Investing in the Reborn Empress, She Actually Calls Me ‘Husband’ Chapter 737: This is What I Call Accumulating Modest Virtues

Yuwen Cuojin kept his discovery of the Marriage Fate Tree Seed a total secret. Acting as if nothing had changed, he quietly made his way toward the Great Shang Imperial Mausoleum.

Through careful preparation, they successfully captured the Cycle of Life and Death Formation. By utilizing its power to manipulate the boundary between life and death, they resurrected a primal Qiongqi beast to serve the Hundred Beasts Hall.

From that point on, everything went flawlessly. Even though the Qingyuan Sect was annihilated, he allowed Situ Ding to take all the credit for the achievement.

With the Seed of the Marriage Fate Dao in his possession, the petty squabbles for status, power, and reputation within the sect felt as insignificant as passing clouds.

Once the seed was fully refined, what desire in this world would remain out of his reach?

Yuwen Cuojin eventually feigned a severe injury as an excuse to sever his own established Dao path. As his cultivation realm plummeted, he stepped down from his role as Vice Sect Master and retreated into the seclusion of the mountains.

The years began to drift by.

The Marriage Fate Tree Seed stayed dormant, showing no signs of life. If not for the fact that a Dao is eternal and cannot truly vanish, Yuwen Cuojin would have assumed it was nothing more than a dead husk.

Initially, those mountains were lonely and desolate. However, as time passed, refugees escaping the fires of war began to settle there, eventually forming a small village.

Perhaps it was due to the monotony of his isolation, or because he had spent so long away from the Demon Sect, but he found himself genuinely enjoying the simple, rustic life of the common folk.

He made his home in the small town, and several more years slipped away.

One day, amidst a soft drizzle and blooming apricot blossoms, the verdant mountains were draped in a thin veil of mist.

While he was drinking, Yuwen Cuojin caught sight of a woman carrying an umbrella as she crossed a bridge. In that instant, a question echoed in his soul: Would you be willing to become a stone bridge, suffering five hundred years of wind and five hundred years of rain, just for the chance of her walking over you once?

Without a moment's pause, he answered:

"I would!"

Upon returning to his residence, he found that the Marriage Fate Tree Seed had finally sprouted a tiny green bud.

A sudden realization struck him: to truly master the Marriage Fate Dao, one must possess a heart of true love.

This discovery filled him with intense joy. He had once believed that destroying his cultivation was a permanent sacrifice that ended his path to the profound, but now, a new light of hope had appeared.

He set out to woo the woman. Unfortunately, having spent his entire existence focused on slaughter and arson, he was completely ignorant regarding the nuances of romance.

Even though she viewed him only as a common friend, those days became the most cherished memories of his long life.

Another three years passed.

Following his usual routine, he brought apricot blossom wine to the bridge where they first met. Unexpectedly, the woman drained the wine in a single gulp and informed him that she was returning to Penglai.

"I hope that if I ever return to this place, I will still find you here," she whispered.

He assumed she viewed him as a mere mortal—that a bird of the sky and a fish of the sea could never truly walk the same path.

It was a misunderstanding, yet the reality wasn't far off.

Once a person joins the Summoning Demon Sect, they are bound to the Demon Sect for life. While the distant Penglai rarely involved itself in the conflicts of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, their hatred for the Summoning Demon Sect was even more fervent than that of the other orthodox sects.

Still, Yuwen Cuojin refused to surrender. He possessed a trump card—the Marriage Fate Dao.

'I only need to reach the Seventh Realm of the Marriage Fate Dao.'

Following the woman’s departure, the growth of the Marriage Fate Tree hit a standstill. However, he managed to derive a new technique from the Dao Seed.

The love felt by others could also fuel its growth.

Yet, upon leaving the town, he realized that genuine love was a rare treasure in the mundane world.

"That couple spends every waking moment together, yet there is no love between them? What a pair of frauds!"

"How can this young girl split her heart into so many pieces? And she gives a piece to a different person every time."

"This man swore to return and marry her after his exams, so how did his love just vanish... wait, it just moved to someone else? How revolting!"

"You two have raised an eight-year-old child together, and yet there is no love?"

Yuwen Cuojin was stunned. How could these mortals be more degenerate than the members of the Demon Sect?

More concerning was the fact that his progress was becoming agonizingly slow.

"A woman of the brothels like this will likely never comprehend the meaning of love..."

One day, while passing a house of pleasure, Yuwen Cuojin sighed and prepared to walk away. But as if guided by an unseen force, he made a discovery.

It appeared he had the power to... bind the marital fate threads of others to himself.

He targeted those whose affections were already wavering.

Through his 'matchmaking,' he could redirect that affection toward himself. Even a fickle courtesan would become fanatically devoted to him once the thread was tied.

And it wasn't limited to women.

He had uncovered a shortcut to mastering the Marriage Fate Dao.

Initially, Yuwen Cuojin only manipulated weak-willed mortals. He eventually moved on to martial artists. The strength of his victims grew until even high-ranking Elders of major provincial sects were completely obsessed with him.

Without realizing it, his shadow power had grown to rival the Summoning Demon Sect itself. He stood on the precipice of the Seventh Realm, serving as the sole object of worship for countless souls.

He saw no flaw in his actions.

Those with hearts of pure gold were rare. He believed he was simply giving those who lacked love a chance to feel it.

However, after reaching the same heights as his previous life, the thrill vanished once more.

Everyone he puppeted loved him, but what did he feel?

Faintly, his mind drifted back to that small town, the stone bridge, and the scent of apricot blossoms in the rain...

He remembered the woman with the umbrella.

In disguise, Yuwen Cuojin traveled to Penglai to ask for her hand. Her immediate acceptance shocked him. He hadn't even found it necessary to employ the power of the Marriage Fate Tree.

Using it would have been pointless anyway. First, her heart was already unshakeable.

Second, the person she had always loved so steadfastly was him.

On their wedding night, amidst the candles and silk, he finally asked the question that haunted him.

"When did you..."

"Back in the small town. It is only a shame we did not reunite there."

As she spoke.

Thud—

A cold blade tore through his chest, chilling his warm blood instantly.

Yuwen Cuojin was gripped by a moment of pure shock, followed by a strange sense of clarity.

It turned out that he, too, had never truly understood what love was.

A man like Zhang Xuan was nearly impossible to kill, unless he harbored a desire to die.

......

The sound of footsteps rang out through the vast, silent underground palace.

"If that woman was truly in love with Senior Yun Lu, why would she murder him with her own hands on their wedding night?"

Situ Ding couldn't restrain his curiosity any longer.

The reason the Marriage Fate Dao had disappeared into history was a topic of great debate within the Summoning Demon Sect. What forbidden truth or dark secret was buried there?

Even Situ Ding was in the dark. Perhaps only the Old Patriarch, the true Cult Master, knew the reality.

Some cult members had dared to ask earlier, since Qin Yuzhi was also a Cult Master, even if she had abdicated.

Because of her status, she likely had a deeper understanding of the event—maybe she had even witnessed the records.

Qin Yuzhi didn't treat the matter as a taboo, sharing the details as easily as pouring water from a jar.

Senior Yun Lu had perished on the night of his marriage, killed by the one he loved most.

"Exactly, if they were so deeply in love, why did it end in tragedy?"

"Senior Yun Lu finally found a sincere heart without using the Marriage Fate Tree. How could he be struck down?"

"I always assumed he had gone into hiding with his wife. I never imagined he died on his wedding day..."

The sudden dark turn of the story left the demon cultists reeling. The confusion in their minds only grew more intense.

"It's because that woman from Penglai was an obsessive sort. It's hard to describe that kind of person...."

Qin Yuzhi paused, searching for the right term. After a moment, her face brightened:

"Right, to use Little Mo's terminology, she was a 'yandere'."

"......"

The cult members exchanged blank stares. So, this story was a secret not because of some grand conspiracy.

But because the truth was so bizarre that any written record would look like a fabrication?

"Wait, this 'Little Mo' you keep mentioning... who is that?"

Situ Ding suddenly asked, catching the name.