CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER 62 - LOVING MY WIVES TOO DEEPLY

The first thing that filtered through the haze of returning consciousness wasn’t sight or touch—it was sound. Voices, broken and hollow, drifting through the darkness like ghosts of themselves.

"He’s... he’s still not breathing." Mei Ling’s voice, barely above a whisper, cracked with exhaustion. "It’s 3 been . His chest isn’t moving. His skin is so cold..."

My awareness flickered like a dying candle, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. The system’s revival protocol was working, but slowly—rebuilding my body cell by cell while my consciousness floated between life and death.

"But he promised that he would return, right?" Lin Yue’s normally strong voice wavered like a child’s, desperate for reassurance that would never come. "He... he said he’d always come back to us. He promised..."

A single word cut through the air like a blade, heavy with bitter grief and shattered faith:

"Liar."

Feng’s voice. Just that one word, but it carried the weight of a collapsed world. No ice-queen composure, no elegant syllables—just raw, broken accusation against a man who’d left her behind after awakening her heart.

The pain in that single syllable hit me harder than any demon lord’s attack. She thought I’d abandoned them. They all did.

My eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, but I forced them open anyway. The world came into focus slowly, revealing rough stone walls, the dancing shadows of firelight, and the most heartbreaking sight I’d ever witnessed.

We were in some kind of cave—probably where they’d taken shelter after escaping the collapsing realm. But it wasn’t the setting that gutted me; it was them.

Feng sat at the far edge of the cavern, her back against the wall, knees drawn up to her chest. Her severe bun had long since fallen apart, black hair hanging in tangled curtains around her face. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs, and I could see the glint of tears through her hair.

The proud Elder who’d commanded respect from thousands was reduced to a broken woman grieving for a love she’d barely begun to understand.

Mei Ling lay curled on my left side, her face pressed against what she thought was my corpse, her servant’s robes stained with dirt and tears.

Her nature affinity flickered weakly around her, green light pulsing in rhythm with her sobs as she whispered apologies into my still chest.

"I’m sorry, husband... I should have been stronger... should have stayed with you... forgive me, please forgive me..."

And Lin Yue knelt on my right, the fierce archer who’d threatened to crush my balls now reduced to tears that fell steadily from her green eyes onto her clenched fists.

Her bronze skin was pale, her warrior’s posture broken as she stared at my face with desperate hope fading to acceptance.

The sight of their devastation—these three incredible women destroyed by grief over me—made something warm unfurl in my chest.

Not arousal, not system rewards, just... love. Pure, simple love for these broken goddesses mourning their perverted emperor.

I smiled.

They couldn’t see it yet—too lost in their own anguish to notice the subtle rise and fall of my chest as life returned. But I smiled anyway, because how could I not? Even in death, I was surrounded by more devotion than any man deserved.

Time to make an entrance.

Without moving my body or alerting them to my awakening, I activated the pleasure palace. The transformation was instant and dramatic—rough stone walls flowed like liquid, reshaping into silk-draped chambers, the hard cave floor becoming plush carpets and scattered pillows. Candles materialized from nothing, casting warm golden light across surfaces that gleamed with impossible luxury.

The three women looked up in shock as their grief-cave became a paradise around them, confusion replacing despair for just a moment.

"Now then," I said, my voice rough but carrying clearly through the transformed space, "can anyone tell me why my wives are crying?"

The reaction was instantaneous and beautiful.

All three pairs of eyes snapped to my face, widening in disbelief, hope, terror, and joy all mixed together. For a heartbeat, nobody moved. Then—

"TIANLONG!"

Mei Ling launched herself at me like her life depended on it, her Core Formation strength nearly cracking my ribs as she slammed into my chest.

Her tears soaked through my robes as she sobbed incoherently, hands roaming my face and neck as if to confirm I was real.

Lin Yue was half a second behind, her warrior’s grace forgotten as she threw herself across my legs, strong arms wrapping around my waist in a death grip while tears streamed down her face. "You bastard! You absolute bastard! We thought you were dead!"

But it was Feng who hit me hardest—literally. She moved like lightning across the room, her Soul Formation speed turning her into a blur before she crashed into us all, sending the pile of bodies tumbling backward onto the king-size bed that had materialized behind me.

We landed in a tangle of limbs and silk sheets, three sobbing women pressed against every inch of my body, their tears mixing with desperate kisses and frantic touches as they tried to convince themselves I was really here.

"Don’t you ever—" Lin Yue bit my shoulder hard enough to leave marks, her voice muffled against my skin. "—EVER do that to us again! Do you hear me?"

"Husband, husband, husband..." Mei Ling chanted against my neck, her lips pressing kisses between each repetition, her nature affinity wrapping around us all in protective vines. "You promised you’d come back... you promised..."

Feng said nothing, but her grip on my shirt was so tight her knuckles had gone white. Her face was buried against my chest, her whole body shaking as she fought for control.

When she finally looked up at me, her pale blue eyes were swimming with tears and fury in equal measure.

"Liar," she whispered again, but this time it wasn’t bitter accusation—it was desperate relief mixed with the anger of someone who’d been terrified of abandonment. "You’re such a liar. You said... you said you’d give me what I craved after the realm. But then you..."

"Hey now," I said softly, reaching up to cup her tear-streaked face. My thumb brushed across her cheek, wiping away the evidence of her grief. "I never said when I’d give it to you. Just that I would. A true emperor always keeps his promises, even if he has to come back from the dead to do it."

That broke her completely. Feng Lianhua, the ice queen who’d faced down armies without flinching, crumbled into sobs against my chest while I held all three of them close.

"Besides," I added with a grin that felt rusty but genuine, "did you really think death could keep me from my three favorite pussies? Hell’s got nothing on the motivation of an emperor who hasn’t finished claiming his empresses."

The crude joke cut through their despair like sunlight through clouds.

Or so I thought.

Until popped system notifications.

Before the laughter could fully take root, the air in the pleasure palace shimmered with cold blue light.

Three translucent panels unfolded in front of me, each one stamped with flashing crimson warnings.

[System Alert: Cultivation Instability Detected]

[Warning: Bonded partners Mei Ling, Lin Yue, and Feng Lianhua have achieved forced breakthroughs without proper foundation. Current risk of collapse: Extreme]

"Haah.... it’s good you are fine now Husband." Mei Ling gasped as emerald vines of qi coiled wildly around her body as if supressed until.now due to her grief, lashing like a storm-tossed forest.

"I-I will rest..." Lin Yue’s golden aura blazed hotter than her skin could contain, cracks of fire-light spiderwebbing across her bronze arms.

"....Urgh... I wanted to know you more but it seems my body..." Feng Lianhua trembled silently, her ice-cold essence fracturing in shards that threatened to cut her from within.

[Predicted Outcomes if unchecked:

— Mei Ling: Qi Deviation (94%) → Core Collapse

— Lin Yue: Meridians Overload (81%) → Body Rupture

— Feng Lianhua: Soul Shatter (77%) → Permanent Death]

’Hm.’ The system’s warnings hit me like a gut punch, flashing those damn red alerts right in my face while my girls were literally falling apart in my arms.

Mei Ling’s vines were going nuts, whipping around like they wanted to strangle the air itself.

Lin Yue looked like she was about to burst into flames, her skin cracking with that golden fire qi overloading her meridians.

And Feng... fuck, Feng was the worst—her ice essence was splintering inside her, like glass about to shatter her soul into a million pieces.

But again, I wasn’t going to let anything happen to them.

’Even if I have to fight death out of them.’