Price of Betrayal

Junming entered the pill shop. The air smelled of ash and herbs. Behind the counter sat a scowling old man.

"What do you want?" the man asked, voice bored.

Junming approached. "Do you have any Qi-increasing pills?"

"What?"

Junming frowned. "Pills. For increasing Qi?"

"What?"

He raised his voice. "QI-INCREASING PILLS!"

The old man cupped a hand to his ear. "What?"

Junming clenched his jaw. He wasn't deaf. He was just messing with him.

He muttered under his breath, "What a shitty store."

The old man looked up. "What was that?"

Junming flashed a fake smile. "Nothing."

They stared at each other for a long moment.

Silence.

Then Junming sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders, and began browsing the shelves himself.

The shop was cramped. Dusty racks. A dozen pills at most.

He picked one up.

A system prompt appeared.

Would you like to consume this pill?

Item: Coagulated Bitter Pellet (Low-Grade)

Effect: Expels minor impurities (includes blood clots)

Efficiency: 100%

Junming glanced at the old man, still peeling sunflower seeds and ignoring him completely.

'Is he really this careless? What if I just...?'

Junming whispered, "Yes. Consume."

Error: Item not owned. Consumption denied.

Junming blinked.

'So I need to own it for the system to function.'

Then he remembered the pill and the martial technique the original Junming had planned to sell for pocket change. The system had accepted both. That probably meant his father knew he stole them and still let it go, acknowledging them as his property. 

Either he had already given up on him… or was just too soft.

He didn't think further.

He picked up another pill.

Would you like to consume this pill?

Item: Spirit Surge Pill (Low-Grade)

Effect: Increases Qi slightly

Efficiency: 100%

Another.

Item: Red Lotus Paste (Low-Grade)

Effect: Heals minor surface wounds

And another.

Item: Silk Glow Bead (Low-Grade)

Effect: Slight cosmetic enhancement (skin glows faintly)

He kept checking. All the others were the same skin glow pills. At least ten in a row.

Junming stared, deadpan.

"…This shop is even shittier than I thought."

Back at the Inn.

He sat cross-legged, his upper robe loosened, sweat forming across his back.

Even with his system boosting the pill's effects, the pain didn't lessen. If anything, it felt worse than what normal cultivators went through. They absorbed only part of a pill. He absorbed everything.

Several low-grade pills lay before him.

He took a slow breath and steadied his pulse.

His hand hovered above the pills.

After a few hours…

Later that night.

A knock came at his door.

Half-asleep, Junming opened one eye. "Who is it?"

A voice came from outside. "Shen Xueya. I've come to challenge you."

Junming stood up, muttering, "What a headache..."

She heard it. "What did you say?"

He opened the door.

Shen Xueya's eyes widened.

Junming looked... radiant.

His skin glowed. Clear, smooth, almost unreal. For a moment, she hallucinated a faint halo behind him, like some reincarnated Buddha.

He raised a brow. "Hey. Let's get this over with. I was asleep."

She blinked, shaking off the daze. "O...kay. Follow me. I know a quiet place."

Junming nodded, and they walked. Past the inn, down a narrow alley, out into a quiet field.

She turned, her voice cold again.

"Draw your sword."

The hatred in her eyes returned.

"I'll see for myself what forbidden technique you used," she said, stepping into stance.

To Shen Xueya, this wasn't just a duel.

There was a time when Junming had laughed with her beneath these same skies, argued over silly things, sneaked off to catch fireflies after curfew. Back then, she thought, maybe it was something more than friendship. And maybe he felt it too.

But everything changed once they grew older.

Junming stopped talking to her. Started walking with the wastes from other clans. He looked at her differently now, like she was beneath him.

Then one day, after she lost the most important duel of her life to a rival clan member, Junming mocked her.

In front of everyone, he laughed. He even made cruel jokes about her dead mother.

It was only a joke to him.

But to her, it was the end of something. She never forgot the betrayal.

During that time, only Liang Chen stood by her. He offered support, guidance, and quiet strength. That debt, she carried deeply.

Xueya stood in the moonlight, her sword drawn, blue qi wrapping around its edge like crackling mist. Her eyes were cold. Her stance, steady.

"My Senior Brother would never lose to trash like you," she said sharply.

Junming chuckled and shook his head slightly.

Xueya didn't respond, but her grip on the sword tightened.

Junming raised a hand, palm open. "Wait."

She narrowed her eyes. "What? Trying to back out? Scared?"

Qi gathered around her. She was ready to strike.

Junming didn't flinch. "You're fighting me to find out what forbidden technique I used. But how does that benefit me?"

Xueya blinked. "What?"

She laughed, the sound bitter and cold. "You really think you can win against me? Since childhood, you've never even stepped foot inside the Martial Hall. Not once."

She glared. "Or maybe you're just that confident in your forbidden technique."

Junming's expression turned serious. "If I win… hand over the martial art the Fourth Elder gave you. The Myriad Sword Art."

Her body trembled. "You—what did you just say?"

"Myriad Sword Art," Junming repeated calmly. "I want it."

Xueya's qi surged. Her anger wasn't just from pride. What he asked for was the foundation of the Shen Clan's Fourth Elder's sword arts. A martial art personally entrusted to her by one of the clan's highest elders. Giving it away would be the same as forfeiting her qualification as a disciple of the main family.

Her lips curled into a sneer. "I guess the saying is true. Even the cleanest courtyard has a piece of trash."

She raised her sword. Qi wrapped around the blade, glowing faint blue. "And tonight, I'll clean the trash from the Shen Clan."

Then she launched.