Starting with a Family System to Become an Immortal Official Chapter 76

Li Qingmu took three measured steps forward.

He stopped exactly where the ancestral hall’s central array lines converged, hands still clasped behind his back as he kept his posture relaxed yet unyielding.

He said nothing.

The silence was longer than a piece of string.

Patriarch Zhen’s face twisted.

"Do you even know your crime, boy?"

Li Qingmu’s gaze went half-lidded.

The fierce stare didn’t seem to bother him at all.

"What crime did this son-in-law commit?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The Patriarch’s index finger drummed repeatedly against the golden armrest.

"You married into the Zhen family. Not the other way around. You were told—clearly, emphatically—that men who marry in have no authority to take wives or concubines. None. Zero. You have spat on the face of the entire Zhen lineage by daring to plan this farce of a wedding. You aren’t even an immortal official yet you strut around collecting women like they’re spirit herbs in a roadside stall!"

The old man’s voice stayed level through sheer force of will and a desire to be unruffled.

It would be a shame to let his useless son-in-law rattle him so effortlessly.

But the veins on his temples throbbed.

Just looking at Li Qingmu’s unbothered handsome face made fresh anger boil up his body.

Li Qingmu calmly reached up and brushed a few stray bangs from his forehead with two fingers.

"I have Rou’er approval..."

He said lightly with a peaceful smile.

"And I intend to sit for the immortal official exams the moment the next cycle opens."

He swished one sleeve in a casual arc that sent faint ripples through the hall’s ambient qi.

"So this wedding is perfectly legitimate."

The Patriarch’s frown deepened into a canyon.

『This brat... so much confidence. Did I not make myself crystal clear? Anyone who marries in holds ZERO status unless they carry noble blood from a higher realm. Have I gone so soft in my old age that I cannot even discipline a garbage son-in-law into behaving like the slave he is supposed to be?』

Both hands clamped down on the armrests until the gold groaned.

Beside him...

Grand Elder Song Yan slowly stirred her tea.

Her spoon made one final clink against porcelain.

She glanced sideways at Li Qingmu.

Then she noticed it—the porcelain teapot and cups beside her were trembling. Tiny concentric ripples danced across the surface of her perfect brew.

"Hm?" she murmured.

She leaned closer.

The quaking was not from the table.

It radiated from the Patriarch himself.

"HOW IMPUDENT!!!"

A blinding, solar corona of overwhelming King Realm aura detonated outward.

The pressure slammed down like an inverted mountain.

One of Li Qingmu’s knees buckled.

Stone cracked in a spiderweb beneath him.

He let out a low grunt from deep in his throat.

"NGHK! DAMN IT—!!"

He could already taste the bitter, unpleasant flavor of blood on his tongue.

Song Yan’s eyes widened fractionally.

Worry spread through them but she remained seated and unusually silent.

『This is a Zhen family matter...』

For now, all she could do was watch.

The Patriarch rose as his legs unfolded into a lotus position float above his throne. Both forearms rested casually on his knees now, yet the aura intensified—relentless and scorching like standing beneath a second sun.

"Do you truly believe that just because you’ve clawed your way to Golden Core, claimed the title of clan chief and somehow stumbled into two Heaven-Dao cores... that you suddenly hold REAL power?"

His aura exploded even more.

RUUUUUUMBLEE!

They exploded like big mortar cannons.

"You are NOT invincible!"

The man’s voice echoed like thunder in the sky.

Li Qingmu’s shoulders trembled.

Then—slowly—both feet planted flat.

The floor groaned louder.

Song Yan’s lips curved the tiniest fraction.

『His foundation has... truly deepened.』

The Patriarch’s eyes narrowed to furious slits.

He poured even more aura downward like heavenly tribulation rain.

Yet Li Qingmu kept rising.

He coughed up blood yet found a way to speak.

"I am a family man first... then a cultivator and anything else second. Status? Realm? They mean nothing when it comes to taking in wives. I will marry any woman I deem worthy. I will use every union to strengthen my bloodline. My children will never suffer under corrupt officials like you and the ones who ruined my parents. I will protect every single wife even if I take a thousand of them!"

Cough—!

A thick spray of blood painted the floor before him.

Song Yan’s composure finally cracked.

She turned sharply.

"Zhen Guang!"

The Patriarch exhaled a long and weary sigh.

With a gentle flick of his sleeve the crushing solar might scattered like morning mist.

Li Qingmu sucked in air as he clutched his chest.

The old patriarch held his head high as he stroked his long and elegant beard.

"Good. Good."

Li Qingmu narrowed his eyes.

『Good? This old fossil is truly senile. Good thing I took those blood pills earlier... they were enough to make the injury look properly fatal. King Realm aura is strong, but it can’t truly crush me. Not with my Dao Body and Saint Body layered together, and my Chaos Core devouring every scrap of excess spiritual pressure thrown my way.』

Inside, he grinned like a fox.

Song Yan’s voice came with a soft concern.

"Are you alright? How bad are the wounds?"

Li Qingmu immediately slipped back into acting.

Whoop! Whoop!

He let out two more dramatic coughs.

"This son-in-law is... fine, truly—"

He took a step and deliberately let his knee give way.

In a blink Song Yan was there to catch him against her soft and bouncy chest.

Slender arms encircled him.

His cheek pressed into her soft, warm breasts.

『Ahh~ Big Sis Song’s chest...』

There are women whose cleavage carries a faint smell of sweat but she was not one of them.

Her cleavage smelled fresh and delicate, like roses.

On top of that, he could also catch the light scent of peach rose petals coming from her, all thanks to the beauty pill he had given her.

『Big Sis Song... always so caring. How do other men dare call her a blood scorpion? Maybe when I’m drunk enough I’ll try my luck and flirt properly. See what she says.』

She patted his back like a mother soothing a child as her fingers stroked his hair gently. She didn’t seem to mind that his face was buried between her luscious breasts or that his arms had naturally curled around her buxom hips.

Behind them, Patriarch Zhen’s face contorted.

『Shameless little pervert! He’s actually trying to seduce my senior sister right in front of me?! If those two ever become serious, this brat would end up being my martial uncle! I once thought the same thing about Chen Yuxuan... that she was high-class and completely untouchable and look how that turned out. Never again!』

Golden sun qi flared in both palms.

A beam lanced out and sunk into Li Qingmu’s body.

In seconds it mended the internal damage.

Li Qingmu straightened and bowing deeply.

"Many thanks, Patriarch."

The old man noticed Song Yan now had both arms looped possessively around Li Qingmu’s.

『I HAVE TO GET HIM OUT OF HERE!』

His eye twitched.

He could already imagine the torture he would face if Li Qingmu became his martial uncle.

"Since I failed to give you a proper wedding gift when you married my daughter..."

He gathered more sun qi.

A palm-sized golden bell took shape.

"Take this Golden Sun Bell. When used, it condenses sun flames into a defensive barrier comparable to defense at the Nascent Soul level."

Li Qingmu accepted it with both hands and sucked the bell into his spatial ring.

"Gracious thanks."

He turned to Song Yan and gently took one of her hands between his own.

"I should return. The wedding preparations await."

She smiled up at him with so much warmth.

There is no one that Song Yan smiles at like this.

The Patriarch knows this better than anyone because he has personally seen her use a single cold frown to scare away countless suitors from the Lower Heaven Realm who wanted to marry a fine flower like her.

In the end, no one may ever marry this beauty.

Song Yan batted her lashes gently at Li Qingmu.

That alone gave him butterflies in his stomach.

She placed a hand on his chest and stroked him.

"That’s perfectly fine."

Her voice is like honey poured over velvet.

So arousing to listen to.

"I’m sure you have many things to arrange."

They shared a lingering look and mutual smiles.

COUGH! COUGH!

The Patriarch’s loud cough shattered the moment.

Li Qingmu inclined his head once more then turned and walked out through the towering doors.

Black robes billowed behind him like ink in water.

Silence returned to the ancestral hall.

Patriarch Zhen kept throwing side-long glances at Song Yan like an immature brat.

She was still smiling as she watched the empty doorway long after Li Qingmu had vanished.

『Perhaps I should use what little connections remain in the Lower Heaven Realm. Find senior sister a proper husband before that damned son-in-law plants any more ideas or worse... plants his flag inside her.』

He sighed unhappily.

══════

Several hours later.

Fenghuang Peak.

Li Qingmu descended silently as he chose to walk rather than fly the last stretch.

He wanted to see how preparations for the wedding was going in his settlement.

Disciples spotted him immediately.

"Young Clan Chief!"

"Clan Chief Li!"

Men bowed sharply.

Women bowed lower and blushed harder.

"Look how tall he’s become..."

"When did Clan Chief’s hair start shining like silk?"

"His face... honestly unfair..."

"Do you think Chief Li will take us as concubines!?"

He kept walking, then sighed.

"My feet are killing me..."

A thought came without warning.

『No one massages them the way Liyue does. But she’s been so buried in elder duties lately... hasn’t even come to see me. And now I’m getting married and still haven’t put a big child in her stomach. A woman who protects Rou’er with her life more than deserves my affection.』

Another tired sigh.

"Why does my sweet junior brother look so down?"

The voice was gentle and slightly teasing.

"I know that voice..."

Li Qingmu looked up.

Su Liyue stood beneath a peach tree in black and gold robes that hugged her curvy body.

A fan covered the lower half of her face so all he could see were her luminous amber eyes.

"Liyue!"

She giggled sweetly.

"How is my favorite junior brother today?"

He stepped closer as a bright smile lit up his face.

"Better now."