Chapter 2: A Supreme Restriction?
Lin Yuan stood before Bai Qingyue, his mind buzzing with the infinite possibilities of the Millionfold Return System. Without hesitation, he materialized the newly acquired reward from the system’s space.
Whoosh!
A brilliant, blinding red light erupted from his palm, instantly dispelling the stifling gloom of the outer-city squalor. The musty scent was entirely eradicated, replaced by a profound fragrance.
Resting in the center of Lin Yuan’s palm was the Supreme Nine-Heavens Phoenix Marrow Pill.
Bai Qingyue’s breath caught in her throat. The dim, deadened look in her eyes shattered, replaced by a storm of absolute shock. As the former brightest star of the Bai Clan, she possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of alchemy. She had been fed premium pills like candy since childhood. But the object resting in her new husband’s hand defied the very limits of her comprehension.
"A... a Rank 8 pill?" Bai Qingyue stammered, her voice trembling so violently she nearly bit her own tongue.
She stared at Lin Yuan as if he had suddenly grown three heads. How? This was a man drowning in a measly debt of two hundred Spirit Stones. This was an outer-city cultivator whom her family had dumped her on to avoid a public execution. Yet, here he was, casually holding a Rank 8 divine pill as if it were a common river stone!
In the entire history of Azure Cloud City, even a Rank 4 pill was considered a city-guarding treasure, something over which great clans would wage bloody wars.
A Rank 8 pill belonged to the legends of the Upper Realms. It was said that the sheer nirvanic rebirth of such a treasure could forcefully wash the marrow and cut the bones of a mere mortal, instantly pushing them past the arduous steps of Qi Condensation and directly into the Foundation Establishment realm. It could negate hundreds of years of cultivation in a single swallow!
Who exactly did I marry? Bai Qingyue’s mind reeled in chaos. Is he a supreme expert playing the pig to eat the tiger? Did a hidden dragon choose to slumber in this shallow shoal?
Meanwhile, Lin Yuan was lost in his own thoughts. His eyes gleamed as he stared at the pill, then at his wife.
He had an ultimate question he needed to test: Could he invest a returned item back into his wife?
If investing a low-grade trash pill yielded a Rank 8 divine pill through a 1,000,000x multiplier... what would happen if he invested this Rank 8 pill? Would the system accept it? If so, what was a million times a Rank 8 pill? Would the heavens themselves tear open to drop a Rank 10 Immortal Pill? Would he receive a treasure capable of instantly ascending him to godhood?
Furthermore, he truly wanted to heal her. A shattered meridian was a death sentence for a cultivator, but a Rank 8 Phoenix Marrow Pill was explicitly designed for rebirth and nirvana. It should, in theory, restore her completely.
"Here," Lin Yuan said, as he stepped forward and extended his hand. "Open your mouth. This will surely fix your meridians and legs."
Instead of leaning forward to accept the heaven-defying fortune, Bai Qingyue violently flinched backward, her wheelchair scraping harshly against the floor. She gripped the armrests, her chest heaving, and firmly shook her head.
"I cannot take it," she whispered, her voice laced with a bitter despair.
Lin Yuan frowned, his outstretched hand pausing mid-air. "Why? It’s a Rank 8 pill. Or are you doubting its authenticity?"
"No! That is exactly why I cannot take it," Bai Qingyue replied, her pale fingers digging into her wheelchair. She looked at the pill with intense longing, but forced her eyes away. "Lin Yuan... I don’t know who you really are, or how you acquired such a heaven-defying treasure. But giving it to me is worse than throwing it into the ocean. It will kill me."
Lin Yuan tilted his head. "Explain."
Bai Qingyue let out a trembling sigh, the dark, gruesome reality of her situation bubbling to the surface.
"Everyone thinks I simply pushed my luck in the Secret Realm," she began. "They think I encountered a beast or triggered an ancient trap that shattered my meridians. But they are like frogs at the bottom of a well, seeing only a patch of the sky. My meridians and legs aren’t just shattered, Lin Yuan. They are sealed beneath a supreme restriction."
She pointed a trembling finger at her abdomen, where her dantian lay dormant.
"The path of cultivation is clear," she continued, looking up into his eyes. "First is Qi Condensation, where we gather the spiritual energy of the heaven and earth. Then comes Foundation Establishment, where we build our mortal base. Above that is Core Formation, the realm of my Bai Clan’s Patriarch. And beyond that... the legendary Nascent Soul realm, where the soul can detach from the physical body."
Lin Yuan nodded slowly, following her explanation. These were the standard cultivation realms he knew already.
"If the person who crippled me was at the Nascent Soul realm or below," Bai Qingyue said, a tear finally escaping and tracking down her cheek, "the profound essence of this Rank 8 pill would easily wash away the restriction. The Phoenix Marrow would burn their lingering Qi to ashes, and I would be reborn."
She looked at the pill again, a tragic smile playing on her bloodless lips.
"But the person I offended in the secret realm... they were beyond Nascent Soul. They had reached the Soul Transformation realm."
Soul Transformation! The words hung heavy in the air, carrying the weight of a towering mountain.
"To a Soul Transformation expert, taking a life is but a mere thought," Bai Qingyue explained bitterly. "They planted a Yin-Severing Death Seal inside my dantian. It feeds on spiritual energy. If I swallow that Rank 8 pill, the boundless spiritual essence won’t heal me—it will instantly feed the seal. The restriction will detonate, and my body will explode into a mist of blood. You would be feeding a parasite that will ultimately devour its host."
Lin Yuan slowly lowered his hand, the situation was far more complicated than a simple physical injury. A Soul Transformation restriction was a lock forged by an entity essentially acting as a demi-god in this lower region. A healing pill, no matter how high in rank, was still just raw energy.
Interesting, Lin Yuan thought, his mind racing. If a healing pill won’t work, then I need an item that specifically targets and nullifies curses or high-level restrictions. And to get that, I just need to trigger the system with the right type of investment.
"Do not waste such a divine pill on a dying cripple," Bai Qingyue urged, misinterpreting his silence for disappointment. "Keep it. Consume it yourself. With it, you can break through to Foundation Establishment tonight. You won’t have to fear the Black Tiger Gang, or the Bai Clan, or anyone in Azure Cloud City ever again."
She had accepted her fate as a fallen genius. But this strange man, who had shown her the only shred of human decency in months, had a chance to soar.
Lin Yuan chuckled, a relaxed sound that completely threw her off guard. He casually tossed the glowing Rank 8 pill into the air and caught it, as if it were a cheap peanut, before storing it back into his system space with a thought.
"A husband’s duty is to protect his wife," Lin Yuan said smoothly. "If a Rank 8 pill won’t fix you, then I’ll find a Rank 9 pill. If medicine won’t work, I’ll find an artifact to rip that Soul Transformation restriction out of your body with my bare hands."
Bai Qingyue stared at him, utterly dumbfounded. Is he mad? Or is he truly that arrogant?
Before she could question his sanity further, the quiet of the courtyard was violently shattered.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The wooden doors of the courtyard groaned in protest as someone violently kicked them from the outside. The sound echoed like thunder in the alleyway.
"Lin Yuan! You useless piece of trash!" a harsh, grating voice roared through the rain, accompanied by the raucous laughter of several men. "The sun is almost down! The Black Tiger Gang has come to collect! Get your cowardly ass out here right now, or we’re coming in!"
Lin Yuan’s eyes narrowed, a cold, dangerous glint flashing in his pupils.