The chamber doors creaked open. A young maid stepped in, her slim hands gripping the edge of her robe. She was barely sixteen, with porcelain skin and eyes red from worry.
"Young Master" She bowed deeply, voice trembling. "The Patriarch requests your presence in the Grand Hall."
Chen Lu Tian or rather, the soul within sat up slowly. He was still adjusting to the alien weight of this body, the strange hum of qi around him, the oppressive pressure of the unfamiliar world. His hands flexed, feeling the calluses of a life spent in luxury but without discipline.
"I heard you the first time," he said, his tone calm, almost lazy.
The maid blinked, startled. The Chen Lu Tian she knew was always loud, arrogant, and quick to lash out at servants. But his voice now was controlled, steady dangerous.
He rose from the jade bed. His legs wobbled slightly the aftereffects of the dantian damage, but his gaze remained sharp. Every step he took toward the door felt like reclaiming a piece of himself.
The Chen Clan estate sprawled across the side of Mount Azure, a palace of red lacquered wood and black-tiled roofs. Servants bowed as he passed, but their eyes held something else, pity, or perhaps satisfaction at his fall.
The Grand Hall was filled with the elders of the clan, their long beards and flowing robes giving them an air of dignity. At the center, seated on the high platform, was the Patriarch Chen Jianhong, a man with graying hair but a body like a coiled tiger. His sharp gaze swept over Lu Tian.
"Lu Tian," the Patriarch said coldly. "Do you know why you're here?"
Lu Tian walked to the center of the hall, his steps unhurried. "I can guess," he replied.
A murmur ran through the elders. The old Lu Tian would have bowed his head in shame, stammering. This one stood straight, his eyes meeting the Patriarch's without flinching.
Chen Jianhong's lips pressed into a thin line. "Your engagement to Xu Lianhua of the Ice Spirit Sect has been dissolved. They will be sending an emissary to collect the betrothal gifts tomorrow."
The name stirred something in his inherited memories Xu Lianhua, the famed beauty of the younger generation. Long black hair like a waterfall, eyes as cold as winter frost. She was not only a genius cultivator but the key to a potential alliance between the Chen Clan and the Ice Spirit Sect.
In the old timeline, the broken dantian had meant the end of that dream. The Xu family had humiliated the Chen Clan publicly, and the old Lu Tian had spiraled into drunken disgrace.
This time, Lu Tian smiled faintly. "If they wish to break it, let them. But remember this, Patriarch the day will come when she will regret the choice."
The elders exchanged uneasy glances. This was arrogance, but not the empty kind they were used to.
One elder scoffed. "Regret? Boy, your dantian is destroyed! Without cultivation, you are nothing in this world."
"Nothing?" Lu Tian's gaze slid to the man, sharp as a blade. "If I am nothing, Elder, then perhaps you will live to see what nothing can do."
The elder's face flushed with anger, but before he could speak, the Patriarch raised a hand.
"Enough," Jianhong said. "You are confined to the East Courtyard. Reflect on your actions. If you truly wish to prove yourself, find a way to stand again as a cultivator."
Lu Tian inclined his head slightly not in obedience, but in acknowledgment. "Understood."
That night, as the moonlight poured into the East Courtyard, Lu Tian sat cross-legged on the wooden floor. The sound of cicadas filled the warm summer air.
[Heaven-Devouring Emperor System active.]
The voice in his mind returned, clear and mechanical.
[Host body: severely damaged. Cultivation base: crippled.]
[Special ability unlocked: Essence Absorption.]
[Instructions: Devour the essence of living beings or treasures to restore and grow power.]
Lu Tian's lips curved into a predator's smile. "So that's how it is."
In his past life, he had fought with nothing but flesh and blood, training his body to perfection. Here, he had a system that could bend the very rules of cultivation.
A rustle drew his attention. From the shadows of the courtyard, a snake slithered into the moonlight black-scaled, its eyes glowing faintly red. The inherited memories identified it: a Shadowfang Viper, venomous enough to kill a mortal in seconds.
Perfect.
He moved with a speed that belied his crippled state, snatching the viper by its neck. Its fangs sank into his forearm, but before the venom could spread, the System's voice rang out:
[Target locked: Shadowfang Viper.]
[Absorbing essence…]
A surge of heat and power flooded his body. His vision sharpened, his muscles tightened, and the faint hum of qi returned to his meridians. The puncture wounds closed before his eyes.
[Essence absorption complete.]
[Cultivation base restored: Body Tempering Realm, First Stage.]
Lu Tian laughed softly under the stars. One kill, and he had already stepped back onto the path.
By dawn, the entire courtyard was littered with the carcasses of vipers, rats, and even a few unlucky spirit beasts that had wandered too close. His cultivation had risen to the Body Tempering Realm, Third Stage nothing to the elders, but enough to move unhindered and fight mortals with ease.
He washed the blood from his hands and dressed in fresh robes. Today, the Xu emissary would arrive. Today, the humiliation would be returned.
The Grand Hall was packed once again, but this time, an unfamiliar figure stood at its center a young man in white robes, tall and elegant, with a long sword strapped to his back. His smile was polite, but his eyes were filled with scorn.
"I am Xu Wenjie," the man said, bowing slightly to the Patriarch. "I come on behalf of the Ice Spirit Sect to retrieve the betrothal gifts and officially dissolve the engagement between my cousin, Xu Lianhua, and Chen Lu Tian."
A servant stepped forward, carrying a wooden chest. Inside were jade ornaments, spirit herbs, and rare silks the gifts once meant to bind two families together.
The Patriarch's face was grim. "It is as you wish, Young Master Xu. We accept the"
"You've accepted nothing yet," Lu Tian's voice cut through the air like steel.
Every eye turned toward him.
Xu Wenjie's lips twitched. "Ah, the cripple himself appears. Do you wish to beg for mercy?"
Lu Tian walked forward, his steps steady, his gaze unblinking. "Beg? No. I came to return a gift of my own."
In a single motion, he drew a dagger from his sleeve and flicked it toward Xu Wenjie. The blade spun through the air and buried itself into the floor between Wenjie's feet, quivering.
Gasps rippled through the hall.
"This," Lu Tian said, his voice low but carrying, "is a warning. The next time the Xu family crosses me, the blade will not miss."
Xu Wenjie's smile faltered. He glanced at the Patriarch, but Jianhong said nothing. The air in the hall was heavy with something new not respect, not yet, but the first seeds of fear.
Lu Tian turned and walked out without another word. The game had begun.