Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’

After obtaining the Marriage Fate Tree Seed, Yuwen Cuojin did not publicize it. Pretending nothing had happened, he went to the Great Shang Imperial Mausoleum.

Due to meticulous planning, they successfully seized the Cycle of Life and Death Formation and used it to reverse life and death, resurrecting an ancient Qiongqi beast for the Hundred Beasts Hall.

Everything progressed exceptionally smoothly thereafter. Though the Qingyuan Sect was destroyed, he credited all the achievements to Situ Ding.

With the Seed of the Marriage Fate Dao, the struggles for merit, fame, fortune, and power within the sect seemed like fleeting clouds to him.

Once he refined it, what in this world could he not obtain?

Yuwen Cuojin even used injuries as a pretext to sever his own mastered Dao path. After his cultivation realm fell, he resigned from his position as Vice Sect Master and retreated to seclusion in the mountains.

Years passed.

The Marriage Fate Tree Seed remained dormant, as if it had lost all vitality. Were it not for the fact that a Dao cannot truly perish, Yuwen Cuojin would have suspected it was already dead.

During this time, those mountains were indeed desolate and uninhabited at first. But gradually, refugees fleeing war and chaos migrated there, slowly developing into a village.

Perhaps his secluded life was too boring, or perhaps because he had not been a Demon Sect member for many years, he actually began to find a certain flavor in the ordinary lives of common people.

He settled in the small town, and several more years passed.

That day, apricot blossoms bloomed in a light drizzle, and the green mountains were veiled in mist.

While drinking, Yuwen Cuojin happened to see a woman holding an umbrella crossing a bridge. At that moment, a voice within his heart asked: Would you be willing to turn into a stone bridge, enduring five hundred years of wind and five hundred years of rain, just for her to walk over you once?

He responded without hesitation:

“I would!”

Returning home, he discovered the Marriage Fate Tree Seed had sprouted a green shoot.

An understanding arose in his heart: one who masters the Marriage Fate Dao must have a true love.

Upon this discovery, he was overjoyed. Having believed that severing his cultivation was an irreversible fate, leaving him no hope of ever mastering the profound again in this lifetime, he now saw a new hope.

He began to pursue the woman. Unfortunately, having only known killing and arson all his life, he was utterly clueless about matters of love and affection.

Although the woman regarded him as an ordinary friend, those days became the brightest scenery of his life.

Another three years passed.

As usual, he brought apricot blossom wine to the small bridge where they first met. This time, the woman suddenly drank the wine in one go and said she was returning to Penglai.

“I hope when I revisit this place, I can still see you here.” That’s what she said.

She probably thinks I’m a mortal, that a mountain bird and a fish walk different paths?

Though a misunderstanding, the difference was not great.

Once you enter the Summoning Demon Sect, you are a Demon Sect member for life. Although the overseas Penglai rarely interfered in the affairs of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, its stance towards the Summoning Demon Sect was even more resolute than that of other orthodox sects.

However, Yuwen Cuojin did not give up. He still had his reliance—the Marriage Fate Dao.

‘All I need to do is reach the Seventh Realm of the Marriage Fate Dao.’

The woman left, and the growth of the Marriage Fate Tree stalled. But he had already comprehended a new method from the Dao Seed.

The love of others could also make it grow.

Yet, after leaving the small town, he discovered that true love was hard to find in the world.

“Those two spend every day together, yet there’s no love? Shameless pair!”

“How can this young girl’s affection be divided into so many portions? And each portion given to a different person.”

“He promised to come back and marry her after passing the imperial exams, so how did this fellow’s love disappear… oh wait, it transferred? Disgusting!”

“You two have an eight-year-old child, yet there’s no love?”

Yuwen Cuojin was initially greatly shocked. How could mortals play more wildly than the Demon Sect?

But what troubled him more was that his progress became increasingly slow.

“A courtesan like this probably will never understand what love is…”

One day, passing by a brothel, Yuwen Cuojin shook his head and was about to leave. But as if guided by a ghost, he discovered something.

It seemed he could… tie other people’s threads of marital fate to himself.

Especially those affections that were not firm to begin with.

After his ‘matchmaking,’ transferring that affection to himself, even a courtesan would become steadfastly devoted to him.

And it didn’t necessarily have to be a woman.

He had found a shortcut to mastering the Marriage Fate Dao.

At first, Yuwen Cuojin only made mortals with weak wills fall in love with him. Then it was martial artists. The cultivation level of his targets grew higher and higher, until even several high-ranking members of major sects that governed provinces were utterly devoted to him.

Unknowingly, his influence had grown to rival that of the Summoning Demon Sect. He was only one step away from the Seventh Realm and was the sole focus of countless people’s adoration.

He saw no problem with this.

Those with steadfast, golden love were already rare in this world. He was giving those who didn’t understand love a chance to experience it.

But after tasting the peak of his predecessor’s life, he soon found it dull again.

All those he controlled loved him, but what about himself?

Vaguely, he remembered that small town, that little bridge, that year of apricot blossoms and light rain…

That woman holding the umbrella.

Disguised, Yuwen Cuojin went to Penglai to propose. The speed of her agreement caught even him off guard. He didn’t even need to use the power of the Marriage Fate Tree.

Using it would have been useless anyway. Firstly, her love was already steadfast as gold.

Secondly, the object of that steadfast love was him from the start.

On their wedding day, during the wedding night, he voiced the doubt in his heart.

“When did you…”

“Back in the small town. It’s a pity our reunion was not there.”

As the words fell.

‘Thud—’

A sharp sword pierced through the chest, freezing all fervent blood.

Yuwen Cuojin was first seized by boundless astonishment, then came acceptance.

So, he himself did not understand what love truly was either.

Zhang Xuan was very hard to kill, unless he was willing to die.

……

Footsteps echoed far in the empty underground palace.

“Since that woman had already fallen in love with Senior Yun Lu, why did she personally kill him on their wedding day?”

Situ Ding couldn’t help but voice his question.

The matter of the Fateful Bond Dao fading into obscurity was something many within the Demon Summoning Cult were intensely curious about. What great taboo, what great secret was hidden within it?

Even someone like Situ Ding was unaware. Perhaps only the Old Patriarch, the Cult Master, knew a thing or two.

Earlier, some cult members couldn’t resist asking, as Qin Yuzhi was also a Cult Master, albeit a former one.

But precisely because of that, she might have a clearer understanding of the matter, perhaps even firsthand experience.

Qin Yuzhi didn’t treat it as some profound secret either, spilling the entire story like beans from a bamboo tube.

Senior Yun Lu died on his wedding day, by the hand of his beloved.

“Yes, since they were deeply in love, why did it end like this?”

“Senior Yun Lu finally found someone who loved him sincerely, without needing the Fateful Bond Tree. How could he be killed?”

“I thought he had secluded himself with his beloved, never expecting he died on his wedding day…”

The tone took a sudden turn, leaving the demon cult members unprepared. The question marks in their minds not only didn’t shrink but seemed to pop right out of their heads.

“Because that senior from Penglai was an obsessive person. How to describe such people….”

Qin Yuzhi thought for a moment, as if searching for the right adjective. After a short while, her eyes lit up:

“Right, to use Little Mo’s words, she was a ‘yandere’.”

“……”

The cult members looked at each other. So, this story was considered a hidden secret not because it concealed some great mystery.

But because it was so outrageous that recording it would make people doubt its authenticity?

“Wait, the Little Mo you just mentioned… who is that?”

Situ Ding suddenly reacted.