Immortal Ascension Through Marriage: Investing in My Wife Get Returns

BOOOOOOM!

The sky above the plateau warped violently, forming a massive, visible sphere of distorted gravity that could be seen for hundreds of miles in every direction.

At the same time, Xuan Mingzhe’s formidable Half-Step Soul Transformation divine sense swept across the entire northern quadrant of the battlefield. His consciousness spread through the void like an invisible tide, carrying a precise telepathic command that only the cultivators of the Xuan Province retinue could perceive.

"Everyone from Xuan Province, converge on my position immediately."

His voice was cold and commanding.

"Bring every token you currently possess. From this moment onward, all tokens gathered by our retinue will be held by me. Those who have not yet secured tokens are to remain together and wait for further orders."

It was a brilliant tactic. Xuan Mingzhe had no intention of fighting his own countrymen in a free-for-all. By commanding his massive retinue to instantly gather and voluntarily yield their starting tokens to him, he would instantly rocket to the top of the leaderboard with fifty or sixty tokens in the first few hours, securing his absolute dominance without shedding a single drop of sweat.

To the east, a blinding pillar of sword Qi pierced the silver clouds. Jiang Wan, the heir of the Wan Jian Sword Sect, had planted his legendary blade into the earth, projecting a beacon of sword intent that summoned his fifty elite swordsmen to his location.

To the south, the massive heir of the Chu Province simply stood atop a ruined temple and roared, his voice amplified by his Peerless stage cultivation, shattering the eardrums of anyone within a fifty-mile radius as he demanded his retinue assemble and pay their token to him.

Any unfortunate Lower Division cultivator who accidentally stumbled across these massive gathering points was instantly crushed. The Upper Division geniuses swatted them out with the casual indifference of a man slapping a mosquito.

Time flowed strangely within the pocket realm. The dull silver sky never darkened into night, offering only a perpetual, exhausting twilight.

One day passed. Then two. Then three.

The landscape of the Void Ascension Battlefield was rapidly stained with blood. The canyons echoed with the desperate screams of Lower Division cultivatiors as they were hunted down by Upper Division scouting parties. Across the battlefield, the golden ranking panel flickered and updated almost constantly, names rising and falling as cultivators were beaten unconscious, or forced to surrender.

Through it all, Lin Yuan drifted like a ghost.

He floated high above the carnage. He mapped the territorial boundaries established by the Six Peerless Geniuses. He hovered above Jiang Wan’s camp, his mind meticulously analyzing the it. He floated near Chu Kuang’s bloody hunting grounds,He observed Feng Yao sitting cross-legged on a mountain peak, the boy’s terrifying intent occasionally lashing out to crush the minds of passing beasts without the boy ever lifting a finger.

Lin Yuan watched. He waited.

When the golden ranking panel materialized again on the fifth day within the realm, the disparity was staggering.

Xuan Mingzhe - 33 Tokens

Jiang Wan - 19 Tokens

Chu Kuang - 17 Tokens

Ye Ao - 13 Tokens

Feng Yao - 10 Tokens

Ling Chuan - 10 Tokens

...

...

Lin Yuan - 1 Token.

While five brutal days had passed inside the temporal dilation of the pocket realm, scarcely two hours had elapsed in the outside world.

The morning sun still bathed the Central Continent’s Grand Court in Sky Jade City. The amphitheater was packed to the brim. The tens of thousands of spectators, including the Five Emperors seated upon their thrones, were completely focused on a colossal panel hovering in the center of the arena.

The panel provided a live, real-time update of the rankings and token counts from within the Void Ascension Battlefield.

For the Upper Division delegations, the viewing had become a joyous celebration of their champions’ dominance. Their geniuses were performing exactly as expected, crushing their opponents and rapidly climbing the leaderboard as their respective retinues consolidated their tokens under them.

But for the Zhao Province, the same display had become an agonizing nightmare of public humiliation.

Lord Zhao Shenming sat rigidly in his chair, his face carved into an expression of unyielding calm, though his knuckles had turned completely white from the force with which he gripped the armrests.

On the massive panel was the single name representing his province’s greatest gamble.

Rank 233: Lin Yuan (Zhao Province) - 1 Token.

Two hours had passed. The preliminary round was well underway, yet Lin Yuan had not secured a single additional token. He had not even engaged in combat. He was still sitting on the single token he had received upon entering the battlefield.

Roars of laughter erupted from the Chu and Ye Province delegations.

"He’s hiding!" jeered a high-ranking elder of the Chu Province, pointing openly toward Lord Zhao. "Your champion entered the battlefield, felt the true aura of our young masters, and immediately buried himself in the dirt! He’s paralyzed with terror!"

"Did you honestly think a peasant who just broke through Spirit Severing could survive in a realm filled with true monsters?" mocked a sect master from the Xuan Province. "He’s probably sitting in a cave somewhere, trembling and praying to his ancestors that no one finds him before the thirty days are over. At least then he won’t have to experience what a real fight feels like!"

The mockery rained down upon the Zhao Province delegation like physical blows. The faces of the local sect masters and clan elders burned with shame, their expressions growing increasingly ugly with every word.

Seated among the middle rows, surrounded by the remnants of his disgraced family, Han Zilie stared at the panel with wide eyes. A hysterical, vindictive smile slowly stretched across his face.

Yes, Han Zilie thought, trembling with manic satisfaction. Hide, you coward. Let the entire Central Continent see exactly what you are. You act like a sovereign when you are protected by the palace, but the moment you are thrown into the fire, you are nothing but a frightened rat.

Lord Zhao Shenming closed his eyes for a brief moment and inhaled deeply. He could feel the stinging, pitying gazes of the other Lower Division Lords boring into the side of his head. He had risked the entire political standing of his province on a man who was currently becoming the laughingstock of the continent’s elite.

"My Lord," Envoy Zhao Wuhen whispered, leaning closer, his voice strained. "The mockery is becoming unbearable. The other delegations are beginning to openly question your judgment in bypassing the Han Clan for this man. If Lin Yuan does not make a move soon, the Zhao Province will lose all face before the main bracket even begins."

Lord Zhao slowly opened his eyes. His gaze rose toward the highest point of the amphitheater, where Emperor Tianxu sat silently beneath the Qilin banner, watching the panel with absolute indifference.

Then, Lord Zhao’s gaze drifted toward the eastern pavilion.

Inside a highly secured private viewing booth, completely isolated from the jeering crowds, sat Bai Qingyue. She rested peacefully in her wheelchair, a cup of warm tea cradled in her hands, with Bai Chen seated beside her.

Lord Zhao noticed something that struck him with profound dissonance.

She was not embarrassed.

She was not worried.

As she looked up at the massive panel displaying her husband’s name at Rank 233, a small, serene, and utterly confident smile touched her lips. She took a slow sip of tea, completely ignoring the roaring laughter and mockery coming from the Upper Division elders.

Seeing that absolute, unwavering faith, Lord Zhao Shenming’s erratic heartbeat slowly settled. He forced his hands to relax, releasing his death grip on the armrests.

"Let them laugh, Wuhen," Lord Zhao murmured, his voice returning to its cold, steady rumble. "The ignorant always mock what they cannot comprehend."