Chen Feng sneered. “Did I ever tell you I was mute?”
Lin Shuyue’s thoughts reeled. “You… you’ve been pretending?” she stammered. “But why?”
Chen Feng simply clasped his hands behind his back and gazed out the window, offering no immediate answer.
From the clear sky, two thunderous booms cracked like a whip, startling the entire Lin Manor. People rushed from their rooms, their faces turned upward in confusion.
Lin Shuyue flinched at the sound. “Thunder from a cloudless sky,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. “Just like three years ago.”
Chen Feng’s expression remained unchanged.
This was the reason.
A mysterious seed lay dormant within him. Every time he spoke, a trace of its aura would leak out, and with it came the wrath of the Celestial Thunder.
His father had warned him since childhood: do not speak.
For eighteen years, he had followed that command meticulously. The only exception was the day his father passed away.
That night, the sky had raged with lightning and thunder until morning.
Seeing the flicker of sorrow in his eyes, Lin Shuyue softened. “Alright, alright, I won’t ask anymore.”
She urged him, “Pack your things and leave. If Aunt Zhao finds out you’ve been faking this whole time, her suspicions will only grow.”
Chen Feng turned, his hand gently closing over her delicate one.
“I’m not leaving,” he said. “I’m staying to marry you. And from now on, I will protect you.”
A blush instantly bloomed across Lin Shuyue’s face. The words “protect you” echoed in her ears, sending her heart into an erratic rhythm.
She snatched her hand back, chiding him gently. “Stop bragging. Your spirit root isn’t even as good as mine!”
Chen Feng only smiled, saying nothing more.
On his deathbed, his father had revealed the truth of the seed.
It was a Divine Object of immense potential, one that needed eighteen years to germinate.
When it finally sprouted, its host would be transformed, reborn.
Today was the final day of those eighteen years.
With the first light of dawn, he would be remade.
There would be no more mute Chen Feng. No more worthless Chen Feng.
He met Lin Shuyue’s gaze, his own filled with confidence. “Trust me.”
Staring into the calm resolve in his eyes, Lin Shuyue felt a warmth spread through her chest.
Not since her mother died had anyone promised to protect her.
After a long moment, she pushed the money pouch back into his hands.
Chen Feng’s brow furrowed slightly. She still didn’t believe him.
It was hardly surprising. To her, he was still a mute, an ordinary boy with no spirit root to speak of.
But when the seed sprouted tomorrow…
Lin Shuyue looked at him, her cheeks still tinged with pink. “Keep this,” she said softly. “Consider it a betrothal gift. For marrying me.”
The thunder this time wasn’t in the sky.
It was in Chen Feng’s heart.
He never imagined that a girl would one day offer him her life’s savings as a dowry.
An unfamiliar warmth coiled in Chen Feng’s chest, a feeling so potent it made him want to pull Lin Shuyue into his arms and never let go.
“What are you just standing there for?”
Lin Shuyue reached out with a small hand, gently straightening the collar of his clothes. “Elder Chen lived a hard life and couldn’t leave you much,” she said tenderly. “I hope this can help you.”
Even in her own hardship, she was thinking of him.
Chen Feng could no longer hold back. He pulled her into his arms, his hands settling on her slender waist.
He spoke again, his voice a low murmur. “Our beginning may have been a twist of fate, but I will make sure our story has the right ending.”
The best marriages, after all, were the ones where you found the right person.
And perhaps, just perhaps, Chen Feng had found his.
Lin Shuyue’s face went crimson, the color of a late autumn persimmon. Her mind went blank, her body rigid in his embrace.
It took a long moment for her to snap out of it. Panicked, she broke away. “I… I have to go measure for the clothes…”
Watching her retreating figure, Chen Feng placed the money pouch back on the table, a smile playing on his lips. “I can’t be so miserly when marrying my wife.”
“Shuyue,” he vowed to the empty room, “I will give you the grandest wedding of all.”
Two more peals of Celestial Thunder exploded overhead.
Chen Feng glared at the sky. “Roar all you want,” he muttered. “After tonight, you won’t get another chance.”
In Zhao Lirong’s bedroom.
“Aunt, how could you marry Cousin Shuyue to that worthless Chen Feng?”
Lu Xiong, a resident of the Lin Manor for ten years, knelt before Zhao Lirong, his face a mask of anxiety. “Please, take back your decision! Marry her to me!”
Zhao Lirong’s nephew, Lu Xiong, was clever and talented—a third-grade spirit root genius.
It was for this reason that Zhao Lirong had brought him to the Lin Manor to be raised.
He hadn’t disappointed her. At twenty, he had reached the fifth layer of Qi Cultivation, a fact that brought her great pride among her family.
The one thing that gave Zhao Lirong a headache, however, was Lu Xiong’s infatuation with Lin Shuyue. He had long considered her his woman.
To prevent him from interfering, she had dispatched him to another town today to collect a debt.
But he had somehow caught wind of the news and rushed back.
“Xiong’er, Shuyue’s marriage to Chen Feng concerns the future of the Lin Family. Your aunt can indulge you in other matters, but you cannot be reckless with this.”
To completely crush Lin Shuyue’s spirit, Zhao Lirong was determined to bind her to the worthless Chen Feng for life.
Seeing the anguish on Lu Xiong’s face, however, she softened her tone, speaking with pointed meaning.
“Your aunt only forbade you from interfering with their marriage. I said nothing about what might happen after it’s done.”
“If Chen Feng were to meet with an unfortunate accident, you could still marry Shuyue.”
If Lin Shuyue became a widow, none of the great families or powerful men would have her.
Who would marry another man’s widow?
Who wouldn’t see it as a disgrace?
A flicker of understanding dawned in Lu Xiong’s eyes, his expression brightening. “I understand. Thank you, Aunt!”
He produced a small packet of snacks. “Aunt, these are snow creams from Jade Willow City. Your favorite. I brought them back just for you.”
Zhao Lirong chided him gently. “You. Always trying to please others instead of focusing on your cultivation.”
Despite her words, the smile on her face betrayed her delight.
“Pleasing you is my duty, Aunt. I’ll go see Chen Feng now, to help with the wedding arrangements. The sooner they’re married, the better,” Lu Xiong said, his grin never faltering.
“Go on, then. And don’t forget to be up early tomorrow. Your Aunt will accompany you to the Spirit Appraisal Pagoda for your spirit root reevaluation,” Zhao Lirong replied, smiling.
“Yes!” Lu Xiong bowed and left the room, a smile still fixed on his face.
The moment he stepped out of Zhao Lirong’s chambers, however, the smile vanished, replaced by a sinister sneer.
“Me, marry something Chen Feng has used? The old woman must be mad.”
“I, Lu Xiong, only take the best.”
“Once my spirit root is reevaluated tomorrow, and they see how much I’ve improved, I will snatch Lin Shuyue back in front of the entire Lin Family.”
Early the next morning.
In a spartan room in the west courtyard of the Lin Manor.
Chen Feng paced back and forth, his bloodshot eyes darting toward the window.
“Why isn’t the sun rising?” he muttered, a knot of anxiety tightening in his stomach.
He had waited eighteen years for this day.
He had thought himself calm, believed he was ready to face the sprouting of the seed with a mind unburdened by emotion.
But as the long-awaited day finally drew near, he found himself pacing through a sleepless night, his heart a storm of unease.
“Father… he wasn’t lying, was he?”
“Is this seed really so miraculous?”
“Will it truly change me?”
Countless doubts churned in his mind, forcing him to take deep, ragged breaths.
Just then, a dazzling beam of light pierced the clouds, lancing through the window and into his room.
Almost simultaneously, Chen Feng heard a faint sound from within his own body.
It was like the cracking of a hard shell.
The seed had sprouted.
After eighteen years, the moment of his rebirth had finally arrived.