Yuanyang City became lively again because of this matter. While many people waited eagerly, at the inn, in the Tianzi-class room.

After a series of processes—stalemate, cold war, glaring at each other, fighting with teacups—they finally reached a reconciliation.

Madam Zi was very cautious this time. She did not allow people to escort the bride; the women who came for the viewing could bring at most one maidservant.

So Yan Xueyi disguised himself as the chongxi¹Chongxi (冲喜): a traditional practice of arranging a marriage—often urgent—to “dispel misfortune” or improve the health or luck of a sick or dying person through auspicious joy. bride, and Chao Jinsui disguised herself as his maid; Hongniang disguised herself as a bride as well and slipped in together, just in case;

As for Monk Guangping, he would wait outside the Su residence to provide support. If reinforcements arrived, Guangping could hold them off for a while and also conveniently notify the people inside in time.

The last little eye was kicked out of the operation team, because after eating Su Baishan, Xiao Yanjing got indigestion.

Su Baishan was not human, but a half-demon. Probably because he had been with Madam Zi for a long time—according to Xiao Yanjing, he even had a strange smell—so for the time being Xiao Yanjing could only coil up at the inn.

But immediately after, a problem arose—the chongxi bride had already been selected. Cutting in line was absolutely impossible.

Long before their group arrived in Yuanyang City, the Su family had widely announced the chongxi matter, collected the birth dates and eight characters of the women who registered, and had already selected sixteen whose eight characters matched.

This time, those sixteen were to go for a viewing of appearance and temperament.

This matter was handled very much in line with Madam Zi’s picky personality—even mortal emperors selecting consorts would be no more than this.

Chao Jinsui and the others wanted to cut in line, but simply could not.

Fortunately, although these girls’ eight characters matched, their appearances were still unknown.

So after nightfall, Hongniang picked two of the families whose eight characters had already matched, directly knocked those two families unconscious, and replaced them.

In a certain sense, it also counted as saving lives.

That night, the wind was calm and the waves were quiet.

For the past few days, Chao Jinsui had not felt any movement from the gu insects. Whenever she had time, she seized it to enter her sea of consciousness, open the Patriarch’s Little Classroom, and continue practicing sword techniques.

Perhaps because that day when she killed Su Baishan she had entered a very mysterious state, her understanding of the second layer, the Suixin Realm, had advanced another level. She had also dealt with quite a number of yin corpses, gradually going from unfamiliar to proficient. Now she could already skillfully control the Kunlun Sword with her will.

That night, she finally passed the Little Golden Figure’s test and successfully turned to the third page of the Kunlun Sword Manual.

After all, she had already reached the fifth realm. In the system’s words, what she was doing now was “review,” and compared to learning from scratch, her speed was extremely fast.

The next layer after the Suixin Realm was called the Qianjun Realm.

All sword techniques under heaven do not only emphasize “speed,” they emphasize “force” even more.

If one’s sword is light and drifting, it is difficult to harm the enemy.

The Qianjun Realm was much like its name—if mastered, every falling strike of the sword would carry the force of a thousand jun.

Chao Jinsui already had a bad premonition. When entering the sword manual, she had already prepared herself mentally.

Sure enough—

The Patriarch’s Little Golden Figure did not say a word and slashed down with a sword!

She immediately raised her sword to block!

The Little Golden Figure’s chop seemed ordinary, but in truth it was like Mount Tai pressing down overhead!

She wanted to push it back, but it felt as difficult as lifting an entire mountain.

Even though it was only within her sea of consciousness, she still felt her whole body beginning to sink, as if under the crushing pressure of a giant mountain, almost being pressed into dust!

Sweat beaded on her forehead, yet the sword spirit watched from the side and said gleefully:

“From now on, every time you come in, you’ll have to withstand this sword. When you can hold against this immense force, that’s when you can leave the mountain.”

“As for now…” it sighed theatrically, “you’re still far from it!”

She gritted her teeth and endured.

In the past, when she practiced the third layer, the Qianjun Realm, she had tried to split open Sigou Cliff—already an extremely unbelievable method.

But she had never expected that the true training method for this realm was not to split a mountain, but to use a sword to withstand one!

She held on for a full quarter of an hour, cold sweat pouring out endlessly.

Just as she felt she was vaguely reaching her limit, she suddenly sensed the immense force loosen—

She abruptly opened her eyes. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and her body felt as if it had completely collapsed from exhaustion.

She wiped her forehead, only to see that the sky at the horizon had already begun to pale.

For a sword cultivator, practicing the sword was essentially a process of constant self-torment.

Becoming the Sword Saint’s successor—how could that possibly be easy?

Thinking about going to the Su family today, she did not try entering her sea of consciousness again. After a simple bath, she knocked on the door of the demon next door.

Hongniang and Monk Guangping had slipped away early—

Mainly because they were afraid of seeing something they shouldn’t see. If His Excellency remembered it someday, he might very well kill to silence them.

Chao Jinsui waited outside for quite a while but the demon still did not come out. Seeing that he had not set up a barrier, she simply pushed the door open and went in.

The moment she pushed the door, she ran straight into the irritable demon in red.

He was already tall, and his demonic horns were as long as a palm. Illusion techniques could not change the horns, so a hair crown was used to conceal them. Making the demon directly wear a bridal dress was impossible; changing into red clothing was already a compromise.

Logically speaking, it should have looked extremely mismatched—

But the bride irritably yanked open the tangled hairpin. His cold, narrow phoenix eyes were like blazing peach blossoms, a streak of wicked crimson at the corners of his eyes. His thin lips were pressed tight, and his long black hair cascaded down like flowing water.

The great beauty in red let his gaze shift, and the cruelty within it instead added a touch of decadent allure. Seeing her come in now, he shot her a fiercely irritated glare.

He looked exactly like a big cat that had tangled up its yarn and was now throwing a tantrum.

Chao Jinsui suddenly felt—

Their chances of sneaking in were very high. Height didn’t seem to be a problem anymore.

The great demon in red lowered his head and saw her tugging his sleeve. Suddenly, extremely irritated, he bent down, his beautiful face drawing close, and asked viciously, “What, you want to laugh at me?”

As if if she said yes, she would be finished.

She knew his temper. Holding his sleeve, she pulled him to sit in front of the mirror.

“I’ll fix your hair.”

She removed the messy hairpins tangled in his hair, then thought for a moment and picked up a box of lip rouge from the table.

That the demon was astonishingly beautiful was one thing, but his temperament was truly hard to describe. He looked far too much like the type who would lift his skirt and massacre everyone. Even his beautiful brows and eyes were full of irritability.

She said, “You can’t possibly wear no makeup at all.”

Sure enough, the moment she said this, the demon’s face darkened.

Yet her finger had already dabbed a bit of rouge, moving toward his thin lips.

He stared at her.

Who knew what he was thinking—his expression shifting between light and shadow, a cold smile gradually appearing at the corner of his mouth.

She had just smoothed the rouge on. That touch of vivid color was like the finishing stroke that brings a painting to life. The originally flame-like dazzling beauty instantly became decadent and sinister, making one think—

This was a venom-tempered femme fatale.

Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, he suddenly bit down on her finger!

Chao Jinsui: “……”

“Yan Xueyi, were you a dog in your past life?”

He stared at her for a long while before slowly releasing his bite.

Today she was disguised as a dowry maid, using a simple illusion to alter her appearance, looking much more low-key.

He snorted coldly. “Your original appearance looks better.”

He thought: if the one wearing the red bridal dress today were her, it would surely look extremely beautiful.

✦ ─ ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ ─ ✦

There was a saying that the Su family owned “half a city,” and it was no exaggeration.

The entrance to the Su residence was built over the lake, with pavilions and towers of extraordinary grandeur.

As one sedan chair after another was carried inside, sixteen young women had already gathered in the garden.

A leading maid of the Su family said, “Ladies, please wait a moment. Our steward will come out shortly. After viewing your appearance and temperament, you will be invited inside.”

“Once you enter the inner courtyard, the selection will be decided on the spot. If chosen, the wedding will be held that very night at an auspicious hour. If not selected, you will be properly escorted out.”

The girls all looked very displeased.

The maid quickly added: “Even if you are not selected, it does not matter. After it is over, each of you will receive over a thousand spirit stones. No one will have come for nothing.”

With such generous compensation, those who had been quite dissatisfied quieted down.

The reputation of “chongxi” was not very pleasant. Ordinary sects and noble families would not send their own descendants, so although there was heavy payment offered, most of those who came were locals of Yuanyang City—of low cultivation and ordinary background. Most of them did not think they would be chosen by the Su family of “half a city,” but rather—

The Su family had said that simply showing up meant receiving spirit stones.

The sixteen girls who had been selected had already received over a thousand spirit stones. Now hearing that they would receive more even if they left, and with the maids bringing tea and refreshments while gently soothing them, most people’s expressions gradually softened.

Of course, except for one demon whose face grew increasingly foul.

Chao Jinsui had to keep reminding that demon from time to time:

Don’t take such big strides—taking strides that large doesn’t look like you’re here for chongxi, it looks like you’re here to silence witnesses;

Don’t kick someone just because they bump into you;

When sitting down, don’t lift your robe and sit with legs spread;

Also, fan the round fan slowly, and don’t gulp tea in one go.

The demon overlord: ……

The hand holding the teacup was squeezing so hard it was almost crushing it.

This sword cultivator was also a woman—she herself kicked whenever she wanted and gulped tea in one go!

Yet she insisted he behave like a “refined lady”!

The beautiful demon cast a sinister glance at her, suspecting she was deliberately tormenting him.

He glared viciously at her.

Chao Jinsui said softly, “When you glare, be gentle. Don’t release pressure.”

The demon overlord: ……

He swore that even when he was beaten as a child in the Ten Thousand Demons Cave, he had never felt this stifled!

He slammed the teacup heavily onto the table—crack—

The stone table split.

Chao Jinsui: “……”

The demon overlord guiltily pressed the table back together.

The table was restored, but faint cracks began to spread across it.

Hongniang: “……”

Hongniang noticed that the demonic pressure around His Excellency had become extremely terrifying, so she quickly left the high-pressure zone and ran off to eat pastries at the side.

Footnotes

• 1
  Chongxi (冲喜): a traditional practice of arranging a marriage—often urgent—to “dispel misfortune” or improve the health or luck of a sick or dying person through auspicious joy.