Chapter 48: Lu Yan is in a Dilemma! How Should She Repay This?
As Shen Anyu's words fell, Lu Yan's expression immediately changed. She looked at Shen Anyu with a strange, guarded look, her instincts screaming.
As a former police flower in the interrogation room, she was very familiar with the format of this sentence. She had heard it from countless scumbags and manipulators, the audacious Cao thieves who tried to leverage vulnerability for their own gain.
Could it be that this handsome and noble Young Master Shen, who had left such a good impression on her, was going to use this to coerce or even threaten her? Was the nobility just a mask?
Thinking of this, Lu Yan frowned slightly, her heroic eyebrows knitting together. If it were just her, she would certainly refuse cleanly and decisively. She was not afraid of death.
But when she thought of her father, who walked with a cane and coughed up blood on rainy nights... When she thought of the many relatives who had cultivated the Family's inherited martial arts, leaving behind hidden dangers that cut their lives short... she hesitated.
She couldn't refuse. Not for herself, but for them.
Shen Anyu watched Lu Yan's expression fluctuate between pale resolve and flushed embarrassment, caught in a struggle between her pride and her duty. A playful glint danced in his eyes as he awaited her decision. He enjoyed seeing strong women bend.
Taking a deep breath, Lu Yan looked at Shen Anyu with firm, beautiful eyes. She made her choice.
She said with powerful conviction:
"Young Master Shen, please save me. Save my Family. As long as it doesn't violate morality or law, as long as Young Master Shen asks, I, Lu Yan, will do it even if it costs me my life!"
After speaking, she knelt straight down on the hard marble floor.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She kowtowed three times with resounding force, her forehead hitting the ground in a display of absolute sincerity.
As a member of a Family steeped in martial arts, Lu Yan, like a true Martial Artist's daughter, followed ancient etiquette. She was straightforward and clear about gratitude and grievances! A life for a life.
Shen Anyu calmly watched this scene, not stopping her. Only after Lu Yan had kowtowed three times did he step forward, help her up with his own hands, and say with a warm smile:
"Lu Yan, I have a good impression of you. But saving you comes at a considerable cost, which is why I was testing you earlier. It was just a joke! Don't take it so seriously."
"A... a joke?"
Lu Yan breathed a sigh of relief, the tension leaving her shoulders, but her brows remained furrowed. She looked at Shen Anyu, her eyes earnest.
She quietly said:
"Young Master Shen, what kind of price is needed? If it's too difficult, then there's no need to trouble Young Master Shen. I, Lu Yan, will go back and figure something out myself."
"Just now, consider it my thanks to Young Master Shen for pointing out the problem. I, Lu Yan, will engrave this great favor in my heart and will certainly repay it in the future!"
She didn't want to owe a debt she couldn't pay.
Shen Anyu smiled faintly, shaking his head.
"It's not too difficult. You should drink this cup of wine first."
Saying this, Shen Anyu, at some unknown point, had produced a small jade cup of wine. It contained no more than a hundred milliliters of liquid, glowing with an emerald green hue. He handed it to Lu Yan.
Looking at the emerald green wine in the cup, Lu Yan's expression was somewhat hesitant. She didn't know what was in it. With her usual vigilance as a police officer, she naturally wouldn't casually drink something from outside given to her by a man she barely knew.
But…
"Hoo…"
Lu Yan let out a long sigh of relief. She looked at his eyes. She believed that a Young Master from the Yanxia Shen Family like Shen Anyu—a man who stood at the pinnacle of the world—even if he wanted to obtain her, wouldn't use such despicable methods as drugging. He didn't need to.
Furthermore, in Lu Yan's view, Shen Anyu was open and upright, a gentleman, not a bad person. What he said earlier about "perishing" was just a joke to test her resolve.
She tilted her head back and directly drank the unknown wine in the cup in one gulp.
However, the moment the liquid touched her tongue, Lu Yan's expression changed.
It wasn't alcohol.
She only felt that although it was clearly cold wine, it was like a warm spring, pouring from her throat and instantly filling her entire body. It didn't burn; it nourished.
Streams of warmth flowed into countless acupoints, Meridians, muscles, and bones! It felt like thousands of tiny, gentle hands massaging her from the inside out.
Crack! Pop!
At the same time, crackling sounds, like popping beans, emanated from Lu Yan's body. Every muscle, every bone, and seemingly every cell was evolving, repairing the microscopic damage accumulated over years of improper training.
After it ended, Lu Yan only felt as light as a swallow. All the discomfort, the stiffness, the hidden aches she had experienced in the past vanished, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from her soul.
She felt both comfortable and full of explosive strength!
It even made Lu Yan feel that her cultivation, which was originally stuck at the [Early Houtian Stage], had broken through the bottleneck to the [Middle Houtian Stage] in mere seconds!
[Ding! Detected that the destined heroine Lu Yan's favorability +6! Plundering +18,000 Destiny Points!]
"Young Master Shen... this…"
Lu Yan looked at Shen Anyu in surprise, her eyes wide with shock. How could she not guess now that the cup of wine must have been an unimaginably good thing? Her face immediately showed immense gratitude.
Shen Anyu smiled faintly and said calmly, dismissing it:
"It's just a cup of wine."
In reality, that wine was a [Vitality Pill] and a [Peiyuan Pill], dissolved into three thousand milliliters of medicinal wine. It had the effect of strengthening the foundation and cultivating vitality.
Basically, most illnesses could be cured by drinking it, with immediate results. It was a panacea.
The illness in Lu Yan's Family, to put it simply, was a lack of nutrition. Forcing cultivation meant their bodies couldn't cope and their vitality was overdrawn. They were burning their life force as fuel.
Basically, most martial arts families or sects knew that practicing martial arts, in addition to training, also required nourishment, with various nourishing medicinal recipes. These were the true secret techniques, guarded more closely than the moves themselves.
However, Lu Yan's Family only practiced martial arts without nourishment, which naturally wouldn't work. It was suicide.
Otherwise, if you killed a fierce tiger with one punch, where would the strength come from?
A fierce tiger can eat dozens of pounds of raw meat in one meal! Energy in, energy out.
When a Martial Artist achieves minor success, they gain inner strength or inner qi. Upon reaching the [Martial Arts Grandmaster] realm, inner strength condenses into one, and this more [Advanced] inner strength can be called true essence or [True Qi]!
The strength of a wisp of True Qi surpasses that of inner qi by tenfold!
Without methods for medicinal and dietary supplementation, it would be impossible to ever step into the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm. More often than not, before reaching Xiantian, their bodies would already collapse from the strain!
This cup of wine from Shen Anyu was something countless Martial Artists dreamed of, willing to pay any price for! It was liquid gold.
Although Lu Yan didn't know all the technical details, she felt the effects. She knew the preciousness of that cup of wine.
Not wanting to owe Shen Anyu too much, she spoke directly, her voice earnest:
"Young Master Shen, that cup of wine must be worth a fortune. It cured me instantly. How much does it cost? I... Lu Yan is willing to pay for it!"
Shen Anyu looked at Lu Yan with a half-smile, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"That cup of wine... is worth at least one hundred million. Are you sure you want to buy it?"
Both the [Vitality Pill] and the [Peiyuan Pill] were [Golden Rewards]. A bottle of twelve pills was equivalent to the resource needed to train a Martial Arts Grandmaster, so two pills were one-sixth of that!
Dissolved into three thousand milliliters of wine, one hundred milliliters was one-hundred-eightieth of a Martial Arts Grandmaster!
Is one hundred million a lot? Not at all!
It's priceless!
No one in the martial world would be willing to sell it for money. They would trade cities for it.
It's only because Lu Yan is a [Destined Heroine] that the return on investment is higher; otherwise, how could Shen Anyu bear to give it?
The Destiny Value of a Child of Destiny and a destined heroine are independent of each other!
The Destiny Value of a destined heroine does not depend on the Child of Destiny.
A destined heroine herself is endowed with the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, embodying the Luck of the Heavenly Dao!
Every destined heroine has at least several hundred thousand Destiny Value, or even more! She was worth the investment.
"One... one hundred million???"
Lu Yan was stunned upon hearing this. Her jaw dropped.
That mere one hundred milliliters of emerald green wine was worth at least one hundred million? She had just drunk one hundred million in a single gulp???
She froze, the taste of money lingering on her tongue.
However, feeling the abundant inner strength in her body and her unprecedented good condition, Lu Yan had to admit that Shen Anyu had not deceived her. That cup of wine was definitely a good thing! It was a miracle.
It's just... one hundred million...
Lu Yan's heroic and pretty face showed changing expressions—shock, panic, and finally, deep trouble.
How was she going to repay this? She was just a police officer!