Chapter 865: The Arrogant Companion-Wedding Son-in-Law

Seeing Ding Huan walk into the great hall, Yan Zhuo's expression grew rather unsightly.

One reason was that Ding Huan was genuinely ugly; another was that Ding Huan had arrived two rounds of tea-serving late, which was absolutely unforgivable.

The guests on both sides of the great hall looked at Ding Huan with somewhat strange gazes.

Ding Huan immediately understood—this had to be Yan Jiuyue's doing again.

That woman must have deliberately told Qi Qi to notify him late, and with Qi Qi having wasted a bit of time at his place on top of that, the result was his late arrival.

When cultivators become like-minded Dao companions, there are two kinds of arrangements.

One is the woman marrying out—this kind of ceremony is elaborate, and going through it step by step would take at least a year or two to complete.

The second is a man marrying in.

This kind of ceremony is extremely simple: the bride's elders, relatives, and congratulatory guests arrive first.

Once everyone is seated, only then is the son-in-law allowed to enter.

After the son-in-law arrives, he must first pay respects to all the guests, relatives, and elders.

Then he serves tea.

Moreover, the son-in-law's arrival has its own rules—it must come after the first round of tea-serving.

The so-called tea-serving is when the host side and guests exchange pleasantries, and then the guests are invited to drink the first cup of Dao tea.

Yan Zhuo is the sect master of Blue Star Sect, and also a Great Dao powerhouse of the Fifth Step.

Today, hosting the grand wedding for his daughter, it was naturally the second kind.

Ding Huan was not only a son-in-law marrying in, but a companion-wedding son-in-law marrying in.

His status was even lower than that of an ordinary son-in-law.

Under such circumstances, Ding Huan not only had to serve tea, but had to serve tea with the highest form of etiquette.

That meant kneeling to Yan Zhuo, and performing the appropriate bows to the remaining guests as required.

But at the very least, it was a single-knee kneel.

Ding Huan only had to look at the current situation inside the sect's great hall to know that at least three rounds of tea-serving had already taken place.

No one in the great hall spoke.

Every gaze was fixed on Ding Huan.

As a companion-wedding son-in-law, Ding Huan held the lowest status in this place.

So what he had to do now was take out the finest Dao tea on him, and then, from top to bottom, respectfully serve tea to every single person.

To express his apology for being late, Ding Huan had to kneel and serve tea to everyone present.

Ding Huan's gaze swept over those present in the great hall.

The strongest cultivation here was only the Fifth Step; the majority were below the Third Step.

Sure enough—whatever your strength, that's the circle you mix in.

Yan Zhuo is the sect master of Blue Star Sect, a Great Dao Fifth Step cultivator, and most of his friends are also at that level.

As if Ding Huan didn't know that as a companion-wedding son-in-law he should have been serving tea to each person in turn, he stepped forward, first gave Yan Zhuo a simple cultivator's bow, and then walked over to Jia Baihe's side.

All the seats here were already taken; there was simply nowhere for him to sit.

According to the ceremonial procedure for a companion-wedding son-in-law, Ding Huan could only take his place standing beside the last seat after serving tea to each person in turn.

The fact that there was no seat for him here was not deliberately aimed at Ding Huan.

Rather, a companion-wedding son-in-law only had the right to stand, not the right to sit.

Everyone stared at Ding Huan in a daze.

Just a single cultivator's bow to Yan Zhuo, and then…

That's it?

Isn't that far too arrogant?

Seeing that Ding Huan had not only failed to kneel and serve tea, but had even given Yan Zhuo only a cultivator's bow—this shocked everyone present.

Numerous gazes converged on Ding Huan, as if looking at

a monster.

How arrogant must one be—a companion-wedding son-in-law—to behave like this?

Yan Zhuo's face turned livid with rage.

Even though Ding Huan was only here as a temporary stand-in to accompany the wedding as Baihe's son-in-law, he still couldn't be this much of a disgrace.

"Who are you? Who let you come here?" Yan Zhuo shouted angrily.

No matter how much face he wanted to give his eldest daughter Yan Jiuyue, he couldn't trash his younger daughter Jia Baihe's face like this.

This fellow had not only trashed his younger daughter Baihe's face, but had trashed his own face as sect master completely clean.

The moment Yan Zhuo asked this question, everyone understood—Yan Zhuo intended to swap out his younger daughter's Dao companion.

Not everyone knew that Jia Baihe's Dao companion was only a temporary stand-in for the companion wedding.

So seeing Yan Zhuo so ready to swap out his goddaughter's Dao companion, some found it hard to believe.

"Ding Xiaotu, Jia Baihe's Dao companion." Ding Huan cupped his fist, his tone neither overbearing nor obsequious.

Yan Zhuo looked toward Jia Baihe, his tone softening considerably: "Baihe, do you know this person? He says he's your Dao companion—is that true or not?"

He was well aware that Ding Huan had been found by his eldest daughter Yan Jiuyue, and was only a temporary stand-in for the companion wedding.

As a father, Yan Zhuo could still understand Yan Jiuyue's feelings.

Ever since he had taken in these two daughters, Yan Jiuyue had always fallen short of Jia Baihe.

And that was with Baihe's mind being somewhat unclear; otherwise, Yan Jiuyue wouldn't even be able to look up to Jia Baihe.

All along, Jia Baihe never needed to speak, nor needed to do anything.

And she could still keep Yan Jiuyue suppressed.

Today was primarily Jiu Yue's wedding; she had her own agenda, so she made Baihe suffer for a day by finding a useless male cultivator to accompany her as a token groom, and he would turn a blind eye.

But this flea was utterly disrespectful.

He could not tolerate this.

So when he asked this question, it was because he intended to help Baihe find a temporary partner to accompany her.

After all, no matter who she found, it could never be her true partner.

As for Ding Huan, he was certain Baihe did not know him.

Because he himself did not know him.

Jia Baihe looked up at Ding Huan, her excitement flashing briefly before returning to that vacant expression:

"He… Xiaotu… is my partner…" Jia Baihe gazed blankly at Ding Huan; though her words were halting, everyone

heard them clearly.

Ding Huan was just considering whether to whisper to Jia Baihe.

Because he knew that once he whispered to her, the consequences would be unpredictable.

Mainly because of Jia Baihe's reaction.

There were no weaklings here; if someone like Yan Zhuo saw Jia Baihe's reaction, he would surely grow suspicious.

Now that he heard Jia Baihe's words, Ding Huan was overjoyed and immediately abandoned the idea of whispering.

Ding Huan was indeed Jia Baihe's partner—Jia Baihe had confessed it aloud.

Even Yan Jiu Yue stared at Jia Baihe in stunned disbelief.

This Ding Xiaotu was merely someone she had dragged in to humiliate Jia Baihe.

Besides humiliating Jia Baihe, she also intended to seize her Dao body.

She was still unsure what kind of Dao body Jia Baihe possessed, but she was certain it was an extremely rare Celestial Dao body.

Yet why would Jia Baihe acknowledge Ding Xiaotu as her partner?

Remember, since the day she met Jia Baihe, Jia Baihe had always been so dazed and absent-minded.

But no matter how dazed and absent-minded she was, she never compromised on her bottom line.

And because of this, she rarely gained any advantage over Jia Baihe.

In cultivation level, Jia Baihe was stronger than her.

In Yan Zhuo's attitude toward them, it was nearly identical, even slightly favoring Jia Baihe.

Letting this Ding Xiaotu become Jia Baihe's partner should have been her bottom line.

She had not seen Jia Baihe make a scene or be humiliated—instead, she had acknowledged him.

Yan Zhuo was also stunned.

Yan Jiu Yue had tried to help Jia Baihe find a partner, and Jia Baihe had refused.

He understood his adopted daughter: even with her Primordial Spirit damaged and her mind clouded, she never compromised on matters of principle.

To ensure Jiu Yue's perfect wedding, he had spoken privately with Jia Baihe earlier, telling her that all of this was fake.

After Jiu Yue's wedding, she could return to doing whatever she wished.

So why, now that he was about to oppose it, was Baihe agreeing?

What was going on?

Ding Huan stood beside Jia Baihe; the fleeting glance in her corner of the eye, the subtle fluctuations of Dao rhythm emanating from her,

and her words acknowledging him as her partner—all told Ding Huan that even if Jia Baihe's Primordial Spirit was injured, she had not lost her memory.

Moreover, Jia Baihe had always been fully aware of her situation.

This relieved Ding Huan.

No wonder Yan Jiu Yue had always been jealous of Jia Baihe but could never get the better of her.

Jia Baihe had lived two lives and experienced far too much to be a delicate flower kept in a greenhouse.

Upon hearing Jia Baihe's words, Yan Zhuo could only reluctantly accept Ding Huan's current status.

He rose, raising his wine cup: "Today, my eldest daughter Yan Jiu Yue marries Xi Changmei; my younger daughter Jia Baihe and Ding Xiaotu accompany them as groom and bride; my disciples Yan Xunlan and Fan Yikong also accompany them…"

"I wish these three couples to ascend further along the Dao, forever bound in unity."

With that, Yan Zhuo drained his cup.

All guests raised their cups and drained them.

After Yan Zhuo sat down, an elder rose and said: "Now, please let the three newlywed couples step forward to receive everyone's blessings."

In the center of the hall, a golden archway appeared.

In the Cultivation World, this gate is also called the Shackles Gate.

It carries symbolic meaning: stepping beyond the shackles of the Dao.

To become partners, one does not walk beneath this Shackles Gate, but above it.

Yan Jiu Yue first walked from the right side to the top of the archway, while a handsome man rose from the left and ascended to the top of the arch.

The two met atop the Shackles Gate, hands clasped tightly—truly like celestial lovers.

Ding Huan's gaze settled on Yan Jiu Yue's partner, Xi Changmei.

Xi Changmei had long hair flowing over his shoulders, sharply defined facial contours, bright eyes, and an extremely handsome appearance.

Standing atop the Shackles Gate, his supreme elegance drew the eyes of many women.

Ding Huan was certain he had never seen this man before, yet he felt an unsettling familiarity.

Moreover, Xi Changmei was certainly young.

He could sense the subtle shifts in Xi Changmei's Dao rhythm—his age could not be much greater than his own.

Yet Xi Changmei's cultivation level appeared slightly stronger than Ding Huan's current display: Sixth Turn Saint…

Something was off. Ding Huan's divine sense landed directly on Xi Changmei's body, and he sensed the fluctuations of laws around her.

This one, like him, had also concealed her cultivation.

The other's cultivation was even stronger than his.

This was at least a Derivation Realm powerhouse.

A Derivation Realm powerhouse this young, coming to form a dao companion bond with that straw-bag woman Yan Jiuyue?

How could he not find it so hard to believe?

Because Ding Huan and Ga Baihe, and Yan Xunlan and Fan Yikong, were two pairs of accompanying wedding dao companions.

They too had to walk up from the left and right sides of the Shackles Gate, then stand on either side of Yan Jiuyue and her dao companion Xi Changmei.

Ding Huan reached out and grabbed Ga Baihe's hand, and also walked toward the Shackles Gate.

Yan Zhuo frowned slightly.

He knew his daughter Ga Baihe's temperament well enough.

Moreover, he was also certain that Baihe had never met Ding Xiaotu before.

Earlier, Baihe saying Ding Xiaotu was her dao companion was already strange; now, without the slightest resistance, holding hands with Ding Xiaotu and walking up the Shackles Gate — that was even more bizarre.