Yi Ling strictly controlled the trembling of his hands as he gently and carefully picked up Cang Yu.
The little disciple was burning hot all over and felt as light as a feather, as if a single gust of wind could easily carry him away. Yi Ling instinctively wanted to hold him tightly, but Cang Yu hardly had a single intact piece of skin on his body.
He had clearly taken everything into consideration. Why was Cang Yu still harmed by others? Was this a destiny he was powerless to change?
Yi Ling attempted to transfer spiritual energy to Cang Yu for healing, but he suddenly remembered the vast difference in their cultivation realms. Doing so would only injure Cang Yu even more severely.
No, he had to heal him. In his sea of consciousness, the expression Cang Yu wore when suppressed in their past life refused to fade away. For a moment, Yi Ling lost the ability to think, not even remembering how he had carried Cang Yu back to Snowfall Peak.
Along the way, many disciples saw Yi Ling and originally intended to step forward to greet him, but upon seeing his dark, somber complexion as he hurried back while holding the unconscious Cang Yu, they all shrank back and avoided him. The Elder Yi in their memories, who had always been gentle and approachable, was acting completely out of character now, as if anyone who dared step an inch closer would be pitilessly run through by a single sword strike.
A disciple seemed to grasp something. He silently took out a spiritual message scroll and sent out a voice transmission in the discussion group:
“Fellow daoists, I have a guess. Do Elder Yi and his personal disciple have some kind of secret that cannot be disclosed to the public?”
*
Cang Yu had expected Yi Ling to be enraged, but he had never imagined it would be this severe.
The suppressed rage continuously transmitted from his mind felt like a venomous snake slithering through his meridians, bringing a pain like being gnawed on multiple times wherever it passed.
If he himself could feel such intense anger, then Yi Ling’s anger right now could only be even greater.
He carefully observed Yi Ling’s face, but the other party, expressionless, simply cast a cleansing spell on him, gently laid him on the bed, turned his back, and lowered his head to rummage through his storage ring.
He could not help but feel a bit nervous. Originally, he had merely wanted to pretend that he had been bullied by Shan Chengming, using Yi Ling’s hand to ensure Shan Chengming could never provoke him again in the future.
However, looking at the situation now, things seemed to have slipped out of his control.
Yi Ling certainly did not lack medicine for treating cold damage and healing wounds, but after searching through his storage ring, he realized that if he gave these pills to Cang Yu, given the other’s low cultivation and physical constitution, the only result would be his body exploding from the overwhelming energy.
With an expression as dark as ink, he closed his storage ring. The first layer of Qi Refining was hardly any different from a mortal, not to mention that before coming to Lingxiao Palace, Cang Yu had relied entirely on begging to survive, and his physical constitution was inferior to even an ordinary person.
Yi Ling pressed his lips tightly together, summoned his frost sword Qingshuang, and headed toward Spring Harmony Peak.
*
The residences of the four elders were not far apart, and it took Yi Ling very little time to arrive before the main hall of Spring Harmony Peak.
Yet for some reason, the hall doors were shut early, making the intention to turn away guests exceptionally obvious. But the situation was urgent, and Yi Ling had a reason why he had to disturb them, so he raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door.
However, he heard the sound of a pile of miscellaneous items falling to the floor inside the hall, followed by what sounded like someone hastily tidying up. Only after a quarter of an hour passed was the hall door opened.
After hurriedly opening the door, Shen Qingran froze upon seeing that the visitor was Yi Ling. In his memory, he and Yi Ling were not particularly familiar, and the latter was not someone who enjoyed drop-in visits.
“What is the matter?”
“Cang Yu is injured and caught a chill. I came to boil some soup medicine for him,” Yi Ling caught sight of Luo Xingzhou sitting upright inside the hall, and the suppressed rage in his heart surged up again. “Why is he here?”
Shen Qingran led him to the medicine pot and looked at him with a baffled expression: “Why can my personal disciple not be here?”
Yi Ling remained silent. True, he had almost forgotten.
Shen Qingran retrieved Bupleurum, Cinnamon Twig, Dried Ginger, and other ingredients from the medicine cabinet, placed them into the pot, and added clean water using a water-drawing spell. He said to Luo Xingzhou, who was sitting to the side, “Come over and help Elder Yi decoct the medicine.”
Luo Xingzhou responded and stood up to walk over, but Yi Ling directly took the medicine pot and said, “No need.”
How could something like this pass through Luo Xingzhou’s hands? What if he took the opportunity to add poison while he was not paying attention?
Yi Ling’s gaze revealed an unquestionable firmness, clearly not wishing for Luo Xingzhou to intervene in this matter. Seeing this, Shen Qingran furrowed his brows slightly, yet did not say much, turning around to continue preparing medical ingredients for treating injuries.
Yi Ling skillfully adjusted the heat, occasionally scanning Luo Xingzhou out of the corner of his eye with a subtle, scrutinizing look. As the aroma of the medicine gradually diffused, the atmosphere inside the hall remained tense.
There was still no voice from the System. Yi Ling thought to himself, could they have discovered that he was able to hear it? That was unlikely. Furthermore, Luo Xingzhou no longer seemed to actively approach him according to the System’s demands.
“How is Cang Yu’s condition right now?” Shen Qingran finally broke the silence, holding a folding fan in his hand as he asked softly.
Although he felt puzzled as to why Yi Ling had suddenly learned how to decoct medicine, and why he was willing to personally perform these trivial tasks, these were clearly not things he should pry into.
While carefully controlling the fire, Yi Ling said, “He is severely injured. I will personally punish the person who harmed him. As for those healing medicines, use mild ones. If the medicinal properties are too potent, he will not be able to endure it.”
Even though the relationship between Shen Qingran and Yi Ling was not deep, at this moment, he could still clearly perceive the concern Yi Ling displayed toward Cang Yu.
This concern was clearly distinct from how Yi Ling treated anyone else.
Shen Qingran understood clearly in his heart. Without further words, he merely opened his folding fan lightly, the corners of his mouth hidden behind the fan curving up slightly.
*
When Yi Ling returned to Snowfall Peak, Cang Yu’s fever had grown even worse.
Cang Yu had not expected his body to be so frail, becoming so severely ill after just an hour in the rain. In his past life, after entering the demonic path, he had never fallen sick again. In a daze, he caught the faint scent of snowy plum blossom on Yi Ling, and his mind became slightly clearer.
“Master,” he opened his mouth, only to realize his voice was exceptionally hoarse, “this disciple’s head feels very dizzy.”
He felt Yi Ling sit by the bedside, scooping up a spoonful of medicinal soup and bringing it to his lips to feed him.
An intense bitterness exploded in his mouth. His body, already uncomfortable from the fever, resisted intensely and refused to swallow it no matter what.
Yi Ling let out a soft sigh, and there was no movement for a long time. Thinking that he had angered him, Cang Yu’s heart tightened, and he tried to summon his strength to grab the other’s sleeve. Unexpectedly, in the next moment, Yi Ling pinched his lower jaw, and a warm touch was transmitted from his lips.
Cang Yu instantly froze. The scent of snowy plum blossom filled his nose instantly, making his mind go blank.
When the bitter taste spread once again, he still instinctively wanted to spit it out, but it was all blocked back by the other person. A bowl of bitter medicine soup was thus swallowed down, mouth by mouth.
For some reason, even though it was merely an ordinary cold remedy, it acted like a miracle elixir. Not long after drinking it, Cang Yu’s fever subsided. Opening his watery blue eyes, he leaned against the bedside and quietly gazed at his master.
Yi Ling checked his meridians to ensure that the bastard had indeed not injured his internal organs, finally feeling relieved. He picked up the empty medicine bowl, stood up, and prepared to go to Wuwang Peak to discuss matters with Lu Yufeng.
Just as he turned around, he felt his sleeve being pulled lightly. Looking down, Cang Yu said piteously, “Master, can you stay with this disciple a little longer?”
Yi Ling remained silent. Truthfully, Cang Yu, having just recovered from a severe illness, truly made his heart soften, and Yi Ling would grant whatever he asked for. However, he had more important things to do at present.
Furthermore, Cang Yu’s body was simply too fragile, and relying on him all the time would not work. Yi Ling decided that starting tomorrow, the little disciple had to wake up two hours earlier every day to train his physical body.
Poor Cang Yu did not know that he would have no easy days ahead, merely watching disconsolately as Yi Ling moved his hand away.
While tucking Cang Yu’s hand back under the quilt, Yi Ling said, “When your illness is completely cured, I will take you to forge your natal spiritual sword.”
A glint of brightness flashed across Cang Yu’s eyes. He naturally believed the promise his master had made to him in the past, but he had never dared to dream that his master would personally take him to forge it.
Looking at the joy in Cang Yu’s eyes and feeling the warm current in his heart that clearly did not belong to himself, Yi Ling felt a slight stir, but his composure quickly returned. He said softly, “Rest well. I will return shortly.”
Cang Yu nodded obediently and watched his master leave the room. As Yi Ling’s figure gradually disappeared from view, Cang Yu’s eyes turned lonely once again.
He really wanted to enter the demonic path. Cang Yu had a very treacherous thought. A human cultivator’s body with five spiritual roots was a burden. Even if he could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, he would have to rely on various pills, but his body could not withstand the spiritual energy within those pills, which was truly troublesome. Conversely, after entering the demonic path, his cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds, allowing him to break through effortlessly with every breath. In his past life, had he not been unwilling to harm Yi Ling, even with Yi Ling’s cultivation level, it would have been impossible to contend with him.
Thinking up to this point, he could not help but frown. He remembered that Yi Ling’s breakthroughs in realm were also as easy as drinking water, yet except for the five years he spent at Lingxiao Palace where the other party broke through to the Void Refining Realm, in the thirty-plus years since he entered the demonic path, Yi Ling had displayed no sign of breaking through at all.
This might be normal for ordinary people, but this was Yi Ling.
Why exactly was Yi Ling unable to break through all along? Cang Yu remembered that when Yi Ling broke through to the Void Refining Realm, he seemed to have used his spiritual energy to dispel the toxic Qi inside his body to heal him. Could it be that this had hindered his cultivation?
Cang Yu immediately rejected the thought. He was merely a cultivator with five spiritual roots, so how could he possibly affect Yi Ling’s realm breakthroughs?
*
Wuwang Peak.
“Call Shan Chengming over!” Yi Ling slammed his palm down in front of Lu Yufeng, startling the latter who was reading a storybook.
“What happened?” Lu Yufeng put the storybook away without changing his expression. “Do you know him? Is he not Fang Gan’s personal disciple? You might as well go straight to Mobi Peak to find him instead of coming to my place to disturb my reading.”
Yi Ling sneered: “Does making him confess his crime require me to go in person?”
Lu Yufeng raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued: “Oh? Did he provoke you?”
Yi Ling’s expression grew even colder: “He injured Cang Yu, severely.”
Listening to Yi Ling say these words almost through gritted teeth, Lu Yufeng’s hand trembled. Clearly perceiving the murderous intent that the other party could not conceal, he sent a divine sense transmission directly to Fang Gan’s place.
It was already late. No matter who was awakened when it was time to rest, their mood would not be pleasant.
Fang Gan arrived at Wuwang Peak with an unpleasant expression, bringing Shan Chengming along, and said, “I wonder how my disciple managed to provoke Elder Yi?”
Shan Chengming had run ten laps during the day and was exhausted to death. Looking at Yi Ling and Lu Yufeng with a bewildered expression, he said, “This disciple does not know what crime he has committed.”
“Hmph,” Yi Ling let out a cold snort. He had never expected Shan Chengming to be shameless to such an extent, actually refusing to admit his actions. “You struck and injured my disciple. Have you forgotten?”
Shan Chengming turned the thought over in his mind, assuming Yi Ling was referring to when he struck Cang Yu during sword class, so he said, “This disciple indeed accidentally injured Senior Brother Cang, but Sect Master Lu stopped it in time, and this disciple also apologized to Senior Brother Cang.”
Yi Ling felt that Shan Chengming was simply unreasonable. He directly threw out a shadow-recording stone recording a figure.
Inside, Cang Yu was seen lying in a pool of blood in the rain, covered in wounds.
Fang Gan’s expression changed. He looked at Shan Chengming and questioned, “Did you do this?”
Although he was dissatisfied with Yi Ling’s favoritism toward Cang Yu, he knew Yi Ling’s character, which was that he would never use such matters to make things difficult for others. For Yi Ling to do this could only mean that Shan Chengming was indeed the one who did it.
Shan Chengming felt extremely innocent: “This disciple truly did not!” However, he was completely unable to prove his innocence.
Yi Ling said coldly: “Lock him in the dungeon.”
He had originally thought that if Shan Chengming took the initiative to admit his mistake, he could still spare him. But not only did the other party refuse to admit his fault, he even attempted to quibble and confuse right from wrong. How could such a person be allowed to live in Lingxiao Palace?
A stroke of crimson flashed across his hibiscus-red eyes as he crossed his hands, tapping lightly on his storage ring.
He would definitely give him a “proper reception.”