The silence in the auction hall was heavy, broken only by the arrogant snap-snap-snap of Zhao Feng opening and closing his gilded fan.
"10 Spirit Stones," Zhao Feng repeated, his voice echoing from the balcony. He leaned over the railing, looking down at Li Ye like a jagged rock looking at an egg. "Come on, Li Ye. Don't tell me the Princess keeps you on such a tight leash you can't even afford 11 stones? Or maybe you should sell your robes? You'd make a fine beggar."
The crowd erupted in another burst of laughter.
"Give it up, Soft Rice King!" "Young Master Zhao is doing you a favor! That corpse will only bring bad luck!"
Li Ye stood motionless in the center of the mockery. His expression didn't change. His heart rate didn't spike. To him, Zhao Feng wasn't a threat; he was a minor obstruction in a procurement deal.
He looked at the pouch in his hand. 5 Stones. He couldn't bid 11.
'Standard negotiation tactics fail when liquidity is zero,' Li Ye analyzed. 'Pivot to leverage. Identify counter-party weakness.'
He looked up at Zhao Feng.
[Divine Appraisal Eye: Active.]
The golden light in Li Ye's irises swirled. The text box over Zhao Feng's head expanded, revealing more than just his name and rank. It peeled back the layers of his cultivation like an onion.
[Target: Zhao Feng] [Cultivation: Qi Condensation 5th Stage (Unstable).] [Current State: Internal Fire Toxicity.] [Secret: Has been consuming 'Red Python Pills' to artificially boost his cultivation speed to impress the Princess. Side Effect: Severe necrosis of the Yang Meridian. Symptoms: burning pain in the lower abdomen every midnight, and... complete erectile dysfunction.]
Li Ye's lips twitched.
'Oh. That's just tragic.'
It was the classic mistake of young, arrogant cultivators. Chasing short-term gains at the expense of long-term asset viability.
Li Ye tucked the coin pouch into his sleeve. He didn't shout. He didn't rage. He simply took a step forward, raising his voice just enough to carry over the laughter.
"Young Master Zhao is generous," Li Ye said calmly. "10 Stones is a high price for a slave."
Zhao Feng smirked. "Peanuts to me. But a fortune to you. Go home, trash."
"I will," Li Ye nodded. "But before I go... a word of advice from a 'trash' to a genius."
He paused, ensuring the entire room was listening.
"The Red Python Pill is potent," Li Ye said casually, as if discussing the weather. "But if you take three in a month without purifying the toxins, your Kidney Meridian starts to rot."
Zhao Feng's smirk froze. The fan in his hand stopped moving.
The room went quiet. Why was he talking about pills?
Li Ye continued, his eyes locking onto Zhao Feng's terrified gaze. "Tell me, Young Master Zhao... does it burn when you urinate? Do you often wake up at midnight screaming because your lower abdomen feels like it's being chewed by ants?"
Zhao Feng turned pale. "You... how do you..."
"And the worst part," Li Ye sighed, shaking his head with mock sympathy. "If you don't stop immediately... that 'essential' part of yours? It will never rise again. Actually, based on your complexion... it's already dead, isn't it?"
Gasps.
Every man in the room instinctively crossed their legs. The silence was absolute.
Zhao Feng was trembling. This was his deepest, darkest secret. He had told no one. Not his father, not his doctor. If word got out that the heir of the Zhao Clan was... impotent... his engagement prospects would vanish. His reputation would be destroyed.
"You... you shut up!" Zhao Feng stammered, his face turning from pale to purple. "Slander! This is slander!"
"Is it?" Li Ye tilted his head. "Shall we ask a physician to check your pulse right now? There's one in the third row."
Zhao Feng looked at the physician. He looked at the crowd, who were now whispering and looking at his crotch with suspicion.
He was cornered.
Li Ye smiled—a shark showing its teeth. "I still want the slave, Zhao Feng. But if you want to pay 10 Stones for her, be my guest. I'm sure the Princess will love to hear the story of why you were so desperate to hide your condition."
It was a checkmate.
If Zhao bought the girl, Li Ye would keep talking. If Zhao backed down, he looked weak, but his secret remained (mostly) safe.
Zhao Feng gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked. He glared at Li Ye with pure hatred.
"I... I withdraw my bid," Zhao Feng hissed, his voice shaking. "I don't want a diseased corpse. It smells."
He spun around and stormed out of the VIP booth, his entourage scrambling to follow him.
"Young Master! Wait! Is it true?"
"Shut up! Kill him! Kill anyone who talks!"
The auction hall was stunned. The Soft Rice King... had just scared off the Zhao Heir with a few words?
Li Ye turned back to the auctioneer, who was standing there with his mouth open.
"5 Stones," Li Ye said, placing the money on the counter. "Wrap her up."
The back alleys of the capital were dark and cold.
Li Ye walked steadily, carrying a heavy bundle wrapped in rough burlap on his back.
He hadn't rented a carriage. That would cost money he didn't have. He carried the cage—and the girl inside it—himself.
The girl, Su Qinghan, hadn't made a sound. She was shivering so violently that her teeth chattered like dice in a cup. Her body was a block of ice. The cold radiating from her was enough to give a normal mortal frostbite, but Li Ye ignored it.
"Hold on," he said flatly. "If you die before we get home, I've wasted my investment."
A weak, raspy voice drifted from the bundle.
"...kill... me..."
Li Ye didn't stop walking. "No."
"...why..." she wheezed, each breath a struggle. "I am... cursed... useless..."
"You are a Nine Yin Profound Body," Li Ye said. "To the ignorant, you are a curse. To me, you are a cultivation furnace. You are not useless. You are simply... unrefined."
He felt her stiffen against his back.
"Furnace..." She choked out a bitter sob. "Another... devil..."
"Think what you want," Li Ye said, turning into the side entrance of the Princess's manor. The guards were asleep, bribed with a bottle of wine Li Ye had stolen from the kitchen earlier. "I am not going to rape you. That is inefficient and crude. I am going to use you. And in return, you will use me. That is the deal."
He kicked open the door to his dilapidated courtyard.
It was a stark contrast to the rest of the manor. Weeds grew through the cobblestones. The roof leaked. It was the place where they put broken furniture and unwanted husbands.
Li Ye dropped the bundle onto his bed—a straw mattress on the floor.
He cut the ropes binding her.
Su Qinghan spilled out.
In the light of the single candle, she looked horrific. Her skin was grey, covered in blue veins that pulsed with deadly frost. Her lips were black. Her beautiful eyes were dim, filled with the resignation of someone who had been sold from one hell to another.
She looked up at Li Ye, waiting for him to tear her clothes off. Waiting for the pain.
Li Ye stood over her. He began to unbutton his own robe.
Su Qinghan closed her eyes, tears leaking out and freezing instantly on her cheeks. It begins.
"Sit up," Li Ye ordered.
She didn't move.
"I said sit up." Li Ye reached down, grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her into a sitting position.
He stripped off his upper robe, revealing his pale, weak chest.
Then, he did something she didn't expect.
He grabbed her hands.
"The Nine Yin energy is blocking your heart meridian," Li Ye spoke, his voice shifting from the casual tone of a merchant to the commanding tone of a Grandmaster. "It is trying to kill you because your vessel is too weak to contain it. You are trying to suppress it. That is wrong."
He pressed his palms against hers. His skin was warm.
"Do not suppress it," Li Ye commanded, his eyes locking onto hers. "Release it. Give it to me."
"You... you will die..." she whispered. "Everyone who touches me... freezes..."
"I am not everyone."
Li Ye activated the [Tian Mo Devouring Art].
It was a forbidden technique from his past life. It could swallow mountains. It could swallow oceans. And it could certainly swallow a bit of ice.
WOOSH.
A vortex of suction erupted from Li Ye's palms.
Su Qinghan gasped. She felt the cold agony that had plagued her for years suddenly... move. It rushed out of her core, flowing like a river into Li Ye's hands.
The room temperature plummeted. Frost covered the walls. The candle flickered and died.
But inside Li Ye's body, a fire was igniting.
'Yes...' Li Ye thought, gritting his teeth as the freezing energy slammed into his clogged meridians. 'Pure, unadulterated Yin. It's tearing through the sludge like a hot knife through butter.'
[System Alert!] [High Energy Input Detected.] [Meridian Blockage: 90%... 80%... 70%...]
"More," Li Ye growled.
Su Qinghan's eyes widened. For the first time in ten years, she felt... warmth. The pain was fading.
She looked at the man in front of her. He wasn't looking at her with lust. He was looking at her with intense focus, sweat beading on his forehead, his jaw set in concentration. He was taking her pain and turning it into power.
'He is eating the poison...'
"Circulate your Qi!" Li Ye barked. "Don't just sit there! Follow my lead! Breath in... Breath out..."
She instinctively obeyed. She followed the rhythm of his breathing.
Their energies began to cycle. Yin from her, Yang from him. A perfect loop.
The grey on her skin began to flake away like dead ash, revealing skin as white and smooth as moonlight underneath. The blue sores vanished.
And in Li Ye's body, a dull crack echoed.
[System Notification] [First Meridian: Cleared.] [Cultivation Restored: Body Refining 1st Stage.] [Cultivation Restored: Body Refining 2nd Stage.] ... [Cultivation Restored: Body Refining 5th Stage.]
Boom.
A shockwave of energy blasted out from them, blowing the dust off the floor and shattering the cheap wooden table in the corner.
They broke apart, panting heavily.
Li Ye slumped back, his little chest heaving. He felt strong. His muscles were buzzing with energy. He looked at his hand; he could crush a stone now.
He looked up at Su Qinghan.
The "corpse" was gone.
Sitting there, wrapped in rags that were now slipping off her shoulder, was a goddess. Her hair had turned a shimmering silver-white. Her skin was flawless porcelain. Her eyes were a piercing, crystalline blue that seemed to hold the mysteries of a glacier.
She stared at her own hands, stunned. "I... I'm alive?"
Li Ye stood up, grabbed a towel, and threw it at her face.
"You're not just alive," Li Ye said, walking to the door to get fresh air. "You're employed. Get washed up. Tomorrow, we have work to do."
Su Qinghan pulled the towel down. She looked at Li Ye's back. The fear in her eyes was gone, replaced by a complicated mix of awe and a nascent, dangerous devotion.
"Yes... Master."