48: Chapter 48 Wen Yan's True Strength, Su Yingxue's Proposal

The group spotted Wen Yan in the pavilion and walked over together.

“Sister Wen Yan, why are you here alone?” Su Yingxue greeted her with a smile.

Wen Yan set down her teacup and said calmly, “For the peace and quiet.”

Shen Youqing, being attentive, noticed Wen Yan's teacup was empty and proactively poured her some hot tea. “Sister Wen Yan, have some tea.”

“Thank you.” Wen Yan nodded.

Wu Qingya also greeted her politely, “Hello, Sister Wen Yan.”

Wen Yan glanced at her and showed a rare trace of a smile. “You're pregnant and still running around; be careful.”

“I... I know...” Wu Qingya's face turned slightly red.

Lin Yun sat down opposite Wen Yan and smiled. “Sister Wen Yan, it's rare to see you so leisurely today. You're not in the Training Room?”

Wen Yan shot him a glance. “You have the nerve to ask?”

“Ever since you got married, you've become lazier and lazier with your martial cultivation.”

“Especially this past month; your daily cultivation time hasn't even reached a third of what it used to be.”

As she spoke, her tone carried a hint of reproach:

“Martial cultivation is like rowing against the current; if you do not advance, you will fall back.”

“If you keep fishing for three days and drying the nets for two like this, when will you ever catch up to me?”

Lin Yun wasn't angry.

“Sister Wen Yan, you're right. The martial path is indeed important. But family is equally important, and so is life. I don't want to ignore the people around me just to pursue the martial path.”

“Excuses.”

“It's not an excuse.” Lin Yun shook his head.

“What is the martial path for?”

“Isn't it to protect the people who matter and live a better life?”

“If I ignore the people around me to pursue the martial path, isn't that putting the cart before the horse?”

This was Lin Yun's recent realization.

Since his wife became pregnant, Lin Yun's mindset had slowly shifted. He was no longer solely focused on the martial path as he had been before.

The two of them continued to bicker back and forth, causing the three women to giggle frequently.

Su Yingxue looked at Wen Yan, her eyes suddenly darting around as she said with a smile:

“Sister Wen Yan, why don't you just marry Husband? His martial cultivation is progressing so fast anyway, it's bound to happen sooner or later~”

“That's right, Sister Wen Yan. I think you and Husband are a good match. Plus, that way we'd truly be one family~”

Shen Youqing immediately provided backup.

Though Wu Qingya was shy, after spending over a month together, she already understood the relationship between Wen Yan and Lin Yun.

“If Senior Wen Yan becomes our sister... it would definitely be wonderful...”

Seeing the three women acting this way, Wen Yan glared at Lin Yun irritably:

“You fellow, what kind of love potion did you give them? What kind of women spend every day trying to find their man another wife?”

Lin Yun smiled triumphantly. “This is love! Sister Wen Yan, once you become my wife, you'll be like this too~”

“In your dreams!” Wen Yan reached out, wanting to pinch his ear.

Lin Yun exaggeratedly begged for mercy. “Ouch, ouch, ouch! Wives, save me!”

Everyone burst into laughter, and the pavilion was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

After the laughter subsided, Su Yingxue thought of something and suddenly asked seriously, “Sister Wen Yan, how long have you been stuck at your Bottleneck?”

Wen Yan was taken aback. “Why are you asking that?”

Su Yingxue thought for a moment. “I remember you saying you've been stuck at Second-Stage Perfection for over three years without a hint of progress, right?”

Shen Youqing nodded. “I seem to remember Sister Wen Yan saying that too.”

Wu Qingya was very surprised to hear this. “Sister Wen Yan was already at Second-Stage Perfection three years ago? Wow! That's amazing!”

Lin Yun took the opportunity to flatter her. “Sister Wen Yan is naturally amazing. Otherwise, how could she be the guardian deity of the Lin family?”

“You and your big mouth,” Wen Yan glared at him. “No matter how pretty your words are, you can only marry me if you defeat me.”

“It's only a matter of time!” Lin Yun declared with great ambition.

Wen Yan didn't bother arguing with him but answered Su Yingxue's question nonetheless:

“I have indeed been stuck at Second-Stage Perfection for over three years. There has been almost no progress in these years; even second-stage blood-qi pills are of little use.”

“Hmm...”

She paused for a moment before continuing:

“To be precise, my punching force reached 640,000 kilograms five years ago, reaching Second-Stage Perfection.”

“In the two years following that, I took Medicinal Pills and my strength reached 700,000 kilograms.”

“In the three years since then, although I took a second-stage blood-qi pill every year, my punching force only increased by about 10,000 each time. There's been almost no movement.”

“700,000 kilograms?!” Su Yingxue exclaimed.

The other two women were equally shocked.

Stars practically appeared in Wu Qingya's eyes. “So... so powerful!”

Lin Yun was also shaken.

At the Late Stage of the first stage, his punching force was only 32,000 kilograms, still short of the 40,000 kilograms required for First-Stage Perfection.

But Wen Yan... over 700,000 kilograms!

That was more than twenty times his strength!

What moved Lin Yun even more was another fact—Wen Yan had already reached Second-Stage Perfection five years ago.

After reaching Perfection, second-stage blood-qi pills were almost useless to her.

Yet she had still stayed with the Lin family, continuing to protect them.

“Sister Wen Yan...” Lin Yun spoke, his voice slightly choked. “Thank you... for all these years...”

“Stop right there.” Wen Yan raised a hand to cut him off. “Don't start with that mushy talk again; I can't stand it.”

Lin Yun had no choice but to swallow his words of gratitude and said instead:

“Sister Wen Yan, don't worry. I will definitely become stronger as quickly as possible. When the time comes, I'll get you a Medicinal Pill to Breakthrough to the third stage!”

Wen Yan rolled her eyes. “How precious do you think pills for breaking through to the third stage are? They aren't something the Lin family can get their hands on.”

However, Lin Yun's gesture still made her feel appreciated deep down.

Shen Youqing keenly caught onto something and asked, “A Medicinal Pill that can help with a Breakthrough to the third stage... how much does it cost?”

Wen Yan glanced at her and said plainly, “It's not a matter of money.”

“Any pill that can help with a Breakthrough to the third stage is extremely rare. A small place like Jiang City simply doesn't have them.”

“Even if you go to the prefecture city, Tianshui City, they might have them, but you can't get them without the right connections.”

The three women realized the difficulty, but Lin Yun knew clearly—even with connections, the Lin family couldn't afford it.

He knew the Lin family's financial situation all too well.

A single second-stage blood-qi pill cost 400 million.

As for the pills that allowed a Martial Artist to Breakthrough to the third stage, the cheapest 'Third-Stage Barrier-Breaking Pill' cost ten billion!

Although the Lin family was the wealthiest in Jiang City, their total assets were only several tens of billions.

If they really had to produce ten billion in cash, it would be impossible unless they sold off more than half of their family business.

Just then, Su Yingxue suddenly spoke up, revealing her true thoughts:

“Sister Wen Yan, why don't you just marry Husband? Maybe... you'll be able to Breakthrough to the third stage immediately?”

Wen Yan: “???”

She suspected she had misheard. “Yingxue, what did you say? Marrying this kid will let me Breakthrough to the third stage immediately?”

Su Yingxue nodded and then looked at Lin Yun. “Husband, isn't that right?”

Lin Yun immediately understood her meaning. “You mean... Dual Cultivation?”

“Exactly!” Su Yingxue's eyes lit up.

Wen Yan grew even more confused. “Dual Cultivation? What Dual Cultivation?”