Gu Chen paced back and forth across his ruined quarters, but the damage to his room was nothing compared to the complete destruction of his pride.

He stopped in the middle of the scorched floor and looked down at his own crotch while his hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles turned completely white.

He tried to channel his Qi through the meridian towards her crotch but he felt absolutely nothing because the "Golden Boy" of the Gu Clan was completely and utterly impotent.

The extreme Yang cultivation he had practiced for years had drastically backfired, violently frying his lower meridians and leaving his manhood completely dead and useless.

"I need the Sun-Dragon Pill, no matter what" Gu Chen muttered frantically to himself, with his eyes bloodshot and wide with manic desperation since he knew he just needed pure Yang resources to jumpstart his core.

But for the last few days, nothing was going his way. His once smooth flowing life with no obstacles and the whole of the Gu Clan on his beck and call had turned one-eighty degrees with a visible constraints.

Today when he had sent his loyal servant to the clan treasury first thing in the morning, he returned empty handy only to be told that Madam Li had restricted his access to the Clan treasury.

"Patriarch, you must intervene!" Gu Chen had pleaded earlier that morning, standing furiously in Patriarch Gu Yangtian’s study to complain about the Matriarch’s actions, "Madam Li has completely frozen my treasury access, and from what I hear, it is being redirected to Young Master Gu Fan. He is a cripple for Heaven’s sake."

"There is absolutely nothing I can do about it, Chen’er," Gu Yangtian had sighed heavily, leaning back in his grand chair and looking exhausted.

"The Matriarch does not want to do it either."

"But the clan elders are starting to fiercely question whether merit has no place in our family anymore."

"They are insisting that Gu Fan must be treated with respect and equality after what he did for us during the hunting competition."

"But I am the future of this clan!" Gu Chen had argued frantically.

"I know that," Gu Yangtian shook his head not sure what to say, "But I can’t push the elders too much. I need them, and in the future you need them as well."

"And because of this political shift, your quota of resources and your monthly allowances must be severely reduced to ensure absolute fairness," the Patriarch told Gu Chen.

"But..." Gu Chen tried to protest.

"Enough... Don’t dwell on it too much," Gu Yangtian brushed of his complaints with a sharp wave of his hand and sternly stopping him from speaking further.

Grumbling internally since he couldn’t do anything else about the resources, Gu Chen had to swallow his pride and unwillingly change the subject.

"Fine. But what about the other matter I asked you about?"

As son as he heard him, Gu Yangtian’s frown only deepened further as he rubbed his temples in sheer exhaustion.

"That is going to be incredibly hard, Chen’er, because you are asking for something deeply scandalous."

"You and Gu Ling are cousins, so there will be a massive amount of resistance from the traditional elders if we suddenly announce a union between you two."

"I don’t care about the elders. My love for sister Ling is pure and unadulterated."

"I am from the branch family and she is from the main family. What problem can anyone have?"

"You must be patient for some time, and I will try to think of a way to make it work without completely tearing the clan apart." Gu Yangtian sighed, "You can go rest for now. I will call you when I have thought of something."

The infuriating memory of that conversation shattered as Gu Chen grabbed a wooden chair and smashed it violently against the stone wall, watching it splinter into dozens of pieces as his sanity continued to crack.

"GOD! That useless piece of shit!" Gu Chen was already being cornered by the Chen Clan, and the Bai Clan was not going to stay silent after losing the Spirit Mines.

The Gu Clan desperately needed an Origin Realm expert to survive the upcoming bloodbath, and Gu Chen knew he was the only one with the talent to reach it, so he had to do whatever it took to break through.

And for the survival of his clan, there was only one way left for him to achieve his goal.

He walked over to a loose floorboard near his bed and ripped it open with his bare hands, pulling out a dusty, forbidden jade slip he had found years ago in a ruined temple.

It was the Celestial Unification Art.

It was a dual-cultivation manual that didn’t just share energy between partners, but instead ruthlessly drained the female’s Yin essence, violently ripping out her cultivation and transferring it directly to the male user while completely destroying the woman’s foundation.

"I have no choice," Gu Chen whispered, with his Righteous Heavenly Eyes pulsing, "The strong must survive, and the clan needs me."

"If I force a massive influx of pure Yin into my core, the shock will cure my impotence and blast my cultivation straight into the Origin Realm."

He desperately needed a pure, high-level Yin source, and he knew exactly where to find one.

He needed his beautifully, talented cousin, Gu Ling.

Her Frost Veins contained the purest Yin energy in Poison Valley Town, and draining her would absolutely destroy her meridians and leave her a crippled, broken husk, but Gu Chen’s mind was completely unhinged at this point.

He convinced himself she would gladly give her cultivation and her virginity to him just to save the clan from destruction.

He walked to his door and called for a servant, ordering them to fetch the Second Miss immediately because he could not waste another minute.

Half an hour later, a soft knock echoed through the quiet room.

"Brother Chen? Are you in there?" Gu Ling’s soft, cold voice called out from the hallway.

"Come in, Sister Ling," Gu Chen replied smoothly as he forced his features to relax into his signature warm, righteous smile.

The heavy wooden door opened, and Gu Ling stepped inside wearing pristine, light blue robes that perfectly hugged her slim curves and complimented her icy, flawless beauty.

Ever since she broke through to the 1st Stage of the Spirit Realm, her Frost Veins radiated a faint, beautiful chill that made the air around her perfectly crisp.

And now following the Hunting Competition and the sudden increase in the influx of resources from the Gu Clan, she was already at the peak of 2nd Stage of Spirit Realm, about to break through to the 3rd Stage of Spirit Realm.

She looked around the damaged room with slight concern but didn’t question it since she trusted her older brother completely.

To her, Gu Chen was the ultimate protector and the noble hero who always put the family first, so she had absolutely no reason to suspect the dark, twisting lust burning behind his eyes.

"You called for me?" Gu Ling asked while walking over and taking a seat at the low wooden table in the centre of the room.

"I did," Gu Chen said gently, sitting across from her and pouring hot water into a clay teapot. "Your breakthrough was incredibly fast, Ling’er, and I was worried your Frost Veins might be unstable."

"With the Bai Clan plotting against us, we need your combat strength at its absolute peak, so I want to help you guide your Qi today to stabilize your foundation."

Gu Ling smiled softly as her icy exterior melted slightly because of his perceived kindness. "Thank you, Brother Chen. You always look out for me, and I can actually feel the Frost Qi acting chaotic in my chest."

"Of course," Gu Chen smiled widely while pouring the brewed tea into two small jade cups, "It is my absolute duty to protect you."

As he poured her cup, he subtly brushed his thumb over the rim because he had coated his finger in ’Spirit-Sealing Dew’, which was a colourless, and odourless poison he had purchased from the black market months ago for emergencies.

He pushed the jade cup across the table, "Drink this first since it’s a special blend of Fire-Lotus tea, and it will warm your meridians before we begin the Qi transfer."

Gu Ling didn’t hesitate for a single second since she respected and trusted him implicitly. She picked up the jade cup with her delicate hands, brought it to her soft pink lips, and took a long, polite sip of the hot liquid.

"It tastes a bit..." Gu Ling started to say, but her voice suddenly caught painfully in her throat.

Her beautiful eyes snapped wide open as the jade cup slipped from her trembling fingers, crashing onto the wooden table and shattering into pieces while the hot tea spilled everywhere.

"Brother..." she gasped, clutching her chest tightly as a sharp, agonizing pain ripped through her body.

The Spirit-Sealing Dew acted instantly, and the colourless poison flooded her meridians, violently colliding with her Frost Veins so that her Spirit Qi completely froze, locking her muscles in place and cutting off her air supply.

She slumped forward helplessly, sliding out of her chair and crashing heavily onto the cold stone floor.

"What... what is happening..." Gu Ling choked out, with her body trembling uncontrollably as her limbs went entirely numb.