The sky above Zhaoyue Cliff was exceptionally clear.
Xu Ning sat before the low table, his gaze calm as he studied the Golden Core True Person across from him.
Seated opposite him, Shen Yuwei’s white sleeves fell to her knees, her expression gentle.
If not for the four words she had just spoken—”help me heal”—this scene could have been mistaken for an elder chatting idly with a junior.
When he didn’t speak, Shen Yuwei tilted her head slightly, her eyes crinkling with a smile.
“Not willing?”
Xu Ning replied seriously, “Didn’t Immortal Master Shen just say you wouldn’t force me to agree?”
Shen Yuwei’s expression froze for a moment, then she broke into laughter.
“I did say that.”
“That’s why I said I’m asking for your help.”
The words “asking for your help” coming from a Golden Core True Person carried an unusual weight.
But Shen Yuwei spoke calmly.
She wasn’t using her cultivation to force him; she was genuinely discussing it with him.
Yet Xu Ning shook his head.
“I’m just a mortal apothecary. I can’t even draw qi into my body.”
“Immortal Master Lu’s heart meridian stabilized half by luck and half by her own profound cultivation.”
“Immortal Master Shen is a Golden Core True Person. I’m afraid I won’t be of much help.”
Shen Yuwei said, “Take a look first.”
She took a white jade teacup and pressed her fingertip lightly against its rim.
After a moment, a faint dark red began to rise from the bottom of the water.
The entire cup of clear liquid bubbled with tiny gas bubbles.
Xu Ning’s gaze sharpened.
He naturally couldn’t understand such a method of revealing injuries through spiritual power.
But medical texts said that when heat toxin enters the blood, the color turns murky red.
Fire evil lurking within, when meeting water, does not disperse but instead steams the liquid.
“This is…”
Xu Ning frowned as he studied it, then said hesitantly, “Fire toxin?”
Shen Yuwei looked up at him, surprise flickering in her eyes.
“You can tell?”
“Just a guess. I remember a few prescriptions for treating heat toxin in the blood.”
He stopped mid-sentence.
How could a mortal prescription possibly cure a Golden Core True Person’s fire toxin?
Seeing his grave expression, Shen Yuwei gave a faint smile.
“This strand of fire toxin hides near my Golden Core’s origin. If I forcibly remove it, the injury will only worsen.”
Xu Ning didn’t understand cultivation, but he grasped her meaning.
“So Immortal Master wants to use that wood-and-grass spiritual power to draw it out?”
“You can’t do that yet.”
Shen Yuwei shook her head, her tone without condescension.
“I only need you to use that wood-and-grass vitality to protect a certain meridian point for me while I circulate my energy.”
Xu Ning listened but didn’t relax his brow.
“Just a try?”
“Just a try.”
“What if the try fails?”
Shen Yuwei smiled faintly. “I won’t blame you.”
The tenderness in her gaze made Xu Ning look away instinctively.
“Is Immortal Master injured that badly?”
Shen Yuwei looked at the dark red in the cup and shook her head with a laugh. “As long as I don’t use too much spiritual power, I won’t die anytime soon.”
That wasn’t a reassuring statement.
Xu Ning’s frown deepened.
“How did you get such a serious injury? Aren’t you a Gold…”
He didn’t finish.
Shen Yuwei raised an eyebrow and shot him a look.
“A Golden Core True Person is still human.”
“Besides, this injury wasn’t caused by a battle.”
Xu Ning frowned. “Then why…”
Why did she make it sound like she was at death’s door?
He wondered what Immortal Master Lu would think if she knew.
Shen Yuwei had no intention of hiding it from him. She sighed and began to explain.
“After Hanyi was injured back then, I went to the Danxia Palace several times.”
Danxia Palace.
Xu Ning had heard the name.
It was the most famous alchemy sacred land in the Southern Domain.
The disciples of the Taiwei Immortal Sect occasionally mentioned it when delivering his medicine, their voices always tinged with reverence.
Shen Yuwei continued, “The Danxia Palace has the Meridian-Returning Pill, but they don’t easily refine medicine for cultivators of other sects.”
“Those who seek the pill must provide their own heavenly treasures and also complete a task for the Danxia Palace.”
Xu Ning looked at her. “Did Immortal Master complete it?”
“I did.”
Shen Yuwei said it lightly. “It was just a bit more troublesome than I expected.”
“Later, an elder from the Danxia Palace said the Meridian-Returning Pill still lacked one key ingredient.”
“What?”
“A thread of Golden Core origin.”
The tea on the table still rose with a faint warmth, but Xu Ning felt a chill at his back.
He wasn’t a cultivator, but he knew what “origin” meant.
The Meridian-Returning Pill in Lu Hanyi’s hand had been bought with Shen Yuwei’s own foundation.
Xu Ning looked at Shen Yuwei.
Her expression remained gentle, as if she were recounting some trivial matter.
But that very calmness made the cost all the heavier.
‘Lu Hanyi has a good master. A good mother.’
When this thought rose from the bottom of Xu Ning’s heart, he couldn’t quite describe how he felt.
Admiration, certainly.
But more than that, it was a belated silence.
‘So there really are people in this world who would put their own path on the scales just to protect someone else.’
“Does Fairy Lu know?”
Shen Yuwei shook her head.
“She doesn’t need to.”
Xu Ning looked at her, saying nothing.
He remembered the pale face of Lu Hanyi as she gripped the Meridian-Returning Pill on Cold Sword Peak.
Shen Yuwei seemed to read his thoughts. She said softly, “Xu Ning, I’m telling you this not to burden you.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because I need your help.”
She didn’t avoid his gaze. “Your spiritual root is of great benefit to my injury.”
Shen Yuwei could feel the spiritual power in her body still drawn toward Xu Ning.
That green aura was too gentle, too suited for suppressing the fire toxin within her.
She and Hanyi both had Heaven-grade water spiritual roots, yet when this green aura touched her, it seemed to be more than just healing…
Xu Ning didn’t meet her eyes, nor did he notice the emotion in her gaze.
“I… can try.”
Shen Yuwei’s eyes brightened slightly.
Xu Ning immediately added, “But there are a few things I need to ask first.”
“Speak.”
“First, to what extent does the treatment need to go for it to be considered temporarily finished?”
Shen Yuwei thought for a moment. “Tonight, suppress the fire toxin so it doesn’t backlash for three days.”
“If further regulation is needed later, I’ll discuss it with you in advance.”
Xu Ning nodded.
“Second, if the treatment harms my body, Immortal Master must stop immediately.”
“Naturally.”
“Third.”
Xu Ning looked at her. “I want a token to freely enter and leave the sect.”
Shen Yuwei looked at him, surprised.
Xu Ning said, “I can help Immortal Master suppress your old injury, and I’m willing to stay temporarily at Zhaoyue Cliff to avoid trouble. But if one day I want to leave, Immortal Master cannot keep me.”
Shen Yuwei looked at him for a long time, that gentle smile still on her face.
After a moment, she nodded.
“All right. I agree to all of it.”
With that, Shen Yuwei took a plain white jade token from her sleeve and placed it in the center of the bamboo table.
On the token was carved a crescent moon.
“This is the Zhaoyue Cliff Guest Elder Token.”
Shen Yuwei said, “With this token, you may stay temporarily at Zhaoyue Cliff, enter the medicine hut, and borrow the most basic qi introduction techniques.”
Xu Ning looked at the jade token, somewhat surprised she had given it so simply.
Shen Yuwei smiled and continued, “I’ll also teach you an aura concealment method to hide your spiritual root.”
“If you want to leave in the future, I won’t stop you.”
She paused.
“But until you have the means to protect yourself, at least don’t go down the mountain alone.”
Looking at the token, Xu Ning didn’t take it immediately.
“Immortal Master isn’t afraid I’ll learn the techniques and leave?”
Shen Yuwei chuckled.
“I am.”
This time it was Xu Ning’s turn to be stunned.
Shen Yuwei looked at him, her features warm. “But if I locked you up in Zhaoyue Cliff out of fear, what difference would there be between me and those people who disappointed you?”
Xu Ning was silent for a moment, then reached out and picked up the jade token.
The token was ice-cold in his hand.
“Thank you, Immortal Master, for granting this.”
—
Night fell, and Zhaoyue Cliff sank into silence like water.
Xu Ning was settled in a bamboo hut next to the medicine hut.
The room wasn’t large, and he tidied it up very cleanly.
On the table lay a scroll of the Qi Introduction Technique, and beside it three bottles of Nourishing Origin Pills.
All given to him personally by Shen Yuwei.
He put his old bundle into the cabinet and pressed the Guest Elder Token into the corner of the table.
After doing all this, Xu Ning stood in the room for a long time.
‘So this counts as having a place to call my own now?’
Xu Ning let out a wry smile.
When he’d left Cold Sword Peak, he’d thought he’d feel lighter.
‘I feel like I’m getting entangled in more and more.’
Xu Ning picked up the jade token from the corner of the table and turned it over slowly between his fingers.
Guest Elder of Zhaoyue Cliff.
The title sounded more respectable than “mortal husband of Cold Sword Peak,” but in the end, it was still something handed to him by someone else.
‘Does this count as being free?’
Xu Ning stared at the token for a long time, but couldn’t find the answer in that crescent moon shadow.
After a while, he put it back on the table and opened the scroll of the Qi Introduction Technique.
The first line was very simple.
“Draw heaven and earth’s spiritual qi into oneself.”
—Two soft knocks suddenly sounded at the door.
Xu Ning’s fingertip paused on the page; he looked up.
“Who?”
A moment of silence from outside, then Shen Yuwei’s voice came.
“It’s me.”
Xu Ning stood up and opened the door.
Shen Yuwei stood by the entrance.
She had already changed out of her dignified outer robe from the day, wearing only a thin moon-white garment.
Her dark hair hung loose, a few strands clinging to her temples.
Fine sweat glistened on her forehead, and the corners of her eyes were tinged with a damp redness.
Moonlight fell behind her, blurring her usual dignity.
Seeing this, Xu Ning didn’t dare approach recklessly.
“Immortal Master Shen?”
Shen Yuwei held the doorframe with one hand and gave him a faint smile.
“Sorry about this.”
“It looks like I’ll need to trouble you sooner than expected.”
As she finished speaking, her hand on the frame relaxed slightly, and she leaned forward half an inch.