Chapter 3

Hearing those words, Chu Chaoyue lowered her head and glanced between her legs. Was she supposed to stand in for Chu Fan in that respect, too? She… she probably wouldn’t be able to satisfy Ling Ling…

“Why are you just standing there? Come help me take off my makeup and sleep with me!” Ling Ling was still planning to develop spiritual roots beautifully and painlessly.

Even that bastard of a male lead had managed to develop an extraordinarily powerful dark spiritual root. As the original owner of these two rings, if she couldn’t develop a decent spiritual root herself, then the two rings might as well perish together.

That’s right. Both rings and both dragon pupils could perish together. At worst, she simply wouldn’t cultivate immortality and would continue enjoying her comfortable life as a pampered young lady.

After all, without Chu Fan, the Dragon King, she could always fall back on her status as the eldest young lady of the Ling family. If she advanced, she could become a cultivator. Even if she did absolutely nothing, she would still be someone the Chu family had to treat with the utmost respect.

Ling Ling’s utterly self-assured attitude, despite having no real grounds for it, left Chu Chaoyue genuinely at a loss.

The young lady had suffered a terrible grievance. Besides, she was the one who had married her into the family today, and the young lady had even given her such a priceless treasure.

It was only right that she keep her company.

Late that night, Chu Chaoyue found herself helplessly reaching out to embrace the young lady beside her, who kept burrowing into her arms.

The gauze curtains surrounding the bed obscured the view, but Chu Chaoyue, who had already embarked on the path of cultivation, could see everything clearly even in the darkness. Once the young lady was nestled securely in her embrace, she stopped moving around. Her features relaxed, her breathing grew soft and even, and she appeared to be sleeping exceptionally soundly.

Chu Chaoyue let out an almost inaudible sigh. [read the original at bailiantales.com]So she really had meant nothing more than sleeping…

That night, however, there were plenty of others who couldn’t sleep. The Ling family was genuinely furious. Among the cultivation clans of Baihe City in the Eastern Wasteland, the Chu family had always been relatively weak. If they hadn’t produced someone like Chu Chaoyue, why would the Ling family ever have married their eldest young lady into that household?

They had originally hoped to establish ties with the Chu family and secure another path into the Divine Continent of the Central Lands. Who could have imagined that the Chu family would humiliate them before the alliance had even begun?

“Our Ling family doesn’t have to rely on your family to enter the Divine Continent of the Central Lands!” The Chu family’s main hall was brightly lit as Elder Ling slammed a hand on the table and angrily rebuked them.

“Calm down, Elder Ling, please calm down. We’ve already sent people to bring that brat back. He’s still young, and he was deceived by the maid at his side…” The Chu family head forced an apologetic smile while shooting a furious glare at his second brother, Chu Fan’s father.

“Since when is being young an excuse for behaving so recklessly? And he was deceived? What, is he not only a good-for-nothing but also an idiot?” Elder Ling’s expression was exceedingly ugly. Treating the eldest young lady of the Ling family this way was no different from trampling the entire family’s dignity into the ground!

“Elder Ling, we will certainly give both the Ling family and Miss Ling a proper explanation for what Chu Fan has done. Look at what happened today. Our Chaoyue personally welcomed the young lady into our residence. Our Chu family sincerely wishes to form an alliance with the Ling family!”

The Chu family head shot another resentful glare at his second brother. If his son hadn’t run away, why would his daughter, a genius cultivator who was about to depart for the Divine Continent of the Central Lands, have had to appear before outsiders and take on such a role?

Second Master Chu lowered his head, thoroughly ashamed. Marriage alliances were common among cultivation clans. Back in his younger days, he had been deeply infatuated with a dancing girl from an elegant pleasure house, yet even he hadn’t done something as outrageous as running away from his wedding. He had never imagined his own son would dare to do such a thing.

Still, since this was a marriage alliance based on mutual interests anyway, wasn’t Chu Chaoyue the person the Ling family truly valued? Now that the Chu family had arranged for Chu Chaoyue to personally welcome and marry the eldest young lady of the Ling family, the Lings ought to be delighted.

The Chu family head promised, “At the Dragon Hour tomorrow morning, we’ll immediately enter Miss Ling into our ancestral register, placing her name alongside Chu Fan’s. From then on, she’ll officially be the Second Young Madam of our Chu family!”

The Chu family’s attitude was extremely accommodating, and Elder Ling understood the larger situation. After all, Chu Chaoyue was still here, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to push them any stolen content further. It was just that the eldest young lady had suffered such an injustice.

At the Dragon Hour the following morning, Ling Ling arrived at the Chu family’s ancestral hall with Chu Chaoyue, yawning as she walked.

Chu family: Huh? Why did our family’s eldest young lady come here together with the eldest young lady of the Ling family?

Ling family: Oh! The Chu family really is showing plenty of sincerity. They even have their own genius accompanying her!

Seeing the two women enter, the Chu family head opened the ancestral register, which stood a full meter tall, and turned to the page recording the direct descendants of the Chu family.

Chu Chaoyue’s name was written near the top of the page, with Chu Fan’s name beneath it.

The Chu family head looked toward Ling Ling and greeted her with a smile. “Ling’er, come and press your fingerprint here. We’ll record your name and spiritual aura beside Chu Fan’s. From now on, you’ll be the Second Young Madam of our Chu family.”

Ling Ling stepped forward. “Oh? And what if I don’t want my name recorded beside Chu Fan’s?”

Ling family: Here it comes! Here it comes! Our young lady has finally come to her senses and is about to lose her temper!

The Chu family head paused. After seeing how peacefully the wedding banquet had gone yesterday, he’d begun to think that the eldest young lady of the Ling family wasn’t nearly as bad-tempered as the rumors suggested. She seemed to understand the importance of the bigger picture, after all.

Was it only natural that she’d finally lose her temper today after holding it in for so long?

“Then where would you like your name recorded, Ling’er? How about I open a new page just for you?” the Chu family head asked gently, his mind racing. At worst, he could simply give her a separate page. No matter what, their cooperation with the Ling family had to continue.

This time, the Chu family was at fault, so the Chu family would have to bear the consequences.

“I want my name written here.” Ling Ling pointed to the space beside Chu Chaoyue’s name.

“No problem… Wait, where did you say?” At first, when the Chu family head saw Ling Ling pointing somewhere above Chu Fan’s name, he was still smiling. He assumed the young lady simply wanted her name placed above Chu Fan’s as a way of putting him beneath her. That was perfectly fine.

But when he looked more closely, he realized that, damn it, she wasn’t asking to have her name placed above Chu Fan’s at all! She wanted it written directly beside Chu Chaoyue’s!

“Chu Chaoyue is the one who married me into this family, so my name should be written beside hers,” Ling Ling declared confidently.

Having her name entered into the register to formalize the alliance was fine.

But she had no intention of being with Chu Fan.

She’d slept wonderfully last night and was in an excellent mood. Therefore, from now on, she wanted to stay with Chu Chaoyue.

Chu family: Huh? Is this some kind of provocation?

Ling family: Ah! Our young lady is absolutely right! She belongs to whoever married her! The person our Ling family valued in the first place was Chu Chaoyue. Wouldn’t it be even better if she married Chu Chaoyue directly?

Elder Ling broke into a smile as well. The eldest young lady had done wonderfully! A marriage alliance was Read on BaiLianTales still a marriage alliance, so why couldn’t it be arranged between two women?

They didn’t care whether the eldest young lady had children anyway. As long as the marriage alliance existed in name, that was enough. Wouldn’t it be even better to establish the alliance directly with Chu Chaoyue, the very person they had their eyes on?

Goodness! Why hadn’t they thought of this before?

Chu Fan, you did a wonderful job running away!

Elder Ling burst into hearty laughter. “That’s absolutely right! She belongs to whoever married her. Don’t you agree, Family Head Chu?”

The Chu family head was dumbfounded. Yet for one brief moment, he actually felt that the argument made perfect sense.

Second Master Chu smiled. Hadn’t he said so? The Ling family ought to be delighted that the Chu family had arranged for Chu Chaoyue to personally marry their eldest young lady. And now, wasn’t the Ling family laughing?

“Sister Chaoyue, can my name be written beside yours?” Ling Ling asked, turning to Chu Chaoyue, who stood beside her.

Ling Ling had slept so comfortably that morning, and since they’d been urged to hurry to the ancestral hall to register her name, she hadn’t bothered putting on makeup.

Without a trace of cosmetics, her naturally radiant face appeared even more delicate and vibrant.

Her eyes, shimmering like rippling water, gazed directly at Chu Chaoyue. Almost instinctively, Chu Chaoyue answered, “Yes.”

The Chu family head stared at his daughter in disbelief. What had his daughter just said? Yes?

Elder Ling said, “Family Head Chu, I don’t think there’s any need to waste more time and effort trying to capture Chu Fan. Why don’t you withdraw your people and help our Ling family harvest the Dragonblood Lingzhi instead?”

The Chu family head’s eyes lit up. Dragonblood Lingzhi! That was an extraordinarily precious medicinal treasure capable of healing both internal and external injuries suffered by cultivators.

The Ling family had become the most powerful cultivation clan in Baihe City not only because they possessed spatial techniques for crafting storage vessels, but also because they had access to the one-of-a-kind Dragonblood Lingzhi.