Chapter 234: 233: Unbearable Suffering

There is a phrase—what was it—"to rest one's feet and sleep." Si Tu Jin today fully grasped its meaning, and she also understood many other things, not just this one phrase.

Besides that phrase, there were some others… never mind, it's not important.

In short, Si Tu Jin spent the whole following day in an extremely elated mood; whenever she recalled the new knowledge learned yesterday, her body would involuntarily tremble with excitement.

Of course, Wang Wu didn't really understand her excitement, thinking the woman was making a mountain out of a molehill.

But it doesn't matter; as long as she's happy.

If this were a trap, or some sort of teasing by Si Tu Jin toward him, one can only say that Si Tu Jin's stake is indeed huge—she poured everything she had into it.

Given that, having made such a great sacrifice, Wang Wu doesn't mind. Whether it's a trap or something else, he no longer cares.

"So, what is our relationship now?"

On the third day, Si Tu Jin walked hand‑in‑hand with Wang Wu down the street; she turned her head toward him, smiling brightly, and asked him.

"Stop talking and keep eating." Wang Wu handed the bag of snacks to her, silencing her.

Just like last night, except the food yesterday and today, of course, wasn't the same.

"Do you like me?"

But Si Tu Jin's mouth clearly wasn't easy to shut; she quickly finished the snacks in the bag, then looked at Wang Wu again, persistently pressing the question.

"What are you talking about?" Wang Wu frowned. "Like or not like—what on earth are you saying?"

"So to you, I'm just a plaything?" Si Tu Jin paused, quietly gazing at Wang Wu, a deadened look in her eyes.

"Your tricks no longer work on me." Facing Si Tu Jin's current drama mode, Wang Wu—who already understood her deeply—remained unmoved, saying to her with a blank expression:

"If you have nothing to do, you could get a part‑time job or do something else; at worst you can go back to Heaven Fragrance Tower and wait for me to return. Stop messing around here with all this nonsense."

"How crude—do you really treat your woman like that?" Si Tu Jin's expression shifted instantly; I have to say, her face‑changing speed was faster than flipping a book—she's a marvel.

Wang Wu rolled his eyes, saying nothing.

The two strolled hand‑in‑hand down the street; occasionally Si Tu Jin would launch into another drama episode, but most of the time Wang Wu didn't join her performance, merely watching coldly.

Of course, there were times Wang Wu would go along, but only on very rare occasions.

Nevertheless, that already satisfied Si Tu Jin a lot.

"Here, take this."

Passing a street stall, Wang Wu stopped and bought a cheap bracelet from the vendor. Come to think of it, Wang Wu often buys things for the girls at home at street stalls, though he has also visited the upscale shops.

But the family girls hardly care whether the items came from a street stall or elsewhere; as long as Wang Wu gives them, they're delighted.

Si Tu Jin is a noble lady of the Southern Province; logically she would disdain such street‑stall goods, and indeed that is the case.

"You think you can fool a woman with cheap street‑stall stuff? How stingy."

Si Tu Jin slipped the bracelet onto her wrist; the smile in her eyes couldn't be hidden, though her words said the opposite.

"Then give it back to me; I won't give it."

"I don't want it." Si Tu Jin said as she lifted her hand, letting the sunlight shine on the bracelet on her wrist, turning it over and over.

It truly is a treasured, very pretty thing.

As for its condition or polish, Si Tu Jin doesn't care at all. She's never been the type to care about such things.

As a noblewoman, Si Tu Jin can't say she has no taste for luxury goods, but she essentially doesn't care. Such items hold no meaning for her, and she wouldn't waste time on them.

She works for the Demon Suppression Office, having studied cultivation and martial skills since childhood, and never wastes time on needlework or makeup.

Moreover, with her looks she needs no cosmetics. Just as monsters' makeup would tarnish their beauty, many monsters still apply makeup, especially those wild mountain demons.

After all, rouge and powder are hard to obtain in the wild, and rarity makes them valuable. Monsters yearning for human life naturally become interested in human products.

For monsters living in forests, various human products are always popular.

In the past, hardly anyone ventured into the deep woods to trade with wild monsters; even those who did were a tiny minority.

And places like Wang Gu Lin are even less likely; no one chooses to do business with monsters there, except those seeking suicide.

Even if the monsters of Wang Gu Lin have little hostility toward humans, the other things in Wang Gu Lin certainly do.

Actually, that can't be called hostility; they're merely satisfying their own desires.

Those ghosts, those demons.

Come to think of it, the life in Wang Gu Lin isn't far from Wang Wu's present, but it seems like a distant memory now.

The speed of realm advancement was too fast, and too many events occurred in those few years. To be precise, not many events, but the span of those events was huge.

In the early stage it was just a story of a small county; back then Wang Wu had no understanding of the world's power hierarchy.

Similarly, although there were phones, they hadn't gotten a SIM for that region yet, so the internet quality was uncertain, and Wang Wu had no clear grasp of the strength of the assassin brother's world or the god‑defying techniques there.

Earlier Wang Wu was extremely weak; even though he had practiced Earth martial arts, his progress was rapid, and within a short span of years he reached a level close to Zhu San Niang's.

He even surpassed Shu Niang and Wu Er Niang.

Of course, even so, his strength then was still far behind the humans of He Dong Xian, and true‑realm masters were beings he could only look up to.

As for Si Tu Jin, Wang Wu still remembers the oppressive feeling she gave him when they first met.

That sense of power, that lofty superiority, that…

But now, looking back, the woman is actually quite cute in some ways.

Even though she often makes him itch with hatred, one must admit she is indeed cute at other times.

For example…

Getting off topic.

In short, after staying in Chu State for a few months, Wang Wu returned, not forgetting to buy a heap of clothes for the girls at home.

Of course, he also brought the girls here for a grand tour; after all, Chu State's customs and scenery are quite enjoyable.

After returning, Wang Wu threw himself back into the frenzied cultivation of martial arts, day after day, year after year.

Time flies, years rush by.

In the blink of an eye, seven years have passed.

As the saying goes, the seven‑year itch. But since there's no marriage certificate, the seven‑year itch doesn't exist.

For humans, seven years is not a brief period, but Wang Wu is a monster.

Nevertheless, it is still a long time, even for a monster. After all, he used to be a short‑lived kind, remarkable for living just over ninety years, and a hundred years was unthinkable.

Moreover, he had to endure the pain of his bodily functions declining continuously from age thirty, a cliff‑like drop after fifty, and then a sluggish, extremely aged gait toward death.

That was a terrifying thing for the former Wang Wu.

But now, ten years, twenty years, a hundred, two hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand years, none of these will change Wang Wu's body.

Even as time passes, his sensitivity to the passage of time will greatly diminish, until he finally becomes a qualified immortal type.

And this is something every cultivator in this world must face.

The reason cultivators do not suppress desire, and have few strict rules, is that whether marrying, having children, or anything else, they are just like ordinary people, with no distinction.

That is the reason.

As time goes by, you naturally comprehend many things; this is what is called refining the heart in the mortal world.

Of course, for a monster, a five‑hundred‑year‑old monster and a thousand‑year‑old monster have no difference in that regard.

When a cultivator reaches five hundred years old, they may no longer sleep or eat, yet many still keep the habit of "three meals a day."

Here, of course, it's three meals a day, because productivity is sufficiently advanced; this is no different from Wang Wu's hometown.

Um, okay, humans are actually similar in this respect.

A five‑hundred‑year‑old human cultivator does the same, and the frequency depends on personal preference.

Some people may, at a certain age—perhaps even before five hundred—lose interest in such things, though they are few. Others may engage in them at a higher frequency than their former selves.

As for Wang Wu, he belongs to the type that changes little.

The him from before the seven years and the him after seven years have kept a very steady frequency, always in a very stable upward state… ah, no, always very stable.

Not much increase, because a day is only so long; you can't spend the entire day on this…

Huh.

It was noon, twelve o'clock, in Heavenly Python City, at Wang Wu's home. Wang Wu ate the rice delivered by the neighboring neighbor, of course, with side dishes, the side dish being milk.

"By the way, Wu Lang, it's already been a year, and you seem not to have cultivated much this year?"

Neighbor Niu Ling asked Wang Wu, who was sipping his after‑meal drink, "…?"

"I've already reached First Rank! What do you mean I haven't cultivated?"

Faced with the neighbor's question, Wang Wu was very displeased, feeling it was an insult.

So he decided to drink raw goat milk tomorrow; after all, he's a bit tired of raw cow milk that hasn't been pasteurized, and this cow demon daring to insult him is a great disrespect!

Thus tomorrow the milk portion will be halved, meaning the female demon's income will also be halved; now she should realize her mistake.

But unfortunately, she didn't.

"But you already reached First Rank back in January last year, Wu Lang," Niu Ling tilted her head, "Since January you've basically stayed home every day, or gone to competitions; I haven't seen you do anything else."

"I've been quietly cultivating for a full six years! Six years!"

Facing Niu Ling's words, Wang Wu felt very aggrieved, "Do you know how much leisure time I gave up during those six years?? I've finally reached First Rank now; what's wrong with taking a year off??"

"We are monsters, we are the demon race; our race lives so long, taking a year off shouldn't be a problem, right??"

"Um, Wu Lang, I'm not talking about you," Niu Ling patted Wang Wu's head, "I mean, wouldn't you get bored?"

"What the heck?" Wang Wu was stunned, then looked at Niu Ling, "So are you bored?"

"Hehe, I wish we could do this every day…"

"Then that's perfect," Wang Wu shrugged, and clicked the 'continue game' option.

A monster's time is always very long, so they can spend a great amount of time on a single thing.

A mere year truly amounts to nothing for a monster, because monsters never lack time.

It's only a year, but note that a monster's fertility is extremely poor, so a whole year is not enough to conceive offspring.

Usually, it requires ten or even twenty years of continuous effort, and even then the odds remain low.

But there's no choice; since the odds are low, they must rely on quantity and luck, and a monster's physique can support such ultra‑intense effort.

As for humans, human cultivators wanting offspring are similar to the demon race, just not as extreme.

After all, monsters never get tired of flavor, but humans do.

In this respect, humans are far inferior to the demon race.

Wang Wu is a very typical monster; after being married for so long, he naturally wants children, not just one, but a bunch.

One platoon, one battalion, one regiment.

Um, that's exaggerated.

But anyway, many, many children—that's what Wang Wu wants.

So he keeps striving to achieve this.

Thus, in the past year, Yao Qing, Zhao Xingyue, Wang Lan, Zi Yuan, and Si Tu Jin have all suffered because of this…

Um, actually they haven't suffered; they even compete with each other to see who can be the first lucky one.

Later this even turned into a competition, a… um, never mind.

Oh right, there's also Master Yin Shenli.

But Yin Shenli obviously isn't as obsessed with this as some local women, because she knows it can only go with nature, and the effect of stacking numbers is just that.

Although she has the highest count.

(End of chapter)