The lock of Medicine Master’s multi-storied building was already fixed.

After returning, Song Shuhang checked on almost all floors, but still couldn’t find Doudou and Senior White anywhere.

‘Did Doudou bring Senior White out to have some fun?’ Song Shuhang wondered, somewhat confused. Then, once he went to the fifth and last floor, he discovered that Doudou, Senior White, and Penniless Thief Sect’s Young Mistress Candy were all there.

After a glance, he noticed that Medicine Master’s pill furnace had been divided into two pieces. The upper half was thrown on a side, while the lower half was covered in flames with a cauldron on it.

Young Mistress Candy was wearing an apron and diligently preparing dishes.

There was also a long table on a side with many dishes on it that were either fried in oil or steamed. After looking at them, one couldn’t help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.

"What’s happening?" Asked Song Shuhang, somewhat confused.

"Woof. This is the result of my careful train— ugh! I mean, the result of my careful interrogation of Penniless Thief Sect’s Young Mistress Candy. She confessed everything—from when she started cultivating to what she is specialized in. She even told me the number of ancient ruins she discovered recently… however, she really didn’t know anything about the status of Cultivator Sunflower inside the Limitless Demon Sect," Doudou said while swallowing down a big chunk of beef. "And while she was under interrogation, she disclosed that she was very good at cooking. Then, Senior White and I thought of giving her a chance to display her skills."

"This flavor is not bad," Senior White nodded in approval.

Song Shuhang pitifully looked at Young Mistress Candy—what kind of interrogation (training) did she undergo to disclose that she was good at cooking?

It seemed like she had revealed all her private matters. After this, how would she even face Doudou?

Having sensed Song Shuhang’s gaze, Young Mistress Candy turned her head around and looked into his eyes—letting out a silly giggle.

Song Shuhang froze on the spot. She didn’t have a mental breakdown, right?

At this time, Senior White pointed toward a purple bamboo shoot on the table and said, "Little Friend Song Shuhang, this bamboo shoot was properly cooked by Little Candy. Once you eat it, it will help you with your Nose Aperture. Don’t waste it."

"I can directly eat it without refining it first?" Song Shuhang sat down on the table and asked.

"There is no need for that. If you refine it into a medicinal pill, you will indeed increase its effects a bit. But after eating too many medicinal pills, you will develop a resistance to them. Therefore, natural treasures like this purple bamboo shoot are best eaten directly," Senior White said with a smile.

Song Shuhang took a bite of the bamboo shoot; its flavor wasn’t half bad. He couldn’t help but look at Young Mistress Candy—she was indeed good at cooking. In the future, if she were to get rid of her status as a disciple of the Penniless Thief Sect and get married, her husband would be able to eat delicious things every day.

"Hehe," Young Mistress Candy turned her head once again and laughed foolishly.

❄️❄️❄️

After his evening practice, Song Shuhang quickly went to bed.

He had his finals tomorrow—he needed to be in his best condition.

The bamboo shoot had already started to take effect. He felt as if it was becoming easier to breathe since dinner, just like a stuffy nose suddenly getting cleared.

However, there was a problem—now, his sense of smell was much keener than before. If he were to carelessly fart, the odor he would smell would be at least six or seven times worse.

After taking a bath and stretching himself, he quickly went to sleep.

Once he had fallen asleep, Venerable White quietly slid into his room and arrived at his side.

Then, he slowly disappeared on the spot.

After a while, a triangular seal appeared near Song Shuhang’s body, and an ugly face appeared inside it.

"As expected, it’s a life curse," Venerable White smiled as he carefully injected some of his spiritual qi inside the curse.

Very quickly, a fist-sized mass of black smoke appeared beside Song Shuhang, emitting a strong resentment.

"Hate, hate, hate, so much hate~ even if I don’t enter the cycle of reincarnation, remaining a lowly ghost for eternity, I will still obtain revenge!" The black spiritual mass angrily howled.

At this time, its body suddenly inflated like a ball and reached half the height of a person. One could vaguely recognize Altar Master’s features. But compared to the last time, the resentful spirit only had 40% of Altar Master’s characteristics.

"It came out. Eating it will help the ghost spirit reach the middle-rank again," Venerable White said in a soft voice.

After that, the ghost spirit came out of Song Shuhang’s Heart Aperture and swallowed the resentful spirit down once again.

The body of the ghost spirit became bigger, and it started to undergo a mutation.

After five or six minutes, the ghost spirit lightly roared, and a faint layer of golden light covered its body.

With a ‘clang~’ sound, the small golden shield condensed once again. And, apart from the shield, it also condensed a small golden sword.

After a period of weakness, the ghost spirit had recovered its rank and had returned to be a middle-rank ghost spirit.

Now that it had a core, it had the possibility of advancing to a high-rank ghost spirit given enough time.

After returning to the middle-rank, the ghost spirit respectfully bowed to Venerable White and returned inside Song Shuhang’s Heart Aperture. Everything became quiet once again.

"It’s a pity that the cultivation of the person that put the life curse on Song Shuhang was too weak. This resentful spirit will only appear four or five more times before completely disappearing. Otherwise, the ghost spirit would have reached the high-rank in one go," Venerable White laughed.

Then, he left Song Shuhang’s room like a whirlwind, his face very satisfied.

He came here to help Song Shuhang because he had disassembled too many things lately and felt guilty about it.

Moreover, even after discovering what he had done, Song Shuhang didn’t criticize him. This made him feel even more ashamed.

However, he just couldn’t stop himself from disassembling things. Therefore, after thinking for a while, he decided to compensate Song Shuhang in this way.

‘Tomorrow, I’ll help Little Friend Song Shuhang with his cultivation. I’ve troubled him quite a bit for the past few days,’ thought Venerable White just before leaving.

On the other hand, Medicine Master could only cry himself to sleep… after all, it was his house that was being disassembled and not Song Shuhang’s.

❄️❄️❄️

That night, Song Shuhang had a strange dream.

It was about the cultivator with a green daoist robe. The dream about Li Tiansu’s life continued.

Maybe Li Tiansu lived for too long, and the dream spanned over two days for this reason? Song Shuhang thought sarcastically.

In the dream… after completing his practice, Li Tiansu put on the green daoist robe and descended from the mountain.

He didn’t have too many difficulties in his life.

Like many other loose cultivators, he looked for an immortal cave, natural treasures, precious objects inside ancient ruins or immortal caves left behind by ancient cultivators, favorable opportunities, and other means to accumulate wealth.

These memories consisted of small fragments that flashed by in an instant.

Anyway, Song Shuhang already knew most of the things that had happened in Li Tiansu’s life; it could be considered a fun and exciting life.

And his luck wasn’t bad either. After reaching the Fifth Stage and condensing a Golden Core, he had accumulated enough wealth to be considered rich.

But why did he end up like that afterward? He didn’t have anything aside from that flying sword and the ancient bronze ring, Song thought somewhat confused.

Just as he was thinking, big changes happened in Li Tiansu’s life in the dream. He met a female cultivator. The two of them quickly fell in love and became dao companions.

The female cultivator was the successor of a medium-sized sect of cultivators… however, the usual scene in movies where seniors pop out to separate the couple didn’t happen.

This was because Li Tiansu was already a Fifth Stage Golden Core Spiritual Emperor. Moreover, he had a Golden Core with seven dragon patterns! Even if he was a loose cultivator, his talent was outstanding. Even in a large sect, he would become an elder with the highest status. A medium-sized sect was more than happy to have this powerful backer.

The sect of the female cultivator gave them their blessings, allowing the two to become dao companions without problems.

Not long after, they had a daughter.

This was his life’s happiest moment.

But ten years later, Li Tiansu’s dao companion was reduced to ashes under the fires of the tribulation when she tried to break through the Fifth Stage Golden Core Realm. This was a huge blow to Li Tiansu.

Another ten years passed by. Even his beautiful daughter caught a strange disease. Cold qi started to constantly overflow inside her body. If they weren’t careful, frost would begin to form on her body. And if it kept going on, her whole person would turn into an ice statue.

Li Tiansu could only rely on medicinal pills and his own spiritual qi to drive out the cold qi inside the daughter’s body.

To treat his daughter’s disease, Li Tiansu spent all wealth he had accumulated over time. Not only that, he also contracted many debts.

After some time, the disease of the daughter flared up again. This time, the situation was even more serious. The cold qi suddenly broke out of her body and sealed her into a coffin made of ice.

Li Tiansu had no alternative but to temporarily seal his daughter inside the immortal cave and go to a forbidden zone to find a definite way to cure her strange disease.

After that… was the scene where he crashed into Song Shuhang’s place from a thousand miles away.

❄️❄️❄️

The next day.

After waking up, Song Shuhang rubbed his temples. Yesterday’s dream was very clear. It almost seemed as if he had experienced Li Tiansu’s life firsthand.

What was the meaning of this?

Song Shuhang remained silent for a while. Did this mean that he had to accept the karma related to Li Tiansu?

Li Tiansu was a rich Golden Core Spiritual Emperor that had been reduced to poverty while trying to cure the strange disease that afflicted his daughter. And in the end, he also lost his life in the process. Song Shuhang was just a small cultivator that had opened only two apertures. What was he supposed to do?

Was he supposed to move Li Tiansu’s daughter to a modern hospital and have her treated there?

Song Shuhang went to the bathroom to wash his face and rinse his mouth while thinking of all this. ‘ Maybe I can ask the seniors inside the group. Perhaps Li Tiansu’s daughter has a special heaven-defying physique, and some senior might want her as their disciple and pass down their heritage to her? At least this is what happens in movies… ’

Thinking of this, Song Shuhang opened the Nine Provinces Number One Group.

Stressed by a Mountain of Books: "Seniors, I seem to have found a good disciple. This girl has innately developed cold qi inside her body. Moreover, it’s very powerful. If the cold qi isn't eliminated, frost will start to form on her body, and she will eventually turn into an ice statue. If it breaks out at full force, it will even form an ice coffin around her body. I wonder if she’s a talented cultivator gifted in the ice element? Does any senior specialized in the ice attribute want to have her as a disciple?"

Soon, one of the seniors replied.

Dharma King Creation: "Little Friend Shuhang, according to your description, this girl isn’t a rare talent. She seems to be ill and needs to be treated."

Cave Lord Snow Wolf: "Indeed. It’s a disease. She must have developed that cold qi inside her body because the mother must have been wounded by cold qi while pregnant. This cold qi should have broken out when she was around 10 years old… and from what you described, it seems it’s already too late for a cure."

"Is there really no way to cure her?" Song Shuhang recalled Li Tiansu’s bitter life and asked this question hoping to have some luck.