[Ding!]
That crisp, ethereal chime was heavenly music for Gu Fan's ears.
[Target: Gu Ling]
[Grade: Heaven]
[Parasitic Seed Planted Successfully]
'Hehehehe! Got you!' Gu Fan rejoiced inwardly. He might not have been able to plant the parasite on his primary target, Gu Chen, but for now, the Heaven-Grade Jade Beauty was by no means an inferior alternative.
But while Gu Fan was feeling good for himself, someone else was on the verge of a catastrophic Qi deviation.
Having a filthy, crippled good for nothing defile her twin peaks and feel her curves sent Gu Ling into such a state of absolute, paralysing shock that her voice was completely gone from her throat for several breaths.
She looked down at the disgusting "Young Master" sprawled across her pristine robes, hearing her heartbeats as his one hand lay on her breasts and his other hand shamelessly squeezed her ass.
And the worst part? Every single bit of this absolute humiliation was being witnessed by Brother Chen. Her perfect, righteous Brother Chen.
"Get off me!"
Gu Ling shrieked out as her voice cracked an octave higher than her usual icy tone. The initial shock from before turned into instant fury.
She didn't push him, but a terrifying shockwave of Frost Qi erupted directly from her dantian, blasting outwards like a hurricane.
Gu Fan didn't resist. He couldn't even if he tried. But even as he was violently blasted into the air, a shameless, bloody grin crept onto his face right before he smashed spine-first into a thick, ancient spirit-tree.
Crack!
He felt several of his newly healed bones instantly snap.
"You dare?!" It was not Gu Ling who screamed this time. It came from Gu Chen.
Gu Chen was visibly trembling with anger.
His face, usually a flawless mask of calm, untouchable righteousness, was now twisted into the ferocious snarl of a territorial beast.
He stared at the muddy handprints staining Gu Ling's pale blue robes, one right over her breast, and the other smear right above her thigh, touching her hip.
This was his territory. That was his woman he had set his eyes on. And this... this vile piece of trash had actually dared to touch her?
"You don't know your limits!"
Gu Chen didn't think. He didn't care about his benevolent image. He didn't care about the servants watching them. He simply thrust his palm forward, executing a profound martial art.
BOOM!
A visible distortion of the air condensed into a massive, translucent palm print of pure spirit Qi. It shot across the courtyard with a deafening, tiger-like howl.
It slammed squarely into Gu Fan's chest while he was still pinned against the thick trunk, entirely defenceless from Gu Ling's previous Frost Qi shove.
There was a sickening crunch that echoed horrifyingly through the serene Pavilion.
The ancient spirit-tree couldn't withstand the sheer force of a Spirit Realm expert's wrath. With a violent, explosive snap, the thick trunk splintered in half, sending a lethal shower of jagged bark and torn leaves into the air.
Gu Fan's body was driven straight through the shattering timber like a human cannonball. He was launched backward, rendered entirely weightless as the courtyard blurred past his vision.
For ten agonizing meters, he flew through the air, a broken ragdoll at the mercy of a Spirit Realm cultivator's wrath, before finally smashing into the rockery he had been hiding behind earlier.
CRACK!
The impact was deafening. The massive stone buckled under his weight, deep, jagged fractures violently spidering outward from the epicenter of the impact.
Shards of broken rock rained down as the boulder gave way, unable to absorb the tremendous momentum.
Gu Fan slid off the ruined stone and crumpled to the ground, coughing violently. A thick mist of blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the pristine white marble a with blood.
The pain was blinding. His recently healed ribs? They shattered again into a dozen pieces. His sternum felt like dust. His organs felt like they had been put in a blender.
[System Alert: CRITICAL WARNING!]
[Initiating Emergency Body Assessment...]
[Damage Report:]
[Ribcage: Multiple catastrophic fractures.]
[Sternum: Pulverized.]
[Lungs: Left lung punctured, pneumothorax developing.]
[Internal Organs: Severe haemorrhaging detected, massive trauma to liver and spleen.]
[Warning: Host vitality is plummeting.]
[Estimated time until complete organ failure: 30 minutes.]
"Outrageous," Gu Chen frowned, walking over to Gu Ling and immediately using a cleaning spell to vanish the mud from her robes, "Sister Ling, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself somewhere?"
Gu Ling was shaking, her face pale, "He... he touched me."
"It is truly unfortunate that he has fallen so low," Gu Chen sighed, his voice regaining its usual calm righteousness.
He turned to the pavilion guards, who were already kneeling, trembling in absolute fear of his aura.
"Take the Seventh Young Master away and take care of him. Just... get him out of my sight for now. Ensure he does not disturb the peace of the clan any further."
The guards exchanged a knowing, cruel glance.
'Take care of him? Get him out of my sight?' In the ruthless cultivation world, after what that scum had just dared to do to the Ice Genius, they were absolutely certain "taking care of him" meant only one thing.
"Yes, Young Master Chen!"
They scrambled to grab Gu Fan's limp, bleeding body. Showing absolutely no respect for his status as a Patriarch's bloodline.
They hauled him away roughly by his ankles, his head dragging along the ground and leaving a thick, glistening trail of blood on the pristine bluestone path as they headed straight for the clan's underground dungeons.
Gu Chen turned back to Gu Ling, his face returning to that perfect mask of warm concern.
"I must apologise, Sister Ling. I was momentarily careless and failed to keep you entirely safe."
"But please, do not let this cast a shadow over your Dao Heart."
"The Spirit Spring awaits."
"Step inside."
"With a calm, unyielding heart, step onto the true path of immortality."
"Yes, Brother Chen," Gu Ling took a deep, frosty breath, nodding slowly to suppress her lingering disgust.
She turned and elegantly entered the pavilion, the heavy stone doors sealing shut behind her with a definitive thud.
Gu Chen stood alone, watching the doors close.
And as soon as Gu Ling was out of sight, the smile on his face vanished. He looked at the spot where Gu Fan had bled on the floor.
"Clean that up," he ordered a nearby trembling maid, his voice as cold as the netherworld, "I do not want to see a single drop of blood here."
Meanwhile inside the Gu Clan dungeon, in a dark, damp cell.
Outside the iron door, the guards lingered, their cruel voices carrying through the heavy bars.
"Did you see him fly? Like a dog kicked by a dragon!" one guard sneered, kicking the base of the iron door for good measure.
"Serves the trash right. Thinking he could touch the Ice Genius? This Seventh Young Master is nothing but a toad lusting after swan meat," another spat, locking the cell with a loud clang.
"Let him rot in his own blood. Young Master Chen was far too merciful."
"Hah! He's practically a corpse anyway with those injuries. Let's go grab a drink and leave this garbage to the rats."
Their heavy footsteps faded down the damp corridor, taking their mocking laughter with them.
In the darkness, silence reigned.
"Cough... ack..."
Gu Fan rolled onto his back. Every breath was torture. He was fairly certain his lung was punctured. Gu Chen's strike hadn't been a calculated killing blow; it was actually just a casual slap born of sudden anger.
However, a burst of Qi from a Spirit Realm expert was enough to pulverize a boulder. Because Gu Fan was a mere mortal, his frail body simply wasn't strong enough to take it without shattering entirely.
[Ding!]
[Warning: Vitals crashing!]
[Estimated time until complete organ failure: 5 minutes.]
…
…
[Ding!]
[Estimated time until complete organ failure: 4 minutes.]
"Gu Ling! Can you… Cough! Cough! just start already?!" Gu Fan wheezed into the dark, his bloodstained teeth gritted in desperation, "Are you waiting for your Creator to die?!"
[Ding!]
[Estimated time until complete organ failure: 3 minutes.]
…
[Ding!]
[Target: Gu Ling has entered Deep Meditation.]
[The target is absorbing Spirit Qi from the Spirit Spring.]
[Absorption Rate: 100 Spirit Qi units/minute.]
[Parasitic Effect Active.]
[10x Multiplier Triggered.]
[You gain: 1000 Spirit Qi units/minute.]
Gu Fan felt a warm current begin to rise in his dantian. It wasn't the violent rush of healing energy from Xiao Mei. It was a thick, pure stream of high-grade cultivation power.
"About time Gu Ling! I thought you were waiting for me to die."
Since he had no meridians to store it, the System intercepted the energy.
[Host Meridians Blocked. Redirecting Energy to Body Refinement.]
[Body Tempering Progress: 1%... 2%... 5%...]
The initial relief was short-lived. The itch of rapid regeneration quickly escalated into a fiery, agonizing torment.
His body wasn't just healing, Gu Fan's body was going through the Body Tempering Stage.
The thick, pure energy stolen from Gu Ling violently flooded his mortal shell, forcefully restructuring him from the inside out.
His shattered ribcage snapped back into place with a sickening crack that echoed in the dungeon cell.
He felt his bone marrow boiling as it was forcibly purified. Years of toxic impurities from his body was getting flushed out.
Torn muscles knitted themselves together at terrifying speeds, only to be torn apart and rebuilt stronger by the raging Qi.
His pulverized sternum and punctured lungs expanded, forcing him to gasp as black, coagulated blood and impurities were expelled from his pores and mouth.
"Argh... AGH!" Gu Fan clamped his jaw shut, his teeth grinding together so hard his gums bled. His fingers dug into the cold stone floor, snapping his nails.
The pain was worse than the strike that had nearly killed him, a literal tearing apart of his mortal foundation to forge something new. He thrashed in the dark, muffled screams tearing through his throat.
Yet, amidst the excruciating torture, Gu Fan tried to laugh. It started as a bloody gurgle, then grew into a raspy, maniacal cackle that echoed off the damp dungeon walls.
"Hehehe... HAhaha! Ah... ACK!" He spat out a mouthful of foul blood, his eyes wide and bloodshot in the darkness.
He wasn't going to die here. He wasn't going to die a nobody, crushed like an ant under a protagonist's boot!
"Gu Chen..." he whispered into the darkness, his voice a ragged rasp.
He remembered the look on Gu Chen's face. The possessiveness in his eyes.
He had hit Gu Fan not because Gu Fan was an actual threat, but simply because a dog had dared to touch the swan he fancied.
"You hit me with a burst of Spirit Qi? You think that's alright because you are the Main Protagonist?"
Gu Fan closed his eyes, his body violently trembling as he felt the massive influx of power surging through his parasitic connection.
Gu Ling was working hard, sweating and struggling to absorb the energy at the Spirit Spring Pavilion.
And for every drop of sweat she shed, Gu Fan felt like drinking a river of power while lying on his back, enduring the hellish baptism of his rebirth.
"Keep protecting her, my good son," Gu Fan murmured, the excruciating pain finally fading into a comfortable numbness.
"Guard her well. Feed her the finest alchemical pills. Hunt the greatest beasts to nourish her."
Gu Fan's lips curled into a wicked grin.
"Because everything you give her... every drop of sweat she sheds... belongs to this Daddy now."
[Ding!]
[System Alert: Host has acquired sufficient spiritual energy.]
[The host is breaking through the mortal shackles.]
[Entering the 1st Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.]
[Evolution commencing in 3... 2... 1...]