In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

A voice came from the depths of the heart. The voice was old and deep, carrying a weariness that had spanned many years, yet it also revealed an undisguised ecstasy.

"I've been waiting for you for so long..."

Lin Qiye remained silent.

He held the crystal, his gaze calmly fixed on the enormous heart. He had seen too many traps disguised as compassion—the monsters masquerading as survivors in the wasteland basin, the fragment of consciousness masquerading as Master Xun in the Canggu Mountains—all began with the most moving words. This heart, however, addressed him with "master" and "successor" from the outset, explaining everything perfectly, which was precisely what made it most suspicious.

"What are you?" he asked, his voice flat.

"I am the guardian left behind by my master. Guarding this crystal, guarding this land, awaiting the arrival of my master's successor—"

"I'm not asking about your identity," Lin Qiye interrupted. "I'm asking why, since you've guarded this land for so many years, you are the one responsible for the pollution."

My heart fell silent.

Its outstretched tentacles stiffened slightly, then slowly drooped. After a long while, it spoke, its voice tinged with bitterness: "...I am indeed the source of pollution. I wanted to protect what my master left behind, but after I was corrupted, I dragged this land into the abyss. Those corrupted people...those strange beasts...it's all my fault."

"How long were you contaminated?"

"I can't remember. Maybe a few hundred years, maybe a thousand years."

"Then how do you know that the person who came looking for you is the one you're waiting for?" Lin Qiye's voice was flat. "What if I'm an enemy here to steal the crystal? You can't even confirm that before letting me take it away?"

My heart fell silent again.

This silence was longer than before. The tentacles curled up completely, as if stumped by the question.

"...You're right." Its voice became extremely soft. "I was so eager to be free that I was willing to believe anyone who carried my master's scent. But you are not the enemy—your scent is the same as my master's; it cannot be faked."

"Same aura, but not the same heart," Lin Qiye said calmly. "In the Canggu Mountains, there was something that also carried the same aura as the candle, and it almost sacrificed me to its master."

His gaze fell on the enormous heart, a flash of dark golden light passing through the depths of his pupils: "So, you'd better produce sufficient evidence to prove every word you've said. Otherwise—"

He didn't finish his sentence.

But the dark gold emblem on his palm had already lit up, and a silent sense of oppression spread out like a tide, pressing the tentacles tightly to the ground, and even his beating heart seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, slowing down for a moment.

My heart skipped a beat.

It had lived for countless ages, witnessing countless beings venture into Blackwind Valley with various motives—greedy, fearful, fanatical, and feigning—but never had anyone unleashed such a primal pressure before it. It was an absolute suppression originating from the depths of its bloodline, surpassing it.

"I'm telling the truth." Its voice trembled slightly. "That crystal... it really was left behind by the master. If you don't believe me, you can try injecting your Blood Demon power into the crystal—a wisp of the master's original power is sealed within it, and only those of the same bloodline can awaken it. If it's fake, or if I and that dried corpse set a trap, you'll know once you try."

Lin Qiye looked at it but did not act immediately.

He looked down at the crystal in his palm. The crystal lay quietly in his hand, its surface devoid of any energy fluctuations. He didn't entirely believe his heart's words, but he didn't think the crystal was fake either—the mummified corpse, the runes, the horned sun disc pattern that perfectly matched the markings on his palm—all pointed to an ancient truth.

He tentatively injected a wisp of dark golden source energy into the crystal.

The crystal trembled slightly.

A faint, warm current, originating from the same source as him, emanated from within the crystal, flowing into his meridians through his fingertips. This warm current was pure and gentle, carrying a familiarity that transcended countless ages, and resonated subtly with the fragment he had brought back from the Canggu Mountains within his body.

It's not fake.

But Lin Qiye did not lower his guard. He withdrew his source energy and his gaze returned to the heart: "The crystal is real. But you didn't tell me everything about the purification."

The sound of his heart skipped a beat: "...What?"

"You said that by holding the crystal and injecting primal energy, the pollution of this land could be purified," Lin Qiye said calmly. "But you didn't say what I would suffer once the purification began. You also didn't say what would happen to me if you tampered with the purification process."

My heart remained silent for a long time.

"I admit, I did hold back some of what I said earlier." Its voice became weary yet candid. "Purification requires you as a vessel, drawing in all the pollution from this land accumulated over thousands of years, and then using your primal power to eradicate it. The pain you endure during this process far exceeds your imagination. And I—as the source of the pollution—will completely dissipate the moment purification is complete. I have no power to tamper with the purification process, because I myself am the part being purified."

"What if you lie to me?"

"Then you can stop at any time," the heart said. "You hold the crystal; the power is in your hands. The purification is not uninterrupted—if you sense anything amiss, simply release the crystal, and I will immediately be consumed by the backlash and die."

Lin Qiye looked at it with deep eyes.

He wasn't entirely convinced. But he was certain of a few things: the crystal was real, his heart was indeed extremely weak, and he held the reins. That was enough.

He walked up to the heart, raised his hand, and pressed the crystal onto the surface of the heart.

"Let's begin then. If you dare to try anything funny—"

He didn't finish his sentence, but the dark golden light in his palm said it all.

The moment the crystal touched the surface of the heart, all sound disappeared.

It wasn't silence, but a deeper, absolute stillness that swallowed even the tremors and the fall. At this moment, the underground space seemed to be detached from the world, leaving only Lin Qiye, that enormous heart, and the crystal emitting a dark golden light between them.

Then, my heart suddenly contracted.

Dark red vein-like patterns surged from the surface of the heart towards the crystal, like countless rivers flowing into the sea. The dark golden light on the crystal's surface grew brighter and purer, absorbing, transforming, and purifying the dark red polluting energy inch by inch.

Lin Qiye felt a sharp pain coming from his palm.

That wasn't ordinary pain. The pain started in his palm, spread along his meridians, through his arm, through his shoulder, through his chest, and finally reached his heart.