The next morning, the Training Grounds echoed with the brutal rhythm of repeated impacts.
THUD! THUD!
Adrián was on the ground again.
Sweat blurred his vision, and the pain in his ribs had become a constant note threatening to turn into a fracture. His body had reached its limit. If Su Meilan's father kept this up, Adrián would never make it to the arena, the mission would fail, and "Extinction" would be his only reward.
A few meters away, Su Meilan watched in silence with her arms crossed.
Her face was a mask of marble.
"Why do I feel this?" she wondered, barely noticing the greetings from her subordinates.
It wasn't the burning anger of a woman who had been betrayed.
It was something colder.
Deeper.
Far more irritating.
It was dissonance.
She remembered Adrián from the day they had met.
A brilliant businessman.
A man with mediocre cultivation but a mind capable of conquering entire markets.
They had shared secrets.
Research.
Created new inventions together...
They weren't lovers, but those days spent sitting together, talking, planning, dreaming...
It had always felt like they shared something unique.
She had never felt that way with anyone else.
When Adrián hit the ground again, she almost stepped forward.
The concern was real.
Watching him bleed beneath her father's fists twisted something inside her chest.
But alongside that concern was something worse.
A cold, stabbing sensation pierced her heart as she remembered what he had done.
Kissing another woman right in front of her.
Was it because of the veil?
Was it because I never showed him my face?
Then the memory of the kiss returned with painful clarity...
And so did the anger.
Stronger than before.
"Too slow, boy! You're thinking about the Saint instead of my fist!" her father roared, throwing another punch that Adrián barely managed to block with both forearms.
Su Meilan clenched her fists beneath her long sleeves.
What disturbed her wasn't the act itself.
It was how irrational it was.
Why would Adrián...
The man obsessed with efficiency.
The man who calculated every single step.
Commit political suicide by kissing Lin Yue in front of everyone?
It made no sense.
Because he did it.
He really likes her that much... more than me.
"It shouldn't matter," she thought as another kick sent Adrián rolling across the ground.
"He's only a member of the Chamber. A business partner."
"But yesterday... when I saw him walk toward her..."
"For just one second..."
"I wished that woman had been me."
"Enough, Father."
Su Meilan's voice cut through the training ground.
There was no concern in it.
Only authority.
"If you break him now, we still have a great deal of work to do."
She paused.
"And he still has that tournament to finish."
The old man reluctantly stopped and looked at his daughter.
Then at Adrián, who was struggling to stand while coughing up blood.
"I'm still not satisfied," the old man said with a strange smile.
"Meilan, don't be soft."
Su Meilan walked over to Adrián.
She didn't kneel.
She didn't offer him a handkerchief.
She simply stood over him, her shadow falling across his battered body.
"Here."
She tossed him a small crystal vial filled with silvery liquid.
"It's a Rapid Recovery Tonic."
"It costs ten thousand spirit stones."
"I'll deduct it from your dividends next quarter."
Adrián drank it.
Warmth spread through his aching muscles, restoring some of his strength.
He looked up at her, searching for the familiar, understanding smile she always wore.
Instead...
He found a wall of glass.
"Are you angry?" he asked hoarsely.
Su Meilan tilted her head as though analyzing a question written in a foreign language.
"Angry?"
"Why would I be angry, Adrián?"
She hesitated.
"I'm..."
"...it's nothing."
She leaned down slightly.
For just an instant...
The "Fairy" allowed a spark of very human fire to flicker within her eyes.
"I'm simply wondering whether the man I designed an airship with..."
"...is the same idiot who lets himself be ruled by impulse."
She turned before he could answer.
"Wipe the blood off your face."
"We still have work to do."
The office was silent.
Not its usual working silence.
A different kind.
Adrián looked up from the report.
He frowned.
"Is it cold in here?"
Su Meilan continued writing.
"No."
Silence.
Adrián glanced toward the window.
Closed.
He looked at the spiritual brazier.
Still burning.
Then back at Su Meilan.
"Strange..."
She stamped another seal onto a contract.
"Anything else?"
"No, I just..."
"I thought the temperature had dropped by about ten degrees."
"Must be your imagination."
Adrián cleared his throat.
"Could be."
He returned to the reports.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Fifteen.
"You know we managed to reduce spirit herb consumption by another two percent?"
"I saw."
"And?"
"It's in the report."
Silence again.
Adrián took a deep breath.
Second attempt.
"The new coffee turned out pretty well."
"Mhm."
"We reduced the bitterness."
"Excellent."
"..."
"..."
This was worse than negotiating with five elders at once.
He tried another strategy.
"Your father nearly broke three of my ribs."
"Only three."
"Only?"
She looked up.
"He's being kinder to you."
Then she returned to her paperwork.
Adrián decided to abandon that battlefield.
"Understood."
Five minutes later...
"Want some coffee?"
"No."
"Tea?"
"No."
"Water?"
"No."
"A civilized conversation?"
Su Meilan slowly raised her head.
She looked directly at him.
Adrián felt a chill run down his spine.
"We're already having one."
...
Complete defeat.
Adrián rested his forehead against the desk.
"Negotiating monopolies was easier..."
Su Meilan almost smiled.
Almost.
But she didn't.
Not yet.
Instead, she picked up one of the reports lying on the desk.
"There's a mistake here."
Adrián immediately lifted his head.
"Where?"
She walked over to his desk.
Very slowly.
She laid the scroll between them.
"Production Line Three."
Her finger traced several columns of figures.
"Efficiency dropped by four percent."
Adrián instantly forgot the atmosphere between them.
He leaned over the blueprint.
"No... wait."
He picked up a brush and corrected several numbers.
"Production didn't decrease."
He turned the scroll toward her.
"Internal transportation time increased."
Su Meilan stopped thinking about the kiss.
Her expression changed.
She was no longer looking at Adrián.
She was looking at the problem.
"The new warehouse..."
"It's too far from the furnaces."
"Exactly."
The two of them began writing almost simultaneously.
He drew arrows.
She reorganized departments.
He calculated distances.
She reassigned personnel.
Ideas began flowing as naturally as they always had.
Without realizing it, both of them ended up leaning over the same blueprint.
Their shoulders nearly touched.
The silence remained.
But it wasn't cold anymore.
It was the comfortable silence of two people solving a problem together.
Then Adrián spoke without thinking.
"You look much more..."
He stopped.
Su Meilan slowly looked up.
"More what?"
Adrián sensed danger comparable to one of the System's missions.
"...more efficient."
She stared at him for three long seconds.
Then she returned to the blueprint.
"Keep working."
It wasn't forgiveness.
But neither was it the ice from before.
And for Adrián—
A man accustomed to negotiating with probabilities—
That already counted as a small victory.
That night, the room was silent.
Seven commercial reports rested on the desk.
Not a single one had progressed.
Su Meilan closed another scroll.
She had read the same line four times.
"Nine percent increase..."
She couldn't remember what came after it.
She frowned.
That was unlike her.
She took a deep breath and tried again.
Five words later...
Once more.
Adrián.
The hallway.
Lin Yue.
The kiss.
She closed her eyes.
"What is wrong with me...?"
She stood and walked to the window.
The city continued operating as usual.
Merchants.
Carriages.
Disciples.
Everything was the same.
Except her.
The logical response was irritation.
Adrián had created an enormous political problem.
He had jeopardized relations with the Saint.
Provoked Ye Chen.
Placed several major projects at risk.
That was all.
It was a perfectly rational assessment.
Then...
Why was the only thing she could remember...
The way he had held Lin Yue's waist?
Her hand slowly tightened around the window frame.
Without realizing it.
Until the wood creaked.
She let out a slow breath.
"Ridiculous..."
They weren't lovers.
They never had been.
Adrián had never promised her anything.
Nor had she ever asked him to.
They were partners.
Friends.
Nothing more.
Then...
Why had she felt that emptiness when he kissed someone else?
The question lingered in the air.
It took Su Meilan a long time before she dared answer it.
"Because..."
She lowered her gaze.
She remembered the nights spent reviewing blueprints.
Their business discussions.
Unexpected laughter.
Their fingers brushing over scrolls.
The airship.
The bank.
The workshop.
Without realizing it...
She had begun looking forward to those moments.
And the thought of sharing them with another woman...
Was unbearable.
She remained motionless.
Finally, she let out a short laugh.
Without joy.
Almost resigned.
"So that's what it was..."
It wasn't the Saint.
It wasn't the kiss.
It wasn't even the scandal.
It was...
That she couldn't bear seeing him with someone else.
The following morning, the office was immersed in an almost ceremonial silence, broken only by the soft rustling of scrolls and the golden glow of lanterns reflecting off the crystal surfaces of spirit stones.
Adrián reviewed balance sheets and financial projections, but his thoughts were far from the numbers.
Yesterday's adrenaline.
His kiss with Lin Yue.
The lingering tension with Ye Chen.
All of it blended into the monotony of administrative work.
The door opened.
Adrián didn't look up immediately.
It was the voice—
Soft.
Unexpected.
—that made him react.
"Adrián..."
Su Meilan entered...
Without her veil.
He looked up...
And froze.
There was no comparison.
Her face possessed an unsettling perfection.
The tranquil shape of her eyes.
The delicate curve of her lips.
The almost imperceptible radiance that seemed to flow from her skin.
For one brief instant...
Balance sheets.
Profits.
Plans.
They all vanished as though they had never existed.
She sat beside him naturally, as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
"The spirit stones," she said, pointing at the documents.
"Our profits have increased more than expected."
Her tone remained calm.
Professional.
Adrián inhaled slowly, forcing his mind back onto familiar ground.
"Good," he replied.
"But money shouldn't remain idle."
"It has to move."
"We should establish a bank..."
"Or something similar."
"Low-interest loans are dangerous in the cultivation world."
"If the borrower dies, you lose everything."
"But a pawn house..."
"Real collateral."
"That works."
Su Meilan nodded thoughtfully.
"And not only that," Adrián continued.
"We can build an investment empire."
"Provide capital while letting others shoulder the operational risk."
"Everything becomes scalable if it's properly structured."
He pointed at one figure on the scroll.
"If we move the capital here..."
Su Meilan leaned closer, following the line with her finger.
"No."
"Look here."
Their hands met over the parchment.
Neither withdrew.
Silence settled between them.
Adrián looked up.
She was already looking at him.
For a long moment...
Neither spoke.
The numbers no longer mattered.
They were too close to pretend they hadn't noticed.
Su Meilan was the first to break the stillness.
She said nothing.
She simply leaned forward.
A few centimeters.
Enough for Adrián to feel her breath.
He hesitated.
"Meilan..."
She didn't answer.
Her eyes drifted briefly toward his lips...
Then returned to meet his.
That was all the answer he needed.
Adrián closed the remaining distance with almost uncertain slowness.
The first contact was barely a brush.
Like a question.
Su Meilan closed her eyes.
She didn't pull away.
The kiss deepened little by little.
Unhurried.
Gentle.
As though both of them needed to confirm it was real.
When she finally drew a breath, she rested her forehead against his.
"No..."
she whispered.
But there was no conviction in her voice.
She didn't step back.
Neither did he.
Adrián wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close again.
The kiss lingered.
Intense.
Inevitable.
As though everything that had grown between them since their first meeting had been waiting for this single moment to bloom.
Time ceased to exist.
Then...
The sharp sound of the door sliding open shattered the world.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"
A rough voice thundered through the room.
Su Meilan's father filled the office with his mere presence before he had even crossed the threshold.
Adrián immediately stiffened.
His hands still rested around Su Meilan's waist.
His heart pounded violently, fully aware that one wrong move could turn this moment into a catastrophe...
Both financial...
And personal.
Su Meilan straightened at once.
The warmth in her gaze cooled, tempered now by respect and nervousness.
Without her veil, her father could see his daughter's face completely.
His gaze became calculating.
Protective.
Dangerous.
"Father," she said firmly.
"Nothing is out of control."
"We were reviewing financial statements and investment proposals."
Adrián stepped back, releasing her waist but not retreating completely.
His posture became alert.
Almost defensive.
The moment his eyes met the old man's, he understood that diplomacy alone wouldn't be enough.
"Oh, of course..." the man replied with a crooked smile.
"Financial statements."
"Investments..."
"And quite suspicious proximity, don't you think, young man?"
Adrián cleared his throat.
"No, sir."
"We were only discussing expansion projects and business strategies."
Su Meilan barely frowned, maintaining her composure.
"I trust Adrián and his professionalism," she added.
"There's no reason for concern."
The Chamber of Commerce Director observed them silently.
His eyes—
Sharp as market blades—
Read far beyond their words.
The blush on his daughter's face.
The tension in Adrián's body.
The electricity still lingering between them.
Finally, he spoke in a low, dangerous voice.
"Tell me, brat..."
"You aren't planning on having two women, are you?"
Adrián stared blankly into space for one second longer than was socially acceptable, completely ignoring Su Meilan's father's piercing gaze.
Inside his mind...
A flashing red interface exploded to life.
Messages flooded his vision with violent speed.
[DING! DING! DING!]
[REGIONAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE ALERT]
System:
"Listen here, you absolute...! Your damn 'optimization' has pulverized the local ecosystem! Traditional merchants can't compete with your prices, the herb market has crashed, and spirit stone inflation is completely out of control. You've triggered an economic depression right in the middle of the tournament arc!"
"That's not my fault," Adrián replied mentally with an almost insulting calm.
"It's simple inefficiency."
"If they can't adapt, the market eliminates them."
"Financial natural selection."
System:
(Furious static.)
"Son of a...! Don't you quote Adam Smith at me! If the economy collapses, the Second Heroine—the young master of the Southern Alchemist Clan—will go bankrupt before the Hero can 'save' her by buying her debt! The entire heroic rescue subplot falls apart!"
Another window violently unfolded.
[MANDATORY MISSION ACTIVATED]
Mission Name:The Heroine's Economic Rescue Plan
Objective: Prevent Li Xiao, the Second Heroine, from going bankrupt.
Required Action: Inject liquidity or create a business model that prevents her clan's collapse.
System Warning:I don't care how you do it. Fix it or DIE. And it won't be quick. I'll give your soul cramps for three reincarnations.
The interface vanished.
Adrián blinked and returned to the office.
Su Meilan's father still stood there with folded arms.
Su Meilan watched him carefully, sensing—without fully understanding—that something inside him had changed.
"Sir," Adrián finally said in a steady voice,
"Regarding your previous comment..."
"I have no intention of treating personal relationships like political alliances."
He paused briefly, as though recalibrating his priorities.
"But I've just identified a market opportunity we can't afford to ignore."
That immediately caught both of their attention.
"The price adjustments we've created are putting tremendous pressure on several high-level producers," he continued.
"Some clans aren't prepared to operate with margins this narrow."
"If we move now, we can absorb their production, secure strategic supply lines, and strengthen our position without resorting to force."
Su Meilan frowned slightly.
"Alchemist clans?"
"From the south?"
Adrián looked at her.
He neither confirmed nor denied it.
That was enough.
A single name surfaced in her mind.
Li Xiao.
The Pearl of Alchemy.
Too talented.
Too proud.
And supported by a dangerously fragile financial structure.
Su Meilan's eyes sharpened.
"You're talking about turning a crisis into control," she said slowly.
"Moving in while they still believe they can survive on their own."
Su Meilan's father let out a low, dangerous laugh.
"My, my, boy..."
"So you don't just break markets anymore."
"Now you want to own them..."
"...without them even realizing it."
Adrián shrugged calmly.
"It's not ownership."
"It's strategic investment."
"Support in exchange for future equity."
"They survive."
"We gain stability."
Silence.
Su Meilan looked at him with a new mixture of unease...
And understanding.
"And if they refuse?" she asked.
Adrián didn't smile.
"Then someone else will seize the opportunity."
"The market doesn't wait."
The old man studied him for a long time, as though evaluating a weapon he still hadn't decided whether to wield.
"You're dangerous," he finally declared.
"Not because you pursue women..."
"But because you make difficult decisions seem inevitable."
Adrián inclined his head slightly.
"I simply make the world work, sir."
And while Su Meilan was thinking about Li Xiao...
Her beauty.
Her pride.
How close she must already be to collapse without realizing it...
Adrián was already one step ahead.
Not as a savior.
Not as a villain.
But as someone who turned crises...
Into assets.