The kitchen hearth crackled softly, filling the underground corridor with a dry, comforting warmth. It was past midnight, and the rest of the manor lay buried in shadow and silence. But Ah Yue was wide awake, sitting cross-legged behind the furnace stack with sweat beading down his forehead.
Inside him, something stirred.
A heat—not born from fire, but from within his dantian—coiled and hissed like a serpent of flame. His breath was steady, but his meridians ached, as if being cleansed by molten metal.
> [Drawback System Active]
Detected: Extreme Yang Rebound from Sunflower Manual
—Side Effect: Destruction of Reproductive Function
—System Reversal Initiated...
—New Effects Gained:
→ Inner Flame of Vitality
→ Accelerated Healing
→ Poison Resistance (Passive)
→ Internal Cold Immunity
A flicker pulsed in his chest. Then came a wave of warmth—soothing yet powerful—spreading through his veins. He let out a long breath, the pain receding.
That was the terrifying secret of the Sunflower Manual. A technique once practiced only by eunuchs in the imperial courts, it was both feared and mocked. The first chapter alone advised mutilation to awaken the Sunflower Flame.
And yet… Ah Yue had not followed that instruction.
Because he didn't need to.
His Drawback System had done what no eunuch technique could: reversed its fatal flaw into overwhelming gain.
"Inner Flame," he whispered. "So this is what real cultivation feels like."
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt something other than desperation. The Inner Flame surged with vitality—like a tiny sun nestled between his lungs. His skin glowed faintly in the dark, as if some essence was being refined from within.
He rose slowly, clutching the tattered Sunflower Manual he'd stolen from the dusty shelf of the library.
It only had chapters up to Level 4. The rest were missing—either hidden or destroyed.
Still, even Level 1 was enough to awaken this power.
---
Over the next few days, Ah Yue noticed more changes.
His cuts healed in hours. Cold winds that once made his joints ache now passed over him like a breeze in spring. Even his appetite grew enormous, his body demanding more food to fuel the Inner Flame.
And most useful of all—he could sense poisons.
In the storage cellar, he passed a cracked jar of pickled cabbage and immediately felt his chest tighten. Mold spores. He covered his nose and backed away.
In the herb garden, when pulling weeds, he touched a shriveled root and felt a tingle on his fingers. Nightshade. Deadly.
Was this how martial artists lived? With their senses so sharp the world itself bent to them?
---
But joy had limits.
The Five Poison Palm—his foundation martial art—remained incomplete.
> Scorpion: used
Toad: used
Snake: used
Centipede: used
Spider: missing
He had tried everything. Scrubbing garbage bins behind the pantry. Flipping barrels. Poking his broom into corners of the servants' quarters.
Nothing. Not a single spider of the kind he needed.
He didn't want a house spider. The manual was clear: it required a venomous type, one known for paralyzing prey within seconds. Something found in caves or deep forests.
"Four steps forward," he muttered bitterly. "One step stuck."
He looked down at his palm.
Dark veins curled along the center, a result of the four poisons he'd already used. They no longer hurt—thanks to the Drawback System—but he knew the technique would not advance until all five venoms were used. Without spider venom, the Five Poison Palm would never reach its full potential. Its true killing force remained locked.
---
And yet, fortune came in strange forms.
On the morning of the celebration feast, servants were ordered to clean the entire western hall and outer library to welcome the return of the Young Miss—Zhao Yiniang, daughter of the Zhao Family, freshly accepted into the outer ranks of the Sword Sect.
To Ah Yue, she was a ghost. A name. Someone who lived in the highest chambers, far above the world of kitchen ash and worn sandals.
But her return meant every slave had to work twice as hard.
He spent hours dusting shelves, hauling old scrolls, sweeping corners no one had entered in years.
It was in the miscellaneous shelf, buried under a pile of outdated weather almanacs, that he found the Sunflower Manual.
At first, it seemed like a joke.
The front cover had faded characters:
> "Sunflower Manual"
"Those who wish to practice must first cut off the root."
He nearly threw it out.
But curiosity had burned in him. The line didn't scare him—it intrigued him. And the more he read, the more fascinated he became.
In his old world, back on the Blue Planet, he had once read about self-harming techniques practiced in ancient martial sects. This felt the same—deadly, but brilliant.
And that deadly part? It didn't apply to him.
So he practiced it, carefully, behind the furnace stack every night. Circulating the breath pattern. Visualizing the Golden Sun rising through the meridians.
And now…
---
He lit a candle in the dead of night and stared at his reflection in the water basin.
His eyes had a subtle glow to them now. His face looked healthier. The burns on his left palm had faded completely. The knife nick on his calf—gone. Even the old scar behind his ear had softened.
More importantly, he felt a power simmering beneath his skin. Something waiting.
No more was he the weakling who came to this world in a daze.
He had a flame now. A secret. Something that could grow.
But he had to be careful. If someone sensed his sudden improvement—especially with how rare Yang techniques were in the outer city—there would be questions. And questions led to danger.
---
The celebration for the Young Miss approached.
Firecrackers would be set off. Guests would arrive. Distant nobles. Family elders. Sword Sect envoys.
It was a rare chance—both a threat and an opportunity.
If he could slip away during the chaos… maybe, just maybe, he could search outside the manor walls.
If he could find that spider…
Then the Five Poison Palm would awaken fully. Combined with the Sunflower Art's Inner Flame, he would be unstoppable—at least at Level 1 martial strength.
And that would be enough to start climbing out of this pit.