In Blackwater City, part of the Azure Sky Dynasty, the sky had ripped open. Thunder cracked overhead as a deluge hammered the rooftops.
Li Fan stood in the doorway of his clinic, listening to the percussive drumming of raindrops the size of beans against the eaves. A familiar unease settled in his gut.
Weather like this kept patients away. Not even a cultivator could command the storms to cease, much less an ordinary transmigrator like himself.
Twenty years. It had been twenty years since he’d arrived in this world they called the Celestial Domain.
This was a world of cultivation, a world that respected only strength. He’d wanted that strength, too, once. But his body refused to absorb a single wisp of spiritual energy. In a world defined by cultivation, he couldn't even take the first step. A pure-blooded mortal. A waste.
He even had a system, but instead of aiding his cultivation, it had steered him toward a collection of strange hobbies. Painting and medical skills were normal enough, but it had also pushed him to master forging, health care, and even fortune telling.
With no patients to break the monotony, Li Fan stifled a yawn and called up his system panel.
"Host: Li Fan."
"Cultivation: Not started."
Li Fan’s lips thinned. He dismissed the notification without a second thought.
He scrolled down to the list of skills—the ones useless for actual cultivation. Painting, calligraphy, medical skills, forging, fortune telling… even something called ‘Body Tempering Art.’ That last one was just a set of physical conditioning exercises the system had provided. They made his body stronger than a typical mortal’s, but that was the extent of their usefulness.
Every single skill had long since reached the highest level: "superb."
Li Fan was convinced the system was mocking him. Because the true potential of these skills—their "superb" nature—was locked behind a wall of spiritual power.
A true cultivator could imbue a painting of a mountain landscape with the very essence of the Tao. A master calligrapher could channel profound truths into a single brushstroke. A seer could glimpse a person's past and future, life and death. And a true divine doctor could refine miraculous elixirs and snatch souls from the brink of oblivion.
But those were feats for cultivators. Mortals like him could only dream.
The path was clear: Meridian Opening, Foundation Establishment, Golden Elixir, Nascent Divinity, Spirit Palace, Soul Transformation, Void Amalgamation, Tribulation Crossing, and Grand Ascension, all culminating in the legendary realm of the Celestial Sovereign. Ten stages, from the weakest Meridian Opening practitioner to the pinnacle of existence.
When his system first awakened, he’d been obsessed with reaching the first level, Meridian Opening. But years passed with no progress. Eventually, disheartened, he’d given up and simply maxed out all the other skills out of sheer boredom.
Useless skills. The most mundane foundation-building cultivator could outperform the most accomplished mortal craftsman a million times over.
So, of all his "superb" abilities, Li Fan had chosen medicine. At least it provided a living.
Mortals got sick, and Li Fan treated them for mortal currency. It wasn't much, but it was enough. He had resigned himself to his lot. If he couldn't cultivate, then this was his life.
And yet… despite the downpour, a festive air clung to Blackwater City. Li Fan peered through the rain-streaked doorway. Ribbons of spiritual light glowed in the gloom, and decorative lanterns hung from every eave. It had all the trappings of a grand wedding.
"Getting married in a storm," Li Fan muttered with a sneer. "Not worried about tempting fate, are they?"
"Doctor Li, you got one of the wedding invitations too, I see."
The voice belonged to the grocer from the shop next door.
"Yes, I received it."
Li Fan pulled a blue and red invitation from the folds of his robe.
The wedding was for the Zhao family, Blackwater City’s most powerful clan. When their eldest young master took a wife, of course it would be a grand affair. The invitation he held was a token gesture, a chance for some local mortals to get a free meal.
The bride, however, came from the Chen family, a clan that dwarfed the Zhao family in both size and prestige.
Li Fan found the whole thing odd. It didn't seem like a match made in heaven so much as a transaction. It was less a marriage and more like the Chen family was offloading their daughter for a pittance.
"The Zhao family feast is tonight. If you're free, Doctor Li, why not come and have a good meal with me?"
The grocer waved his own invitation enthusiastically.
"I'll pass. What business does a mortal like me have at a cultivator's wedding? You go on your own."
Li Fan couldn't be bothered with such things.
"…Hmm?"
Li Fan’s eyes were sharp.
His gaze drifted past the grocer, settling on a figure in the downpour. It was a woman, a lonely, desolate silhouette moving through the deluge like a walking corpse.
A closer look revealed delicate features and an aura of cold, solitary grief.
The woman walked alone, a solitary ghost on the rain-swept streets. Her face was numb, her eyes vacant, as if she no longer knew where she was going.
She was Chen Yuexi. Once, she had been the pride of the Chen family, a once-in-a-generation cultivation genius. Her family had doted on her. Countless young prodigies had vied for her attention. Countless more had admired her, envied her...
And now? Now she had been sold. Shipped off to Blackwater City and betrothed to the eldest young master of the Zhao family.
Chen Yuexi bowed her head, letting the cold rain mask her tears.
It had all begun three months ago. She’d been exploring one of the dynasty’s great secret realms when an evil cultivator ambushed her, tainting her with a vile Curse.
Her family had spared no expense, summoning renowned doctors and even saints. They’d managed to purge the worst of the "Soul Corroding Curse," but her Tao root had been shattered beyond repair. The residual Curse was now a cancer, slowly, inexorably devouring what little cultivation she had left.
As for removing the rest of the Curse… it was impossible.
It had fused with her very being. To remove it now would be to take her life.
Soul Corroding Curse. It didn’t kill. It did something far more vicious. It stripped a cultivator of their power, destroyed their Foundation, and left them a cripple.
"Since you are now a cripple, you can at least make one final contribution to the family." Those were the last words her father had spoken to her.
This marriage was a joke. A genius falls, and the world applauds. The irony was bitter. The Zhao family was nothing compared to the Chen family, yet to convince them to take on a "crippled bride," her own family had been forced to pay them.
When she'd arrived at the Zhao Manor, the eldest young master—a mediocre playboy who'd only reached the second level of the Golden Elixir stage—had actually looked down on her.
How the mighty have fallen.
At eighteen, she had reached the fifth level of the Nascent Divinity realm. In the entire Azure Sky Dynasty, perhaps only three or four of her generation could have stood against her. Now, she had been cast from that divine altar. In just three months, her power had plummeted to the eighth level of Meridian Opening, and it was still falling...
The cold from the drenching rain seeped into her bones, a deep weakness spreading through her.
Three months ago, a single sword wave could have parted this curtain of rain.
Her hand still clutched the hilt of her soft sword, but she barely had the strength left to draw it.
"...Damn you, Heaven! Why do you mock me so!"
"I don't accept this... I won't!"
Chen Yuexi threw her head back and screamed at the gray, weeping sky, but the storm swallowed her voice.
Suddenly, death didn't seem so frightening.
Perhaps this was it. Let her life end here.
Better this than being shackled to that dandy from the Zhao family.
She lowered her gaze to the sword in her hand. Her eyes grew cold, her fingers trembling as she slowly, deliberately, began to draw the blade.
Just then, a voice cut through the sound of the storm. "Miss, are you alright, walking alone in a rain like this?"
Chen Yuexi spun around. A young man stood before her, holding an oiled-paper umbrella that created a small haven from the downpour. His eyes caught her off guard—they were dark and clear, like pools of still autumn water, radiating a calm, genuine warmth.
"You..."
A flicker of panic shot through her—no man had ever gotten so close. But then she registered the simple fact that a stranger had appeared from nowhere to shield her from the rain. This person... was unexpected.
"Thank you, sir."
Chen Yuexi silently slid the half-drawn sword back into its sheath.
"It's no trouble. You shouldn't be so polite," Li Fan said. "The rain is heavy. Please, come into my clinic and take shelter for a while."
Chen Yuexi hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight nod.
They walked into the clinic together. The furnishings were simple but clean and orderly.
As Li Fan went to prepare tea, Chen Yuexi studied him. He was a mortal, with not a hint of true energy about him. Before, she wouldn't have spared such a person a second glance. Mortals were ants. But now… now she was on the verge of becoming an ant herself.
"Here, drink some hot tea to warm up."
Li Fan returned with the freshly brewed tea and set it before her. His gaze lingered on her face, which was admittedly quite beautiful. Chen Yuexi noted his stare and felt a prickle of annoyance—how presumptuous—but then he spoke again. "Miss... are you ill?"
His question startled her. A bitter smile touched her lips. "Yes. A rather serious one." Even a mortal could see the sickness clinging to her like a shroud. How pitiful she had become.
"Well... you've had this for some time, haven't you?"
He leaned a little closer to observe, then reached out and touched her pale wrist, his fingers resting on her pulse point. The action made her flinch, but she suppressed her resistance, reminding herself he was a doctor, and this was an act of benevolence.
Compared to the arrogant young master of the Zhao family, this mortal was at least polite and decent.
"I have some medicine here that should help. You'll be fine after taking it, miss."
Li Fan walked over to his medicine cabinet, grabbed a few handfuls of herbs, and disappeared into the back room to prepare the decoction.
Chen Yuexi found the notion almost laughable. How could a mere mortal comprehend her affliction? The most elite medical masters in the dynasty had failed to cure her. Still, while she knew mortal medicine was useless, it felt wrong to refuse his kindness. When he returned and handed her the steaming bowl of soup, she accepted it and took a small, polite sip.
The moment the bland liquid touched her tongue, her expression froze in disbelief. An impossibly pure and potent medicinal energy erupted from the simple broth, surging through her meridians like a tidal wave. In an instant, every last trace of Curse in her body was annihilated. Strength, warm and familiar, flooded back into her limbs.
"Huh..."
Hope, a feeling she thought long dead, flared in her chest. She stared blankly at the brown concoction in the bowl, her voice a choked whisper. "This… this is the cure?"
Her long-lost cultivation came roaring back. Within a few breaths, she shattered the bottleneck of Foundation Establishment, tore through the Golden Elixir stage, and soared all the way to the seventh level of the Nascent Divinity realm!
She had broken through!
All from a single sip of medicine!
Chen Yuexi sat stunned in her chair, her gaze lost in the sheets of rain outside the window. The shock in her eyes was absolute.
What kind of medicine was this?