"Heh. How reckless."

As Luo Xiu charged, Ye Xingzhou calmly turned around and casually extended a hand, catching Luo Xiu's punch in his palm.

Luo Xiu froze, unable to move another inch.

The profound exhaustion radiating from deep within his body left him unable to muster the slightest bit of strength.

I thought my strength was at the Gathering Spirit Realm, but now it seems I'm not even close!

Seeing this, Lin Xiyue stared in disbelief. Luo Xiu's attack... was caught that easily?

The next moment, an unbelievable scene unfolded before her. With a single palm strike, Ye Xingzhou sent Luo Xiu flying.

"Sorrowless Palm!"

BOOM!

With the loud bang, Luo Xiu flew backward, crashing through the hospital's medical equipment before finally slamming into the wall, causing a web of cracks to spread across its pristine white surface.

Ye Xingzhou looked at Luo Xiu, who was practically embedded in the wall, with the disdainful eyes one would use for an ant.

"Insignificant as a grain of sand. You aren't even a tenth of my strength."

"You want to fight me? You'll probably need to train for another hundred years."

"I can give you time to chase me, until a failure like you is left so far behind you can't even see me when you look up."

After leaving behind a few arrogant remarks, Ye Xingzhou swaggered away.

In truth, he was in an excellent mood, so good he felt like he could fly. His trip to Sea City had not only secured him the Shen Luo Company's formula, but it had also unexpectedly netted him a Heavenly Grade Elixir!

With this Heavenly Grade Elixir, the Ye Family is destined to become the number one ancient martial arts family in Capital City!

「In the hospital ward.」

Lin Xiyue helped Luo Xiu sit on a chair. Her eyes were red and her voice choked with tears as she asked, "Luo Xiu, are you okay?"

Luo Xiu coughed up two mouthfuls of coagulated blood. "I'm fine," he said, his voice strained with pain. "I'm not dead yet."

He reached out and used his thumb to wipe the tears from the corners of Lin Xiyue's eyes, offering a weak smile. "Beauty Lin, I've discovered you look awful when you cry. No more crying from now on."

Lin Xiyue lowered her head, her voice full of grievance. "Only you can make me cry."

Luo Xiu looked at her gently. "Actually, I'm quite surprised."

"Surprised by what?"

"That you ultimately chose to stand with me instead of your fiancé."

"I…"

Lin Xiyue bit her lower lip, hesitating. When she saw Luo Xiu being bullied, she hadn't overthought it; she had simply followed her heart.

"But what's wrong with you? Why are you so weak? How could you be injured by someone like him?" In the quiet room, Lin Xiyue changed the subject, asking the question that was burning in her mind.

In her eyes, Luo Xiu was absurdly powerful, an invincible monster. Someone like Ye Xingzhou shouldn't have been able to withstand a single move from him!

A bitter smile crossed Luo Xiu's face, his heart filled with frustration and resentment.

This is the first time I've ever been beaten so badly I couldn't even fight back! And by someone I didn't even consider worthy of my attention!

Of course, it was impossible for Ye Xingzhou to have actually injured him. The clash moments ago, a bout of intense exertion, had sent the energy in his body into disarray. This resulted in an overwhelming weakness that sapped all his strength, leaving him unable to retaliate.

His Essence Blood had been completely drained. He should have died, so the fact that he was still alive was a miracle in itself.

"Xi Yue... don't worry. I will definitely catch that bastard and get the elixir back."

"Don't talk anymore. Just lie down for a while. I'll go get a doctor for you."

"I'm fine. I'm just incredibly hungry and have no strength."

"Then let's go home and eat. I'll call my mom and have her cook."

"..."

「At dusk.」

At the Lin Family Villa, the entire Lin family stared, dumbfounded, at the ever-growing stack of empty plates on the table, looking as if they'd seen a ghost.

Even Lin Xiyue, who was already aware of Luo Xiu's astonishing appetite, found herself gulping repeatedly, her perception of him being shattered again and again.

I really want to cut his stomach open just to see what it's made of! It's a bottomless pit!

In fact, Luo Xiu himself felt his stomach was a bottomless pit that could never be filled, one that desperately needed food to process.

Food and medicine shared the same origin. Since he couldn't find enough high-quality, ancient medicinal herbs to absorb, Luo Xiu had no choice but to consume food to replenish his Qi Huang Medicine Power. And because Qi Huang Medicine Power had restorative properties, as it slowly returned, the Essence Blood he had consumed would also gradually be restored.

"Um… Ah Lin, is the new pot of rice ready yet?" Zhang Cui asked the nearby nanny.

The nanny jolted back to her senses and scurried to the kitchen. She had already cooked several pots of rice in the rice cooker, all of which had been devoured by Luo Xiu.

"It's ready, it's ready! It'll be right out!"

Zhang Cui gave Luo Xiu a strange look, shook her head helplessly, and sighed, "Just how long have you been starving?"

It's a good thing this family is so wealthy; otherwise, we really couldn't afford to feed him.

What she didn't know was that Old Master Sun Gaozhi had expressed the exact same sentiment back at the Sun Family estate.

...

The meal took a full three hours, only ending when Luo Xiu had eaten the Lin Family's kitchen completely bare.

After eating, Luo Xiu said he wanted to go for a walk and headed over to the Number One Villa with Lin Xiyue.

As soon as they entered, they saw Su Shenyun and her niece, Sun Li. Back at the hospital, Luo Xiu had already called Su Shenyun, asking her to use the Audit Bureau's channels to investigate Ye Xingzhou.

「In the living room.」

Luo Xiu plopped down on the sofa and asked Su Shenyun, "How did the investigation go?"

Su Shenyun sat across from him. "The family Ye Xingzhou belongs to is one of the ancient martial arts families in Capital City."

"A few years ago, with his family's backing, he took charge of their subsidiary, the Ye Corporation. Recently, however, the Ye Corporation is facing bankruptcy due to his poor decisions."

"If the corporation goes bankrupt, he will face punishment from the Ye Family."

"Coincidentally, the Ye Corporation's main business is also pharmaceuticals."

Hearing this, Luo Xiu frowned. "That's it?"

Su Shenyun glanced at Lin Xiyue. "If I'm not mistaken… his sudden trip to Sea City to get close to Xiyue was a ploy to target the Shen Luo Company."

"As they say, the bigger the tree, the more wind it catches. With the Su Family's support, the Shen Luo Company is not only one of the top three pharmaceutical enterprises in Henghai Province but also ranks in the top twenty in all of Hua Country, and it's on a steady upward trend."

Just then, Sun Li walked over, placed her tablet on the table, and hit play on a video.

"Xiu, my aunt and I found something interesting when we got here. See for yourself."

The screen displayed surveillance footage. It turned out that Sun Li had installed cameras in the living room back when she used to live there. It was thanks to these cameras that the moment Ye Xingzhou swapped Lin Xiyue's elixir was captured in perfect clarity.

In the video, Ye Xingzhou first opened the box, removed the Holy Origin Golden Pill, and then replaced it with a Mysterious Grade Youth Pill.

After a moment, once they finished watching the surveillance video, Sun Li said angrily, "That Young Master of the Ye family is a real hypocrite!"

Lin Xiyue clenched her fists, overcome with a mixture of self-blame and fury.

"Luo Xiu… I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was so foolish to trust someone like him."

Luo Xiu reached out and ruffled her hair gently. "It's not your fault, so don't blame yourself." When something is stolen, the thief is the one at fault, not the victim.

So, Luo Xiu didn't blame Lin Xiyue in the slightest, because she was a victim, too.

Luo Xiu suddenly stood up, his gaze fixing on Su Shenyun. "I need medicinal herbs… the more, the better. As soon as I've recovered a little, I'm going to Capital City to find that scumbag!"

Su Shenyun met his gaze for a moment and nodded.

Sun Li added, "I'll call my grandfather right now and ask him to help buy the herbs."

"Xiu, you used your own life to refine that elixir! We absolutely cannot let Ye—"

As she spoke, she suddenly realized what she'd said. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and slowly turned her head to look at Lin Xiyue.

Lin Xiyue stared at her, her voice urgent. "Xiao Li, what do you mean? What do you mean, 'used your own life to refine'? What on earth has been going on?"

"Are you all hiding something from me?"

"Speak up!"

"..."

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