"What are you waiting for? Eat it. Quickly." Tian Yushuang's voice dropped into a hushed urgency. "If anyone notices, Father will be in serious trouble. He crossed hell itself to get this for you. Don't waste it. Eat it."
Her eyes shimmered as her gaze fixed on the thumbnail-sized obsidian-black pill resting in his fingers, golden lines crawling across its surface like living veins.
Even powerful experts would be tempted by such a treasure. One had to understand that medicinal pills of this level were never easy to obtain; normally, they required a highly skilled alchemist and countless failed attempts before a single success was born.
Yet despite the urging from both the system and his sister, Tian Yunxiu remained still, his fingers curled around the pill.
What a wonderful thing. This is meant to heal someone? To craft such a treasure… I wish I could meet the master behind it. This world truly is amazing. Perhaps it really was my fate to come here. I don't regret it. I love it.
Finally, he placed the pill into his mouth.
A sweet taste bloomed instantly, warmth spreading through him as it slid down his throat. The moment it reached his stomach, the void within his chest began to spin. Black mist surged outward, swallowing the medicinal energy whole as if it had been waiting for it. If one could see inside him, they would witness the pill's essence being torn apart and dragged into the void.
Yet not all of it vanished.
A tiny fraction was rejected, forced outward by the swirling darkness. It rushed through his veins, racing toward the surface of his body, seeping into flesh and skin alike.
Tian Yushuang gasped.
Before her eyes, the charred skin began to recover, healthy color returning within moments. Hope flooded her chest, followed by joy so sharp it almost hurt. There was nothing she wished for more than for her little brother to stand again, to reclaim his place as the Tian Clan's genius.
I must inspect my brother. Father will be pleased with the good news. Hope flickered in her eyes as a soft white glow gathered in her palm. She sent a thin thread of qi into his body, and in the very next instant, her expression fell.
A tremor crept into her usually steady demeanor. A rough palm pressed over hers, holding it firmly as their eyes met.
"It's alright. I know myself that I can't be healed so easily." Tian Yunxiu shook his head. His expression was sincere, so convincing that even a seasoned expert would have failed to see through it. He looked like someone who had already accepted his fate.
In truth, the system within him cast an invisible veil over his body. A faint, undetectable light shielded his organs from probing senses, fabricating the illusion of a crippled shell.
Only he knew what was truly happening inside.
The void within his chest pulsed, sending waves of golden-black energy that coiled around his shattered spirit root, nurturing it, reshaping its very affinity. A strange, ancient power flooded his body. His ruined meridians slowly widened, reforged stronger than before. His five viscera were wrapped in radiant light, gleaming like immortal gold. Yet even that paled in comparison to his bones, which glowed faintly, as though forged from black iron.
The immense qi surging through his veins made his fingers tremble. He fought to suppress it, forcing himself to remain still, unwilling to risk exposure.
Tian Yushuang mistook the tremor for emotion. It pierced her heart like a blade.
"I have failed you as an elder sister…" Her lips trembled as tears spilled freely down her cheeks.
Watching her cry over his injuries made Tian Yunxiu's chest tighten painfully. He knew, rationally, that he was not truly part of this family. To them, he was still the original owner of this body. And yet, even as a transmigrated soul, he could not endure the sight of someone who called him family hurting because of him.
Whether it was the lingering memories that were not his, or something deeper taking root within him, he did not know. What he did know was that his hand tightened around hers, firm and unwavering.
"I will recover," he said quietly, each word carrying weight. "No matter what it takes, I will stand at the peak. I, Tian Yunxiu, swear this with the heavens as my witness. I will never become a cripple again."
A faint tremor rippled through the air.
It was too subtle for Tian Yushuang to notice, but elsewhere, far beyond the room, Tian Zhanhe froze. A chilling pressure washed over him for the briefest instant, making the hairs on his arms stand on end.
"Who dares cause trouble within my Tian Clan?"
His qi surged as he extended his senses outward. Invisible energy swept across the entire clan grounds, unfolding before him like a miniature world resting upon his palm. Every courtyard, hall, and formation revealed itself clearly.
Yet no matter how thoroughly he searched, that presence was gone, as if it had never existed.
He did not know that the void within Tian Yunxiu's chest had stirred in response to his vow, resonating silently with resolve that even the heavens could not ignore.
During that quiet, intimate moment, neither brother nor sister noticed the figure standing outside the building, silently listening to their exchange. A single tear slid down the man's cheek as his hand clenched tightly over his chest, the pain in his heart threatening to break through his composure.
It was Tian Longming.
He had clung to hope that his son might recover. Yet hearing the truth with his own ears, and witnessing Tian Yunxiu's stubborn resolve to keep struggling forward despite being crippled, only made one thought settle heavily in his mind.
He had failed as a father.
Longming took a step forward, then vanished like a ghost, dissolving into the air. In the next instant, he appeared within a quiet courtyard where a youth of around seventeen practiced his martial forms, sweat glistening across his skin as qi flowed steadily through his movements.
"Yulong," Tian Longming said, his voice firm despite the turmoil beneath it. "Go seek your older brother. Learn from him. Ask him to teach you how the clan hierarchy works."
The youth paused, confusion flashing briefly across his face.
"You are now the hope of the clan," Longming continued, each word cutting deeper than a blade. "You must take Yunxiu's place as the leader of the younger generation."
No matter how much it pained him to say it, Tian Longming had already made his decision.
For the sake of the clan, he would place his faith in his youngest son and bury the hope that Tian Yunxiu would ever recover.