Zu An was horrified. He thought that it was just a minor problem since it didn’t seem like a big deal to spurt blood in the world of cultivation. He himself had probably spurted at least liters of blood by now, such that he had already gotten perfectly used to it.

Yet, Chu Chuyan’s problem turned to be so severe, such that even Mi Li evaluated it to be incurable.

“How could this be…” murmured Zu An.

It was then that a voice suddenly sounded, “Chuyan, what’s wrong?”

A beautiful figure rushed over and pushed Zu An aside to snatch Chu Chuyan from his arms. Upon noticing that she had fallen unconscious, her face paled in horror. She turned to Zu An and roared, “What did you do to my daughter?”

“She was still fine when I spoke to her earlier, but she suddenly spurted blood and fainted. It might be due to her ice cultivation technique progressing too fast, resulting in her suffering a backlash from being unable to control the frost in her body…” replied Zu An.

But before he could finish his words, Qin Wanru had already interrupted him, roaring, “What do you know? My daughter is a prodigy! It’s only normal for her cultivation to progress swiftly! I know that you have stood out quite a bit over the last few days, but you’re still nothing compared to Chuyan! You have no right to criticize her!”

Qin Wanru was already angry, and hearing such an evaluation from someone she had always looked down on further infuriated her.

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +502 Rage!

She carried her daughter up and rushed off to look for her husband. Why did I even waste time arguing with this fellow!

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +9 +9 +9…

Staring at Qin Wanru’s departing silhouette, Zu An snorted in response. The only good thing about this woman is that she produces a lot of rage.

“How about it? Do you want to reconsider my suggestion?” Mi Li’s gleeful voice sounded in his ears.

“…” Zu An.

“You know, there are times that I wonder if you are actually not an empress but a demoness.”

“I’m flattered by your compliment,” replied Mi Li gracefully. “Who in the world said that an empress has to be virtuous and compassionate?”

Surprisingly, Zu An found those words oddly convincing. There were plenty of ‘evil empresses’ in history, and Mi Li seemed to fit right into the stereotype.

However, he was too worried about Chu Chuyan to listen to Mi Li’s belief as to what an empress should be like. He quickly followed Qin Wanru.

Chu Zhongtian also rushed over upon hearing the news. While infusing his ki into her body to dissipate the frost, he waited impatiently for the clan physician to arrive.

Chu Huanzhao came over too, and she tightened her grip anxiously. While she had often bickered with her older sister because her mother was extremely fond of comparing the two of them, she knew deep well that her older sister doted on her a lot. They were actually on close terms with one another, and it pained her to see her older sister in such a state.

Not too long later, a white-haired old man rushed over with a group of servants. Zu An recognized the other party to be the clan physician, Bao Youlu.

In the entire Brightmoon City, his medical skill was only inferior to that of Ji Dengtu. Given his abilities, he wouldn’t lower himself to just serve a single ducal manor, but he was indebted to the Brightmoon Duke from an incident in his earlier years. On top of that, he was also getting old, making it harder from his travel around. As a result, he decided to stay at the Chu clan to return the favor.

A maidservant had already prepared a silk cloth and wrapped it around Chu Chuyan’s wrist. Bao Youlu read Chu Chuyan’s pulse through it, and soon, a tight frown formed on his forehead and he sighed deeply. His reactions made Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru extremely worried.

A long time later, he finally retracted his fingers, and Qin Wanru immediately asked anxiously, “Physician Bao, how is my daughter?”

Bao Youlu seemed a little hesitant to speak. Chu Zhongtian quickly dismissed all of the servants from the room. In view that Zu An was Chu Chuyan’s husband in-name, he was allowed to stay.

Once the others had left the room, Bao Youlu sighed deeply and said, “Master, Madame, the frost has permeated the young miss’ ki meridians and internal organs. There’s no saving her anymore. It’ll be best if you could prepare yourself for the inevitable.”

“???” Chu Zhongtian.

“???” Qin Wanru.

“???” Chu Huanzhao.

“…” Zu An.

While they could tell that Chu Chuyan’s condition was more severe than before, they didn’t expect it to be at such an extent. When they heard this nightmarish diagnosis, all of them stiffened in place.

Meanwhile, Zu An sighed deeply as well. It was the same verdict as Mi Li had come to.

“H-how can this be? My daughter was still completely fine earlier! Why would she suddenly…” Qin Wanru began sobbing halfway through her words.

Chu Zhongtian also asked anxiously, “Indeed, Physician Bao! Chuyan has just made an advancement in her cultivation, so how could she possibly suddenly fall ill?”

A glint flashed across Bao Youlu’s eyes when he heard those words. “May I know how the young miss made a breakthrough in her cultivation?”

This concerned his daughter’s life, so Chu Zhongtian didn’t dare to hide the details at all. He quickly told Bao Youlu about how they had found the Evanescent Lotus in the dungeon.

“I see.” Bao Youlu stroked his beard contemplatively. “I was still wondering why the young miss’ condition would suddenly deteriorate despite being healthy all this while. It turns out that the root of the problem lies here.

“It’s common knowledge that practicing ice cultivation techniques is harmful to one’s body, but this effect is usually negligible. However, the young miss had her ki meridians severed in a dungeon. Even though she managed to reconnect them afterward, it still damaged her ki foundation. To consume the Evanescent Lotus in such a condition and forcefully raise her cultivation by an entire rank further magnified the instability, placing a huge burden on her body. This resulted in the current situation.”

It was the same as what Mi Li said earlier, which proved that her skill was indeed the real deal.

Everyone was stunned to hear those words. Bao Youlu’s analysis made perfect sense, and it finally sunk into them that Chu Chuyan was indeed in danger.

“It’s all your fault! If not to save you, our Chuyan’s ki meridians would have never been severed! If you hadn’t fed the Evanescent Lotus to her, she would have never suffered such an ill fate! You’re the one who caused all of these problems!” Qin Wanru stood up and roared at Zu An like a tigress, looking as if she would pounce on him at any moment.

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for +1024 Rage!

Zu An was in no mood to even bother with her at the moment. He was busy communicating with Mi Li telepathically. “Big sis empress, is there really no way to save her?”

“Didn’t I tell you that even a god wouldn’t be able to save her?”

“But you mentioned that you were skilled in runes and medicine back at the dungeon. Even if a god is unable to save her, I believe that big sis empress will be able to pull it off!” exclaimed Zu An.

Mi Li’s laughter sounded in his head. “You’re indeed good at bootlicking. You’re right. If Ying Zheng is able to compete with even the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, how could I possibly lose to a mere god? I do have a way to save her.”

“Big sis empress, please enlighten me!” urged Zu An.

Mi Li harrumphed coldly. “After how that woman treated you, are you sure you want to save her daughter?”

“The one I’m saving here is my wife; it has nothing to do with Qin Wanru at all. Don’t worry. If it’s Qin Wanru that’s lying there right now, I wouldn’t even bother raising a finger for her,” replied Zu An.

“A man should at least know how to keep a grudge. If you repay enmity with kindness, how are you going to repay kindness then? Enmity should always be repaid with enmity!” Mi Li’s tone finally alleviated a little. “Your wife is in a tough position because the frost has seeped into her organs and ki meridians. What we need to do right now is to expel the frost from her body, but the slightest carelessness could easily destroy her ki meridians and inflict heavy damage on her organs. That would make her die even faster.

“She’s the one who is the most familiar with her own body, be it her ki meridians or her organs. So, she should be the one dispeling the frost personally. The problem is that she’s in no state to channel her ki at the moment, and her ki attribute is ice too. If she channels ice elemental ki into her body right now, it’ll only worsen the problem.

“But putting aside these technical problems, you do have the simplest way out to cure her, and that’s to undergo the amalgamation of yin and yang as the two of you did previously so as to expel the frost via heat. On top of that, you can channel the primordial ki toward her damaged ki meridians and organs to protect them. Through this, she should be able to recover fully in half a month to half a year’s time.”

Zu An asked in surprise, “Why does it take that long?”

There was a trace of mirth in Mi Li’s voice as she replied, “That’s a dumb question. Do you think that doing it seven times a night is the same as doing once a night for a week?”

“…” Zu An.

“But this treatment method is a little too unconventional.”

“Stop putting on that act. I know that you’re already celebrating this unexpected bliss,” remarked Mi Li coldly, seeing right through his righteous facade.

Zu An’s face heated up as he said, “I mean, it’s indeed something happy for me, but I’m not sure if Chuyan would be willing to do it.”

“Is that something you should be concerned about right now?” snapped Mi Li in irritation.

Regarding that, Zu An replied, “It’s easy to attain a person’s body, but winning a person’s heart is a different matter. I hope that she can accept me willingly in the future instead of having me to take advantage of her at times like this.”

He scorned himself a little for saying that. Honestly, it was because he already had her body once that he wanted more.

“What do you want her heart for?” replied Mi Li disdainfully. “As long as her body accustoms to yours, it’s just a matter of time before her heart becomes yours too. Youngsters like you really don’t understand how the human mind works. Love is something that’s bred over time.”

“…” Zu An.

Is that an innuendo?

“Big sis empress, you mentioned that that’s the simplest method, which means that there’s a not-so-simple method too. May I know what it is?” asked Zu An.

In the Tai’e Sword, Mi Li’s face turned livid as she said, “Hmph, I really don’t know whether you’re feigning dumb or not. You keep acting like a little pervert all the time, only to act righteously at times like this. Forget it! Listen well, the difficult method involves…”

…

Back to the room, Chu Huanzhao stopped the agitated Qin Wanru and said, “Mother, you’re being too much again. My big sister has already said earlier that this has nothing to do with brother-in-law!”

“Shut up! You only know how to side with outsiders! Who is he to you? Is he more important than your big sister? Is he more important than your mother?” bellowed Qin Wanru.

Chu Huanzhao pouted in displeasure. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Enough!” Chu Zhongtian finally lost his patience. He turned to Bao Youlu and asked, “Physician Bao, is there really no way out of this?”

Bao Youlu shook his head and replied, “Pardon my ignorance, but I really can’t figure out a way to treat her. Perhaps Divine Physician Ji might have an unconventional treatment to this, but I don’t think that the young miss’ condition looks too hopeful. On top of that, I heard that Divine Physician Ji left for the neighboring city a while ago.”

“I’ll find him back right now!” said Chu Zhongtian.

Qin Wanru quickly interjected, “I’ll go instead. You aren’t on good terms with him.”

“How can I do that?” exclaimed Chu Zhongtian.

Wouldn’t this be practically sending his beautiful wife into the mouth of a lecher? He still remembered clearly that Ji Dengtu was one of Qin Wanru’s suitors back then!

It was then that a voice sounded, “I do have an idea in mind.”

Bao Youlu turned around to take a look, only to be displeased when he saw that the one speaking was Zu An. It was just a moment ago that he said that he had no way out of this when Zu An suddenly said that he had an idea. Such an action put Bao Youlu in a spot.

Besides, he had never heard about the drafted son-in-law of the Chu clan being well-versed in medicine before.