The ice-cold winter rain of the Lin clan estate poured down without mercy as Lin Feng knelt in the freezing mud. He held up a tattered piece of parchment with violently trembling hands, watching helplessly as the rainwater smeared the ink of the clinic's admission note."Please, Muyao," Lin Feng choked out, his voice raw, cracking, and barely audible over the storm. "The Central Healing Pavilion requires twenty spiritual stones for immediate admission. I am not asking for a handout, I only need enough to save our daughter's life."Above him stood his wife, Lin Muyao, draped in expensive, snow-white fox furs that didn't catch a single drop of the surrounding filth. She looked down at him from the top of the grand stairs, her exceptionally beautiful facial features completely rigid, her eyes filled with nothing but absolute disgust and cold indifference."Your daughter?" she asked, her voice sounding as biting and sharp as the winter wind whistling through the courtyard. "A useless, cri

The air rippled violently as the dark mist condensed into a towering, majestic projection of an ancient emperor. The figure wore tattered but glorious imperial robes, his gaze carrying the ancient weight of a man who knew ultimate betrayal."Stand up, young man," the projection commanded, his deep voice instantly pushing back the roaring sulfur winds around them. "I am Master Jiu, the former Ashen Emperor, and the first soul bound to your system's training roster.""Where am I? My daughter is still up there with those monsters!" Lin Feng choked out, desperately trying to push himself up. "I don't care about a system, I have to go back!""Calm your heart, boy," Master Jiu replied, his expression shifting into a solemn, understanding look. "This system is a heavenly gift born from your absolute sorrow, granting you direct training access to the dead highest talents of history.""I reached my legendary height only after one hundred elder cultivators transferred their entire lifework into

The shadow of the Lin clan's inner archive building stretched like a dark claw across the stone pavement. Lin Feng slipped through the narrow wooden window frame, his broken staff clasped tightly in his pale, trembling hand.His heart pounded violently against his ribs, driven not by fear for his own life, but by desperation. He needed to find where they were holding Nina, to see if his little girl was still breathing.If he could just find her secret cell and rescue her tonight, he would finally be free to tear this entire estate to the ground. He pressed his back against a cold wooden shelf, holding his breath as footsteps passed outside.Suddenly, a freezing, razor-sharp edge made of pure, condensed starlight was pressed directly against his throat. The temperature in the dark aisle plummeted instantly, frost creeping over his tattered collar."Do not move a single muscle, thief," a cold, pristine voice whispered directly into his ear. Lin Feng turned his eyes slightly, meeting the

Lin Feng did not wait for them to process her presence, his fake limping posture vanishing in an instant. He tapped the base of his weathered wooden staff against the floor, releasing a microscopic thread of gravity-altering Nether Qi.The air pressure in the narrow corridor instantly multiplied by ten thousand, the invisible weight freezing both enforcers mid-stride. Their eyes bulged with primitive horror as their ankles snapped under the sudden, crushing vertical force.Before they could even let out a gasp of pain, Lin Feng shot forward like an invisible shadow. He delivered two lightning-fast thrusts with his fingers, perfectly crushing their windpipes and stopping their breath entirely.The two enforcers slumped against the damp stone wall, dark crimson blood seeping from their lips as they died. Lin Feng caught Lanying just as her silver robes began to slide toward the dirty stone floor.A thick splatter of black blood escaped Lanying's mouth, her pale lips trembling violently

The silver light of the imperial shadow-stepping talisman faded with a soft hiss, depositing Lin Feng, Lanying, and the unconscious Nina onto a pile of damp leaves. The smell of mold, rotting wood, and thick winter moss immediately filled the air, confirming they had made it out of the estate.They had materialized inside a forgotten, ruined monastery hidden deep within the outer misty bamboo forest at the far edge of the city. The roof had collapsed long ago, allowing the freezing winter rain to drip through the ancient stone rafters, but the thick stone walls provided a brief shield from the howling wind."We are safe here for the moment," Lanying whispered, her breathing ragged as she leaned against a cracked pillar. "The shadow-stepping magic scrambled our spatial coordinates, so their tracking dogs won't be able to trace us to this forest tonight."Lin Feng didn't answer with words; his entire focus was anchored to the tiny, shivering bundle in his arms. He carried Nina toward a