The Far-Reaching Continent!
Golden Sun Pavilion in the Eastern Reaches!
The mountain peak floated like a lone island above a rolling sea of pale gold clouds.
Sunlight poured down in gentle rays as immortal birds cried somewhere deeper in the mist.
One might have thought this was paradise.
Li Qingmu knew better.
He sat in the little courtyard Zhen Guang had so kindly gifted him… meaning the Patriarch personally shoved him into the furthest, smallest, quietest corner of the mountain where no "respectable cultivator" would ever accidentally lay eyes on him.
It was… peaceful.
It was also where cultivators sent weak chickens to die quietly so the family name wouldn't be embarrassed.
Li Qingmu rubbed his tired face with both hands.
"Three days…"
The back of his neck was covered in cold sweat.
"Three days as an in-law and I already want to jump off this mountain."
His shoulders slumped. It wasn't even his fault.
In this world of immortals, a person without backing wasn't a person—they were scenery, decoration, or something to throw away during a political negotiation.
His parents were proof of that.
Qi Condensation cultivators with no spirit stones who were choked to death under divine taxation.
His entire village was erased just because they lived in the wrong corner of the Western Expanse.
The Heavenly Governor in charge didn't give them cultivation resources or any kind of protection… but he certainly gave them tax collectors.
By the time celestial guards built a gleaming new city on his village's corpses, Li Qingmu had already escaped to the Imperial Academy where he scrubbed toilets for low-grade spirit stones just to buy textbooks.
And even after all that?
He was still stuck at Sea Opening Realm.
At that realm, you weren't even fit to wash a talented cultivator's feet.
He groaned.
"My life… what is this…"
Only a few months ago, he received a job offer from a respectable upper-class sect.
Mid-grade spirit stones! A stable position! Respect!
Then Zhen Guang appeared.
"Agree or die politely without making the floor dirty."
How could he say no to a Heavenly Governor?
So here he was.
Married to the Patriarch's daughter.
A woman whose chest hair could knit winter cloaks.
A woman whose private area smelled like fish.
Li Qingmu shuddered violently.
He still had nightmares.
The only excuse he managed was a desperate lie.
"My… my genitals are infected… I need a week…"
And now? There were four days left.
He curled forward, head in hands.
"I have to sleep with her in four days… I really… I really don't want to die…"
He sniffed, then forced a shaky smile.
"At least she lives higher up on the mountain, so she sends servants instead of coming herself…"
That was the single blessing the heavens had offered him this year.
Well, apart from this mysterious System.
He took a long breath, then opened his System panel with trembling hands.
[Family Development System]
[Host: Li Qingmu]
[Age: 19]
[Status: Newlywed Husband (Forced)]
[Cultivation: 8th level of Sea Opening Realm]
[Official Rank: None]
[Heavenly Luck: 0]
❖ Current Wife(s):
‣ Zhen Rou (Main Wife) [Active]
❖ Children:
‣ N/A
[Clan Rating: F-]
[Ancestral Land: None]
[Territory: None]
❖ Available Functions:
‣ Wife Transformation Technique
‣ Child Aptitude Generator
‣ Clan Territory Expansion (Locked)
‣ Ancestral Hall (Locked)
‣ Family Treasury (Locked)
‣ Lineage Bloodline Fusion (Locked)
Then a large notification hovered before him.
❖ Mission: Peach Blossom Pill (Stage 1–5)
‣ Refine all 5 stages of the Peach Blossom Pill.
‣ Each stage will transform Zhen Rou's appearance into a world-stunning beauty.
‣ Dual Cultivation benefits will increase hundredfold.
‣ You will be blessed with children of higher grades.
He stroked his chin.
"So all I have to do… is create pills so powerful they can beautify someone like that?"
He slumped.
"I don't have ingredients… money… or talent…"
He was about to close the panel when it rang again.
[Suggestion! Sleep with Zhen Rou Tonight]
‣ Reward: Stage 1 Peach Blossom Pill
Li Qingmu didn't have to think about it.
"NO!!!"
His shout shook his courtyard.
"DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE—!?"
Then another notification came.
This one shined like the light of a greedy immortal.
[Rewards await you if you impregnate Zhen Rou!]
‣ Five-year supply of Spirit Rice
‣ Small Farmland
‣ Assured breakthrough to Qi Condensation Realm
Li Qingmu froze up instantly.
Then slowly and carefully he calculated the price of spirit rice with his fingers.
Then the price of farmland.
Then the value of Qi Condensation Realm.
He stood up.
"I accept."
It was the bravest thing he had ever done.
For the rest of the day, Li Qingmu exercised like a man preparing for war.
Push-ups.
Breathing exercises.
Stretching.
Praying to nineteen different gods.
He tried reading Zhen Rou's status screen too.
[Target: Zhen Rou]
[Race: Human (Dormant Peach Blossom Bloodline)]
[Appearance Score: 1 / 100]
[Figure Score: 0 / 100]
[Temperament: 5 / 100]
[Affection Level: 4 / 100]
[Cultivation: 6th level of Qi Condensation Realm]
❖ Daily Affection Mission:
‣ Greet Wife with Sincerity → +1 Affection
‣ Share a Meal Together → +2 Affection
‣ Make Wife Happy → +5 Affection
‣ Sleep with Wife → +20 Affection
Warning: Overweight, Inferior Physique, Poor Hygiene
System recommends patient treatment.
"Poor woman…"
He muttered, genuinely pitying her.
"She's as miserable as I am…"
The wind trembled.
A bald Outer Sect member walked into his courtyard.
He didn't wear sect robes. He wasn't allowed to.
Neither was Li Qingmu, despite being the Patriarch's son-in-law.
The bald man bowed stiffly.
"Son-in-Law Li, Lady Zhen Rou is hungry."
He unrolled a scroll.
His face didn't change, but his eyes held the pain of a man who had read this list twenty times before.
"Tonight she requests… Cloud-Slaughtered Ox steamed with gingko sun-fruits… Glazed Heavenly Prawns dipped in jade vinegar… Sixteen bowls of Ironbone Rice… and one platter of Spirit Boar Drumsticks, extra crispy."
Li Qingmu exhaled softly.
"Understood."
The bald man took out a jade slip and pressed it.
A ripple of light wrapped around them.
It transported them higher up the mountain.
---
Hours passed in a blur of chopping, steaming, frying, praying, and desperately hoping he wouldn't mess up the seasoning and make her angry.
The dishes were taken away one by one.
All that would be fed to her like she was bedridden.
Now he stood alone in the kitchen as he clutched a wine jug so tightly it cracked.
It was time.
No more stalling.
Li Qingmu swallowed six jugs.
Then swallowed his pride with the seventh.
He stumbled toward her chambers.
When he reached her door he froze up.
She was snoring. But lightly.
"Ahh, she hasn't slept yet."
If she were truly asleep, the entire mountain peak would be trembling.
He stepped inside.
The room was a disaster.
Plates, bones, chicken legs, sauce stains.
It was like a slaughter ground for delicious food.
Li Qingmu swallowed again.
"Zhen Rou…?"
No answer.
He tried again, louder.
"Zhen Rou?"
Still nothing.
He circled around the bed.
She took up the entire thing.
Her belly rose like a sacred mountain.
Her legs were sprawled like a drunken titan.
He steeled himself, reached out, and poked her foot.
It was crusty and covered in warts.
She snorted like an angry boar.
"WHAAAT?! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!!"
Li Qingmu prayed silently.
He grabbed his crotch and forced the words out before courage abandoned him.
"Wife… I… I would like to sleep with you tonight."
Zhen Rou's eyes snapped open.
A slow, terrifying smile spread across her face as her teeth glistened from oil and sauce.
She seized him by the waist with one hand and yanked him onto the bed like he weighed as much as a pillow.
"Oh? Husband…"
Her voice purred like a demon boar.
"By the time I'm done with you… huuuu, you won't walk for days."
She grinned closer.
Li Qingmu screamed internally.
There was no escape.