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006 - The Bride's Arrival
🕑 Added 2024-07-03 17:43:24 +0000 UTCQin Yun sat on the branch of a massive tree, overlooking most of the clan’s grounds. From his vantage point, he could see the clan's main gate where the bride's family's procession was supposed to enter. There were no signs of them; only the various guests were seen entering one after the other, while the VIPs were greeted by some of the clan's elders.
Qin Yun could see interest and puzzlement on the guests’ faces, meaning they, too, probably didn't know the married couple's identity. He wondered how the clan had arranged for all these bigshots to be present with so little information to go on.
Qin Yun shrugged; this wasn’t his problem. Whatever secret deal the two families had made had nothing to do with him. He would simply go according to the plan he made on his own. Still, all this would depend on his bride’s intentions.
While the sun had yet to reach its zenith, Qin Yun lounged on this branch, slowly sipping the content of the jug in his hands. He knew the ceremony was still a long way off as it was scheduled for late evening.
Yet, Qin Yun found some of the details he had been told interesting. For one, these types of grand weddings would usually last for more than a month, leaving quite a long time for the festivities. Yet, both families opted to have the wedding itself on the day of the Yun Family's arrival as if to get it over with as soon as possible. Qin Yun wondered if this was done on purpose so as not to give them the opportunity to reject the marriage.
He was mostly sure this was the reason, yet he didn't take it to heart. He never had a reason to reject this offer, much less try to derail the ceremony. Qin Yun would play along in this little show of theirs, being the filial son that he is.
On this day, Qin Yun woke to a herd of handmaidens who washed him from head to toe before helping him put on his red wedding garb, which seemed way too gaudy for his taste. His clothes were inlaid with precious metal resembling gold and emitted a slight immortal aura reminiscent of his father's own clothes.
Qin Yun had no delusions that he could keep them afterwards. The family would surely come to collect them. While dressing him, Qin Yun noticed the maids' obvious disgust for him, which he found strange as he had never had any contact with any of them. Still, Qin Yun decided to retaliate, just enough to annoy them.
He used his Innate Qi and shifted his facial features ever so slightly to make himself uglier than usual, which the maids had no choice but to mask with ample makeup. The session, which should have usually only taken one or two hours, now took over five.
Qin Yun didn't mind the wait, as he took the opportunity to cultivate while they did their work. Still, he made sure they wouldn't realize what he was doing, as most cultivators couldn't be touched as they cultivated for fear of entering Qi Deviation.
Qin Yun had no such fears as his body and Qi Channels were much too strong to be affected by something as simple as Qi Deviation. Besides, his mastery over Qi was such that he didn’t even need to remain stationary to cultivate, much less remain alone.
After all the preparations had been done, Qin Yun gave them the slip. There was still a long time until the start of the ceremony, and he had no intentions of staying obediently in this prison like a caged bird. This was his big day, and he would enjoy it.
Finally, Qin Yun saw a floating boat slowly approaching in the distance. On top of its deck was something akin to a castle. While Qin Yun hadn't heard of the Yun Family, judging by this boat alone, their status wasn't any lower than his own clan. If anything, they might be much stronger.
The boat landed some distance away from the city's main gate. Despite its massive size, one could barely see it from a distance. Yet, this was no problem for Qin Yun, as his vision had been quenched through years of gruelling practice. Such a distance was nothing to him.
After a moment, a procession of carriages exited the boat through a small opening on its side before making the trip toward the city. In front of the gate, Qin Yun saw the three elders who had first informed him of this marriage over a month ago.
While the two males sported wide grins and bowed to the approaching procession, the female, Qin Lihua, only had a look of cold indifference, as always. Still, once the line grew closer to the gate, Qin Yun noticed a slight change in her expression. It was so imperceptible that no one would have seen the change without looking as closely as Qin Yun did.
She showed puzzlement before she frowned slightly, then quickly returned to indifference. This confirmed Qin Yun's guess; something was afoot in this marriage. Still, this was only affirmation; he still had no idea what the problem truly was.
While Qin Yun could read the elders' lips from his vantage point, he opted not to. Why spoil the surprise? Still, he could infer how most of the conversation went. Their expressions alone gave him most of the information he needed.
It seemed there was some disagreement between the two parties, and his clan was forced to relent. Qin Yun didn't find it strange as the representative of the Yun Family was much stronger than even his Grand-Aunt Lihua. If anything, the man was comparable to their Patriarch, and he seemed no older than a third his age.
The man wore long robes just as most cultivators did, yet his were a mix of purple and white, which not many would wear. Besides, his clothes were much more luxurious than anything Qin Yun had seen since his rebirth, even more than his father's. White lines almost imperceptible to the eyes were inlaid within the fabric, making strange and wild shapes. Qin Yun knew right away that they were from array formations.
The one who created such a vestment was a genius, to say the least. Formations were usually static constructs utilizing the land and the flow of Qi hidden within to empower or produce some sort of effect, ranging from defence to offence. As long as the power source was strong enough and the design intricate enough, nothing a cultivator could do couldn't be done by a formation instead.
As for the mobile formation resting on the man's back, this used a completely separate formation model. It was as if comparing a land animal to a bird; the two operated on two vastly different concepts while still being of the same nature.
Needless to say, such a vestment was priceless—at least in the eyes of Qin Yun's clan—yet no one seemed to realize this fact. Qin Yun could feel the mounting tension between the two parties. Only Qin Lihua seemed to keep her calm, as she always did. She seemed wholly uninterested in their argument.
With the procession at a standstill, the queue outside the city began to grow restless. All the Yun Family servants near the carriages looked around as they whispered to each other secretly. Qin Yun was familiar with this behaviour, as this was exactly how his family acted when talking about him. Qin Yun wondered if he was the object of their dispute; he most probably was, yet he stood on his perch enjoying the debacle.
However, before things could escalate into involving the City Lord, the Qin Clan Patriarch showed up just in time to defuse the situation. He walked out of the city gate, followed by most of the clan's elders. The man was old as the vestiges of time could be fully observed on his senescent skin. His long white beard hovered lightly in the wind, making him look like an old hermit.
Still, Qin Yun was surprised that the old man's entrance was so subdued. He figured this probably had to do with the status of the man in the purple robes, as he knew the men of his clan loved their posturing. It would take more than a family with similar strength to make them see them as equals, as the reputation of being an Immortal Family was like a shield, allowing them to be unbridled in their arrogance.
As soon as the Patriarch showed up, the two men talked briefly before the procession finally entered the city. Qin Yun watched the scene with a slight smile on his face. Still, he had no intentions of prying, yet simply the act of looking at them had attracted the attention of the man in purple.
Just before the man passed through the gate, he shot Qin Yun a look, locking gaze with him. Qin Yun's eyebrow rose slightly as he felt a slight pressure on his body, no doubt due to the man's divine sense observing him.
Unlike Qin Yun's sharp eyesight, most cultivators with a certain amount of strength wouldn't bother to use their physical organs anymore, opting to use their divine sense for almost everything, leading to their senses' deterioration. If, for some reason, they were stripped of their cultivations, most would be practically blind at this point. That man seemed to be no exception.
Still, that pressure soon faded, probably because he realized that Qin Yun offered no threat to them. Yet, Qin Yun hadn't expected to be spotted so easily as he was quite far away and hadn't used any Qi to trace back to him. It seemed the man was quite the expert. Qin Yun assumed the man to be superior to his Patriarch, maybe even the City Lord. He wondered what the man's status was in his bride's family.
Still, as the procession moved along, Qin Yun noticed a red carriage near the centre of the line. All around it were countless guards wearing imposing armours. Yet, the aura those guards emitted seemed to be no more than the Foundation Building Stage. Even within the whole procession, Qin Yun could only identify Void Core Realm cultivators at best, except for the man in purple.
Qin Yun frowned slightly; something was wrong. It seemed there were no elders present for this wedding. It was as if the Yun Family didn't care for it at all. This was like a slap in the Qin Family's face. Yet, his Patriarch said nothing and let them in regardless. Qin Yun wondered what their game was. Why put on this elaborate show if their hearts weren't in it? What did they have to gain?
As he pondered the implications, Qin Yun noticed a slender gloved hand reaching out of the curtains, blocking the view from the interior of the red carriage. Something seemed to have been said, but as he couldn't see their lips, he had no idea what it was. Yet, he saw a guard bow slightly and then left soon after.
Still, after their interaction, all Qin Yun could see on the guard's face was an expression full of mockery and derision.
Qin Yun followed the guard with his gaze a little longer, but nothing came of it. He stopped before another carriage, said a few words, and then returned just as quickly. Qin Yun made a mental note of this guard but thought nothing more of this. The fact that he held contempt for the individual in the red carriage was more than enough for him.
With the procession now out of sight within the confines of the city, Qin Yun took another sip out of his jug, wasting time away until he was required. Still, his rest was cut short as Qin Meihui came to fetch him, stating that the Patriarch requested his presence.
