The walk from the Black Prison to the Outer Slums was a journey through the layers of a decaying society. As the golden spires of the Inner City faded behind them, replaced by the grey, crumbling stone of the worker districts, the silence between Qin Feng and his new wife grew heavy.
Ye Chen walked with a slight limp, her shattered meridians making every step a battle against gravity. Yet, she refused to lean on him. Her gaze remained fixed forward, cold and unyielding, even as the residents of the slums peered out of their windows to jeer at the "fallen bird" and her miner husband.
"We're here," Qin Feng said, stopping before a structure that barely deserved the name 'house.'
It was a lopsided shack constructed from rusted spirit-iron scraps and rotting timber. The roof was patched with dried mud, and the door hung on a single, groaning hinge. Inside, the air was cool and smelled of damp earth and the metallic tang of the spirit-ore dust that Qin Feng brought home every day.
Ye Chen stepped inside, her regal poise looking utterly absurd against the backdrop of a single rickety wooden bed and a table that looked ready to collapse. She didn't complain. She simply sat on the edge of the bed, her hands trembling in her lap.
"It's not a palace," Qin Feng muttered, lighting a small, dim oil lamp. "But the City Guard doesn't patrol here. You're safe."
"Safe?" Ye Chen whispered, her voice like wind over broken glass. She looked at her palms, where black veins were beginning to pulse under the skin. "The 'Bone-Piercing Nails' within me are reacting to the lack of ambient Qi in this place. They are hungry, Qin Feng. If they don't have high-grade spiritual energy to consume, they will start eating my life force instead."
She collapsed slightly, her face turning a deathly shade of grey. The air in the shack suddenly dropped by several degrees. Frost began to bloom on the wooden floorboards, spreading from her feet.
Qin Feng rushed toward her. "What do I do? I have some low-grade spirit stones hidden under the floor"
"Save them," she gasped, clutching her chest. "Low-grade stones are like drops of water in a desert to this seal. Just... leave me. If I die, you can keep the five stones the City Lord gave you. You'll be better off."
Qin Feng didn't listen. He sat on the dirt floor directly in front of her and grabbed her frozen hands. "I didn't sign that contract to watch you die on the first night. You said the Heavens were wrong about us. Prove it."
The moment their skin met, a massive jolt of energy slammed into Qin Feng's consciousness. It wasn't a physical blow, but a psychic explosion that turned his vision into a sea of blinding gold.
[DING! CONDITIONS MET.] [FALLEN DIVINE SOUL DETECTED... COMPATIBILITY: 100%] [DOPPELGÄNGER HUSBAND SYSTEM INITIALIZING...]
Qin Feng froze. In his mind, a transparent blue interface flickered into existence, displaying rows of data that shouldn't exist for a lowly miner.
[Host: Qin Feng] [Cultivation: 3rd Layer Qi Refining (Clogged by Pill Poison)] [Spouse: Ye Chen (Fallen Empress)] [Status: Shattered Meridians / Bone-Piercing Seal]
[System Feature Unlocked: 'Sovereign Symbiosis'] Description: As her husband, your fates are intertwined. You may now absorb the toxins, seals, and pain of your spouse to convert them into Pure Spirit Essence for yourself.
[WARNING: Current Toxicity levels are lethal. Do you wish to begin the first 'Purification' session?]
Qin Feng didn't hesitate. Yes, he thought. Do it!
Suddenly, a terrifying sensation took hold. It felt as if his veins were being filled with liquid nitrogen. The black mist of the Pill Poison already in his body began to churn, drawn toward his hands. At the same time, a dark, jagged energy, the power of the Bone-Piercing Nails, flowed from Ye Chen into him.
"Aaagh!" Qin Feng let out a strangled cry, his back arching. His skin began to turn a sickly charcoal color, and his eyes shot through with blood.
Ye Chen's eyes flew open. She felt the agonizing pressure on her heart vanish. The ice in her blood was being sucked away, replaced by a strange, warm resonance. She watched in horror as the man before her took on her suffering, his body shaking with the force of the transition.
"Stop!" she screamed, trying to pull her hands away. "You're a mortal compared to this seal! You'll explode!"
"Shut... up..." Qin Feng hissed through clenched teeth, his grip tightening like iron bands around her wrists. "I'm... converting it..."
Inside his body, the System was working at a frantic pace.
[Converting 'Bone-Piercing Energy'... 10%... 30%...] [Pill Poison detected in Host... Using Empress's Divine Residue to neutralize...] [Conversion Successful!]
A sudden wave of warmth crashed through Qin Feng's clogged meridians. The "stones" in his veins, the hardened deposits of pill poison, shattered like glass. For the first time in years, his Qi flowed freely, rushing through his body with the force of a mountain river.
[DING! CONVERSION COMPLETE.] [Host Cultivation Level Up: 4th Layer Qi Refining!] [Host Cultivation Level Up: 5th Layer Qi Refining!]
Qin Feng slumped forward, his forehead resting against Ye Chen's shoulder. He was drenched in sweat, but the sickly grey color of his skin had been replaced by a healthy, vibrant glow. He felt lighter, stronger, and more alive than he ever had in his twenty years of existence.
Ye Chen sat frozen, her breath coming in short, stunned gasps. She looked at her hands, the black veins had receded, and a tiny spark of her original violet Qi flickered in her palm. It wasn't much, but it was a miracle.
She looked at the man leaning against her. This "trash" miner had just done the impossible. He hadn't just survived her poison; he had consumed it to grow stronger.
"What are you?" she whispered, her voice trembling with a hint of genuine fear, and hope.
Qin Feng lifted his head, a weary but triumphant smirk on his face. "I'm just a man who's tired of being poor, Ye Chen. And it looks like you're the best investment I've ever made."
Ye Chen looked at him for a long time. The arrogance in her eyes hadn't disappeared, but for the first time, it was tempered by respect. She reached out, her fingers hesitantly touching his cheek.
"If the Empire finds out you can digest the Bone-Piercing energy," she said solemnly, "they won't just kill you. They will dismantle you to find the secret."
"Then we better make sure they never find out," Qin Feng replied, standing up. He felt a newfound power coursing through him. "But for now... we need to eat. And tomorrow, I'm going back to the mines. But this time, I'm not digging for stones. I'm digging for a way to get you back on your throne."
Ye Chen watched him move around the shack with newfound agility. A small, almost invisible smile touched her lips. "The throne is dust, Qin Feng. I want something much larger than a kingdom now."
[System Notification: Relationship Level Up!] [Current Bond: 'Mutual Survival'] [New Perk Unlocked: 'Twin Path Cultivation' — Gain 20% of all EXP earned by your spouse.]
Qin Feng laughed under his breath. The world thought they were at the bottom. But from the bottom, the only way was up.