Matt was minding his own business, just cultivating slightly while watching over the sect that he was responsible for. It looked like it was going to be another boring day as the rest as it continued. Most of the protective formations were already set up in place. They only needed to power them with the help of some treasures and then Zhang Dong could probably take a break.
While he was thinking about the coming days and what he would do when this whole grand defensive array was fully operational he spotted someone coming this way. It was a core formation expert that he knew. Surprisingly he was coming alone and he was on a flying sword and not on a flying ship.
‘You don’t see gramps moving much without some cute maids, was he in a rush or something?’
Matt already gave up on this man. He knew that his libido was unstoppable and he would probably die while being embraced by some kind of womanly figure. He only wished that his many relatives would stop sending him letters. They always tried to either offer him a concubine or someone as a disciple.
‘Is this how a lottery winner feels like?’
He wasn’t sure why his grandfather was coming here unannounced but he would at least say his greeting. He wouldn’t have to leave his room though as the old man was apparently flying right to him. He just waited for his arrival while scanning the area for anything suspicious.
It didn’t take long for Zhang Jin to come bursting through the entrance. The wooden doors almost flew out of their hinges after the old man made an entrance.
“There is my favorite Grandson!”
“Yeah, hi gramps. Try not to destroy the door, someone will have to repair them.”
He looked at Zhang Jin, the old man felt quite chipper. Did he perhaps get married again or something?
“This is truly a grand occasion Dong’er, you must make a toast with your Grandfather!”
Zhang Jin moved his hand out that had his spatial ring on it and produced a large bottle of spirit alcohol. It was an aged spirit from his personal stash that he only brought out on special occasions.
‘Huh? Is he really getting married?’
‘Instead of a harem protagonist, he is probably a hentai protagonist instead…’
He would oblige this old man. He didn’t care if he married another thousand women, if one of them stabbed him in the neck while he was sleeping it would be on him. Still, it would probably be best to ask about the joyous occasion, maybe someone else was getting married.
“What ‘grand occasion’ are you talking about here? Did one of your wives have triplets or something?”
He asked while Zhang Jin was pouring the alcohol into some drinking cups.
“Hah, Dong’er you sure like to joke around, I’m talking about your marriage.”
“You made your grandfather worry, you were taking so long.”
“But yes the first time is always the most difficult one, I remember my first proposal, my knees were all shaking and I was so young back then… that reminds me of the time when I...”
The old man started rambling about the good old days while Matt stood like a statue. Did he mishear, he was getting married? Did he miss a memo or something?
“Wait...Gramps hold on there… who is getting married?”
“Stop fooling around Dong’er, you of course, to Feng Liena, I came to congratulate you and decide on the guests.”
Zhang Dong received a strong smack to the shoulder that didn’t make him budge one bit as he was in a state of shock. He started thinking back to when this could have happened, when did he get married. Then it dawned on him, people started acting strangely the day he received Feng Liena that one day. He remembered touching her hand and moving to her side, he also remembered her blurring out that she accepted something.
‘Was it then?... Was that considered proposing?’
His whole face went white with horror. He was getting married and apparently the date of the wedding ceremony might already be set in stone. He only wanted to get to know Feng Liena a bit better and treat her like an equal and this was the result.
“Why are you being so quiet Dong’er? Here drink!”
He looked at the filled cup in his hand and took a swig. Due to his high cultivation alcohol like this didn’t really work and cause him to get drunk. Though he would really like to drink his woes away right now. He grabbed the whole bottle that Zhang Jin brought over and started chugging, soon enough there was nothing left and he still felt like his heart would pop out of his chest.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Hey, leave some for your Grandfather! You’re lucky that I brought moreover!”
The two continued drinking but Matt didn’t feel like talking about the wedding ceremony and told Zhang Jin to take care of it.
After his grandfather left he flopped onto his back and started staring at the wooden ceiling of his temporary residence. He had somehow proposed and the woman said yes. Normally this would be a good thing as this confirmed the woman’s emotions as she was willing to marry him. He was still someone from modern earth though, he didn’t feel like he knew Feng Liena that well.
The most time that they had spent with each other was during the sacred ground. Even then he only got glimpses of her true character as she was acting with those secret texts in mind. Only in the end she started behaving like a normal person.
‘Should I break it off?’
This was one of the options. If he did this now though the relationship that he had built up with the Feng Clan would cease. The women from that clan would probably never forgive him if he did such a thing to their Matriarch. This could even split the whole sect into parts, maybe even the Huo Clan would follow suit and feel like he couldn’t be trusted.
Matt wasn’t someone that believed in love at first sight. He was more inclined to believe that love would blossom slowly after you got to know a person better. That’s why he felt that unless he lived with someone for a prolonged time he wouldn’t really know if they meshed together.
There was no such thing in this world though. It was straight to marriage and then you were supposed to pop out children. This also brought another thing out into the open, was he supposed to father children now?
He felt like packing up and fleeing into the deep mountains. He already had trouble interacting with teenagers like his disciples. How was he supposed to be a fatherly figure to a toddler? He didn’t feel like he would be a good dad. As a socially awkward person that grew up in the modern world, he didn’t even think something like this was an option.
Still, he couldn’t abandon his people. He felt like he had done enough fleeing from his problems in one lifetime. It wasn’t as if he disliked Feng Liena and couldn’t see himself marrying her in the future. This situation only hastened things a bit.
He was already past his thirties which even in his original world was considered old to form a family. He was getting a beautiful wife that liked him and not like he disliked her in any shape or form.
‘This might not be that bad…’
He rolled to his side while analyzing the situation. If he wanted to keep the good relations between his clan and the Feng clan he needed to go through this. The woman he was marrying was also a nice person that he didn’t mind being in the company of.
‘...’
He gulped while calming himself down. The thoughts of running away had left his mind and got replaced by something else. He started imagining himself with a child on his shoulder and Feng Liena walking next to him. Hand in hand, just walking through a grassy field.
‘I think I’m getting ahead of myself here…’
He rose up to his feet as he made a decision. He would go through with this, he had already taken a swan dive headfirst. He might as well make a nice splash at the end. Another problem arose though, he didn’t know how people operated in this world when it came to getting married. Asking his grandfather about it wouldn’t be appropriate so he needed another opinion.
He grabbed his communication jade and sent out a message to one of his retainers, his female one that was Zhang Ya.
“How may I be of service, Sect Leader?”
She bowed in while asking, she was rarely called in by Zhang Dong as he mostly used the more analytic Zhang Kuo. She understood soon after she heard the question which brought a tiny smile on her face.
“Uh, how do wedding ceremonies work?”
The woman covered her mouth a bit as the Sect’s leader's facial expression was kind of bashful. She kept it in as she went through the ceremony and what was required from the groom and the bride. Surprisingly the whole ceremony was really similar to western-style weddings.
The groom wasn’t allowed to see the bride until the day of the wedding. They needed to send out invitations to the people they wanted and the bride would wear an expensive dress. Instead of it being white though it was supposed to be red.
The whole banquet would be set up in a red theme, this color was associated with success, loyalty, honor, fertility, and love. You also could insert some gold colors for wealth, from what Zhang Ya was saying his wedding robe would probably mostly consist of that color scheme.
‘I need to make the wedding rings…’
The traditional wedding bands or rings came into play as well. The wedding night was also a staple of the tradition. This was something that he would be a bit stressed out about, luckily he was someone with some experience so he was even willing to be the lead in that regard.
“That’s everything my lord, the wedding needed to be pushed back. The elders want to host it after the main sect facilities are complete.”
This was a happy occasion but accidents could happen. The sect's protective formations that could go against nascent soul threats needed to be put in place. The main castle area and the side buildings where the large banquet would be held needed to be prepared as well.
The sect had even hired some outside help with these wedding preparations as there was just not enough time. They wanted to have everything done within the next three months. The sets building process had already lasted for half a year and quite a bit of the main structure was standing.
The formation that was going to siphon energy into the medallion was going through the testing phase. They could even hasten the building process by moving some smaller structures with the help of the flying ships towards the main sect area.
He let Zhang Ya go back to her previous assignments as she was also quite busy with all the wedding planning.
He took a peek into his storage ring, there were some materials that could be used for creating these wedding rings. He didn’t only want to make them beautiful he also wanted them to act as a protective accessory. With his current knowledge he could add some nice features to these two rings, even make them connect with each other.
‘Hm, red and gold huh? Think I’ll just make them gold… maybe into a dragon design?’
He was thinking about making the rings into the shape of a coiling dragon. He could add some features to them like teleportation, so if his wife was ever in trouble he could always transfer himself to her location to aid her.
He needed to wait a bit for the arrays to be activated before heading into his crafting abode. The wedding was getting closer and he needed to create some presents for his fiance.