On the way, Hei Xiaolian's voice echoed from the Sky Poison Pearl, right by his ear. "Why didn't you just take her down right here? I can tell she loves you, too."
"It's not that easy. If I confessed now, she'd definitely turn me down and try to keep her distance afterward. That'd only make things worse," Yun Wuji replied calmly. "What I did was show her how I feel, without saying it outright. Now she knows I feel the same, and she doesn't have to struggle with it anymore."
"So what, you're just gonna keep playing this vague, ambiguous game? Like some high schoolers in a trashy rom-com?" Hei Xiaolian couldn't make sense of it. Normally, Yun Wuji always had a way to deal with these things. Why was he stuck this time?
"The thing holding Bingyun back is simple, I'm her sister's man," Yun Wuji tilted his head and glanced at Mu Bingyun's beautiful face before replying, "But that's actually the easiest part to deal with."
"Easy?" Hei Xiaolian was stunned. How the hell was that easy? She'd read enough novels to know it usually took the protagonist at least a thousand chapters to take down their sister-in-law.
"Of course it's easy. I don't even need to do anything. I just have to tell Xuanyin, and she'll handle the rest," Yun Wuji chuckled. "Since Bingyun's only concern is her sister's opinion, I'll just have Xuanyin push her straight into my arms."
"Fuck!" Hei Xiaolian was stunned for a moment before she cursed out loud. "You're not even pretending to play fair! But seriously, will Mu Xuanyin actually do that?"
"Xuanyin spoils me the most. As long as I want something, she'll move heaven and earth to give it to me," Yun Wuji replied with a confident grin.
"That... kinda sounds like you're being kept by a rich and powerful woman," Hei Xiaolian gave him a weird look. How could a man say that so proudly?
"Yeah? So what? Mooching off women is a skill," Yun Wuji said without shame.
"..." Hei Xiaolian stared blankly. Now that she thought about it, since when did either of them care about morals? Screw it. Then something hit her. "Wait... isn't this technically manipulation?"
"Manipulation? What the hell are you talking about?" Yun Wuji looked confused. "I'm not forcing Bingyun or messing with her feelings. She loves me, and I love her. How is that manipulation?"
"On the contrary, I'm trying to ease her pain and all the emotional nonsense. If we keep things like this, even if we end up together later, she'll have to suffer through a long period of guilt and hesitation," he said seriously. "I'm doing this for the greater good!"
"…" Hei Xiaolian felt like his words made sense, but something still felt off about them.
"I don't manipulate women I like," Yun Wuji added. The only time he crossed that line was with his first wife, Yuechan, and he had already promised her not to do it again.
"Bullshit! Aren't you doing exactly that with Luo Guxie?" Hei Xiaolian called him out without hesitation. "You've been playing that poor woman like a damn fiddle, and now you have the nerve to say you don't manipulate?"
"That's a special case," Yun Wuji said without batting an eye. "If she wants to use me as an emotional crutch, then I'll gladly do the same. Once I squeeze out her value, I'll just throw her away."
He continued casually, "Right now, I'm giving her a chance. If she can realize her feelings for me, then this bit of pain won't matter in the long run."
"At most, I'll make it up to her later."
He had always been arrogant and prideful. How could he possibly accept being a replacement for someone else? The only reason he played along was that it benefited him. Otherwise, why would he care about a woman who only saw him as a substitute for her dead lover?
Just because he toned down his attitude while visiting the God Realm didn't mean he had changed as a person.
"…Sometimes I feel like you're really cold and cruel," Hei Xiaolian said after a long silence.
"Since when was I not?" Yun Wuji snickered.
...
Yun Wuji spent a few more days with his wives before he left the Blue Pole Star under their reluctant gazes.
This time, three people came with him; the Phoenix, the Golden Crow, and Xia Qingyue.
The Sky Poison Pearl couldn't contain living beings with physical bodies, so the two divine spirits who now had physical forms couldn't stay inside it. As for Xia Qingyue, she came along because she was part of the long-term plan Yun Wuji had discussed with her years ago, and because she was finally going to see her mother again.
Mu Bingyun's reaction was one of surprise when she learned the identities of the two newcomers. Divine spirits who were worshipped as gods by the people of the Flame God Realm… were actually Yun Wuji's women?
But after all the shocks and surprises she'd endured during this trip to the Blue Pole Star, Mu Bingyun had built up a strong immunity. She didn't even flinch.
Using the Dimensional Profound Stone, the group returned to the Snow Song Realm in no time. Mu Bingyun led them straight to the Phoenix Palace and prepared to assign rooms for each of the new women.
But they all politely declined.
She must've been joking.
How could they possibly pass up the chance to live under the same roof as their beloved Yun Wuji?
"..." Mu Bingyun stared at the women with a speechless expression, then shot a glance at Yun Wuji and left without saying a word.
"I'll go to the cultivation room. I'll be back at night. You girls can familiarize yourselves with the palace," Yun Wuji said, settling them in his room before heading out.
"Hmm." They all nodded in reply. The Phoenix and Golden Crow were already used to the place, having followed him for a while. Xia Qingyue, on the other hand, was new to the environment, so the two divine birds took her out for a tour.
Once inside the cultivation room, Yun Wuji found a quiet spot, sat cross-legged, and focused his mind on the vast world within his profound veins.
In that boundless inner space, countless stars sparkled, casting an ethereal light. Among them, four shone more brightly than the rest, each one radiating a unique brilliance. One burned with deep crimson flame, another glowed in dazzling azure, the third pulsed with a mysterious purple light, and the last flickered with abyssal black.
Each of these stars represented his grasp of elemental laws. Just like the Heretic God, he could control, resist, and absorb the powers of these four elements.
This wasn't anything new, he had already done this a hundred chapters ago, cough… I mean, more than two years ago.
The difference this time was the dark star that represented the Law of Darkness.
While the other stars were equal in size and brightness, the dark star was over ten times larger. The darkness it emitted was so dense it looked like it was devouring the light around it, just like a black hole.
After taking the vital yin of the busty Evil Infant, Yun Wuji didn't get any direct boost to his cultivation, her strength had long been weakened, after all.
But his understanding of the Law of Darkness underwent an earth-shattering transformation. It didn't just improve, it jumped multiple levels!
Because in this universe, the true peak of darkness wasn't the Devil Emperor.
It was the Evil Infant!
If the Devil Emperors and Creation Gods stood at the top of this world, then the Evil Infant and the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword were beyond that. They were the ceiling itself, an existence that even gods would have to look up to.
So after fucking the highest existence in the universe, wasn't it only natural for a monster like Yun Wuji to break through the limits of darkness with his terrifying genius?
Right now, if he took some time to comprehend it, creating a technique that rivaled the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, or even surpassed it, wouldn't be a problem.
But Yun Wuji's attention wasn't on the dark star. Instead, it was fixed on a tiny green firefly-like spark hovering beside the other four stars.
Ever since his devil body obtained the Wind Seed, Yun Wuji had started comprehending it. After all, both bodies were him, they shared one consciousness. Whatever his devil body saw or sensed, he did too. He didn't need to transfer it over to his main body. The hand holding the Wind Seed was his hand.
After weeks of focused comprehension, this small green spark had appeared. It was faint, just a tiny flicker, but it already represented his initial grasp of the Wind Law. Once his understanding reached its peak, this firefly-like light would grow into a full-fledged star like the others.
And when that happened, he'd gain the same authority over wind — perfect control, resistance, and absorption, just like with the other four elements.
...
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