Two months passed. The season turned from autumn to the harsh grasp of winter, but the
courtyard of the Li residence remained spring-like, warmed by expensive formations Li Wei had
purchased from the System Store.
Business at the Golden Phoenix Pavilion had changed.
Li Wei, previously known as a kind and fair merchant, had become aggressive. He undercut
competitors. He expanded into gambling dens and high-interest loans. He needed gold.
Gold was the only resource the System accepted to convert into Support Points at a ratio of 100
gold taels to 1 Point. It was a terrible exchange rate, designed to force the Host to plunder the
world to feed the Beneficiary.
Li Wei sat in his office, the ledger open. He looked tired. He had dark circles under his eyes.
"Boss," his head clerk, Old Chen, said nervously. "The Iron Fist Gang is refusing to pay the rent
on the warehouse. They say... they say we are just merchants, and we should know our place."
Li Wei didn't look up. "Send a message to the City Guard Captain. Tell him his debt to the casino
is forgiven if he clears out the warehouse tonight."
Old Chen swallowed. "Clears out? You mean arrests them?"
"I mean clears them out," Li Wei said, his voice flat. "I don't care where they go, as long as they
are gone. I need that warehouse for the new shipment of spirit ores."
"Yes... yes, Boss." Old Chen scrambled out, terrified of the change in his employer.
Li Wei rubbed his temples. He didn't like this. He hated being a tyrant. But Su Mei needed Spirit
Stones. The System sold them for 500 Points each. That was 50,000 gold taels.
He was bleeding the mortal economy dry to buy a single stone for his wife.
He closed the ledger and went home.
When he arrived, the atmosphere in the courtyard was suffocating. The air was so dense with
cold Qi that snow was falling inside the garden walls, despite the clear sky outside.
Su Mei was standing in the center of the frozen pond. She wasn't sinking. She stood on the
water's surface, her white robes fluttering around her.
She looked like a statue carved from ice. Her skin was translucent. She was no longer the girl
who sold makeup behind a counter. She was a cultivator of the Qi Condensation Level 5.
In two months.
It was monstrous. It was divine.
"You're back," Su Mei said without turning around. Her voice seemed to come from the air itself.
"I brought the Spirit Stone," Li Wei said, holding up a small, glowing rock. He had liquidated
three branch stores to buy this.
Su Mei turned. She drifted—literally drifted—over the ice toward him. She took the stone. Her
fingers brushed his. They were freezing.
"Thank you," she said. She looked at the stone, and it dissolved into dust in her hand, the
energy sucked into her body in seconds.
She sighed, a sound of pure pleasure. "More."
"That was the last of the liquid assets," Li Wei said gently. "I need time to generate more
revenue."
Su Mei frowned. A tiny crease appeared on her perfect forehead. "Time? But I am so close to
the breakthrough. I can feel the barrier of Level 6. If I stop now, the momentum will be lost." "Mei'er, I can't conjure gold out of thin air," Li Wei said, a hint of frustration leaking into his voice.
"I am practically running a criminal empire to feed this pace."
Su Mei looked at him, her eyes tilting. "Gold? Is that the problem? The yellow metal mortals
use?"
"Yes."
"Why is it so hard to get?" she asked genuinely. "If the mortals refuse to give it, just take it. You
are strong. No... wait, you are not." She corrected herself, not with malice, but with factual
observation. "You are still mortal."
"We follow the laws, Su Mei," Li Wei said. "If we start killing for gold, we become demonic
cultivators."
"Laws are for the weak to protect themselves from the strong," Su Mei recited. It was a line from
the Sutra. "But fine. I will wait."
She turned back to the pond. "But don't make me wait too long, husband. The feeling of
stagnation... it feels like suffocation. I can't breathe when I'm not climbing."
Li Wei watched her walk away. He felt a knot in his stomach. The dynamic had shifted. He was
no longer the provider; he was the bottleneck.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the front gate. Wood splintered. Men shouted.
"Li Wei! Come out!" a voice roared. "You think you can buy the City Guard to crush my Iron Fist
Gang? Today, your head rolls!"
Li Wei cursed. The gang leader hadn't run; he had retaliated. Li Wei reached for the sword he
kept by the door—a fine steel blade, but a mortal weapon.
"Stay inside," Li Wei shouted to Su Mei. "I'll handle—"
He stopped.
Su Mei was already moving. She didn't walk; she blurred. One moment she was by the pond,
the next she was at the shattered gate.
There were ten men, armed with axes and heavy clubs. The leader was a burly man with a scar
on his face.
"Well, look at the little wife," the leader sneered. "Maybe we'll take you instead of—"
Su Mei raised her hand. She didn't chant. She didn't pose. She simply flicked her wrist, as if
shooing a fly.
Snap.
Ten icicles, sharp as needles, materialized in the air. Before the men could blink, the icicles
launched.
There was no scream. Just the wet thud of bodies hitting the snow.
Ten men. Ten holes in their foreheads. Instant death.
Li Wei stood frozen on the porch. The silence was deafening.
Su Mei lowered her hand. She looked at the bodies. She didn't vomit. She didn't tremble. She
tilted her head, observing the blood melting the snow.
"They were noisy," she said.
She turned to Li Wei, her face beatific and calm. "Is this solved now? Can we get their gold?"
Li Wei looked at the woman he had married. The woman who used to cry over dead birds.
"Yes," Li Wei whispered, feeling the cold seep into his bones. "Yes, we can get their gold."
[System Alert: Beneficiary First Kill.] [Assessment: Decisive. Ruthless. Efficient.]
[Reward: 'Hidden Breath Amulet' (To hide the bodies/crimes).]
Li Wei stared at the notification. The System was efficient, too. It cleaned up the mess so the
monster could keep growing.