Chapter 58: Chapter 57
The morning sun broke through the paper windows of the master courtyard, casting a warm, golden glow across the floorboards.
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Yan Shuo woke up without a single trace of pain.
He took a slow, experimental breath. The jagged, burning agony of the Heavenly Dao curse that had been tearing at his spine was completely gone. In its place was a profound, soothing coolness. If he focused his inner sight on his dantian, he could see his dark Nascent Soul resting peacefully within a flawless, crystalline cage of pure Yin ice.
Tantai Zhi’s seal had worked perfectly.
Yan Shuo let out a long, satisfied exhale and slowly sat up. He stretched his arms, feeling the satisfying pop of his joints. His fifteen-year-old body still felt a bit stiff, but the crushing weakness had faded.
He moved to toss the heavy silk blankets aside and step out of the jade bed.
"Don’t move, Husband!"
A blur of white and crimson shot across the room faster than a Nascent Soul sword phantom.
Before Yan Shuo’s bare foot could even hover an inch above the wooden floor, Tantai Zhi was there. She practically slid to her knees beside the bed, catching his ankle in her soft, pale hands with the desperate speed of someone catching a falling baby.
"The floor is too cold, Husband!" she scolded him, her golden eyes wide with frantic worry. "Your meridians are in a delicate state of stasis! What if the morning chill seeps through your soles and shocks the seal?"
Yan Shuo looked down at his foot, which was currently being cradled against her cheek as if it were a fragile artifact. He then looked at the bright, warm morning sunlight streaming into the room.
"Zhi’er," Yan Shuo said, a deeply amused smile touching his lips. "It is the middle of spring. The floorboards are practically radiating heat."
"Mortal heat is deceiving!" Tantai Zhi insisted stubbornly.
She gently lifted his legs and forcefully tucked them back under the thick silk blankets, wrapping him up like a tightly rolled spring roll. She patted the blankets down, nodding in satisfaction before sitting on the edge of the mattress.
She looked a little tired. Her face was slightly pale from exhausting so much of her vital energy the night before, but her expression was impossibly bright and happy.
"I made breakfast," she announced proudly, pulling a spatial pouch from her sleeve. With a flick of her wrist, she produced a small, beautifully carved wooden table and set it directly over his lap.
Then came the food.
A steaming bowl of clear spirit-fish broth, garnished with rare mountain herbs. A plate of perfectly braised, glowing golden pork belly that smelled so rich and savory it made Yan Shuo’s stomach instantly rumble. And a small dish of sweet, steamed lotus buns.
"You promised me dinner yesterday, but we missed it," Tantai Zhi murmured softly, picking up a pair of silver chopsticks. "So I made a very big breakfast instead. You need to eat to build up your physical strength."
Yan Shuo looked at the incredible feast, then looked at his wife, who was already blowing on a piece of braised pork to cool it down for him.
He didn’t bother arguing about feeding himself. He knew a lost cause when he saw one. He comfortably leaned back against his mountain of pillows, opened his mouth, and let the absolute most terrifying woman in the cultivation world feed him breakfast in bed.
The braised pork melted on his tongue, rich with nourishing Qi.
"It is incredible, Wife," Yan Shuo praised, his dark eyes curving with genuine delight. "Your cooking has truly reached the Dao."
Tantai Zhi’s cheeks flushed a brilliant pink. Her smile was so sweet and radiant it could have blinded a Grandmaster. She happily continued to feed him, entirely content with her universe.
Just as Yan Shuo was finishing the last sweet lotus bun, a very timid, very nervous knock sounded at the outer courtyard gates.
"L-Lord Yan? Saintess?" Su Mei’s voice trembled through the sound-dampening arrays. "Sect Master Zhao is kneeling outside the gates. He says it is a matter of absolute, continent-shaking urgency. He has been out there since dawn."
Tantai Zhi’s sweet smile instantly vanished. The warm, domestic atmosphere plummeted to zero degrees.
"Tell him to jump off the mountain," Tantai Zhi commanded coldly, not even raising her voice. "My husband is digesting his breakfast. If that old man ruins his digestion with annoying sect matters, I will freeze his tongue."
"Wait, Zhi’er," Yan Shuo chuckled, gently placing a hand over hers to calm the sudden spike in her killing intent.
He swallowed his tea and wiped his mouth elegantly with a silk napkin. He was actually quite curious to hear what the outside world looked like this morning.
"Let him in, Miss Su," Yan Shuo called out lazily. "But tell him to speak quietly."
A moment later, the heavy courtyard doors creaked open.
Sect Master Zhao practically crawled into the room. The poor man looked like he had aged twenty years in the span of three days. His hair was completely disheveled, there were dark bags under his eyes, and his hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold his jade status board.
He stopped ten paces away from the bed and bowed so deeply his forehead touched the floorboards.
"Lord Yan! Saintess! Thank the Heavens you are both safe!" Zhao practically wept with relief. "When the sky turned black over the southern mountains yesterday, I thought the world was ending!"
"It almost did," Yan Shuo murmured casually, leaning against his pillows. "But the weather cleared up. What brings you here so early, Sect Master? I assume you didn’t come to watch me eat."
Zhao swallowed hard, kneeling up. He looked at the fifteen-year-old youth sitting in bed. Yan Shuo looked like a pampered, lazy young master recovering from a slight cold. But Zhao knew the truth. He could feel the suffocating, bottomless depth of Yan Shuo’s Nascent Soul aura, even while it was suppressed.
"Lord Yan... the Central Continent is in absolute chaos," Zhao reported, his voice trembling with a mixture of terror and awe.
"Oh?" Yan Shuo raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to continue.
"The Righteous Alliance’s communication network completely collapsed last night," Zhao explained frantically. "Spies in the capital report that the Nine-Heavens Grand Array, their greatest defense, has inexplicably shattered! The eastern, western, and southern leylines are dead! And the Faceless Scholar..."
Zhao paused, taking a shuddering breath.
"The Honored Guest, the mastermind of the Alliance, is completely missing. They found the entire southern volcanic range frozen solid, and the top thirty elders of the Alliance were found dead at the bottom of a crater."
Zhao looked at Yan Shuo with eyes full of absolute reverence and dread. He didn’t ask if Yan Shuo did it. He already knew.
"Without their array and their mastermind, the orthodox sects are turning on each other," Zhao continued. "The surviving demonic factions are coming out of hiding. The entire mortal realm is terrified. And because the demonic armada was destroyed at our gates..."
"They are all looking at the Azure Sword Sect," Yan Shuo finished smoothly, snapping his paper fan open with a soft click.
"Yes!" Zhao cried out. "Every major sect, orthodox and demonic, is sending envoys! They are bringing tribute! They want to know if the Azure Sword Sect intends to conquer the Central Continent! They want to know our grand strategy!"
Sect Master Zhao looked at Yan Shuo, waiting for the sovereign’s command. He fully expected Yan Shuo to stand up, summon the elders, and declare the beginning of a bloody, continent-spanning empire.
Yan Shuo slowly closed his fan.
He looked at the jade status board in Zhao’s trembling hands. He thought about the crumbling Righteous Alliance, the power vacuum, and the thousands of cultivators who were currently terrified of his name.
Then, he looked at Tantai Zhi.
His wife was currently ignoring the Sect Master completely. She was entirely focused on using a small silver knife to perfectly peel a spirit-apple for him, making sure not a single piece of the skin remained. She looked so peaceful, so happily absorbed in her task.
Yan Shuo let out a soft, relaxed sigh.
Conquering the world sounded incredibly loud, incredibly tedious, and it would severely cut into his breakfast time.
"Sect Master Zhao," Yan Shuo said, his voice carrying the heavy, undeniable authority of the Demon Lord.
"Yes, My Lord! Your command!" Zhao bowed deeply, bracing himself for the order to march to war.
"Go down to the front gates," Yan Shuo instructed calmly. "Take all the tribute they brought. Spirit stones, rare herbs, weapons—take it all and put it in our treasury."
"And then, My Lord?"
"And then," Yan Shuo smiled warmly, "tell them to go away. Tell the envoys that the Azure Sword Sect is closing its mountain for a period of extended, peaceful seclusion. If any of them try to force their way in, or if anyone crosses our borders with a weapon drawn..."
Yan Shuo didn’t need to finish the sentence.
Tantai Zhi stopped peeling the apple. Without looking away from the fruit, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
"I will turn their sects into graveyards," she added helpfully, her voice dripping with sweet, chilling poison. "Tell them my husband is resting. Noise is strictly forbidden."
Zhao swallowed a massive lump in his throat. A global crisis, a continent ripe for the taking, and the absolute ruler of the dark path just wanted to sleep in.
"I... I understand, Lord Yan! Saintess!" Zhao scrambled backward, bowing profusely. "I will hang a sign at the gate immediately! Complete silence! No world conquest today!"
He practically sprinted out of the courtyard, closing the heavy doors behind him.
The room returned to its peaceful, warm silence.
Tantai Zhi finished peeling the apple, cutting a perfect, bite-sized slice and offering it to Yan Shuo on the tip of the silver knife.
"Apples are good for the meridians," she murmured softly, her eyes returning to their happy, starry-eyed state.
Yan Shuo leaned forward and ate the slice, a genuine, completely relaxed smile on his face.
Let the Central Continent burn. Let the sects fight over the scraps. He had spent his first life fighting for a throne of blood and ash, and it had gotten him a sword in the back.
This time, he was going to do things differently. He was going to sit in this warm jade bed, eat sweet pastries, and let his terrifying, beautiful wife pamper him.
"The apple is very sweet, Zhi’er," Yan Shuo praised softly.
Tantai Zhi beamed, leaning her head happily against his shoulder. "I’ll peel another one for you, Husband."
As the chaotic world outside the Azure Sword Sect descended into madness, the master courtyard remained a perfect, quiet sanctuary. The Demon Lord had officially retired, and the soft-rice lifestyle was sweeter than ever.
