Unfilial disciple, do not ruin your master's dream of ascension and peaceful life.

Author's note: I'm 30 now, practically an old man. Happy birthday to myself!

~~~~~

When Xin Wenyue's parents woke up in a daze, they found themselves in the parking lot, with no sign of Mr. Liu or his son Liu Rui.

What happened?

Were they drunk?

He's had too much to drink... right?

But what about their thoughtless daughter? How did her blind date go? Did Mr. Liu take a liking to her?

When they turned around, they saw their daughter running towards them with an apologetic look on her face, with no one else around.

"...Why are you alone? Where is Young Master Liu?"

"I talked a lot with Mr. Liu, and we realized that we were not suitable for each other. He should have left with President Liu by now."

Upon hearing this, the parents became furious and scolded the child sternly:

"Do you know how much effort I put into establishing this connection?! He's Mr. Liu's son, and you just let him get away like that?!"

"You're such an insensible child! We raised you with so much care, it wasn't easy! Sigh, I'll have to go and apologize to General Manager Liu tomorrow..."

These were the only two sentences her parents ever said to her, and then they started a heated discussion about how to fix the situation, treating her like she wasn't there.

She sat quietly in the back seat of the car, not saying a word, and not even bothering to glance at her so-called parents.

Oh, right.

On the way back, find an opportunity to throw away the blood-stained undergarment.

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Today, the Sword Inquiry Sect was packed with guests from all directions, and countless powerful figures surrounded the arena, which was as large as a city. The atmosphere was unprecedentedly enthusiastic.

Without exception, all those who stepped onto the arena were women. There were female disciples of the Sword Inquiry Sect, female cultivators from other sects, and even a considerable number of female demons. Each of them was a prodigy with both beauty and cultivation.

Seated in the main seat of the stands was an incomparably majestic man, none other than the supreme Qianjing Saint Venerable. Everyone around him fawned over him, but his expression was extremely awkward. "The strongest have an obligation to leave behind their bloodline," this was the consensus of the Cangxuan Realm, and the Heavenly Dao also hoped for it. This arena competition was a gender-swapped version of a martial arts contest to find a husband.

Now, the battle has reached the knockout stage.

Ye Yinqiu and Xi Qinxue, the two most outstanding disciples under the Holy Venerable and also the favorites to win the championship, fought to a standstill.

The former wielded a three-foot-long sword, while the latter held a jet-black dagger that reflected no light. One was powerful and sweeping, the other swift and deadly. They fought for hundreds of rounds without a clear victor. Now, they were about to unleash their most powerful skills.

"Senior sister, please don't blame me! The ultimate technique of the Wuxiang Sword Heart Manual—Blazing Sun Scorching Heart!!!"

Ye Yinqiu's entire body erupted with sword energy, the dazzling sword light like a blazing sun; anyone who looked directly at her would be blinded by the sword intent! The powerful figures in the stands quickly cast spells to erect shields, otherwise the audience would be in trouble!

"How arrogant! The ultimate technique of the Wuxiang Sword Heart Manual—Moon Phase Without Sunshine."

Xi Qinxue's dagger spewed out materialized darkness, which condensed into a pitch-black full moon like a black hole above her head, actually absorbing all the sword energy emitted by Ye Yinqiu!

The blazing sun sword energy not only dissolved into the darkness, but also made the black moon grow even stronger. Xi Qinxue raised her dagger high, and the viscous darkness flowed down from the black moon, dripping onto the dagger and instantly forming a giant sword a thousand meters long!

The two collided, and the bright golden-red and jet-black lights merged, compressed, and then exploded! The violent shockwave shattered the barrier of the audience seats, but Venerable Qianjing easily stopped it with a single thought, protecting the safety of the audience.

The light faded, and the outcome was decided.

Ye Yinqiu collapsed limply to the ground, unconscious.

The winner of this elimination round, Xi Qinxue, wiped the blood from her face and gracefully bowed to the audience.

When she met the gaze of the silent Venerable Qianjing in the stands, she suddenly smiled:

"Wait for me, my husband~"

"What the hell are you waiting for?!"

Qianjing suddenly opened her eyes wide and woke up from the bed with a start.

"A dream..."

He went out to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. Looking at his reflection in the glass window, he didn't look well. He didn't know why he had suddenly dreamed about the past.

After Qian Jing killed the Black Dragon Emperor, many powerful figures rushed to arrange marriages with him. At that time, he was a newcomer and didn't know how to refuse, so he signed a lot of marriage contracts in a daze.

However, the chaos caused by Su Jiuyuan scared away all those who were engaged. After Qian Jing became a saint, he never took any wives or concubines. Later, the Heavenly Dao decreed that even if he was unwilling, he had to choose a new Daoist partner, since "the strongest have the obligation to leave behind their bloodline".

(I remember, Xiaoqiu and Qinxue were really fighting back then, and they made the atmosphere in the girls' dormitory very tense... Sigh, women.)

Qianjing put the drink back in the refrigerator, stretched, and went back to her room to continue sleeping.

(...Don't think about it anymore, it's all old news.)

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The next day, the weather was fine.

Now everyone has finished their final exams. As is customary, after the final exams at Maritime University of Science and Technology, there will be a few weeks of "mini-semester" which is usually used for presentations, activities, and wrapping up teaching tasks.

This morning's class was film appreciation, a low-stakes course for getting credits. The course presentation was already completed last week, and today is the last class on the schedule, so we'll just wrap it up simply.

As soon as Qianjing entered the classroom, she saw her younger sister Qianmo. Qianmo also noticed her, but it was strange to just ignore her like that, so the two of them simply sat together in the back row.

"Hey buddy, your shirt buttons are crooked."

"Your bra strap is showing."

"abnormal."

"You are."

The siblings were bickering as usual, but Qianmo suddenly changed the subject:

"Something felt off when Wenyue and I were having a long phone conversation yesterday. Did you do something to upset her?"

"What do you mean?"

"She kept asking you about things all night, from when you were a child until now, and even kept asking me if you had dated anyone when you were in elementary and middle school."

"They weren't even fully grown back then, how could that be?"

At that moment, Xin Wenyue arrived.

She attracted the attention of the whole class as soon as she walked in, and even Qian Jing glanced at her a couple of times.

(That gait...?)

Xin Wenyue's walking posture can truly be described as graceful and elegant; even top supermodels like Gisele Bündchen would have to admit defeat.

In contrast, although Ye Yinqiu rose rapidly in rank after being discovered by Qian Jing, she was still, at heart, a daughter from an ordinary family, and was quite different from the refined ladies from truly aristocratic families.

Looking at Xin Wenyue's walking posture, Qian Jing suddenly had a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Ah, Xiaoyue!" Qianmo immediately waved to her.

"Good morning."

Xin Wenyue bowed slightly, seemingly in accordance with ancient etiquette, which left Qianmo bewildered.

"Xiaoyue, you look strange...?"

"No, I'm fine now, better than ever."

Xin Wenyue smiled and sat down to Qianmo's left, while Qianmo's right was Qianjing.

Just then, the class bell rang, and there wasn't much left to say in the lesson. So the teacher simply projected the classic film "Citizen Kane" onto the screen and let everyone watch it for themselves.

Film appreciation is one of the very few classes that Qianjing never skips or sleeps in, simply because he likes watching movies, while almost everyone else is daydreaming.

Just when everyone was getting sleepy...

Suddenly, someone sat down in the empty seat to the right of Qianjing. It was Xin Wenyue. For some reason, she changed seats while Qianmo was dozing off.

"What brings you here?" Qianjing asked her in a low voice.

She answered softly:

"Shh, keep your voice down, don't let Qianmo hear you."