The silence in the courtyard was heavier than the leaden sky.
Li Wei moved mechanically. He wasn't a killer, but he was a transmigrator who had survived ten
years in the outer sects; he knew how to dispose of a body. Or rather, the System knew.
[Item Redeemed: Corpse Dissolving Powder (Common Grade)] [Cost: 10 Support Points]
He sprinkled the grey dust over the bodies of the Iron Fist Gang members. There was a soft
hissing sound, like meat hitting a hot pan, and then... nothing. No bones, no blood, no clothes.
Just a patch of slightly darker, wet soil where ten men had stood seconds ago.
It was terrifyingly convenient.
Li Wei looked up. Su Mei was still standing on the frozen pond, watching him. Her expression
wasn't horrified. It was curious.
"That powder," she said, her voice floating across the ice. "It is useful. Can you buy more?"
Li Wei felt a wave of nausea. He walked over to the edge of the pond. "Mei'er. You just killed ten
people."
"I defended our home," she corrected him. She stepped off the ice, her feet landing lightly on the
stone path. The killing intent had faded, replaced by a serene, almost ethereal calmness. "The
Sutra of the Frozen Heavens says: 'The avalanche does not mourn the trees it breaks. It simply
falls.'"
"You are not an avalanche," Li Wei said, grabbing her shoulders. He needed her to look at him,
to see the husband, not the Dao. "You are Su Mei. You like sweet buns. You cry when it rains
too hard. Those men... they had families."
Su Mei looked at his hands gripping her shoulders. She didn't pull away, but she didn't lean into
his touch either. Her skin was so cold it stung his palms.
"If I had not killed them, they would have killed you," she stated simply. "Between their families
crying and me crying over your grave, I choose them. Is that wrong, husband?"
Li Wei opened his mouth, but closed it. Is it wrong? In this world? No. It was the only truth. But
hearing it from her lips, spoken with such clinical detachment, broke something inside him.
"It's not wrong," Li Wei whispered. "But it's sad."
"Sadness is a blockage of Qi in the liver meridian," Su Mei said, reciting a line from a medical
text he had bought her. "It hinders cultivation."
She gently removed his hands from her shoulders. "I felt something when they died, Li Wei. The
rush of adrenaline... it pushed against the barrier in my dantian. I need to meditate. Do not
disturb me."
She turned and walked into the bedroom, closing the door.
Li Wei stood alone in the snow. The "Hidden Breath Amulet" the System had given him was
vibrating in his pocket, creating a barrier that prevented the smell of death from leaking into the
street.
He looked at the empty courtyard. The Golden Phoenix Pavilion was safe. The gang was gone.
But the home was gone, too.
That night, a sudden pressure descended on the house. It wasn't wind. It was spiritual pressure.
Li Wei, sitting in the living room drinking cold tea, felt the air thicken. The candles flickered and
turned blue. Frost patterns raced across the floorboards, climbing the legs of his chair.
[Alert: Beneficiary Breakthrough Imminent.] [Current Stage: Qi Condensation Level 6.]
[Note: Breaking through in a mundane environment carries a 40% risk of Qi deviation due Li Wei cursed. He stood up and opened the System Store.
"Buy! Spirit Gathering Formation (One-time use)!"
[Cost: 500 Support Points.]
"Confirm!"
He didn't have enough Points. He had spent them on the corpse powder and the recent
manuals.
[Insufficient Points. Would Host like to convert Lifespan into Points?]
Li Wei froze. "You can do that?"
[Host is Immortal. Host has infinite lifespan. However, converting 'Source Lifespan'
damages the Host's soul foundation. It will cause extreme pain and permanent scarring.]
[Conversion Rate: 1 Year of Soul Foundation = 100 Points.]
Li Wei didn't hesitate. "Take five years."
A scream tore from his throat, but he bit his hand to stifle it. It felt like someone had reached into
his chest and ripped out a piece of his nervous system with a rusty hook. He fell to his knees,
blood leaking from his nose.
[Transaction Complete. 500 Points Added.] [Item Redeemed: Spirit Gathering Formation.]
A golden disc appeared in his trembling hand. He crawled to the bedroom door and smashed
the disc against the wood.
Whoosh.
A vortex of pure spiritual energy erupted, drawn from the ley lines deep beneath the earth,
funneling directly into the room where Su Mei sat. The frost on the floor receded. The pressure
stabilized.
Inside the room, Su Mei gasped, a sound of pure ecstasy.
Li Wei lay on the floor of the living room, his body twitching from the aftershocks of the soul
damage. He tasted copper and ash.
The door opened an hour later. Su Mei emerged. She glowed. Her skin was jade-like, her hair
glossy and darker than midnight. She was Level 6. A force to be reckoned with in any small city.
She saw Li Wei lying on the floor, pale and sweating.
"Husband?" She knelt beside him. "What happened? The Qi... it suddenly became so rich. It
helped me break through."
"I... used a treasure I was saving," Li Wei lied, his voice raspy. He forced a smile. "I'm just tired.
The excitement of the day."
Su Mei touched his forehead. Her hand was cool, soothing against his feverish skin. She
frowned. "You look weak, Li Wei. You are aging."
Li Wei looked at his reflection in the polished brass vase nearby. He wasn't aging—he was
immortal—but his eyes looked ancient. Hollow.
"I'm fine," he said, pushing himself up. "But Mei'er, we can't stay here."
"Why?"
"Because you just drained the spiritual energy of this entire city block to break through," Li Wei
said grimly. "And you killed ten men. In the mortal world, this is a miracle and a tragedy. But if a
passing cultivator sensed that fluctuation... they will come to investigate. And they will see your
constitution."
Su Mei stood up. The naivety was gone from her eyes, replaced by a sharp, calculating gleam.
"My constitution is a treasure. If they see it, they will try to take me. Or use me as a cauldron."
She looked around the comfortable room, the silk curtains, the life they had built.
"We must leave," she decided. "The mortal pond is too shallow for a dragon."
Li Wei closed his eyes. Dragon. She was already calling herself a dragon.
"Pack your things," Li Wei said. "I will sell the shop tomorrow."