Yunxiao City was indeed bustling and vibrant.
After the enormous Flying Boat pierced through the clouds and soared over the continuous mountains, standing at the front of the deck, one could see the vast horizon ahead, where unbroken streets and buildings stretched all the way to the end of the skyline.
These broad streets crisscrossed in a clear-cut pattern, resembling lines on a chessboard that neatly divided the buildings and houses.
Li Muyang had never seen such a majestic city in this world before.
The small town of his native place, Jiuyuan City, had low and dilapidated walls where one could overlook the entire town from the city gate tower.
Yet the grandeur and scale of this towering city on the ground were no less impressive than those of the great metropolises of his previous life.
Even from the perspective of some kind of spectacle, this ancient city that lacked skyscrapers but housed a population of a million, with main thoroughfares a hundred to two hundred meters wide, seemed more impressive than the high-rise buildings of the past.
From time to time, Escaping Lights flew through the sky, their diverse colors exceedingly dazzling amid the sunset’s afterglow.
Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun entered the city directly after the Flying Boat landed at the port.
They had a clear goal and headed straight for the city’s medicinal herb shops.
Under Guan Xiaoshun’s guidance, Li Muyang compared two different medicinal herb shops and finally spent all of his Silver Coins.
A hundred-year-old ginseng, two eighty-year-old vermilion fruits, and two cups of jade marrow Lingzhi… These are the Spiritual Medicines that Li Muyang had bought by emptying his Silver Coins.
He and Guan Xiaoshun left the city in a hurry, returning to the Sect before the Flying Boat port closed.
After saying goodbye to Guan Xiaoshun at the crossroads, Li Muyang headed towards the tile-roofed house halfway up the hill with the Spiritual Medicine in hand.
When he got home, his cheap foster sister, Li Yuechan, was already awake.
Under the dim light of the oil lamp, the weak girl lay on the hard wooden bed, chatting with Ning Wan’er.
Seeing Li Muyang return with big and small boxes of Spiritual Medicine, the girl said somewhat embarrassedly,
“I’m sorry, brother, I’ve been a burden to you…”
The girl’s first words upon meeting were to apologize to Li Muyang.
After all, to save her, Li Muyang had specifically gone to Yunxiao City to buy Spiritual Medicine, which must have cost a pretty penny.
And the money spent was all of Li Muyang’s personal savings.
Yet, Li Muyang glanced at his foster sister and said, “As long as you’re still alive, it’s good.”
With those words, he immediately took out the alchemy cauldron given by Physician Lin and began to refine the Spiritual Medicine on the spot.
The small alchemy cauldron, catalyzed by Spiritual Power, emitted intense heat.
Ginseng, vermilion fruits, and jade marrow Lingzhi… Li Muyang refined each of these three Spiritual Medicines into the cauldron, finally producing a bowl of medicine with a wonderfully delicate fragrance.
And such a bowl of medicine was worth twenty Gold.
Li Muyang handed the bowl to Li Yuechan, saying, “This is all the money I have, you should take it and see how effective it can be.”
Li Muyang spoke very straightforwardly.
There was a dark line on the girl’s wrist, and Physician Lin said that if the Demonic Qi were removed, the line would disappear completely.
Li Yuechan obediently took the medicine from her brother and drank it all in one go.
Because of the refinement of the Spiritual Medicine, a wonderful fragrance lingered in the air.
Merely smelling this scent made one feel lighter.
However, after Li Yuechan drank the medicine from the bowl, the black line on her wrist faded by less than a quarter.
Clearly, the Spiritual Medicine worth twenty Gold was far from enough to cure the young girl.
Seeing this, Ning Wan’er felt a bit disappointed.
“It’s not enough…”
Li Muyang, however, remained composed, “It’s okay, my family also sent some Spiritual Medicine, which should arrive in the next couple of days.”
“Yu Chan must have received money from home for her visit to the Refinement Demon Sect. Tomorrow I’ll take this money and go to the city to buy more Spiritual Medicine, maybe it will be effective.”
After speaking, Li Muyang turned to Ning Wan’er to express his thanks.
“Anyway, thank you very much for today, Miss Ning. I’m truly grateful.”
Li Muyang offered his sincere thanks and then saw Ning Wan’er off.
The night was getting late, and it was time for Ning Wan’er to leave.
But as she left the tiled house and had walked a good distance away, on the desolate mountain path, Ning Wan’er couldn’t help but turn back and glance at the lonely house under the night sky.
Looking at the little house halfway up the hill, the girl blinked and thought, “The young master from the Li estate, he really has changed a lot…”
Not only was the way he looked at her no longer fervent, but even his way of dealing with people and his behavior had matured and cooled considerably, practically making him a different person from the Li Muyang she knew before.
Most people, when faced with great change, would wallow in despair, bemoaning their fate and blaming others.
Yet Li Muyang throughout this entire day, remained cool almost to the point of indifference.
From his sister getting hurt to taking the Spiritual Liquid without seeing any improvement, Ning Wan’er had hardly noticed any emotional change in Li Muyang the entire day, almost as if he were an outsider.
If he hadn’t taken out all his savings without hesitation to buy Spiritual Medicine for his sister, Ning Wan’er would have almost doubted whether the young master of the Li estate even cared about his sister’s wellbeing.
But even though Li Muyang had spent all his Silver Coin on his sister’s treatment, it still seemed far from enough.
Given the current situation, the second young miss of the Li estate might end up disfigured, perhaps even losing an arm.
Such a pity for such a beautiful face…
As Ning Wan’er walked along the mountain path in the night, a breeze blew by, and she suddenly shivered, unconsciously rubbing her arms.
The girl looked up at the lights at the peak of the distant mountains, where the Inner Sect of the Refinement Demon Sect, the real Sect of the Refinement Demon Sect, was located.
That was the Refinement Demon Sect in people’s eyes.
The Outer Sect’s scattered settlements were seen by the world as nothing more than places where common servants dwelled.
She could not spend her life here. She had to enter the Inner Sect, or even higher!
Ning Wan’er’s eyes became incredibly determined at that moment.
Today it was Li Yuechan who had suffered an accident, but what if next time it was her?
She refused to be like Li Yuechan, someone who could be harmed at will.
If she had to choose, she would rather be like Qin Haie, the one who harms others!
Under the night sky, Ning Wan’er descended the mountain in the faint moonlight.
Inside the closed tiled house, Li Yuechan lay on the hard wooden bed, quietly curling up.
Earlier that afternoon, when Doctor Lin had treated her wounds, she had torn off all her dresses.
Now, under the blanket, her body was bare.
It had been fine when Ning Wan’er was there, she hadn’t felt there was a problem. But now that Miss Ning was gone, leaving only her and her brother in the small house…
Li Yuechan secretly clutched the thin blanket, feeling how fragile it was, clearly unable to protect her.
Feeling vulnerable, she glanced at Li Muyang beside her and said in a soft voice.
“Brother… you don’t have anywhere to sleep tonight, do you? I have taken your bed.”
The small wooden bed was filled with a faint scent of blood and the smell of Li Muyang.
It was the first time the girl had lain in a man’s bed, surrounded by the man’s scent as if she were being tightly ensnared by it.
Curled up in the blanket, Li Yuechan clutched it tightly, her nerves on edge, as if the next second it might let the wind through.
