Liu Jiang Fusheng did not understand why she suddenly asked this question. Was it because she had thoughts about having a child?
Indeed, in the mortal world, it seemed to be an inevitable process for couples to marry and have children. And they had been married for several years. For her to consider having a child... it was extremely abnormal!
The Gu Junshi he knew was a strategist even more ruthless and heartless than a man. Emotions like love and attachment would never appear in her. She was both aloof and cold, weighing pros and cons, indulging in ambition, and even willing to abandon everything to achieve her goals.
Would she want a child?
If she truly thought so, it would be enough to make him laugh with joy.
Because it would mean he had her "caught."
He leaned closer to her, his breath warm and fragrant, his dark, ink-dyed eyelashes falling like feathers, soft and lingering, entwining her gaze. He thought she liked his face. Before she fell in love with him, this was the only thing about him that could move her.
"Ayi, will you be with me forever?" His eyes were mournful and sad, like an unsolvable mist of sorrow, slow and sticky, relentlessly clinging to her gaze.
Gu Junshi did not avert her eyes. She seemed to adopt an attitude of indifferent indulgence, letting him act out and express himself. She found that everything he asked after regaining his memory seemed to dance back and forth on the line between her lies and truths.
In fact, what he wanted to hear was not important. What was important was what kind of answer she could give him.
She could stand by and watch him chew and swallow his twisted, dark heart bit by bit, then present it to her washed clean, obedient, and pure. Since he wanted to continue feigning amnesia, she could naturally cooperate.
However, she wanted to see how deeply he could accept all of this after regaining his memory... She was a cold-hearted person, and the circulation in her extremities seemed to be impaired. Her chilling fingertips brushed lightly like feathers across the crescent of his brows, finely curved and alluring. No wonder he was so captivating.
"Your wish is rather difficult for me. I am merely a mortal." She sighed lightly.
He should know that mortals were destined to have limited lifespans. If his "forever" referred not to a mortal's lifetime but to his time as a cultivator, then it would be asking too much.
As Liu Jiang Fusheng drew her lingering fingertips close to his lips, he gently pecked them. Beneath his lowered lashes, his eyes were somewhat dim and deep. "Then do you want to live forever? Cheng Hong said that even though you have no spiritual roots, you can accumulate merit and cultivate Buddha Dharma. Then you will no longer be a mortal. Will you be tempted?"
He did not allow his true emotions to surface but suppressed them tightly. If he wanted to hear her speak the truth, he had to hide his poisonous claws and teeth well, without revealing any clues.
However, anxiety, nervousness, and gloomy endurance were like a barbed wire net with sharp knives, tightly enclosing his heart. He couldn't breathe and could only wait, in painful suffocation, for her judgment.
His heart had long rotted. He was carrying a rotten heart while carefully loving her. His love was poison, control, and obsession, in short, nothing beautiful. But he would not let her escape.
She had said she would fall in love with him and then kill him. But at this moment, Liu Jiang Fusheng felt no anger or pain. On the contrary, he was excited and satisfied. This meant she had a purpose in him, and she wouldn't easily abandon him and run to someone else before getting what she wanted.
Gu Junshi traced his delicate and handsome facial contours down to his jawline. Her seemingly casual touches were practiced methods of flirtation. A fermented pink heat gradually rose, but her tone remained calm and indifferent. "No."
Becoming a Buddha cultivator, was she insane?
When Liu Jiang Fusheng heard her affirmative answer, he realized his heart had been hanging high in the air. Only then did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Although his time with Gu Junshi was short, they had been together for several lifetimes. Even though she had always hidden many things, the familiarity deepened through their daily interactions had allowed him to understand her. When she encountered something she didn't want to answer or refused to answer, she would usually respond with a counter-question or change the subject. But if she answered without much thought, then the content was bound to be true.
Liu Jiang Fusheng was very happy because she had rejected Cheng Hong, and because he didn't have to resort to desperate measures to prevent it.
"Ayi... I will do everything I can to help you extend your lifespan. Do you believe me?" He smiled at her with genuine sincerity, his eyes filled with affectionate tenderness.
Under such an expression of infatuated love, who could guess that not long ago he had been filled with darkness, considering all sorts of blackening and confinement scenarios.
Gu Junshi looked at him deeply, paused for a moment, and said, "I believe you."
Liu Jiang Fusheng's smile did not diminish, and he scoffed inwardly.
Liar. Her answer was hesitant. She said she believed him, but in fact, she didn't believe him at all.
But it didn't matter. He just needed to know that he was sincere.
Later, he asked her if the sect leader had removed the "Soul Locking Curse."
She said, "It's been removed."
He then asked about her physical condition. He once again used his spiritual power to cleanse her unclogged meridians and still detected no abnormalities. But he was uneasy and planned to take her to a more professional medical cultivator for a check-up. At least it shouldn't be Elder Jiu Li, who judged based on experience and old methods, but it also shouldn't be Cheng Hong, who "harbored ill intentions."
With such a large sect as Xu Kong Men, there would naturally be such medical cultivators.
However, Gu Junshi told him that she had met Master Cheng Hong not long ago, and he had examined her.
It was not an illness, and there was no need for treatment.
Upon hearing this, Liu Jiang Fusheng remained silent for a while. His watery, gloomy expression disappeared in an instant. He forced a smile that seemed carefree. "I heard that Master Cheng Hong has rules for seeing patients, but I didn't expect... him to be so approachable. He's willing to help even strangers."
"He is indeed kind-hearted."
"Since Master has helped Ayi, when I meet him next time, I, your husband, will definitely thank him properly."
"You may."
They walked and chatted, but one was full of honeyed words with hidden daggers, and the other responded perfunctorily with a casual agreement.
——
After a night of scheming, Liu Jiang Fusheng brought Gu Junshi back to their room, fully expecting a wonderful night. After regaining his memory, there would be certain deviations in his thoughts and behaviors compared to before, which he could not completely conceal through effort and pretense.
For example, a wolf disguised in sheep's clothing was still a wolf. It only liked to eat meat and not vegetables. It had wolfish ambitions and would not be content with a plain and passive existence.
His "reserved" and "virtuous gentleman" behavior only lasted until he personally helped Gu Junshi undress. Then, his pink, crystal-clear ear tips flushed, and he blossomed like a cold, aloof flower, his beautiful eyes sparkling, his rosy cheeks hinting at unspoken words. "Ayi, shall we rest?"
This was their customary secret signal.
However, his "expectation" did not materialize tonight because Gu Junshi... was like a husband who had been working overtime and was too tired to entertain, cruelly and decisively rejecting his signal.
Liu Jiang Fusheng's face froze, filled with disappointment, confusion, and the embarrassment of being rejected. In the past, she had always been the one to initiate these things. Now that he, having made a rare effort to be proactive, was rejected?
Liu Jiang Fusheng turned his back to her and slept in a huff, gnawing on his knuckles as if grinding his teeth, his heart filled with a sense of panic and self-doubt.
Had he no longer been fresh and tender, or did she feel she had grown tired of eating the same dish?
The worry of a beautiful wife surfaced in his heart.
He bit through the flesh of his finger and licked his blood-stained lips. The slightly sweet, rusty taste filled his mouth, briefly soothing his restless and agitated mind. He thought gloomily, perhaps besides maintaining his external appearance, he also needed to hone his "skills" internally from time to time...
——
In the blink of an eye, it was time for the top ten on the rankings to enter the "Dragon Island Secret Realm." The ten disciples from the "Rookie Rankings" went to the Xu Kong Men grand hall to meet, accompanied by the sect leader of Xu Kong Men and the venerables of each sect. They each gave their disciples some parting advice. Then, Sect Leader Taixuan of Xu Kong Men gave some welcoming remarks before sending them off to the "Dragon Island Secret Realm."
Liu Jiang Fusheng, as the leader, parted ways with the other nine disciples and headed towards the eastern realm. The eastern realm bordered the sea, with towering cliffs. A long staircase of a thousand stones extended upwards, as if reaching into the firmament. He walked with steady steps, his face exuding a cool and detached aura when calm. However, on his left and right shoulders, respectively, stood a treasure-seeking rat and a spirit beast, a white fox, which somewhat softened his inherent aloofness.
There was no doubt that this white fox was Wei Li's transformed state. He had transformed into an ordinary spirit beast with one tail and was taken by Liu Jiang Fusheng to the "Dragon Island Secret Realm." With his cultivation, no one would be able to tell at a glance that he was a Nine-Tailed Demon Cultivator without special means of detection.
Originally, it would have been more convenient to hide directly in Liu Jiang Fusheng's pet bag. However, Taixuan had warned them beforehand that if they had a contracted spirit pet or demon beast and wished to bring it into the "Dragon Island Secret Realm," they had to release it and obtain the "Dragon Island Secret Realm's" consent to allow passage. Otherwise, they might encounter rejection during the teleportation process.
These two little creatures, at first glance, were both round and snow-white. However, the treasure-seeking rat was inferior in size and fur. Although it was a rare beast, its own strength was very weak. It could not even defeat some fierce spirit beasts, let alone encounter demon cultivators.
Therefore, its animal instincts made it sense the danger of the small white fox opposite it, and it became somewhat fearful of its existence. While on Liu Jiang Fusheng's shoulder, its usually active tail stood stiff and unmoving.
Wei Li lazily glanced at it with his alluring, deeply colored fox eyes. As a celestial fox demon beast, he could naturally recognize this treasure-seeking rat as the one that had been following Gu Yi earlier.
At that time, the treasure-seeking rat was still a beast without an owner. Now, it had already formed a contract with Liu Jiang Fusheng.
This young man truly had heavenly fortune, managing to find such a rare treasure beast as a treasure-seeking rat so casually. However, Wei Li did not feel much jealousy or envy. He only considered that if he continued to follow him, perhaps relying on the other party's incredible luck, he might be able to successfully find what he had always dreamed of.
These thousands of stone steps looked steep and endless, but for a cultivator's stamina, it was not a very arduous task. Ascending them, completing them, was like completing a solemn and ancient ritual, reaching the Ascension Platform.
As he walked step by step towards the highest point, when he finally stood on the Ascension Platform, the undulating clouds were like icebergs floating on the sea. He rode the clouds, navigated the mist, and stood on a flat star-viewing platform seemingly carved by a sharp blade. In the center, there was a large teleportation array painted with blue-gray pigments.
He walked forward. At the highest peak, the vast sea appeared with scattered islands, and the white waves surged in a vast expanse, like salt being fried into snow.
Standing in the center of the array, Liu Jiang Fusheng took out a "Platinum Jade Token" and held it in his hand. He raised it upwards.
The array sensed the "Platinum Jade Token," and a stream of scattered starlight gathered more and more, like blue crystal snowflakes falling from the sky, converging in his hand. They spun rapidly around the "Platinum Jade Token," transforming from points of light into thousands of threads, stirring up a hurricane and injecting it into the "Platinum Jade Token." Then, it flowed out from the jade token. The blue light that flowed out became deeper and thicker, gradually filling in the blue-gray array.
Immediately, a dazzling blue light shot up into the sky, and Liu Jiang Fusheng's figure in the array gradually disappeared from the Ascension Platform in the eastern realm.
In the western realm, almost simultaneously, nine beams of light shot into the sky.
"I imagine they will all have new appearances when they emerge."
The mentors of the top ten disciples came to see them off, both proud and supportive. The Dragon Island Secret Realm was not only a treasure island but also a place for tempering and growth. The opportunity that opened once every fifty years was not something everyone could gain from upon entering.
Therefore, they all looked forward to what these ten people would bring out when they emerged.
——
They did not know that besides Wei Li sneaking in through the loophole of his beast form, two other people had also infiltrated.
One, in the form of a lich, had no life and was merely an object that could be driven. The other, transformed into black mist, attached itself to someone's back, like a thin film.
When Liu Jiang Fusheng opened his eyes, he found himself in a tranquil forest.
It was a cherry blossom forest, with a gradient from white to light pink and deep red. Everything before him had a bewitching beauty. The wind blew the cherry blossom petals gently, and a figure slowly approached him.
Liu Jiang Fusheng's expression was slightly stunned. She looked at him, her beautiful, dark eyes as calm as a lake. The wind lifted her sleeves, and she opened her mouth to speak.
No sound was heard.
But he could discern that her lips were forming the word: "Come."
He walked towards her, but unexpectedly, the white fox had already torn at her with its claw. She scattered into a heap of petals and flew away.
But soon, various Gu Junshis appeared around them. She was standing, sitting, looking up at the sky, or writing. Every facet of her was presented before them.
The white fox pondered for a moment, then looked at Liu Jiang Fusheng in surprise.
This was the Gu Junshi in his heart.
This was the Cherry Wound Forest. It was not harmful, but it would manifest whatever one's obsessive thoughts were.
The person he was obsessively thinking about... was undoubtedly Gu Junshi.
Wasn't she his wife?
Why was he still so insatiably greedy?