"Sister Ling, long time no see!" Chen Xiaowi saw Chu Ling and immediately greeted. She and Chu Hanli were talking about something. Chu Ling's face looked awful, but she didn't avoid the topic.
"Hanli, your life is in your hands. I think if you want to go abroad, I can help you. The future of a family is not to be earned through a woman." The primary purpose of Chu Ling coming here was to help Chu Hanli escape because she was the only one who knew what sort of person Mo Yuan was.
After hearing Chu Ling's words, Chu Hanli's face immediately became pale. No matter what she said publicly, she still couldn't escape the fate of being sold by her family.
"Hanli..." Chen Xiaowi called out worriedly. The room settled into an uncomfortable silence. Chu Ling knew that it would be tough even if she tried sending her cousin abroad. Plus, what use would it be leaving the country? She would ultimately be reeled back in by the family.
"Cousin, don't worry. I'll help you arrange it first in case we're out of time. Xiaowi, Hanli is going to need your help." Chu Ling stood up and left hurriedly. If Chu Hanli wanted to go abroad, this had to be done as soon as possible. If her uncles learned about it, they would not let her go out.
Seeing Chu Hanli's wooden face, Chen Xiaowi felt great sympathy for her. She and Hanli were best friends. It was just because she was too beautiful that she didn't have freedom. Who didn't know what sort of person Mo Yuan was in the Capital circle? He was juggling public affairs with multiple women and was photographed countless times doing so. If it weren't for the Mo Family's power and their authority in disguising such shameful truth, probably the whole world would have known already.
This person also had a disgusting taste. He liked to give the girls he was bored of playing with to other people. There were countless girls in the Capital that he ruined. Once, there was a girl who was on a path to become a superstar who resisted Mo Yuan. She had both of her legs broken and was thrown into a brothel. Eventually, the girl was forced to suicide. So in the Capital circle, he was called the Demon.
"Hanli, I may have a solution, but it would ruin your reputation and render you no longer desirable for such an awful hand in marriage..." As Chen Xiaowi spoke, she also seemed to realize that her idea wasn't really good and started to stutter.
"What is it? Do tell!" Chu Hanli stared at Chen Xiaowi. No matter what idea it was, as long as she could get rid of Mo Yuan, she was willing to do it.
Chen Xiaowi sighed and said: "That is, to use your shield again. You've said publicly that you're Yan Xiao's woman already. Although everyone knows that this is your excuse, if something really did happen between you and Yan Xiao, then..."
Seeing Chu Hanli look at her in shock, Chen Xiaowi knew she misunderstood and hurried to say: "When I said 'something to happen between you two' I didn't mean it that way. However, if you suddenly married him and lived with him together, and occasionally let a journalist take a picture of you and him on the same bed, then the Mo Family will refuse to take you in."
Chu Hanli's eyes suddenly brightened but she remained silent.
Chen Xiaowi had been with her the longest, so she knew her intentions. Chen Xiaowi said once again: "That Yan Xiao is a typical son of the poor, but doesn't know the height of society. Apparently, after you broke the marriage, he still wanted a girl in his class to be his girlfriend.
"But do you know how that girl replied to him? She asked him 'Young Master Yan, how many buildings do you own? What car do you ride? What can you give me? The most important thing—I am already a Martial Artist. And you?'
It was even said that Yan Xiao fainted due to anger on the spot because he didn't think that his classmate who was originally so respectful towards him would suddenly treat him like that. This person is probably dumb and still hasn't come to the fact that he is dirt poor. Besides, he must be subsisting on a tight budget. If you give him some tens of thousands of dollars, he would definitely do something that gives him face and money to spend."
Chu Hanli sighed: "I don't really care about my reputation. It is long gone. It's just... would the Mo Family take their revenge on him?"
---
Meanwhile, in Chengdu
He had spent his entire life on the Night Flower Continent training, fighting, surviving. Sitting still had never been his strength. So instead of practicing sword art like the System suggested, Yan Xiao sheathed the blade, sat down cross-legged on his bed, and closed his eyes.
One hour passed.
Then another.
The spiritual Qi in the air was still absent — a vast, empty silence where there should have been the familiar hum of energy waiting to be drawn into his dantian. He cycled his cultivation technique again, pushing the tiny residue of Qi inside his body through his meridians.
No progress.
No growth.
No breakthrough.
Yan Xiao opened his eyes and stared at the wall.
Then he felt something was wrong. The System's explanation had a loophole.
"System."
"Ding. Host is speaking. Again."
"Earlier, I don't quite understand your explanation. Please explain to me the full version of the event."
"Ding. That is a more complicated question, Host."
Yan Xiao sat up straighter. "Explain."
"Ding. The original Yan Xiao's soul departed approximately four minutes before Host's soul arrived. The body was clinically dead. Heart had stopped. Brain activity was minimal. By all medical definitions, the body was in the process of dying."
Yan Xiao's stomach tightened. "So this body was dead? But I'm sitting here. I'm breathing. My heart is beating."
"Ding. Correct, Host. Because Host's soul brought the body back to life."
"What do you mean?"
"Ding. When Host's soul entered the body, two things happened simultaneously. First, Host's cultivation energy from another world — the energy of Qi Refining stage — flooded the body's meridians and restarted vital functions. Heart. Lungs. Brain. Everything came back online. Second, Host's soul began remodeling the body to match Host's original spiritual structure from the Night Flower Continent."
"Remodeling?"
"Ding. The original Yan Xiao's body was built for Martial Dao. Host's soul is built for cultivation. The two did not match. The System used the Qi Refining energy to rebuild the body's internal pathways — meridians, dantian, spiritual channels — to be compatible with Host's cultivation technique. Without that energy, Host's soul would have rejected the body within hours. Host would have died again."
Yan Xiao was silent for a long moment.
"So the original Yan Xiao's body... is gone? Replaced?"
"Ding. Not replaced. Repurposed. The physical flesh — bones, muscles, organs, skin — is still the original Yan Xiao's body. The System did not change those. What the System changed was the internal energy structure. Think of it as keeping the same house but rewiring all the electricity and replacing the plumbing. The house looks the same from the outside. But inside, it now runs on a completely different system."
"And the original Yan Xiao? If his body is still here..."
"Ding. His body is here. His soul is not. Host is not wearing a dead person's body, Host. Host is wearing a living body that was revived and upgraded. The original Yan Xiao's physical form continues to exist. His consciousness does not."
"So I'm not a corpse."
"Ding. Host is definitely not a corpse, Host. Corpses do not argue with their systems. The System has checked."
Yan Xiao snorted despite himself.
"What about the trash constitution? The original Yan Xiao had a trash constitution. But you said earlier that Host's trash constitution is Host's own. How does that work?"
"Ding. Good question, Host. The original Yan Xiao's trash constitution was a physical limitation — poor meridian quality, weak dantian capacity, inefficient energy circulation. When the System remodeled the body for cultivation, those physical limitations were... inherited. Because they were part of the flesh. The System could not remove them without rebuilding the entire body from scratch, which would have required approximately 10,000 years of Qi Refining energy. The System did not have that much energy at the time."
"Of course not."
"Ding. However, Host's soul being from the Night Flower Continent gives Host one advantage the original Yan Xiao never had. Host's soul is already trained in cultivation. Host knows how to circulate energy, how to refine Qi, how to fight with a sword. The original Yan Xiao had none of that. So while Host's body is trash, Host's soul is not. The System finds this combination... interesting."
"Interesting how?"
"Ding. Most cultivators with trash constitutions also have untrained souls. They are weak in both body and spirit. Host is weak in body but strong in spirit. This is unusual. The System is curious to see how far Host can go."
Yan Xiao leaned back in his chair. "So let me summarize. The original Yan Xiao died. His body was clinically dead for four minutes. I arrived. The System used my energy from my first world to restart this body and rewire it for cultivation. The body still has a trash constitution because that was baked into the flesh. But my soul knows how to cultivate. And now I'm stuck in a Dharma Ending Era with no spiritual Qi, relying entirely on the System to give me energy."
"Ding. Host summarizes well. The System is impressed."
"Don't be. That's a terrible situation."
"Ding. The System agrees. But Host is alive. The original Yan Xiao is not. The System considers this an improvement."