When Qin Jingzhou brought Ling Jing back, it was bound to be “announced” to... the entire Spiritual Realm.
The demonic cultivators on the flying boat had already received a warning from their own sect masters. When they saw Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing holding hands, they disembarked the flying boat to pay their respects, all while hurriedly contacting their sects and friends. Most crucially, they sent back images of Ling Jing as quickly as possible so the sect master and elders could discuss what to do next.
Qin Jingzhou, Dao Sovereign of the Spiritual Realm, had rarely ever been attached to anything, and once he was... Oh boy, it was pretty much guaranteed to be earth-shattering!
Talented people were rare in the Spiritual Realm, but with a Dao Sovereign standing behind her, nobody dared act rashly.
The righteous cultivators acted even more cautiously, mostly because the ones who’d suffered huge losses in the previous task world were all from orthodox backgrounds. They felt awkward about it and decided to wait and see.
After all... Dao partners whose love was supposedly stronger than gold often fell apart in the Spiritual Realm because of interests. It was not uncommon.
No matter what was in the hearts of these cultivators, the instant they saw Qin Jingzhou, everyone respectfully bowed again. “Greetings, Dao Sovereign.”
Qin Jingzhou nodded, first introducing Ling Jing. “This is my beloved.”
Among the tens of thousands of cultivators, Ling Jing recognized several familiar faces. She still remembered clearly how they had been captured. Hearing her boyfriend introduce her as “beloved,” she couldn’t stop grinning. “So if you put it that way, doesn’t that mean I can swagger anywhere in the Spiritual Realm now?”
Qin Jingzhou replied with absolute seriousness, “Here in the Spiritual Realm, Heaven’s Will is first, I’m second. There shouldn’t be any problem.”
Ling Jing hooked her arm around her boyfriend’s. “I’ve long wanted to ask, are you the Spiritual Realm’s Heaven’s Will’s chosen child, the Fate’s Son?”
Qin Jingzhou considered for a moment. “I don’t think so.”
In fact, the Heaven’s Will of the Spiritual Realm truly hadn’t formally chosen anyone as Fate’s Son, but she... would still play favorites. At this moment, Ling Jing suddenly understood.
Her little system froze for just a second, then began squealing with excitement, “That was the will of Heaven’s Will from the Spiritual Realm just now! We’ve hit the jackpot!”
Ling Jing just smiled, saying nothing: From the moment I locked eyes with my big boss, I was already lucky.
Qin Jingzhou seemed to sense her thoughts. “Don’t belittle yourself. Even if I helped you, it was just the Spiritual Realm’s entrance exam. Everything else you’ve done was by your own hands.”
Ling Jing replied, “I know. But without you, I wouldn’t have been this motivated.”
Qin Jingzhou gazed at Ling Jing. “Without you, I’d have never discovered how fun it is to do missions or even have the desire to start a family.” He also smiled now, “A long time ago, people used to say I was destined to be single forever, completely oblivious and blockheaded.”
Ling Jing had a realization, “You’ve got the Five Element Spiritual Roots! Back when you were younger, didn’t all sorts of beautiful women try to throw themselves at you, hoping to have a super-talented kid with you?”
Qin Jingzhou nodded with certainty. “Yeah. For a while, I really disliked interacting with people.”
Ling Jing burst out laughing, “So even you had a phase like that.”
Qin Jingzhou pulled Ling Jing into an embrace, tone meaningful. “Mm. Before I started doing tasks, my only ambition was to ascend, to the point that, looking back, I probably was somewhat obsessed.”
“Now you’re discovering there’s so much in this world worth staying for?”
Qin Jingzhou was amused by his girlfriend suddenly snuggling up, “Like you, for example.”
Ling Jing was over the moon with happiness.
The two cuddled for a good while, then headed off hand in hand to check out the cave residence assigned to Ling Jing.
After watching the couple leave, the cultivators finally stood up, various thoughts churning in their minds.
Truth be told, the public “apartments” for talent in the Spiritual Realm—cave residences—were already a sincere gesture, but no matter how sincere, they couldn’t compare to Qin Jingzhou’s floating island.
After finishing the necessary paperwork, Ling Jing moved without hesitation to live with her boyfriend.
As they officially began their life as a couple, even though Qin Jingzhou still had plenty of resources on hand and felt confident about his chances at ascending, he simply refused to leave.
After several years of a world for two, Ling Jing steadily advanced to the Fragmentation stage.
Though they never tired of being together, the two didn’t want to just stay cooped up at home every day.
After some discussion, they set out to travel the Spiritual Realm.
But even though both could fly and travel through time and space, it didn’t mean they wanted to go everywhere on foot.
Qin Jingzhou brought out the very flying boat he’d personally crafted in his youth.
Ling Jing gazed at the flying boat, which looked like the ultimate space fortress—completely at odds with the ethereal beauty of the floating island—and immediately started giggling uncontrollably.
Qin Jingzhou opened the flying boat’s canopy. “Want to go for a spin?”
In a flash, Ling Jing was beside him. “Sure.”
Their travels around the Spiritual Realm were full of joy, while the other sects... wound up in chaos.
As Dao Sovereign, Qin Jingzhou was also the chief inspector. If he passed through the territory of a sect or family and discovered any issues, it was no small matter. And Dao Sovereign’s beloved, Miss Ling, didn’t tolerate nonsense either.
The major sects and clans immediately became cautious, their conduct much more restrained, ushering in a new era of discipline in the Spiritual Realm.
Ling Jing marveled, “Doesn’t Heaven’s Will find it even harder to part with you? With you here, everything is truly well organized.”
Qin Jingzhou smiled, “I’m not that amazing. I’m not the only one maintaining order. The colleagues responsible for the Spiritual Realm’s order are all less sociable than I am... They always travel in disguise.”
This was indeed true.
Ling Jing had met her boyfriend’s colleagues before. They all seemed overwhelmingly powerful, but each of them disliked interacting with others, and, no matter male or female, they were all single. Her boyfriend... well, before long he’d be her Dao partner, and he was the only one in the Daoist ranks with a companion.
Qin Jingzhou went on, “All good things must come to an end. Heaven’s Will understands that better than us. The Spiritual Realm has been around for so long, she’s had several dozen favorites over the years. She may be reluctant to let me go, but she’ll still let me leave... as long as I reach her requirements. The reason I don’t want to leave is because I can’t bear to leave you.”
Ling Jing leaned against Qin Jingzhou’s shoulder. “You make it sound like I’m so extraordinary.”
Qin Jingzhou chuckled, “To me, you are.”
The two traveled with lovesick affection for a whole century, timing it just right to retrieve Xiao Qing and Xiao Xi, who had reincarnated in the Spiritual Realm.
Xiao Qing was now the son of a minor branch from a small cultivation clan, born under the ominous star of misfortune, orphaned at an early age. Xiao Xi, meanwhile, was the illegitimate daughter of a divine transformation-stage cultivator and a mortal woman.
This divine transformation cultivator, rare in his ability to father children, paid little attention to this illegitimate daughter with mediocre talent, leaving her to be raised by her mother. After she went missing, the cultivator assumed she’d died.
Though Xiao Qing’s birth mother was distraught for a time, she soon recovered under the consolations of the other cultivators. After all, she could always have another child.
Qin Jingzhou successfully found both kids and respectfully bowed. “Thank you, Heaven’s Will, for making this possible.” He even spent a bit of his own fortune to completely sever any karmic ties between the kids and their families in this lifetime.
In other words, from then on, the two children had nothing to do with their families from this life.
Thus, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing entered a “new era” as a family of four.
Interstellar worlds all had nanny robots, so a high-level world like the Spiritual Realm was even less likely to lack such conveniences.
Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing never worried about childcare. They could even bring the kids along on their travels across the Spiritual Realm.
Xiao Qing awakened his memories of his past life when he was six.
He spent half a day figuring out what was happening to him, then ran straight to Qin Jingzhou, crying, “Dad! I missed you so much!”
Seeing his son’s tears and snot flowing together, Qin Jingzhou wiped the boy’s face first, then feigned disgust as he picked him up.
Xiao Qing clung tightly around his father’s neck, refusing to let go.
Right at that moment, Ling Jing came out of closed-door cultivation. Xiao Qing, noticing her aura was different, teared up with joy. “Mom, you advanced again?”
Both kids had called Qin Jingzhou “Dad” and Ling Jing “Mom” from the very moment they could speak.
The newly advanced Mahayana Ling Jing replied breezily, “These past years, my state of mind has been great, lots of resources, so if my progress wasn’t like a rocket, I’d feel I was letting down the special treatment your dad gave me.” As she spoke, she walked over and pinched Xiao Qing’s cheeks. “You’re fully awake, huh?”
Xiao Qing revealed his pointy little teeth in a grin. “Mm.”
Ling Jing was ambitious to start with, and now she had a reason to push her cultivation forward even faster: In the Spiritual Realm, if cultivators want to get married—that is, become Dao partners—the two of them can be at most one major realm apart.
In other words, she couldn’t get a marriage certificate with Qin Jingzhou unless she reached the Mahayana stage.
Now that she was qualified, the two headed off to register right away.
Marriage in the Spiritual Realm involved making a vow witnessed by Heaven’s Will. Unlike the mortal world, anyone who broke a vow witnessed by Heaven’s Will... could expect their remains to be nothing but ashes after tribulation.
The vow was simple, just four words: “Never betray each other.”
With the vow finished, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing embraced again... Heaven’s Will overhead, two children behind, so they exercised considerable restraint.
And Heaven’s Will of the Spiritual Realm did indeed favor the two, showering them with a rain of heavenly petals.
Bathed in this floral rain, they felt their minds become exceptionally clear and focused.
With the marriage certificate in hand, Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing discussed their wedding.
Ling Jing had absolutely no interest in throwing a grand banquet. She just wanted to invite Qin Jingzhou’s and her own sect members for a lively, intimate gathering. With a Dao Sovereign of tribulation stage and a newly advanced Mahayana cultivator marrying, there would be no way to keep it quiet. According to Qin Jingzhou, a big event would draw at least a million cultivators coming to offer congratulations…
Ling Jing immediately thought of those tourist attractions back home during the eleven-day holiday. Even after reaching Mahayana, she shuddered at the memory. “No need for that!”
So Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing’s wedding was exactly as she wanted: low-key but warm. With only friends and family, everyone was at ease.
It was at the wedding that Xiao Xi “awakened.”
With her parents doting on each other and ignoring everyone else, she felt a little left out.
At that moment, her older brother suddenly took her hand. “You remembered your past life too?”
Xiao Xi stared wide-eyed. “Huh? Brother, could it be you…?”
Xiao Qing grinned, “We’re just the same, both Dad’s… and Mom’s beloved children.”
Xiao Xi got it instantly. She stared at her brother for a while. “We’ve played father and son, and father and daughter with Dad several times now.”
Xiao Qing nodded.
But just as Qin Jingzhou and Ling Jing were whispering sweet nothings face to face, tribulation clouds abruptly gathered in the sky.
Qin Jingzhou’s expression instantly turned grave.
His wedding to Xiao Ling had put him in a perfectly content state of mind, and his cultivation had long since reached the peak of the tribulation stage—everything was complete in mind and body. There was simply no way to avoid the Heavenly Tribulation now.
He didn’t even have time to comfort his newly wedded wife before he flashed away… Since with his talent and cultivation, he was bound to face the strongest possible tribulation—the Full Cycle Tribulation Ninety-Nine. No matter how much Heaven’s Will favored him, the rules were the rules.
The Full Cycle Tribulation Ninety-Nine… If anyone aside from him got close, even their ashes would be obliterated.
With helplessness and anger, he withstood the tribulation and, amidst the tears of Xiao Ling and their two children and the mixed emotions of friends and family, was instantly transported away.
He was so furious that even when he landed, battered and bruised, in the Immortal Realm, his mind was still ringing.
Just then, his system, which had always hovered outside his sea of consciousness, suddenly appeared before him. The small orb of light spun around several times, stretched as if loosening up, and exclaimed, “Immortal Realm! This is the Immortal Realm!”
Having survived the full tribulation with him, Qin Jingzhou now had a completely new impression and even hope for his gentle, considerate system. “What exactly are you?”
The system turned into a stream of light, landed on Qin Jingzhou's wrist, twisted a few times, and turned into a watch. “Brother Zhou, I am the Gate of Myriad Worlds.”
When the system admitted its identity, Qin Jingzhou also, at last, completely understood the function of the system that had accompanied him for so many years.
As its name implied, the Gate of Myriad Worlds was a portal to any world, provided you had the coordinates and enough energy to open and traverse it.
Qin Jingzhou’s first reaction was, “Wait… can we go back?”
The system chuckled, “I’m almost fully charged. Of course we can.”
Qin Jingzhou barely had time to respond when his surroundings changed at once… and his wife Xiao Ling’s tears were still fresh on her face.
Filled with both delight and heartache, he immediately rushed over and swept his delicate wife into his arms. “I’m back.”
At the wedding, the groom had vanished to ascend mid-ceremony. Ling Jing had never imagined this happening to her!
Fortunately!
Ling Jing didn’t know how her husband could return after ascending in just a few seconds, and not exactly unscathed either! He had several burns from the heavenly tribulation, one so deep she could see the muscle beneath!
So, was her husband’s ascension a success or not?
Swept up in emotion, she couldn’t help but burst into tears. “Husband, your injuries...” What she cared most about was her husband himself.
Qin Jingzhou quickly soothed her, healing his wounds before her eyes and even explaining the true nature of his system.
Ling Jing grabbed his most severely injured arm, watched the wound heal, and then suspiciously said, “It’s really that amazing? Could we really go to the Immortal Realm too?”
Qin Jingzhou signaled to his little companion on his wrist.
The Gate of Myriad Worlds was extremely proud. “Yes, indeed.”
Ling Jing stopped crying.
Xiao Qing and Xiao Xi pounced over as well.
After Qin Jingzhou comforted them all in turn, he explained everything to his concerned and curious friends and family.
Qin Jingzhou’s martial uncle patted him on the shoulder and said concisely, “It’s up to you from now on.”
Qin Jingzhou responded just as simply and directly, “No problem.”
Having returned so quickly after his ascension, the wedding naturally continued.
With his newly awakened Gate of Myriad Worlds, relatives and friends couldn’t help but pepper him with questions, so the event ended up livelier than expected.
Rather than annoyed, Ling Jing was actually delighted: she’d never have to worry about separation by ascension again.
But that brush with separation made her want to snuggle with Qin Jingzhou for days before she gradually calmed down.
Once her wedding leave ended, headquarters sent her a message asking if she wanted to continue doing missions or transfer to a management position if she preferred.
Truthfully, Ling Jing loved doing missions. Experiencing so many different lives always gave her new perspectives and insights. Even though she was now a Mahayana cultivator, she still preferred to be “on the front line.”
She didn’t hide this at all, telling her newly immortal husband Qin Jingzhou exactly how she felt.
Qin Jingzhou laughed, “If I didn’t do missions, we’d never have met.” He put his arm around his wife, and tapped the noses of their son and daughter. “We wouldn’t have these wonderful kids either.”
Ling Jing was delighted. “So I should reply to headquarters then?”
At this moment, the Gate of Myriad Worlds chimed in, “Zhou-ge, traveling between the Immortal Realm and the Spiritual Realm doesn’t use much energy, but if you want to take your whole family, it’s a stretch. If you want to recharge me, just do more missions—revenues from Immortal Realm missions are much higher.”
Not only Xiao Qing and Xiao Xi, even Ling Jing’s eyes lit up.
Qin Jingzhou wrapped his arms tightly around wife and kids. “That’s easy. The four of us will go together.”
Everyone burst into laughter.