Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’ Chapter 736: The Death of Yuwen Cuojin, Yunlus Secret
Previously on Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’...
Yuwen Cuojin had always considered himself a peerless genius.
He had chosen to bypass the Great Shang Imperial Mausoleum with Situ Ding’s group, recognizing it as a treacherous forbidden zone of the fallen dynasty where unpredictable anomalies were common.
To him, a Cultivation master of the Palm Profound realm, subduing a mere Fourth Realm opponent should have been an elementary task.
However, Yuwen Cuojin never anticipated finding a sentinel at the gates of the Autumn Water Pavilion.
The sight of the Marriage Fate Tree brought two chilling realizations to his mind.
First, the adversary before him had reached the Seventh Realm.
Second, this opponent wielded the Marriage Fate Dao, a power that had carved a notorious and deep legacy within the history of the Demon Summoning Sect.
Though the Marriage Fate Dao was famously erratic and bizarre, it was supposed to have vanished into the annals of time long ago.
Faced with a dangerous foe, Yuwen Cuojin’s thoughts spun rapidly.
Despite his lingering injuries, his opponent was a fresh Seventh Realm ascendant with an unpolished Foundation. He still held the upper hand. Yet, with so many experts gathered at the Clear Abyss Sect for the wedding, he needed to conclude this battle immediately.
With his resolve set, Yuwen Cuojin’s left hand blurred as he launched a preemptive strike.
As his fist flew, his personal Grotto-Heaven manifested at his back. Within it, a pitch-black river twisted like a jagged scar, drowning the celestial bodies and the very landscape in its path.
A suffocatingly sinister aura erupted, masking the radiance of the moon above.
From the depths of that darkness, a palm struck out. It appeared deceptively simple, yet it brought wither and decay to everything in its wake, aiming straight for the core of the Marriage Fate Tree.
Swish—
Accompanied by the sudden resonance of a zither, a figure drifted down from the tree’s emerald canopy. Her hair flowed like a dark cascade and her aura was transcendent as her slender fingers danced across the zither strings.
Her features remained hidden, but her current majestic presence was a world away from someone who might lazily snack on melon seeds or roll around on the grass like a common bird.
Shang Qinqing—Serious Mode engaged.
The zither’s melody rippled outward, elegant and soft.
With a sharp ding-dong, the momentum of the sinister giant hand faltered, as if the very passage of time had turned to sludge around it.
Yuwen Cuojin’s eyes narrowed. He watched as a multitude of crimson threads descended from the Marriage Fate Tree, swaying in harmony with the music to weave a scarlet net that ensnared his palm.
He couldn't help but feel a surge of doubt.
She only just stepped into the Seventh Realm; how can she possess such power?
What source of energy has made this Marriage Fate Tree so unnaturally vibrant...?
"A new breakthrough means your realm is brittle," Yuwen Cuojin declared with a cold sneer.
His palm shuddered, and a vortex manifested at the center of the dark hand. It was a force meant to rot bone and consume the soul, designed to grind away the principles of the Marriage Fate Dao and shred the red threads into chaos.
However, the more strength he exerted, the more the threads became "cut, yet unsevered; sorted, yet entangled," drawing him further into the trap.
Despite this, Yuwen Cuojin remained eerily composed.
With a sudden boom, his physical form shattered into fragments.
"Did he flee?"
Shang Qinqing’s brow furrowed, a sense of unease creeping in.
A Palm Profound cultivator, even one wounded, wouldn't fall so easily. Every master of that level possessed a unique Dao with specialized survival traits.
One thing they all shared was that they were incredibly difficult to kill.
In that regard, she was much the same.
Had Yuwen Cuojin truly retreated after realizing he couldn't win quickly?
Before she could finish the thought, the dark river surged out from the void, splitting into two distinct, obsidian tides.
They weren't merely water; upon closer inspection, every churning drop was a microscopic insect.
The two tides diverged, but not to escape.
One crashed toward the Marriage Fate Tree, while the other veered sharply toward the Autumn Water Pavilion!
"You truly live up to the title of Vice Sect Leader—ruthless and calculating," Shang Qinqing murmured.
By dividing his essence, Yuwen Cuojin risked permanent damage. If these halves were destroyed, he might fall beneath the Seventh Realm and require centuries to recover.
He was gambling that she wouldn't be able to defend the Marriage Fate Tree and save the Autumn Water Pavilion simultaneously.
"I am nothing compared to the Right Protector. I didn't realize I was facing Clan Leader Shang during our earlier meeting."
Two identical voices spoke in unison from the twin tides:
"In a fair fight, I would concede. But you are burdened by attachments. I have heard Clan Leader Shang’s speed is the greatest under heaven. Can you truly protect both ends?"
As the words fell, the black tides began to swallow their targets.
Shang Qinqing offered no verbal reply, but her actions spoke for her.
In a blur of motion, she appeared atop the Autumn Water Pavilion.
By choosing to guard the building, her protection over the reviving Marriage Fate Tree faltered for a heartbeat, allowing darkness to claim it.
In that fleeting moment, Yuwen Cuojin’s silhouette manifested before the great tree.
Staring at the towering trunk, its rustling leaves vibrating with a soul-stirring Dao charm, he felt a brief moment of awe before his instincts took over.
The Marriage Fate Tree shuddered as leaves rained down, a dark palm print burning into its bark.
A corruptive, decaying energy bled from the strike, causing the tree to wither at an alarming rate.
"Hahaha! What a shame you’ve only just reclaimed the Seventh Realm. I suppose the legendary wonders of the Marriage Fate Dao shall remain a mystery!"
Amidst the discordant zither notes, Yuwen Cuojin laughed with a mix of triumph and faint disappointment.
Sect archives suggested that while the Marriage Fate Dao wasn't built for raw combat, its utility in other areas was terrifying.
History spoke of a Demon Summoning Sect predecessor named Yun Lu who once wielded the Marriage Fate Tree and nearly upended the entire world.
By exploiting the Dao’s unique nature, Yun Lu forced countless elites to fall hopelessly in love with him, turning them into...
Slaves of passion.
Back then, the Demon Summoning Sect was comprised of five halls. Three of their leaders, along with numerous powerhouses from Great Shang—including many men—became Yun Lu’s mindless puppets.
Those ensnared by his "love" would walk through fire or defy the world without hesitation, possessing a loyalty that surpassed even the most brainwashed death warriors.
Emboldened, Yun Lu had even plotted to found his own divine cult.
He ultimately failed, of course, or the Sect wouldn't exist today.
The details of his downfall had been purged by the master who ended the rebellion, leaving only a cryptic note: 'Simps are truly something else.'
Even a Vice Sect Leader like Yuwen Cuojin didn't know the full story.
But reading the accounts had always sparked a dark ambition within him.
If he held the Marriage Fate Dao, the world would be his playground.
A new cult? A new empire?
It was a natural fantasy for anyone in his position.
Tragically, the Dao had vanished after Yun Lu’s fall, only to reappear now.
"Wait, what is this?"
Yuwen Cuojin spotted a faint glow within the dying Marriage Fate Tree. He reached out, and an object flew into his hand. It was...
A seed?
"Could it be... that by refining this, I can grow a new Marriage Fate Tree and claim its Dao for myself?"
A gasp escaped him as a wave of pure euphoria took hold.
If this was true, he would abandon his current path in a heartbeat.
To hell with the Rotten Decay Dao; anyone else could have it!
He was completely oblivious to the reality of the situation.
"Yet another one who thinks I'm an easy mark," Shang Qinqing sighed.
She watched Yuwen Cuojin standing perfectly still before the tree, his spirit lost in a trance and a vacant, drooling expression on his face.
Love could strip away a person's reason, but it could also trap them in a mental prison.
Shang Qinqing had been orchestrating this opening from the very start.
Her Cultivation was still stabilizing, and her Path was not meant for a brawl, so a direct test of strength was unwise. However, when it came to arts that targeted the soul and the mind, her newly rebuilt Foundation gave her absolute dominance.