It took Shi Yue and Xie Yi longer to return than anticipated. The main reason was Xie Yi’s bad mental state for the first evening, and then the mixture of Shi Yue’s physical exhaustion and Xie Yi’s arms in the following days.

The sound of people moving from their sect drove tears into Shi Yue’s eyes - not cries and mourning, but the quiet bustling of people who were running around to get things going.

Never before had the sect looked so beautiful from the outside.

Shi Yue rubbed his tired eyes with his free hand, the other closely intertwined with Xie Yi’s. The equally tired cultivator leaned on his shoulder and sighed. “Back home.”

“Welcome back”, Shi Yue said mechanically, dragging the both of them forward to the guards, who dropped their weapons in surprise and hastened to open the doors.

The whole sect came to a standstill at seeing Shi Yue and Xie Yi enter. Everyone stared, holding their breaths.

Shi Yue wondered about what he should say - this was the time for a speech, something uplifting, but he couldn’t come up with anything. Xie Yi, pragmatic as he was about this kind of thing, merely thoughtfully looked at the sky before summarizing everything while flourishing his sleeve: “Ka-boom.”

The cheers that erupted were loud enough to alert every single person on the whole sect grounds and have them running to the center.

People were hugging each other or crying at their win in this fight, all the while letting the two men pass through without standing in their way.

Seeing their sect leader-to-be and his succeeding disciple holding hands, everyone had the same thoughts:

...Kind of not surprised.

Kind of weird, but kind of suitable.

Anyway… Whatever? Who was gonna tell them “no”?

No one had a disgusted expression on their faces. Maybe some would have, but at this moment, it was like there were two Immortals standing in front of them, and whatever an Immortal did was correct and fine.

The two people who had bombed the headquarters - even if they called a deer a horse, they’d nod their heads in agreement.

Reverence was probably the correct word for what they felt in their hearts. 

Now there was a pair of husbands that would soon lead their sect. Oh, and they had a daughter already, didn’t they? That little girl? And maybe the boy Xie Yi brought in?

Well. A happy little family.

They could adjust… Even if the sight might be weird for a while, they’d get used to it.

“Oh”, Xie Yi said quietly, looking at their joined hands. “Am I getting my marriage soon?”

“Very soon.”

“Do I have to wear a dress?”

“What? No. Unless you want to, of course, but why would you have to wear one?”

“I’m your wife.”

“No, you’re my husband.” Shi Yue quickly corrected him. Calling him little wife was cute and all, but he did not want Xie Yi to think that he was pushed into a wife’s role.

Especially since the traditional wife-role included raising and teaching the children.

Or cooking.

...He wasn’t doing that to the kids.

……..Or his kitchen.

“Xue Hua said he's Su Liang's mother”, Xie Yi pointed out.

“He is, in a way. He’s the one who gave birth to Su Liang. You sometimes call that mothering. Moreover, Xue Hua doesn’t mind, and Mingtian calls him his mate and not his wife.” 

The conversation entered more than a few people’s ears but everyone ignored it in tacit understanding. 

People rushed out from the upper grounds, Mingtian and Xue Hua right in front of them. They skidded to a halt before their partners, carefully wrapping their arms around them as the two babbled on.

Xie Yi paused mid-sentence, looking up at a teary-eyed Mingtian. “Ming-Ge, can I fall over now?”

“You can”, Mingtian choked out lovingly.

“Awesome.” Xie Yi gave him a thumbs-up before his eyes rolled back. Shi Yue collapsed half a second later, caught in the arms of his avian partner.

Xie Yi could loosely remember what happened around him - he heard Li Mei and Xu Yan scold him, and heard the children at his side - but he did exactly what every other cultivator had done after returning from their fight. He slept for a whole two days before waking up with a large yawn.

Xiao Zai must have stood guard somewhere nearby, as she was around the moment he opened his eyes.

Through the sleepy haze of his eyes, he could roughly make out another little boy, straightening up where he stood, farther behind Xiao Zai. He smiled at the kids. “Good morning.”

His main reason for being so unhurried was the remnant warmth at his side - clearly a sign that someone had slept with him and had left not too long ago. Xie Yi rubbed his eyes, yawned loudly and reached out a hand to pat Xiao Zai’s hair. 

“One is dead?”, she asked in her quiet voice, full of hope.

“One’s dead. And a loooot of the building destroyed. It completely collapsed”, Xie Yi described, and her eyes sparkled. She climbed onto the bed and wrapped her small arms around his waist. Xie Yi curled a finger at the nervous Qiang Ren, who likewise ran over to get hugged.

Moments later, the door opened and Shi Yue entered.

All over his shoulders sprawled a white, feathery bundle and a beautiful young woman walked right behind him, fingers secretly clutching to his robe.

The two exchanged glances and laughed.

Once the children were pacified, it was time for the family to come in.

That meant a relaxed situation for Shi Yue, who was merely looked over by Xue Hua and the sect leader, and a lot more stress for Xie Yi, who was first squashed by Feng Yan, followed by Mingtian and then tugged at here and there into different directions by a scolding Li Mei and Xu Yan.

“This room is bubbling with love and it’s a tiny bit off-putting”, Master Chen mumbled as she entered. “Good morning, sect leader.”

“Good morning to you and thanks for your hard work these past days”, the sect leader greeted, his face so rosy that it was clear how happy he was.

Master Chen turned to Xie Yi and gave him a surprisingly sweet and gentle smile. “Master Li already gave us the report. Things went well and everyone is overjoyed. That said, everyone also knows your relationship now.”

“Are there going to be issues?” Xie Yi frowned.

“Not at all. They’re currently too busy idolizing the two of you to care. I must warn you however, try not to walk around with the strength of a Grandmaster when you’ve just come off-age.” Master Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Let’s go with the Xie Yi is a dragon explanation. I feel like it makes things so much easier”, Xu Yan said with a sheepish smile.

“That is already half established if you listen well enough”, Master Chen said with a click of her tongue. “No one cares for the truth, and certainly not I. As long as he’s on our side, I’d prefer not knowing more, so let’s say that we have a little dragon who found his treasure in our next sect leader.”

“I can live with that.” Xie Yi shrugged and got out of bed. Xiao Zai sat on his arm, clinging to him. “Say, if I get a wedding, can I adopt her, too?”

“You’re getting a wedding? I want a wedding, too!” Li Mei put her hands before her mouth in shock and quickly ran over to Master Chen, looking up at her with large eyes. “Can we?”

Master Chen’s face twitched. “Hun, you can stare at me all you want, but our sect leader is the one who decides that.”

Li Mei looked over at the sect leader, who raised his hands. “Not me. I’m done with this kind of management issue.”

All eyes on Shi Yue.

“So…” Shi Yue rubbed his forehead. “...Shall we just have one large event? It’s cheaper. And not right now - I have other things to take care of first, and I’d prefer having this load off my shoulders so I can enjoy my own wedding.”

Xie Yi raised his bandaged arms. “This has to heal first, anyway.”

“So what’s the plan for now?”, Xu Yan asked, looking through the room.

“Enjoying the peace”, Xie Yi decided with a humpf. “I want to enjoy living a spoiled life for a short while.”

“That sounds like a great idea”, Mingtian agreed.

“And everyone is going to ignore that I won’t be allowed to relax, considering that Master is planning on shoving all his work to me?”, Shi Yue complained loudly.

Master Chen smiled and pat his shoulder. “You know, always look on the bright side. There’s a great difference from before.”

“Which would be?”

The woman smiled brightly. “Before, you had a lot of work. Now… you have a lot of work and a lover who is going to distract you from completing it.”

Shi Yue grimaced. Next to him, Xie Yi broke out into laughter than all but denied her words.