Betrothal by Pointing at the Belly

"If you refuse, don't even think about walking out this door today!" "This is my house." "Then I'll mobilize the forces behind me so you can't take a single step!" "I am a disciple of the Dao Seeking Sect." "Then I'll go to the Dao Seeking Sect and claim you're forcing a decent woman into prostitution!" "Fabricating rumors will land you in prison." "Then the two people you brought along today are in danger!" "Be my guest. One is our Sect Master's fourth disciple, and the other is the eldest son of the Meng Family." "Then I'll..." Father and Mother Li had not expected Qin Yanyan to resist so fiercely, and they were at a complete loss for what to do. Although they were the elders here, their cultivation was the lowest of everyone present. Su Yiren placed her hands on Qin Yanyan's shoulders from behind, trying to persuade her daughter. "Yanyan, I know this betrothal is hard for you to accept all of a sudden, but why not try spending some time around Haoran? Perhaps you..." "There is no 'perhaps'!" Qin Yanyan shook off Su Yiren's hands, as furious as a little lioness. "Mom, did you get my permission when you made this betrothal?!" "Weren't you not even born yet back then?" "And even after I was born, you never told me a thing about any betrothal! You only told me a few days ago!" Qin Yanyan recalled how her gentle, elegant mother had suddenly dropped the news of the betrothal on her a few days ago. It had been an absolute bolt from the blue. *You could have told me sooner, at least!* *Then I wouldn't have been caught off guard, without even having figured out how to threaten him!* Su Yiren was left speechless. Seeing her mother like this only made Qin Yanyan angrier. "In short, I will never agree to this betrothal!" Qin Yanyan pointed at Li Haoran. "I'm doing you a courtesy here—cancel it right now, and we can consider this matter settled!" Li Haoran's temper flared as well. If she had spoken reasonably and simply didn't want to go through with it, dissolving the betrothal would have been fine. But to come in so overbearing and lawless right off the bat? "You say cancel, and we cancel?" Enunciating every single word, he declared, "Let me tell you: I will not annul this betrothal for the rest of my life!" Hearing that, Qin Yanyan bristled instantly. "Whether you want to or not, this betrothal is being canceled today! Sky Light Talisman!" Qin Yanyan whipped out a talisman. It transformed into a flash of white light, shooting toward Li Haoran with a sharp whoosh. Li Haoran donned a pair of gauntlets and deflected the white light with a punch. "Back up, back up. Let's watch from a distance," Lu Yang called out, ushering everyone further away. "Shouldn't we stop them?" Father and Mother Li, along with Su Yiren, looked worriedly at the two combatants. "Both of them have tempers flaring. Let them fight a bit to blow off steam," Lu Yang said with a smile. Su Yiren thought Lu Yang made a good point, so she made a move to refine the Li family's new residence to keep it from being wrecked. Both Li Haoran and Qin Yanyan noticed Su Yiren's action, so they unleashed their full strength, trading blows with sweeping, unrestrained ferocity. Li Haoran drew a spear from his storage space—the finest weapon he had ever forged. As its tip dragged across the floor tiles, sparks flew everywhere. A stack of talismans appeared in Qin Yanyan's hand at some point. Thrusting one toward Li Haoran, she cried, "Daybreak Talisman!" Li Haoran stepped forward, flicking his spear upward. Before the Daybreak Talisman's effect could even trigger, the spear sliced it clean in two. "Break!" The spear moved like a swimming dragon, weaving through the fight with domineering power in every strike. The thrust was faster than the speed of sound; with a sharp sonic boom, the spearhead arrived less than three inches from Qin Yanyan. Qin Yanyan's pupils constricted. There was no way she could dodge this strike. "Vajra Talisman!" She jerked her head to the right as the spearhead grazed her shoulder with a metallic clash. Qin Yanyan bit her finger, using blood as the medium to draw a talisman in midair. A massive hammer materialized right over Li Haoran's head. "Smash!" Li Haoran had no choice but to raise his spear to block the blow head-on. The heavy hammer struck with tremendous force, numbing Li Haoran's hands and making him drop the spear. "Drawing talismans in midair—what incredible talisman talent!" Lu Yang had watched Qin Yanyan fling talismans around like free handouts and assumed her family had provided them, but given the talent she displayed, she had probably drawn every single one herself. "Let's see how you fight without your weapon!" Qin Yanyan activated a Godspeed Talisman. Her figure turned into a bolt of lightning, leaning forward as she charged at Li Haoran. Li Haoran said nothing, throwing out both fists. He was never a cultivator who relied on weapons to fight anyway—what he truly excelled at was refining! Qin Yanyan produced three Vajra Talismans to block Li Haoran's punch, but to her shock, Li Haoran refined the barrier formed by the Vajra Talismans right on the spot! Tearing through the barrier, he kicked Qin Yanyan flying. Qin Yanyan seized the chance to grab Li Haoran's ankle, slamming him violently toward the ground. She had temporarily strengthened her body with an Enhancement Talisman; though she would ache all over afterward, she couldn't care less right now! Li Haoran used the momentum to brace his hands against the ground, shifting his leverage, and kicked back with a "Hare Kicking the Eagle" maneuver. Qin Yanyan was no pushover either. Ordinary talisman masters specialized in ranged attacks and were finished once an opponent closed the distance, but she was an outlier who had specifically trained in close-quarters combat. The two engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat, fists thudding against flesh in sharp, merciless cracks. Suddenly, Li Haoran faked a move and violently headbutted Qin Yanyan. Stunned senseless by the sudden blow, Qin Yanyan collapsed to the ground with a thud. "He strengthened his hair?!" Lu Yang was stunned. The scene was eerily familiar: during the exchange meet with the Five Elements Sect, Meng Jingzhou had used this exact shameless move to defeat his opponent. Meng Jingzhou was even more shocked than Lu Yang. Tempering one's body all the way to the hair was the Third Elder's signature technique, and the cultivation requirements were extraordinarily demanding. Where had Li Haoran learned it? And how could he have mastered it? Li Haoran noticed the two of them, smiled, and took off his wig. If body tempering could extend to hair, then artifact crafting could naturally extend to a wig. "Senior Brother Meng gave me a lot of inspiration when he defeated his opponent with that move. But I'm not a body tempering cultivator and couldn't temper my hair, so I could only shave my head and craft a wig instead. Looking at it today, the results were pretty good." Lu Yang: "..." Meng Jingzhou: "..." *You really are ruthless to yourself.* Lying on the ground and seeing that Li Haoran had shamelessly been wearing a wig, Qin Yanyan was overcome with grief and indignation. She wanted to burst into tears, but forced them back down. "You win! Marry my mom, then! I won't stand in your way anymore! Do whatever you want! But either way, there's no way in hell I'm ever calling you Dad!" Li Haoran: "!!!" Before he could even savor the joy of victory, this bombshell struck him so hard his head spun. "Marry..." Li Haoran muttered under his breath at first, before his voice spiked sharply, "...your mom?!" Li Haoran whipped around to look at his parents and the blushing Su Yiren. "Mom, wasn't it supposed to be a betrothal by pointing at the belly?!" Mother Li averted her gaze, not daring to look her son in the eye. "That's right. Back then, Yiren pointed at my belly and said she wanted to marry you." "Is *that* how 'pointing at the belly for marriage' is supposed to be understood?!" "Give me some melon seeds." Lu Yang snatched half the melon seeds from Meng Jingzhou's hand, and the two began cracking them like hamsters. Lu Yang remarked thoughtfully, "When the woman is three thousand years older, what was it you hold again?"