Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

Xiao Chunjie glanced at Zhang Ruoxue, whose face was filled with particular pain; the Buddhist and Taoist judgment was still raging within her soul.

However, she did not show much sympathy—she had seen far too many of these painful postures, and they no longer aroused any pity in her.

Even death, in her eyes, was nothing more than that.

Xiao Chunjie's gaze shifted to Zhang Xiaohan, who was curled up, and she shook her head before slowly disappearing from the room.

Before disappearing, she looked at the two lying together with a strange expression.

"Family members... well, human emotions are really strange."

……

crunch--

Not long after Xiao Chunjie left, the door was suddenly pushed open.

Xu Yanliu stared in disbelief at Zhang Ruoxue, who was lying on the bed and seemed to be on her last breath but was still alive, and Zhang Xiaohan, who was unconscious beside her. Her expression was complicated.

She escaped back. Yes, she listened to Zhang Ruoxue and Zhang Xiaohan, knowing that she didn't need to risk her life under those circumstances, so she escaped back.

Filled with guilt and pain, and fueled by the desire for revenge and anger, he returned to the pharmacy.

But what she saw was the complex and bewildered expression on her father's face—

“A woman came to me with her and her companions, who were seriously injured. She said she had promised someone that she would help them once when they were in trouble.”

The middle-aged man leaned against the wall, and when he mentioned "a woman," his voice trembled noticeably.

He could tell who the woman was.

That's why he felt genuine fear.

Xu Yanliu sat next to Zhang Ruoxue, looking at Zhang Ruoxue, who was already on the verge of death, with a complicated expression.

Half of her icy arm was broken, and the ends of her hair were scorched. Although her Taoist robe was undamaged, a golden mark was branded on her skin...

Not only that, Xu Yanliu also discovered that Zhang Ruoxue's soul was also filled with such golden marks—those were the marks of judgment of Buddhism and Taoism. Although she did not know them clearly, she at least knew them.

She never expected... that Zhang Ruoxue and Zhang Xiaohan would actually come back alive—

From the hands of that saint!

"Her condition is very bad."

The uncle glanced at Zhang Ruoxue. He could tell that Zhang Ruoxue was being tormented by the Buddhist and Taoist Judgment Seal: "If this continues, she may not die, but her cultivation and the physical body she had previously tempered will probably disappear."

"If it gets even worse, and her soul is severely damaged, she'll be bedridden for the rest of her life."

Xu Yanliu turned around in astonishment, her eyes seemingly brimming with tears: "Wouldn't that make me a cripple?!"

The man's expression turned serious, and his tone became exceptionally heavy: "Do you think the Great Dao Strike of a Saint is a joke? It's already a stroke of luck that she survived."

Xu Yanliu fell silent.

Yes, Zhang Ruoxue is still alive, which is the best news for her.

She had thought that after this incident, she would become an enemy of the entire Ember Demon Alliance, even if it meant sacrificing her own life, to make the Ember Demon Alliance pay the price.

It was not only to avenge the fox demon with whom he had fallen in love years ago, but also to avenge Ruoxue and the others.

This was the only thing she could do.

She could tolerate momentary cowardice and running away, but she would eventually take everything back.

But Zhang Ruoxue is still alive.

"Can you save her?"

Xu Yanliu lowered her head and asked in a low voice.

The man hesitated for a few seconds, then looked at his daughter's dejected appearance: "She can't be saved..."

Xu Yanliu turned around and glared fiercely at her father: "Are you feeling sorry for your herbs again?"

“No.” The uncle responded to Xu Yanliu’s gaze with utmost sincerity: “It’s not about the herbs, it’s about human lives. I wouldn’t joke about something like this.”

"The herbs for body tempering can alleviate some of her pain. Combined with other herbs in my medicine storehouse, they can help reduce the intensity of the trial. Furthermore, by infusing her with spiritual energy through the method of enlightenment, we can also help her escape from this predicament."

"But these only delay the pain. At most, they can prevent her from spending the rest of her life in bed, but her cultivation level will probably be frozen forever, and she will never be able to cultivate again."

Unable to... cultivate?

Indeed, it seems better to be unable to cultivate than to become a cripple.

But Xu Yanliu remembered the question she had asked Zhang Ruoxue before.

Why do you want to exercise?

[To become stronger~]

What is the purpose of becoming stronger?

[So as not to become a burden...]

Even today, the expression on Zhang Ruoxue's face when she said those words still makes Xu Yanliu feel incredibly heartbroken.

She must have genuinely and desperately wanted to become stronger, all so that she could move forward together with certain people...

If she can't cultivate, then she definitely won't be able to either...

"Is there... no other way?" Xu Yanliu gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. "If we can't cultivate, is this all we can do...?"

"Yes." The man lowered his head regretfully. "That's all we can do."

Xu Yanliu lowered her head and clenched her fists.

"When Fox died, I ran away; there was nothing I could do."

"When Ruoxue and the others were in trouble, I ran away again and couldn't do anything."

"Now that they've returned alive, all I could do was spare them from being crippled, leaving them unable to cultivate. In that case... haven't I accomplished nothing?!"

She gritted her teeth, and glistening liquid dripped down her cheeks.

The man looked at his daughter quietly, took a deep breath, and said nothing.

All the memories flooded back, and Xu Yanliu seemed to want to grind her teeth to powder as she cursed out loud.

"I'm a fucking piece of trash!"

"I can't save Hu'er, and I can't save Ruoxue..."

"Liu'er..."

Tears welled up in the uncle's eyes. He knew that Xu Yanliu had been blaming herself for what happened back then, and now that Zhang Ruoxue had an accident, her guilt had completely exploded.

"This isn't yours..."

"This has nothing to do with you."

A weak-sounding voice interrupted the man.

Xu Yanliu and the uncle both looked toward the source of the sound—a petite girl slowly getting up next to Zhang Ruoxue.

A person named Zhang Xiaohan.

Xu Yanliu stared at her, wide-eyed in astonishment: "You..."

Zhang Xiaohan glanced at her with a complicated expression, then his gaze was completely fixed on Zhang Ruoxue beside him, a hint of tenderness and determination flashing in his pupils: "You were originally an outsider who was dragged into this by us... no, by me. There is no need to blame yourself for some unfounded things."

"This was never your fault."

"but……"

"No buts." Zhang Xiaohan rolled her eyes at Xu Yanliu: "You should just continue being your hooligan and drink your wine. Crying like this won't make me feel sorry for you."

"Besides, this idiot isn't beyond saving."

She slowly got out of bed.

She barely managed to support herself on the bed with her right hand, then struggled to turn over, placing her hands on either side of the unconscious Zhang Ruoxue, spreading her legs, and sitting on Zhang Ruoxue.

Zhang Xiaohan's gaze lingered on Zhang Ruoxue's pained face, and she took a deep breath.

"I have a way to save her."

The uncle and Xu Yanliu were both taken aback.

After standing there like a puppet for a few seconds, the uncle asked, "The injuries on her body are from the Buddhist and Taoist judgment, which are different from other injuries and are not so easy to heal."

"It's precisely because it's a Buddhist or Taoist injury that I have a way." Zhang Xiaohan's gaze never left Zhang Ruoxue. "If it weren't for Buddhist or Taoist injuries, I really wouldn't have a solution..."

Xu Yanliu stared blankly at her: "What are you going to do?"

Zhang Xiaohan's answer to this was very simple.

“Do something…that I should do.”

"Because she's my sister."

77. The ending was predictable.

a few days later.

The netherworld and ghost realm.

"Uncle, are you done yet?"

A girl's slightly impatient voice came from outside the door, a result of her long wait.

He stroked the stubble on his chin, carefully calculating the dosage of the medicine in his mind as he poured it into the not-so-large wooden bathtub in front of him.

"It'll be soon, don't be in such a hurry."

"It was coming pretty quickly just a few days ago..."

The uncle smirked as he slowly channeled his spiritual energy into the thick green liquid in the bathtub, saying helplessly, "That's because the medicinal baths of the past few days were just a warm-up; today's is the main event."

"Alright~" The girl outside the door seemed to understand the helplessness in the man's voice, so she didn't ask any further questions.

Having had enough quiet time, the uncle began to calm down and prepare the remaining medicinal herbs.

To be honest, the medicinal baths he prepared for Zhang Ruoxue these past few days almost emptied his herb storehouse. And that's not all; it was only because Xu Yanliu somehow managed to gather a large number of key medicinal herbs that he was able to barely cover Zhang Ruoxue's daily medicinal bath expenses.

Today, she has finally entered the final stage of tempering her mortal body.