Cohabitation with Sword Spirit

Chapter 382 - 117: Happy Birthday to Me

At the moment when Wang Jiu was marveling at the reunion of old friends, an old man far away in the Shen City Lord’s Mansion deeply furrowed his brows and clenched his fists.

The changes in events were truly unexpected. Even though Shen Ruoshi had lived for over a hundred years and experienced countless battles, what he saw and heard today still opened his eyes.

The fact that the City Lord Golden Jade actually had an affair with Wang Jiu, and it appeared to be as deep as the sea, truly pledging life and death, was shocking!

This was a shocking secret that shook the three views of his entire creative... no, immortal cultivation career, to the extent that Shen Ruoshi stood before the round table, clenching and unclenching his right hand, as if the five fingers had a mind of their own, spontaneously forming the posture of holding a pen, writing and drawing in the void.

Beside him, Shen Qingming was initially captivated by the scene in the projection, with the remainder of her attention drawn to the sudden changes occurring in her own body — holding her chest in disbelief as she felt the warm and soft sensation in her palms.

Yet, at this moment, driven by the nature of biology, Shen Qingming’s attention was unconsciously drawn to the constantly moving object in front of her. She instinctively recognized Shen Ruoshi’s handwriting and softly recited, "Leng Rufeng calmly watched as Murong Wan’Er struggled, covered in blood, in the Ice Prison..."

The girl’s voice was very soft, merely self-muttering, but given the old man’s cultivation level inside the room, he could clearly hear even the flow of Qi Blood within a person’s body. How could her voice escape his notice? In an instant, Shen Ruoshi felt a rush of Qi Blood concentrate from all over his body to his head, not only turning his cheeks a deep red but even wishing his silver hair would turn the color of love and hate!

"What are you reciting!?"

Shen Qingming was startled by the stern question, her body trembled: "Nothing?"

Shen Ruoshi glared at his granddaughter with wide eyes, suppressing the urge to kill to silence her, and then flicked his finger to cast a Forgetfulness Spell into Shen Qingming’s mind, forcing her to forget those useless things. He then calmed his mind, redirecting his thoughts back to the main topic.

The situation on the Chaos Battlefield had already slipped out of control, and even Qingming’s marriage was nearing chaos. The biggest issue he faced now wasn’t whether Wang Jiu and others could defeat Zhao Jincheng but what Zhao Chenlu’s attitude towards Shen Qingming’s marriage would be amidst her heated affair with Wang Jiu.

Indeed, Shen Ruoshi was a stubbornly devoted man willing to stand against the world for his granddaughter’s happiness. Yet, he hadn’t lost his reason. Going against the world was one thing, being crushed by the world was another. Until now, every move he made, every step he took, was still within a controlled boundary, without crossing the line.

Within this boundary, the worst possible outcome was no more than the entire Cyan Cloud City launching an attack and the Saint Sect sending envoys to pressure him. However, as long as Shen City could strongly facilitate Zhao Jincheng and Shen Qingming’s marriage, they would gain Golden Jade City’s support. By then, a balanced stand-off between two cities and two cities would occur, and even the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect would have to begrudgingly accept it, as he owed him a favor regarding Li Fengyun’s incident back then.

Yet now, Zhao Chenlu’s attitude posed a fatal flaw in Shen Ruoshi’s plan. If he couldn’t garner Golden Jade City’s support, and all three forces apply pressure simultaneously, even if he sacrificed his life, he might not be able to turn the tide.

Shen Ruoshi, having lived for a hundred years, no longer feared death, but his death was insignificant compared to his granddaughter being forced to part with Zhao Jincheng, returning to Wang Jiu’s embrace, ruining her lifelong happiness, making him truly unable to rest in peace!

But the situation might not be so pessimistic, after all.

Logically thinking, Zhao Chenlu’s affair with Wang Jiu might actually benefit his plan, as generally, in such situations, Zhao Chenlu’s reactions might fall into two possibilities. The most ideal scenario would be: "How dare a seductive and cheap one like you compete with me for a man!?" She would, at all costs, try to drive a wedge between Shen Qingming and Wang Jiu. At that point, Zhao Chenlu would join his camp, and the grand plan could succeed.

The least ideal scenario would be: "The woman my beloved man fancies is my woman too. I would rather let her rot in the harem than be given to another man." This mindset is common among many female protagonists in popular literature.

Considering Zhao Chenlu’s life trajectory, which was more dramatic than many literary heroines’, her world view might have also twisted. At that point, the two of them might even become bitter enemies!

Realizing this, the path ahead seemed clear for Shen Ruoshi.

He must strive to sabotage Wang Jiu and Shen Qingming’s relationship and strengthen the bond between Shen Qingming and Zhao Jincheng, especially the latter, being Zhao Chenlu’s blood brother, can heavily influence Zhao Chenlu’s attitude.

On reaching this conclusion, Shen Ruoshi sighed, took a step, and walked into the projection.

The next moment, the Array used for monitoring the battlefield was nonchalantly altered by Shen Ruoshi into a space-distorting passage, taking one step to cover hundreds of miles, arriving at the Chaos Battlefield.

With Shen Ruoshi’s arrival, the recently relieved atmosphere suddenly tensed up again.

Li Wanqing looked incredulously at the silver-haired cultivator, painfully enduring the severe bodily pain and instinctive fear as she stood before Wang Jiu, reaching out to try and grasp the White Sword.

Wang Jiu immediately made Li Wanqing’s entire arm lose feeling with an electric current, her lush hair standing energetically.

"Please don’t touch before wiping your hands clean."

Li Wanqing bit her teeth, suppressing the urge to douse him in carrot juice, coldly chuckled, and shifted her gaze towards Shen Ruoshi.

"What brings you here?"

Shen Ruoshi shook his head, ignoring the two people, and walked towards Zhao Jincheng, who was suffering from severe backlash and was already on his knees in a semi-conscious state. He gently patted Zhao Jincheng’s head, and instantly a thick, earth-like power filled his body, giving him a new lease on life.

"Ah!"

Zhao Jincheng exhaled a long breath of impure air, feeling as if the pain, like a black tide, had vanished in an instant. Before him was a world of sudden clarity and brightness, and in the center of that world was a silver-haired, cold-faced...

"Grandfather?!"

The instinctive call brought a hint of a smile to Shen Ruoshi’s face.

Good, at least Zhao Jincheng’s attitude was clear. Next, all that was needed was...

However, before Shen Ruoshi could speak, Zhao Jincheng shook his head vigorously, as if denying what he had said before, and then seriously said, "Please cancel the marriage between me and Qingming!"

Shen Ruoshi was completely stunned, feeling as if his heart had been pierced by a spear from the demons of the Chaos Battlefield, and he looked at Zhao Jincheng in disbelief.

The young man with a square face faced the pressure of a Sea Overturning Realm expert, and, suppressing the feeling of trembling, continued to use a steady voice to express his stance.

"The marriage between me and Qingming no longer has a foundation for happiness; pushing it forward will only lead to tragedy. So, please withdraw your decision!"

Suppressing the anger in his heart, Shen Ruoshi trembled as he asked, "Why?"

Zhao Jincheng was silent for a moment, then frankly said, "Qingming is no longer the Qingming I loved. Our marriage was one-sidedly wished for by me. If even I have lost the motivation to pursue true love, how can there be any hope for a happy ending for us?"

Shen Ruoshi roared, "How is she not the Shen Qingming you loved?! What on earth is different about her?! If it’s because of your sister’s issue, just say so, don’t use my granddaughter as a scapegoat!"

Zhao Jincheng candidly said, "Lord City Lord, with your cultivation, it should be apparent whether I’m speaking from the heart. Qingming... indeed surprised me. I originally thought, given her age and stature, she wouldn’t change her whole life. Who knew that the way of heaven is unpredictable, and this kind of thing actually happened... But, it’s also me who was too naive; even at the age of thirty, I still believed in such urban legends. In this world, where would there really be an eternally youthful little pig?"

Hearing these words, Shen Ruoshi wished he could smack this little bastard to death! You’re the little pig! If my granddaughter is a pig, then what am I? And ignoring such a leggy, slender-waisted, big-breasted woman to love a petite, delicate young girl, how perverted are you?!

For a moment, Shen Ruoshi truly gave up the thought of marrying his granddaughter to this man—unless using powerful immortal techniques to brainwash him, creating an entirely new personality that matched the square face. But even for brainwashing, Shen Ruoshi couldn’t bring himself to clean such a dirty mind. Just like doing laundry, who would want to wash the underwear of someone with diarrhea?

However, now was not the time to be angry. As a battle-hardened warrior, Shen Ruoshi understood the difference between wanting to do something and needing to do something. Now that Zhao Jincheng was no longer an option, he needed to quickly choose a replacement for his grandson-in-law, not waste time on sunk costs.

But Shen Ruoshi couldn’t help but lament in his heart, in such a vast world, among the multitude of living beings, where could he truly find a perfect, faultless square-faced man?

As Shen Ruoshi began to operate his Primordial Spirit, searching through his vast memory bank for the perfect square face, a woman stumbled out from the passageway leading directly to the City Lord’s Mansion.

Instinctively, Shen Ruoshi looked back, only to see a slap coming towards him.

The next moment, a crisp slap sounded.

The crowd fell into silence.

In this world, there are billions of women who can slap a face, but those who can slap Shen Ruoshi’s face probably don’t add up to a handful... no, they simply don’t exist!

Not even Zhao Chenlu would ever have the chance to slap Shen Ruoshi, and even the Sect Leader of Saint Sect, perhaps, might be able to kill Shen Ruoshi with all their might, but could never humiliate him.

So, in this world, who exactly could land such a slap on Shen Ruoshi?

In the next moment, the silver-haired cultivator slowly turned his head back and, in a low and incredulous voice, gently said.

"Mother?"