Chapter 46: Utterly Absurd!
To speak of Chen Yan’s feelings at this moment…
Fear? No, not really.
A bit of confusion, a bit of curiosity, some excitement, and a tangle of complicated emotions.
A betrothal?
A childhood engagement arranged by his own father?
So, this Gu Qing Yi, with a beauty so bewitching it seemed to belong to another world, had indeed come from another realm—seeking him out.
A wife delivered across a thousand miles?
Chen Yan couldn’t help but lift his gaze, scrutinizing Gu Qing Yi anew.
Big eyes, delicate features, skin as smooth as jade—every part of her face was flawless. Yet, there was a sharpness in her brows, an upward tilt that added a hint of devilish charm to what should have been pure elegance.
For some men, this unique aura held an irresistible allure.
And Chen Yan—
Was precisely such a man.
Compared to every woman he had seen in life or on screen—the acclaimed beauties of the silver screen, the real-life stunners like Lu Si Si or the charming Boss Lady—
All of them paled in comparison, without exception.
A childhood betrothed?
Had heaven truly sent down a Gu Sister just for him?
Caught in wild imaginings, Chen Yan felt a knot of conflict within.
Marriage…
Hadn’t exactly been on his agenda.
Damn it, he was only twenty-two! Just old enough to marry legally.
With the secret manual from Old Madam, he was poised to tread the path of the Dao, to ascend step by step into the ranks of the enlightened. Wealth, fame, power—these were all within reach. And as for women…
Would he ever lack them?
Was he not meant to roam the mortal world for another eight to ten years, reveling in its pleasures?
Who would think of marriage now?
But then, looking at Gu Qing Yi’s face…
Chen Yan swallowed.
Perhaps… it wasn’t entirely unacceptable?
·
Lost in tangled thoughts, Chen Yan blinked hard before speaking in a tone tinged with complexity. “I understand your intentions…
But you must realize, this is far too sudden for me.
I’m only twenty-two. Marriage was never in my immediate plans… Miss Gu Qing Yi, I must be honest: you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and this engagement exists between us…
However, please forgive me—I am not ready for marriage just yet. But if you don’t mind, we could take our time, get to know each other, perhaps cultivate our affec—”
Before he could finish, Gu Qing Yi’s face, which had been calm thus far, suddenly darkened.
Listening, her expression turned stormy. Then, as though unable to endure another word, a flush of anger surged into her eyes.
Without warning, she sprang up from her chair and—
BAM!
A powerful kick struck Chen Yan square in the chest.
CRACK!
The bamboo chair beneath him shattered instantly. Air knocked from his lungs, he collapsed onto the ground, feeling the force of the strike dissipate his internal energy. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he nearly spat blood.
“What the hell?! Not wanting to marry you is no reason to resort to violence!” he gasped, clutching his chest.
Gu Qing Yi seethed. “Are you blind?!”
Grabbing him by the collar, she hoisted him up and flung him toward the floating Golden Registry.
“Open your eyes and read it properly! Me? Marry you? How dare you utter such blasphemous nonsense!”
Chen Yan, stunned, quickly looked at the golden text swirling upon the transparent Immortal Register:
The Seventeenth Heir of the Chen Clan, betrothed in spirit to an eternal companion. By sacred agreement, this pact is made. The bride, the Seventeenth Heiress of the Gu Clan, thus bound in destiny, tied by the red thread, fated to share eternity…
Chen Yan read it once. Then twice.
Seventeenth Heir of the Chen Clan…
Seventeenth Heir of the Chen Clan…
Chen Jue? My father?!
Slowly, he lifted his gaze toward Gu Qing Yi, whose cold sneer was like a blade.
She jabbed a finger at the line that read Seventeenth Heiress of the Gu Clan and said icily, “That refers to me.”
Chen Yan swallowed hard. “So this marriage contract… isn’t between you and me…”
He trailed off, catching the fiery anger in her eyes and quickly corrected himself, “The engagement is between… you and my father?”
Gu Qing Yi gritted her teeth. “Yes!”
Chen Yan: “…”
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait…
This was getting messy!
He blinked rapidly. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“I’m twenty-two! That means when this engagement was arranged, you weren’t even born! And my father, Chen Jue—if he had me as a son, he must be at least forty by now, right?”
Gu Qing Yi scoffed. “So what? The contract was sealed before my birth, forged between your Chen Clan Ancestor and my Gu Clan Ancestor, binding your father and me. Age means little to those of us who cultivate—what is twenty years, in the span of our lifetimes?”
Hearing this, Chen Yan let out a slow breath of relief.
So—
He wasn’t the one getting married?
Well, that was a different matter altogether.
But still…
He blinked, shaking his head. “And you crossed from another world just for this? It’s an arranged marriage. You could have ignored it. From what I gather, you don’t even like Chen Jue. Why trouble yourself?”
“If it were so simple, I would have ignored it!” Gu Qing Yi’s voice was edged with frustration. “This contract was penned by a Great Heavenly Venerable, inscribed with divine power, and fused into my destiny itself! You are a cultivator—you should understand. Once etched into fate…
If it is a tribulation, I must endure it.
If it is a bond, I must fulfill it.”
Chen Yan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
A Great Heavenly Venerable?
With divine power?
Did that mighty one have nothing better to do?
If they were going to write with celestial might, couldn’t they have used it on something more worthwhile?!
“I attained the Heavenly Mortal Realm at nineteen, yet since then, my cultivation has been utterly stagnant! To surpass it, one must sever all worldly ties, but the heavens refuse to let me progress while my fate remains bound to this engagement. Unless I sever this bond, I will never reach the next realm.”
Gu Qing Yi cast a cold glance at Chen Yan and sneered, “Otherwise, do you truly believe I am willing to wed Chen Jue—that infamous scoundrel of the Chen family, reviled throughout the entire Domain Realm?”
Chen Yan, watching Gu Qing Yi seething with fury, cautiously clambered to his feet and took two steps back. “But… my so-called father, Chen Jue, is already dead. A man long gone—how do you intend to complete this marriage?”
At his words, the sneer on Gu Qing Yi’s lips twisted, turning strange and eerie, like the creeping shadows of dusk.
“I had already considered that before coming here. If he were still alive, then a wedding would be arranged. If he were dead…” She let her words linger, like the blade of an unsheathed sword catching the moonlight. Then, slowly, she uttered the final blow:
“A ghost marriage is still a marriage.”
Chen Yan’s mind blanked.
What the—?!
He stood there, stunned for several seconds before his mouth finally moved. “Wait, hold on. I think I lost the rhythm of this conversation. What exactly do you mean?”
Gu Qing Yi’s eyes narrowed. “Even if Chen Jue is dead, as long as you, his bloodline descendant, serve as the marriage witness and inscribe the wedding oath upon the contract as a direct heir of the Chen family, then the union shall be sealed. With that, my destined fate will be fulfilled.”
Chen Yan’s eyes widened in shock.
“Sister, are you seriously insane?!”
He was not easily impressed, but at this moment, he sincerely felt like giving Gu Qing Yi a round of applause for her sheer audacity.
However, at his words, Gu Qing Yi’s brows furrowed. “What did you just call me?”
“Uh?”
“You may not address me as ‘sister.’”
She took a deep breath, took two steps back, and gracefully sat once more upon her bamboo chair. Her gaze locked onto Chen Yan, steady as an iron will, as she slowly commanded, “The matter has been made clear. Now, you may offer your respects.”
Chen Yan blinked. “Respects? What respects?”
Gu Qing Yi flicked her sleeve, straightening her young yet composed posture. Clearing her throat, she spoke with deliberate composure, her naturally soft voice striving for authority: “My engagement with your father was personally decreed by the Great Heavenly Venerable. It is entwined with destiny itself. No matter how many women your father might have taken in this world—even if there were ten thousand of them—at most, they could only ever be concubines.
Destiny reigns supreme. I, Gu Qing Yi, am the true primary wife of the seventeenth generation of the Chen family.
As for you, Chen Yan…”
She paused, and a sense of impending doom crept up Chen Yan’s spine.
Then, she continued, “Chen Yan, you were born of a concubine, making you a son of secondary lineage.
According to the rites and laws, as an illegitimate son, when you meet me—your father’s proper wife—you should call me ‘Legitimate Mother.’”
Chen Yan: “………………………”
What kind of absurd, twisted family hierarchy nonsense was this?!
Chen Yan had lived for twenty-two years.
And now, with a single blink of an eye, he had somehow become the illegitimate son of a dead father?
And now a girl—who was clearly younger than him—was sitting there, expecting him to bow and address her as ‘Mother’?!
Fine, fine! The world had officially lost its mind!
“No, seriously!” Chen Yan rolled his eyes. “Do you even realize how utterly ridiculous this all sounds?”
Gu Qing Yi slowly rose to her feet. “I, too, find it utterly absurd. But fate has bound this matter to you and no other.
I need you, as Chen Jue’s son, to acknowledge me as your Legitimate Mother. I need you to assist me in completing the ghost marriage ceremony. And most importantly—I need you to offer your blood upon the contract and inscribe the oath as a descendant of the Chen family.
So, I’m afraid you have no choice.”
She took a deep breath, stretching her wrists as though limbering up for combat.
“Wait, wait! What do you think you’re doing?!” Chen Yan immediately took a step back, swiftly forming a hand seal. The incantation for the Command of Evasion was already on the tip of his tongue, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. “Let’s be reasonable! No need to resort to violence!”
Gu Qing Yi merely raised a single finger and pointed toward the corner of the courtyard.
“I already told you—I have reached the Heavenly Mortal Realm. You probably don’t grasp what that truly means.”
Chen Yan’s eyes widened as he activated his Heavenly Eye Qi-Observing Technique—and at that moment, he saw it. The qi surging around Gu Qing Yi’s body churned like thunderclouds, roaring with untamed force.
With a mere flick of her finger, a beam of light shot forth from her fingertip.
In the northeast corner of the courtyard stood a three-meter-tall Taihu stone, a decorative rock weighing over a ton…
The beam of light silently pierced through it. And in the next breath, under Chen Yan’s stunned gaze, the entire massive rock disintegrated—crumbling into fine powder, like dried flour scattered in the wind.
Chen Yan: “…”
Gu Qing Yi’s voice remained composed, as if stating a mere fact. “I mentioned earlier—you don’t have to believe me, nor do you have to listen. But in the end, I can always beat you until you do.”
Chen Yan: “…”
Gu Qing Yi suddenly relaxed her tone, exhaling softly. “Before I left home, my Third Uncle advised me to handle matters with wisdom and tact—resorting to force only when necessary.
I took his advice to heart. So, if you obey, there’s no need for violence.
If you accept, then from today onward, we shall be mother and son. Should you ever face trouble, just tell me. As your Legitimate Mother, I will protect you from all harm. Even if the heavens themselves collapse, I will hold them up for you.
From this moment forth—
Anyone you dare not offend, I will offend for you.
Anyone you dare not strike, I will strike for you.
No taboos. A mother’s love is as vast as the mountains.
This is my solemn vow to you.”
Chen Yan’s voice was devoid of emotion. “Are you saying…”
“I can let you walk through the world without fear.”
Chen Yan fell silent. Then, with exaggerated sincerity, he wiped his face and solemnly clasped his hands together.
“A drifting man, unmoored for half a life… If you will have me—”
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation