"Heroine Wan, I'm actually quite the helpful person myself. But having to play house with you every day would really delay my cultivation progress!"

Wan Qingluan took the hint and tossed you a bag containing 500 internal spirit pills.

You accepted it with a beaming smile: "Thank you, my dear wife!"

You got into character so quickly that Wan Qingluan froze momentarily.

She opened her mouth slightly, her fair neck moving as if to say something, but ultimately couldn't bring herself to say that term of endearment.

Unbothered, you swallowed a handful of internal spirit pills and began cultivating cross-legged in the courtyard.

Wan Qingluan left without disturbing you, pushing open the courtyard gate to go out.

By evening, Wan Qingluan had returned.

She carried various meats and vegetables in her hands.

"I'll prepare dinner," she said somewhat awkwardly before heading to the kitchen.

"Alright, dear wife," you replied with a smile.

Wan Qingluan's steps faltered slightly before she composed herself and entered the kitchen.

True to someone who had experienced many identities, Wan Qingluan's cooking skills were exceptional.

You enjoyed a sumptuous meal.

From that day onward, you and Wan Qingluan began living what appeared to be a normal married life.

Apart from sleeping in separate rooms at night, everything else resembled an ordinary married couple's routine.

You continued your daily cultivation as usual.

Wan Qingluan would cook for you and even do your laundry.

Previously, you'd simply discard clothes after wearing them once, never considering the need to wash them.

Sometimes you'd visit the city together for temple fairs or lantern festivals.

Each time you returned with arms full of purchases.

At night, Wan Qingluan would happily decorate the courtyard with these items.

The small courtyard grew increasingly warm and lively.

"Look how beautiful this fish lantern is!" Wan Qingluan pointed at the illuminated lantern in the yard.

The massive fish lantern lit up half the courtyard.

You nodded with a smile: "It really is beautiful."

Wan Qingluan smiled genuinely.

Her smile seemed to glow even brighter in the darkness.

Gazing at her exquisite features, you reached out and took her soft hand in yours.

Wan Qingluan instinctively flinched but didn't pull away.

She stood frozen, allowing you to hold her hand.

A whole year passed like this.

In the sixty-third year, you condensed your true qi for the eighth time.

The exceptionally refined true qi within your body, far surpassing the Bone Tempering stage, even shocked Wan Qingluan.

"Husband, why is your true qi so refined? It feels comparable to Organ Fortifying realm!"

This marked the first time Wan Qingluan showed curiosity about your cultivation.

Moreover, she had gradually grown accustomed to calling you "husband."

"Mainly because I'm exceptionally talented. When it comes to martial arts, I do possess some minor gifts."

Wan Qingluan nodded, half-convinced.

Your projected true qi could now directly pierce through Skin Refining Peak defenses.

The destructive power was truly terrifying.

Your Art of Hidden Breath reached perfection - martial artists three realms above couldn't discern your cultivation level anymore.

After eight condensations, you didn't stop cultivating.

You pressed on without pause.

Your focus now shifted to breaking through to the next realm.

You began your assault on Bone Tempering Peak.

Your daily cultivation grew increasingly intense, leaving Wan Qingluan puzzled about your motivation.

Wan Qingluan herself didn't need to cultivate.

At Dragon Transformation Peak, she was searching for her path to Grandmaster.

During occasional breaks from cultivation, you'd travel with Wan Qingluan.

You'd stroll through nearby small towns.

Or boat across scenic mountains and rivers.

Wan Qingluan had grown used to holding hands, sometimes even taking your arm proactively.

Yet you hadn't progressed further.

You even climbed Heavenly Summit Snow Mountain with Wan Qingluan.

At the peak, Zhou Qiyun's corpse still endured the harsh elements.

No one dared take it down.

"Qingluan, is your Extermination Sect the only one of the three great demonic sects that remains relatively intact?"

Wan Qingluan nodded coolly: "Indeed. The Blood Demon Sect lost seven Ultimate Grandmasters, greatly weakening them. The Joyful Zen Sect has degraded to third-rate status, barely surviving under Vajra Temple's protection."

"How did your sect leader die?" you asked curiously, having heard rumors about the Extermination Sect leader's death.

"She committed suicide."

You started: "An Ultimate Grandmaster committing suicide? Why?"

"Because the person who collected all five keys told her to kill herself, so she did."

"Wha... what kind of nonsense is that?" You were utterly shocked.

This sect leader had no backbone at all?

Just killed herself because someone told her to?

"Husband, guess who collected the keys and ordered her suicide."

Wan Qingluan's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Don't tell me it was you?"

"Haha, it was indeed me!"

Your mind reeled: "But she was your sect leader! What benefit was there in making her kill herself?"

"None at all. I just remembered what you said and wanted to try it."

You recalled your first meeting with Wan Qingluan.

You'd offhandedly mentioned whether the Extermination Sect leader would obey if someone with all five keys ordered her suicide.

Never imagined Wan Qingluan would actually do it.

Looking at her smiling face, she suddenly seemed like a stranger.

You gained profound understanding of Extermination Sect members' unpredictability.

They truly acted on whims without reason or concern for consequences.

The epitome of "knowing and doing as one."

"Impressive."

You were utterly speechless.

Your conversation turned to Miao Gift.

From Wan Qingluan, you learned of Wei Xia's passing.

Actually, Wei Xia had died just days after your visit to mourn Miao Gift three years prior.

Wan Qingluan only mentioned it now when Miao Gift came up.

The moment Miao Gift died, Wei Xia had lost all attachment to this world.

You returned to the courtyard with Wan Qingluan.

You resumed cultivation.

By the sixty-fifth year, you were eighty years old.

You and Wan Qingluan had lived together for three years.

Both accustomed to each other's presence.

Apart from not consummating your relationship, hugging and intimate gestures had become routine.

You experienced the feelings of romance.

Never imagined your first love would come at eighty.

This wasn't just twilight love - it was midnight love.

"Perfectly reasonable for an eighty-year-old youngster to fall in love, right?"

Wan Qingluan threw you a grand eightieth birthday celebration.

The guest list totaled two - just you and Wan Qingluan.

The lavish feast consisted of five whole dishes - two per person with one to spare, truly extravagant.

That night, you both drank heavily.

With your constitutions, alcohol might as well have been water - impossible to get drunk.

Yet that night, you both tacitly chose not to sober up.

You drank until thoroughly intoxicated, until ecstatic, until day and night blurred.

Morning found you waking in the same bed.

Overnight, eighty-year-old you had finally become a man.

You noticed a crimson "Along the River During Qingming Festival" painting on the sheets.

Wan Qingluan too had shed her maidenhood.

From then on, you began a life of uninhibited passion.

Wan Qingluan also learned about roles like flight attendants and nurses.

Previously, during the seven days when Wan Qingluan's alternate personalities emerged, she would sequester herself in her room.

But now, whenever the seventh day came - when her lustful personality surfaced - she would spend it with you.

On these days, you and Wan Qingluan would lose yourselves completely, oblivious to heaven and earth.

The sixty-sixth year.

One day while cultivating in the courtyard,

A soft chime echoed through your body, like clear spring water flowing.

You had broken through to Bone Tempering Peak.

Your jade-like bones underwent further tempering.

Their strength multiplied several times over, becoming rock-solid.

Simultaneously, this breakthrough

Triggered your Nine Condensations Profound Skill to inadvertently complete its ninth condensation.

True qi rumbled through your meridians.

The incredibly dense qi kept drawing Wan Qingluan's astonished glances.

She'd seen many geniuses, being one herself.

But never had she witnessed a Bone Tempering Peak cultivator with such terrifying amounts of true qi.