Chapter 0: Husband
As the personal bodyguard of the Lone Shadow Saint Lord, Qin Gou accompanied them to meet the legendary Taiping Tower Master, Mu Tangchun.
According to the information Guanyin, also known as the “Little Chair,” had helped gather, this faction called the ‘Taiping Tower’ was quite adept at generating wealth. While most sects relied on mining spirit ores, exploring secret realms, crafting artifacts and pills, or receiving offerings from subordinate forces for their cultivation resources, Taiping Tower had gone on a mad spree of building inns over the past year or two. Their establishments were now spread far and wide across the human race’s major dynasties.
All the inns were named ‘Taiping Tower’ and only accepted cultivators as guests. Relying on Taiping Tower’s extensive network, intricate connections, and their own strength, they guaranteed safety to any honored guest who could offer enough valuable resources. Regardless of how many sworn enemies one had in the outside world, Taiping Tower would spare no expense to ensure their peace. Conversely, anyone who dared to cause trouble within Taiping Tower would be seen as the ultimate provocation to Taiping Tower Master Mu Tangchun, with a reserved seat in the underground courtyard, met with no mercy.
If one only considered these aspects, Taiping Tower Master Mu Tangchun was quite admirable. However, the crucial point was that such a domineering set of rules could not have been established by Taiping Tower alone. It must have been the result of a joint effort by many sects. The reason Taiping Tower was chosen as the spokesperson, gaining all the attention, and taking the largest share of all income, was largely due to the person behind Mu Tangchun. That person was the Demon Master Qin Gou, whose disciples dominated a region of the Cultivation World and commanded immense fear. He was a man who, to this day, did not even know what his cheap fiancée looked like.
“This woman…”
Upon seeing Mu Tangchun’s appearance, Qin Gou inwardly gasped, feeling as though he was having a heart attack. If not for her extremely unusual white hair and her vastly different demeanor, Qin Gou would have immediately blurted out the name he had in mind.
Qin Yuan!
At this moment, not only Qin Gou, but even Yi Chengying, who had met A’Yuan a few times, looked astonished. Mu Tangchun’s tear mole, even the one in the corner of her eye, was exactly the same as Qin Yuan’s.
“Taiping Tower’s Mu Tangchun, greetings, Daoist Friend Yi,” Mu Tangchun said, her voice cool and neither subservient nor overbearing.
This voice… Apart from the tone, even Qin Gou, as her father, couldn’t find any difference from Qin Yuan’s. Could it be that he and Xiao Yan had actually given birth to twins? Impossible. A’Yuan had never mentioned it before, and Xiao Yan’s body contained only one condensed pearl of an anomaly.
“Daoist Friend Mu… you may dispense with the formalities,” Yi Chengying replied, her little face looking strange.
“May I know this Daoist friend’s name?”
After a brief exchange, Mu Tangchun’s gaze bypassed Yi Chengying entirely and landed on Qin Gou beside her. Her tone was calm as she asked, “For some reason, you give me a rather familiar feeling. Are you an old acquaintance?”
“I am the Saint Lord’s bodyguard, Qin Yue,” Qin Gou said, subtly altering his voice. He desperately wanted to shout, “Daughter, what are you doing?”, but his intuition told him that things were far from simple. He was currently wearing a veiled hat. If it wasn’t for his closest confidantes, how could Mu Tangchun feel such familiarity?
“A good name,” Mu Tangchun inexplicably praised again, then turned her attention away from Qin Gou.
At this point, Qin Gou nodded slightly. This was a pre-arranged signal he had discussed with Guanyin earlier.
Yi Chengying immediately said, “I’ve always heard that Daoist Friend Mu has a very close relationship with the Master of Arc-Moon Mountain. You can even communicate with Ancestor Qin Gou through the stone statue? Is this true?”
“Daoist Friend Yi, are you doubting me?” Mu Tangchun’s expression was proud.
“It’s not a matter of doubt,” Yi Chengying said with a light smile. “It’s just that the Purple Extreme Demonic Sect also has an Ancestor’s sacred image, which has existed for much longer than any sect under the Purple Xuan Alliance.”
Mu Tangchun’s tone grew slightly colder. “This is just Daoist Friend Yi’s personal idea, or… is it Cult Master Zhao’s command?”
“The will of the Lone Shadow Saint Lord is the will of the Purple Extreme Demonic Sect.”
Suddenly, several personal maids belonging to Yi Chengying spoke coldly. It seemed that Guanyin had put in a lot of effort within the Purple Extreme Demonic Sect during this time. These maids, who had once relentlessly forced Guanyin to take large amounts of tonics, hoping to give birth to a powerful offspring for the ‘fake Demon Lord’ Qin Gou, were now actively defending her.
Seeing this, Mu Tangchun pondered for a moment before saying, “I can demonstrate my communication process with ‘him,’ but this is a one-time event. And to be clear beforehand, he will only communicate with me and will not pay attention to anyone else. No one is allowed to be disrespectful in front of him.”
“Please,” Yi Chengying said, immediately leading the way for everyone.
In a short while, a tall, elegant, and heroic Celestial Master sacred image came into view. The countless years of wind and rain had not diminished its otherworldly, immortal-like grace in the slightest. Even Qin Gou himself, upon seeing it, sincerely exclaimed, “Handsome!”
“This sacred image is truly the most dissimilar to the real him among all the statues I’ve seen!” Mu Tangchun said with a wry smile, shaking her head.
Qin Gou’s mouth twitched.
“Statues are inanimate objects, after all. Naturally, they cannot display the Ancestor’s full charisma!” Guanyin quickly said.
“No, I mean, he wasn’t that tall, and…”
“Cough!” Guanyin glared angrily at Mu Tangchun. “This place does not allow Daoist Friend Mu to arbitrarily slander Great Ancestor Qin… Ancestor!”
“Actually, I didn’t mean that either…” Mu Tangchun was a bit confused as to why Yi Chengying was so sensitive, as if she were Qin Gou’s fiancée. She shook her head helplessly and said no more, then stepped forward and stood before the Celestial Master sacred image.
Immediately, without Mu Tangchun making any move, a faint golden radiance gradually appeared on the sacred image.
Yi Chengying looked back in surprise. Qin Gou shrugged slightly, indicating it wasn’t because of him.
“Nothing major is happening, it’s just that Chun’er misses you again,” Mu Tangchun spoke again, but this time her tone was filled with tenderness, and her gaze towards the sacred image was full of affection, as docile as if she were a completely different person from the cool and elegant demeanor she had shown towards Yi Chengying and Qin Gou.
At the same time, the sacred image seemed to come to life. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, it raised its stone hand and gently placed it on Mu Tangchun’s head of white hair.
“This…” Yi Chengying looked astonished.
Qin Gou’s eyes narrowed. The Celestial Master’s Soul, which he had hidden within the statue long ago, suddenly awakened. It instantly detected a trace of extremely unusual energy also hidden within the statue. This energy was extremely concealed and solidified, with no leakage whatsoever. If Qin Gou hadn’t arranged the Celestial Master’s Soul beforehand, it would have been difficult to detect. It was likely the power of some profound Natal Spirit Tool.
Is it just a charade after all? Qin Gou unhesitatingly activated the Celestial Master’s Soul, directly dispelling the deeply hidden yet very weak energy. A translucent figure in white walked out of the statue! Among the people from Taiping Tower, a thin old woman’s face contorted in pain. She turned pale with fear.
However, Mu Tangchun merely showed a slight surprise. Not only was she not flustered, but she cried out with unconcealed, ecstatic joy, “Husband! Did you specifically come to see Chun’er?”
