Chapter Sixty-Six: Hard to Part With

Immediately, Yin Seventeen bent down, reached out, and grabbed Liuxi by the shoulder. With just a slight exertion of strength, he pulled him out of the earth. Unfortunately, Liuxi had taken quite a beating from his palm. The moment Yin Seventeen let go, Liuxi collapsed to the ground like overcooked noodles, completely limp.

“All right, let’s go,” Yin Seventeen signaled to the young woman beside him.

“Hey, are you just going to leave me here? Sis—” Seeing them about to leave, Liuxi grew desperate.

In his current state—seriously injured and unable even to stand—if he were to encounter any evildoers, he would be in real danger.

Ruolan replied irritably, “Consider this your punishment for worshipping evil gods!”

“Besides, you’ve already ignited your microcosm and gained extraordinary strength. Even injured, ordinary people can’t harm you!”

“If you come across bandits or thieves, you’ll be more than capable of protecting yourself!”

“But what if I run into another Saint? Wouldn’t that be just as dangerous?” Liuxi swallowed nervously.

Seeing her brother’s pathetic state, Ruolan scolded him, “Saints aren’t so easy to come across!”

“This place is utterly desolate—you might not even see a single traveler, let alone a Saint!”

“If you keep whining, I’ll bury you back in the ground myself and let you crawl out on your own!”

As a Saint, she already felt guilty for letting her brother, now an evil Saint, go free. If she were to care for him any further, she would never forgive herself.

Seeing his sister’s anger, Liuxi shrank back, not daring to utter another word.

“Let’s be on our way,” Ruolan called to Yin Seventeen, then turned and left.

Liuxi was left lying on the ground, watching the two depart without the slightest mercy, his face a picture of utter despair.

“How far is it to Mount Lu from here?” On the road, seeing the young woman weighed down with worries, Yin Seventeen broke the silence.

“Hm?” Startled by his voice, Ruolan quickly turned back. “What did you just say?”

Yin Seventeen sighed and shook his head. “I asked, how far is it to Mount Lu from here?”

He only knew the general direction of Mount Lu, but not its precise location. After all, this was his first time going there, in both his previous world and this one.

“Uh, about three hundred kilometers, I think,” Ruolan replied absentmindedly.

Yin Seventeen shook his head again, stopping in his tracks. “If you’re still worried about that boy, why not go back and check on him?”

Ruolan’s troubled expression was truly worrying. At his words, she bristled like a startled cat. “Who’s worried about him? I’m just thinking about something else!”

But her wandering gaze betrayed her true feelings. After all, he was her own brother—leaving him so badly wounded in the wild, how could she not worry?

Yin Seventeen found a rock and sat down, shaking his head. “I’ll wait here for you. Go and come back quickly.”

“I’m not going to bother with him!” Ruolan wrinkled her nose in defiance.

Seeing her hesitation, Yin Seventeen pressed, “Just go have a look. That way, you’ll set your mind at ease and won’t have to worry.”

“But—”

He cut her off with a wave. “No buts!”

“If you can’t let him go, neither can I!”

“Who knows, I might change my mind and go back to finish him off myself!”

He mimed a throat-slitting gesture.

Ruolan shivered at the sight, then hurried back the way they’d come. It was a possibility she couldn’t ignore.

Elsewhere, Liuxi was struggling to crawl toward a nearby thicket, hoping to hide himself. Lying out in the open like this, anything could happen.

“Today’s just my unlucky day! After finally escaping that terrifying guy, I run into this mess!” he cursed tearfully.

Every movement tore at his wounds with bone-deep pain; the short distance to the bushes seemed as insurmountable as a chasm.

Suddenly, the aura of a microcosm approached rapidly.

“Who’s there?” Liuxi gasped, enduring the agony to turn over.

Was his luck really so terrible? Another Saint?

He turned—and exhaled in relief.

It was Ruolan.

“Why are you back?” Liuxi asked coldly.

“I came to see if you’d been eaten by wolves, so I could collect your corpse. Since you’re still alive, count yourself lucky,” Ruolan replied with disdain, though she carefully took a vial from her pocket.

It was a potent elixir she’d gotten from Oros of the Serpent Constellation, known for its remarkable healing effects.

She quickly stepped to Liuxi’s side and tilted the vial.

Liuxi didn’t know what she was doing, only saw crystalline droplets fall from the mouth of the vial.

Drip.

The droplet landed on him, and instantly, a wondrous energy spread through his body.

His torn muscles began to knit together, his shattered bones mended; his pain eased as if the land, after a gentle spring breeze, was waking to new life and rebirth.

He wasn’t fully healed, but it was a vast improvement over before.

He flexed his fingers, then, swaying, managed to stand.

“Sis, give me a little more!” he exclaimed joyfully, reaching for the vial.

“Don’t even think about it!” Ruolan swiftly put the vial away. “I went through a lot to get this—there’s barely any!”

“If you weren’t my brother, you wouldn’t have gotten a single drop!”

She was loath to use it even on herself; sharing some with Liuxi was already painful enough. There was no way she could spare more.

She then admonished him, “Now that you can move, I’m leaving.”

“Don’t let me see you again! And don’t let me hear of you committing evil deeds!”

“Otherwise, I’ll personally send you to hell!”

With that stern warning, she turned and walked away without looking back.

Liuxi wanted to call after her, but couldn’t find the words; he could only watch as Ruolan’s figure gradually receded into the distance.

A few minutes later, Yin Seventeen saw the young woman return.

This time, though, the gloom on her face had lifted; she looked much lighter at heart.

“Why don’t you tell me about Master Dohko of Mount Lu?” Yin Seventeen asked with a smile as they set out again.

Ruolan thought for a moment, then spoke slowly. “Master Dohko is the Gold Saint of Libra.”

“He’s the oldest Saint in the Sanctuary, a senior to all the others, and has guided countless Saints in their training.”

“They say even some of the current Gold Saints once trained under him.”

“That’s why we all respectfully call him ‘Master.’”