Immortal Ascension Through Marriage: Investing in My Wife Get Returns

The serene stillness of the master pavilion was absolute. Bai Qingyue’s soft breathing filled the bedroom, her body finally succumbing to the deep sleep she so desperately needed. Sitting cross-legged on the mat, Lin Yuan remained perfectly motionless, but within his Sea of Consciousness, a violent storm was brewing.

The distortion in the ambient Qi of the valley had registered against his perception like a drop of ink falling into a glass of water. It was a calculated intrusion into his estate.

Lin Yuan did not immediately stand. Instead, his deep purple eyes glowed with a terrifying luminescence in the dim light of the room. He gently raised his right hand, his fingers immediately forming a seal.

Then, in an instant, an invisible dome of spiritual energy expanded from his palm, perfectly enveloping the massive bed where his wife slept. It was a barrier formation designed to completely isolate the space from the outside world, blocking out any noise, shockwaves, or killing intent that might erupt during the slaughter.

Whatever happened outside, Bai Qingyue would remain undisturbed.

Lin Yuan would not allow the filth of the outside world to disturb her rest for even a single breath.

With her safety absolutely guaranteed, the tender, doting husband vanished, replaced entirely by the cold, ruthless sovereign of the Thunder Rain Dao.

Zzzzt!

Lin Yuan did not bother walking to the doors. He channeled the spatial authority of his Nascent Soul realm, invoking it with his thunder step. The fabric of space folded seamlessly around him. Without making a single sound, his physical body blurred into a wisp of crackling light and instantly vanished from the bedroom.

In the very next fraction of a second, the space outside the grand pavilion violently rippled. Lin Yuan materialized upon the paving of the central courtyard, bathed in the pale, silvery glow of the moon.

The night air of the valley was crisp and cold, carrying the melodic sound of the nearby waterfall. But Lin Yuan ignored the scenery. His divine sense swept outward like an invisible tidal wave.

His gaze snapped upward, darting precisely toward an elevated ridge that overlooked the entirety of the emerald valley.

There, perfectly camouflaged against the dark rocks and utilizing high-tier shadow-cloaking artifacts to completely mask their body and spiritual signatures, were three figures. They were crouched low to the ground, positioned at a tactical vantage point that afforded them a complete, and unobstructed view of the estate’s layout.

From their perspective on the ridge, the three intruders had believed themselves to be completely undetectable. They were professional scouts, individuals who had honed the arts of espionage and assassination over decades of bloody cultivation. But the very moment Lin Yuan materialized in the courtyard far below, an unnatural, paralyzing chill violently seized their spines.

Lin Yuan slowly tilted his head upward. Even from miles away, through the dense veil of night and the shadows of the pines, his deep purple eyes locked directly onto their exact coordinates.

The physical weight of that gaze was apocalyptic. To the three intruders, it did not feel like a man was looking at them; it felt as though the overarching Heavens themselves had just opened a single, wrathful eye to pass judgment upon their souls.

”He sees us!” the leader of the trio hissed, his voice cracking with sheer terror. He was an Early Core Formation expert, a seasoned veteran of countless covert operations, yet his Golden Core was currently trembling so violently it threatened to shatter against his own ribs. ”The intelligence was completely flawed! Disperse! Scatter immediately! Burn your blood essence if you must!”

The sheer disparity in their realms was instantly obvious to them. The moment that purple gaze pinned them down, the intricate shadow-cloaking artifacts pinned to their robes spontaneously shattered, unable to withstand the passive pressure of a Nascent Soul’s attention.

Without a single second of hesitation, the three figures violently broke from their cover. Operating on pure instinct, they launched themselves in three entirely different directions, desperately hoping that dividing the target’s attention would allow at least one of them to escape into the surrounding wilderness.

Down in the courtyard, Lin Yuan watched them scatter like terrified insects fleeing a burning nest. A cold, razor-sharp smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

”Fleeing from the thunder?” Lin Yuan murmured softly. ”How amusing.”

CRACK!

The floor beneath his boots spider-webbed slightly as Lin Yuan teleported once again.

High above the valley, the first intruder—a Middle Foundation Establishment cultivator—was tearing through the night sky upon a flying sword. He was pushing his Qi to the absolute brink, his eyes wide with panic as he aimed for the safety of the cloud cover.

But before he could even blink, the space directly in front of his flight path violently warped.

Lin Yuan stepped out of the void as casually as a man stepping through a doorway. The early-stage Nascent Soul expert hovered directly in the path of the fleeing man.

”Gah!” The intruder shrieked, desperately trying to bank his flying sword to avoid the collision.

But Lin Yuan simply extended his right hand. He did not unleash a lethal strike; he needed them alive to extract their origins. Channeling his Qi, Lin Yuan fired a stream of lightning from his fingertips.

The energy did not pierce the man. Instead, it aggressively coiled around him like a sentient serpent. It was a Qi Rope, an inescapable binding technique capable of restraining anyone below the user’s cultivation realm, provided the caster could sustain the technique with sufficient spiritual energy.

The moment the glowing rope coiled around the man’s torso, the lightning violently invaded his meridians. The man’s Foundation Establishment qi was instantly shattered. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, his muscles locking up in a rigid spasm as his flying sword lost its power and plummeted toward the earth. Lin Yuan casually secured the end of the Qi rope, leaving the man dangling helplessly in the void of space, suspended by Lin Yuan’s spatial domain.

Without pausing for breath, Lin Yuan’s figure blurred again.

Several miles to the west, the second intruder—another Middle Foundation Establishment expert—had opted for a different escape route. He had detonated a blood-mist talisman, transforming his physical body into a rapid, untraceable crimson cloud that hugged the dense canopy of the forest, weaving through the trees to mask his signature.

It was a brilliant evasive maneuver that would have easily completely lost a Core Formation pursuer. But against a Nascent Soul expert possessing impressive perception, it was as obvious as a roaring bonfire in a pitch-black room.

Zzzzt!

Lin Yuan materialized directly on the thick branch of a pine tree, directly in the path of the approaching blood mist. As the crimson cloud rushed past, Lin Yuan’s hand darted out with the speed of a striking viper. He plunged his hand directly into the ethereal mist.

His fingers clamped down like an iron vise around the physical throat of the cultivator hidden within the spell.

The blood-mist violently dissipated, instantly forcing the intruder back into his physical form. The man gagged, his eyes bulging as Lin Yuan lifted him effortlessly by the neck. With a flick of his wrist, another length of the Qi Rope materialized from thin air, violently coiling around the man’s limbs, binding his arms to his sides and his ankles together.

Lin Yuan tossed the second bound captive into the same localized spatial pocket as the first.

Finally, Lin Yuan turned his cold gaze toward the east.

The leader of the group, the Early Core Formation expert, was the fastest of the three. He had burned a massive portion of his his Golden Core essence to fuel a high-tier wind-escape art. He was already crossing the outer boundary of the emerald valley, his heart pounding with a desperate hope that the monstrous entity behind him had been sufficiently delayed by his two subordinates.

I survived! I just need to reach the border and send the transmission! the leader thought frantically, pulling a glowing jade slip from his robes.

But as he raised the transmission slip to his lips, the ambient air pressure around him suddenly increased by a factor of ten thousand. The rushing wind completely died. The temperature plummeted.

A terrifying shadow fell over him.

The Early Core Formation expert slowly, agonizingly turned his head forward. Hovering perfectly still in the sky, his hands resting casually behind his back, was Lin Yuan. His deep purple eyes stared right through the leader’s soul, radiating an absolute authority that made the man soul tremble.

”You are rather slow for a Core Formation cultivator,” Lin Yuan remarked, his voice completely devoid of exertion.

”Monster...!” the leader screamed, completely abandoning his flight and violently thrusting both of his hands forward. He unleashed his ultimate technique—a massive, roaring tiger forged of pure wind blades that tore through the sky, aiming to shred Lin Yuan into mincemeat.

As the roaring wind tiger closed within three feet of Lin Yuan, it violently slammed into an invisible pressure around Lin Yuan and completely shattered, instantly disintegrating into a breeze that merely fluttered Lin Yuan’s robes.

The leader stared at Lin Yuan in mind-shattering despair. The gap in power between them was simply too vast.

With a single wave of his hand, Lin Yuan unleashed another Qi Rope. The rope of lightning shot through the sky, striking the leader squarely in the chest. It violently wrapped around his torso, arms, and legs. The power of it suddenly shattered his Core Formation cultivation, plunging him into a state of agonizing lockdown.

His desperate transmission slip slipped from his fingers, plummeting into the forest below.

With all three intruders successfully neutralized in less than thirty breaths, Lin Yuan gripped the ends of the three Qi ropes. He then teleported one final time for the night.

Flash!

The sky above the valley emptied. Lin Yuan instantaneously materialized back to the center of his estate.

With a heavy thud, the three bound intruders were violently thrown onto the paving of the central courtyard. They lay there, twitching and groaning under the agonizing shock of the Qi Ropes, entirely helpless.

Lin Yuan slowly descended from the air, his boots touching the floor with a soft click. He loomed over the three of them, his eyes narrowing as he prepared to extract exactly who had dared to trespass upon his home.