This woman really knows how to pick her moment—neither showing up too soon nor too late, but choosing to appear right at this critical juncture.
Clearly, she calculated that it would be hard for her to shirk responsibility now.
Wu Zhaohua faced it all calmly, the corners of her lips curving in a faint arc.
“So what now? Now that Palace Master Qin’s sect has been established, are you planning not to fulfill your earlier promise?”
“In a couple of days! Can’t it wait a couple of days?” Qin Qingyue tried to stall, hoping to delay today until tomorrow, then the day after, ideally until Wu Zhaohua forgot or she found some other chance to make it up.
If it were before, back when she acted alone, she might really have tried to deny it and get away with it.
“No,” Wu Zhaohua replied firmly.
“I want to take Jiang Huai with me today.” She paused, watching as Qin Qingyue’s expression turned instantly sour, then continued unhurriedly, “Of course, it’s not entirely impossible to wait a couple of days…”
A glimmer of hope rose in Qin Qingyue’s heart.
“In that case, I’ll just stay here. I’m sure your Nine Heavens Palace isn’t lacking a guest room.”
“I’ll leave whenever I take him away,” Wu Zhaohua said blandly.
She wasn’t afraid that Qin Qingyue would back out. This Fierce Dragon was no longer all alone—now she had a sect to protect, a foundation she couldn’t simply abandon.
Jiang Huai watched the two of them locked in a standoff, feeling like his head was about to split.
“You!” Qin Qingyue fumed, dragon eyes flashing with fire.
“So how long do you want to borrow him for?”
“One hundred days.” Wu Zhaohua calmly reported a number, as if quoting from some book.
Qin Qingyue snorted, as if she’d just heard the world’s biggest joke.
“One hundred days? Why not just say a hundred years? No! Absolutely impossible!”
Wu Zhaohua’s brows knit slightly, Sword Qi sharpening. “Qin Qingyue, we agreed beforehand—sixty days.”
She gave a little ground.
“Three days!” Qin Qingyue held up three fingers, not giving an inch.
“One month.” Wu Zhaohua suppressed her irritation and stated her bottom line.
“Seven days! Seven days at most!” Qin Qingyue bargained with her hands, like a market vendor haggling.
Wu Zhaohua’s gaze suddenly sharpened, Sword Qi rippling around her as a line of Invisible Sword Intent pointed straight at the newly completed palace cluster of Nine Heavens Palace behind Qin Qingyue, its chill biting to the bone.
“One month! Not a single day less!”
The tension between them crackled, their formidable auras clashing so fiercely that even Zhuxin, Su Yingman, and the others around them felt a surge of unease.
The terror of a Heavenly Immortal in the Great Ascension stage was truly overwhelming.
Jiang Huai, caught in the middle, felt like an object being tugged back and forth.
In the end, after a fierce tug-of-war and exchange of stares,
the agreed term was set at one month.
“Go! Go to Wenxuan Sect and ‘train’ for a month!” Qin Qingyue, full of resentment with nowhere to vent, swung her dragon tail forcefully at Jiang Huai’s back, sending him stumbling toward Wu Zhaohua.
“I want to go along as well.”
Wu Zhaohua glanced over indifferently. “Not necessary.”
“Hmph!” Qin Qingyue sneered, “Your Wenxuan Sect doesn’t even have a single compatible expert this cycle, how can I trust my husband to go there alone? If anything happens, who would take responsibility?”
“And do you not know what sort of constitution my husband has? Who knows what you’re planning.”
That was her greatest worry—if Wu Zhaohua harbored even a sliver of ill intent toward Jiang Huai, the consequences would be disastrous.
Wu Zhaohua was silent for a moment, knowing this was Qin Qingyue’s bottom line, and could only nod in agreement.
“Fine.”
Qin Qingyue waved her hand irritably, as if trying to chase off some ill omen. “Go, go!”
But just then, the silent Jiang Huai suddenly spoke, his voice quiet yet remarkably clear.
“I don’t want to go.” Everyone froze in surprise.
Jiang Huai looked at Qin Qingyue, his gaze earnest. “I am your man, and I belong to Nine Heavens Palace.”
“So why should I go to Wenxuan Sect?”
How strange—did no one care to ask what he wanted?
At those words, Qin Qingyue felt a warm surge rising inside her.
All the stifled resentment from earlier was instantly replaced by an indescribable sense of emotion and satisfaction.
She yanked Jiang Huai back to her side, black flames surging up from her body, dragon eyes blazing as she glared at Wu Zhaohua, gritting her teeth.
“Fine! If my husband says he’s not going, then he’s not going! Let’s see what happens if we don’t go today!”
She never wanted to let him go anyway.
Now that Jiang Huai had spoken for himself, there was nothing left to hesitate over.
Wu Zhaohua was momentarily stunned.
She looked at Jiang Huai, then at the fiercely protective Qin Qingyue, as if something had stabbed her deep in the heart.
Jiang Huai’s words involuntarily reminded her of their days in the mortal world, when he had still been an ordinary man and they had depended on each other in that little courtyard.
Back then, it was as if his whole world revolved around her.
A complicated, unspeakable sense of bitterness and loss welled up inside her.
She steadied herself, suppressing the turmoil in her heart, and her voice grew even colder.
“Jiang Huai, weren’t you always proud of your clear sense of right and wrong, never liking to owe anyone favors?”
Without waiting for Jiang Huai to respond, she continued, each word piercing.
“Do you think Qin Qingyue could have opened the path to the minor world all on her own?”
“Do you think, without my agreement, that White Dew would have so easily agreed to accompany her to the rescue? Would she have known where the North Sea Dragon Palace’s gate was?”
She did not mention her private instruction to Jiang Huai in the Wenxuan Sword Arts—that had been her own choice, and she’d even felt gratified that he’d surpassed her.
“Zhaohua…” Jiang Huai tried to speak.
Wu Zhaohua coldly cut him off, her gaze as sharp as a blade. “Or is it that this newly founded Nine Heavens Palace, like certain dragons, just likes to take by force and renege afterward?”
The words were a clear allusion to old grievances.
Qin Qingyue’s expression shifted, just about to explode.
But Jiang Huai spoke up, his tone steady.
“But I am not an object. I am the Saint Son of Nine Heavens Palace, and the Palace Master’s husband.”
“I can’t go with you, nor can I let people gossip later, saying that Qin Qingyue gave up even her own man to secure her position.”
“I will not allow my wife to be tainted with such a stain.” Now that Qin Qingyue’s status was different, he could not let her suffer slander on his account.
Upon hearing this, Qin Qingyue said nothing more, simply standing quietly behind Jiang Huai, head held high, her heart both moved and tinged with a hint of guilt.
Truthfully, she’d thought Jiang Huai might still harbor old feelings, and want to go to Wu Zhaohua—hence her promise of a month.
If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t have given even a moment.
Wu Zhaohua fell silent for a moment, then simply said, “Seven days. I won’t touch you.”
“Not seven days, not even if you don’t touch me,” Jiang Huai shook his head.
“Even half a day is out of the question.”
“Nine Heavens Palace now stands here; it is the master of this land. Is Sect Master Wu planning to challenge the mountain gate today?”
Qin Qingyue narrowed her dragon eyes, Innate Primordial Qi circulating within her, full of confidence.
She now held an extra trump card compared to Wu Zhaohua: Innate Primordial Qi.
Wu Zhaohua lowered her eyes, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
She had thought that Jiang Huai might be willing to return with her for a while if she came to find him.
Rescuing him had only been out of concern for his safety.
But after visiting that minor world, witnessing couples sharing their lives, she had felt a longing in her heart, and on impulse had wanted to invite him to accompany her—even briefly, to fulfill a simple wish.
Yet reality struck her head-on: Jiang Huai was already married and settled…