Chapter 4048 — Was He Truly Favorable, or Merely Dropping a Hint?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Like Shangguan Lan'er, Ning Xuefei had very few bosom friends, and now that she had heard of Shangguan Lan'er's various misfortunes, she naturally had to come and comfort and care for her as a good friend should; as for the research on the automatic forging mechanism, that would naturally be taken up by her other good friend Han Jingyi.
Shangguan Lan'er had been sunk in gloom ever since her grandfather confined her at home, but now her spirits were at last lifted once more.
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The Central Isle, the Pill Hall.
Of late, two things in the Pill Hall had drawn the most attention: first, the death of Zheng Tianjie; second, the ghost marriage between Tianchan and Zheng Tianjie.
At such a blooming, lovely age, dressed in bridal robes of a thousand charms and ten thousand graces—every dreamy girl had pictured such a scene many times over. Even cultivators infinitely close to transcendent immortals would surely, at such a moment, entertain the selfsame thought: better to envy the mandarin ducks than the immortals.
Yet what if the groom across from her were a cold, lifeless corpse?
Set against Zheng Tianjie's frigid body beside her, the more beautiful and moving Tianchan appeared, the more pitiable she seemed in the eyes of onlookers; even those who had never been close to her could not help but sigh over her fate.
For any other girl, however poor the match, people would at most say that a fresh flower had been planted in a heap of dung; but Tianchan's bridegroom, in the eyes of ordinary folk, was likely not even the equal of a heap of dung.
But these were only the views of others; Tianchan herself was thoroughly satisfied with the arrangement.
For although a ghost marriage to a dead man sounded thoroughly chilling, being Zheng Tianjie's widow brought Tianchan no small advantage: not only would no other tactless person come to pester her, but her standing within the Pill Hall had risen with the tide.
Without so many miscellaneous cultivation tasks, and no longer required to take part in the Pill Hall's routine training, Tianchan's life had in fact become far calmer and more peaceful than before the ghost marriage.
Deep in the core of the Pill Hall there was a most peculiar room, housing a strange patient. As an ordinary disciple, Tianchan could not easily have entered before, but now she came to visit this person whenever she had the time.
"Grandpa Ancestor, how are you feeling today?" Tianchan appeared once more at the doorway of the room and greeted him respectfully, a smile on her face.
A somewhat hoarse voice came swiftly from within: "I am not your Grandpa Ancestor. I have no ties whatsoever to your mortal-world Tian family, and there is no need for you to curry favor with me on purpose. I am a broken man now—no amount of flattery will do you any good! Zheng Dongjue will not heed my words either; if you mean to have me help you dissolve the marriage contract, you had best give up that hope while you can!"
Tianchan smiled faintly and said, "Grandpa Ancestor, no matter what, you are still Chan'er's elder."
"Don't talk to me of elders—I am no elder of yours, and it's hard to say which of us ranks higher in seniority; perhaps you are my elder sister!" the hoarse voice retorted irritably.
Tianchan was stumped for a good while by that remark, and could only smile bitterly. "Very well, Deputy Isle Master Tian. Even if your cultivation has gone awry and every meridian in your body is severed, do not lose heart. So long as you keep faith, there will come a day when you recover." (To be continued…) R527