Ji Wuqing flushed.
"You feel that grateful to me?"
"Of course! You helped me breakthrough, it's like giving me a whole new life!"
"Alright, alright, 'a whole new life'—I don't want to be your mother. Saying thanks is easy, marry me instead!"
You hurriedly pushed Ji Wuqing out of your arms.
"Miss Wuqing, earlier I was being frivolous."
"Don't pretend to be proper with me! Last time we went to the big hot springs, didn't we soak in the same pool?"
"Ai ai ai, Wuqing, it was just the two of us there, you can't say stuff like that in public. There were hundreds of people in that pool, everyone was wearing clothes!"
"Who knows if you used Divine Sense to peek!"
"Then I truly dropped my pants in the yellow mud..."
You were curious why Ji Wuqing and Ji Baiming always wanted you to become an in-law.
You could say, over the past century, this father and daughter never gave up on the idea.
Of course, Ji Baiming sometimes recommended his daughter to other ambitious young men; he did not focus only on you.
Ji Wuqing told you she was the family's eldest legitimate daughter, part of the main bloodline.
By ancestral rules, succession to the headship should pass to an eldest legitimate heir like her.
But she was a woman.
That alone wasn't necessarily a problem; legends said the Ji family ancestors even had periods where daughters inherited rather than sons.
But Ji Wuqing had remained single, no husband, no children.
If the headship later passed to her and some accident happened to her, that branch's succession would be cut off, potentially provoking disputes among the clan's core members over the headship.
After all, once the main lineage is broken, relatives—no matter how distant—always find reasons to move up.
So the Ji family had strict rules: whether passing to a son or daughter, the heir must be married, preferably with offspring.
Even lacking offspring, they could not be unmarried.
"Now you understand, right? To be frank, aside from that factor, I like you."
"Uh... you really are blunt."
"So what? I, Ji Wuqing, never put on airs. If I like someone I say it, if I dislike someone I say it!
You have a chivalrous aura, willing to fight your way out to save an unknown child and charge across distant starspace. I like that!
You have a faint melancholy, hidden deep but I can see it—very charming, I like it!
Your Dao Heart is firm, unyielding, your character excellent—I like that too!"
You felt embarrassed from Ji Wuqing's praise.
"Am I really that great? Don't flatter me to death... by the way, do you really want to be family head?"
"Of course."
"Didn't think you were such a power-hungry person?"
"Hmph hmph..."
Ji Wuqing flipped her waterfall-like hair, took deliberate square steps before you, one hand behind her back, striking a posture as if pointing out the realm.
"You know I am an important Torch Society member, but I am not an important member of the Ji family. Every time I get a little family resource, it is a terrible struggle.
By a little I mean massive amounts, not supplies for one or two people.
But if I become Ji family head, think about it: so many Torch Society operations and training programs would go so smoothly!"
You were quite touched.
Ji Wuqing wanted the headship not for herself, but for the Torch Society, to ensure human geniuses were properly nurtured.
She was doing something of immeasurable merit.
Your inner voice told you you should help her.
—Ji Wuqing could easily marry someone she didn't love, but she preferred to marry someone she liked. She had that right.
Whenever you were about to promise Ji Wuqing, a name always flashed before your eyes.
Li Lingyue.
It was strange...
In this life you had no interaction with Li Lingyue, and no feelings carried over from past lives—where did this unnamed affection come from?
"Wuqing, you've helped me so much, it seems I can only repay you with my body—"
"Wait! An urgent intel just came in from the Torch Society, I have to take it!"
Ji Wuqing suddenly left, appearing very anxious.
Her departure lasted nearly a year.
Staring at the trait equipment grid of thirty-three slots.
Chen Yi had never felt so prosperous.
He directly equipped fourteen gold legendary traits, plus six Prismatic Mythical ones.
That only used twenty slots.
The remaining thirteen slots left ample room for purple epic and green rare traits.
Although Wolverine stopped Chen Yi from aging, Ageless Male God restored him to the supple stage of eighteen, making his looks even sharper, full of youthful vigor.
"This thing is almost two hundred years old now, times really have changed."
Thinking back to the previous five simulations, living to a hundred had been a luxury.
This time he was easily approaching two hundred.
Year one hundred sixty-nine, one hundred ninety-three years old.
Though Ji Wuqing left abruptly, you didn't sense anything abnormal.
After all, she was an underground operative and often received sudden notices.
Whenever such situations arose, no matter what she was doing, she would immediately drop everything and rush to the scene.
Of course she wouldn't bring you along, because you hadn't formally sworn into the society.
Ji Wuqing had never invited you; she said their way of recruiting informants wasn't done by casual invites.
If you really wanted to join, she could recommend you, but then you'd face years of observation and multiple trials.
You thought that was troublesome, so you never proactively applied. Anyway, you and Ji Wuqing were on good terms; if the Torch Society truly had difficulties, you could step in to help.
You could feel there weren't many people in that organization.
They acted with extreme caution.
Their advantage was longevity—having existed so long, even slow development meant they were present across major planets—at least within the Celestial River local galaxy.
One day, you were cultivating on Ancient Cloud Mountain.
—Ji Xiaosong had secretly brought you up.
Now that the bottleneck in your level had been broken, this was a period of rapid cultivation. You practiced diligently day and night.
Ji Xiaosong was nearby as well.
"Aiya, it's great that cousin isn't here, my ears finally get some peace."
You smiled and paused your energy.
"Xiaosong, actually your cousin likes you a lot."
"Come on, she only bullies me because I'm obedient, makes me her follower, serving tea and doing chores, wasting my cultivation time."
"She will inherit the family headship one day, leading the entire Ji clan. Aren't you lowering yourself by being her lackey?"
"If you put it that way... dang! The main thing is cousin hardly shows any head-of-family demeanor. I think Xiao Ri Ge has a higher chance of becoming head."
Ji Xiaori, one of Ji Wuqing's younger brothers, was also someone with excellent cultivation talent.
Ji Xiaori also possessed leadership ability and had already taken over many Ji family businesses, wielding real power.
In that area, Ji Wuqing simply couldn't compete.
Ji Wuqing did it on purpose; by not involving herself in family affairs she could always be free to handle Torch Society matters.

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