Chapter 2: Mysterious Seed

Jiang Fan teased with a smile, "Did I ever say I was mute?"

Xu Youran's mind was a mess. Stunned, she stammered, "You... you were pretending to be mute? Why?"

Jiang Fan stood with his hands behind his back, silently gazing at the sky outside the window.

A moment later, from the clear sky, two thunderous claps echoed one after another, startling everyone in the Xu manor. They rushed out to look.

Xu Youran trembled at the sudden thunder. She murmured, "How can there be thunder out of nowhere, just like three years ago?"

Jiang Fan remained expressionless.

This was why he pretended to be mute.

Inside him was a mysterious seed. Every time he spoke, a trace of the seed's aura would leak out, attracting roaring thunder from the heavens.

His father had warned him from a young age not to speak.

For eighteen years, he had meticulously followed his father's instructions, except for the night his father passed away.

That night, lightning flashed and thunder roared, ceaselessly, throughout the night.

Seeing a hint of sadness in his expression, Xu Youran assumed he had an unspeakable secret. She gently said, "Alright, alright, I won't ask any more."

"Pack your things and leave quickly. If Aunt Wang finds out you've been pretending to be mute, she'll get suspicious again."

Jiang Fan turned around, gently took her soft hand, and said:

"I'm not leaving. I'm staying to marry you and protect you from now on."

Xu Youran's beautiful face instantly flushed crimson. The words "protect you" echoed in her ears, and her heart began to beat uncontrollably faster.

She nervously pulled her hand away and lightly chided, "Don't talk big! Your spiritual root isn't even as good as mine!"

Jiang Fan smiled without speaking.

His father had told him the truth about the seed before he died.

It was a divine object holding immense potential, requiring eighteen years to sprout.

Once it sprouted, the host would undergo a complete transformation.

Today was the last day of those eighteen years.

With the first ray of dawn tomorrow, Jiang Fan would be reborn from the ashes!

At that time, there would no longer be a mute Jiang Fan in the world, nor a useless Jiang Fan!

He quietly looked at Xu Youran and said confidently, "Trust me."

Meeting Jiang Fan's calm and resolute gaze, a warm current flowed into Xu Youran's heart.

Since her mother's death, it was the first time anyone had said they would protect her.

After a long moment of thought, she once again pressed the money pouch into Jiang Fan's hand.

Jiang Fan frowned slightly. She still didn't believe him.

It was understandable; he was still mute, still a mortal without a spiritual root.

But when the seed sprouts tomorrow...

Xu Youran looked at him, her cheeks flushed with a hint of shyness, and softly said, "Take this as the betrothal gift to marry me."

Boom—

It wasn't thunder flashing in the sky.

It was in Jiang Fan's heart.

He had never imagined that one day, a girl would offer her life's savings for him to use as a betrothal gift to marry her.

An indescribable emotion wrapped around Jiang Fan's heart.

It filled him with an impulse to hold Xu Youran tightly and protect her fiercely.

"Why are you just standing there?"

Xu Youran reached out a small hand, gently straightened his clothes, and said tenderly, "Uncle Jiang lived a simple life and didn't leave you any gold or silver. I hope these savings can help you."

She herself lived a difficult life, yet her thoughts were still for Jiang Fan.

Jiang Fan could no longer hold back. He pulled her slender waist, drawing her into his embrace.

He spoke again, his voice gentle, "Perhaps the way we're coming together is an accident, but the outcome is definitely right."

The best marriages are simply about finding the right person.

Perhaps Jiang Fan had indeed found the most suitable person.

Xu Youran's face flushed crimson with embarrassment, like a persimmon in late autumn. Her mind went blank, and her body stiffened, unable to move, allowing Jiang Fan to hold her.

It was a long time before she reacted, frantically breaking free. She stammered, "I... I'm going to measure clothes..."

Watching her flee, Jiang Fan placed the money pouch back on the table and smiled. "How can I marry my wife so shabbily?"

"Youran, I will marry you splendidly."

Boom! Boom!—

Two heavenly thunderclaps exploded in succession.

Jiang Fan glared fiercely at the sky and snorted, "Strike, strike! After tonight, you'll never get another chance!"

In the backyard, in Wang Yingfeng's bedroom.

"Aunt, how could you marry Cousin Youran to Jiang Fan, that good-for-nothing?"

Lu Zheng, who had also lived in the Xu manor for ten years, knelt before Wang Yingfeng, his face etched with anxiety. "Please retract your order and marry Cousin to me!"

Lu Zheng was Wang Yingfeng's nephew, clever and intelligent, and a genius with a third-grade spiritual root.

Therefore, Wang Yingfeng had brought him to the Xu manor to cultivate him from a young age.

He had indeed lived up to expectations, achieving the fifth level of Qi Refinement at only twenty years old, which greatly boosted Wang Yingfeng's prestige among her family.

The only thing that gave Wang Yingfeng a headache was that Lu Zheng was very fond of Xu Youran and had always regarded her as his woman.

To prevent him from causing trouble, she had specifically sent him away today to collect a debt from out of town.

Unexpectedly, the news still leaked, and he rushed back on horseback.

"Zheng'er, Youran marrying Jiang Fan concerns the future of the Xu family. Your aunt can indulge you in other matters, but not this one. You mustn't act recklessly."

To completely suppress Xu Youran, Wang Yingfeng was determined to tie her to Jiang Fan, that good-for-nothing, and ruin her for life.

However, seeing Lu Zheng's distraught and indignant expression, she eventually softened and said meaningfully:

"Your aunt just won't allow you to interfere with their marriage. She didn't say you couldn't make a move after they're married, did she?"

"If Jiang Fan accidentally dies, you can still marry Youran then. If Xu Youran became a widow, those prominent families and powerful individuals would similarly not accept her. Who would marry a widow? Wouldn't it be disgraceful?"

"I understand, thank you, Aunt!" Lu Zheng's eyes lit up, and he beamed with happiness.

He then handed her a packet of pastries he had brought. "Aunt, these are specialty pastries from Emerald Willow City, 'Snowflake Cream' — your favorite. I specifically brought them back for you."

Wang Yingfeng gently scolded, "You! Instead of focusing on cultivation, you specialize in tricks to please people."

Though she said that, the smile on her face couldn't hide her inner delight.

"Pleasing my aunt is my duty as your nephew. I'll go back now and help Jiang Fan arrange the wedding so they can marry quickly," Lu Zheng said with a grin.

"Go then. Don't forget to wake up early tomorrow. Your aunt will accompany you to the testing tower to re-evaluate your spiritual root level," Wang Yingfeng said with a soft smile.

"Yes!" Lu Zheng bowed, then left with a wide smile.

But the moment he left Wang Yingfeng's room, the smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by a sinister malice.

"Marry something Jiang Fan has used? That old woman must be crazy to come up with that idea!"

"I, Lu Zheng, will only take the best!"

"After the re-evaluation tomorrow, if a higher spiritual root is detected, I will definitely snatch Xu Youran back in front of everyone in the Xu family!"

The next day, early morning.

In a simple room in the west wing of the Xu manor.

Jiang Fan paced back and forth in the room, occasionally glancing at the sky outside the window, his eyes bloodshot.

"Why isn't the sun out yet?" Jiang Fan's heart was restless.

He had waited eighteen years for this day.

He had thought himself composed, immune to external emotional fluctuations, and capable of calmly facing the seed's sprouting.

But now that the day had arrived, he hadn't slept all night, his heart filled with apprehension.

"Father didn't lie to me, did he?"

"Is this seed truly miraculous?"

"Can it really transform me completely?"

Countless thoughts swirled, making Jiang Fan involuntarily take a deep, nervous breath.

Suddenly, in his peripheral vision, a dazzling ray of light pierced through the clouds and shot into the room.

At almost the same instant, Jiang Fan subconsciously heard a cracking sound.

Like a hard shell breaking open.

The seed had sprouted!

The moment of rebirth after eighteen years of waiting had arrived!