Chương 12: Su Luoyang!

After having dinner in his room by himself, Xiao Xuan lay flat on the soft mattress, his eyes tracing the intricate wooden carvings on the ceiling. The luxurious silk sheets offered him no comfort. Since the very second he had opened his eyes in this world, he had been thrown from one crisis to another, constantly tested. And that wasn't likely to change. He closed his eyes. Earlier in the day, he had caught the subtle, dangerous cues at the carriage gates.

Guard Li didn't have the spine to act so brazenly without powerful backing. Initially, Xiao Xuan had suspected Xinyue of orchestrating the ambush, just like she had manipulated Luoyao, but she was merely a petty, nosy maid. This was bigger. He didn't know who in the branch family was actively after him. The First Elder and Clan Leader's brother, Su Zhongyong? Or the smooth-talking Second Elder, Su Jiang? But what would they even get by harming him?

If they wanted to take control of the clan themselves, they should have gone after the Clan Leader or Su Luoyang. Were they trying to create a revolt within the clan by highlighting that the Patriarch would blindly support a mortal 'trash' son-in-law over a loyal, high-achieving guard? A cold sweat pricked his skin. If Tang Zefei hadn't offered him a ride home, he would have been at the mercy of a politically maneuvered assault from the Elders.

Even his towering father-in-law, the Clan Leader, wouldn't have been able to protect him against the clan's strict laws. It wasn't all bad. He hoped his relationship with his immediate family would continue to improve, especially with Su Luoyang. Su Luoyao, despite her initial fiery tantrum, was already acting like a protective younger sister. Su Zhongtian and Liang Shufen had surprisingly given him a fair chance. Wei Tu had solidified his role as the perfect Watson: smart, utterly loyal, and delightfully timid.

Tang Zefei… he hoped their relationship would grow into a real friendship rather than just a mutual exchange of favors. But hope wouldn't help. He had to earn all of it. He needed to get strong. His chest tightened as he remembered the crushing weight of Guard Li's aura. To have his body at the mercy of another man. He could not afford to sit and wait for a cheat code to fall from the sky. Even if he kept his head down and avoided every provocation, trouble kept finding him anyway.

Like Gu Tianqi in the marketplace that afternoon. Had Tang Zefei's rampaging carriage not arrived at exactly the right moment, Gu Tianqi would have attacked him in front of everyone. He had been really furious as he fled the scene. Also, even though the Su branch family was silenced for now, it was only a guard they had banished. The real threat was still lurking in the darkness. Badum. Xiao Xuan took a slow, deliberate breath. Badum. As his lungs expanded to their full capacity, they suddenly locked.

A strange, suffocating stillness gripped him. His hand moved on its own, pressing against his chest near his heart, as if it could steady the erratic rhythm from the outside. Ha. Ha. His breaths came out in short, ragged gasps. The ceiling felt like it was collapsing, the room's silence crushing his eardrums.

"Su…" The syllables broke apart in his throat, barely a sound at all.

"Luo… yang…" Unbidden, unasked for, her face materialized in the darkness of his mind. The ice princess. Those impossible, cold black eyes that had somehow anchored him the moment he woke up in this nightmare. Her pink lips, the elegant red mark on her forehead, the natural, majestic grace she carried even when she was looking at him with mild annoyance. He pictured her in her pristine white and blue robes, the masterful silver embroidery catching the light.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Huuu. The pressure in his chest loosened its grip. Xiao Xuan sucked in a gulp of air. He lay there for a moment longer, his robes damp against his back, the quiet of the room settling back into something bearable. He didn't hesitate. He scrambled off the bed, his legs slightly wobbly, and tore through the room until he found a blank piece of parchment.

Sitting at the table, he snatched a brush and rapidly jotted down the exact instructions for basic Qi sensing and accumulation that he had wrangled out of Wei Tu. Taking a deep, stabilizing breath, Xiao Xuan stared at the characters on the parchment. He began to cross-reference Wei Tu's instructions with the vast, scholarly knowledge of web novel metaphysics he had brought from Earth. According to the clan physicians, his meridians were far too weak; cultivating would shatter his veins and kill him instantly.

But Xiao Xuan knew better. Every broken foundation had a workaround. If he could control the exact way the Qi was channeled, it would be agonizingly slow and require monstrous concentration, but it was physically possible. He recalled the silent vow he had made. We shall both live a long and happy life together! He gripped the edges of the parchment. He had to try. … In the private, heavily warded chambers of the main estate, the scent of premium incense masked the lingering tension of the day.

Patriarch Su Zhongtian stood by the large open window, his hands clasped behind his broad back. The imposing aura that previously suffocated the council had vanished, replaced by a rare smile.

"The heavens did bless us after all," Su Zhongtian murmured, his deep voice carrying a note of relief. He turned to look at his wife.

"A direct connection with the Tang Auction House manager. The Branch Family Elders looked as though they had swallowed live toads. I couldn't be happier." Liang Shufen sat gracefully at the dark wood tea table, but her elegant fingers were tight around her porcelain cup. She didn't share his relaxed demeanor. She slammed the cup down, the sharp clack echoing in the quiet room.

"Don't be so blindly optimistic, Zhongtian. He still cannot cultivate," Liang Shufen interjected sharply, her sharp eyes narrowing.

"If he keeps walking into trouble like he did today, his mouth and his luck will eventually run out. He will stumble into a mess he cannot talk his way out of, and the clan's laws will prevent us from saving him." Su Zhongtian's smile faded, replaced by a heavy, thoughtful frown. She stood up, her silken robes rustling as she paced the length of the room.

"You need to warn him to hold his ground and lay low. The annual Clan Screening is next week. It is mandatory, and as a member of the main family, he will have to participate." Su Zhongtian sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Hmm. And those Branch Family members will not spare him. They will use the screening to publicly prove his worthlessness." The momentary joy of their political victory dissolved, leaving the couple's faces grim as they stared out into the dark courtyard. … In a lavish compound across the district, belonging to the Gu Clan. A beautiful vase exploded against a marble pillar.

"Get out! All of you, GET OUT!" Outside the heavy wooden doors, three servants huddled together, their faces pale, trembling so violently that the silver trays in their hands rattled. Gu Tianqi stood in the center of his demolished bedroom, his chest heaving, his silk robes half-torn and drenched in cold sweat. The room looked as though a tempest had ripped through it, books were shredded, paintings slashed, and his heavy rosewood desk was overturned. Every time he closed his bloodshot eyes, he didn't see his room.

He saw the crowded marketplace. He felt the earth-shaking rumble of that berserk beast. The face of that trash, Xiao Xuan, standing perfectly still, gently petting the monster. And worst of all, the crowd praised that trash while they ridiculed him, the Young master of the Gu Clan. Gu Tianqi's hands shook as he gripped the edges of his ruined bedframe, his knuckles turning white. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached.

"How…" he hissed.

"How could I lose face to that mortal trash?!" … Xiao Xuan woke up. The sky outside his window was still an inky, pre-dawn black. Thinking back about the previous night's success, a tired but satisfied grin stretched across his face. If he wanted to get strong, he had to be stubbornly diligent, no matter how long it took. Each tiny fraction of effort made him a little stronger, and that was sufficient for now. There were nine stars in his dantian.

Currently, all his qi pathways leading to them were hopelessly blocked by his weak constitution. He had to slowly clean them out, millimeter by millimeter. For now, it was best to ignore the rest of his body and solely focus on paving the path to the first star. He pushed himself off the floor and went straight to the empty wall. Kicking his legs up, he balanced into a perfect headstand to temper his psychic brain.

Perhaps because he had gotten a decent night's rest, or perhaps because his mental threshold was expanding, he was able to hold the agonizing pressure for much longer this time. Only when the edges of his vision began to blur with dizziness did he finally drop back down. He wiped a fresh trickle of blood from his nose. Getting straight into a lotus position on the bed, he closed his eyes.

He reached out with his senses, feeling the ambient qi in the air, and carefully guided a tiny, thread-like strand of it into his body, aiming directly for the first star. The path was a nightmare. There were blockages everywhere, some small and gritty, others large and stubbornly dense. Using the qi like a microscopic chisel, he slowly, painfully scraped away the impurities. After about an hour, he collapsed forward, gasping for air. He was exhausted, his clothes clinging to his skin, soaked in sweat.

But as he looked down, he noticed a layer of foul-smelling, black sludge of impurities pushed out of his pores near his chest. It was working. Outside, the sun was finally cresting the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant shades of orange and pink. He went to freshen up. Perhaps because he had officially forced his body to start cultivating, or perhaps because of the lingering effects of the medicinal mud from the Divine Alchemist, he noticed his burn injuries were healing at a rapid visible pace.

He quickly finished his bath, washed the foul sludge away, and put on a fresh, crisp set of robes. Stepping out of the washroom, he carefully folded his cultivation parchment, hid it away, and prepared to head to the dining hall for breakfast. Bang! Xiao Xuan jumped back, his heart leaping into his throat. He spun around to see who it was that slammed the door.

"What are you doing here—and what the hell are you doing with that?!" he yelled, his eyes locking onto the intruder.