It took another one, perhaps two hours, for Bai Zihan to further stabilize Jin Yuelin.
Three more Grade-4 Yang herbs were taken out, each radiating warm vitality.
He placed them one after another into her hands.
"Take them!"
She did not argue. Her frail body, almost instinctively, drew in the overflowing Yang energy, bit by bit knitting together the fragile thread of her existence.
By the ti she had absorbed the third herb, Jin Yuelin’s complexion had transford.
Though she still bore the sickly pallor of long suffering, her cheeks carried a faint hint of color.
Her breathing no longer rasped with death’s shadow, and—though wobbly—she could stand.
When she took her first hesitant step, Jin Yuanzhan nearly cried aloud, rushing to steady her arm.
"You’re walking..."
His voice trembled, half disbelieving, half relieved.
"Yes..."
Yuelin whispered, her lips curving into a fragile smile. Even that simple act made his heart ache with joy.
***
Before departing, Jin Yuanzhan and Jin Yuelin went to say goodbye to the auntie who had been taking care of Yuelin for so many years.
Her eyes were red, hands twisted with years of labor, yet her expression softened when she saw Yuelin standing on her own.
"Young Miss... you... you’re walking again?"
The woman’s voice cracked as tears filled her eyes.
"Heavens above, finally..."
Jin Yuelin lowered her head respectfully.
"Auntie... Thank you. If not for your care, I would not even be here."
The old woman waved her hands, shaking her head, but her tears would not stop.
"It was nothing, it was nothing."
The old woman tried to brush off the siblings’ gratitude. But Jin Yuanzhan shook his head firmly.
"Auntie... it wasn’t nothing. If not for you, Yuelin would never have endured until today. I—I don’t have much, but..."
He reached into his robes and pulled out a small, worn porcelain bottle.
Inside were the last few Grade-2 pills he possessed.
He pressed the bottle into the old woman’s hands without hesitation.
For soone like Bai Zihan, these pills wouldn’t even warrant a glance. But for mortals, they were priceless—miracle dicines.
Even if she didn’t use them for herself, she could sell them for a high price, enough to live comfortably for decades.
The woman’s hands trembled, her eyes widening as if he had just given her a priceless treasure.
"Young Master... this... this is too much, I can’t—"
But he shook his head again, forcing a faint smile.
"You must. Yuelin and I... we can’t repay your kindness. This is all I have left that’s worth anything. Please... let it be my thanks—and my farewell."
Her lips quivered, tears glistening in her aged eyes.
She bowed deeply, holding the bottle to her chest as though it were the most precious thing in the world.
"Then may Heaven protect you both."
Jin Yuanzhan didn’t dare linger any longer. He clasped her hands once, gently, then straightened.
"Auntie... we must leave."
***
Not long after, the group departed.
The flying carriage unfurled its inscriptions, glowing faintly as it rose into the skies.
Wind rushed past, lifting their robes and hair as the ground quickly fell away beneath them.
Jin Yuelin sat within, supported by her brother’s hand, her eyes wide as she gazed out of the carved window.
Below her, mountains rolled like endless waves of stone and forest, rivers glead like silver dragons coiling through the land, and clouds drifted past so near she could almost reach out and touch them.
Her lips parted slightly, her gaze trembling with wonder.
In all her years of pain and confinent, she had never imagined she would see the world like this—not from a sickbed, but from the skies themselves.
Jin Yuelin’s slender fingers pressed against the carved window fra, her breath fogging faintly on the glass.
Her voice was soft, almost inaudible, yet full of awe.
"Brother... what is that?"
She asked, her voice carrying the excitent of a child seeing the world for the first ti.
Her finger pointed to a vast stretch of land where rolling mountains dipped into a wide basin of green.
Amid the valley, a shimring lake spread like liquid jade, and at its heart rose a solitary island crowned with a towering pagoda.
Jin Yuanzhan leaned closer, following her gaze.
"That... is the Jade Spirit Lake. They say it was once ford from the tears of an Immortal who mourned the fall of his beloved."
Her eyes widened further.
"So beautiful..."
She pressed her face to the window, drinking in every detail—the soaring peaks, the drifting clouds, the rivers that glittered like dragons weaving through the land.
"What’s that... And that..."
Jin Yuelin continued asking everything she found interesting.
Jin Yuanzhan’s heart softened, ward by the fragile smile that played on his sister’s lips.
Yet beneath that warmth, a chill gnawed at him. He forced his own lips into a smile, but in the depths of his eyes, unease flickered.
(Young Master Bai!)
His voice rang silently in Bai Zihan’s mind through a thread of ntal transmission.
(I do not know why soone like you would extend such help to us.)
Jin Yuanzhan continued.
(My life is worth little, but Yuelin... she has suffered enough. If you want to serve, to follow—then I will. I will do anything you ask of . Just do not harm her. Please protect her!)
Across from him, Bai Zihan sat with his arms crossed, eyes closed as though asleep. A faint scoff echoed directly into Yuanzhan’s mind.
(You? What can a cripple with a shattered cultivation core do? The lowest servants in my clan are more capable than you. What value do you have to bargain with?)
Jin Yuanzhan’s chest tightened, sha cutting deep. His lips trembled, but he could not form a reply.
Yet Bai Zihan’s voice ca again, quieter this ti, cool but steady.
(Rest easy. I have no reason to harm your sister. If I wished for it, there would be nothing you could do anyway. So tell , what use would there be in lying?)
The cold truth struck Jin Yuanzhan dumb.
For a long mont, he said nothing—until Bai Zihan’s voice stirred once more, this ti with an edge of curiosity.
(Rather... if you care for her this much, why did you risk everything to fuse your core with the Sun Dao Stone?)
At first, he had thought it was ambition—a hunger for power.
But watching Jin Yuanzhan now, it seed his concern for his sister far outweighed any desire for strength.
So why would he gamble his life by fusing with the Sun Dao Stone? Even the most talented cultivators often died attempting it.
Jin Yuanzhan’s breath caught.
His eyes dropped to his sister’s radiant expression—so full of life, brighter than he had seen in years.
(Young Master Bai, what I am going to tell you is one of the deepest secrets of the Azure Sun Holy Sect.)
(Oh?)
Bai Zihan hadn’t expected such a simple question to touch on one of the sect’s darkest truths.
(It was not that I fused with the Sun Dao Stone willingly... but because the Elders of the Azure Sun Holy Sect forced .)
Bai Zihan’s eyes flickered with sudden interest.
(They experinted on a number of disciples, trying to find one who could successfully fuse with the Sun Dao Stone.)
Jin Yuanzhan continued his explanation.
Basically the Azure Sun Holy Sect had gathered talented disciples without backgrounds, using them as subjects for their experints.
By sheer fortune, Yuanzhan had survived the process and managed to fuse with the Sun Dao Stone, thus earning the rank of Core Disciple and the sect’s support.
But those who failed were discarded like worthless husks.
And even with his success, the sect continued their experints, desperately seeking a higher rate of survival.
Though apart from him, none had succeeded.
Bai Zihan listened carefully.
He hadn’t expected to stumble upon such a revelation.
The Azure Sun Holy Sect... experinting on its own disciples?
That was the kind of atrocity expected of demonic sects, who pursued only raw power.
But for a so-called righteous sect to do this?
If the truth were ever exposed, even the Azure Sun Holy Sect would face a storm of backlash.
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