Chapter 1272: Heart and Soul

Inside the Star God Realm.

Birdsong and the fragrance of flowers filled the air, and a stream babbled nearby. Cai Zhi sat on a smooth river stone, resting her cheek in her soft palm, her gaze distant and unfocused. Her two tender, pale feet unconsciously splashed the stream water, sending tiny droplets flying.

Just then, her eyes subtly shifted as she saw Yun Che emerge from seemingly nowhere, approaching her at a leisurely pace.

Cai Zhi's star-like eyes swiftly turned to him, her lips unconsciously curving upwards slightly. "You're leaving tomorrow. Why are you here instead of spending time with big sister?"

Yun Che walked over, a mischievous grin on his face. "Of course, I came to see my newlywed wife."

This overly intimate address caused a flicker of panic in Cai Zhi's eyes. She quickly retorted with a scowl, "Who...who is your newlywed wife!" Then, she lowered her head and mumbled very softly, "Stingy!"

"Stingy?" Yun Che's eyes widened. "How am I stingy?"

"How can you even ask that!" Cai Zhi turned her fair, delicate face, pointing at the ring on Yun Che's left hand, indignant. "That ring was left by big brother; it’s my protective charm and the most important thing I possess!" She continued, "I gave you my most important possession, and you only gave me a mere sword in return! And you say you're not stingy, hmph!!"

Yun Che was instantly speechless. Cai Zhi’s thought process… he simply couldn’t keep up.

"That's not a mere sword, it's my—" As soon as he started to speak, he saw Cai Zhi's lips already pursed into a pout, enough to hang a teapot from. Yun Che stopped trying to explain and waved his hand. "Alright, alright. So, what do you want? If I have it, I’ll definitely give it all to you."

"You said it!" Cai Zhi’s star-like eyes lit up, and two small, pristine fangs gleamed between her smiling lips.

Yun Che suddenly had a premonition that he was falling into a trap. He could only brace himself and ask, "So what exactly… do you want?"

Cai Zhi didn't hesitate, declaring sweetly, "You gave big sister so many beautiful dresses, I want them too! And they have to be just as beautiful as hers!"

"That’s all?" Yun Che, who had been bracing himself for a heavy demand, was once again bewildered.

"Yes!" Cai Zhi looked very serious. "You must bring them next time you come! Otherwise… I won’t acknowledge you as my husband."

The last half of her sentence was spoken very softly, and as she spoke, an unprecedented hint of bashfulness flashed across her delicate face. She lowered her head, avoiding Yun Che’s gaze.

That fleeting blush made Yun Che’s eyes linger… "What? What’s going on? Before, she was so aggrieved, almost on the verge of tears, and then she just ran off. How did she suddenly become…" 'Could this little girl have been interested in me from the start? Was she just being tsundere before…' Yun Che couldn't help but touch his face.

After all, Yun Che was a man; he could never fully comprehend a young girl’s thoughts. Jasmine had forced them together, and for Yun Che, it was essentially a formality to fulfill Jasmine's wish, at most a bit awkward—after all, he had gone through far grander and more solemn ceremonies several times already. However, for a young girl experiencing her first stirrings of affection, it would turn her entire world upside down, and her feelings for Yun Che would subtly change as a result.

"Alright, I’ll definitely give them to you, and you won’t have to wait until next time."

With a flat sweep of his left hand in front of him, Yun Che instantly conjured dozens of women’s dresses of various styles before Cai Zhi’s eyes.

"Woah!" Cai Zhi's star-like eyes widened, and a long, delighted gasp escaped her lips.

During the years he spent with Jasmine, one of his greatest joys was buying her all sorts of beautiful dresses. After Jasmine left, every time he saw a dress he thought she would like, it would strike a chord with him, and he would buy it without hesitation. Unbeknownst to him, he had accumulated so many.

After all, his wife Cang Yue was the empress of a nation and controlled half of the Black Moon Merchant Guild. The Yun family was also a prominent household… they had so much money they couldn’t possibly spend it all.

"So… many!" Cai Zhi's eyes sparkled as if with a thousand stars. Every single dress Yun Che had chosen for Jasmine was extraordinary. Some were incredibly opulent, others exquisitely elegant, and because Jasmine had always favored red, more than half of them were red.

Cai Zhi didn't get greedy; instead, she chose a colorful 'Flowing Immortal Dress.' She held the vibrant dress against herself and gracefully spun around. As the skirt swayed, it was as if a rainbow was lightly dancing. Although Cai Zhi was six years younger than Jasmine, their figures were almost identical, so the colorful Flowing Immortal Dress fit Cai Zhi perfectly.

"Hehe, thank you, brother-in-law." After carefully putting away the beautiful colorful Flowing Immortal Dress, her smile was like a young flower adorned with morning dew—inexpressibly delicate and lovely.

'Still just a little girl, after all…' Yun Che thought to himself. After all, Cai Zhi was only nineteen this year, and her apparent age was at most thirteen or fourteen.

Watching her delight over a single dress, Yun Che silently breathed a sigh of relief… Perhaps Cai Zhi's situation wasn't as bad as Jasmine had feared.

Seeing Cai Zhi’s sweet smile, Yun Che’s lips unconsciously curved upwards as well, and he blurted out, "It’s really strange. You were so unwilling just now, as if you’d suffered a great injustice. How did you suddenly change so much?"

Hearing Yun Che’s words, Cai Zhi’s smile vanished, and her lips flattened into a pout. "What good would being unwilling do? I can’t make big sister angry."

She complained mournfully, "I’m still such a small child, yet I have to get married… It’s all your fault!"

"You’re nineteen, how are you still a child?"

"Can’t a nineteen-year-old be a child!" Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Cai Zhi huffed indignantly, "I am!!"

"Alright, alright, you’re a child." Yun Che could see that Cai Zhi seemed sensitive about her age. When he met her two years ago, she claimed to be only thirteen and adamantly denied being seventeen… He wondered why. 'Was it her figure?'

"The reason I started accepting this is because I somewhat understood why big sister did it." Cai Zhi suddenly changed her tone, letting out a sigh that didn’t belong to a young girl. Then she looked at Yun Che and said, "Did big sister say anything strange to you? Like, that there’s an abyss in my heart, or something similar?"

"Uh…" Yun Che was taken aback.

"I knew it." Seeing Yun Che’s reaction, Cai Zhi lightly snorted through her delicate nose, then said wistfully, "Even though I’ve behaved well enough, big sister has always been secretly worried about me. But I’m not as fragile as big sister thinks. As long as she’s alright, I’ll be the happiest person in the world."

"Your big sister truly cares about you, just as you care about her," Yun Che said.

"Hmph, of course!" Cai Zhi tilted her head. "Because big sister is my only relative in this world."

"That was yesterday," Yun Che smiled. "Starting today, I am your husband, which means I’m another one of your relatives. Normally speaking, I should be even closer to you than big sister."

Cai Zhi's breathing visibly hitched for a moment.

"Although the process was a bit strange, the fact is established: you are now my wife (one of them). I will try my best to treat you as well as I treat Jasmine, and I will strive to become strong enough to be worthy of your reliance."

Yun Che spoke very sincerely, and a resolute light gleamed in his eyes.

Cai Zhi's star-like eyes trembled subtly, then her face flushed. She retorted angrily, "What wife? You make me sound so old! How hateful!!" After scolding him, she added very softly, "At most… a junior wife."

"Huh? What did you say?" Yun Che hadn’t heard clearly.

Cai Zhi turned her back, pointing with a small hand. "You’re going to annoy me to death! Go and spend time with big sister, and don’t bother me anymore!"

'This little girl, just now she was laughing, and now she’s suddenly changed her mind…' Yun Che said helplessly, "Alright, alright. But remember what I just said: now that I’ve recognized you, even if you’re the Sirius Star God, don’t think you can escape." Perhaps it was due to Jasmine's wish, or his promise to Jasmine, or his pity for Cai Zhi's past, or for some other reason, but every word Yun Che spoke came from his heart.

Cai Zhi: "…"

Yun Che left, but Cai Zhi remained standing there, lost in thought, her heart in turmoil.

She should have scoffed at Yun Che's earlier words, dismissing them as sweet talk meant to deceive a child… Yet, her heartstrings had been fiercely plucked at that moment, and the words that left her mouth sounded like a childish complaint to someone she was opening up to.

"Hoo…"

She let out a soft sigh, then tried to put on a stern face, muttering to the stream, "He’s such a dangerous person. No wonder big sister likes him. He must have used the same words to fool many girls… I won’t fall for it so easily."

"And he even said he’d let me rely on him… How dare he say such foolish big words…"

"Even big sister said he's a super pervert, so I won't let him succeed!"

She spoke sentence after sentence, but deep within her soul, an insistent thought lingered.

'Were those words he said… true…'

Her jewel-like feet gently touched the cool stream water. She lifted her gaze to the distance, and when her mind finally settled, all that appeared before her were scenes of her time with Yun Che…

He meddled to save her using the Heavenly Wolf Hell God Arts…

He fled in disarray under her barrage of verbal attacks…

The second time he saved her, she, in turn, put him in danger. After he scolded her severely, he still risked his life to rescue her a third time…

He held her tightly in his embrace, his blood dripping onto her cheeks for her sake… yet he never thought of letting her go…

Unconsciously, Cai Zhi’s star-like eyes had become hazy. Without even realizing it herself, the corners of her lips had quietly curved upwards, like a beautiful crescent moon.