Chương 30: Bitter flower tea

"Let's go outside!" I demanded from everyone and walked into the yard. An oath had to be observed by the Heavens, and it's one of the most dangerous things a cultivator can do. Of course, Tian had made dozens of oaths in his long life, some of them to gain friendship of someone, or the trust of an old monster, others to gain a Legacy or Dao Scripture locked inside an ancient vault. Now I already knew all those, and didn't need to stake my soul on a promise. If possible, I would never do any oath in this life.

The oaths marked you for surveillance, so the Heavens would know if you broke the promise. Now, can you imagine what kind of surveillance it had to be to know if you plotted against someone in your mind, or if you withheld important information? It was even worse than the Yin-Yang Formation's mind-control, which had a limited duration. Luckily, Pef's scummy life had taught him many tricks of avoiding self-incrimination, and I already used some of them in this life. Tricking the Heavens would be a bit harder.

I took out the written oath I meant for Mei to recite, and gave the paper to her. Her eyes grew wide as she read it.

"Pef Tian... this could kill me right now!" she said in a horrified voice.

"You will be fine. The Heavens don't strike the innocent, Dark Sister. Go on, read it aloud..." I urged Mei with a smile.

"O Heavens, I beseech your fair judgment! This Mei Teshan is renouncing all previous oaths and rituals in exchange for becoming Pef Tian's loyal wife and lover, to cherish and obey him forever, and will never take action against him, or else I shall be struck by the Heavens' anger and my soul be destroyed!"

Inside Mei's chest a shade of dark blood protested against the older oaths being broken, when a blast of lightning fell from the sky and struck Mei like an orbital weapon, slicing through the Concealment Formation as if it was a bubble of soap. Mei fell to the floor, her skin intact but her hair was electrified by the static electricity. As for the blood shade thing, well... it was judged. Tian believed it was a blood bond with a demon, but his expertise was dubious.

He just cut down millions of demonic cultivators when found, and didn't bother to learn their culture.

"Hubby... did you know this would happen? What was that oath?" Qin Lin asked with a terrified face. I smiled and handed Lin her own paper. A much shorter oath, invoking the Heavens to become my loyal wife.

"I already am your loyal wife, Pef Tian!" she muttered while reading the paper.

"I know. This little oath is for your protection. Anyone who tries to turn you against me... gets judged." I said with a grin towards the sky. Lin blinked, then looked at her paper again.

"Oh! I think I see what you mean. Mei got struck... but she didn't die. Someone else was planning to use her against you..." Lin deduced after a long minute. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"The lightning didn't strike Mei at all, since even a Nascent Soul would have died if hit. It struck the demon inside her." I explained patiently. Lin glanced at Mei, then back at her paper.

"Dark Sister... was the demon?" she muttered in understanding. I nodded gently. My little wife looked at the sky with two fingers pointing up and said her own line, and a single glow of Heavens' intent passed through her before vanishing.

"O Heavens, this Qin Lin wants to be Pef Tian's loyal wife, forevermore." I wasn't expecting Lin to be compromised anyway, but better be safe. Turning towards my other two wives, I held their own papers out. Sadly for them, the oath was identical to Mei's soul-destroying promise. They were both Sect Elders, and likely did have previous commitments.

"Husband... this oath is too heavy! I am not a demonic spy like Mei was!" Na Gong protested after reading her own paper.

"And that's exactly what a spy would say too. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen. Even Mei is still alive and well, only the demon died." I argued with a careless voice.

"I'll go first, Pef Tian. My conscience is clear." Sakura said in a confident voice, and began reading her oath aloud. The same faint intent passed over, then a snowflake cracked inside her chest, and she spat some blood.

"Ah... that was a snowmind! I don't remember ever taking an oath." Sakura coughed more blood, and I held out a Tier 2 healing pill.

"Rest and heal, Sakura. You also don't remember what happens in my Formation, right? The Heavens judge only the guilty." Na Gong sighed and gave me a sad smile.

"I suspect this may happen to me as well. The Venerables are quite tricky and suspicious." she said with a glare towards the highest peak of the sect, then began reading her paper as well. As soon as Na Gong finished, a holographic lotus shattered inside her, and she fell to the ground spitting blood.

"My memories are returning... damn cloudheads!" she groaned in pain, so I gave her a healing pill as well. I looked at the sky, then tapped my chest. Is this why Tian died? Blue Lotus Sect... blue Bodhi Lotus. Could be a coincidence, but Pef said no. His senses pointed at a big secret, and he was often right.

"There must be a huge secret in our sect, Na Gong. Something about the lotus. And I think the spies are looking for it too." I mused in a thoughtful voice.

"The Venerables have called me dozens of times to report, and I never remembered. I even told them about our marriage, about Qin Lin's dream..." Na Gong mumbled as she sat down to heal. I sighed inward. Pef was right. It's not paranoia if old men with soul powers are digging into your mind.

"I'll take a sect mission and we're leaving. I expect evil from demonic cultivators, but our own Venerables?" I said softly and went back into my room to make some tea. Lin went to fix up Mei's hair, while the two Core Realm wives joined me for tea with sad faces.

"I'm sorry I doubted you, husband. You're so young, and yet wiser than old hags like us..." Na Gong spoke with a pained voice and glanced at Sakura.

"You're my mature and sexy wives! And after you ascend again, you won't even look your age. Those Frozen Venerables look like 20 years old. What do you think Tier 3 pills are for?" I warned her with a stern voice, then poured tea for the three of us. Sakura took a small sip, and her face turned sour.

"Husband, I love you... but don't make tea anymore. I can't break my oath, but I can still suicide to escape the pain." she spoke in a victim's voice. Was it that bad? I took a sip to check. The tea was a bit bitter... like always. Surely not worth to end your life over.

"Tastes like every other time I made tea. You boil the water to kill the germs, and add some herbs to give it taste. You think that's why women don't want to drink my tea?" I asked thinking of the few times I gave tea to a woman, and they sipped politely then never drank again. Na Gong tried to laugh and coughed blood again, so I offered her some tea to unclog her throat. She glared at me while Sakura started laughing too, and then also began coughing blood. Damn it! My tea must be awful.