Han Yan was in the kitchen cooking Bian a welcome-back meal.
In the meantime, he used the Regen Torch to attach his arm back to his body, well enough for it to function. Then he let his natural recovery take control.
The mouth-watering fragrance of vegetables wafted into his nose, and while Bian maintained his composure, Bao'er nearly began to drool.
"Thank you for the meal."
The food was scrumptious, to say the least, but Bian didn't find a single portion of meat in it.
This was the traditional meal usually given to one's husband after he spent some time in the sanctuary.
It made sense too, since their main focus would be to get stronger, and they would feast only on meat when in there.
'I have the bronze cauldron though, so I haven't had my fill of meat yet.'
Bian sighed but cherished his meal anyway. After he was done with that, they had a lot to discuss, mainly about their wedding.
But before that, Han Yan gave him a moment to rest. Bian finally had time to check out his commlink, and the number of messages and missed calls gave him a fright.
He first called his family, telling them he was okay, then he messaged the Saint Hall, booking an appointment.
He reviewed and rearranged the contract for the echo geckos, said hi to old friends, and ignored most of the other messages from unknown numbers.
A lot of them were looking to do business or use him in an advertisement for one product or another, but Bian wasn't interested in any of it.
"Now what do I do about you?"
He looked at the person who called; Han Yan's mother.
Why would she call him, though?
Pushing aside his nervousness, Bian dialed the number and called her back.
He had a formal conversation with the mother of his fiancée, and after a few greetings, Bian found out that she wanted to come over to their house as a surprise, without Han Yan knowing.
He agreed to her request, and after an agreement to set the date soon, hung up the call.
Lastly, before he slept, Bian scrolled through the news platform.
"The alliance joins the Yi family in mourning the loss of a beloved son and great genius, Yi Dongmu."
A moment of silence passed as Bian also prayed for the souls lost—not only Yi Dongmu but all the humans and even spirits killed by Executioner White.
It served as a subtle reminder, that he couldn't get too relaxed. His opponents were out there, getting stronger with each passing moment.
But that was okay.
Bian was also growing stronger at unprecedented speeds, thanks to the threat of death constantly looming over his head.
Surely, he could afford to rest just for a little while.
This was his last thought as he drifted off into sleep.
...
Beep Beep!
A new message alert resounded. Bian was quickly aroused from his slumber and opened his commlink to check the message.
"Be there by exactly seven."
As Bian read the prompt message, all drowsiness was washed away from his face.
He checked the current time, which read 6:27, and relaxed a little.
"It's still early. They made the right choice by picking now to arrive. Han Yan is still..."
As he was about to check on his sleeping beauty, his hand scattered the bedsheets to find her missing.
Bian let out a silent curse and extended his dongxuan sense, finding Han Yan in the worst possible location.
She was outside, sitting in front of a training post.
Han Yan also had the Dongxuan Sutra, so she felt Bian's presence had detected her.
She figured he must have been woken up and was surprised not to see her.
"I'm out here, practicing!"
Although they both knew where the other person was, she maintained courtesy and said her location.
"What are you practicing so early in the morning?" Bian asked, hiding his nervousness.
He was surprised to find that he, who withstood deadly creatures aiming for his life every day, was now more nervous than ever.
'How do I get her to go inside?'
While Bian was lost in thought, Han Yan seemed to have pieced together her response.
"You could say I'm practicing my intent."
"Intent?"
Han Yan smiled and turned to face the training post.
On the wooden platform, Bian saw a mango fruit.
Han Yan suddenly sent out her arm in a slashing motion.
Bian watched closely as she struck the air, far away from the mango.
He was expecting the mango to split apart, but even after waiting for some seconds, it remained intact.
"What was the point of that?"
He went closer and picked up the mango, inspecting it with the Dongxuan Sutra.
Suddenly, Bian sucked in a breath of cold air.
The epicarp and mesocarp of the mango were perfectly fine, the flesh remained unscathed.
But the seed within had been perfectly split in twain.
Bian was no stranger to internal forces. After all, he could use the Yin-Yang Blast to strike at the organs of his targets.
But Bian had to get dangerously close to make contact with the target, and his energy had to be sufficient enough to push through its defenses.
Han Yan, on the other hand, had just achieved a more refined version of one of his strongest attacks.
She did so from a distance and with her freaking bare palms.
'I have to absolutely learn intent from her. This isn't something the Falsified-Sky Sutra is capable of by itself.'
Bian then shook his head, reminding himself of his original purpose.
Training could come later.
Cough cough!
"That's very, very impressive, and I would love to learn from you later, but I'm feeling cold right now. Why don't we head in and warm ourselves up?"
'Feeling cold? A demigod who practiced Jadeskin!'
Han Yan was about to retort when it suddenly clicked in her head—the warming up Bian was referring to.
"You smooth talker."
She gave him a light punch on the arm, and the two of them headed inside to 'warm up' under the sheets.
After about twenty minutes, Han Yan went to take a shower while Bian went to brew her a cup of coffee.
As he entered the bathroom, he manipulated terraslip on his feet for a brief moment, making a slight protrusion.
Then Bian retraced his steps and waited.
"Although the coffee is boiling hot, Han Yan is a demigod. It shouldn't harm her."
As Bian was musing to himself, a realization kicked in.
"Han Yan is a demigod! She can easily dodge my accidental spill."
His feet left the floor as his hand brushed against the dusty surface of the ceiling.
"Luckily the bots haven't cleaned up this part of the house yet."
Bian was about to let out a breath of relief, but the bathroom door opened at that time.
He rushed forward, not minding his steps.
"Hey, for coffee..."
As Bian was offering coffee to his fiancée, he tripped on a protrusion, and the hot coffee flew towards Han Yan.
She regarded the coffee and stepped aside, not allowing a single drop to sully her body.
"Sorry about that, I wanted to ask if you wanted the coffee black or with milk."
Bian laughed nervously as he approached. By the time he was done speaking, he had grabbed her shoulder.
Han Yan immediately frowned.
"Oh, my hand must have gotten dirty when I fell."
Bian gave an apologetic gaze and went back to brew her more coffee.
Meanwhile, Han Yan, who had just finished bathing, couldn't stand the stain and went back to bathe again.
Bian saw a spaceship enter the planet from a distance and let out a breath of relief.
"Finally done."
He went to the training post outside and picked up the mango, scrutinising it immensely.
As he was checking it out, a myriad of thoughts were flowing through his head.
The most concerning was the Empirical Will, which activated by itself when he was reaching his climax earlier.
"I'll definitely need to get to the bottom of why that happened."
Bian was very conscious of how his powers affected his life. He had thought about using the Empirical Decree to fuse his sperm cells into a super sperm, but he didn't go through with it.
Would such a super sperm fuse with an ordinary female egg? The number of chromosomes might not tally.
Then even if he could fuse the eggs of his wife, would such a child still be born human?
Due to these reasons, Bian had decided not to use his powers to affect his childbearing, and yet the Empirical Will had activated by itself.
"Well, it's already happened. I hope everything turns out alright."