Dressed in a form-fitting white tunic and trousers, Liu Xiao stood by the flowerbed in a blank daze, a blooming pink flower pinched between her fingers.
She wasn't the most beautiful woman Lin Hui had ever seen, but her bearing was entirely her own. The close-cut clothes traced a full figure—a generous bust, a trim waist, and legs that, while not especially long, carried the taut, lean musculature of soone who had spent years in serious martial training.
Sensing Lin Hui's approach, Liu Xiao turned and fixed him with a level stare.
"I've imagined many ways my life might go. Not once did I picture it going like this."
"What do you an, Second Sister?" Lin Hui asked, caught off guard.
"You've already seen all of —inside and out. I can't marry anyone else now. So I have to choose you. When are you planning to sleep with ?" Liu Xiao asked, direct as a blade.
Lin Hui said nothing. He had rehearsed several versions of this conversation. Sheer bluntness wasn't among them.
"What, are you trying to back out!?" Liu Xiao's eyes widened, her chest rising as her temper reared—but then she rembered she couldn't best him in a fight, and she reined it back in.
"It doesn't matter what you think. I'm a traditional woman. You saw
without my clothes, and now you owe
children. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?" Lin Hui asked, driven by so obscure impulse.
"Otherwise I'll kill myself!" Liu Xiao's eyes prickled with sudden tears. She fought them down, determined not to break in front of him—but the emotions she'd suppressed since waking had finally breached, and there was nothing to be done about it.
She couldn't beat him in a fight. Her life was the only leverage she had. If even that ant nothing to him, she was truly out of options.
Lin Hui sighed, saying nothing. He read his second sister's anguish plainly enough.
"All right. We'll get married when we return ho."
"You promise!" Liu Xiao answered quickly.
"I promise."
He didn't refuse her. He had no particular attachnt to or aversion to marriage. Liu Xiao was decisive, devoted to her training, and brisk in everything she did—an excellent match, by any honest asure.
Getting married just like this… thinking it over, it wasn't a bad outco at all.
The two returned to the Lin family that very day and announced the decision.
His father, Lin Shunhe, was struck speechless. Not long ago, Liu Xiao had made a dramatic scene about marriage and fled the mont the subject arose; now she refused to marry anyone but Lin Hui. The reversal seed rather extre.
But it was a good thing. He had no objections—he'd supported the match from the start—and finalized it on the spot, ordering preparations for the ceremony to begin at once.
Liu Shenglan was equally gratified. She had spent enough ti around Lin Hui to know him well. Whatever his fearso reputation in the wider world, those close to him knew his personal life was entirely blaless—he lived like an ascetic, and if he wasn't training, he was thinking about training. A man of such focused character and exceptional strength would produce children of the highest aptitude, which in a world this dangerous was no small thing.
Stable strength carried across generations, sustained longevity, unbroken fortune—this was the real foundation of a flourishing clan.
As for his mother, Yao Shan, her approval needed no elaboration. She loved them both. She had long worried that her son might end up badly matched; a union with Xiaoxiao put every one of those fears to rest. She threw her full support behind it without hesitation.
The only unhappy person was Lin Xiaoliu.
The wedding was set for three days hence.
Invitations were sent only to the Clear Wind Dao disciples and the few ties the Lin family had recently ford. At Lin Hui's quiet request, the three City Lords sent their congratulatory gifts without announcing themselves—the last thing he wanted was to alarm the rest of the family.
With ties at that level now secured, his previous contingency plans had been rendered unnecessary. Events, as ever, had outpaced them.
He also worried that if the people around him learned of those connections, it would breed a dangerous kind of complacency. Many troubles in life began with feeling untouchable. Better to keep it quiet—let everyone go on with clear heads and ordinary lives. If genuine danger ever ca, the connection would be there.
In Lin Hui's eyes, being able to live simply—without fear for food, safety, or shelter—was already one of the rarer gifts this world offered.
So the sea battle with Tuyue was kept entirely secret. With the exception of Liu Xiao, no one in the Lin family knew it had happened at all.
And Liu Xiao herself only rembered, vaguely, that a very powerful woman had used her as leverage against her brother, and that he had co and rescued her. Nothing more. The rest of her mories from that period had been quietly erased during Gongsun Xinlian's restoration—those recollections had been illusions implanted by Tuyue's bewitchnt, nothing worth preserving.
…
After the wedding banquet.
Lin Xiaoliu clasped Liu Xiao's hands, trembling slightly.
"Second Sister… please be careful."
"Don't worry. I've rembered everything you told ." Dressed in a vivid red bridal gown, with formal costics done in full, Liu Xiao's face was striking and severe, her eyes weighted with quiet gravity.
Lin Xiaoliu's sensory gift was the keenest in the entire Lin family—everyone had long since acknowledged that. In recent months, as her ability to articulate those senses had grown sharper, she had beco capable of expressing what she perceived with real clarity.
Today, she was the only unhappy person in the house.
Liu Xiao had noticed and taken the initiative to sit with her the previous night. When she erged from that conversation, her own expression matched Lin Xiaoliu's—composed, but carrying a trace of unease that hadn't been there before.
"Brother Hui is a good person. But the power in him is truly frightening… One careless mont, Second Sister, and you might…" Lin Xiaoliu gripped her hands tight, looking for all the world as though she were saying a final farewell.
"I'm not afraid. If that is what fate has written for , then so be it." Liu Xiao spoke in earnest.
Nearby, Lin Hui and the rest of the gathered family looked on in silence, wearing expressions they couldn't quite na.
He had no idea what Lin Xiaoliu had sensed, but he knew very well the degree of control he had over his own strength. After years of intense cultivation, his precision was absolute. There was simply no way he could accidentally harm Liu Xiao—and Liu Xiao was a Divine Officer besides. Her constitution was formidably resilient; she wouldn't be hurt easily.
That evening, when the last toasts had been drunk, Lin Hui offered Liu Xiao his arm. Amid the blessings and smiles of everyone present, they walked together into the bridal courtyard prepared for them at the back of Lin Manor.
The wine had been generous. Lin Shunhe and the others drifted off to sleep without much resistance. The Lin family's newly acquired estate was vast—every guest had a room of their own.
Su Yaping and Xia Si also retired after presenting their gifts. Everyone was quietly curious what gifts of talent Lin Hui's future child might inherit. The evening felt complete, settled, suffused with a quiet warmth.
Inside the bridal chamber, Lin Hui lifted Liu Xiao gently and set her down on the bed.
"Second Sister…"
"Ah Hui… I… I have a strange habit. Sotis I want sothing, but I'm too embarrassed to ask. So… if you notice
saying no, just know that it actually ans… I really want it." Liu Xiao was no innocent in the ways of n and won, but her face burned crimson all the sa. She pressed both hands over it, unable to look at him.
"Understood," Lin Hui said, with great solemnity.
"Mm… then… you can start now!" Liu Xiao hid her face completely, adopting the position of a woman who had decided that as long as her eyes were covered, nothing else mattered.
"I like it wild!"
"Noted." Lin Hui understood perfectly.
Two shichen later…
Crash! A figure burst through the door of the bridal chamber. The wooden door shattered outright, spraying splinters across the corridor.
"Don't co near ! Stay back!!!" Liu Xiao's tearful, shrieking voice tore through the dead of night and carried across the better part of Lin Manor.
Lin Shunhe jolted awake beside Yao Shan, shot upright, threw on his outer robe, and sprinted out the door. The others spilled out one after another, converging on the open ground beside the bridal courtyard.
Of the two hundred or so people living in the estate, every able-bodied practitioner who wasn't currently on patrol reached the scene within ten seconds.
Su Yaping, Xia Si, a crestfallen Qiu Yiren, and a grim-faced Li Yuanyuan arrived first. The mont the four entered the courtyard, they found Liu Xiao slumped against the outer wall, legs shaking beyond her control, face streaked with tears, eyes swollen red. She had both arms wrapped around her stomach, whimpering continuously.
Swish. Lin Hui appeared among the crowd a beat later, helplessness written across his face, approaching Liu Xiao one step at a ti.
"Second Sister, are you—"
"Don't touch !!" Liu Xiao shuddered head to foot, screaming at full volu. "The wedding is off! I'm not doing this! It's over!!"
The crowd exchanged looks. Most of them had already worked out what had happened.
Lin Shunhe's face went entirely red. He glanced over at Liu Shenglan. Her expression was no different.
"Everyone, please give us so space. I'll handle this. Having so many people gathered here right now isn't good for Xiaoxiao." As Lin Hui's mother, Yao Shan stepped forward and took charge.
"Yes, ma'am." The crowd bowed and retreated promptly to their respective quarters.
Yao Shan then guided Lin Hui and Liu Xiao alone into an adjoining room. Ten minutes later, she ca back out shaking her head, with Lin Hui behind her.
"Go and rest. We'll see to this," she told her son, with a sigh.
"All right, Mother, I…" Lin Hui hesitated, then decided against saying anything further. He exhaled, turned, and walked away.
That left Yao Shan, Lin Shunhe, and Liu Shenglan gathered alone in the small courtyard.
Lin Shunhe reached into his waist pouch and pressed sothing. An invisible fluctuation spread outward, sealing the space against outside detection.
"Go on, Shanshan. No one else here," he said, his tone serious.
"It's Xiaoxiao. She couldn't manage it." Yao Shan sighed. "Ah Hui's constitution is simply too strong—no, strong isn't even the word anymore. It has reached sothing beyond anything we can asure. The two of them went at it for a full two shichen without a single pause. And you all know the defining quality of the martial arts he developed himself…"
"Speed?"
Lin Shunhe was the first to understand. Beside him, Liu Shenglan grasped it in the sa instant. They looked at each other. Neither spoke.
"Exactly what you're thinking," Yao Shan said, and sighed again. "I examined Xiaoxiao. No obvious physical injuries—just complete and utter exhaustion. I asked her how Ah Hui had fared. She said he hadn't finished. Not once. As for herself… she lost count long before the end, but she estimates at minimum several thousand tis."
Lin Shunhe and Liu Shenglan could not suppress a sharp intake of breath.
Several thousand tis!?
Even livestock couldn't manage—no. Wait. How could livestock even be brought into a comparison with Lin Hui? This was beyond all categories of absurdity.
The three stared at one another in wordless dismay.
At first glance, the whole affair had a darkly comic quality. But considered squarely, if this problem had no solution, how exactly was the Lin bloodline ant to continue?
This was an extrely serious problem.
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