In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

The old man sat up straight, looked him up and down for a while, and then slowly spoke: "The black winds of Black Wind Valley... have stopped?"

"It's stopped."

The old man remained silent for a long time, then slowly exhaled: "I've sat at this registration desk for thirty years. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of people who have taken on Black Wind Valley missions. You are the first one to come back alive and say that the wind in that godforsaken place has stopped."

He took out a thick ledger from under the table, opened it, wrote a few lines, and then looked up at Lin Qiye: "The mission assessment requires the Temple to send someone to Black Wind Valley for on-site verification, which will take at least three days and up to seven days. After the verification is successful, the contribution points and rewards will be issued to your temporary identity jade token. Go back and wait."

Lin Qiye nodded and turned to leave.

As he reached the door, the old man's voice came from behind him: "Kid, let me say something—the Temple has been watching the Black Wind Valley's unusual activity for quite some time now. If you really manage to calm things down there, that'll be a great achievement, but it won't be a small matter either. Think about it carefully."

Lin Qiye didn't turn around: "I know."

It was dusk when I returned to Qing Shi Lane.

Under the old locust tree at the alley entrance, Little Manniu was squatting on the ground, poking at an ant nest with a twig. Hearing footsteps, she looked up, saw Lin Qiye, her eyes lit up, dropped the twig, and rushed over on her short legs: "Daddy!"

Lin Qiye bent down and picked her up. The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder, and murmured indistinctly, "Daddy hasn't come back for so long... Mommy said Daddy went to fight bad guys..."

"It's over." Lin Qiye carried her into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, Luo Sheng was collecting the laundry hanging out to dry by the patio. Seeing him return, she paused for a moment, then continued collecting as if nothing had happened, her voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of relaxation: "You're back."

"Um."

The barbarian princess was squatting by the well, sharpening her axe. Seeing him return, she grinned, "I knew it! Black Wind Valley? Could it possibly stump you?" She then glanced at his empty back, "Didn't you bring back any of the valley's specialties?"

"The valley's specialty is pollution, do you want some?"

Barbarian Princess rolled her eyes: "Never mind then."

Shuang'er peeked out from the kitchen, carrying a steaming bowl of soup. She nodded slightly to Lin Qiye, then took the soup back to the kitchen. Qingyin stood by the stove, silently adding firewood. Hearing the commotion in the yard, her shoulders relaxed slightly. She was much calmer than when she first arrived, but remained taciturn; only the fear and numbness in her eyes were gradually fading.

After packing up the clothes, Luo Sheng walked to Lin Qiye's side and lowered her voice: "Is the mission complete?"

"It's done." Lin Qiye put the little girl down and let her play in the yard by herself. "But I made a different discovery."

Luo Sheng didn't press further, but simply nodded: "Let's go inside and talk."

In the main room, Lin Qiye sat at the table, remaining silent for a moment before speaking. He didn't elaborate on the events deep within the crevice—the dried corpse, the heart, the purification, the backlash—he didn't intend for anyone to know. He only said one sentence: "The source of the anomalies in Black Wind Valley has been resolved. The black winds in the valley have stopped."

Luo Sheng looked at him, not pressing for details. She knew this man too well—if he didn't want to talk about something, she couldn't get it out of him no matter how hard she asked; and what he was willing to tell her was definitely what he felt she should know.

"Is it dangerous?" she asked.

"It's been resolved." Lin Qiye's voice was calm. "There is one thing, though—that place has some connection to the Canggu Mountains, and it resonates with the fragment on my body. This line of inquiry is worth following."

"What are you planning to do?"

"First, we need to get official identification," Lin Qiye said. "Then, we'll follow that lead."

Luo Sheng nodded and didn't ask any more questions. She knew that "place" was most likely the answer he had been searching for regarding the origin of the Candle Bloodline. There was nothing she could do to help; the only thing she could do was protect this home for him.

"The children are all doing well," she said suddenly. "Little Man has grown a bit taller these past few days. Lin Xi can roll over now, and Lin Yao laughed out loud yesterday. The manor has been very quiet these past few days since you left—no one has come to cause trouble."

Lin Qiye nodded: "The Dark Viper people won't stay quiet forever. Once I've dealt with my identity matters, I'll find you a safer place to settle you down."

"No need to rush." ​​Luo Sheng gently took his hand. "We'll wait for you. Just go do what you need to do. I'll take care of things at home."

Night was falling.

Lin Qiye didn't sleep. He sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing, sensing the faint temperature emanating from the crystal within his body. That temperature was like a spark, settling deep within his dantian, slowly merging with his Blood Demon Power. It neither rejected him nor was it devoured by him, but rather resonated with his bloodline in a strange harmony, as if it had always been a part of him.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his palm.

The dark gold emblem still lay there quietly. But at the edge of the emblem, a very fine dark red line had appeared, as if it had been branded by some kind of power—a mark left by the backlash of purification. He tried to infuse the blood demon power into that line, and immediately felt a slight stinging pain from his palm, as if something was resisting his power.

He clenched his fist, and the emblem's light flickered slightly before returning to normal.

The dark red line was like a nail driven into his body. He couldn't remove it for the time being, but it showed no signs of spreading. At least until a solution was found, it wouldn't affect his strength.

He closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing again.

Unbeknownst to him, at that very moment, atop a tower in the inner city of the Holy City, a pair of eyes were peering through layers of clouds towards the direction of Qing Shi Lane.

The owner of those eyes wore a plain white robe with a strange emblem embroidered on his chest—a sun disc with a vertical pupil in the center.

Temple deacon.

His fingers tapped lightly on the windowpane a few times, his gaze deep: "Interesting. The unusual activity in Black Wind Valley, just like that, gone?"

Behind him, a dark figure stood bowing: "Yes. Preliminary investigation shows that the black wind in Black Wind Valley has completely subsided, and the disturbance of the strange beasts within the valley has also completely disappeared. It is said to be... the work of an ordinary person holding a temporary jade token."

"An ordinary person?" The temple deacon's voice held a hint of amusement. "An ordinary person, capable of resolving the Black Wind Valley issue that the temple has been unable to resolve for decades?"

He turned around, his gaze falling on the night outside the window: "Investigate. Find out his background, what methods he used. And—that aura within him looks very familiar."