Song Xi's Turning Point, Grudges Temporarily Set Aside

After leaving the A-rank cultivation pod, Jiang Yuan followed Assistant Lin Xi's directions. He first needed to visit the Martial Arts Center in the city center to complete the formal boarding procedures and file transfer.

As he took a shortcut through an old narrow alley, a familiar female voice mixed with sobs, along with the arrogant filthy abuse of several men, made him stop.

"Song Xi, don't fucking push your luck. You owe Celestial Pivot Industries ten million. Did you think hiding would make it go away?"

"Brother Chu said that today, you either pay up or come with us. The underground laboratory happens to be short on living test subjects who can withstand high-intensity drugs."

Deep in the alley, six burly men in Celestial Pivot Industries uniforms had cornered a figure against the wall.

It was Song Xi, once radiant and unmatched in the arena.

Her face was pale, her right shoulder hung limply at her side, and her clean martial arts uniform was covered in dust. She had clearly struggled, but against six high-level Body Tempering Realm martial artists, her resistance was insignificant.

"That ten million was a breach-of-contract penalty Chu He forced on me. I never signed anything!" Song Xi gritted her teeth and argued stubbornly.

The scar-faced brute at the front gave a vicious grin and pulled a dark-blue syringe from his pocket.

"Whether you signed it or not, Brother Chu has the final say. You don't." He shook the syringe in his hand, his face full of malice. "Once this thing goes in, your whole body will go weak, and you'll obediently come with us."

Another tall, skinny man chuckled. "Big Brother, don't rush to send her to the lab. This little beauty is so delicate, and her figure's so good. It'd be a waste to kill her right away."

"Brother Chu ordered us to drain every last bit of her value in the laboratory before selling her to a brothel, so she can spend the rest of her life properly 'paying off' her debt. Then us brothers can have some fun too!"

"Hahahaha!"

The unbearable laughter echoed through the alley.

Song Xi's body trembled violently. As she watched the syringe draw closer and closer, undisguised panic finally appeared on her face.

She wasn't afraid of death, but she could not accept falling into a fate ten thousand times more humiliating than death.

Just as Scarface was about to plunge the needle into Song Xi's neck, a hand appeared out of nowhere and clamped around his wrist like iron pincers.

"Do all you people from Celestial Pivot Industries enjoy scraping out a living in garbage heaps?"

A calm voice rang beside everyone's ears.

All six brutes turned around and saw Jiang Yuan standing behind them, though none of them knew when he had appeared.

"Who the fuck are you? You dare meddle in Celestial Pivot Industries' business? Are you tired of living?" Scarface struggled hard against the grip on his wrist, but it would not budge. Humiliated and enraged, he snapped.

Jiang Yuan did not answer. He merely exerted a little force with his hand.

Crack!

A crisp sound of breaking bone rang out. Scarface's wrist bent backward at a grotesque angle, and the dark-blue syringe fell to the ground.

"Argh—!"

A shrill scream shattered the alley's silence.

"Kill him!"

The remaining five came to their senses and roared as they lunged at Jiang Yuan from different directions. Their fists howled through the air with terrifying force.

Jiang Yuan could not even be bothered to look at them. He merely pushed the Great Completion Realm Baxia · Stone-Metal Body to its limit.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five heavy punches, each powerful enough to shatter stone tablets and split boulders, struck Jiang Yuan's chest, back, and ribs almost simultaneously.

Yet the scene they expected, Jiang Yuan's bones and tendons breaking apart, never occurred.

Instead, the five men felt as though they had struck a piece of red-hot ancient black iron. An irresistible force of recoil surged wildly back through their arms!

Pfft!

All five spat out blood at once. The joints in their arms shattered inch by inch, and they screamed as they were flung backward, rolling into a heap on the ground and completely losing their ability to fight.

Less than three seconds had passed.

All six high-level Body Tempering Realm martial artists had been crippled.

Jiang Yuan released Scarface, who had already fainted from the pain, then walked over to Song Xi, who was frozen in terror. He picked up the syringe and idly rolled it between his fingers.

"With this thing, you wanted to lay a hand on my woman?"

Song Xi lifted her head and stared blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar man before her. Looking at his mountain-like figure, her nose stung, and tears finally poured out uncontrollably.

Jiang Yuan paid no attention to her emotions. He took out the S-rank reserve authority card the principal had given him and directly called the public hotline of the New Star Investigation Group.

"Jiang Yuan, special observation subject S-017 of the New Star Investigation Group. At Alley Three, Western Jiang Hai City, I encountered malicious obstruction by Celestial Pivot Industries personnel, who also attempted to inflict bodily harm on my companion."

His voice traveled clearly through the authority card to the other end.

"Immediately settle all debts between Celestial Pivot Industries and Song Xi. The principal debt will be deducted from my personal account. All noncompliant additional clauses are to be voided."

"Also, warn Celestial Pivot Industries. From this moment on, Song Xi is mine. Any further harassment in any form will be regarded as a direct provocation against me."

Jiang Yuan ended the call and put away the authority card.

When the brutes lying on the ground heard those words, all color drained from their faces.

S-rank reserve authority!

They understood better than anyone what that represented.

It meant a top-tier genius jointly certified by the military and New Star Martial University. Each one possessed unimaginable privileges and backing, far beyond what a minor Celestial Pivot Industries branch like theirs could afford to offend.

"Get lost." Jiang Yuan spat out a single word.

As if granted amnesty, the men scrambled to their feet, supporting one another as they fled the alley in a miserable state.

The alley fell silent again, leaving only Jiang Yuan and Song Xi.

Song Xi wiped away her tears and walked silently toward Jiang Yuan. Then she rose on tiptoe and pressed her cold yet soft lips fiercely against his.

That kiss carried the relief of surviving disaster, endless gratitude, and an all-or-nothing determination.

After a long while, their lips parted.

A blush spread across Song Xi's cheeks. She tightly hugged Jiang Yuan's waist and buried her face in his chest, her voice trembling with desire.

"Take me with you, Jiang Yuan."

"My body has cultivated yin-cold techniques since childhood. Now my old injuries have flared up, and cold qi has congealed in my meridians. Only you... only the supreme-yang qi in your body can save me."

Jiang Yuan felt the heat and trembling of her soft body in his arms. He could clearly sense an icy energy rampaging through her body, while the Nine-Yang aura within him held a fatal attraction for it.

Dry tinder met raging fire, and it ignited at the slightest spark.

That night, spring filled the rented room in the old district.

The fusion of yin and yang, the collision of destruction and rebirth, bound their young bodies tightly together as they explored life's primal mysteries.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window and spilled across the bed.

Song Xi lay lazily atop Jiang Yuan's solid chest, her face carrying a satisfied flush. Her originally pale complexion had regained its healthy rosiness.

The cold qi in her body had been completely combed through and balanced by the Nine-Yang True Qi. Even the old injury in her right shoulder had begun to heal rapidly under a newly born force circulating on its own.

"Thank you." Song Xi raised her head and lightly kissed his chin.

"We each got what we needed." Jiang Yuan remained as indifferent as ever.

Song Xi rolled her eyes at him. This man was blazing with passion in bed, yet cold as a block of wood once he got out of it.

She took a small storage device from beneath the pillow and pressed it into Jiang Yuan's hand.

"I secretly copied Celestial Pivot Industries' internal data using my family's authority."

Song Xi's expression turned serious. "It contains the precise locations of three secret Celestial Pivot Industries strongholds in Jiang Hai City. More importantly, it contains Chu He's ambush plan against you."

"He has already transferred three elite combat squads from headquarters. Two of them are Meridian Opening Realm experts who have undergone deep cybernetic augmentation."

"They plan to strike at Maintenance Gate Three on the Old Freight Ringway, the unavoidable route to the spaceport. They intend to capture you alive and take your broken sword and cultivation technique."

Jiang Yuan accepted the storage device and gently rubbed it with his fingertips.

He knew that the real hard battle was only beginning now.

"Our grudges are settled." Song Xi sat up, and the blanket slipped down, revealing a large expanse of her snow-white skin.

She looked at Jiang Yuan and spoke seriously. "But you saved me. I will repay this debt of gratitude."

"From now on, I am yours." Though she had given up the thought of competing with Jiang Yuan, the defiance in her eyes and her devotion to the martial path had never gone out.