The meal finally ended. Su Chen felt like he had just survived a battle. His stomach was full, but his mind was exhausted from the mental gymnastics of trying not to offend his stepsister. Every time he looked at a different dish, she was there, ready to feed him.
It was a level of attention he wasn't used to. In his old life, he was lucky if he remembered to grab a sandwich between shifts.
Su Meiling stood up and smoothed out her robes. The silk clung to her curves in a way that made it very hard to look anywhere else. She was definitely blessed in the boobs and ass departments.
It was the kind of figure that would make any man in this world lose his mind. Combined with her cute, innocent face, she was a walking distraction.
"I have to go meet with the Great Elder regarding the upcoming sect trials," she said. She leaned over the table, her face inches from his. "You'll stay here and rest, right? Don't go wandering off. The estate is big, and you're still recovering."
Su Chen nodded quickly. "Of course. I'll just stay in the room."
She smiled, but it was that shiny, intense look again. "Good. If I find out you were trying to sneak out to the market to see those flashy dancer girls, we'll have to have a very long talk."
She patted his white hair one last time and finally left the room. Su Chen waited. He counted to a hundred, then to two hundred. He listened to the sound of her footsteps fading down the stone walkway.
Once he was sure she was actually gone, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
'Stay here? Not a chance."
He stood up and quietly made his way out of the dining hall. He didn't want to alert the servants. He had noticed they were all terrified of Meiling. If they saw him moving toward the library, they might report back to her.
He stuck to the shadows of the covered walkways, moving toward the tallest building in the Su family compound: The Pavilion of Infinite Wisdom.
The air outside was crisp. The Su estate was beautiful, filled with ponds of koi fish and trees with leaves that shimmered like silver.
It was a world of magic and wonder, but Su Chen felt like he was living in a golden cage. He reached the library door. It was a heavy, redwood gate with a simple lock.
'If the previous owner was a Qi Condensation level four, he must have had access to this place.'
He tried the handle. It was unlocked. He slipped inside and was immediately hit by the smell of old paper, dried ink, and dust. Thousands of books and jade slips were lined up on tall, mahogany shelves.
This was exactly what he needed. If he could find a technique that focused on speed or concealment, he might actually have a chance to escape this madness.
He walked over to the section labeled "Movement Techniques." He reached for a book titled The Swift Cloud Step. He opened it, expecting to see diagrams of footwork and Qi flow.
Instead, the first page said: How to Walk Gracefully Toward Your Loved One.
Su Chen blinked. He flipped through the pages. It wasn't a cultivation manual. It was a book about etiquette and how to look attractive while walking.
'That's... weird. Maybe I grabbed the wrong one.'
He put it back and looked for a combat manual. He found one called The Iron Fist Technique. He opened it quickly. The first page was a hand-drawn picture of Su Meiling smiling. Underneath it, the text read: A fist should only be used to hold your sister's hand tightly.
A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He moved to the "Foundation Cultivation" section. These were the most important books for a beginner like him. He grabbed a thick tome called The Great Dao of Internal Energy.
He opened it. Every single page had been replaced. The original text was gone. In its place were handwritten notes in neat, feminine calligraphy.
"Brother, your Qi should always flow toward your heart. And your heart should always belong to me."
"Don't worry about the Great Dao. I am your Dao."
"If you cultivate too fast, you might leave me. I can't let that happen."
Su Chen felt a wave of genuine horror. She hadn't just replaced a few books. She had purged the entire family library. Every source of knowledge that could help him get stronger or leave her had been swapped for "educational" material about their relationship.
'She's been planning this for a long time,' he thought, his hands shaking slightly as he closed the book. 'The previous owner didn't just die. He was probably smothered by this affection. I'm in a psychological thriller!
He sat down on the floor, surrounded by thousands of books that were now nothing but propaganda. He realized that Meiling wasn't just a clingy sister. She was a master of control. She wanted him weak. She wanted him dependent.
He looked at his own hands. The white hair that fell over his shoulders felt like a reminder of his new identity. He wasn't the man from Earth anymore. He was a piece in a game.
'I can't use the family resources. Everything here is compromised.'
Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of footsteps outside. They were light and rhythmic. He knew that walk. It was her. She was supposed to be with the elders. Why was she back so soon?
He scrambled to stand up. He shoved the "manual" back onto the shelf, but in his haste, he knocked over a small stack of jade slips. They clattered loudly on the wooden floor.
The footsteps stopped right outside the door.
"Brother?" her voice called out. It was sweet, but there was an edge to it. "Are you in there? I told you to rest. Were you looking for something special?"
Su Chen looked around frantically. There was no back exit. He was trapped in a room full of books about why he shouldn't be running away.
"I... I just wanted to read a bit!" he shouted back, trying to keep his voice steady. "I was bored!"
The door creaked open. Su Meiling stood there, her silhouette framed by the sunlight. She didn't look angry. She looked disappointed, like a parent catching a child with their hand in the cookie jar.
"Oh, Chen. You're so impatient," she said, walking toward him. She didn't look at the shelves. She kept her eyes locked on his. "If you wanted to learn something new, you only had to ask me. Why look at these dusty old things when I can teach you everything you need to know?"
She stopped in front of him and reached out, tucking a stray lock of his white hair behind his ear. Her hand was cold.
"Come back to the room. I have a new incense I want to try. It helps with 'focus'."
Su Chen knew he had no choice. He followed her out of the library, feeling more like a prisoner than ever. As they walked, he realized he needed a new plan.
He couldn't trust anything in this house. If he wanted to survive, he had to find a way to get information from outside the Su estate.
But how do you leave a house when your shadow is a genius cultivator who thinks your "ascension" is a personal insult?