Chapter 2: A Hero Brought Low by Empty Pockets

Seeing her condition, Qin Guan pressed his palm against Nan Rou's forehead. A surge of domineering Gang Qi instantly invaded her body, suppressing the Cold Poison. Nan Rou felt much better at once, and Qin Guan helped her inside the room.

The walls were cracked, the windows broken, and drafts blew in from every direction. Qin Guan was at a loss for words — how could a First Young Miss be living in a place like this, without a single servant or handmaid by her side?

Nan Rou was shivering violently from the cold, looking as though she might freeze to death. Now that the Cold Poison was temporarily suppressed, it was vital she not be exposed to the cold. With that in mind, Qin Guan quickly asked, "Miss Nan, where is the charcoal? I'll go find some to warm you up."

Nan Rou shook her head. "The charcoal hasn't been distributed this month. Last month's supply ran out long ago."

"Who's in charge of distributing it? I'll go collect some for you," Qin Guan said.

Nan Rou waved her hands frantically. "Please don't go, Young Master Qin. The man in charge of household affairs, Lord Hu Liu, is ruthless and unreasonable. If you anger him, he'll beat you!"

"Beat me?" Qin Guan laughed casually. "If he dares lay a hand on me, I'll twist his arms into legs."

Seeing that Qin Guan wasn't taking her words to heart at all, Nan Rou grew anxious. "Young Master Qin, the Nan Family is not as harmonious as it appears on the surface. Please, just leave quickly — don't worry about me."

"Go lie down on the bed. I'll be back in a moment." Without another word, Qin Guan turned and walked out the door.

Seeing him leave, Nan Rou hurried after him to stop him — but the moment she stepped outside, he had already vanished.

Before long, guided by a servant, Qin Guan found Lord Hu Liu, the man in charge of household affairs.

"Lord Hu Liu, this is the First Young Miss's husband-in-law, Qin Guan!" the servant announced as they approached.

Word had already spread through the Nan Family about Qin Guan arriving to marry the Second Young Miss.

Hu Liu sized Qin Guan up with a glance, then picked up a skewer of meat and began roasting it over a brazier. After a long pause, he finally spoke. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to collect some charcoal," Qin Guan said.

"This month's charcoal has already been distributed. Come back next month." Hu Liu turned the skewer over without even lifting his head.

Qin Guan's gaze drifted to a large pile of charcoal stacked in a corner not far away, and his brow furrowed slightly. "Just distributed, yet the First Young Miss doesn't have a single piece?"

"That's not my concern."

Hu Liu blew on the half-glowing coals in the brazier and muttered under his breath, "Someone who's about to die anyway — why waste resources on her?"

"What did you say?" Qin Guan's expression instantly darkened.

"What did I say?" Hu Liu's lips curled into a sneer. "I'm saying that someone like you and the First Young Miss doesn't deserve charcoal. Understand?"

"Holy shit—" Qin Guan let out a sudden laugh of disbelief.

A mere servant daring to act this arrogantly — it was absolutely absurd. But what angered him even more was Nan Yunqi. As the head of the family, how could he allow his own daughter to be treated this way? What a fine father indeed.

Seeing Qin Guan laugh, Hu Liu raised an eyebrow. "What? You're not satisfied?"

"That's right, I'm not satisfied. What are you going to do about it?" Qin Guan replied with a smile.

Hu Liu's expression turned cold as he snorted. "You think that just because you're the Nan Family's son-in-law, I won't dare touch you? Let me be honest — not even the First Young Miss herself can talk to me like that. Without my say-so, who would dare touch that charcoal?"

The moment Hu Liu finished speaking, Qin Guan appeared directly in front of him.

Bang!

Without a word, Qin Guan brought his palm crashing down onto the top of Hu Liu's head.

Crack!

The overwhelming force of the strike shattered Hu Liu's cervical vertebrae. A sickening crunch of splintering bone rang out, and Hu Liu's neck simply ceased to exist — his fat, round head was pressed flat against his shoulders, eyes wide open, blood pouring from all seven orifices. He died without closing his eyes.

The servants standing nearby were struck dumb with terror.

Qin Guan swept his gaze across them and said in a low, firm voice, "Move all that charcoal over to the Young Miss's courtyard."

The servants jolted in fright and immediately scrambled to carry out the order.

Qin Guan grabbed one of them by the arm. "You — go get a brazier. The Young Miss's room doesn't have one."

The servant glanced at Qin Guan's hand and nearly collapsed on the spot. He stumbled and crawled his way toward the storeroom at full speed.

Before long, all the charcoal from the storeroom had been moved to Nan Rou's courtyard.

Watching the servants haul in so much charcoal and install a warming brazier in her room, Nan Rou stared in disbelief. "Young Master Qin, that's so much charcoal... Did Lord Hu Liu really not give you any trouble?"

"I didn't give him the chance," Qin Guan said with a smile.

Didn't give him the chance?

Nan Rou couldn't quite make sense of his answer.

"All of you, go," Qin Guan said, waving the servants away once they had finished.

The servants hurried off without a second word.

Along the way, one of them rushed ahead urgently. "Go report to Madam at once — Brother Hu was killed by Qin Guan!"

"Wasn't Qin Guan supposed to be a good-for-nothing with no Cultivation? How on earth did he kill Brother Hu? Brother Hu was at the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm!"

Recalling the sight of Qin Guan killing Hu Liu with a single palm strike, the servants were still shaking.

On the Yuanyin Continent, Cultivators progress through Ten Great Realms: the Body Tempering Realm, the Qi Refinement Realm, the Spirit Refinement Realm, the Profound Mastery Realm, the Peak Pinnacle Realm, the Free Roaming Realm, the Stellar Realm, the Circle-Breaking Realm, the Dao Union Realm, and the Return to One Realm.

Beyond Cultivators, there existed another kind of practitioner — Martial Artists, born without a Dantian and unable to gather Spiritual Energy for cultivation.

Martial Artists also had ten great realms of progression, known as the Heaven-Defying Ten Gates. Each time a Martial Artist reached a new realm, they would unlock a new gate.

The ten gates were: the Strength Gate, the Speed Gate, the Fury Gate, the Qi Gate, the Life Gate, the Shock Gate, the Fate Gate, the Slaughter Gate, the Illusion Gate, and the Heaven Gate.

"Idiots — can't you see it?" The lead servant shot the others a withering look. "He had no Spiritual Energy fluctuations whatsoever. He's clearly a Martial Artist. If he could casually slap Brother Hu to death, that means he's at least a second-gate Martial Artist!"

A second-gate Martial Artist already possessed power comparable to a second-realm Cultivator at the Qi Refinement Realm — more than enough to crush Hu Liu, who was only at the fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm.

* * *

Meanwhile, Qin Guan had brewed a bowl of ginger soup for Nan Rou.

When she saw him bring it over, a sudden warmth bloomed in Nan Rou's chest, and she began to drink.

Sip by sip, her eyes slowly grew red.

Countless nights, when the Cold Poison flared, she had curled up alone on her bed, silently enduring the pain, facing the terror of death by herself.

How desperately she had wished for someone to be by her side — to offer her even a sliver of warmth, a sliver of security. And this bowl of ginger soup that Qin Guan had brewed for her moved her deeply.

Seeing Nan Rou's eyes redden, Qin Guan understood her feelings perfectly. A First Young Miss on the verge of death, with no one to accompany or care for her. The thought made him furious. "If it weren't for your sake, I'd punch your cheap father's head clean off."

Nan Rou was startled and quickly said, "Young Master Qin, please don't act rashly! My father has reached the Spirit Refinement Realm — one palm from him could take your life!"

Seeing how anxious she looked, Qin Guan gave a wry smile. "Relax. I won't do anything reckless."

Just then, Nan Rou, having finished her soup, began rummaging through the bed.

After a moment, she pulled out a coin pouch from beneath the blankets and said, "Young Master Qin, there are thirty gold coins inside. It's what I've saved up over time. It's not much, but if you're careful, it should be enough for travel expenses to get you home."

Qin Guan was momentarily speechless. "Travel expenses to get home? I... never mind."

He had been about to say something, but thought better of it. The girl meant well — she had been trying to get him to leave all along for his own good.

After a moment's thought, Qin Guan took the coin pouch and weighed it in his hand with a smile. "Thirty gold coins — I wonder if that'll be enough to buy your medicine."

"I'm sorry, that's all I have," Nan Rou said helplessly.

"It's fine. If it's not enough, I'll figure something out. Rest well." With that, Qin Guan turned and left.

"Young Master Qin — thank you for the ginger soup!"

Just as he reached the doorway, Nan Rou called out after him, and when he glanced back, she gave him a sweet, warm smile.

"Get some rest," Qin Guan said, and closed the door behind him.

On the bed, Nan Rou gazed at the closed door for a long moment, then slowly lay back down.

"He's just using it as an excuse to leave. Anyone who gets tangled up with a dying person like me is bound to suffer for it."

"He brewed me a bowl of ginger soup — that's already more than enough. I'm grateful. Wishing you safe travels, and a life free of illness and misfortune."

* * *

Qin Guan left the Nan Family and made his way through the streets, asking around until he arrived at Tianbao Pavilion.

The Ice Silver Flower he needed wasn't sold anywhere else — after inquiring, he found that only Tianbao Pavilion carried it.

Tianbao Pavilion had branches in every city across every state. Inside, one could find all manner of rare treasures, martial techniques, and Cultivation Techniques. A transcendent power stood behind it, and no one dared provoke it.

The interior of Tianbao Pavilion was vast. Qin Guan wandered through it until he finally located the spiritual materials section.

He scanned the various herbs on display at the counter but found no Ice Silver Flower among them.

Waiting until the shopkeeper had finished with another customer, Qin Guan smiled and asked, "Shopkeeper, do you carry Ice Silver Flower?"

The shopkeeper gave him a flat look. "We do. Fifty thousand gold per stalk."

"What — fifty thousand?!" Qin Guan was stunned.

He hadn't expected a single stalk of ordinary Ice Silver Flower to be worth fifty thousand gold. He remembered that back when he had been tempering his body at the Ice-Fire Twin Mountains, Ice Silver Flowers had grown all over the ice cliffs like weeds...

Feeling the shopkeeper's sharp eyes fixed on him, Qin Guan patted the coin pouch awkwardly. "Fifty thousand gold... I'm a little short."

Hearing that he was "a little short," the shopkeeper's expression softened and he smiled eagerly. "That's fine, we can work something out. How much do you have?"

"Thirty gold coins," Qin Guan said with a sheepish grin.

The shopkeeper's eyes narrowed. "You call that 'a little short'? Are you messing with me?"

Qin Guan waved his hands and laughed awkwardly. "Of course not! I genuinely had no idea Ice Silver Flower was worth this much!"

The shopkeeper grew impatient. "Get out of here — stop wasting my time and disrupting my business!"

Qin Guan scratched his head. Motherfucker, not having money is a real problem.

When he had been with his master, rare treasures of all kinds were always at hand, and money was never a concern. He had never had much of a concept of money — he only remembered that the old man had a black Storage Ring that seemed to hold an inexhaustible supply of everything...

"Shopkeeper, do you carry Tiger Demon bones?" Just then, a middle-aged man walked over.

Seeing the man's fine and luxurious attire, the shopkeeper hurried forward with a beaming smile. "We do, of course we do!"

"Pick out a good-quality one for me," the middle-aged man said, surveying the counter.

"One moment, please!"

The shopkeeper quickly produced a white bone about one foot long.

"How much?" The middle-aged man produced a Storage Pouch.

The shopkeeper placed the Tiger Demon bone on a scale. "Sir, this one weighs in at just over ten pounds — at fifty gold per ounce, that comes to five thousand one hundred and fifty gold. I'll round off the one hundred and fifty — five thousand gold for you!"

"Fine." The middle-aged man nodded, paid, and turned to leave.

Watching this exchange, Qin Guan's eyes lit up. A Tiger Demon — the bones of a mere second-rank Demon Beast were worth that much? If he caught one and sold it, he'd make a fortune!

The thought struck him immediately. "Shopkeeper!" he called out.

"Keep it down!" The shopkeeper nearly jumped out of his skin, barely stopping himself from lashing out.

"Do you buy Tiger Demons?" Qin Guan asked.

"What do you mean?" The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow.

"What if I go catch a Tiger Demon and trade it to you for one stalk of Ice Silver Flower?"

"Of course," the shopkeeper said, perking up with amusement.

"Do you want it alive or dead?" Qin Guan asked.

The shopkeeper's eye twitched. "Dead, obviously..."

"Shopkeeper, where can I find a Tiger Demon?"

"Kid, let me tell you — Tiger Demons are dangerous. A scrawny thing like you would get swatted dead with one paw!"

The shopkeeper could see that Qin Guan wasn't joking, and felt compelled to warn him. The young man in front of him clearly had no Cultivation whatsoever — business was business, but he didn't want to be responsible for getting someone killed.

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me where to find one, then wait for me to come back and trade for the Ice Silver Flower," Qin Guan said with a smile.

"You—"

Before the shopkeeper could say another word, a young man in fine brocade robes nearby cut in with a smirk. "If you want to catch a Tiger Demon, just head to Ten Thousand Demon Valley. You can find all kinds of Demon Beasts in there — you'll definitely find one!"

"Where is Ten Thousand Demon Valley?"

"Three hundred li west of the city!"

"Thank you!"

Qin Guan cupped his fist in a salute and turned to leave.

The shopkeeper watched Qin Guan's retreating figure, then turned to look at the young man who had given him directions, his expression displeased. "Young master, doing that might well cost him his life."

Even the outer reaches of Ten Thousand Demon Valley were nearly impossible to survive without at least eight to ten Cultivators at the Qi Refinement Realm working together. The shopkeeper felt that Qin Guan was walking into certain death.

The young man let out a contemptuous laugh. "What does it matter to me whether he lives or dies?"

The shopkeeper shook his head and said nothing more.