyard in Kyoto, inside a detached small villa, Murong Xue was hugging an elegant woman who looked to be only around thirty years old, acting coquettishly in her arms.
"Mwah—Mom, you have to stand up for your precious daughter."
Su Yaqin affectionately embraced her daughter and asked, "My little Xiao Xue, who has upset you?"
"Mom, do you know why I can't practice cultivation? It was all the fault of someone else!" Her delicate face was scrunched up, and her fists were clenched so tightly they cracked.
"What?! Xue'er, you aren't joking?" Her expression changed drastically.
She already believed it eight or nine parts; her daughter never lied, especially not about such a major matter.
"Mom, I met an expert..." Murong Xue recounted the incident involving the Soul-Dispersing Immortal-Sealing Talisman.
After listening to her daughter, Su Yaqin's face darkened with anger and relief alike—thank goodness her daughter had met an expert.
She immediately took out her phone and called her father-in-law.
"Hello, Yaqin, what is it?" A majestic voice came from the other end of the line, mixed with the faint sounds of a game of Chinese chess.
"Dad, can you come back for a bit? Xiao Xue has something very important to tell you."
"Alright, I'll be right back."
In a quiet, secluded pavilion, an old man with an upright posture and resolute eyes furrowed his brow. His eldest daughter-in-law's tone was off; something major must have happened.
"Old Zhong, let's stop here for today, we'll finish another time." Mùróng Zhèn immediately set aside the chess piece he was about to use to win, stood up, and strode away.
Old Zhong looked at the opposing piece that had just been cornered in checkmate and smiled.
After hanging up, Su Yaqin hesitated for a moment before dialing another number.
It rang for ten seconds before the call was answered.
"Wife, are you calling me because you miss me? Haha, I can take leave and come back to accompany you in a couple of days."
"My great brigade commander, your daughter has been plotted against by someone behind her back. Are you coming back or not?" Su Yaqin felt a flicker of joy in her heart, but she still kept her tone indifferent.
"What?! Who dares plot against my precious daughter?!"
His shout was loud enough for the guards on duty outside the door to hear clearly.
The phone only relayed a single "Dad, I'm fine now," before being hung up.
How could Murong Shan possibly rest easy? After arranging his military duties, he immediately applied for leave from the military region.
...
"Hehe, Xiao Xue'er, you really are your dad's little padded jacket," Su Yaqin said with a knowing smile.
"Mom, I'm your little padded jacket too."
The little cutie burrowed into her mother's arms, pressing cheek to cheek as she rubbed affectionately against the beautiful woman who looked only slightly older than her.
A dozen minutes later, Mùróng Zhèn walked in wearing a black long robe and mandarin jacket.
"Grandpa, you're back." Murong Xue went up to him with a sweet smile and took his hand.
The old man, whose entire body exuded an imposing aura, instantly softened his expression when he saw her smile and asked, "My good granddaughter, tell Grandpa what happened, and Grandpa will make it right for you."
"Hehe, thanks, Grandpa." Like a broken record, she repeated the story she had just told.
"Hmph, how audacious! Reaching their hands right into my Murong family."
The trace of pressure leaked from his Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation made breathing somewhat difficult for the mother and daughter.
"Yaqin, my good granddaughter, you two don't need to worry about this matter; I will investigate it clearly."
Murong Zhen turned and walked back to his study, sitting down in his office chair to ponder.
When his granddaughter was still underage and it was discovered that she could not store spiritual power in her body, he had carefully examined her back then, but found no anomalies at the time.
This meant either that the person who planted the talisman far exceeded him in cultivation, or that the talisman had been planted when she was an infant, fusing completely with her flesh and blood so that ordinary people could not detect it at all.
Regardless of which it was, this was a blatant provocation against the Murong family—a direct slap to his face!
He picked up a red telephone on his desk, punched in a series of digits, and dialed.
Once the call connected, he asked directly, "Director Lu, hello, I am Murong Zhen. I wanted to ask you whether anyone in the Foundation Establishment Realm inexplicably collapsed yesterday?"
"Old General Murong, why are you asking about this?" Lu Mingde asked curiously.
"Director Lu, it's like this..."
Murong Zhen briefly explained the reason. He had once held the same rank as Lu Mingde, yet even before him, he dared not put on any airs.
Not only because Lu Mingde's cultivation was higher than his, but more importantly because he was the chief steward of the Huaxia cultivation world!
"So that's how it is, General Murong. Yesterday afternoon, Lin Zhentian inexplicably collapsed without any detectable cause. He is currently at the Lin family's old residence."
Hearing what Murong Zhen said, Lu Mingde instantly put the pieces together. His granddaughter Murong Xue had an extremely close relationship with Sir's future wife, which was why he directly spilled the details.
"Many thanks to Director Lu for letting me know."
"It's nothing at all, Old General is too polite."
After hanging up the phone, a surge of schadenfreude ignited in Lu Mingde's heart. Relying on his Foundation Establishment Mid-stage cultivation, Lin Zhentian usually acted quite arrogantly.
Yet because he hadn't crossed any red lines, Lu Mingde had chosen to turn a blind eye.
Now look at him—he had gone and provoked a monstrous trouble that no one could save him from.
...
In Heilongjiang, hidden within an endless forest, lay an academy covering four to five hundred hectares.
There were no skyscrapers here; the tallest buildings were only two stories high, resembling large structures like teaching buildings with their rooftops and outer walls covered in lush vegetation.
This place could jam satellite reconnaissance; even if an airplane flew overhead at high altitude, one wouldn't notice anything amiss without careful inspection—though, of course, this wasn't a commercial flight path.
Security here was exceptionally strict. Within this dozen-square-kilometer defense zone, a light composite brigade and a special operations battalion were stationed, equipped with Huaxia's most cutting-edge weaponry.
Beneath the heavy canopy of leaves lay a two-lane highway leading to the outside world.
Every three kilometers stood a five-man guard post to check passing vehicles, and the guard posts were even equipped with heavy weaponry.
A Mengshi military vehicle bearing military license plates passed through the heavy checkpoints and arrived at the academy gates, where Lu Mingde stepped out holding a briefcase.
"Director Lu, you've finally arrived. Is there an order coming down?"