Brian Carter also trembled all over, his eyes shining as he looked over. Inside the box was a single pill: one side was pure black, emitting a faint, eerie glow; the other side was pure white, radiating a gentle white light. The pill sat quietly in the box, unmoving, yet the black and white colors seemed to flow naturally, as if constantly rotating.

It was precisely the sacred medicine for martial artists—the Life Origin Pill!

For martial artists below the Dan Yuan stage, taking one would instantly and completely replenish all their life force! Thus, there has always been the saying, “one pill, one life.”

It was exactly what Grace Carter needed to break through the Yin-Yang Boundary, a life-or-death threshold. Normally, martial artists attempting this breakthrough would exhaust themselves to the brink of death, but with this pill, it was like having an extra life.

Robert Carter smiled faintly. “Take it!”

“This…” Grace Carter’s expression gradually calmed as she closed the box in her hand and softly asked, “This Life Origin Pill costs a million, Dad. Where did you get so much money? Besides… even if you have the money, this thing is priceless. On the black market, it’s already gone up to five million, with a huge crowd waiting for it. How did you get it? If the price was too high, we shouldn’t take it.”

A million.

Brian Carter was startled.

A million Star Yuan coins!

Enough for a family to live comfortably for a lifetime… and the old man just… spent it like that?

A trace of anxiety appeared on Grace Carter’s beautiful face. “I really have confidence—I don’t need this.”

Robert Carter said firmly, “If I tell you to take it, then take it! Why so much nonsense?! Is the family’s money something you need to worry about?”

His tone was very stern.

Grace Carter’s eyes reddened, her slender fingers gripping the Life Origin Pill, trembling slightly. After a long while, she said softly, “Yes. I was wrong, Dad.”

Robert Carter’s voice softened. “That’s better! Grace, you have a bright future ahead. After the Yin-Yang Boundary, you’ll break into the Dan Yuan stage, and then the many realms beyond… Your mother and I can’t help you much, but you’re still our daughter. We’ll help you as far as we can. When we truly can’t help anymore, you’ll have to walk on your own. Until then, don’t worry too much. Understand?”

“As for other money, maybe I can’t come up with it, but money to buy my daughter’s life—I’ll always find a way, no matter what.”

Grace Carter was silent for a moment, then said, “Dad, if I can successfully break through to Dan Yuan this time, I’ll be satisfied. I don’t want to keep going… This path is really exhausting! I feel like I can’t take it. After this breakthrough, when Brian turns twenty, I want to marry Brian then…”

Brian Carter stared in shock, eyes wide.

Immediately, he heard his father and mother shout coldly at the same time, “Nonsense!”

“Shut up!”

Grace Carter was on the verge of tears. “Dad!”

Robert Carter’s calm expression vanished completely.

He put down his chopsticks, sat up straight, and said solemnly, “You, Grace Carter, are my daughter, even if not by blood; but your mother and I raised you from infancy, and there’s no difference from our own child.”

“You are our daughter! Not a child bride for our family!”

“When you were eight or nine, your mother was joking around, saying it’d be great if you married Brian so the family would never be separated… That was just your mother’s casual remark. She never thought you’d remember it until now.”

“But…” Robert Carter spoke slowly, but with an unquestionable tone, “There’s no need to say such things again in the future!”

Chapter Two: There’s No Need to Beat Your Little Brother Early

“But…” Tears welled up in Grace Carter’s eyes. “I really am exhausted. This path is too hard…”

Robert Carter looked at her. “Grace, look me in the eyes and tell me—are you really exhausted? Is this path truly so hard for you?”

Grace Carter’s eyes were red as she turned her head aside, biting her lip. “Why do you insist on pushing me out? Wouldn’t it be nice for our family to always be together? I know you can’t bear to part with me, but I can’t bear to leave you even more.”

At last, tears began to fall, one by one.

Robert Carter’s face was expressionless. “Grace Carter, you tell me you’re exhausted, that you can’t take it. Heh, you’re nineteen this year. You awakened your Star Soul at three, built your martial foundation at six, became a martial apprentice, then a warrior at seven, a martial master at nine, leaped the Dragon Gate into Innate at eleven, walked the Thorny Road and entered the Embryonic Breath stage at thirteen; at sixteen, you crossed the divide between mortal and immortal, and now at nineteen, you’re about to cross the Yin-Yang Path and charge into the Dan Yuan realm! Your talent isn’t just number one in Phoenix City, it’s number one in the Central Plains, and even in the whole Yanwu Nation, you’re definitely among the top three geniuses. If you say you’re exhausted and can’t take it, how are others supposed to live?!”

Everything Robert Carter said was absolutely true!

Grace Carter’s talent had long been proven. All her meridians were open from birth—a talent rarely seen in the world. The title of “Phoenix City’s Number One Genius Girl” was firmly hers ever since she leaped the Dragon Gate into Innate at eleven, and no one could shake it.

Grace Carter was the pride of Phoenix City, and even in the Central Plains, she was second to none. If not for her deep attachment to home and unwillingness to leave, she would have been taken by the great sects to their cultivation grounds long ago.

“You’ve come all this way, hardly ever encountering a bottleneck, and you tell me you’re exhausted?”