A deal

This guy didn't alert anyone. Under the cover of next building no one can notice this from the ground too. The neighboring building has no windows by this side. 6 floor height. Perfect place to get this done. But this surveillance must have captured him going over, right?

No one got notified yet. Oh, he already did it while I was contemplating.

Of course, I didn't let him fall to death but subtly changed his position using spirit will so that he is now hanging onto the wedge of the concrete. Let him experience despair first. He made him feel his hands were nailed to, like sticking to the building not letting him go but he couldn't exert strength to climb over either.

Boy clung to the adjacent edge baffled at the predicament, tears streaking his face as he swayed over the void not able to do anything. Han Chen could feel this with spiritual sense but is now in a position unable to see or hear normally. If the surveillance questioned his involvement, it could be said as excuse. He used qi to make his voice deep and send over so that only he could hear.

"When you die a normal death, ... the thing that made you you—your consciousness - vanishes. What's left? A shell of flesh that rots away, and a soul that doesn't belong to you anymore. It gets stripped down, repurposed, slotted into something new, something that won't remember you.

So live. However, you want. However, you can. Even if life feels worse than death, at least it's still yours."

"Death isn't an escape—it's erasure."

Unless you are like me or more powerful than I was. See even in my case, my consciousness got merged with of current body, that system spirit and previous will. It just happened, and it wasn't what I planned either. He didn't say the rest of internal monologue.

He was shouting "Who—? Help—!" over from there. I subtly made a telekinetic field over him which cancels out the noise. Wonderful.Done in first attempt.

While I was going through all this, Tang Xuemei already came up.

Any trace of girlish reserve was absent as she stood before him, her face alight with excitement. She waved her hands, a broad smile stretching across her face, clearly trying to capture my attention. "Hello..." she greeted. He, however, was not one for small talk. "So, tell me," he asked, his voice lacking any warmth, "what is it you truly want?"

...

"What realm are you in?" she blurted. He stared.

She barreled on with tumbling words. "Grandpa, ... he thinks you're a hidden master. He only said this to me. One of my family members, in the same department that investigated case you were in, as one of the 'peripherals'. So, we know you helped us. I… I'm supposed to intern at Golden Phoenix Group this summer." Her voice faltered. "Mother says it'll pad my résumé for university. But I'm not like you—academics, … I'm just… adequate."

She continued on, after looking at me for a while. "Learning about you.... coincidentally and knowing you were consistently top of the class; yet coming from a martial arts family, she just encourages to get along with you. You may not know but your feat of not dropping a single mark is pretty famous over other students' groups."

Her fists clenched. Her gaze dropped to his shoes "But when I saw you—how you move, I felt a certain aura about you, it may be nonsense, but I could feel the closeness, —I thought it was love at first sight...," She was embarrassed, but continued " but when I move away that feeling went away. So I thought of the aura… you maybe a hidden martial genius too. you could teach me more. Recently my training doesn't help me at all. So, I need you to help me. To be… more."

"....." The wind hushed. Han Chen studied her for a moment after her long speech. " Say, you felt a certain aura around me is it this?"

He released Dao yun aura. " ...No, this is new! .... but I can now feel a different feeling, as if ... it doesn't have that closeness"

"What about now?" He stopped it and released tiny strands of spiritual energy. Almost immediately, " yeah, this is it...I feel close and weak to you, like, like... " 

"Okay stop there for a moment. "

So, this girl can feel spiritual aura?

" Extend you hand for a moment" he said curiously loosing all that seriousness he built up before. "H-holding hands? I thought you—" 

"Focus, brat." He seized her wrist, spiritual energy threading into her veins.

With spirit sense he mapped her entire energy circuits and physique variations only injecting qi would be able to accurately model the conduit effectiveness of qi transport and thresholds, basically fancy words for talent.

So her body is extremely talented in martial arts. So much so that her development until she reach first level already bought in the changes of that similar to those of master levels with toughened meridians and extreme sensitivity.

Of-course she could feel spiritual energy .

She is already bought her face up in crimson colors after I injected a bit of spiritual energy to her veins as if she is about to steam off.

'Is this ...I feel like you just violated me' Of course she didn't say this out.

" Do you feel like the martial training you are doing is not able to justice for you? Like its not bringing forth that potential in you like you felt when you were just getting started?"

" Yes. and --"

I cut her off " Do you feel pain when you do free style techniques like in combat where you need to bring forth internal energy to unfamiliar nodal points to rapidly adapt, not just a simple pain but tearing pain, but still do since others are doing?"

" Yes, ..wait let me speak, ... I feel in pain, but my grandpa told me its common in the beginning. How did you find out just by holding hands?"

Mysterious, now a medical practitioner too? She thought in mind.

"Finally, do you feel like the breakthrough is vanishing whenever it is within your expectation?" 

" I haven't had that yet."

...

After a moment of inspection, he faced her.

" So, what do you want me to do?Consider I could help you; Yet I am not that open hearted to go out of my way to bring you benefits?" He replied after conforming.

" I was not fully sure before, but i am sure now you are a genius in martial arts, probably very high realm too, not even my grandpa can compare..no wonder.." She started.

" If you are still reminiscing about your feelings, I don't have much time."

...

" Teach me Han Chen. I would give you money. "

" I don't lack money. But I don't lack anything, but I could help you if you could get me intel on Yue Family's dealings—monthly intel on their business moves, members, scandals. I mean the things not online. Can you do that? "

"That's… dangerous."

"Then stay adequate." He turned to leave.

" No wait I haven't finished yet, it's difficult to get all those without raising suspicions, but I will do that, if you can help me. As businesses, we often have our own people infiltrating in each other's private and personal dealings often, they could help."

" Okay it's a deal then, you can bring up the existing info and send to me, I will start your academic training this month, martial arts next month."

" Why is that?"

"One problem at a time, Tang Xuěméi. You can go down first" 

After she left, Han Chen also went away a little later. The guy who has been hanging found that the same force that has been restricting till now is helping him ease up the climb and with its help he finally returned to the terrace.

After kissing the floor many times, he cleared away his snots and tears and prayed to GOD thanks and hurriedly came down. Of course, he was later caught by school authorities as they saw the live feed of his climb up.

...

With the help of small world spiritual energy, Han chen's advancement was rapid. Half a month passed. Han Chen and Tang Xuěméi could be seen together during free time.

For a person who had seen all those to be seen and lived for millions of years, there were wonderful perspectives to be given to any sort of answers. Tang Xuěméi now see through the essence of things she studies, from literature to science. For the first time she had a genuine respect for him and felt as if she is facing a saint.

For Han Chen, it was his own training anyway. He again adjusted his state of mind for a longer retreat this time around. Han Chen had always believed that spiritual roots—those ethereal channels through which cultivators drew the essence of heaven and earth—could only be forged after ascension to the Essence Fusion stage realm.

One needed the refined spiritual consciousness of an immortal to sculpt such a root. Yet here he stood, in the dim glow of his secluded chamber, doing exactly that by himself.

Chaos spiritual root, while powerful and destructive, demanded immense resources and major body transformations.

A five-element spiritual root, refined from his broken yin root in his past life, provided unparalleled versatility, balancing alchemy, weapon crafting, and sword cultivation. But in an actual combat it was like jack of all trades but master of none. But it was his root in past life.

Yet, Han Chen mastered those trades literally, with his heaven defying understanding achieving greatness.

Wood for growth, cosmic for vastness, fire for fervor, water for adaptability, and earth for endurance. Each strand intertwined like the threads of fate, a latticework of versatility that could sustain alchemy, swordplay, and artifact forging in harmony.

Spiritual roots typically remain fixed in grade. Yet, using a spirit root-condensing technique he developed and his enlightened understanding, he sought to craft a spiritual root aligned with his unique needs.

After body training finally perfectly completed over 8 cycles, he started next round directed to meridian channels. Many agonizing cycles later, he reforged his meridian transport veins, weaving the laws of heaven and earth into their very fabric.

Over a month, a medium earth-grade dual-attribute root—wood and cosmic—was formed naturally, influenced by his qi absorption. It was still comparable but not exactly spirit root.