Chapter 10: Wife, Are You Asleep?

Xiao Che had married a wife as beautiful as a celestial being, yet on their wedding night, he couldn't touch her, couldn't caress her, and couldn't even get on the bed. He could only huddle silently in a corner, hugging his knees against the wall… Xiao Che truly felt the world's malice.

The red candles flickered softly, casting an ambiguous glow over the new marital chamber. A prolonged silence filled the room. Both were clad in bright crimson wedding attire: one sat calmly and proudly by the bed, while the other pitifully huddled in a corner, only their faint breathing audible.

After a long while, Xiao Che finally couldn't hold back and spoke, "You're not… seriously going to make me spend the night here, are you?"

Xia Qingyue's long eyelashes fluttered slightly. Her graceful body turned, and she lay down on the bed. The crimson bed curtains fell, leaving Xiao Che to see only a blurred silhouette in the candlelight. Immediately, Xia Qingyue waved her delicate hand, and with a gust of cold wind, both red candles extinguished simultaneously… leaving Xiao Che unable to see even her shadow.

"..." If it weren't utterly impossible to defeat this woman, he would have forcefully had his way with her, just for her cold and arrogant demeanor.

"I was really just kidding earlier. Forget being drunk, I didn't even touch a drop of alcohol all afternoon… You can't even take a simple joke. You're no fun at all," Xiao Che grumbled, a wronged expression on his face.

"I know you weren't drunk," Xia Qingyue finally spoke. "But I find men who relieve themselves anywhere disgusting."

"Relieve… themselves anywhere?"

"Could it be… the 'whoosh-whoosh' sound of water when I drained the wine from the Sky Poison Pearl earlier?"

"Damn it!"

Xiao Che's eyes widened, and he immediately sprang up. "You're saying I relieved myself anywhere? Which eye of yours saw me relieve myself anywhere?! What you heard was the sound of me pouring wine! Pouring wine… pouring wine! How could I, a dignified seven-foot man of the Xiao family, do something so uncultured and uncouth?! You can look down on my profound strength, but you cannot insult my noble character and integrity!!"

After Xiao Che's furious outburst, a moment later, he heard Xia Qingyue's unhurried voice, "I was just kidding too."

"Damn it!..." Xiao Che nearly choked on his exasperation.

Xiao Che glumly returned to his corner, remaining silent for a long time… This woman actually had a sense of humor!

Normally, he could comfortably sleep in a bed, but on his wedding night, he was relegated to a corner… How could he possibly sleep! After holding it in for a long time, Xiao Che finally spoke again, "By the way, when are you returning to Ice Cloud Asgard? Tomorrow, or the day after?"

Xia Qingyue stirred slightly.

Xiao Che smiled faintly and said with a calm expression, "Although I know very little about Ice Cloud Asgard, I do know that it only accepts female disciples, and they are forbidden from romantic attachments and desires. Ice Cloud Asgard has countless beauties, but I've never heard of any marrying. Yet, you married me. It seems your talent is still astonishing, even within Ice Cloud Asgard; perhaps you're a once-in-a-century genius. Otherwise, Ice Cloud Asgard wouldn't have broken this precedent for you."

Xia Qingyue remained silent.

Xiao Che tilted his head back, gazing into the darkness above, and continued, "For someone like you, Ice Cloud Asgard will surely want to bring you in as quickly as possible. There, you'll find peerless experts that ordinary profound practitioners might never encounter in a lifetime, and countless rare treasures. Under these conditions, your profound strength and status will skyrocket in a short time. You'll probably be leaving soon, won't you?"

Xia Qingyue remained silent for a long time before finally uttering a faint sound, "One month."

"One month?" Xiao Che's face showed a flicker of surprise, then he smiled faintly, lowered his head, and whispered, "Thank you."

Xia Qingyue remained silent.

"This month, you must have fought for it for my sake, didn't you? If it were up to Ice Cloud Asgard, they definitely wouldn't want you to waste such a long time on a good-for-nothing like me. You are a favored daughter of heaven, and judging by how highly Ice Cloud Asgard values you, your future achievements might even reach the level of the Ice Cloud Asgard Mistress. Others laugh at me, mock me, and never take me seriously, yet you, who are destined to look down upon the Azure Wind Empire in the future, not only willingly married me but also continually tried your best to uphold my ridiculous masculine dignity… Although I know you do all this merely to repay a debt of gratitude to my deceased father, I still thank you."

"No need," Xia Qingyue replied, devoid of emotion. Yet, a slight tremor passed through her heart, for his guess was precisely correct. When her master found her, she had told her that her talent was rare even within Ice Cloud Asgard, a once-in-a-century occurrence. Her master had even said that after bringing her into Ice Cloud Asgard, she was confident Xia Qingyue would break through the Spirit Profound Realm and reach the Earth Profound Realm by the age of twenty… a level even Cloud's End City's top master, Xiao Lie, had yet to achieve.

Reaching the Earth Profound Realm before the age of twenty… For the people of Cloud's End City, this was an unbelievable fantasy, something they wouldn't even dare to imagine.

"Before marrying you, I thought you'd be dismissive of me like most people, but in truth, you're far better than I imagined. Not only are you beautiful and incredibly talented, but your character is also very kind. As a woman, you truly are perfect…"

Xia Qingyue remained silent.

"Well, since you're so kind, you surely wouldn't want to see your husband sleeping in a corner on his wedding night, would you? My bed is quite large; it definitely wouldn't be crowded with two people…"

Before Xiao Che could finish, a chilling killing intent washed over him, making him shiver. "Say another word of nonsense, and I'll throw you out!"

Xiao Che twisted his mouth, obediently shut up, and his bottom, which had just lifted off the ground, reluctantly settled back down.

"Someone's coming," Xia Qingyue suddenly said.

After a while, Xiao Che heard an extremely faint set of footsteps. If he hadn't strained to listen intently, he would never have noticed them. The owner of the footsteps lingered at the courtyard gate for a moment, then cautiously approached, stopping in the center of the yard… because inside the room was Xia Qingyue, whom he couldn't afford to provoke. After furtively peering around the courtyard for a long time, the person carefully departed.

Late into the night, Xiao Yulong was still awake. He stared out the window with a somber gaze, his expression constantly shifting.

Just then, the door pushed open, and Xiao Yang hurried in. Xiao Yulong turned, his eyes narrowing as he asked, "How did it go?"

"Well…" Xiao Yang glanced at Xiao Yulong's face, cautiously replying, "I just checked, and Xiao Che… he doesn't seem to have been locked out."

"..." Xiao Yulong's face immediately darkened.

Xiao Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly added, "But, Big Brother, you don't need to worry. Xia Qingyue has always disdained the young masters of the City Lord's Manor and the Yuwen family; there's no way she'd fancy that good-for-nothing Xiao Che. The reason he wasn't thrown out must be… she probably pitied him, afraid he'd be mocked… Even though he's in the same room as Xia Qingyue now, there's absolutely no chance they're on the same bed. He's probably lying on the floor… It must be like that."

Xiao Yulong's expression became dark and volatile. He stared grimly towards Xiao Che's small courtyard, clenching his fists. "Xia Qingyue is *my* woman! No one can lay a hand on her! Tomorrow, arrange for Xiao Che to come out. I will personally test him! He absolutely cannot touch Xia Qingyue!!"

"Understood!" Xiao Yang immediately responded.

Xiao Che huddled in the corner for most of the night, still wide awake. He opened his eyes, raised his left hand, and looked at his palm. In the darkness, the faint green glow from the Sky Poison Pearl was conspicuously bright.

On the Azure Cloud Continent, using the divine power of the Sky Poison Pearl, he had single-handedly stirred up the world, causing chaos throughout the entire continent… However, it had also almost depleted all its poisonous energy!

Now, the Sky Poison Pearl had merged with his body, but he could barely sense any poisonous energy from it. During the chase that forced him to his death, he had used the Sky Poison Pearl's poisonous energy to kill many peerless experts, but he had also overdrawn its power, leaving its poisonous energy completely exhausted… And 'overdrawn' and 'used up' were two different concepts. If it was merely used up, it could slowly recover; but overdrawn meant its source power was almost depleted, making recovery perhaps impossible.

Currently, the Sky Poison Pearl primarily retained only its detoxification, refining, and fusion abilities… and, of course, storage.

Now, with his profound veins crippled and the Sky Poison Pearl's poisonous energy also crippled, and being in a small, overlooked city, after a long period of quiet, Xiao Che felt a profound sense of helplessness… As I am now, let alone protecting Grandpa and Aunt, I don't even have the right not to be mocked…

What was even more unbearable was… he didn't even have the ability to forcefully take his own wife, whom he had just married!

To possess enough power, the most fundamental step should be to repair his ruined profound veins.

Repairing profound veins…

Xia Qingyue had confidently stated that his profound veins could not be restored to normal. But for him, this was not impossible, because he was the successor to the Medicine Saint! His master had told him more than once that the principles of medicine were like the path of cause and effect: where there is a cause, there must be an effect; where there is an ailment, there must be a cure. In this world, there are no incurable patients, only doctors with insufficient ability.

Xiao Che had spent the entire day contemplating how to repair his crippled profound veins. His profound veins weren't damaged after he grew up; they were damaged at birth, thoroughly crippled and impossible to repair through conventional means. Therefore, to repair them, he would first need to purify the existing damaged profound veins and allow them to regrow. The process would essentially be equivalent to abolishing the current crippled profound veins and regenerating entirely new ones. The difficulty aside, the risk alone was extremely high. Profound veins were connected to one's life force; the slightest mistake during the process could lead directly to death.

And to discard the old veins and cultivate new ones, at least three items were needed…

"Wife, are you asleep?" Xiao Che asked aloud.

For a while, he received no reply.

"Ahem, wife, you're not really asleep, are you?" Xiao Che asked again.

"My name is Xia Qingyue!" Xia Qingyue's voice was gentle yet cool.

"I know your name is Xia Qingyue," Xiao Che said, scratching his brow in confusion. "Wife, there's something I want to ask you."

"Call me Xia Qingyue!" Xia Qingyue snapped.

"Oh, alright!" Xiao Che nodded, then seriously asked, "Wife, if you go to Ice Cloud Asgard, would you be able to acquire these three items: Seven Profound Exquisite Grass, Purple Vein Sky Crystal, and the Profound Core of an Earth Profound Realm beast?"