Idiot.

A Xi ran like the wind, his small frame darting ahead. If Shi Yuzhen’s cultivation hadn’t been high enough, he might not have even sensed the boy’s speed.

They arrived at the place A Xi had rushed to for help, and even Shi Yuzhen couldn’t hide his surprise—he raised an eyebrow as he read the sign: A-Ya Fried Chicken.

The shop was wide open, with only a faint candlelight flickering from within.

Covered in dirt and looking frantic, A Xi pointed urgently inside, signaling for him to hurry in.

Shi Yuzhen didn’t hesitate and stepped into the house at once.

Inside, Xu Ya’s complexion had already turned from pale to a sickly black. One more moment’s delay and she might not have made it.

Without a second thought, Shi Yuzhen adjusted her limp body on the bedding, quickly positioning her into a meditation posture.

He climbed onto the bed as well, sitting cross-legged behind her, and began channeling spiritual energy into her body.

This allowed him to examine her condition.

The moment he touched Xu Ya’s burning-hot body, Shi Yuzhen’s heart sank.

He immediately used his own qi to lower her temperature.

A Xi, small and tense, pressed his hands to the bed, watching the immortal heal Xu Ya. His brow was furrowed, and sweat poured down his face like rain.

Shi Yuzhen’s qi wasn’t aggressive. It flowed gently through Xu Ya’s seven orifices, searching for the cause of her condition.

When he reached her dantian, his expression shifted—he understood.

Unlike the previous time when he had examined her sea of consciousness, now Xu Ya’s dantian was full and rich, just like that of a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage. It was highly unusual.

This was basic cultivation knowledge: how could someone with ordinary five-element spiritual roots undergo such a transformation overnight?

Shi Yuzhen thought to himself, “What did she eat?”

But no one could answer him.

A Xi had been half-asleep at the time and hadn’t noticed what Xu Ya had ingested.

Shi Yuzhen forced himself to calm down and think carefully about what Xu Ya might have taken.

His thoughts drifted to that afternoon, when Zhan Zhengzhen and Cai Wenle had visited his manor. They’d brought a familiar food box and mentioned the status of Xu Ya’s fried chicken shop.

…Spirit stones… Three high-grade spirit stones… Recuperation…

A flash of lightning struck through his sea of consciousness—he understood everything in that instant.

Xu Ya must have used her earnings to exchange for a spiritual elixir to help herself recover!

But she likely chose the wrong one.

Elixirs for cultivators were strictly graded, just like cultivation stages and spirit stones. Even food that aided cultivation was finely categorized.

Each higher grade of medicinal food or pill increased in potency and required a corresponding level of aptitude from the user.

Xu Ya probably didn’t understand the intricacies and mistakenly consumed a mid- or high-grade pill.

Now things were complicated.

According to the standard path of advancement, someone with her constitution should have taken low-grade medicines over several courses to gradually open up her meridians before beginning cultivation. Mid- and high-grade pills didn’t include the effect of clearing blockages—instead, they would forcefully crash through them, which could be fatal in severe cases.

Shi Yuzhen had never seen a woman this foolish.

He had initially assumed Xu Ya had been targeted by some villain because she was too close to him.

Never did he expect it to be such a ridiculous mistake.

Shi Yuzhen resumed channeling his qi. A gentle stream of spiritual energy slowly wrapped around Xu Ya’s internal meridians, gradually repairing the damage.

After a full night of care, Xu Ya’s complexion finally shifted from black to pale.

Shi Yuzhen still didn’t dare to overdo it. Each time, he only transferred one-thousandth of his own spiritual energy.

Soon, all the blockages in Xu Ya’s body were quietly and thoroughly resolved by Shi Yuzhen’s subtle, nourishing qi.

Xu Ya slowly regained consciousness. She could feel the pain in her dantian easing, and her whole body felt like it had been pulled from water, drenched in cold sweat.

Shi Yuzhen gently laid her flat on the bed and used a cleansing spell to remove all the sweat from her body.

Then he shifted her further into the bed and resumed his meditation posture on the edge.

Xu Ya fell into a deep nightmare. Or rather, it didn’t quite feel like a nightmare.

Everything around her was a vast white mist, reminiscent of the thick fog she’d encountered when bringing fried chicken to Shi Yuzhen.

Xu Ya couldn’t help but call out, “Shi Yuzhen?”

Her voice echoed several times like it was bouncing through a cave. The hollow space and disjointed visuals made her feel inexplicably anxious.

She reached out blindly, afraid of bumping into something, like a blind person even though her eyes could see.

“System?” “Master Xu?” “Xiaofan?” “Dean Zhu?” “A Xi?” Xu Ya called out every familiar name she could think of, even her former coworkers from Ta-o-ting.

Still, only that cave-like echo answered her.

The deeper she walked, the clearer things became.

She saw a withered tree.

Beneath the tree… there seemed to be a figure… but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see it clearly.

…

Xu Ya jolted awake.

Her system alarm was ringing.

She… yesterday…

Her memories returned in fragments, like a drunken haze. She vaguely remembered swallowing that precious pill whole… then her dantian swelled, and after that, the pain nearly killed her…

Xu Ya sat up with a pounding head, trying to shake herself awake—only to see a flash of white in front of her.

A Xi? No, not A Xi. A Xi didn’t have such broad shoulders.

Who was it?

Xu Ya let out a shriek. The man turned around and quickly formed a hand seal that silenced her.

Shi Yuzhen?

“Shi Yuzhen??? The male lead??? Why is he on my bed?????”

【Host, you’re awake? This is a long story…】

“???”

Shi Yuzhen showed no awareness of how inappropriate it was to be on someone else’s bed. He elegantly stretched his long legs, stepped down from the bedding, and looked down at the stunned, silenced Xu Ya without a shred of politeness.

“You really are an idiot, Xu Ya.”

“??? What do you mean???”

【The male lead means you’re dumb…】

Shi Yuzhen raised a finger and teasingly lifted Xu Ya’s now slightly chubby chin. His eyes narrowed with a sharp glint.

“You went to Danxiao Manor? You spent three high-grade spirit stones to buy a Lingyan Pill?”

How did the male lead know that?? No, the real question was—why was he here??? None of this plot made any sense!

Xu Ya wanted to speak, but the silence seal still held her voice. She could only nod stiffly, eyes filled with curiosity.

As if to say: How do you know all this?

Idiot!

“What level of cultivator do you think you are, taking a Lingyan Pill? That’s a tonic made specifically for high-level cultivators! Do you have any idea that even a low-level cultivator who takes it by mistake could drop dead within moments? Do you have any common sense at all?”

This was the first time Shi Yuzhen had ever scolded her so harshly. Xu Ya was completely stunned.

She tried to process what he’d said. So she’d taken the wrong pill, and if Shi Yuzhen hadn’t arrived in time, she might have died?

The system chimed in helpfully: 【That’s right, Host. You took a pill meant only for high-level cultivators. You probably told Danxiao Manor it was for Zhan Zhengzhen, so they gave you a high-grade one. Your frail little body couldn’t handle it and nearly broke down…】

【The male lead dropping in from the sky yesterday was so cool. Truly worthy of the title Long Aotian!】

“Stop, stop, stop! Just stop!”

Xu Ya quickly grabbed the hem of Shi Yuzhen’s robe as he turned to leave. He looked back at her.

Xu Ya whimpered and pointed at her mouth.

With a sigh, Shi Yuzhen lifted the silence seal.

Xu Ya’s scream turned into tears, a flood of emotion she couldn’t control.

She had almost died.

Xu Ya looked at Shi Yuzhen with deep gratitude and said solemnly, “Thank you… Great Senior Brother…”

Shi Yuzhen was the textbook definition of a Long Aotian. The way the author portrayed him was almost identical to countless other Long Aotian characters—Xu Ya had even mocked it before.

But now that Xu Ya owed her life to him, her attitude had shifted to one of deep respect.

Stereotypical? No way. This Long Aotian male lead was absolutely amazing.

If he weren’t a Long Aotian, who else could have saved her?

She recalled the dull ache in her dantian from yesterday and felt a wave of lingering fear.

Shi Yuzhen didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stand seeing tears in Xu Ya’s eyes. The moment he saw them, a faint pain stirred in his heart. It was subtle, barely noticeable, and he quickly suppressed it. But with Shi Yuzhen’s cultivation, even the slightest sensation couldn’t escape his awareness.

He paused for a moment, then his tone softened. “Alright, it’s over now. From now on, I’ll handle the medicine you need to recover your body. Don’t go taking random things again. I won’t always be there to know when you’re in danger.”

What did that mean?

What did that mean?? Was he saying he was going to take care of her?

【Ehh, can you not make it sound so ambiguous?】

“I…” Xu Ya was clearly stunned. “Thank you, Great Senior Brother.”

Shi Yuzhen tilted his head back slightly, as if that were his response.

Soon, it was time for A-Ya Fried Chicken to open for business.

The neighbors on the morning street were already pushing their carts through the muddy ground, the wheels making dull, heavy sounds.

After a night of rest, Xu Ya was still a bit tired, but she forced herself to get up from bed.

As soon as she moved, A Xi, who was curled up under a thin blanket, also woke up. Without a word, he immediately threw his arms around her in a tight hug.

Xu Ya could barely breathe from how tightly the little guy was clinging to her.

Shi Yuzhen, remembering how much effort it took to coax him to sleep the night before, frowned unconsciously when he saw the early morning cuddling. His tone turned cold again. “Don’t hug her so hard.”

A Xi quickly let go the moment he heard that, not daring to move again.

Xu Ya didn’t think much of it. She patted A Xi’s fluffy head, then swung her legs off the bed and walked into the front hall.

When she opened the main door, sure enough, a crowd of cultivators was already outside grumbling.

“Seriously? What’s going on? Open for one day and already closed? Master Xu’s judgment isn’t that great, huh?”

“Is her fried chicken really that good?”

“She’s the kind of trash you can see through at a glance. Honestly, I’ve got zero faith in her fried chicken.”

“Hey, did you hear? Yesterday, Rong Hong came by to check out the shop. Said the quality wasn’t even worth three mid-grade spirit stones. But somehow, this Xu Ya got in with Senior Brother Zhan and the others, and he actually stood up for her! That’s seriously impressive!”

“Huh? Senior Brother Zhan…”

The door swung wide open, cutting their gossip short.

Not because they were afraid to talk behind someone’s back.

But because standing behind Xu Ya was a white-robed cultivator with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Looking up… it was Shi Yuzhen.

Everyone’s faces were filled with shock.

No way. Someone tell me—why is Great Senior Brother Shi Yuzhen at A-Ya Fried Chicken???

— Translator’s Notes —

– seven orifices: In traditional Chinese medicine and cultivation lore, the ‘seven orifices’ refer to the eyes (2), ears (2), nostrils (2), and mouth (1) – the openings in the head through which qi (vital energy) flows.

– sea of consciousness: A cultivation term referring to the spiritual realm of one’s mind or consciousness, where mental and spiritual power resides.

– clearing blockages: Refers to the process of opening meridians (energy pathways) in the body, a fundamental step in cultivation that allows qi to flow freely.

– Lingyan Pill: A fictional cultivation pill name. ‘Ling’ typically refers to spiritual or divine, while ‘yan’ might relate to refinement or development – suggesting a pill that enhances spiritual cultivation.