Late at night...
Under the starry sky and cool breeze, two figures, a man and a woman, walked atop the high walls of the Clear Sky Sect.
"Are you afraid of heights..?"
Standing upon the forty-meter-high wall of the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Xiao gazed at the distant scenery.
Looking at the sect from such a height gave Tang Xiao a faint throb in his heart...
At this height, the wind whistled past his body, whipping against him as his grey robe swayed. Yet it still failed to shake his stance... He stood there like a wall himself.
By Tang Xiao's side stood Ning Ruoyan... Her beauty was breathtaking beneath the moonlight. Wearing a long green dress adorned with simple ornaments and silver earrings that complemented her hair, she too gazed into the distance together with him.
"When I was young, I was indeed afraid of heights... But now, I fear them no more," Ning Ruoyan spoke, her crisp bell-like melodious voice brushing Tang Xiao's heart.
Still, he inwardly grumbled... His opening line had failed. His plan had been to hold her hand if she admitted she was afraid. Who could have expected such a reply?
But Tang Xiao was quick-witted...
"Oh, you are not afraid of heights... But I am afraid." Saying this, he swiftly clasped her soft palm within his broad hand.
"Don't let me fall... Hold me," Tang Xiao spoke without altering his tone.
Ning Ruoyan, feeling her hand enveloped by his strong grip, blushed and instinctively tried to pull it back... But upon second thought, she understood Tang Xiao's intention. So she allowed him to hold her hand, choosing to act along with his wish.
"Mmmm." Ning Ruoyan hummed softly.
She was not a young girl... At forty-one, although this was her first time coming into such close contact with a man outside her family, she could still maintain her composure.
After all... She understood Tang Xiao's intention. He was trying to draw closer to her... Which was not necessarily a bad thing.
Tang Xiao quietly sighed in relief and intertwined his fingers with hers, holding her hand firmly. Seeing no resistance from Ning Ruoyan, he gently drew her along, walking silently at her side atop the wall.
Arranged marriages were like this... Silence often served as the answer.
Tang Xiao did not mind either... Although on Earth, he might have held expectations for love and marriage, here he was not a man prone to falling in love.
The main reason he intended to marry Ning Ruoyan, aside from her beauty, was to have a descendant... Nothing deeper lay behind it.
Of course, marrying Ning Ruoyan also meant forging an alliance for the Clear Sky Sect... Yet after today's banquet, Tang Xiao held a different opinion of the Seven Treasure Glazed Sect's people. One word... Cunning.
And how had he realized this?
It was simple...
Not once did the Seven Treasure Glazed Sect mention Tang Hao today, nor even ask perfunctorily.
No questions of why Tang Hao was branded a betrayer of humanity or why he was being hunted...
Of course, even had they asked, Tang Zhen or the others would never have revealed the truth...
But still... Their air of indifference, paired with their subtle inquiries about Tang Chen, made Tang Xiao—who had listened silently throughout the banquet—quietly change his heart.
He even suspected that the Seven Treasure Glazed Sect might one day renege on this marriage... Yet soon he shook his head.
"Considering their merchant-like nature, even if the marriage were four years later when the Clear Sky Sect reaches its weakest, they would likely still go through with it. After all, by then I, Tang Xiao, will be a Titled Douluo. To them, sacrificing one woman means little if it buys a bond with a Titled Douluo...
Not to mention now, with Tang Zhen—a level ninety-five Titled Douluo—still alive, and Tang Chen's deterrence lingering..." Tang Xiao mused silently as he walked beside Ning Ruoyan.
Turning his gaze, he looked at his soon-to-be wife... A glint flickered in his eyes.
'Even after marriage... some things must remain hidden. After all, who can say where her loyalty truly lies...' Tang Xiao thought silently.
Yet, a faint sense of pity weighed on him... Ning Ruoyan was an auxiliary Soul Saint with the world's top supporting martial soul, and only forty-one years old. It would be a waste not to strengthen her and simply relegate her to a caretaker's role...
"Let's wait and see... If I can completely tame her, mold her into my shape, then I won't mind nurturing this fiancée of mine..." Thinking thus, Tang Xiao halted his steps.
Ning Ruoyan also stopped, glancing back at Tang Xiao, who now fixed his fiery eyes upon her. Fluster rose within her as she met that piercing gaze.
Just then, Tang Xiao asked, word by word:
"Miss Ruoyan... Now that we are engaged... You are already half my wife, aren't you?"
Ning Ruoyan hesitated, unsure how to answer... Yet since his words held reason, she nodded.
Seeing this, Tang Xiao stepped forward, closing the gap between them.
Gazing at her beautiful face so close to his, at those tempting, lily-petal red lips, Tang Xiao asked:
"Hmmm... In that case, you should know that as half my wife... I already own half of you, right?"
Before Ning Ruoyan could calm her racing heart or register the meaning, Tang Xiao pulled her forcefully into his embrace, his broad hands gripping her waist tightly...
But he did not stop there... Lowering his head slightly, he captured her soft petal-like lips with his, kissing her domineeringly.
Ning Ruoyan's eyes widened... She had not expected such a sudden turn. She struggled, trying to push Tang Xiao away... But it was futile. His towering body was like a mountain. With her level seventy-one strength, she could not even budge him.
While she resisted... Tang Xiao savored her lips as if they were the finest delicacy...
It didn't take long before Ning Ruoyan froze, feeling her strength vanish completely...
'This man... He is so domineering...' Under Tang Xiao's assault, Ning Ruoyan could only close her eyes as though surrendering to fate... Accepting all of Tang Xiao's onslaught.
When his fiancée ceased resisting and even embraced him back... Tang Xiao grew bolder. He pried open her mouth with his tongue, exploring every corner as though branding it as his own...
His hands did not remain idle either... One large hand clutched the back of her neck firmly, pressing her tightly against him, while the other slid from her hips to knead her ass cheeks.
And so, beneath the moonlit sky and the cold, rushing breeze... Atop the forty-meter-high wall, a passionate scene unfolded.