2: Chapter 2 The Glimmer of Light in the Dilapidated Courtyard and the Guidance of the Contract

Crippled Sun watched him pick through the items with a sidelong glance, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the counter with a "tap, tap, tap" sound that seemed both like a prodding urge and a mockery.

Lin Chen's movements were not fast, but they were purposeful.

He pretended to be searching for some substitute herbs, but in reality, his entire focus was concentrated on the faint, fluctuating warmth emanating from the stone ring on his right thumb.

Within his field of vision, pale golden text—visible only to him—flickered past, like markings from a radar scan, precisely locking onto specific plants within the sack.

He picked out every "weed" that the stone ring marked as having a faint Spiritual Qi reaction and gathered them in front of him.

These were plants with pale cyan stems and dense fibrous roots, along with a few grass-like leaves with serrated edges that emitted a faint, fishy odor.

"Those?" Crippled Sun finally lost his patience and pointed his chin at the small pile Lin Chen had picked out. "Just wild grass plucked from the mountain, not even good enough to burn as firewood. If you want them, I'll charge you two copper coins for the lot. Take them all."

Lin Chen did not haggle; he did not even say an extra word.

He silently placed the last two sweat-stained copper coins from his palm onto the counter, then carefully gathered up the pile of "weeds" that, in his eyes, were worth far more than two copper coins, and turned to leave Baicao Hall.

Behind him, Crippled Sun watched his slightly thin but straight back disappear around the street corner, then raised his hand to sweep the two copper coins into the drawer.

"Poor wretch."

He let out a low sneer and picked up the chopper again, cutting the grass roots with a "clack, clack" sound.

He completely failed to notice that the roots of the seemingly ordinary "Snake Saliva Grass" that Lin Chen had taken were stained with a tiny bit of extremely faint, almost invisible, cyan-gold soil.

Returning to that drafty, ruined courtyard, the cold seemed even more intense than outside.

Lin Chen first walked to the edge of the kang bed and felt Su Qingyao's forehead; the scorching heat had not subsided in the slightest.

She was still in a deep sleep, only her breathing had become more rapid than before.

There was not much time left.

He placed the pile of "weeds" on the ground, found a few broken bricks in the courtyard, and built a simple earthen stove in a corner under the eaves that could barely shelter them from the rain.

The neighbors didn't seem to have returned yet, so he could only take out the flint he had scavenged from the pursuer and struck it against a handful of dry twigs with a "clack, clack."

Sparks flew a few times before finally igniting the dry thatch, sending up a wisp of damp black smoke.

He spread out the pile of herbs and carefully sorted them according to the strength of the resonance coming from the stone ring.

Most were just ordinary grass, which he casually tossed into the fire to serve as firewood.

In the end, he kept a few "Cyan Beard Roots" with the most intact root Systems, as well as those few "Snake Saliva Grass" leaves that carried a fishy odor.

He rinsed the chipped earthen pot in the courtyard over and over again, yet the boiled water still carried a musty, earthy smell.

He broke the cleaned Cyan Beard Roots into pieces and threw them into the boiling earthen pot.

As the roots met the hot water, a very faint cyan-green hue slowly seeped out, mingling with a subtle, bitter scent that began to diffuse through the air.

Lin Chen used a chipped bowl to scoop out half a bowl of the cyan-green medicinal soup, blew on the steam, and returned to the side of the kang.

He knelt on the ground, wrapped one arm around Su Qingyao's shoulders, and lifted her up, letting her lean against his chest.

"Senior Sister, drink the medicine," he whispered, not knowing if she could hear him.

He gently touched the rim of the bowl to her chapped lips.

With the first mouthful, as soon as the scalding medicinal liquid entered her mouth, Su Qingyao suddenly choked due to the irritation in her throat, and the pale cyan soup trickled down the corner of her pale lips.

Lin Chen did not give up. He blew on the medicinal soup until it was cooler and tried again.

This time, her tightly closed throat seemed to move instinctively, and she swallowed a little.

Just like that, mouthful by mouthful, he only managed to feed her less than half a bowl of the medicinal soup.

Lin Chen put down the bowl and laid her back down.

He stared intently at her face, hoping for a miracle.

However, after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Su Qingyao's breathing seemed to steady slightly, but her forehead remained scorching hot, and the shocking cyan-purple color around the wound on her left shoulder showed no signs of fading.

Lin Chen's heart sank, bit by bit.

These few meager Spiritual plants were, after all, like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a single cup of water.

At dusk, the sky grew dim, and the remaining sunlight struggled to cast a few spots of light through the holes in the roof.

At the half-collapsed gap in the courtyard wall, that head with the little hair bun peeked out again.

It was the little girl from yesterday.

This time, Xiao Wan did not drop the items and run away like she did yesterday.

Her large, bright eyes stared timidly at the silent Lin Chen in the courtyard, her small hands clutching tightly at the hem of her clothes.

Lin Chen also saw her; he did not move, just watched her quietly.

The two stared at each other for a long time across a distance of a dozen steps. The little girl seemed to muster all her courage before whispering in a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum: "My mother says... you are new here and don't have food to eat."

After saying this, she quickly placed something the size of a palm, wrapped in a lotus leaf, on the ground at the gap in the wall, then turned and ran like a startled rabbit, disappearing into the depths of the alley in the blink of an eye.

Lin Chen walked to the wall and picked up the lotus leaf parcel.

He opened it to find three pieces of roasted sweet potato, golden-brown and still warm to the touch.

He held the small lotus leaf parcel and stood there for a moment.

The weight of these three sweet potatoes seemed heavier than all his worldly possessions combined.

He carefully placed the sweet potatoes on the edge of the kang and covered them with the chipped bowl to keep them from cooling down.

Then, he walked to the gap in the courtyard wall and, facing the empty alley, said in a voice only he could hear: "Thank you."

In the middle of the night, the rain began to fall again, pitter-pattering against the sparse roof tiles, and also striking at Lin Chen's anxious heart.

On the kang, Su Qingyao began to shiver violently, her teeth chattering uncontrollably, making a "clack, clack" sound.

The cold sweat seeping from her forehead soon soaked the worn-out straw mat that served as a pillow.

Lin Chen extended the back of his hand to test her forehead.

The temperature was frighteningly high, scorching him so much that his heart gave a sudden twitch.

He no longer hesitated and reached into his robe to take out a small oil-paper packet; this was the only trauma medicine from the starter resource pack he had retrieved from the System's temporary storage—Hemostatic Powder.

He tore open the paper packet and sprinkled the fine white powder evenly over the cyan-purple wound on her left shoulder.

However, as soon as the medicinal powder touched her skin, it was quickly soaked through by a transparent liquid with a faint fishy odor seeping from deep within the wound, rendering it useless.

Just then, the stone ring on his thumb began to heat up continuously and slightly, and lines of glaring golden warning text flashed before his eyes:

[Warning: Dao Companion bindee "Su Qingyao" vital signs are continuously declining...]

[Meridian atrophy risk: 47%... 51%...]

[Dantian poison erosion risk: 31%... 35%...]

[System suggestion: Take effective rescue measures immediately!]

Lin Chen sat by the edge of the kang, staring fixedly at Su Qingyao's furrowed brows caused by extreme pain.

His right thumb rubbed over the rough surface of the stone ring again and again; the hard stone edges were almost wearing through his fingertip, causing a burning pain.

He still had one last trump card.

His consciousness sank into the System space, where ten Low-Grade Spirit Stones lay quietly in the corner.

Those were the most valuable items in the starter resource pack, each containing energy a hundred times purer than all the Spiritual Qi in his body combined.

But in this Mortal town, where even high-level Qi Refining Cultivators were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and perhaps didn't even exist, if he were to take out the Spirit Stones, that pure Spiritual Qi fluctuation would be no different from lighting the brightest lamp in the middle of the night, instantly attracting all unknown dangers.

By then, it wouldn't just be Su Qingyao who died.

Near dawn, the rain eased slightly.

On the kang, Su Qingyao's breathing was already so weak it was almost inaudible, and her lips displayed a lifeless, ashen color.

Lin Chen knew he had no time to hesitate any longer.

He sat cross-legged on the cold ground, right by the side of the kang, and closed his eyes.

He attempted to mobilize the thin, nearly dissipated Qi Refining third-layer Spiritual Qi within his body, but his Meridians were parched and stinging, and the Spiritual Qi was like duckweed without roots, impossible to coalesce.

He gave up and instead focused all his attention on the stone ring on his right thumb.

That scorching heat became clearer and clearer, like a red-hot branding iron pressed tightly against his flesh, seemingly anxiously guiding something, urging something.

The moment of decision had arrived.

Lin Chen opened his eyes suddenly; the last trace of hesitation in his gaze was replaced by determination.

Without hesitation, he bit the tip of his tongue.

A thick, metallic taste of blood instantly filled his mouth.

He did not swallow it, but instead pressed his thumb, stained with a drop of bright red tongue blood, hard against the rough surface of the stone ring.

At the same time, he used every ounce of his will in his mind to issue the most solemn request to the void of the System:

"Bind... conclude the contract... no matter what the price!"

The moment his words fell, the stone ring suddenly became scorching hot!

That drop of bright red tongue blood seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, instantly absorbed into the stone ring, and vanished without a trace.

At the same time, Lin Chen felt as if a vital part of him had been drawn away from deep within his body, and an intense sensation of collapse washed over him from his limbs and bones, causing his vision to black out in waves.

And in his field of vision, the frantically flashing golden text reached its peak at this moment:

[Detected that the host has voluntarily used their own essence blood as a catalyst...]

[Conditions for activating the deep binding protocol met...]

["More Children, More Blessings" System core module—Dao Companion contract... is being forced to activate!]

The next moment, in this dilapidated mud-brick house, the stone ring on Lin Chen's thumb erupted with light.

This light was different from the golden light that had deflected attacks in the ruined temple before; it was a soft, solid, pure white glimmer like moonlight.

The glimmer instantly enveloped Lin Chen, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, and Su Qingyao, who was lying on the kang.

Lin Chen felt an indescribable warm current surge from the stone ring into his body, flowing slowly yet firmly through his nearly parched Meridians for an entire cycle.

Finally, this warm current settled steadily into his Dantian.

His Qi Refining third-layer cultivation, which had been teetering on the brink of collapse due to severe injuries, was nourished by this warm current and stabilized, becoming even more solid than it had been in his prime!

On the kang, Su Qingyao's ashen complexion visibly recovered a trace of extremely faint color.

Her furrowed brows finally relaxed slightly, and although her breathing remained weak, the rhythm became steady and long.

The glimmer lasted for about three breaths before receding like the tide, slowly seeping into both of their bodies.

Lin Chen opened his eyes wearily; the golden text before him had stopped flashing and was stably suspended in his field of vision:

[Basic Dao Companion contract concluded!]

[Reward: Host's cultivation stabilized, Dao Companion's vital signs stable.]

[Dao Companion panel unlocked.]

[Starter quest "Establish a Foothold" has been officially released...]

Almost at the same moment the glimmer extinguished, outside the courtyard wall, behind the window of a certain household across a narrow alley, a pair of eyes that appeared exceptionally murky in the darkness were staring fixedly at the ruined courtyard that had just lit up with the faint light.

Those eyes watched for a very long time, until, following the faint sound of a wooden hinge turning, they slowly pulled the window shutter closed, sealing everything away inside.