My Host Only Marries the Strong

Outside the Phoenix Perch Terrace stood an osmanthus tree. Seraphine stopped for a moment and broke off several osmanthus branches to carry in her arms.

The osmanthus fragrance was sweet and cloying, giving her a slight headache.

With a cold face, she thought she’d dump all the osmanthus flowers on that fool’s head in a moment to overwhelm her with the scent.

She held the osmanthus branches expressionlessly as she pushed open the door, immediately seeing the fool sitting cross-legged on the floor.

The room was filled with water vapor. Echo sat on a meditation cushion wearing her blue outer robe, eyes tightly closed with spiritual energy swirling and dancing around her.

Unlike ordinary people, her silver-white hair fell over her blue clothing, her inner garments snow-white, with the ties at her collar fastened in a perfectly standard butterfly knot.

An empty medicine bottle sat in front of her, its cork placed to one side.

Seraphine’s gaze moved from the medicine bottle to Echo, looking up and down, back and forth for a long time without moving.

If not for Echo gently rising and falling chest, she would have looked like an exquisite puppet from this angle.

This body cost her so many points to exchange for. If it got casually injured outside, wouldn’t she feel distressed?Seraphine thought to herself. Even if she didn’t feel bad, shouldn’t she consider whether others would?

“I suppose I forgot—you’ve only been human for a short time. You probably don’t know what heartache feels like yet.” Seraphine said very softly, her voice tender as she spoke to herself.

She stood at the doorway but kept her eyes on Echo. With a finger movement, the armful of osmanthus branches flew up, entering the room to hover above Echo’s head.

Seraphine lifted her chin slightly, her refined features taking on a hint of pride. Her fingers moved, and the osmanthus branches seemed to be crushed by invisible hands, breaking apart as flowers fell, forming a huge golden flower ball. With a proud snort, Seraphine flicked her hand.

The flower ball instantly exploded, silently raining down gold. It poured over Echo’s head and face in a shower, covering her silver-white hair, blue outer garments, and snow-white inner clothes in golden yellow, dusting hereyelashes, cheeks, neck, and shoulders with sweet fragrance.

The cloying sweetness surged to envelop Echo as she meditated. She slowly lifted her eyelashes, revealing clear eyes as she looked gently toward the woman at the door. The exquisite puppet-like figure instantly came alive.

“Seraphine, you’re back.” Echo curved her eyes into crescents, cupping a handful of osmanthus flowers from her lap with both hands. “So fragrant, Seraphine. Thank you.”

The things Seraphine liked to use carried sweet scents. Now she was very fragrant and sweet—Seraphine must be very satisfied.

A thumbs-up appeared in Echo’s status bubble.

Seraphine narrowed her eyes.

No good. She was still very angry.

Why didn’t she keep her eyes closed a bit longer? Seraphine clicked her tongue. “Get dressed properly. It’s time to go.”

Echo quickly stood, golden fragments drifting down around her—yet they couldn’t hide the way her hand pressed against her chest.

Seraphine noticed at once, ready to step forward, but Echo lowered her hand as if nothing had happened, bending instead to retrieve the fallen medicine bottle.

“Seraphine, I finished all the medicine. I’ll recover quickly, so please don’t be angry.” Echo said.

Seraphine: Very good. Now I’m even angrier.

She let her half-extended hand fall, glared coldly at Echo, and turned to leave.

“Eh?” Echo was surprised, an exclamation mark appearing in her status bubble. She quickly put on her outer robe properly.

When she walked out, she saw Seraphine standing outside the courtyard, giving instructions to disciples and servants.

Echo stopped and stood under the corridor to arrange her clothes.

Qiu Shuangshuang came from another path to find her master, carrying Water Dragon’s Hymn on her back.

“Master! Did you and Water Dragon’s Hymn finish your sparring? What were the results?” Qiu Shuangshuang asked excitedly. “Did Master win a great victory! I asked Water Dragon’s Hymn, but it won’t tell me anything. Is it too embarrassed to say because it lost to Master?”

Echo said in surprise, “I haven’t fought with Water Dragon’s Hymn yet.”

What! You haven’t?

“Then what did Master do these past few days?” Qiu Shuangshuang asked curiously.

“I went to eliminate—”

“Xi Lingren.” Seraphine turned her head, saying coldly, “What are you still standing there for? How many times do I need to urge you?”

“Oh!”

“I’m coming!”

Echo hurried over and took Seraphine’s hand.

Seraphine didn’t refuse the hand-holding, but she didn’t look at Echo either.

She told the servants, “Pack everything properly and return directly to Luanyang Palace. Don’t delay. Keep a low profile on the road back and be careful not to cause trouble.”

She emphasized the words “cause trouble” heavily, as if deliberately speaking to someone specific.

Completely oblivious, Echo hummed a tune while reaching into her collar to pick out osmanthus fragments.

Siyi arrived and saw this scene. She wanted to laugh but didn’t dare, finding it truly interesting—one person fuming with anger, the other cheerfully oblivious, yet their hands remained tightly clasped between them.

Seraphine suppressed her anger and counted heads. “We’re missing one person.”

“Yes,” Siyi said. “Little Tao is visiting disciple Wen Chunsheng from Virtue Central Peak on my behalf. She’llbe here soon.”

Wen Chunsheng?

Echo immediately straightened up, but her puffed chest slowly deflated because it hurt.

Seraphine said irritably, “What are you getting excited about?”

Because he’s a mission target.

Echo felt a bit melancholy. Since Wen Chunsheng hadn’t entered the Insight Academy Palace, she wouldn’t be able to observe this person anymore.

Although Seraphine had previously said she liked cold, sword-using, long-haired, and foolish women, Echo felt Seraphine was just saying that on purpose.

Until she confirmed Seraphine’s preferences, she couldn’t easily abandon her human observation missions.

No problem. She’d find a way to observe him.

Echo lifted the corners of her mouth.

Seraphine, watching Echo from the corner of her eye, felt a chill run through her body. She frowned, and the fingers Echo was holding couldn’t help but tremble.

Stupid thing, what are you smiling about?

⁂

Guest quarters, where Luanyang Palace disciples resided.

Xue Mengtao conveyed Siyi’s message, patting the medicinal materials on the table as she spoke to the bedridden and seriously injured Wen Chunsheng. “The Palace Lord and Master are both very concerned about your injuries. After returning to Luanyang Palace, feel free to requisition any needed medicinal materials from the Administrative Hall.”

She said gently, “Please don’t take it to heart, Senior Brother. Don’t let temporary setbacks weigh on you.”

Wen Chunsheng struggled to sit up and bowed to Xue Mengtao. “Thank you, Junior Sister. Please convey my gratitude to the Palace Lord and Elder Si.”

He covered his mouth with his hand and coughed, sighing. “It’s just that as a senior brother who has cultivated in Luanyang Palace for nearly forty years, I’ve ultimately disappointed Master and all my junior brothers and sisters……”

“Senior Brother, why blame yourself? You did your best,” Xue Mengtao said. “Nothing matters more than life itself. Please put your mind at ease.”

Wen Chunsheng sighed and bowed to Xue Mengtao again, saying self-deprecatingly, “Look at me—my mindset isn’t as clear as yours, Junior Sister. Elder Si truly has a discerning eye!”

“By the way, Junior Sister, I heard you had a master before entering Luanyang Palace?”

Xue Mengtao said lightly, “I wouldn’t call it having a master. I was just an unremarkable servant at the Lianshan Sect. I have only one true master.” She glanced toward the window as she spoke.

Seeing this, Wen Chunsheng quickly said, “It’s getting late. You should go quickly, Junior Sister, or you’ll miss the gathering time.”

“Alright. Please rest well and recover, Senior Brother.” Xue Mengtao bowed to Wen Chunsheng and remembered to close the door when she left.

The woman’s light footsteps gradually faded, and the room quieted except for bird songs from the mountain forest outside the window.

On the bed, Wen Chunsheng coughed and frowned, sighing, “Lianshan Sect…… a momentary oversight.”

⁂

“Whoosh.”

White sails dropped as the simple large ship of the Insight Academy Palace rose into the sky under the enthusiastic gazes of the cultivators below.

Five hundred high-spirited cultivators stood on the deck. Some waved goodbye to fellow disciples or friends who had come to see them off at the railings, while others looked up at the sky with ambitious expressions.

Then there was Seraphine, who coldly pushed away the hand of the person beside her, directly chose a cabin and went inside, slamming the door with a “bang.”

“Whoa!”

Echo raised her hand to touch her nose. “Close call!”

Just a little more and she would have hit the door.

Like a little tail, Qiu Shuangshuang trailed after Echo, carrying Water Dragon’s Hymn on her back and cradling Nine Heavens in her arms, the very picture of a devoted sword-bearing disciple.

She had seen, clear as day, the moment Seraphine slammed the door in Echo’s face—and couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath.

“Master, did you and Palace Lord Velka have a fight?” she whispered.

Of course not!

How could she fight with Seraphine? Not only had she never fought with Seraphine, but in all her past missions, she’d never fought with any human host! A system’s work principle is to serve the host wholeheartedly!

Qiu Shuangshuang was young but not stupid. She stared at the tightly closed door in front of them, her eyes turning as she said quietly, “Master, think again?”

Echo thought about it and said honestly, “We didn’t fight. Seraphine is just angry with me.”

She thought Seraphine was no longer angry since she’d held hands with her to board the ship, but now she realized that holding hands didn’t mean the other person wasn’t angry.

Qiu Shuangshuang: “Hiss!”

Oh no, Palace Lord Velka is angry!

Qiu Shuangshuang, whose awe of her master’s wife even exceeded that of her master, trembled slightly and instinctively said, “What should we do?”

“I’ll think of something.” Echo said.

Just then, the tightly closed door suddenly opened, and a small red dragon was thrown out by the person inside. Error looked around in confusion, her tail slapping the floor as she said, “Master says for you all to get lost and stop chattering outside her door.”

One minute later, three figures in blue, red, and brown were crouched in a corner. Siyi, passing by, casually dropped a barrier over them so they wouldn’t look too pathetic.

Echo seriously and earnestly described the course of events: “Because I was too eager to use the Stone Giant to eliminate future threats, I suffered serious injuries, and Seraphine is very angry.”

“I asked her not to be angry, but human anger doesn’t seem to disappear because of requests.” Echo said worriedly. “How can I make Seraphine stop being angry?”

Across from Echo, the two who had heard that Echo had single-handedly destroyed an entire sect were stunned. Qiu Shuangshuang was even more rigid, her awe of her master rising to new heights. Dear heavens, both Master’s wife and Master are terrifying people!

The terrifying master looked at them expectantly and questioningly. Error shut her mouth and nudged Qiu Shuangshuang with her elbow.

You’ve been human longer—you talk! Official source ıs novel·fıre·net

Under her master’s clear, cold gaze, Qiu Shuangshuang’s mind was full of “I killed the entire Jade Cauldron Sect.”

After returning home last time, she’d heard many things about the Jade Cauldron Sect from her parents, knowing they had a mighty late Soul Transformation cultivator.

Yet her master had gone alone to challenge an entire sect—now she understood why Palace Lord Velka was angry.

“Master, you didn’t tell Palace Lord Velka before going to do this, right?” Qiu Shuangshuang said quietly. That day, master had left directly with Water Dragon’s Hymn, and they’d thought the two were going to spar.

Although master had brought Water Dragon’s Hymn, it was Autumn Water Pavilion’s divine weapon and wouldn’t help her kill Jade Cauldron Sect disciples without permission from her mother.

Echo said calmly, “Mm, I don’t think Seraphine would have let me go.”

Qiu Shuangshuang said in surprise, “Then Master, why did you go?”

“Because I felt this was an excellent opportunity. Missing it would mean waiting a very long time.”

Achieving the objective with minimal cost was every system’s favorite choice.

Qiu Shuangshuang was shocked. “Master, that’s acting first and reporting later!”

“Yes, yes indeed.”

“I was just discovered and exposed.”

Echo consulted Qiu Shuangshuang: “If I had said Water Dragon’s Hymn injured me when I was discovered, would that have been better?”

Listen to this—my master actually wants to lie!

Qiu Shuangshuang covered her face in horror. Water Dragon’s Hymn on her back transformed into human form, floating in the air as she said calmly, “I wouldn’t injure you this severely.”

Echo said equally calmly, “Right, you can’t beat me. It should be me injuring you.”

Water Dragon’s Hymn said, “I don’t believe it. Want to try?”

“Let’s wait. My body hurts a lot. I’ll fight you when it stops hurting.” Echo pulled out a handkerchief to cover her lips and spat blood to show Water Dragon’s Hymn.

Water Dragon’s Hymn nodded. “Alright.”

Qiu Shuangshuang, watching their interaction: “……”

Error panicked and transformed into a dragon to coil around Echo. “Orb! Orb!”

You’re spitting blood!

“It’s fine. Making Seraphine not angry is more important.” Echo patted Error, making her head poke out from the gaps in the dragon’s coils.

She pressed her palms together and bowed to Qiu Shuangshuang.

Qiu Shuangshuang stared in horror at the bloody handkerchief between Echo’s hands, swallowing hard. “Why don’t you…… go apologize first?”

Right! She hadn’t apologized yet!

Echo’s eyes lit up as she slapped her forehead. “Oops.”

“Hahaha, I’ve become slow!”

She happily got up and hurried to find Seraphine to apologize.

Three minutes later, she returned with her smile gone, crouching on the ground with lowered lashes. “Seraphine told me to go away.”

She didn’t tell you to get lost—Master’s wife still loves you! Qiu Shuangshuang scratched her face, remembering scenes from home when her father angered her mother. Her eyes lit up. “Master.”

She hesitated, looking at Echo’s cold, beautiful face and the chilly aura surrounding her, then said uncertainly, “Why don’t you try……acting cute with Palace Lord Velka?”

[Author’s Note]:

Echo: Acting cute? Got it. I’ve already mastered the art of being adorable—and soon I’ll master the art of being spoiled, too. (waves glow stick)

Being a master of mischief is one thing; being a master of apologies is a whole other mission. Can this little orb get her way? Find out what happens next 20 chapters ahead at Pxtreon➡️LoveisLove520.