Lin Hao stared at his palms, where faint crimson veins pulsed beneath translucent skin. The stench of burnt sugar and iron hung thick in the dormitory air—residue from the Qi-Blood Elixirs dissolving in his gut. Four Treasures fanned itself vigorously with a stolen exam paper, each flap stirring the cloying sweetness.

  "System override protocol deactivated." The mechanical voice echoed in his skull as Kung Fu Fly materialized mid-air, laser eyes scanning for threats. "Host consciousness stabilized."

  Lin Hao flexed fingers that now thrummed with leopard-like elasticity. "So you pulled them from storage yourself?" His nail traced the Wolf Spider's newly visible carapace, its surface still steaming from emergency combat readiness.

  The spider chittered, mandibles clicking in binary patterns only the system could parse.

  ——

  Dawn light revealed the consequences of dual elixirs. Lin Hao's discarded robes lay in a corroded heap, fibers eaten through by expelled toxins. His reflection in the washbasin's water showed pupils dilated to saucers—black voids swallowing the Samsara fractals' glow.

  First cleansing hurts. Second...

  He inhaled sharply. The scent spectrum had shifted—dust motes carried individual mineral signatures, Qin Yu's whiskey stash reeked three rooms away. When he blinked, afterimages lingered like overexposed photographs.

  Four Treasures pecked at a crumb on the windowsill. Lin Hao heard the crumb's molecular structure fracture.

  ——

  The remaining Qi-Blood Elixirs rolled in their jade case like stolen rubies. Lin Hao popped all five simultaneously, relishing the copper tang bursting across his tongue. Heat radiated from his sternum, mapping forgotten meridians. Blood vessels surfaced beneath his skin, forming fractal patterns that mirrored his Samsara Eye.

  "Warning." The system's voice acquired unexpected strain. "Cardiac load exceeding—"

  Lin Hao gripped the bedpost as his heartbeat synced with the Wolf Spider's chittering. Two rhythms, three, five—a discordant orchestra pounding in jawbone and fingertips. Sweat evaporated before reaching his chin, leaving salt crystals that scratched like desert winds.

  ——

  By moonrise, the frenzy subsided. Lin Hao lay sprawled across cooled floor tiles, body humming with stolen vitality. His nails had grown half an inch—jagged and amber-hued like fossilized resin. When he breathed out, the air rippled with heat distortion.

  Four Treasures hopped closer, head cocked. "Smell different. Better. Edible?"

  Lin Hao's laughter shook dust from ceiling beams. The sound carried ultrasonic harmonics that made Kung Fu Fly's wings buzz in sympathy.

  ——

  Qin Yu found him hours later, scrubbing elixir residue from floor cracks with obsessive strokes. The scrub brush bristles smoked where they touched lingering energy pockets.

  "Reinvented housekeeping?" Qin Yu's fan wafted sandalwood smoke between them. "Or practicing forbidden sex rituals?"

  Lin Hao tossed the disintegrating brush aside. "Meridian maintenance." His voice had dropped half an octave, vowels resonating in strange harmonics.

  Thundermourn sniffed the air, stone mallet gripped like a toddler's security blanket. "Blood. Old blood. New blood."

  ——

  In the astral plane, the lich priest toasted with twin femurs. "Five elixirs! The boy's either genius or suicide!" His drink bubbled with stolen lifespan, each sip shortening some distant farmer's existence.

  Back in the material realm, Lin Hao discovered unexpected perks—scratches healed before bleeding, muscle fibers reknitting with visible golden threads. When he sliced a finger testing Kung Fu Fly's laser precision, the wound sealed around the light beam like amber trapping prehistoric insects.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  ——

  Ying Yuanzi observed through enchanted ivy creeping outside dormitory windows. The leaves blackened where they brushed elixir-contaminated air.

  "Premature," he murmured, plucking a withered vine. "Yet... innovative."

  His thumbnail carved fresh orders into the plant's stem—instructions to triple Yang Chengji's security detail. The characters bled sap that smelled of regret and anticipation.

  ——

  Night's deepest hour found Lin Hao straddling the academy's eastern wall, Wolf Spider prowling the shadows below. Enhanced irises dissected darkness into spectral layers—bat squeaks translated to soundscapes, owl wingbeats painting pressure wave diagrams across his visual field.

  A guard patrol passed beneath him. Lin Hao tasted their adrenaline levels, sensed the arthritic knee on the leftmost sentry. When the Wolf Spider's venom-tipped leg brushed a fallen leaf, he perceived the chemical reaction down to electron transfers.

  "Overclocked senses require..." He inhaled until ribs creaked. "...adjustment."

  The confession vaporized in the chill air, unheard except by Four Treasures nesting in his hood. The parrot dreamed in electric blue and blood orange—colors stolen from Lin Hao's meridian glow.

  Martial Foundations

  The lakeside pavilion's polished obsidian floors mirrored constellations above. Lin Hao's enhanced senses cataloged every detail—the sulfuric tang of braised shadow serpent, the clink of jade chopsticks against bone china, the way Qin Yu's silk sash whispered against his hips like a courtesan's promise.

  "Twenty courses!" Qin Yu slammed his pewter wine cup down, splashing droplets that sizzled where they struck the Wolf Spider's invisible leg. "To new friends and empty purses!"

  Thundermourn stared at his golden cutlery as though facing arcane relics. The mountain youth's calloused fingers left smudges on the gilded handles, each fingerprint fluorescing faintly under Lin Hao's meridian-enhanced vision.

  "Relax." Lin Hao traced a cooling sigil in the air above Thundermourn's roasted phoenix-tail mushrooms. "The poison's been neutralized."

  Qin Yu's laugh carried across the pavilion, drawing sneers from neighboring tables. Senior students in azure-trimmed uniforms leaned closer, their whispers carrying crystalline clarity to Lin Hao's ears:

  "...ultimate talent wasted on a blind rat..."

  "...General Qin's bastard brat showing off again..."

  "...that mountain savage smells like wet yak..."

  Four Treasures, camouflaged as an ornamental hairpin in Lin Hao's topknot, vibrated with suppressed rage. The parrot's telepathic growl reverberated through shared consciousness: Crush them. Peck their eyes.

  Lin Hao sipped moonblossom tea, its jasmine notes clashing with the Wolf Spider's venom gland secretions. "Patience."

  ——

  The confrontation erupted when six fourth-years blocked the stairwell. Their leader's jade hairpin gleamed with venomous intent—a serpentine carving oozing contact poison.

  "Qin Yu." The senior's smile revealed teeth filed to points. "Still buying friends with daddy's blood money?"

  Qin Yu's fan snapped open, its ivory ribs extruding obsidian blades. "Yang Jian. Still licking Chancellor Wu's boots for extra credit?"

  Lin Hao's Samsara Eye activated involuntarily. Yang Jian's qi channels glowed sickly green—corrupted by forbidden alchemy. The Wolf Spider's mandibles clicked in hunger.

  Thundermourn's stone mallet materialized from spatial storage, its surface crackling with ancestral runes. The mountain youth's breathing deepened, each exhale smelling of pine resin and avalanche warnings.

  "Enough." Lin Hao's voice carried the weight of compressed starlight. The chandeliers dimmed as he stood, his shadow stretching unnaturally across the obsidian floor.

  Yang Jian's cronies staggered back, clutching suddenly bleeding noses. The pavilion's defensive arrays whined under conflicting energy fields.

  ——

  In the astral plane, the lich priest cackled through seven mouths simultaneously. "Oh this is choice! Mortal posturing seasoned with fresh fear!" His spectral hands rummaged through a chest of stolen nightmares, preparing appropriate dream curses.

  Back in the material realm, Ying Yuanzi observed through a waiter's borrowed eyes. The headmaster's consciousness noted Lin Hao's restraint—and the Wolf Spider's barely contained slaughter-lust.

  "Growth metrics exceed projections." He murmured via enchanted rice wine. "Accelerate phase two."

  ——

  The standoff shattered when Yang Jian's poisoned hairpin launched itself. Kung Fu Fly intercepted mid-flight, laser eyes reducing the jade serpent to radioactive dust.

  Chaos erupted.

  Qin Yu's fan-blades sang through perfumed air, shearing Yang Jian's ceremonial sash. Thundermourn's mallet quaked the floorboards, cracking the obsidian into spiderweb patterns. Senior students screamed as the Wolf Spider's invisible legs tripped them into decorative koi ponds.

  Lin Hao remained seated, sipping tea gone cold. His restraint formed an eye of calm in the storm—until Yang Jian's desperation strike came.

  The senior's palm strike reeked of necrotic flesh and black-market enhancement drugs. Lin Hao's enhanced meridians flared golden, repelling the attack with a crack that shattered every wine cup in the pavilion.

  ——

  Aftermath brought silence heavier than mountain snow.

  Lin Hao stood amidst the wreckage, Four Treasures now visible on his shoulder. The parrot's plumage shone with stolen moonlight as it croaked: "Check. Please."

  Ying Yuanzi's accounting spirits materialized—pale wraiths wielding abacus swords. Their verdict echoed through the ruined pavilion:

  "Property damage: 8,700,000 taels."

  "Medical fees: 3,200,000 taels."

  "Loss of reputation: Priceless."

  Qin Yu's laughter rang out, wild and unrepentant. "Charge it to the Yang family ledger!"

  As the lich priest's dream curses took root in sleeping minds, Lin Hao added his own silent amendment to the night's ledger—a Wolf Spider's venom sacs refilled, a list of corrupt seniors marked for future attention, and the sweet aftertaste of foundations firmly laid.