Chapter 40: Confrontation.
“I’m asking you one thing—does this work or not?!”
The old woman, thoroughly enraged, stomped hard on the seemingly rickety pillar of the thatched hut.
Creak—!
The flimsy-looking hut shook violently, dust accumulated over countless years raining down from the roof.
Old Man Chen jumped in panic, his three precious hairs standing on end.
“Hey, hey, hey, stop! Stop! Ancestor, have mercy! It’s just a small matter! I was joking to liven things up. Fine, it’s settled! Tomorrow it is—no delay on your precious grandson’s wedding night or his Saint Body breakthrough!”
He pounded his scrawny chest with a thud, as if the earlier heartbroken act wasn’t his.
“Hmph, that’s more like it!”
Old Lady Li snorted coldly, slowly lowering her Emerald Sky Blade but not sheathing it, casually driving its tip an inch into the black stone slab beneath her.
Old Man Chen exhaled in relief, but his eyes darted, and he leaned in cautiously, voice low with a gossipy sleaze.
“But, uh…”
“Hm?!”
Old Lady Li didn’t even lift her eyes, just flicked her wrist.
The Emerald Sky Blade hummed, instantly resting on her frail-looking shoulder, its chilling gleam making Old Man Chen’s neck prickle.
“Whoa, whoa! No ulterior motives! None at all!”
He threw up his hands in surrender, grinning apologetically, trying to ease her shoulder to lower the blade.
“I’m just curious, that’s all…
A rare Lunar Saint Body like this girl—who’re you marrying her to? Tianze? Or… that other one?”
His gaze flicked toward Li Tianxing’s house at the village’s east end.
Old Lady Li shrugged off his hand, her tone icy and resolute.
“Tianze, naturally. As for that one? Hmph, just a discarded pawn.
His parents left him to fend for himself, off living their carefree lives, even giving him a sister.”
“They forgot they had a son—why should I care?
Keeping him alive this long was just for today, to pave the way for Tianze’s invincible path.”
Her voice, though soft, rang clear across the village’s west end, as if it were only natural.
Most of the spectating elders, munching spirit fruits or sipping tea imbued with the charm of the Dao, looked indifferent, like they were hearing trivial gossip.
Only the pipe-smoking old man and the old woman leisurely sweeping leaves furrowed their brows faintly.
The pipe smoker took two hard puffs, the smoke twisting into distorted swirls, ending in a barely audible sigh, saying nothing.
Old Lady Li looked up, her cloudy eyes piercing the twilight sky, where stars began to glimmer, as if recalling her glory days of dominating her peers.
A flicker of fanaticism crossed her face.
“Tomorrow is not just my grandson Tianze’s wedding to the Lunar Saint Body—it’s the day he fuses the Solar Saint Body’s origin, builds an unmatched Dao foundation, and steps onto the true path of invincibility.”
Her voice carried a feverish edge.
“I’ve no hope left in this life, but my grandson will surpass my prime.”
She snapped her gaze back, her eyes slicing into Old Man Chen like knives.
“By the way, old thing—that ‘wedding dress’… time to return it, don’t you think?”
Her arrogance softened, replaced by stubborn insistence.
Old Man Chen’s body stiffened almost imperceptibly, his sleazy grin freezing into complex melancholy.
He stood silent for a few breaths, then let out a long, deep sigh.
Shuffling back to the hut, he rummaged briefly.
When he emerged, he held a blood-red wedding dress, its intricate design woven with gold and silver threads depicting sun, moon, stars, mountains, and rivers.
Each stitch seemed to form heavenly Dao patterns, every pearl embedded with restrained stellar energy.
The dress radiated an ancient, sacred aura.
The onlookers’ eyes turned meaningful, exchanging knowing glances.
As expected… that old matter from back then…
Old Lady Li snatched the dress, her movements almost rough.
The fiery garment seemed to weigh a thousand tons yet light as nothing in her hands.
Without sparing Old Man Chen a glance, she addressed the crowd coldly.
“Show’s over, folks. Tomorrow’s my grandson’s big day.
Your gifts… better be proper. If I find them lacking…”
She hefted the Emerald Sky Blade, its hum tearing faint spatial rifts.
“Hmph, this blade hasn’t tasted blood in a while. It might not recognize old friends.”
With that, she grabbed the excited Li Tianze with one hand, shouldered her blade, and tucked the priceless red wedding dress under her arm, striding toward her stone house at the village’s east end, leaving a domineering silhouette.
The village’s west end was left with a crowd of stool-sitting, fruit-munching old monsters and a forlorn Old Man Chen, standing empty-handed before his hut.
Smack!
The pipe-smoking old man slapped his thigh, his beard quivering with anger, the impact echoing.
“Damn it, extortion! Blatant extortion!
I’m so broke my pockets have holes, and all I’ve got are these life-preserving fruits.
That hag’s old grudge with Chen is her business—what’s it got to do with me?
Why should I fork over my savings?!”
He grumbled, clutching his tattered fruit pouch.
The sweeping old woman lifted a jade-like teacup, sipping Dao-infused tea, and sighed.
“She’s using that old grudge as an excuse, shamelessly paving an unshakable Dao foundation for her precious grandson.
But… what’s someone else’s will always be someone else’s.
A forced melon isn’t sweet, and a stolen foundation… I’d say, better to give it to Tian…”
“Watch your words.”
Old Man Chen’s head snapped up, his cloudy eyes flashing sharply, cutting her off.
He instinctively touched his three remaining hairs, his voice weary.
“That hag… she’s not far off.
If she heard you and lost it, she’d tear your old bones apart for soup!”
“Our little place might not survive her going berserk again!”
The pipe smoker and the sweeping woman exchanged a glance, seeing mutual wariness, and grudgingly shut their mouths.
The village’s west end fell into an eerie twilight silence.