Chapter 178: Side Story 1

Chapter 178: Side Story 1

As Shen Wang had predicted, after losing their strongest support in Gu Yuanjun, his subordinates, who were of mediocre strength, quickly became disorganized and scattered.

The special department immediately collaborated with metaphysical practitioners from various countries for a global cleanup.

Once everything settled, the landscape of cultivators across the world underwent a dramatic transformation.

Without Gu Yuanjun's support, the vampires, unable to sustain their lives, largely perished, leaving only a few weak, low-level blood servants.

The vampires, usually social elites, caused national chaos due to their mass demise, overshadowing minor issues like museum thefts.

Werewolves quickly rose to prominence, taking over the territories once held by the vampires.

The island nation, being one of Gu Yuanjun's main bases, suffered the greatest losses. The Yin energy and evil spirits took many lives, but the national authorities eventually dismissed the incident as a 'major infectious disease', burying the truth.

As always, it seemed that as long as enough time passed, they could act as if nothing had happened.

However, following 'negotiations' by the Huaxia special department, the self-preserving cultivators finally purified the formations and eliminated the evil spirits.

This prevented ordinary citizens from becoming complete victims of the conspiracy.

Compared to others, Huaxia and some countries suffered the least, especially Huaxia, which, with Shen Wang's jade talismans and purification formations, saw almost no harm to its cultivators.

Ironically, the most severely injured was Shen Wang himself.

Under the strict control of the special department, the Gu family, and Gu Dongting, Shen Wang was forced to rest in the Gu residence for a whole month before he finally earned the privilege to step out.

Cherishing his hard-won freedom, Shen Wang leisurely wandered around, eventually finding himself at the special department.

The Xuanxue Association lost its authority, and the Special Department became the largest organization in the metaphysical world, with a sea of people at its entrance.

Everyone was busy cleaning up the mess left by Gu Yuanjun, catching fleeing remnants, purifying the yin energy, exterminating evil spirits... all incredibly busy.

But when Shen Wang approached, everyone immediately noticed him, their excitement unmistakable.

"Brother Shen! How are you feeling now?"

"Brother Shen, I heard you single-handedly saved the world, that’s so cool!"

"Brother Shen, can you tell us your story? I really want to hear it!"

Everyone eagerly called him Brother Shen.

Shen Wang even noticed that most of those who used to follow him were young people, but now, there were quite a few middle-aged people in the crowd.

Despite being visibly older than him, they still called him 'Brother Shen'.

Shen Wang couldn’t help but feel amused and bemused: "You’re all older than me, and still calling me Brother Shen."

One of the middle-aged men spoke with conviction: "Brother Shen is a term of respect, not about age. It represents our respect for you."

"Yeah, Brother Shen, you can't deprive us of the right to call you 'brother' just because we're older."

"Brother Shen, how did you single-handedly defeat Gu Yuanjun with his 500 years of cultivation?"

At that moment, among all the voices, one particularly loud voice shouted: "Brother Shen, is it true that you and Senior Gu are a couple?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the scene fell into utter silence.

Everyone turned to look towards the back, curious to see who the audacious person was who asked this question, while simultaneously pricking up their ears.

"Yes," Shen Wang affirmed, nodding with utter confidence.

This elicited a chorus of astonished exclamations: "Wow!"

Most of the people present were young and quite tolerant towards same-sex partnerships. Their main curiosity was something else: "So, Brother Shen, who's the top and who's the bottom between you and Brother Gu?"

"I think Brother Shen tops. He's powerful and has a very dominant personality."

"Does that mean Brother Gu isn't strong?"

"The thing is, Brother Gu seems like an unattainable flower..."

As the conversation veered off course, Shen Wang couldn't bear it anymore and swiftly made his escape.

After they argued for a long while and sought Shen Wang for a definitive answer, they found he had already disappeared without a trace.

Shen Wang didn't disturb Gu Dongting's work. Despite the gossip, someone reminded Shen Wang: When would he and Gu Dongting officially go public with their relationship?

After much contemplation, one evening when Gu Dongting returned home from work, Shen Wang greeted him with, "Xiaoting, let's get married."

On this ordinary day, in their unremarkable bedroom, Shen Wang casually proposed, "Let's get married."

It seemed unromantic and unplanned.

Yet, upon hearing this, Gu Dongting showed a clear smile, the mole under his eye shimmering brightly: "Sure."

Having transcended lifetimes and the boundaries between life and death, the formality of proposals or marriages seemed unnecessary to them.

Being together was all that mattered.

But if one desired, the other would always agree without hesitation.

Thus, a few days later, the news of Shen Wang and Gu Dongting's wedding rocked the metaphysical community, with hints of it even reaching the secular world.

Long ago, when Shen Wang was first recognized by the Tang family, he caused a sensation online to spite them. Internet trends come and go, and Shen Wang became a past sensation, but his extraordinary fortune-telling skills and strikingly handsome face left a lasting impression on netizens.

Netizens were stunned to see the trending headline, "Shen Wang Marries the Wealthy Gu Family's Only Son."

"Wait, am I seeing this right? Is it someone with the same name? Shen Wang... is it the real young master Shen Wang?"

"After the Tang family's bankruptcy, Shen Wang disappeared from the internet. I thought he was affected by the Tang family's troubles, but now..."

"No way, Brother Shen, what big move have you been planning behind your fans' backs? How come you're suddenly marrying the Gu family's only son?"

"Hold on, the Gu family's only son... Is it THAT Gu family????"

"Yes, it's the nation's wealthiest, the incredibly rich Gu family."

"What? Our Brother Shen is just a humble Taoist priest. How can he suddenly be marrying into a wealthy family and becoming a rich lady? I can't accept this aaaaah!"

"Seriously, the Gu family, their only son... Can the Gu family really accept two men getting married? They have an empire to inherit!"