Chapter 97
“Hmm? Playing with fire?”
Xuan Yuan Qingya blinked her wide, innocent eyes. Yet within that purity flickered a faint trace of temptation, a look so disarming Lin Tian nearly broke his composure on the spot…
Just how could this woman be so good at this? Who on earth did she learn it from?
The corner of Lin Tian’s mouth twitched violently. He forced his eyes shut and began frantically reciting the Heart-Clearing Mantra!
At this point, only the mantra could save him…
【Xuan Yuan Qingya, if you keep this up, the two of us are going down together!!!】
Lin Tian’s heart was screaming. With Jiang Yifeng likely somewhere in this castle right now, if he and Xuan Yuan Qingya really did let anything happen between them and it came to light—then Lin Tian would have no choice but to clash with Jiang Yifeng head-on!
And even though, on the surface, heroines like Shang Chan, Bai Bing’er, and Xuan Yuan Qingya all seemed to have shifted to the opposite side of Jiang Yifeng…
Lin Tian knew better. Jiang Yifeng was still the protagonist!
A true Son of Destiny—one for whom the very fabric of this world would twist and alter its timeline to protect!
Such an existence—forget merely being opposed by a few heroines—even if Jiang Yifeng were already at death’s door, barely clinging to life, as long as he hadn’t drawn his last breath, Lin Tian would never rashly step out to challenge him!
At the end of the day, Lin Tian was nothing more than a small fry…
No real strength.
No true cheat-like powers.
So what did he have to fight Jiang Yifeng with?
Don’t even mention that so-called system being his golden finger. Up till now, this “Survival System” hadn’t provided Lin Tian with any real benefit whatsoever!
Lin Tian even suspected that when he transmigrated, he might have drawn the short straw and ended up with a faulty system…
Otherwise, shouldn’t there at least have been a newbie starter pack?
In short—It wasn’t that Lin Tian was blind to the current situation, nor that his personality was overly cowardly. He simply understood his circumstances all too clearly.
To go head-to-head against a Son of Destiny? Even if Lin Tian had countless advantages stacked in his favor, he would never put himself in the open.
In those shallow wish-fulfillment stories, weren’t there countless villains who had everything in hand, only to be suddenly overturned by the protagonist’s last-minute explosion of power?
Therefore, even though his relationship with Xuan Yuan Qingya had already reached a hazy, ambiguous stage, for the sake of his own life, Lin Tian could only dodge and retreat.
Up to this point, Lin Tian felt that his “villain’s halo” was still slowly growing.
Though admittedly, whenever he snatched away a portion of Jiang Yifeng’s destiny, that villain’s halo did indeed shrink a little…
But—once Lin Tian allowed even the slightest waver of feeling toward any of these heroines, the Villain’s Halo would very likely surge out of control!
And this wasn’t some baseless guess on his part…
Back then, when he and Zhao Mengmeng were at Arctic Fresh, looking into her innocent, crystal-clear eyes, Lin Tian had felt a fleeting softness in his heart. For a split second, he wondered if maybe… he shouldn’t harm someone as pure as her.
The result? In that very instant of hesitation, Lin Tian was struck by an overwhelming sense of life-and-death crisis that jolted him awake!
That alone proved something— It didn’t matter what Lin Tian actually did.
What mattered was the moment his faith wavered, the instant he developed thoughts he should never have toward those heroines—this world itself would immediately brand him as Jiang Yifeng’s must-kill enemy!
A slowly rising Villain’s Halo was tolerable.
Lin Tian could offset it by using the knowledge he’d carried over—stealing Jiang Yifeng’s opportunities at moments that were relatively hidden, less important, or not too dangerous.
But if he became Jiang Yifeng’s must-kill target? What then, was he supposed to do—block with a hammer?
Even at his lowest, Jiang Yifeng was still the chairman of Fengchen, heir to the Medical Saint’s legacy!
Lin Tian? At best, he was someone who could be considered successful among ordinary people.
But in the eyes of these colossal aristocratic families, he was nothing—less than nothing.
It was precisely because Lin Tian carried this crystal-clear awareness that he had managed to live this long.
If, from the very beginning, he had brazenly gone after Jiang Yifeng—snatching opportunities, women, treasures, without ever considering the consequences—then by now Jiang Yifeng would’ve likely already sent assassins to erase him!
Dealing with Shang Chan or Xuan Yuan Qingya was one thing. Even setting aside the powerful forces backing their families, they were still heroines. Jiang Yifeng wouldn’t dare strike them down—he still needed them to unlock the Heavenly Physician’s Sacred Body.
But Lin Tian? Targeting him was child’s play. After all, a human life could be incredibly fragile…
As these messy thoughts spun in his mind, Lin Tian let out a faint sigh, shook his head, and spoke in a low, heavy tone.
“Xuan Yuan Qingya, I don’t know why you’re acting like this… but I’ve made myself very clear. I’m just a small fry. I can’t afford to play games with you people from these great clans. Please… just stop dragging me into this, alright?”
The words were cruel—especially when spoken to a breathtaking woman who had only recently offered him her very first kiss.
But Lin Tian truly had no other choice.
…
At worst, if Jiang Yifeng really did end up dead someday, Lin Tian could just go over and apologize then!
But as long as Jiang Yifeng was still alive, Lin Tian’s own life was hanging by a thread—where would he find the time or energy to be tangled up in romance?
After all, when Lin Tian crossed over, he had already landed in the role of a doomed little villain, one foot in the grave…
Xuan Yuan Qingya’s expression shifted several times after hearing his words.
From helplessness, to sorrow, to confusion—before finally hardening into firm resolve.
She nodded, her voice soft and nasal as she whispered, “Lin Tian… I’m sorry… I… I couldn’t hold myself back… Please don’t blame me. I know I was wrong!”
In her twenty years of life combined, she probably hadn’t said as many apologies as she did to Lin Tian today.
Lin Tian, however, couldn’t even be bothered to correct how she should maintain her persona.
That was the promise she made to herself.
But feelings like this—how could they be hidden just because she said so?
As a certain well-known saying goes: Liking someone can never truly be concealed. Cover the mouth, and it slips out through the eyes; close the eyes, and it hums out through the nose…
Before Lin Tian, Xuan Yuan Qingya had already fallen into the habit of letting down her guard— speaking in a soft, delicate voice, showing girlish expressions, instinctively leaning on him, joking with him lightly, unconsciously moving closer and closer…
In such a state, how could Xuan Yuan Qingya possibly restrain herself?
……
The air between them grew heavy for a moment.
At last, Xuan Yuan Qingya lifted her slender, alabaster fingers and gently pointed toward the jade-green spiritual essence in the small Heavenly Pool bowl. In a low voice, she asked, “Lin Tian, how much of this spiritual essence… should we give Fourth Uncle to take?”
Lin Tian nearly cursed aloud. Wasn’t this supposed to be something that wandering hermit told you? How the hell would I know?!
Still, the original plot did have some details about this part.
He pondered, his mind racing.
【In the original story, when Jiang Yifeng took this spiritual essence, he divided it into three doses. Each time he took more than before, basically splitting it into six parts, then drinking them in a one-two-three sequence… But that was to unlock transcendent power. Xuan Yuan Chen’s case is just an illness…】
【If one can unlock transcendent power by drinking it all, then for Xuan Yuan Chen’s condition, a drop or two should be more than enough, right?】
【Tch, this is probably the last bit of ancient spiritual essence left in the world. Such a treasure… Shame I can’t drink it myself. One mouthful costs tens of billions—who the hell can afford that?!】
Sighing inwardly, Lin Tian finally voiced his conclusion.
“Let’s… let’s start with one drop. If it’s not enough, we’ll add more.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
Xuan Yuan Qingya nodded sweetly, then carefully picked up a glass dropper from the side. She gently dipped it into the Heavenly Pool bowl and drew out a single shimmering drop of that emerald-green essence.
Lin Tian then poured a small jar of honey into a cup and handed it over to Xuan Yuan Qingya.
Xuan Yuan Qingya brought the dropper above the cup and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“Drip!”
The drop of spiritual essence fell into the honey—and in that instant, the entire cup of honey turned green!
Anyone who’s drunk honey water knows that good honey isn’t actually that viscous—it’s quite clear.
But still…