The fourteenth year of the Great Yu Qingying reign, a bleak autumn wind swept through the Buddhist gates of Yintai Temple. It was during this time that the Princess of Xiang gave birth to Yin Tingxue. Seventeen years later, Chen Yi was facing the same autumn breeze.
Sparks of fire scattered with the wind, drifting through the Buddhist gates like fleeting flowers described in the Buddhist scriptures, leaving the visage of the Bodhisattva blurry and indistinct.
Yin Tingxue gasped for breath heavily, Chen Yi stared at her, his emotions complicated—filled with both hatred and a trace of pity.
A flicker of disgust surged in the girl's gaze.
This was the person who appeared in her dreams, but this time, he didn't sever his Longevity Bridge. Instead, he had forced her into submission as his concubine.
Thinking of this, Yin Tingxue clenched her teeth.
If there is a future… I will repay this debt in full!
After a while, she unexpectedly opened her mouth:
"You… don't you want a wedding night? Then come forward."
Her expression was resolute.
Chen Yi snapped back to reality, sneering as though her resolve meant nothing to him.
If anything, her determination made it even better.
It made him even more thrilled.
"Little Saintess, how could you ever think I would be desperate for a wedding night?"
Chen Yi asked mockingly,
"A West Factory Hundred Households lacking women?"
Upon hearing this, Yin Tingxue's face paled instantly.
Chen Yi stretched out a hand, teasing the lock of hair that fell beside her cheek:
"Why should I be in a hurry to enjoy you? After all, you're already my concubine."
At these words, Yin Tingxue shuddered. At that moment, she finally understood—this man sought not just her body.
But… humiliation.
"No, you can't do this!… I am the daughter of the Xiang Prince, a descendant of the filial lineage of the Holy Divine Emperor…"
Yin Tingxue, as if clutching at the last straw to save herself, invoked the name of the late emperor in threat.
Chen Yi's face curled into a smile.
Yin Tingxue felt a surge of unease.
"Then strike the Awakening Drum and see whose head falls—mine or everyone in the Xiang Prince Mansion."
Chen Yi seized her hand, urging her,
"Go on, go on, Saintess of Purity, go on. You won't lose your way, right? Need me to guide you?"
Yin Tingxue's pupils contracted, a mix of shock and fear washed over her. Once again, Chen Yi unmasked the brutal reality—she had no choice.
No matter how Chen Yi taunted her, she dared neither walk nor act, cold sweat lining her neck.
[Negative Emotion: 70]
She stared at Chen Yi, deeply terrified, unable to utter a single word.
Chen Yi chuckled and gently patted her cheek.
Yin Tingxue could hardly miss the humiliation in his gesture, yet all she could do was stand rigidly in place.
From his chest, Chen Yi withdrew something.
There was a lump of sealing clay and an eight-year servant contract.
Chen Yi savored the sight of the girl's terror and despair.
"You know what to do, don't you?"
She was a stubborn woman.
When told she had no choice, she countered sharply by claiming to already be a concubine.
Yet beneath the stubborn exterior lay fragility.
Trembling, Yin Tingxue raised her hand and pressed it into the sealing clay. Finally, she imprinted it onto the parchment of the yellowed contract.
"I… am yours now…"
Compared to her previous resolve, her voice now held a tinge of despair.
"What comes next?"
Chen Yi's lips curled into a smirk as his gaze drifted somewhere farther.
"This won't suffice. Or do you intend to keep addressing me by name?"
[Negative Emotion: 75]
"Next…"
Yin Tingxue's eyes instantly reddened, her ears burning hot, but she could only lower her head. Struggling and forcing herself to utter two words:
"Master…"
[Negative Emotion: 80]
[Conditions met, Resentment Yin-Yang Technique triggered]
[You encounter your enemy, stirring ripples repeatedly in your Heart Lake. You feel both hatred and pity for her. Coupled with her negative emotions toward you, your cultivation level improves.]
[First activation of cultivation technique: Gain seven years of True Qi. Yin Tingxue's negative emotion bonus: Add three years of True Qi.]
[Life expectancy: Three years. Infected by a potent poison.]
[Remaining True Qi: Twenty years.]
[Excess True Qi can be condensed into True Yuan.]
Upon seeing this, Chen Yi felt a comfortable warmth in his Dantian. His meridians seemed to flow smoothly, his limbs feeling more flexible and powerful than ever before.
Looking at the trembling Yin Tingxue, Chen Yi chuckled.
Then, he extended his hand and forcefully jabbed her waist.
For severing my meridians,
I'll jab your waist!
Yin Tingxue's body trembled, her legs weakened, and she collapsed forward into Chen Yi's arms.
Feeling the girl's trembling, Chen Yi suddenly thought of something and shifted his gaze to the status panel.
[Dragon Slayer Blade Technique (Unlearned).]
This was an essential early-stage combat cultivation technique, but currently, True Qi was insufficient. Chen Yi scrutinized the True Qi display on the panel, hesitating whether to pour everything into it.
Aside from the Yin-Yang Technique, was there any other method to enhance True Qi…
Gradually, Chen Yi's gaze lowered.
Fixing his eyes on the Demon Sect Saintess before him, Chen Yi recalled a cultivation technique belonging to the Ming'an Divine Sect.
Sensing his intent, Yin Tingxue recoiled, her delicate teeth clenched, face pale, and said:
"What do you want?"
"The Star Absorption Technique."
Seeing her negative emotion level rise to seventy or eighty, Chen Yi planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Hand it over."
Yin Tingxue wiped her forehead as if to erase his touch, clearly repulsed.
Her voice trembled:
"I've memorized it, every word without error."
"Hmm."
Chen Yi looked at her with intrigue.
He hadn't expected Yin Tingxue's memory to be so remarkable, capable of committing it all to mind.
Recollecting the events in "Heavenly Realm," the Martial Arts Conference held by the righteous sects, the Demon Sect Saintess had appeared as a dark horse, defeating over a dozen masters in succession. Back then, it seemed she had an intimate understanding of the mental methods of various sects, cracking each one and achieving strength through weakness.
Truly the Demon Sect's Wang Yuyan!
Such accomplishments stemmed not merely from the support of her sect but primarily her extraordinary ability to remember everything flawlessly.
"Star Shifting, Heaven and Earth, Kong Ming, Ming'an dual domains, Two sects and three intersections…"
By the time Yin Tingxue finished reciting, Chen Yi's status panel had gained another cultivation technique:
[Star Absorption Technique: Fragmented Chapter (Unlearned).]
With a self-deprecating smile, Yin Tingxue muttered:
"This Inner Strength method was a gift from the Ming'an Divine Sect, left for me to cultivate someday."
Chen Yi nodded slightly, proceeding to channel ten years of True Qi into the Star Absorption Technique.
[Year One: You begin studying the Star Absorption Technique and learn that this method requires focused meditation, free from distractions. You struggle to restrain your thoughts but fail to grasp its essence.]
[Year Three: After three years of isolated training, you learn to restrain your spirit and vaguely capture the true essence of the technique. However, with only a fragmented chapter, the flow of True Qi halts halfway, and no progress is made. You resort to deducing the chapter's content.]
[You begin researching classical texts and, with added deduction, manage to restore roughly one-tenth of the missing fragments. After years of study, by the fifth year, you finally set upon the correct path and can start absorbing others' True Qi.]
The progress is slow.
Seeing these words, Chen Yi frowned, yet he didn't give up and continued channeling True Qi. Perhaps further changes awaited.
[Year Eight: Gradually, you comprehend concepts such as Star Shifting and the interplay between light and darkness. The Star Absorption Technique progresses further.]
[Year Ten: After years of cultivation, you have grasped the basics of the Star Absorption Technique. However, the fragmented chapter remains incomplete. Perhaps with further years of practice, you may be able to reconstruct the full technique yourself.]
[Star Absorption Technique: Fragmented Chapter (Novice).]
With ten years of True Qi funneled into it, Chen Yi felt his palms grow warm and tingly, seemingly radiating heat.
Glancing between the Star Absorption Technique and the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique, Chen Yi had an epiphany. His eyes lit up.
The Star Absorption Technique was an extraordinarily strong early-game Inner Strength technique that functioned by extracting True Qi from others and refining it over time into one's own True Qi.
Simply put, the hard-earned True Qi cultivated over ten years by a target would, after their defeat, be absorbed wholesale into the player's meridians.
Of course, this powerful technique came with significant drawbacks.
If one's body housed excessive foreign True Qi that couldn't be transformed, they risked bursting their meridians and dying. Moreover, if facing experienced masters, such individuals could tamper with their own True Qi upon detecting the Star Absorption Technique's use, causing internal conflict within the user's energy flow, weakening their abilities, and even severing their meridians. This trope frequently appeared in martial arts novels and games.
However, luckily for him, Chen Yi had selected the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique during character creation.
By utilizing the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique, foreign True Qi within his body could be transformed into his original True Qi!
The only caveat was that, given the current novice stage of the Resentment Yin-Yang Technique, converting True Qi incurred substantial loss. Out of ten units of absorbed True Qi, only two or three units might be retained.
Still, the gains were astonishing!
As for the remaining ten years of True Qi,
Chen Yi decided to hold onto it for now.
Shortly after, Chen Yi led Yin Tingxue—her face covered with a veil—through the side hall.
The place remained awash with crying and wailing. Once-proud women of the mansion, former phoenixes perched atop branches, now experienced their grand tower crumble overnight.
A few female relatives glanced at Yin Tingxue and, recognizing her from her figure, saw her being escorted away by a man in official robes. Envy crossed their faces. Reflecting on their own fate, they only cried harder.
In these times, society valued the four pillars: scholars, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants. Being sentenced to the Imperial Teaching Field was akin to being expelled from these four categories, condemned to live a destitute existence for generations. Their future suffering could only be imagined.
Yin Tingxue passed through the side hall silently. Having already shed her tears, she kept her head bowed low, sensing the pitying stares of others.
To her, even being branded a slave with no hope of redemption in this lifetime was preferable to becoming her enemy's concubine.
But choice wasn't hers to keep.
Her only act of defiance: burning all 3,000 silver notes to ashes.
"I'm taking this servant to the factory for interrogation."
Approaching the Xiang Prince Mansion's doorway, Chen Yi cupped his fists.
As a West Factory Hundred Households, the Jinyi Guards dared not obstruct him, immediately clearing the path. The only one worthy of stopping him was the West Factory Thousand Households Min Ning. The latter, with his strikingly handsome visage, merely frowned without intervening, unwilling to get involved.
Among the crowd,
Several Jinyi Guards stationed at the most outer edge noticed Yin Tingxue and seemed to recognize her. Their gazes burned with fervor as they exchanged glances.
Most of them were rookies, except for one named Song Shengbao. Chen Yi glanced at them briefly, narrowing his eyes, his hand lightly resting on the Brocade Spring Blade.