"I will be your most loyal wife."
That really, really pissed off Liyue, but she didn't say anything. She just frowned her beautiful eyebrows and silently looked at the Spirit.
Han Li didn't say anything for a while.
He wasn't a short-sighted person; getting only the Transcend Mortality Orb was good, and making her a pet would serve his vanity. It would be a satisfying sight. But that was not nearly worth having a loyal Munyu on his side.
Munyu was a deadly addition to his harem if he actually accepted the proposition. Her knowledge alone would—if his thoughts were in line with reality—make him stronger. His chance of actually achieving his still distant goal would become much higher.
Munyu could be a breakthrough in his destiny.
He could see the allure of it all. Not choosing her was not an option to even think about.
"Munyu," he called.
The Spirit bowed slightly.
"I don't choose wives lightly. I give my heart to even fewer people. And you have once harmed—tried to harm—one of them who are the dearest to me."
"I am well aware."
Both of their gazes, Han Li's and Munyu's, met in midair, and sparks of brilliant ambition began to brighten between them.
Both of them WANTED to join forces.
Eternal Life and Control over Life and Death.
Han Li wanted to achieve that!
He didn't want to see his mother die; he didn't want to be thrown into a place full of regret where there was nothing he could do. He wanted to live without the worry of death hanging above his loved ones.
A memory entered his mind. It was a technique. A Heart Qi Technique.
"It is a technique that I just made, but it is also part of a wider technique. I thought your wife must love it."
Liyue looked sideways at them, feeling irritated at becoming a third wheel in her own room.
Fuck the Spirit! She hated it already.
Han Li assimilated the technique in his mind with a slow breath, and his horizons were immediately expanded. It was a way of using Heart Qi that he hadn't known was possible. He might have learned to use it someday, but it would never have been this easy.
Taking Liyue's face with one of his hands, he brought her closer, and both of their lips met. It was followed by a confused minute of deep kissing.
At the same time, unbeknownst to Liyue, a tiny golden mark began to imprint itself on the roof of her mouth, and she was filled with a tingly feeling throughout the kiss.
Then, he parted from her beautiful and full lips. She asked, slightly out of breath, "...What was that feeling?"
Han Li winked at her. "Guess what?"
"I don't know, just say!"
Suddenly, Liyue felt a weird sensation all over her body, and she began to squirm. Then, she fell into his embrace—from where the Spirit jumped into the air—before she asked with a bit of a pitiful face: "What is this weird feeling?"
The Spirit said amusedly from up above: "It is a profound technique that would only work if the woman he uses it on loves him deeply. He had only given you the First Mark of the Three Marks, so he now has the ability to sense you from even the other side of the continent."
"Why does my body feel this weird?"
The Spirit chuckled. "He is fucking you using his Heart Qi. Of course, you feel weird."
"The... stop!" Liyue squirmed in his embrace, but Han Li didn't stop. Not until she came and completely slumped on top of him.
"Since your Sect's name is Paradise," The Spirit said, "Let's name the Technique as the Paradise Mark."
Han Li nodded.