"Xiao Che, congratulations on your wedding."
Yun Che snapped from his thoughts. The voice was familiar. Poisonous. And when he turned toward the source of the trash talk, he couldn't help but smile.
Perfect. The opportunity I was waiting for.
"Well now, thank you!" Yun Che replied loudly, voice dripping with false cheer. "Seems I drew a winning lottery today. Glad the kid decided to show up. Not the wedding I imagined, but hey—" he shrugged mockingly, "we take what we can get."
A wave of murmurs rolled through the courtyard.
Xia Qingyue shifted her gaze toward him as he spoke. Her brows knit faintly. The Yun Che she remembered—if only faintly—had been cheerful, eager, ridiculously excited to marry her. Her father once told her this boy wrote poems for her. The Yun Che standing beside her now looked… indifferent. Detached. Cold.
Being treated as a burden didn't bother her. But being treated as if she were nothing special?That stung in a way she didn't expect.
Xiao Yulong stepped forward with a venomous smirk, Xiao Yang slithering behind him like a shadow.
"Xiao Che, you seem to be full of yourself," Yulong sneered. "You've become the talk of the city—the cripple who married the phoenix of Floating Cloud. Tell me… what exactly qualifies you to marry Xia Qingyue?"
The courtyard quieted. Dozens leaned forward, eager to see the humiliation.
Yun Che stared at him blankly.
"Dude… I already married her." He shrugged, tone flat. "Qualifications? Doesn't matter anymore. Yours truly is the husband. I've got the certificate—but sure, I didn't get a ring."
A few people snorted. A few others stiffened.
Xiao Yulong slammed his hand onto a table, pointing aggressively at Yun Che's face. "Trash like you doesn't understand the position you're in!"
The manor fell silent. The guests stopped eating. Even servants paused in place.Not a single elder rose to intervene.
Of course not. Half the city wanted this humiliation.
Jealous men smirked. Women sneered. All pleased to witness the downfall of the "lucky cripple."
Yun Che tilted his head, expression unimpressed.
"Oh, come on. Are you jealous?" he asked lazily. "Didn't she turn down every other proposal… for me? I admit—" he placed a dramatic hand over his chest—"I'm touched. Deeply touched."
Xia Qingyue glanced sideways. He didn't sound touched. At all.
Xiao Yulong gritted his teeth. "Fine. I'll admit it—I am jealous. Which is why I challenge you to a duel!"
The crowd gasped. This was the spectacle they were waiting for.
Yun Che sighed—loudly—so everyone could hear.
"What makes you think I'm stupid enough to accept that?" His voice boomed through the courtyard. "A cultivator like you challenging a cripple? What's next? Challenging a blind man? A mute? Someone who can't walk? Or hey—maybe you'll start killing civilians because you're too weak to face an army?"
Laughter choked in several throats. Silence slammed down like a hammer.
Yun Che continued, voice dripping with icy sarcasm.
"I pity you, Yulong. Truly. You're so incapable of challenging someone stronger… that you resort to bullying someone who 'can't do anything.' How heroic."
Xiao Yulong's face turned red—then purple—with humiliation. Even Xiao Yang stepped back.
Every word Yun Che spoke struck Xiao Yulong like a slap across the face. No—like a public execution of his dignity. His expression twisted with humiliation and rage.
"So you're afraid of me?" Yulong snarled. "A cripple like you dares talk back? You think you can protect this beauty?" He jabbed a finger at Xia Qingyue. "Look around you! Do you think anyone here likes you? They're not laughing for you—they're laughing at you!"
Yun Che lifted an eyebrow and glanced slowly around the courtyard. The guests, the nobles, the cultivators… yes, their expressions were amusing. Hidden snickers. Mocking smirks. Thinly veiled contempt.
He clicked his tongue.
"Afraid? Hardly." Yun Che's voice dropped into a cold, almost bored tone. "Why would I fear someone who tried to poison me?"
A ripple of shock swept through the crowd.
He continued calmly, "And you're right about one thing—the whole city seems to support beating up cripples. It's sad, really. Like bragging about defeating a blind man and expecting applause for it."
Whispers erupted instantly.
"Did he say poison?""What does he mean?""Is he accusing Young Master Yulong?!"
Ignoring them, Yun Che lifted his chin, eyes sharp.
"But the Heavens are fair," he said softly. "And I'm quite confident I'll shove your insult right back down your throat."
Xiao Yulong's face contorted.
"You're an embarrassment to all of us!" he roared. "A swan like Xia Qingyue doesn't deserve to be shackled to a pig like you!"
A few men nodded, but most froze when Yun Che replied instantly:
"Calling me a pig means calling her a pig." His tone was flat, irritated. "We're married now, remember? Insult me all you want—but insult your city's beauty and it reflects right back."
Gasps echoed as the implication hit.
Yulong's insult had rebounded on Qingyue.
And she was watching.
Xia Qingyue's fingers tightened around her sleeves behind the veil. Shock. Irritation. Confusion. All hidden—but Yun Che sensed the shift.
Meanwhile, Xia Hongyi's anger suddenly ignited. His face flushed red, veins standing out on his temple. Insulting Yun Che was one thing—insulting his daughter was something else.
"BRAZEN!!!" Xia Hongyi bellowed, taking a furious step forward.
He was about to intervene, but an elder from the Xiao Clan reached out and stopped him gently.
"Patriarch Xia," the elder said with a thin smile, "this is a matter between juniors. Let them handle it."
It wasn't kindness. It wasn't fairness.
It was malice disguised as etiquette.
Half the Xiao Clan wanted to see Yun Che humiliated. The other half didn't care enough to stop it.
"Hongyi, this is a matter of the young. We don't have the right to interfere," the elder said with a thin, unsettling smile. It wasn't concern—it was enjoyment. And when Xia Hongyi took another desperate step toward the commotion, another elder blocked him with the exact same line, his expression equally twisted. Even Xiao Clan elders suddenly surged forward, forming a wall that prevented anyone from stepping in. It was clear now: this wasn't just a spontaneous outburst. Almost the entire city wanted this to happen.
Then the shouting started.
"Defeat that trash!""Claim back Floating Cloud City's pride!""Know your place, cripple!"
The young generation cheered like rabid animals, gleefully anticipating the moment Yun Che would be beaten for their entertainment. Their cruelty was so blatant that even the older generation didn't bother to hide their smirks.
Yun Che, however, simply folded his hands behind his back, expression relaxed and posture unshaken. The ridicule washed over him like meaningless noise. "So this is the world of ATG," he murmured internally, amused by how accurate the System's warnings of this world's cruelty had been.
The wedding had collapsed into chaos. All the careful planning Xiao Lie and Xia Hongyi invested—the preparations, the arrangements, the hopes that the two families' reputation would rise—had been shattered instantly because of Xiao Yulong. When Xiao Lie tried to rush to his grandson's defense, several elders physically blocked him, pushing him back with disdainful looks. Lingxi trembled by his side, tears streaming down her cheeks; her beloved Little Che was being humiliated in front of the entire city, and she could do nothing but watch.
Xia Qingyue was stunned into silence. Never in her life did she imagine her wedding would devolve into this spectacle. She felt a faint sting of shame—not toward Yun Che, but toward the situation itself. As her husband, he couldn't fight back. If he refused the duel, they would become the city's laughingstock. If he fought and lost, he could perish under "mysterious circumstances," and her family would suffer humiliation for years.
But if she stepped forward?
Yun Che would be branded a coward hiding behind a woman. The entire city—and their clans—would use it as fuel to degrade him further. It was exactly the outcome the elders wanted. This was never about fairness. It was about crushing a cripple publicly.
Despite this, Qingyue felt no romantic attachment to Yun Che. Their marriage existed because of her father's promise to the man who once protected her. She respected that. She honored that. But she already planned her next steps—she would eventually ask him to take a concubine to replace her so she could return to cultivation unhindered. Love had never been part of her training. Her sect forbade marriage, and her focus had always been on strength, not emotion. In her eyes, marriage was a burden she had agreed to only to repay a debt.
But even if she didn't love him—not even a little—she would not walk away and shame him in front of these vultures.
She fully understood the weight of status. If she abandoned him publicly, she would damage not only his standing, but her clan's as well. She didn't mind marrying a cripple if it meant fulfilling a promise. She didn't mind the burden of a title. What she did mind was pointless humiliation that served no purpose.
And yet, as she turned her gaze toward him, she froze.
Yun Che wasn't panicked. He wasn't trembling. He wasn't angry, humiliated, or afraid.
He stood there… calm. Completely calm. As though he were the one watching them embarrass themselves.
Was he always like this? she wondered. The Yun Che she knew was impulsive, emotional, starry-eyed, and overly attached. The man beside her now seemed composed, unreadable, and far more mature than she remembered.
A small, unexpected knot formed in her chest.
To protect herself—and him—she knew she must keep her distance. She would leave him after this wedding, as agreed with her sect. Showing coldness was the only way to preserve her purity and his safety.
She could only apologize internally: a soft, silent I'm sorry that he would never hear.
And yet somehow… for the first time since the ceremony began… she felt uncertain.
Something about him was no longer the same.
"Challenging a cripple to a life-and-death fight… and not a single person willing to stand up for me." Yun Che let out a slow exhale, the corners of his lips twitching upward in bitter amusement. "This city really does hate me."
He had come from a world scarred by a decade-long war. A world where people bled, sacrificed, suffered, and rebuilt. A world where he had clawed his way through despair and hardship only to stand on top of a tower at the end of everything.
And now?
He was shoved into a backwater city where the weak were mocked and the strong abused their power without shame. It was ironic—almost laughable.
Even that monster in the tower at Antarctica treated me better than this, he thought derisively.
Xiao Yulong would never be punished for today. The Xiao Clan was too prominent. In this Profound Sky Continent, strength was law—nothing else mattered. Justice was a luxury, fairness a myth. The strong ruled, and the weak were eaten.
Some of the weaker spectators couldn't help but pity him. They offered him subtle looks of condolence.
But the younger generations? They cackled with delight.
And the elders? They didn't so much as twitch to protect him.
Even if Xiao Yulong killed him here, the punishment would be nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
"Do you dare, Xiao Che?!" Yulong shouted again, voice echoing through the courtyard.
Yun Che slowly turned his head toward Xia Qingyue. She stared forward with her usual emotionless eyes—cold, distant, unreadable. He could tell she wasn't invested in this outcome.
Why would she be?
Once the wedding ceremony ended, she would return to Frozen Cloud Asgard with her master. As for him… he would remain here, mocked, abused, abandoned—if he even survived.
Even if Qingyue tried to protect him today, it wouldn't matter. The moment she left, his fate would be sealed.
He let out a quiet sigh.
She doesn't care. Of course she doesn't.
He shifted his gaze back to the crowd. His heart was calm. His expression relaxed. And then—
"Look, dude… I'm really not in the mood for this," Yun Che said, rubbing the side of his cheek with a bored expression. "Can we do this another day? I just want to go home and get some sleep."
"So you don't dare to fight me?!" Xiao Yulong barked triumphantly.
Yun Che sighed, long and dramatic. "Fine. I'll go along with your crap."
The courtyard erupted in laughter. To them, the cripple was acting brave to impress his new, cold-as-ice bride. The amusement was palpable—derision wrapped in excitement.
"Well, well. Looks like the trash isn't a coward after all," Yulong sneered, stepping onto the stage with exaggerated arrogance.
He jabbed a finger toward Yun Che and taunted loudly, "I'll even let you make the first move. Come on. I won't fight back. Who knows? Maybe you'll actually manage to scratch me."
He laughed, the crowd laughing with him. With his fourth-level Elementary Profound Realm cultivation, even ordinary adults couldn't hurt him, let alone a cripple.
At the side, Xia Yuanba trembled with fury, his muscular frame straining against the elder restraining him. His brother-in-law was his hero. His duty should have been to protect Yun Che and his sister. Yet here he was—powerless. Weak. Forced to watch while Yun Che was humiliated.
Xia Qingyue, meanwhile, felt something unusual stir within her cold heart. When Yun Che accepted the challenge, she expected panic, dread, fear… but instead, he showed none of those. He didn't tremble. He didn't even look nervous. He had smiled.
Why?
How?
It made her uneasy. This Yun Che wasn't behaving like the boy she knew. Or the boy she thought she knew.
Yun Che walked slowly to the center of the stage. The laughter died down—not because they respected him, but because everyone wanted to witness the exact moment Xiao Yulong crushed him.
Xiao Lingxi struggled desperately, tears streaking down her cheeks, but the elders restraining her prevented even a single step forward. Xiao Lie was the strongest among the elders, yet even he couldn't break through when all of them joined forces. He stood helpless, chest heaving with rage.
Yun Che stood on the platform, facing Yulong. His body released no aura, no pressure—nothing. The unmistakable sign of a cripple with shattered profound veins.
The crowd whispered in disappointment, amusement, and pity.
"A death wish…"
"He'll be killed…"
"At least he'll go out like a man…"
But Yun Che raised his hand slightly.
He wanted to speak. One final line before the show began.
The courtyard fell quiet—not out of respect, but curiosity. A cripple speaking before his execution was always entertaining.
Yun Che smirked, amusement sparking in his eyes.
Let the act begin.
"Ahem… what happens if I win?" Yun Che asked casually, as if he were inquiring about the weather.
For a single heartbeat, the entire manor fell silent.
Then—
"Hahahahahahaha!"
The courtyard exploded into hysterical laughter. People bent over, clutching their stomachs; some nearly fell off their chairs. The mockery rolled through the crowd like thunder.
"The trash thinks he can win! That's the best joke I've heard in years!""Hahaha! I haven't laughed this hard in forever!""If he wins, I'll eat shit every day!""Forget that—I'll marry my donkey!""I'll strip naked and run around Floating Cloud City a hundred times!"
Ridiculous bets flew through the air. The young generation laughed until they cried. Even several elders couldn't suppress their chuckles. The entire manor treated Yun Che's question as the grandest comedy of the decade.
Xiao Yulong actually rolled on the floor, pounding his fist against the stage in uncontrollable amusement.
"Haha… you… sure… know… HAHAHA… how to make a dying wish, cousin!" he wheezed between hysterical breaths.
Then, wiping tears from his eyes, he smirked and added arrogantly, "Tell you what—the clan will grant you any wish you want. Any. Fucking. Wish. All of them will be granted."
He emphasized each word with malicious delight. In his mind, Yun Che was already dead. Granting a wish to a corpse cost nothing.
But Yun Che?
Inside, he was laughing harder than any of them.
HoYuu cackled with excitement.
Old Man Zangetsu—Ossan—smiled knowingly.
The trap was set. The stage prepared. The fools had walked right into his hands.
"That seals everything, then," Yun Che said calmly, confidently. Not a trace of fear crossed his voice.
"Piece of trash," Yulong spat. "Let's begin… or are you too afraid to move?"
Yun Che simply smiled.
The crowd whispered among themselves.
"He's gone mad…"
"Look at him smiling. He's completely lost it…"
"Poor thing. Pressure broke his mind…"
But Yun Che didn't move. He didn't tremble. He simply stood, relaxed and unbothered.
Then, under his breath—barely audible—he muttered:
"System… initiate Shinigami Mode."
A faint chime echoed in his mind.
==============
[Shinigami Mode initiated]
==============
And in that moment— the air around him began to change.