Qu Qing had clearly rushed over as soon as he received the news, his robes still bearing traces of travel.
When he saw Yuan Shu, his brows lifted as he hurried toward her.
“I sent people to look for you earlier, but we couldn’t find you anywhere. We were worried something had happened. Thank goodness you’re all right!”
Qu Qing looked Yuan Shu up and down, and only after confirming that she was unharmed did he let out a sigh of relief.
Someone capable of bringing a nearly depleted subterranean spirit vein back to life was a treasure to the sect!
What was more, he had heard that she was adapting well to Medicine Cloud Peak, had repaired many complicated ancient medicinal formulas, and had even refined quite a few pills based on them.
With abilities like that, she was certainly worth his attention!
“Thank you for your concern, Sect Master. I’m fine.”
Yuan Shu cupped her hands and smiled, neither servile nor overbearing.
Qu Qing valued her simply because she could bring value to the sect, and she was well aware of her own position.
As for anything else, it was not something she needed to consider at present.
“Yuan Shu, can this pill really save Xiao Li? How confident are you?”
Qu Qing’s tone was somewhat grave, carrying an urgency that was difficult to explain.
“I’d say I have a seventy percent chance,” Yuan Shu replied after a brief moment of thought. Then, taking the opportunity, she asked, “Sect Master, what happened to Xiao Li?”
Qu Qing shook his head. “It’s a long story. Let’s save him first. You’ll need to be extremely careful during the process. If anything unusual happens, tell me immediately.”
“All right. However, when this Profound Origin Evil-Breaking Pill is administered, it must be accompanied by a special cultivation technique. No one can remain in the room later—not even you, Sect Master.”
Qu Qing frowned at that. “Then I’ll protect you from the side?”
Yuan Shu shook her head, refusing firmly. “You can only remain outside the room.”
Qu Qing furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment before finally nodding.
The reason was simple: aside from Yuan Shu, there was no one else capable of refining this Profound Origin Evil-Breaking Pill.
It was their last hope!
“Yuan Shu, this concerns the fate of the Fallen Immortal Sect. You must do everything in your power to save him!”
Yuan Shu had just stepped through the door when Qu Qing’s voice came from behind her, solemn and earnest.
“All right,” Yuan Shu replied.
Under the tense gazes of the dozen or so people in the courtyard, she slowly closed the door.
…
Xiao Li seemed to have returned to his childhood.
The black mark was still on his face, and none of the children in his clan were willing to play with him.
In fact, they did everything they could to bully him.
The clothes he had just changed into were the ones he had stayed up late washing the night before. They were still a little damp.
But because the teacher at the clan school insisted that students dress properly, he had no choice but to put on the half-dry clothes and go out.
As he passed a mud pit, however, a child suddenly charged into him and knocked him down, splashing mud all over his head and body.
They laughed and shouted, treating him like a joke as they called him “ugly freak,” “monster,” and “unwanted burden”!
Their laughter pierced his heart like knives. He gritted his teeth and swallowed the anger surging in his chest. He could only go to school like that, yet the teacher drove him out.
When he returned home, he heard his adoptive uncle and aunt discussing how to get rid of him before he had even reached the door.
His aunt said, “His parents are both dead. No one cares about him anymore. Keeping him here just means another mouth to feed and more food wasted!”
“I’m pregnant now. From this point on, I’ll have my own child to raise. How can I raise someone else’s? And he’s an ugly freak at that. When he grows up, he’ll only frighten people!”
“In a few days, you have to send him away. Otherwise, I’ll abort the child in my belly. This family can have him or me, but not both!”
His uncle mumbled helplessly, not daring to say a word. In the end, he nodded in agreement.
He often thought that if the people from the Fallen Immortal Sect had not happened to be visiting his clan at the time, and if a beautiful spirit horse had not happened to eat the handful of common grass he fed it, he truly would have been sent away by his uncle and aunt.
They would have abandoned him beneath a bridge outside the city, where he would have gone hungry alongside the beggars.
His heart ached. As the pain continued, it gradually became numb.
He came to the Fallen Immortal Sect.
But wherever there were people, there was oppression. Wherever there were people, there was conflict.
Life in the Fallen Immortal Sect was far from easy.
He had been young, so everyone bullied him.
They assigned all the dirty and exhausting work to him. If he failed to finish it, he was not allowed to eat.
He remained silent and grew up day by day, yet he felt that there was no hope in such a life.
The wages he earned were stripped away layer by layer, leaving him with less than a tenth. The work he was assigned was heavy and grueling, and he was not even allowed to rest.
By contrast, those with a bit of background, status, or connections had people scrambling to flatter and curry favor with them wherever they went.
They did the easiest jobs while receiving the highest-grade allowances.
That gambling table was the first act of defiance in his life.
He no longer wanted to hand over the spirit stones he had earned to someone else. He tossed them onto the gambling table on a whim—and happened to bet on Yuan Shu.
A bright, delicate face appeared in his mind: beautiful brows and eyes, a petite, refined nose, and full, dewy cherry-red lips.
She was the first truly beautiful woman he had ever seen.
And she was also the first beautiful woman to look him directly in the eye.
There had been no disgust or contempt in her gaze. She had simply smiled at him.
From that day onward, his life seemed to have gained a ray of light. Every now and then, he found himself thinking of her.
Sometimes, after finishing his work, he would follow the small path to the entrance of Azure Cloud Peak, just to take a look. Perhaps he might even see her.
Yuan Shu certainly had no idea that he had secretly seen her several times.
He simply had never dared to approach her and strike up a conversation.
It was not until he encountered Bai Ze and the mark on his face disappeared under its power that he finally found the courage to see her. Only after looking at his own handsome reflection in the mirror did he dare to face her.
The thing he was most grateful for in his life was tossing that pouch of spirit-stone wages onto the gambling table that day!
His chest felt warm, as though a small sun were radiating heat within him.
Xiao Li’s long eyelashes trembled. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes.
The sudden brightness made him uncomfortable for a moment. He narrowed his eyes, and once his vision focused, he saw the scene before him.
It was an unfamiliar room.
Then he lowered his head and saw a round, lovely crown of glossy black hair in his line of sight.
Smooth, long hair spilled down from the side, hanging over the edge of the bed.
She was quietly leaning against his chest, carrying with her the familiar, faint fragrance of pear blossoms.
Yuan Shu?
Xiao Li stared blankly for a moment before realizing that Yuan Shu seemed to be the source of the warmth.
At some point, his robes had been opened, revealing a chest covered with a thin layer of muscle.
At that moment, Yuan Shu’s cheek was pressed against his chest, while her palm rested against his skin.
A steady stream of heat flowed from her palm into his heart, driving away the pain and icy chill caused by the Earth Demon’s baleful aura.
In their place came a warmth and comfort he had never experienced before.
Warmth filled Xiao Li’s eyes. Unable to resist, he raised a hand, wanting to embrace Yuan Shu.
“You’re awake?”
The moment he moved, Yuan Shu sensed it. She lifted her head and met his gentle eyes.
“Miss Yuan?”
Xiao Li had not spoken for a long time, leaving his throat somewhat hoarse.
Yuan Shu did not withdraw the hand with which she was channeling spiritual power. Instead, she waved toward the table, lifted a cup of tea, and brought it to his lips.
“Have some water first.”
Xiao Li lowered his head and obediently drank.
After he finished, his gaze fell on the hand Yuan Shu had placed against his chest, and his cheeks grew slightly warm.
“Miss Yuan, h-how did you come to be here?”
