The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

After saying this, Luo Qinghe turned and left. Her skirt fluttered in the night breeze as she disappeared outside the courtyard gate.

Shen Yifei stood at the door, watching her back, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

"Little one, you've been rejected." Liu Mengli emerged from the cauldron. "She said she married you for cultivation, not for you as a person. Don't overthink it."

"I didn't think much of it." Shen Yifei closed the door, went back inside and lay down. "I just felt that this woman's words were fucking hurtful."

"So what if you hurt people? You're not losing anything anyway. You've gained a holy maiden as a wife for free. From now on, you can walk all over the Qingyun Sect with impunity. Who would dare to mess with you?"

Shen Yifei thought about it and agreed.

He rolled over, his mind starting to plan for the days to come.

He's getting married on the eighth of next month, which is about twenty days away. In these twenty days, he needs to take care of what he has to do. He needs to refine the pills that need refining, collect the spirit stones that need collecting, and he also needs to appease the female cultivators he has harmed, so they don't cause trouble.

"Liu Mengli".

"Um?"

"Do you think those female cultivators will cause trouble because I married Luo Qinghe?"

"What's all the fuss about? They're not your wives, so who you marry is none of their business." Liu Mengli took a bite of a spirit fruit. "But you have to be careful. Women are more terrifying than monsters when they get jealous. If you marry Luo Qinghe, they'll definitely be unhappy. If any of them get upset and go to Luo Qinghe to talk bad about you, you'll be in big trouble."

Shen Yifei thought she made sense.

He took action early the next morning.

First, there's Zhou Yuntong. She was the first female cultivator he practiced dual cultivation with after coming to the Qingyun Sect, and she's also Luo Qinghe's junior sister. They're the closest to each other, so he needs to appease her first.

He took a bottle of top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills to Zhou Yuntong's courtyard.

Zhou Yuntong was practicing her sword in the courtyard. When she saw him coming, she put away her sword, wiped her sweat, and showed no expression on her face.

"Junior Brother Shen, what brings you here?"

"I came to see you." Shen Yifei handed over the jade bottle. "This is for you."

Zhou Yuntong took it, opened the bottle, and her eyes widened: "A top-grade Foundation Establishment Pill? This... this is too precious."

"It's not valuable, I refined it myself, it's worthless." Shen Yifei sat down at the stone table. "Senior Sister Zhou, there's something I want to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to marry Saintess Luo on the eighth day of next month."

Zhou Yuntong's hand trembled, and the jade bottle almost fell to the ground. She steadied herself, put the stopper back in, and placed the jade bottle on the table.

"Oh, congratulations."

The voice was calm, but Shen Yifei could detect a hint of sourness in it.

"Senior Sister Zhou, my marriage to Saintess Luo is the sect leader's wish. I have no choice."

"I know." Zhou Yuntong sat down, placing her hands on her knees. "Senior Sister Luo is a Holy Maiden, and the Sect Master is her father. Who she marries is up to the Sect Master. What can you, an outsider, do?"

Shen Yifei understood the meaning behind her words; she was trying to give him a way out.

"Senior Sister Zhou, I'm glad you understand."

"I understand." Zhou Yuntong stood up. "You should go back now; I still need to practice my sword."

Shen Yifei stood up, walked to the door, and glanced back at her. Zhou Yuntong had already picked up her sword, her back to him, the tip of the sword drawing circles on the ground.

He sighed and left.

Next up was Fang Qing. This girl was easier to deal with than Zhou Yuntong. She cried for a while, cursed him a few times as a "heartless man" and "ungrateful," and then accepted two top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills from him, turning her tears into laughter.

"Senior Brother Shen, will you come to see me again in the future?"

"Yes, definitely."

"If you marry Senior Sister Luo, will you still be able to cultivate with me?"

Shen Yifei thought for a moment: "This... depends on what Saintess Luo thinks."

Fang Qing pouted: "She definitely won't allow it. She's incredibly domineering."

Then came the other female cultivators, one by one, each one comforted. A large quantity of pills were given out, and a considerable amount of spirit stones were spent, but the effect was quite good.

Of the twenty-odd female cultivators, not one caused trouble. Some accepted the pills, congratulating him with smiles; others cursed him a few times before accepting the pills. A few even hugged him and cried, before accepting the pills as well.

After giving away so many top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, Shen Yifei was in agony. He had given away over a dozen top-grade Qi Gathering Pills and dozens more. If he were to sell these, they could easily fetch twenty or thirty thousand spirit stones.

"Feeling sorry for him?" Liu Mengli gloated as she saw his pained expression.

"How can I not feel bad? This is all my hard-earned money."

"Hard-earned money? You can make that with a flick of your finger, what kind of hard-earned money is that?"

"That still hurts."

Liu Mengli scoffed and ignored him.

Days passed by, and before we knew it, it was the seventh day of the following month, the day before the wedding.

Shen Yifei was checking the contents of the ring in the courtyard when he suddenly heard footsteps outside the gate.

He stood up, walked to the courtyard gate, looked outside, and froze.

Elder Gu stood at the front, followed by Qin Wan, Sun Yiran, and a woman he didn't recognize. She was around thirty years old, wearing a long purple dress with a gold belt around her waist. She had a noble air about her and was no less beautiful than Luo Qinghe.

"Elder Gu? What brings you here?" Shen Yifei quickly opened the door.

Elder Gu looked him up and down: "You brat, you're getting married and you didn't even tell the sect? If it weren't for the invitation from the Qingyun Sect, we'd still be in the dark."

Shen Yifei cursed Xie Lechen in his heart. That old bastard had sent out the invitations without even telling him.

"Elder Gu, I haven't had a chance to say it yet."

"Didn't have time?" Elder Gu sneered. "I think you just didn't want to say it at all."

Qin Wan peeked out from behind Elder Gu, winked at him, and smiled. Sun Yiran stood to the side, expressionless, her emotions unreadable.

The woman walked up to him and looked him up and down.

"You're Shen Yifei?"

"It's me, and you are...?"

"The Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect, Su Wuwang."

Shen Yifei was startled. The sect leader himself had come? He was just a minor character in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, and his wedding had actually alarmed the sect leader?

"Sect Master, your presence is an honor to welcome us. We have failed to greet you properly." He quickly bowed.

Su Wuwang waved his hand, walked into the courtyard, looked around, and nodded: "The environment is nice. Qingyun Sect has not treated you badly."

Elder Gu followed them in, and Qin Wan and Sun Yiran also entered. The group sat down at the stone table, and Shen Yifei quickly poured tea.

"Shen Yifei," Su Wuwang picked up his teacup and took a sip, "I know everything you've done during your month at Qingyun Sect."

Shen Yifei's heart tightened: "Sect Master, I..."

"You don't need to explain." Su Wuwang put down his teacup. "I won't pursue your dual cultivation with the female cultivator from the Qingyun Sect. But I need to clarify your marriage to Luo Qinghe. You're from the Hehuan Sect; after marriage, which side do you belong to?"

Shen Yifei recounted the terms he had agreed upon with Xie Liaochen: to live for half the year at Qingyun Sect and half the year at Hehuan Sect, traveling between the two.

After listening, Su Wuwang nodded: "Okay, this condition is acceptable. But there's one condition: while you're in the Hehuan Sect, you must listen to the sect. You can't get arrogant just because you married the Holy Maiden."

"That's natural."

Su Wuwang glanced at him again: "The medicinal scent on you is much stronger than when we were at the Hehuan Sect."

Shen Yifei was taken aback: "The sect leader can smell it?"

Su Wuwang stood up. "I'm a woman too. And let me tell you, if I had known you had this ability earlier, there wouldn't have been any need for the Qingyun Sect!"

Su Wuwang walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder: "Do a good job, don't embarrass the Hehuan Sect."