"It's over!" Tyler He and the others, who had been waiting outside all this time, saw the terrifying spatial turbulence and couldn't help but utter these words from the depths of their hearts.
In Tyler He's eyes, the space before him was like a giant mixer churning endlessly. Even if one's spiritual sense tried to penetrate, it would vanish instantly.
Forget about Soulbane Gorge—even the abandoned spirit stone mine had now vanished into nothingness.
Sherry Jing, Melody Qin, and Shannon Wei stared blankly at the chaos before them. Earlier, when they saw the green light again, they had been excited to cultivate, but now the light was gone and so was Soulbane Gorge. The space where Soulbane Gorge had once been was now a maelstrom of swirling spatial blades, shredding any spiritual sense that entered. Under these circumstances, if Joe Di were still alive, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
Tree Junior also stared dazedly at the roiling space. It could sense that Joe Di was still alive, but it could also feel that Joe Di was on the brink of death, about to fall.
It tried to extend a root into the chaotic space ahead, but as soon as the vine entered, it was torn to nothingness by countless spatial blades.
Tyler He fell to his knees. Coming from Earth, he was more emotional than most cultivators of the cultivation world. Joe Di had saved him several times, even giving him a spot to enter the Celestial Canopy. Now, Joe Di had fallen in Soulbane Gorge just to save him, leaving Tyler with a deep sense of guilt.
How laughable that he had wanted to ask Brother Joe to rescue Violet Zane and Jade Yu. Why couldn’t they ever think to help Brother Joe for once, instead of always relying on him?
"I'm sorry. I dragged you into this." Sherry Jing sat down weakly, murmuring to herself. When Melody Qin said she knew where Joe Di was, and Shannon Wei wanted to ask him for help, Sherry knew she should have stopped them.
Melody Qin also felt deeply saddened, though she was handling it better than Sherry Jing. Joe Di’s reputation among rogue cultivators and the things he’d said to her made her doubt his repeated acts of kindness. She reached out to steady Sherry Jing and said, "Mo Shuang, I heard you knew Senior Brother Joe Di before he joined the sect? Later, Elder Yu accepted Senior Brother Joe Di because of you, right?"
After a long, heavy silence—lasting more than ten breaths—Sherry Jing finally spoke, "If you think about it, I am actually his wife..."
"What...?" Melody Qin was stunned by Sherry Jing's words, and even Tyler He, lost in self-blame, looked up in shock at her.
He had first met Sherry Jing because she mentioned being a disciple of the Starstream School. That was when he started talking to her, and only after they spoke of Joe Di did they team up as temporary friends.
But he had never heard that Sherry Jing was Joe Di’s wife. Tyler He knew Joe Di’s background better than anyone here. Joe Di should be from Earth, just like him. If he had a wife, it would be someone from Earth—how could she possibly appear on the Aurora Continent?
Sherry Jing was kind-hearted—otherwise, she wouldn’t have risked her life to save Melody Qin, who was a stranger to her, and ended up pierced by the Soulbane Thread.
If Joe Di were still alive, she wouldn’t have brought this up. In fact, she’d never really taken their marriage to heart.
Now that Joe Di was gone, she felt she owed him far too much. Apart from acknowledging that wedding and becoming his widow, she couldn’t think of any other way to repay him.
"He’s a good man. After we married, he never did anything I didn’t like..." Sherry Jing said softly, then fell silent.
Even though she had lived with Joe Di for a while, she barely knew him. She only truly learned about him after returning to the sect a second time and discovering he’d stood up to Owen Tao for her. Yet, even then, she never saw Joe Di again.
"You were really married to him?" Melody Qin looked at Sherry Jing in disbelief.
Sherry Jing wasn’t exactly unattractive, but that was in the past. Now, her face was clearly ruined.
Melody Qin wanted to ask if Joe Di had married Sherry Jing before her disfigurement, but she knew that would be rude.
Joe Di had saved her several times, and Melody Qin was grateful to him. She knew his character well—he liked beautiful women and sometimes bullied the weak. She wouldn’t overlook these traits just because he’d helped her.
Her father had told her since childhood: the most important thing for a person is character, then achievement. Later, when Joe Di said he wasn’t interested in her anymore, she wondered for a long time if he was just playing hard to get. Otherwise, his behavior had been too inconsistent.
Sherry Jing nodded but said nothing. The loss of Joe Di weighed heavily on her heart. If she owed anyone in this world, it was Joe Di.
Even her parents hadn’t cared for her after she was born. Her birth time was considered inauspicious, bringing misfortune to the Jing family’s official prospects and causing the deaths of her second aunt and an uncle.
Because she was so beautiful, her father and some elders of the Jing family decided to let her atone by using marriage to bring some benefit to the family.
The first time, she was betrothed to a noble’s son. She resisted with all her might, and in the end, the young man was so angered that he refused her, but at least he didn’t retaliate against the Jing family.
Her father was furious and hung Sherry Jing up, beating her until she was barely alive. Her vitality was strong, though, and a few months later she recovered. The Jing family tried again, this time betrothing her to a general’s son from the Hengyi Kingdom. This time, Sherry Jing simply disfigured herself.
With her face ruined, the general’s son naturally didn’t want her. In his rage, Sherry Jing’s father, Jing Yao, accepted a marriage proposal from the Zhong family. Zhong Hetian was just a minor figure in the Zhong family, and since their status was far below the Jing family, the only way to form a marriage alliance was to let Zhong Hetian marry into the Jing family.
Zhong Hetian was focused solely on cultivation and had no interest in Sherry Jing. In the end, Joe Di, who had ended up at the Zhong family, was used as a substitute for Zhong Hetian and married into the Jing family.
(Irrelevant system message. Skipping translation.)
Sherry Jing never took her marriage to Joe Di seriously; for her, it was actually a relief. In truth, even if Zhong Hetian hadn’t used Joe Di as a stand-in, she would never have lived with Zhong Hetian. She had always been waiting for the Immortal Gate to open.
Originally, she and Joe Di were just ordinary acquaintances. By chance, after she brought Joe Di to Jichuan City, they joined the Starstream School together. Later, Joe Di helped her several times, and today, he had fallen in Soulbane Gorge. So, to her, the person she owed most in this life was Joe Di—debts she would never be able to repay.
She knew she was disfigured, but with Joe Di gone, she didn’t think he would have looked down on her for it. The moment she said she was Joe Di’s wife, she’d already decided never to marry again or seek another companion.
"Mo Shuang, don’t be sad. Just remember Senior Brother Joe’s life-saving kindness. He saved me too, though his character is a bit..." Melody Qin wanted to comfort Sherry Jing; after all, Sherry had saved her life as well.
Although Joe Di had saved her several times and she was deeply grateful, in her heart, Sherry Jing’s life-saving grace was even more worthy of respect and remembrance.
Joe Di’s intentions in saving her were clear—whether it was playing hard to get or not, he probably wanted to attract her attention. But Sherry Jing had truly risked her life to save her, with no ulterior motives. Melody Qin could see that Sherry Jing was genuinely kind-hearted.
Before Melody Qin could finish, Tyler He glared at her angrily. "Melody, I admit you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, but your words and your looks couldn’t be more different. Joe Di saved you, and you don’t even think to repay him. Worse, you say his character is questionable—nonsense! I must have been blind to ever associate with someone like you. I’ve known Brother Joe for years. When he saved me, I even looked down on him a bit. But he was broad-minded and didn’t hold my petty thoughts against me. He still saved me and treated me as a friend. People like you, so selfish and self-righteous..."
Tree Junior scoffed as well. "Woman, my big brother has saved you more than once. Just because he was married and didn’t ask you to share his bed, you’re upset? If I’d known, I would’ve told my brother not to save you. Besides, if you wanted to be with him, you should have fought for it yourself. Did you expect him to ask you outright?"
It was hard to tell whether Tree Junior’s words were defending Joe Di or undermining him.
Even Sherry Jing frowned. She knew perfectly well that Joe Di had saved all of them. Melody Qin seemed kind-hearted to her, so why were her words so hurtful? Brother Joe hadn’t done anything wrong, and even if he had made mistakes, he gave his life for them in the Soulbane Pool. No one should speak ill of him.
Melody Qin’s face turned pale; she nearly bit through her lip. Seeing Sherry Jing’s frown, she took a deep breath and said slowly, "I am just as grateful for Senior Brother Joe’s life-saving kindness. If I had to give my life to save him now, I wouldn’t hesitate. It’s just that my father always taught me to speak honestly. Brother Joe saving me is one thing; his character is another."
This time, Sherry Jing couldn’t hold back. She withdrew her gaze from the swirling spatial winds, looked calmly at Melody Qin, and said, "Senior Sister Melody, Joe Di is my husband. If he never wronged you, I hope you won’t speak ill of him—even if he’s no longer in this world."
Melody Qin drew another breath. "Before entering the Celestial Canopy, I’d offended a few people, and my master told me to wait for him in the main hall. He took a rogue cultivator’s ranking token to exchange for a Celestial Canopy token. He hadn’t participated in the rogue cultivator’s tournament, so it was obvious he’d taken the token from someone else. I was upset and said something to him, and he replied with a few insulting words. I held back and ignored him. Later, I learned he was the one who had robbed several Qis family shops—Joe Di."
Sherry Jing knew Melody Qin wouldn’t lie, but before she could respond, Tyler He laughed angrily and pointed at Melody. "Melody, you really think highly of yourself. Brother Joe isn’t the kind of person to steal ranking tokens. If you don’t want to repay his kindness, don’t make excuses. Even if it were true, what does that have to do with repaying a life-saving debt?"
"Everything I said is true. Believe it or not." Melody Qin’s voice grew cold.
Tyler He ignored Melody Qin and turned to Sherry Jing. "Sister-in-law Mo Shuang, it’s true that Brother Joe used a ranking token to exchange for a Celestial Canopy token, but he didn’t steal it—it was given to him by me."
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