Today is a different day.
He stood in his small courtyard and smiled at the thin clouds that drifted lazily above Sun Peak.
Today he completely domesticated the Heavenly Governor's daughter.
And he thought alone nearly made him laugh himself to tears.
Zhen Rou now encouraged them to make bets.
Long-term bets to be precise.
She said she wanted it to be their couple's thing.
"Life needs excitement, husband!"
She had said cheerfully, swirling her tea.
"And what is marriage without a little danger?"
Naturally, Li Qingmu always agreed.
When he told her he could make her even more beautiful than she already was, he hadn't expected her to go quiet.
Zhen Rou had hesitated as her fingers gripped her sleeves.
Her voice had softened to become shy and fragile.
"You said I'm beautiful like this. So… I don't really mind whether I become more beautiful or not."
But she immediately felt ashamed of herself.
She didn't want him to see her insecurities so she quickly changed the mood.
"But—if we ever have children, we absolutely must not pamper them like I was! If they become fat like me, I'll die of shame!"
Li Qingmu had laughed and waved lazily.
"No one in the heavens can rival your fatness."
She had nearly withdrawn from the bet on the spot.
But with a few sweet words and "touches" in the right places she went red and agreed.
The bet itself had been absurd.
If he could make her more beautiful she would allow him to spank her senseless.
For a noble lady, especially one of the treasured daughters of Heavenly Governor Zhen Guang, this was a humiliation so deep it bordered on sacrilege.
No man, even her husband, was allowed to enact such a level of dominance on her.
It was equivalent to stepping on her family's ancestral name.
Yet Zhen Rou had agreed.
Because she had fallen for him.
She fell for the way he indulged her arrogance instead of fearing it.
Any man that loved her as she used to be deserved the best version of her!
She had crossed her arms and snorted that day.
"Fine, husband. I'll agree. But if you fail, don't blame me for laughing at your weak cultivation."
Li Qingmu only smiled.
Fat women were the best long-term investment.
And today… his returns arrived.
The Stage 2 Peach Blossom Pill worked miracles.
In one week—
Her figure refined into an hourglass shape.
All her weight went to her sweet jade buttocks and her perky breasts filled with milk.
Her bones adjusted.
Her face reshaped with delicate symmetry.
Her skin glowed with healthy vitality.
Even her presence carried a faint, natural fragrance of ripe peaches.
Zhen Rou had gone from a ridiculed noble daughter to a beauty that could overturn entire outer sects.
She now rivaled the elite fairies of the Mortal Realm's upper sects and perhaps even the weaker beauties of the Lower Heaven Regions.
She no longer hid behind gates and walls.
Instead, she dragged Li Qingmu through towns like Black Iron Village as she proudly paraded through the streets with her smooth chin lifted high.
Before, she feared comparison.
Now, she was the comparison.
And Li Qingmu? The man who once feared her anger now deliberately provoked it just to see her puff her cheeks and scowl adorably.
"She no longer looks like a raging bull!"
To him, that alone was reward enough.
But not the greatest reward.
For seven days, he hadn't touched her.
Because the Peach Blossom Pill's real treasure wasn't just royal beauty.
It was destiny.
Zhen Rou had awakened her first spiritual root.
Fire-affinity.
And not just that—
She had broken into Early-Stage Foundation Establishment in one explosive surge.
She now stood as a true cultivator.
If they conceived now—
Their first child would inherit an innate Fire Spiritual Root.
And Li Qingmu would receive the same blessing through karmic resonance.
The heavens themselves were holding their breath!
On the awaited day.
Li Qingmu sat in his humble courtyard, yawning lazily with a bamboo cup in hand.
"Husband…"
Zhen Rou's voice called respectfully.
"May this wife enter?"
Li Qingmu yawned and flicked two fingers lazily.
"Come."
Then the wooden gate creaked.
Soft footsteps.
A fragrance like fresh peach blossoms in spring rain drifted in before she even appeared.
Zhen Rou stepped through the gateway, and the entire courtyard seemed to brighten.
She was breathtaking.
There was only one way to describe her attire.
Sexy and extraordinarily enticing.
She had long, smooth legs, and her hips were so full and round that anyone who saw them would instinctively look twice. Her Daoist robe fit tightly around her curvy body as it stretched as if it could tear at any second. On top of that, her long black hair flowed down her back and gave her the striking look of an exotic beauty.
She was the daughter of a King Realm expert.
Yet she knelt anyway.
Her knees touched the stone path and parted her robes where her palms rested on luscious jade thighs.
"Your Rou'er has come to honor the bet."
Her voice sounded like soft bells.
She bowed her head.
"This wife… lost the wager. Husband said he could make me more beautiful. This wife laughed and said it was impossible with your meager cultivation."
She took a shaky breath as her long lashes fluttered.
"You won. So… please make sure to discipline this insolent wife as promised."
The great shame of it… Zhen Guang's daughter offering her rear like some tavern girl.
Li Qingmu almost laughed out loud.
He leaned forward to put two fingers beneath her delicate chin then tilted her face up.
That perfect, heart-shaped face was burning red.
"Oh? The noble Lady Zhen, direct bloodline of a King Realm Heavenly Governor… personally came to a broken courtyard to beg for a spanking?"
There was so much mockery in his voice.
"Were you perhaps afraid your husband forgot the prize, so you hurried over to remind me?"
Zhen Rou's eyes widened.
SLAP!
A tiny jade hand swatted his wrist away.
"I… I would never!"
She squeaked as she turned her beautiful face aside like a sulking kitten.
"This lady simply… simply honors her word! A noble does not go back on promises! Hmph!"
Her cheeks puffed out.
She squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to look at his infuriating smirk.
"I came only—"
"Because you lost."
The husband grinned like shameless cat.
"And because somewhere in that proud little heart you want your husband to put you over his knee and turn this perfect bottom red."
"Shut up!"
She squeezed her phoenix eyes tighter as if looking at him any longer might actually kill her from embarrassment.
Li Qingmu stretched lazily, stood up, and started walking toward the house.
"Well. Bet's off, then. I suddenly find I have no interest in spanking spoiled princesses today. You may go. I'm sure that makes you very happy."
He didn't have to look to feel the temperature behind him plummet.
"Huh?"
Her voice cracked.
"Where… where do you think you're going!?"
"Inside. To nap. Alone."
He waved a lazy hand without turning.
"Run along now."
Three heartbeats of stunned silence.
Zhen Rou shot to her feet as her silk robes swished with fists clenched at her sides.
"You—! You dare—!"
Her voice cracked.
She looked like she would cry like a baby.
Li Qingmu kept walking, lips twitching into a smile.
Three steps.
Five steps.
"FINE!"
The shout scared all the birds on the mountain.
"SPANK ME ALREADY!"
He paused.
Glanced over his shoulder, one brow raised.
"Erm, 'fine' is that it?"
He shook his head disappointedly.
"No 'please' hmm? No 'this wife begs husband's sweet punishment' either hmm?"
Zhen Rou's entire body trembled.
The proud beauty of the Zhen Clan is a blushing mess.
She bit her glossy lip until it turned white.
She sucked in a breath that trembled.
"…Please…"
This is the first time young miss is so submissive.
He had to comply!
He turned fully, strolled back, and sat down again.
Without ceremony he caught her wrist, tugged once, and the former heavenly proud daughter found herself folded over his lap like a good girl.
Her daoist robes parted just enough.
Two pale, perfectly rounded moons presented themselves as they trembled slightly in the cool air.
Zhen Rou squeezed her eyes shut, buried her face against his thigh, and waited for the first strike.
Li Qingmu raised his hand and stopped.
He leaned down until his lips brushed the delicate shell of her tender ear.
"Rou'er, calm down. Your shame is peeking out from beneath the robe."
A strangled squeak escaped her.
The moons instantly clenched, then tried to hide by pressing together… an act that only made them look rounder, fuller, more inviting.
Li Qingmu's palm hovered, savoring the moment.
Then a blue panel interrupted him.
[Foundational Expansion. Host has successfully created the primary branch of the Li Clan, seeding the first generation across twenty-six maternal lines. Rewards are calibrated to stabilize the clan's foundation and catalyze latent potential.]
[Unpacking Rewards…]
Li Qingmu's mouth twitched.
The System really knew how to pick its timing.
He glanced down at the fairy over his lap whose cheeks flamed as her body stiffened.
"No rush."
He murmured and let his free hand rest possessively on the curve of her jade buttocks.
A dedicated husband can spank his wife slowly while going through his rewards.
It's called multi-tasking.
Far away, thousands of li to the east, a golden airship carved with the insignia of Heavenly Moon City sliced through scarlet clouds.
Inside the main cabin is Patriarch Ye.
The newly appointed Governor of Heavenly Moon City!
He sat with his hands folded in his wide sleeves, face cold as frost.
Across from him is his son Ye Lingxiao who clutched the armrests till his knuckles went pale.
"Father, are we truly doing this?"
The young master felt uneasy.
"Zhen Rou is already married. The entire Eastern Reaches knows she belongs to that waste—"
"Waste?"
Patriarch Ye's laugh was sharp enough to cut stone.
"A waste who turned the Heavenly Governor's ugly duckling into a phoenix that can stand beside your future sister-in-law Zhen Mei? Lingxiao, open your eyes. That 'waste' is hiding his edge. This marriage was promised to our Ye Clan three years ago. I will not let some outer sect son-in-law steal what is ours."
Ye Lingxiao swallowed.
"But if we force it. Zhen Guang's temper—"
"Zhen Guang?"
Patriarch Ye's eyes glinted with ruthless light.
"If he wants his precious daughter to keep her new face, her new spiritual root, her new everything, he will hand her over with both hands and a smile. Either way, Zhen Rou will warm your bed before the next full moon. And if that Li Qingmu dares resist."
The patriarch flicked his sleeve.
A tiny wisp of golden flame danced on his fingertip.
Heavenly Flame of the Moon, King Realm!
"I will burn him until not even ash remembers his name."
The airship accelerated toward Golden Sun Pavilion.