111. The calm before the ̶l̶i̶g̶h̶t̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ calm

The Golden Sun Sect was lively these days. There were many visiting cultivators—meeting other cultivators, shopping at the Equipment Hall, and relaxing at the cats’ garden.

Huang Jialing, who had to walk past the cats’ garden every day, sighed deeply.

Demonic cats, wolves, rabbits, bears…it was becoming a menagerie. At the very least, these visiting cultivators often brought food offerings, otherwise the surrounding lands wouldn’t be able to support the hunting of all the new beasts.

The older cats were too wilful for training these days, so Huang Jialing had to content herself with caring for the young kittens.

Unlike Huang Jialing, the cats were completely fine with the new world order. Cultivators would arrive stressed, sit down, feed them, give them toys, pet one of them while in a daze, and leave with longing looks back.

The demonic tiger’s tail swayed back and forth in satisfaction.

- All these humans are now dependent on us!! he purred.

- We are the best, another demonic cat said indifferently.

Seeing how hard-working the cats were and how docile the bears and dogs were, Wen Zhihao bought new soft blankets and cushions for them, and directly infused them with calmness. He also set up heating talismans and rain-cover talismans, now that the weather was becoming cooler.

“Meow~!” One cat rubbed against Wen Zhihao affectionately and immediately burrowed into the new soft blankets.

- Sleepy Human’s aura is all over these! Hmmm, so sleepy…

Wen Zhihao rubbed his eyes. He felt a bit sleepy looking at the lazing cats. He had time before he needed to pick up the kids so...Wen Zhihao decided to lie down with the cats and have a morning nap too.

As his eyes closed, his aura spread out through the cats’ gardens. Numerous feet padded closer to the source of sleepy qi. A fluffy, furry carpet surrounded Wen Zhihao’s sleeping form.

One cultivator who had been visiting the cats yawned. The yawning spread among the other cultivators. They lurched to their feet and headed back to their rooms to sleep.

The Golden Sun Sect was remarkably peaceful that morning.

In the end, Sun Fuyu picked up the children and teenagers from school by himself, and took them directly back to the cats’ garden.

Ah-Yi covered his mouth with his hands to hide a grin. “Ah! Uncle is sleeping!”

“Uncle!” Ruan Lanxi called out.

“Uncle, we’re back!” Peng Tiantian called out too. She and Ruan Lanxi scrambled over furry bodies to get to their Uncle.

“Ah?” The qi in the air rippled as Wen Zhihao awoke. Wen Zhihao pushed himself upright, squinting a bit. When he noticed Sun Fuyu and their charges, he made a little woops in his heart. “Did Uncle Sun bring you home?”

“En!” Ruan Lanxi said.

“Uncle Sun flew really fast!” Peng Tiantian’s eyes glowed. While Ruan Lanxi was obsessed with sword-fighting, Peng Tiantian really loved sword-flying.

“Well, Uncle Sun is at Peak-Stage now,” Wen Zhihao said. He held the two girls’ hands and had them help pull him up. The three of them walked between the animals, back to Sun Fuyu and the others, who were still in the flying cart.

Wen Zhihao lifted the two kids back into the cart first before he got on alongside Sun Fuyu.

“Sorry, Xiao Yu, I was sleeping…”

Sun Fuyu smiled warmly. “En, I know.” He could feel it through their bond. “Let’s go.”

While Sun Fuyu controlled the flying cart, heading to the kitchens for lunch, Wen Zhihao looked back at the young ones.

“Now, tell Uncle what you did at school today…”

A few days later, in the afternoon, Wen Zhihao took Sun Fuyu, the children, and some cats to take a look at their new house.

The builders had worked hard. A little over five weeks after the construction started—about a week after the tournament ended—the building was complete. Only furnishing and the garden arrangement was left.

They greeted the gardeners who were planting soft grass and scented flowers and headed inside.

The house had two floors with stairs and qi-powered lifts for access. On the ground floor were the common halls, while the floor up had the bedrooms and an ‘inner courtyard’.

“This will be our new home after the wedding,” Wen Zhihao said, satisfied. The ground floor rooms had big wide glass windows that looked onto the surrounding gardens. It felt like a bit of his old world had come here. Now that it was afternoon, sunlight was shining in from the west side. The cats immediately wandered over to the sunlight and flopped to the ground, eyes squinting happily.

Wen Zhihao’s gaze softened at the napping cats. “Look, there we can add bedding, to nap inside when it’s cold.”

Sun Fuyu dutifully wrote that down.

They headed up to the upper floor. The big bedroom was for Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu, but there were also many other rooms too. Wen Zhihao turned to his six children. “Why don’t you choose a bedroom now? Then Uncle can buy whatever furniture you want. Go on.” Wen Zhihao gently nudged them.

Ruan Lanxi led the children’s exploration of the rooms. The six of them seriously examined them: from the view to the size. Arms stretched wide as they tried to figure out how big beds and furniture would be.

Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu strolled behind them, answering any questions the children had.

The children were accustomed to sleeping together, so in the end they chose two rooms to split themselves up into. Wen Zhihao decided to make the remaining rooms into study rooms.

Wen Zhihao couldn’t help but look back as they were leaving. He could already imagine making this new house their home.

It didn’t take long for the house to be furnished and the wedding preparations to be completed. Everything was in place in time for the wedding.

The night before the wedding, Wen Zhihao put the children to bed in their old room and headed to the bedroom with Sun Fuyu. Almost everything was packed away, ready for their move.

Wen Zhihao said nothing when he caught Sun Fuyu quickly putting away something red in his spatial storage. He gently pulled Sun Fuyu to bed.

Wen Zhihao pulled the blankets over them and dimmed the lights with a voice command.

“Nervous?”

“I…mmm.” Sun Fuyu’s chest was itchy. He didn’t want to lie directly to Wen-ge’s face… But he was nervous.

Back when he lived in the mortal towns, he learnt about the things that occurred after weddings. To think that he and Wen-ge would be doing the same things soon…!

Wen Zhihao caressed the side of Sun Fuyu’s face. It was so slightly cool and smooth. “The wedding is just an excuse for a party, and our lives won’t be different afterwards,” he said softly.

“That’s what Wen-ge thinks,” Sun Fuyu said with a hint of amusement.

“Is it not true?” Wen Zhihao said in a surprised tone. “Look, we’re already living together and sleeping together.”

“But there’s also the bridal chamber…” Sun Fuyu peeked up at Wen Zhihao.

Wen Zhihao cleared his throat. “Um. Yes. It’s not a necessary feature on the wedding night. It’s up to us to choose what we do, okay? If there is anything that either you or I don’t want to do, there’s no need to do it.”

“But…”

Xiao Yu’s shyness made Wen Zhihao’s heart tighten. He pulled Sun Fuyu’s head and upper body closer to him. “You can worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes,” he coaxed.

Wen Zhihao yawned, and Sun Fuyu couldn’t help but yawn too.

“Whatever issues may come up, we’ll work them out together,” Wen Zhihao said through a yawn.

“Okay…” Sun Fuyu said sleepily. More than his nervousness, he trusted Wen-ge.

After a little kiss, the two fell asleep.

When Wen Zhihao woke up early the next day, he stayed in a half-asleep state, limbs suffused with sleep-heaviness. Sun Fuyu was still sleeping by his side.

In this state between half-asleep and half-awake, Wen Zhihao idly noticed his breathing. Qi flowed in with the air, circulating around Wen Zhihao’s body and pooling in his lower abdomen...hm, that was probably his dantian.

Qi flowed out with the air on the exhale. Qi flowed in on the inhale, and out again on the exhale...There seemed to be less qi on the exhale though.

A spark of enlightenment pulled Wen Zhihao to alertness. Less qi on the exhale...didn’t that mean his body was collecting qi every time he breathed in? And he knew that collecting qi was the fundamental requirement for cultivation advancement.

The qi in the air began to thicken, but that did not hinder Wen Zhihao’s breathing. The excess qi settled comfortably into his body and limbs, condensing tighter in his dantian.

The qi movement around his body was familiar. Itwas very warm and tingly, almost like static electricity but gentle and empowering. There was a sense of strength and assuredness.

Wen Zhihao felt very sheepish. So this was how he had been unexpectedly advancing through the cultivation levels! Relaxation flowed through him at this big comprehension.

He breathed in and exhaled. 

With the mystery solved, Wen Zhihao went back to sleep: it was still early, after all, and he won’t be able to have an afternoon nap on the wedding day itself.

Outside, dark dry thunderstorm clouds sent down lightning that confusedly broke down into innumerable fizzles, merging in with the wave-like flowing qi around Wen Zhihao.

There was so much qi that for a few moments it visibly sparkled. It faded away as Wen Zhihao breathed it in and dispersed it out. The clouds gave way to clear skies showing streaks of pre dawn light.

A certain poor outer-god in the Heavens noticed the odd behaviour from the tribulation lightning. But since the lightning energy exhausted itself, it meant that the tribulation had completed. Anyway, since he was demoted, it wasn’t his job to check the happenings of the mortal world. No, it was now his duty to re-study the theories of space-time and to farm the heavenly plants for the gods’ consumption…

And so, Wen Zhihao peacefully passed the tribulation~

(Also: that god’s life just turned into a heavenly farming novel ????)

This chapter was a bit longer than the others ???? And yes, I finally decided that there are 6 young children!

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