Chapter 49 — TVF Chapter 49

Metaphysics Master (6)  Looking at his beloved, who was unconscious yet only had minor external abrasions, Chao Lan had already thrown Gu Yu and Jin Ziyun into a vat of boiling oil a thousand times over in his heart.

He had been chosen by his master at a young age—his master had said he was a rare genius.

Studying and cultivating the Dao at the same time, he never let either fall behind. By the age most people finished graduate school, he was already capable of standing on his own. But clearly, “standing on one’s own” didn’t mean being omnipotent—for example, waking his beloved right now was beyond his ability.

He could only grit his teeth in secret: if Gu Yu and Jin Ziyun had obediently given up a bit of their fortune, he would definitely have looked after them slightly. He never intended to actually take their lives.

In his heart, he cursed them fluently. What a waste of goodwill!

Yet no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, the facts were right in front of him.

He had tried to be clever and it ended up backfiring. Not only had he failed to make his beloved more fortunate, but the backlash from the failed fortune-stealing had caused Weiwei to suffer this calamity instead.

Looking at Su Weiwei’s pale face resting on his lap, Chao Lan supported his forehead with one hand while continuously gathering spiritual energy with the other, tapping it into her brow.

When the ambulance arrived, Su Weiwei happened to open her eyes.

Facing her childhood sweetheart, she carefully felt herself over, then let out a sigh of relief. “It seems I didn’t lose any arms or legs…” She reached up and grabbed his wrist. “You scared me to death! I really am lucky!”

Even though Su Weiwei felt she was mostly fine, she still had to get into the ambulance and go to the hospital for a full checkup.

Needless to say, Chao Lan accompanied her the whole way.

While Su Weiwei was undergoing examinations, Chao Lan received a call from his father, asking whether he planned to go see Jin Ziyun. No matter how superficial their father-son relationship with Jin Ziyun was, it wouldn’t be appropriate to completely avoid showing up while his stepsister lay unconscious.

If Gu Yu had obediently allowed his fortune to be shaved off, Weiwei wouldn’t have experienced this accident. He himself wouldn’t have coughed up blood from forcibly divining, nor would he have nearly collapsed from force-feeding spiritual energy into Weiwei.

The only reason he could still stand here like nothing was wrong was because of his iron will.

Naturally, he refused curtly. But he wasn’t angry at his father, so despite his poor tone, he still explained clearly why he wouldn’t be going to see Jin Ziyun.

Father Chao knew his son’s deep infatuation with Su Weiwei and didn’t force the issue. He only said, “Ziyun’s father came by last night and gave her a bottle of medicine. Although Ziyun still hasn’t woken up today, her cerebral hemorrhage has improved a lot—she’s not far from regaining consciousness.” When he was on the phone, the hospital director and doctors were still surrounding his wife, showering her with concern and lavish praise…

Chao Lan heard the subtext. Judging someone’s background as extraordinary just because one bottle of medicine greatly improved Jin Ziyun’s condition… was a bit hasty.

But it seemed he couldn’t avoid going to take a look anymore.

Even so, he would need to recuperate first before going. He looked at Weiwei, who had just come out of the examination room smiling warmly as she walked toward him.

In this world, nothing was more important than Weiwei.

…

Chao Lan’s divination had strict limits, and Qin Jingzhou’s strength in this world was also constrained—he was still very far from omniscience or omnipotence.

But as long as he knew that one lash of the willow branch had made the male supporting character bleed heavily again, that was enough.

Gu Yu sat on the floor in the back room, staring wide-eyed at his wife Jin Ziyun for a long while before he finally seemed to catch his breath. “So neither of us was hurt by an accident… they harmed you and then wanted to keep harming me!”

Reconciling with her husband after just a few words was out of the question.

Jin Ziyun remembered clearly how her parents-in-law had openly criticized her as a troublemaker who deserved what she got while she lay unconscious in the hospital bed—and how her husband, though full of worry, had not refuted them.

That didn’t stop her from uniting with her husband against a common enemy. “You’re also the heir to a trillion-yuan conglomerate, you know.”

Gu Yu wiped his face. “I should hire a master to protect me too.” Then he looked up, eyes burning as he stared at his official father-in-law. “I’ll transfer all my shares to Yunyun immediately.”

Jin Ziyun gently tugged at her father’s clothes. “Transfer them to the baby instead. Once I recover, I’ll bring the baby over. I’m an outsider by surname—holding onto the Gu family’s shares would just shorten my life.” The last two sentences were dripping with sarcasm.

Jin Yuansheng also chimed in. “Don’t delay us siblings from learning the family craft.”

Who would choose business when they could cultivate immortality? Who would be that stupid?

Gu Yu looked pleadingly at his wife, hoping she’d speak up for him.

Qin Jingzhou expressionlessly dealt him a blow. “My two children already have bad enough talent. You’re even worse than they are. Though you’d be quite suitable as a ghost cultivator.”

Gu Yu: …

“So I have to die before I can get stronger?” He actually thought about it—then decided to stay alive first and talk later.

Jin Ziyun felt much more balanced now and said bluntly, “Dad, my parents-in-law have always disliked me, openly and secretly. Now it’s our turn to look down on him.”

Gu Yu gave a bitter smile. “What if I cut ties with the Gu family and come work here under Father-in-law?”

Jin Ziyun replied, “It’s not like you’ve ever worked for my dad before.” She then looked at Qin Jingzhou together with her husband.

Before meeting the world’s female lead, the male lead was still passable. And there was no bait more useful than the male lead.

So Qin Jingzhou agreed. “Fine.”

Gu Yu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Huh?”

Qin Jingzhou said calmly, “You can do odd jobs in the shop, or introduce some clients.”

Jin Yuansheng and Jin Ziyun both looked at their biological father.

Qin Jingzhou argued righteously, “No clients means slowly burning through savings. Compared to cultivation, art is just a little brother when it comes to burning money.”

In the end, Gu Yu compromised: half a day at work, half a day doing odd jobs. He fully agreed that once his wife recovered, they would send their child to stay with Father-in-law.

Before dinner, Qin Jingzhou refined another small bottle of “wood-attribute spiritual energy alcohol solution” and handed it to Jin Yuansheng, telling him to go to the hospital after dinner to apply the medicine for his sister and move his things from his own place.

Gu Yu, remembering that he also had an apartment in a high-end complex just two streets away from his father-in-law’s place, thought he might as well move over that very night.

He acted on the thought immediately, issuing instructions to his assistant via phone. Since he’d never personally witnessed the miraculous effects of “spiritual liquid,” he wanted to go to the hospital with his brother-in-law to see it for himself.

Since his brother-in-law hadn’t cheated, Jin Yuansheng wasn’t completely hostile toward Gu Yu and readily agreed.

The two went to the hospital together and happened to run into Chao Lan, who had come with Su Weiwei to visit Jin Ziyun.

When Mother Jin and Father Chao first married, Jin Yuansheng and Jin Ziyun had only maintained a barely passable relationship with Chao Lan. After that, neither side had made any effort to get closer.

On the contrary, under Chao Lan’s deliberate cultivation, Gu Yu and Chao Lan were closer than mere nodding acquaintances.

Little did Gu Yu know—this was entirely intentional on Chao Lan’s part.

Chao Lan was a so-called orthodox human-path cultivator. In general, he chose his targets based on “fortune”—whoever had higher fortune, he got closer to. It should be noted that he couldn’t steal or weaken the fortune of people he didn’t know or who bore him no goodwill.

Those were minor details. The key point was that when Gu Yu and Su Weiwei came face to face, their gazes lingered on each other for several seconds.

They stared at each other as if no one else existed. Jin Yuansheng and Chao Lan weren’t blind—they immediately sensed something was wrong.

The strangest part was that not only they, but even Jin Yuansheng and Chao Lan themselves knew this wasn’t love at first sight.

Chao Lan’s heart tightened. Even though he still hadn’t recovered much strength, he forced himself to divine again. The moment he calculated that Gu Yu and Weiwei were destined to have an entanglement, he vomited blood once more, his vision went black, and he collapsed.

His fall dragged Su Weiwei down with him. Acting on instinct, she reached out to pull him—but since all the fortune Chao Lan had stolen from Jin Yuansheng, Jin Ziyun, and Gu Yu had become invalid, Su Weiwei’s bad luck in trivial matters returned in full force. Not only was she unlucky herself, she was also very good at dragging others down with her…

As she fell, she somehow executed a sliding tackle, miraculously tripping Gu Yu. Gu Yu’s foot slipped, and he was about to faceplant when Jin Yuansheng helplessly grabbed him, stumbling as well.

The small bottle of spiritual liquid in Jin Yuansheng’s pocket flew out, smashing straight into Gu Yu’s head before shattering on the ground. The spiritual liquid spilled out and rapidly evaporated into nothing.

Aside from the unconscious Chao Lan, the other three were left speechless.

If Jin Yuansheng hadn’t known that extracting spiritual liquid wasn’t particularly difficult, he would have definitely gone ballistic.

At that moment, Gu Yu suddenly lowered his head and began floating in place. After a teeth-grating sound, endless black qi poured out of his body. Within seconds, all of it surged into Jin Yuansheng’s body.

Gu Yu slammed to the ground with a thud, also losing consciousness. Only Su Weiwei remained, trembling as she stared at Jin Yuansheng, now shrouded in black qi and no longer recognizable.

Logically speaking, the place where the four of them met—the lounge outside Jin Ziyun’s ICU—shouldn’t have been deserted. Yet after such a huge commotion, not a single person came over to check.

“Jin Yuansheng” completely ignored Su Weiwei. He smashed the ICU glass with one punch, grabbed Jin Ziyun, and flew out through the window.

Su Weiwei finally couldn’t hold on anymore and collapsed to the ground.

—

Back at home, Qin Jingzhou felt something stir. “Good thing I planted an eye in my cheap son. I was wondering where he got that demonic-path inheritance in the original plot. Looks like it was inside him all along… a demonic inheritance that almost fooled me—pretty impressive.”

He looked at his cheap daughter, whose eyes suddenly went blank as she started drifting outward. He grabbed her and stuffed her back into his pocket, zipping it up. “So soon and you’re already attracting souls.”

The system cooperated smoothly.  “Jin Yuansheng is most likely reborn.”