Gāo Yán's gaze turned sharp as she thought to herself, "Could this guy be trying to take advantage of me while I'm weak again? Last time he... Why does he always bully me at a time like this? It's utterly shameless!"
Yet, upon second thought, she realized this might be a good opportunity to test him. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "Fine... then do it."
Seeing that Gāo Yán did not object, Lěng Yè said softly, "Pardon me, Miss Gāo."
Lěng Yè felt as though he had entered a unique world of practitioners. The Spiritual Power within his Dantian was a strength he possessed even before officially stepping onto the path of cultivation, and this power began to flow as he made contact with Gāo Yán.
Internally, she struggled, yet simultaneously felt a sense of relief, feeling that at least this way she would bear no psychological burden. The next second, she felt a warm current begin to circulate within her body, gradually dispersing the chill.
Lifting her head to look at Lěng Yè, she was surprised to find him earnestly performing some sort of treatment. Her doubts vanished instantly—could she have wronged him? Immersed in this unprecedented comfort, her entire body and mind relaxed completely.
Half an hour later, Lěng Yè withdrew his hand, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked, "Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"
Gāo Yán's face flushed red, as if she were still lingering in that sensation and unable to snap out of it. Hearing his words, she hurriedly stepped down from the desk, and with a look of gratitude, said, "Thank you."
Lěng Yè said apologetically, "The chill in your body is exceptionally stubborn; I've only temporarily suppressed it rather than eradicating it. To cure it completely, we'll likely need a few more treatments like this."
Gāo Yán nodded in understanding. "The effect is already remarkable. Previously, I had to endure twelve hours of torment from the chill, and the medicine prescribed by doctors was practically useless."
At that moment, Lěng Yè suddenly thought of a possible solution. "Actually... there is another way to eradicate the chill in your body all at once."
Gāo Yán's eyes lit up instantly. "What way?"
She was already beginning to perceive the intention behind her grandfather arranging her engagement to Lěng Yè. Lěng Yè, possessing a special constitution, had inadvertently displayed astonishing abilities. Her cold affliction had baffled countless world-class physicians, yet Lěng Yè had successfully relieved the chill simply by placing his hand on her lower abdomen. This alone proved that this seemingly ordinary young man possessed extraordinary qualities.
"My constitution is special and can suppress the chill in your body. If we could..." Lěng Yè whispered softly in Gāo Yán's ear.
His words caused her expression to instantly stiffen. She took two steps back and slapped him across the face. "Jerk!"
Gāo Yán glared at Lěng Yè through clenched teeth; the trace of goodwill that had just arisen within her vanished completely in an instant.
Yet Lěng Yè awkwardly explained, "I was telling the truth! What are you hitting me for?"
Gāo Yán bit her lip, shot Lěng Yè a sidelong glance, and—remembering that he had just cured her cold affliction—decided not to press the issue further. With a gloomy expression, she walked over to her desk, picked up a few items, and headed out of the office, saying coldly, "Follow me."
Lěng Yè followed her out. As Gāo Yán drove Lěng Yè toward the city center, she recalled how, after being "bullied" by Lěng Yè during her cold affliction flare-up last night, the sensation of the chill entering her body had indeed vanished. Waking up this morning, she had felt refreshed with no trace of weakness. When the affliction flared up again this morning, the intensity was also significantly reduced, no longer as violent as in the past. This made her begin to doubt whether what Lěng Yè had said was true.
"Even if it is true, I won't let this guy get his way," Gāo Yán thought to herself. "How good could this unserious employee possibly be?"
Nonetheless, shortly thereafter, the two arrived at a high-end residential complex called Fuda Garden Residential Complex, and Gāo Yán led Lěng Yè into an exquisite apartment.
Looking around the spacious home, Lěng Yè asked in surprise, "Miss Gāo, where have you brought me?"
Gāo Yán handed the keys to Lěng Yè and said, "This apartment is for you to live in from now on." She then handed him a bank card. "There's one hundred thousand in this card—enough for you to spend for a while."
Lěng Yè said, flustered and flattered, "Miss Gāo, you're being too polite."
Gāo Yán smiled. "Consider this your reward for helping me treat my cold affliction. You don't have a place to live right now, do you?"
Lěng Yè gave a bitter laugh. "In that case, I won't stand on ceremony. Once I'm better off in the future, I will definitely pay you back." With that, he accepted the keys and the bank card.
At that moment, Gāo Yán looked at Lěng Yè with a solemn expression and said, "The apartment is yours, and you don't need to return the money. Plus, since you took my..."
Lěng Yè firmly believed that she would surely treat him with utter devotion. And since his initial encounter with Gāo Yán was a stroke of fortune granted to him, he felt a deep sense of necessity to give back to her. Even if Gāo Yán ultimately did not choose him, he was resolved not to let Long Kun bully her at will. Helping Gāo Yán was tantamount to making an enemy of Long Kun and his father, Long Aotian. He had to become strong, or else he would be nothing more than someone else's meat on the chopping block.
With fierce determination in his heart, Lěng Yè thought, "Gāo Yán, I will definitely make you look at me in a new light!"
With that, he sat cross-legged according to the cultivation methods in his inheritance, regulating his breathing and guiding the Spiritual Energy into his body. The Spiritual Energy of Fuda Garden Residential Complex seemed summoned, rapidly converging toward his apartment. Lěng Yè devoured the energy with the voracity of a whale drinking water, frantically absorbing it. Cultivating from dusk until nightfall, he slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air. Standing up, his posture appeared even more upright, and his overall aura had elevated significantly.
With a single punch thrown forward, a sonic boom actually echoed through the living room. If that punch were to hit a wall, it would likely pierce right through it.
Feeling the surging power within his body, Lěng Yè muttered excitedly with a full face of glee, "I never expected my strength to reach such an astonishing level. If I run into that jerk Chang Jun again, I can send him flying with a single punch."
At that moment, a vortex formed by converging Spiritual Energy appeared within his Dantian—the hallmark of stepping onto the path of cultivation.
His cultivation speed was astonishing; it took him only a single day to successfully reach the realm of the First Layer of Qi Refining. In the world of practitioners, the Qi Refining stage comprised nine layers and was the crucial phase for laying a foundation. Generally speaking, going from nothing to something was the hardest phase, making the step from a mortal body to the First Layer of Qi Refining an almost insurmountable hurdle. Yet Lěng Yè had crossed this hurdle in a mere day. Such a rate of cultivation was an extreme rarity, even in the world of immortal cultivation.
Lěng Yè pondered, "My rapid cultivation progress is likely related to the matters between a man and a woman last night. Grandfather once said I possess exuberant Longyang Power; if I can practice Dual Cultivation, my advancement in strength will be even more terrifying."
From then on, Lěng Yè unmistakably grew more confident. He thought to himself, "If anyone dares to humiliate me from now on, I will shatter them with a single punch!"
He stretched his limbs, took a shower, and originally planned to go grab a bite to eat. However, at that moment, a phone call from his sister-in-law, Wang Yujie, shattered his peaceful plans.
"Xiaoye, hurry and save me!" Wang Yujie's anxious voice came through the phone. "Zhang Yali is hiding a man in the house, and this guy tried to molest me, and even hit me..."
Chang Jun's voice followed immediately after, but the phone was hung up abruptly. Hearing that his sister-in-law had been bullied, Lěng Yè flew into a rage, a blazing fire igniting within his chest. He sprinted downstairs and rushed anxiously toward the residential complex where Zhang Yali lived.
Although he had lost contact with his biological parents and grandfather long ago, he remained deeply grateful to the older brother from the orphanage who had raised him.
Especially the kindness and care shown to him by his sister-in-law, Wang Yujie, filled him with enduring gratitude.
Whenever and wherever he encountered hardship or suffering, someone had always reached out a helping hand, and the credit for much of that belonged to his older brother and Wang Yujie as a couple. Therefore, in his heart, Wang Yujie was not just a sister-in-law, but true family. Now, hearing the news that she had been bullied, his heart burned with an eager, fiery desire to rescue her. He felt that this Chang Jun was utterly damned; if he didn't beat him until he begged for mercy on his knees today, he would no longer take the surname Lěng!
And so, Lěng Yè quickened his pace, boarding a vehicle heading toward Zhang Yali's residential complex. His heart was filled with fury and determination. Once he found Chang Jun, he would knock him down with a single punch and let him see his true power! Although his sister-in-law was not related by blood, she was closer than kin. Now that she had been bullied, he swore to protect her, to never let anyone bully her again, and to make Chang Jun taste the might of Lěng Yè!
Every moment that followed was an anxious, burning wait for Lěng Yè, until he finally arrived at the gates of the complex and stepped out of the car. Taking a deep breath, he had already prepared himself entirely in his mind, and broke into a light jog toward that building! Every single step on the stairs seemed to represent his determination and willpower; walking up step by step was like marching step by step onto the path of justice and family protection. No matter what obstacles he encountered, they could not stop his forward momentum!