Mei Kongxu didn't know what time it was when she opened her eyes again, but Li Yang was already training so she guessed that it probably wasn't too early in the morning. Li Yang was in the midst of doing handstand push-ups, and hearing how the floor around his hands creaked quietly she guessed that he was using his law of gravity to make both himself and the air around him heavier. Li Yang noticed her as she sat up, her eyelids still heavy, and greeted her with his usual charming and borderline teasing smile.

"Ah, good evening, dear wifey, it truly is a grand blessing that you'd choose to grace me with your presence. Would you like breakfast, a bath, or...me?"

Mei Kongxu had barely opened her eyes yet was already starting to feel a headache creeping up on her. That was especially the case when she saw Li Yang raise one hand from the floor just so that he could give the collar of his robes a suggestive tug that revealed a small part of his bare chest. But looking at the corner where he had slept, and the now-dry blood that he had left on the bed, she decided to let it slide at least this once.

"So it is evening already, I've slept a bit longer than usual. We are to meet your parents today before setting out, no? I assume that you've already decided on a suitable time to go meet them?"

Mei Kongxu was someone who usually slept around 12 or more hours every day, so for her to sleep a bit longer than usual meant that most of the day had already passed. Li Yang lowered his feet to the ground in a nimble display where his hand never left the floor, raising both hands into the air as if he was showing off when he was done.

"No need for applause, there is no limit to the things I'll do to make my dear wifey flash a blooming smile. No, really, please hold your applause."

Mei Kongxu only felt the oncoming headache approach her a bit faster when she saw Li Yang dip into his overly-exaggerated bows while trying to maintain a humble facade. But even so, she could feel the corners of her mouth twitch slightly in amusement, Li Yang was a creature so strange that it was hard to believe that he had been born in a sect as large as this one, and to one of its greatest elders nonetheless. Li Yang evidently noticed the twitching of her lips, smirking as he rubbed his interspatial ring and tossed some water and food to Mei Kongxu.

"I'll take it, slow and steady wins the race and all that yadda yadda. I haven't set up a time for when we'll meet them, but I'm assuming Father will keep the entire day open since he was the one that said we had to meet them. If he fucks off and does something unrelated despite saying that then he can't blame me if he ends up missing it after I send him a message."

Mei Kongxu caught the water bottle and the sandwiches, unpacking the simple food and digging in without any further words. It would be hard to not notice the borderline resentment present in Li Yang's words, but she had her own family circumstances so it wasn't like she was in a position where she could question or advise him on anything like that.

Li Yang continued his training while Mei Kongxu ate, his feet sliding across the floor in a strange rhythm as he trained the flexibility of his legs and the muscles present in them. Mei Kongxu quietly observed his training while she ate, with how much she slept every day it was only obvious that she herself didn't have any training routines like this.

She had lived with Li Yang for two weeks already so she was already aware of the fact that he spent most of the night cultivating and training. It was the last thing she saw before she went to bed and it was the first thing she saw when she woke up, and some of the training she had seen him do was practically masochistic and nothing else. He put on the mask of a lazy philanderer, but she had seen enough to admit that he was exceedingly diligent when it came to his own training.

And since she knew that, she was one of the few people who could confidently say that Li Yang deserved his strength, he deserved to be able to beat people of a higher cultivation realm. He was a man who deserved to be strong, it was just a shame that his mind was so messed up that he lacked all the demeanour a strong person should have.

She wasn't certain if her thoughts slipped into her expression, but if they did then Li Yang simply acted as if he hadn't seen them and continued with his training. He had never been one to care about the opinions of others, it wasn't like a dragon needed to care about what a snake thought. Then again, he probably wouldn't have cared even if it was a dragon that thought so, his path was his business and his alone.

Li Yang finished up the first section of his usual lower-body training just as Mei Kongxu threw the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth. He raised his arm and stretched his entire body, making sure there weren't any knots or stiff areas in his body before he lowered his arms again and gestured towards the door with his thumb.

"Alright, I'm ready to get going if you've got no other plans. We'll get swept over by quite a few senses, but they shouldn't try to bother us since we're newlyweds who just finished consummating our marriage."

Mei Kongxu emptied the water bottle and gave a simple nod of her head as she got out of the bed, her expression as cold and unreadable as always. She didn't raise any objections so Li Yang used one hand to push open the door to the room while his other hand swiped his interspatial ring and took out the orb he could use to contact his father.

There weren't any people in the immediate area outside their room, but Li Yang immediately noticed two senses sweep past him and inspect the room. Of course, these were only the senses he could detect, there were probably several more that were sent out by people so strong that he couldn't detect their probing.

But the senses didn't stick around for too long, they spotted the blood that Li Yang had intentionally scattered on the bed and then pulled back. Just like he had planned, they didn't bother checking the blood in great detail since that could be seen as quite the rude thing to his father and Mei Kongxu's mother. As such, they saw blood and assumed that the deed was done, several congratulatory messages immediately reaching the parents of the two.

Li Yang ignored it all and simply swaggered out of the room with his hands behind his head while whistling carefreely. His manner was so exceedingly standard for him that it made it impossible for those who saw him to know what he was thinking or how he felt about what he and his new wife should have done last night. He felt a slight vibration from his interspatial ring shortly after he left the room so he glanced at the woman walking at his side.

"Huh, seems like he actually did keep the entire day open, he's already waiting for us."

There was a trace of clear surprise present in his tone so it was evident that he hadn't actually expected his father to open his schedule for them, once again showing Mei Kongxu that he really didn't have too many good feelings or expectations towards this father of his. But she didn't prod it and he didn't say anything else, the two moving through the dim sect as they moved between the various spatial arrays, Li Yang occasionally greeting some people.

"Ah, tubby Teiyu! You seem to have gotten even rounder, did you gorge yourself while attending my wedding? You'd better watch yourself, if you keep getting rounder then you'll lose sight of your little junior, and at that point you can bet that your missus will look for someone who can actually guide his pecker into her."

"Oh, good evening, Senior Sister Qing She, isn't the night sky just enchanting when it's this clear and star-filled? You should contact me when you're free, I'm sure that we can pass the entire night just chatting about the beauty of what's around us."

"You look as imposing as always, Junior Sister Kang Ju. If I can make my body just half as toned as yours then I can truly consider my life well-lived. What do you say, would you be available to give me some more private lessons one of these days? You know how to contact me, so don't be shy and just call me up whenever you have time."

His attitude as the two moved through the sect astounded everyone who saw it. He had just gotten married and finish consummating his marriage, yet here he was, acting as frivolous as always. It was more than common for powerful people to have more than one wife or husband, but how many people would actually start approaching others the very day after they got married?

Of course, there was one person at his side who saw through the facade he put up. She felt a certain confidence that even if these women reciprocated his advances then he would just find an excuse to turn them down. After all, he had done exactly that to her just recently, so he was clearly not as frivolous as he tried to make himself seem.

The two reached the two-story wooden cabin resting beside the weeping willow-lined lake before long, Li Yang plucking another one of the icy-blue plum flowers. The flower nearly vanished as he placed the stem behind his ear, the colour of his hair a perfect match for the flower. He tossed another flower to Mei Kongxu, who moved her gaze between him and the flower for a short second before the twined a few strands of her snow-white hair around the flower to fasten it to her head. Li Yang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he looked at her, the flower suited her far better than he had expected.

"It truly looks marvellous on you, Wifey. It would be a great sin for you to not decorate yourself with more flowers, and the gods be damned, I won't allow myself to become a sinner."

Mei Kongxu ignored his grand and passionate tone, forcing Li Yang to spit out a puff of air as he put on another grand show of dissatisfaction. But he didn't maintain his grand show for long before he pushed open the door to the cabin and entered it. Mei Kongxu immediately noticed his demeanour change, it was as if his facade melted away and gave way to something much softer.

"Mother, we've arrived."

Even his voice was devoid of its usual smirk-like and teasing tone, it was as if he had become a completely different person. She followed him through the cabin and entered the bedroom with the large window, Li Yang's mother and father already present and waiting for them. Li Yang cupped his fists in a manner far too respectful to be used when greeting your parents, the soft air around him hardening slightly as he bent his waist.

"This one has come to report as you asked."

Mei Kongxu also bent her body slightly in respect, but she was able to notice that both Li Fang and Li Tian winced slightly from Li Yang's distant greeting. It was especially noticeable on Li Tian, whose eyes betrayed a certain sorrow at the cold way his son treated him. Li Yang straightened his back again, Li Fang becoming the first among them to properly speak up, her sunken-in green eyes landing on Mei Kongxu.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Kongxu. I'm sure this little rascal has filled your head with some strange ideas already, but I am his mother, Li Fang. I am aware that this situation probably isn't what you two desired in life, but I sincerely hope that you can come to care for each other, at least that way my guilt will ease a little."

Li Fang's smile was a bit weak and she was as pale as always, Mei Kongxu didn't have to be a genius to see that she was incredibly weak and feeble. She looked as if she was rapidly approaching death's door, but even so, her words contained a strong warmth and sincere care that poked slightly at even Mei Kongxu's chilled heart. Li Tian glanced slightly at his wife before he stood up, nodding at Li Yang in an easily-understood gesture.

"Your mother wishes to speak with Mei Kongxu, she fears that she won't be able to let you go if she speaks with you for too long. Come."

Li Yang glanced at his mother but obediently nodded his head, following after Li Tian as he left the room. He turned his head slightly just before he closed the door, flashing his mother a warm and genial smile.

"Don't worry about me, Mother. We'll be gone for a bit, but who knows, when we next meet I might just be bringing along a litter of little grandkids for you. But that will have to wait for after the Stars Ascension competition, so make sure you stay healthy until then."

Li Yang didn't notice it since he closed the door after he finished speaking, but Li Fang's throat rolled slightly after he smiled at her, as if she had something stuck in her throat. Li Tian didn't walk for too far before he sat down again, gesturing for Li Yang to sit down on the other couch that decorated the living room.

Li Tian looked at Li Yang as he sat down, the atmosphere quickly turning stale as neither of them spoke up. But before long, Li Tian became unable to maintain his silence, spitting out a stealthy breath and pulling a dark blue ring out from his sleeve. He placed the ring on the table between them and slid it towards Li Yang, directly explaining its contents.

"This ring contains all the wedding gifts presented to you and Mei Kongxu, mostly some resources and Spirit Stones that you should find useful. Your mother has included clothes, a map you can use to find people that we had some relations to in the past, and a special type of armour you can use for your arms and legs. I have included some more resources and Spirit Stones as well as a few cultivation manuals that I hope you will find useful. Finally, I have included several books on arrays, some that can be found in our archives and many more that belong to my own personal collection. I am aware that you dislike me greatly, but it is my sincere hope that you continue studying arrays as you have, your mother would feel great pain if you abandoned one of your talents due to your hatred for me."

Li Yang accepted the ring and sank his mind into it, his pupils constricting slightly when he actually saw the contents for himself. He put the resources and Spirit Stones aside for now, that amount of riches was to be expected when it came to a wedding like his. No, the thing that really caught his attention was actually the books his father had placed there.

The few he recognized as from the sect's own archives were extraordinary to say the least. They were all placed in the section that could only be viewed by those with the highest classification in the sect, it was definitely not easy for his father to procure copies for him. And then there were the books he didn't recognize in the slightest, just a glance was enough for him to tell just how old some of them were, and the names and ideologies written on the front were all eye-catching as well.

'God-Touched Arrays.'
'Abyss-Born Arrays.'
'The theory behind portable arrays.'
'High-speed arrays, useable in combat or theoretically impractical?'
'Flesh-bound arrays, the future or suicide?'
'Internal arrays, the road to new techniques or the road to Naraka?'

Li Yang studied the books, or at least the covers of them with great interest. Just like his father said, he was more than just a little angry at him. But his father clearly didn't quite understand his personality, there was no way he would abandon one of the things he enjoyed just because of this anger towards his father.

Of course, he wasn't planning on telling him that, if his father didn't understand him then he had no reason to teach him about himself. He stopped inspecting the covers for the moment and pulled his mind out of the ring, but just as he turned his attention back onto his father, he noticed that Li Tian had actually lowered his head quite deeply and placed his knuckles on the table.

"I implore you to take care of yourself when you are away from the sect, your life must always be the top priority. And if possible, I too hope that you can foster some good feelings towards Mei Kongxu and bring her along wherever you go, consider it the desire of a failure of a father. And if you can't do it for me, at least do it for your mother, just keep in mind how heartbroken she would be if anything would happen to you."

Li Tian was acting quite different from normal, probably because of the fact that they were currently alone and in the house where both of them felt the most at ease. Of course, that was just what Li Yang was guessing, he didn't know the truth of the matter that Li Tian and Li Fang had spoken about in the past. Li Yang quietly looked at his father for a second, eventually sliding the ring onto his finger as he spoke up.

"I won't die, I still have the duty of easing up this entire boring universe, and I can't do that if I'm dead. So I won't die, I'll keep moving forward until I can stand above everything else and laugh, then you'll all see how pathetic your constant seriousness truly is. As for Mei Kongxu, she is already mine, so I'll drag her around for as long as she'll have me. And if she doesn't, well then I might just drag her around for a bit longer, I'm still working on cracking that icy facade after all."

Li Tian raised his head, only to see that Li Yang had leaned back in the sofa in such a carefree manner that he practically exuded an aura of arrogance. He didn't say the was going to do his best not to die, he simply stated that he wasn't going to die. No matter what happened, no matter what was thrown at him, he would break right through it and survive. Because he was Li Yang, and his destination was the peak of all creation, all so that he could laugh at all creation.