Chapter 268: A Debt Of Two Billion
Chapter 268: A Debt Of Two Billion
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
The tranquil environment of the Valdris Royal Academy was perfect for recuperation.
He was perfectly healed.
Inside the spacious inner chamber of the courtyard, the Purple Moon Mystic Furnace sat at the center, its starlight-infused purple surface glowing faintly.
The blistering heat of the Red Tribulations Heavenly Flame slowly receded, and the profound purple glow of the Emperor-Grade Purple Moon Mystic Furnace dimmed.
Rhain let out a long, slow exhale.
With a flick of his wrist, dozens of glowing, perfectly round pills flew into neatly arranged jade bottles.
Within this single week, utilizing his vast Soul Power and the Emperor-Grade cauldron, he had refined a staggering stockpile of flawless Epic-Grade and Mystic-Grade pills.
This was the foundation he would eventually need to establish the branch pavilions of the Celestial Elixir Pavilion across the dynasty.
""Husband."
The soft voice pulled him from his thoughts.
Rhain turned his head.
Seris stood at the doorway of the chamber, holding a tray of freshly sorted herbs, her silver-blue hair tied back with a simple ribbon.
Behind her came Liana, carefully bringing a cup of tea in a tray.
Over the past week, the two of them had practically appointed themselves as his personal assistants.
"You two really don’t need to do this," Rhain sighed helplessly for what must have been the twentieth time. "I’ve told you both that I’m completely healed. You should instead focus on your cultivation."
"Uh-huh," Seris replied sweetly, walking straight past him and setting the tray down beside the furnace without slowing for even a second.
She then looked at Rhain’s exhausted face, and spoke with concern, "Husband, you must stop and rest now."
Liana also nodded, handling him the cup of soothing spiritual tea, "Seris is right, Rhain. You were practically dead a week ago. You shouldn’t be overworking yourself like this."
Rhain could only let out a helpless chuckle.
He had repeatedly told both of them that the Abyssal Sovereign Physique had already perfectly healed every single one of his injuries days ago.
But neither of the girls would listen, insisting on staying by his side and diligently taking care of his every need.
Truthfully, Rhain had not just been refining pills.
He had not forgotten his cultivation for a single second.
For ordinary cultivators, relying on a massive influx of high-grade pills to forcefully advance an entire major realm would result in a bloated, unstable foundation.
It would leave irreversible impurities in their meridians, crippling their future potential.
But Rhain fixed that problem within a week thanks to his monstrous physique, and the Mystic grade foundation strengthening pills he consumed.
Over the past seven days, he had perfectly solidified his foundation at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
He was now entirely ready to shatter the bottleneck and step into the Core Formation Realm.
Rhain took a sip of the tea, his dark grey eyes glancing toward the empty courtyard gates.
Over the past week, the Stormveil group had already departed.
Dean Carmilla, Vice Dean Myrielle, Matriarch Seraphine, and the High Preceptors had all returned to Stormveil City.
Rhain had asked Carmilla to stay so that he could examine the kind of fire poision she had, but she just said that her Academy needed its Dean to handle the Royal Court’s political fallout, and then left.
However, Seraphine had specifically ordered Lyra to stay behind in Valdris City.
Her intentions were blatantly obvious—she wanted her daughter and Rhain to spend time together and grow closer.
Though, despite living in the same guest sector, Rhain and Lyra had not spoken a single word to each other all week.
Strangely enough, Elara had also chosen to stay instead of returning to her family, quietly staying in her own residence within the Academy for reasons only she could knew.
Just as Rhain set the teacup down...
Footsteps echoed from the courtyard entrance.
"Why did you call me here?"
A haughty, fiercely irritated voice broke the tranquility.
Rhain turned his head.
Standing at the entrance was Lyra.
Her arms crossed beneath her chest, and her beautiful face carried that usual arrogant aloofness.
Rhain looked up from the stone table where he was seated.
He didn’t stand up.
He simply retrieved two exquisite jade bottles from his spatial ring and tossed them casually through the air.
Lyra caught them instinctively, her delicate brows knitting together in a deep frown. "What is this?"
"Pills," Rhain replied, "When you forcefully broke your perfect foundation to enter the Core Formation Realm and fight me, you caused severe, hidden damage to your meridians. The first bottle will clear those impurities and completely stabilize your foundation. The second bottle will help you advance your realm safely."
Lyra stared at the two jade bottles in her hands.
Her breathtaking face instantly flushed with burning indignation and haughty pride.
She lifted her chin, glaring at Rhain with a cold snort.
"Hmph! If you think you can win my heart with a few pills, then you are sorely mistaken!" Lyra mocked fiercely. "I told you before, and I will say it again. I will never agree to marry you! You can stop wasting your time trying to court me!"
Seris and Liana exchanged a speechless glance.
Rhain’s expression remained as placid and unbothered as a still lake.
"You don’t need to think so highly of yourself," Rhain stated ruthlessly, his dark grey eyes staring right through her. "I am only helping you because your mother risked her life and her family to save mine. This is simply the least I can do to repay a fraction of that debt to Matriarch Seraphine. It has absolutely nothing to do with you."
The words landed like a physical slap.
Lyra’s crimson eyes widened, it looked as if she was going to spit fire from her crimson eyes.
"I don’t want your pity! Or your pills!" Lyra snapped, turning her face away.
"That’s fine."
Rhain interrupted with a tone of boredom.
"I have already given them to you, you can use them, or you can throw them in the dirt. It is entirely up to you. I don’t care."
Lyra’s hands trembled. She gripped the jade bottles so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"You arrogant bastard!" Lyra shrieked, her pride stinging. "Couldn’t you be a bit more polite with a lady?!"
Rhain simply stared at her in dead silence.
Gritting her teeth, Lyra raised her chin stubbornly.
"Fine! Since it is a debt, then I won’t accept it purely as a favor to my mother. I will buy them from you!" Lyra demanded haughtily. "How much does it cost?"
Rhain let out a low, amused chuckle
"Are you sure you want to ask that?"
"Tell me the price!" Lyra demanded.
"Very well," Rhain leaned back in his chair. "There are ten flawless Mystic-Grade pills in the first bottle for clearing your impurities. And another ten flawless Mystic-Grade pills in the second bottle for advancing your cultivation."
Lyra froze.
"According to the current market rate," Rhain continued, "A single flawless Mystic-Grade pill is worth at least one hundred million Aetherium Crystals. Twenty pills... that makes exactly two billion Aetherium Crystals."
Lyra’s breathtaking face went completely blank.
Two billion.
Even as the daughter of Emberford Noble Family, if she emptied her spatial ring, sold every artifact she owned, and pawned her own weapons, she wouldn’t even be able to scrape together two hundred million.
She was simply broke in the face of this astronomical sum.
Lyra raised a violently trembling finger, pointing it at Rhain’s perfectly calm face.
Her lips opened and closed several times, but she couldn’t formulate a single haughty retort.
Because deep down, she knew that these pills were extremely vital for her future.
If her foundation remained damaged, it was unsure whether she would be able to reach Monarch Realm in the future.
She could not throw them away simply out of arrogance.
"You... you wait!" Lyra finally stammered, her voice breaking in sheer humiliation. "I... I will pay you back! I swear I will pay it back soon!"
Without waiting for his response, she spun on her heel and fled from the courtyard as fast as her legs could carry her, clutching the two billion Aetherium Crystal debt tightly to her chest.
Rhain simply chuckled, shaking his head at the retreating crimson-haired girl.