The night was far from silent. In the distance, the rhythmic tolling of the City Watch's iron bell echoed through the slums, a heavy, ominous sound that only occurred when a 'Political Sinner' was suspected of escape or rebellion. To the ears of the poor, it was the sound of an approaching storm.
Inside the shack, the atmosphere was thick enough to choke a man. A swirling vortex of gold and violet light centered around the small, rickety bed. Qin Feng's teeth were gritted so hard he could taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. Every vein in his arms stood out like thick black cords under his skin as he acted as a living conduit, absorbing the icy toxicity of the 'Bone-Piercing Nails' from Ye Chen's body.
[WARNING: Toxicity levels at 85%! Host is approaching the threshold of Meridian Collapse!][Conversion in progress... 70%... 85%...]
The System's interface flickered red in his vision, a frantic warning of his own mortality. It felt as if liquid nitrogen was being pumped directly into his heart, freezing his blood even as his Qi burned to counteract it.
"Enough!" Ye Chen gasped, her violet eyes snapping open with a burst of cold light.
She forcefully broke the connection, pushing Qin Feng away with the last of her strength. The sudden severance felt like a physical explosion. Qin Feng tumbled backward, hitting the wooden wall with a bone-jarring thud. He coughed violently, spitting out a globule of black, congealed blood that hit the floor and froze instantly into a jagged pebble of ice.
Despite the agony, a familiar warmth began to bloom in his lower dantian. The poison wasn't just being absorbed; it was being refined.
[DING! Conversion Successful!][Host Cultivation Level Up: 6th Layer Qi Refining!][Skill 'Ghost Step' Mastery: 25% — You can now move with a 15% increase in speed for 10 seconds.]
"I'm fine," Qin Feng panted, wiping his mouth with a tattered sleeve. His body felt lighter, his senses sharper. He could hear the individual footsteps of men approaching through the mud outside, heavy, disciplined footsteps. "But we don't have time. Zhou will be back, and he won't come alone. He has the pride of a sect disciple; he won't rest until my head is on a pike."
Ye Chen stood up, her regal poise returning despite her rags. She looked transformed. Although her white silk was still soiled, her skin had regained its pearlescent luster, and her movements were no longer labored. "He is already here," she said, her voice dropping to a whisper that carried the weight of a thousand winters. "And he brought a 'Silver-Rank' Enforcer. A man whose hands are stained with the blood of a hundred 'sinners' like me."
As if on cue, the front door of the shack didn't just open, it disintegrated.
A wave of sharp, metallic Qi sliced through the rotting wood, turning it into a cloud of splinters. Qin Feng didn't think; he acted on instinct. He grabbed Ye Chen around the waist and rolled under the heavy oak table just as a massive iron mace smashed into the spot where they had been standing seconds before. The floorboards shattered, sending dust and earth into the air.
Standing in the doorway was Zhou. His face was still a sickly pale color from the frostbite he had suffered in the mines, but his eyes were burning with a humiliated, manic fury. Beside him stood a giant of a man clad in heavy, interlocking plate armor that hummed with a dull grey light. He carried a mace the size of a man's torso, and his aura was suffocating.
"Found you, rats," Zhou screamed, his voice cracking with hatred. "For the crime of assaulting a sect disciple and harboring forbidden techniques, the City Lord has issued the Crimson Decree. You and your 'wife' are to be executed on sight! No trials, no mercy!"
The Enforcer stepped forward, his heavy boots shaking the very foundations of the shack. He looked at Qin Feng with the indifference one might show an insect. "A mere miner at the 6th Layer? And a crippled Empress? This won't even be a warm-up. I've killed Ninth Layer experts with less effort than it takes to breathe."
He was at the 1st Layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. To a Qi Refiner like Qin Feng, he was a god. The gap between their power levels wasn't just a number; it was a fundamental shift in the state of existence.
Qin Feng felt a cold sweat prickling his neck. He looked at the exit, then at the massive weapon in the Enforcer's hand. There was no way out. Not with his strength alone.
"Husband," Ye Chen's voice echoed in the secret chambers of his mind, calm and terrifyingly cold. "I cannot fight him directly. My meridians are like cracked porcelain; if I use a single offensive technique, I will shatter. But... I can lend you my 'Imperial Intent'. For three minutes, your Qi will take on the properties of the Divine Moon. It is a power your body was never meant to hold. Do not miss, for there will be no second chance."
[DING! EMERGENCY BOND SKILL ACTIVATED: 'Imperial Possession'][Effect: 3 Minutes of Infinite Qi Flow and 'Holy Frost' elemental damage.][Warning: Post-skill fatigue will be extreme. Ye Chen will fall into a coma for 24 hours.]
"Do it!" Qin Feng roared aloud, standing up from the wreckage of his home.
A pillar of blinding violet light erupted from Ye Chen's chest, flowing like a river of starlight into Qin Feng's back. His eyes changed instantly, the pupils vanishing into a glowing, ethereal purple. The shack began to groan and twist as the temperature plummeted. The Enforcer's heavy armor began to hiss as frost formed in the gaps of his plating.
"What is this... this heresy?" The Enforcer bellowed, his voice wavering for the first time. He raised his mace, channeling all his Foundation Qi into a single, crushing blow. "Die, you insect!"
He swung the mace with enough force to level the entire block. But to Qin Feng, the world had slowed down. He could see the individual grains of dust in the air. He could see the flow of Qi in the Enforcer's arm.
He activated Ghost Step.
To Zhou and the guards outside, Qin Feng simply vanished into a blur of silver mist. He reappeared behind the Enforcer, his right hand wreathed in a terrifying, silent purple flame.
"Divine Impact!"
Qin Feng's palm struck the center of the Enforcer's armored back. There was no loud explosion, no spectacular burst of fire. Instead, there was a sound like a thousand mirrors breaking at once. The heavy plate armor, enchanted to withstand a siege, shattered into a million ice shards. The Enforcer's Foundation Qi was instantly snuffed out, his internal organs flash-frozen before he could even scream.
The giant man fell forward like a felled tree, his body completely encased in a layer of violet rime. He was alive, trapped in a tomb of ice, his cultivation base suppressed by a power that far outranked the Foundation Realm.
Zhou fell to his knees, his mind literally breaking under the weight of what he had just seen. "A... a miner... defeated a Silver Enforcer? This is impossible... the Heavens are upside down..."
Qin Feng didn't spare him a second look. He felt the violet power receding, a terrifying emptiness starting to claw at his chest as the three minutes ticked away. He turned and caught Ye Chen just as her knees buckled. She was cold, colder than the ice he had just created, and her eyes were closed, her breath faint.
[WARNING: Bond Strain at critical levels. Soul fatigue detected. Immediate escape recommended before the Second Wave arrives!]
Qin Feng didn't need the System to tell him that. He grabbed his bag of mid-grade stones, the beast core, and a few scraps of dried meat. He scooped Ye Chen into his arms, holding her tightly against his chest. Her head rested against his shoulder, her long black hair veiling them both.
"They'll send the whole city after us now," he whispered to her unconscious form, his voice thick with a mix of fear and defiance. "The Azure Sky Sect, the City Lord... they'll all want this power. But we're not dying in the mud."
He used the last dying embers of the 'Imperial Possession' to kick through the back wall of the shack. He didn't look back at the place where he had spent five years in misery. He vanished into the dark, twisting labyrinth of the slums just as a squad of twenty City Guards arrived at the front, their torches illuminating the ruins of his life.
Behind him, the shack began to burn, the oil lamp having tipped over in the struggle. Before him lay the Black Forest, a sprawling, cursed wilderness filled with ancient monsters and forgotten ruins where even the Sect Elders feared to tread.
"The world thinks we're trash," Qin Feng said, his footsteps rhythmic and fast as he entered the shadows of the giant, twisted trees. "Let's show them what trash can do when it starts to burn."
[NEW QUEST: 'The Untamed Wilds']Objective: Reach the 'Moon-Shattered Valley' and establish a hidden cultivation cave.Reward: Divine-Grade Dual Cultivation Technique - 'Eternal Eclipse'.Current Status: Fugitive. Bounty: 1,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones.