3: Three months

The next morning.

The first ray of sunlight streamed through the window into the room.

Lin Chen slowly opened his eyes, feeling refreshed and more powerful than ever before.

He introspected his body; within his Qi Sea, nine layers of Spiritual Qi vortexes slowly rotated like a nebula, and a surging sense of power filled every inch of his flesh and blood. This was the strength of a Qi Refining Ninth Level Peak!

Moreover, faint silver moonlight occasionally flowed within his eyes.

Moonlight Divine Pupils!

Lin Chen's mind stirred, activating his pupil technique.

Instantly, the entire world appeared different in his eyes.

He could clearly see the sparse Spiritual Qi floating in the air, the flourishing and wilting meridians inside an old tree in the courtyard, and even penetrate walls to observe an ant crawling a hundred meters away!

This pupil technique was simply a supreme Sharp Weapon for reconnaissance, treasure hunting, and seeing through illusions!

"System," Lin Chen silently chanted in his mind.

A sapphire-blue panel immediately appeared.

host: Lin Chen

Bloodline: Chaos Dao Body

Cultivation: Qi Refining Realm Ninth Level Peak

Talent: Bloodline Furnace

Divine Ability: Moonlight Divine Pupils

Descendants: 1 (in gestation)

Child Information: The child with Lin Xiaoya (Moon Spirit Body) is in gestation, expected to be born in nine months. Their talent is preliminarily assessed as Earth Rank High Grade, and upon birth, will bring the host a new round of generous rewards!

Looking at the System panel, Lin Chen nodded with satisfaction.

This was a true beginning!

"Young Lord, you're awake?"

Beside him, a soft moan filled with infinite shyness and contentment was heard.

Lin Xiaoya slowly opened her beautiful eyes; her transformation was astonishing.

Her originally delicate face was now radiant, her skin as crystal clear as jade, as if she had been reborn. More importantly, a faint but pure Spiritual Qi was slowly flowing within her body—she had unknowingly stepped into Body Refining First Level!

This was the domineering aspect of the Chaos Dao Body Bloodline; even a little dissipated energy was enough to change a person's Physique!

"How do you feel?" Lin Chen asked, pulling her into his embrace with a smile.

"Xiaoya... Xiaoya feels full of strength." Lin Xiaoya was both surprised and delighted by the changes in her body.

"From now on, you are no longer a maid. You are my, Lin Chen's, woman, the mistress of this courtyard." Lin Chen gently kissed her forehead.

"Mm!" Lin Xiaoya was so happy she almost fainted.

However, their sweet intimacy was soon interrupted by a noisy commotion outside the courtyard.

...

Meanwhile, the news that Lin Chen had favored his personal maid, Lin Xiaoya, last night swept through the entire Lin family like a hurricane within an hour, and spread even faster throughout Qingyang City!

"What? That good-for-nothing just publicly broke off the engagement with the Bai family's Prodigy, and then... then laid hands on a maid?"

"Simply outrageous! He has completely shamed our Lin family!"

"Shameless! Is he declaring war on the Bai family? Does he want to destroy our Lin family?!"

In the Lin family's deliberation hall, several Elders were fuming, their beards bristling and eyes wide with rage.

They were already furious about Lin Chen's defiance of the Bai family, and this news only added fuel to the fire!

In their view, Lin Chen's actions were not only self-degrading but also the most vicious humiliation and provocation towards Bai Ruoxue!

This implied that in Lin Chen's eyes, he would rather choose a maid of lowly Bloodline than her, a favored daughter of heaven!

This was no longer a simple broken engagement, but an irreconcilable, mortal enmity!

...

Bai family.

In a cultivation chamber covered in frost.

Bai Ruoxue sat cross-legged, cold air swirling around her, evidently trying to calm the anger Lin Chen had ignited yesterday.

"Young Miss, outside... there are rumors about Lin Chen." A maid knelt trembling outside the door, her voice shaking.

"Speak." Bai Ruoxue's voice was like ten-thousand-year-old profound ice, devoid of emotion.

"Rumors... rumors say that last night, after breaking off the engagement with you, Young Miss, Lin Chen... favored his personal maid..."

"Boom—!!!"

Before she could finish, a terrifyingly extreme cold current erupted from the cultivation chamber!

Crack! Crack!

The chamber's reinforced steel door, along with the corridor outside, was instantly covered in a thick layer of solid ice! The maid who delivered the news was directly frozen into an ice sculpture, her face still contorted in an expression of terror.

"Lin Chen—!!!"

A piercing shriek, filled with endless Killing Intent and humiliation, burst from the chamber, almost tearing off the entire roof!

Bai Ruoxue's figure rushed out through the shattered door, her eyes bloodshot, radiating uncontrolled Killing Intent.

Utter humiliation!

This was absolutely the greatest humiliation Bai Ruoxue had suffered in her sixteen years!

That good-for-nothing! That ant!

He not only broke off the engagement with her, but also used a lowly maid to ruthlessly trample on her dignity!

This made her feel worse than being slapped a hundred times in public!

"Is he telling me that I, Bai Ruoxue, am not even as good as a maid?!"

"Ahhhhh!"

Bai Ruoxue frantically surged the Spiritual Qi within her body, sending out ice blades indiscriminately in all directions, shattering the rockeries and flowers in the courtyard!

"Young Miss, calm down!" Several Bai family Elders rushed over upon hearing the commotion and quickly moved to restrain her.

"Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down!" Bai Ruoxue's fingernails dug deep into her palms, drawing crimson blood. "If I, Bai Ruoxue, do not kill this scoundrel, I swear I am not human!"

"Three months?" She let out a desolate, cold laugh. "I can't wait a single day! Pass on my command: keep a close watch on Lin Chen! As long as he dares to step out of the Lin family's main gate, I will make sure he dies without a complete corpse!"

She had completely fallen into powerless rage!

And at this moment, in Lin Chen's courtyard, the eye of the storm.

He had already "seen" the farce in the Lin family's main hall and the chaos in the Bai family with his Moonlight Divine Pupils.

A cold smile played on his lips as he gently said to Lin Xiaoya, who was somewhat worried beside him, "Don't be afraid, they're just a bunch of clowns."

With that, he calmly pushed open the courtyard gate, facing the gazes of contempt, anger, and schadenfreude, and declared loudly:

"To the Scripture Pavilion! This Young Lord is going to Cultivate!"

A single stone stirred up a thousand ripples!

That good-for-nothing who couldn't Cultivate for over ten years, after humiliating a Prodigy and favoring a maid, actually said... he was going to Cultivate?

Everyone felt that this world had gone mad!