"Ancestor."
Jia Yushu spoke up as he slowly regained consciousness and saw Tian Lu Zhēnzūn standing beside his ancestor. A flash of pleading passed through his eyes as he struggled to process the sensation within his meridians.
"Zhēnzūn. Ah!"
With Jia Yushu's sharp scream, Jian Dan swiftly pulled back her divine sense and that trace of chaotic spiritual power she had been using to probe his condition. Her hands didn't stop for a second. She drew complex talismans in midair with shimmering strokes of golden light and flicked them into Jia Yushu's body. Her expression didn't look good as she watched the spiritual energy stabilize.
Only then did the youth's pale complexion ease slightly. He tried to sit up on the ice jade bed and salute the two elders, but Jian Dan waved him down and spoke.
"Yushu, don't rush. I have already found the reason your spiritual root is dissolving. I will discuss what to do with your ancestor now. Let Zongfan and Jian Ping stay here and keep you company."
Jian Dan clearly held a high place in Jia Yushu's heart. Hearing that the cause had been found, and sensing from Tian Lu Zhēnzūn's words that there was a way to deal with the rot, his expression softened. He nodded to her and stopped trying to get up from the cold bed.
Jian Dan gave Ancestor Jia a look and led the way out of the inner chamber into the outer hallway. Only then did Zongfan walk to the bedside and comfort his friend.
"Yushu, don't worry. Since Master has found the cause, she will definitely have a solution. You need to steady your mind and not give your heart demons any chance to take hold during this time."
"Mm, I know," he replied, his voice faint.
By then, the two big figures had reached the reception room. Jian Dan raised her hand and set up a sound barrier of translucent light before speaking.
"Junior Brother Jia, when you were investigating his condition, did you notice that faint green mist around Yushu's spiritual root?"
"That was caused by the spiritual root dissolving," he answered, sounding uncertain. "Is there something special about it?"
"That mist is alive."
"What?"
Ancestor Jia was startled by the revelation. He had only dared to probe around the area of the spiritual root and hadn't touched that faint mist with his own divine sense or spiritual power, so he had missed its nature entirely.
"Senior Sister means that if we find a way to extract that mist, we can stop the spiritual root from continuing to dissolve?"
"It's difficult. That thing is almost fused with the spiritual root itself. It's like an insect gnawing from the inside out, consuming the spiritual root while growing stronger itself through the destruction."
Once Jian Dan explained it in those terms, Ancestor Jia understood the gravity of the situation. His expression darkened further as he looked toward the inner chamber.
"That's vicious. They're forcing us to tear out Yushu's spiritual root ourselves. If the root is completely consumed, the next step will be the insects destroying his dantian."
"That's right. The tricky part is that we don't have a way to separate that thing from the spiritual root. When I probed with divine sense just now, it all retreated deep into the root and sped up the dissolution process. We don't have much time left before it's gone."
"Damn it!"
Ancestor Jia slammed his palm onto the jade table beside him. The stone instantly turned to dust under the force of his anger.
Jian Dan didn't look good either. If this thing had been aimed at Yu Zongfan instead, she would be the one facing this impossible choice now. The other side hadn't left them any room to treat the condition gently.
"Senior Sister Tian Lu, do you know what that thing is?"
"It should be an insect, something like dust sized insects," she said, her eyes reflecting the cold reality.
Jian Dan explained the matter. By lower realm standards, it would be like a pathogen, devouring anything with vitality to strengthen its own destructive power and forcing itself to mutate and grow stronger within the host. From her test just now, her chaotic spiritual power could destroy these things, but only if they weren't inside the spiritual root. With them embedded in the root, she was at a loss for a direct cure. If she forcibly injected chaotic spiritual power, she could wipe them out, but Jia Yushu's spiritual root would be dissolved by that same power.
"There's no other way?" Ancestor Jia asked in a low voice.
"There's one way, pulling the firewood from under the cauldron," Jian Dan answered.
"Senior Sister, please explain."
"Let them completely dissolve Yushu's spiritual root. Before they can merge into the dantian to begin the next stage of destruction, we pull them out of his body. Then, we plant a new spiritual root for him."
"This…"
Ancestor Jia hadn't expected such a dangerous and unorthodox method. He frowned and looked at her.
"Even if Senior Sister can extract that thing safely, where am I supposed to find a spiritual root now? I can't take one from another cultivator. That would violate the laws of the Dao and harm Yushu's future cultivation. He would never ascend to the higher realms in this lifetime if we did that."
As Mahayana Zhēnzūn, they had already begun touching the power of laws and could sense the rules of the Heavenly Dao more clearly than anyone else. If he did what he described, it would be courting death from the heavens.
"I have a way to deal with the spiritual root, and I won't do anything that violates the laws of the heavens," Jian Dan reassured him. "But it won't be a wood spiritual root."
Ancestor Jia's spirits lifted at her promise. As a fellow Mahayana Zhēnzūn, he knew that if she dared say this, she wouldn't drag him into any terrible karma.
"Then when do we act?"
"The sooner the better. The dissolution will be painful for Yushu, and it's best to explain everything to him clearly before we begin. The spiritual root I will plant for him is a chaotic spiritual root."
Ancestor Jia was shocked again by her words. Some things were never said out loud, but the high level cultivators of the Heavenly Sword Sect all had their guesses about her. Tian Lu's spiritual root wasn't an ordinary five element root, but a chaotic one. That explained her rapid advance to the Mahayana realm under the abundant spiritual energy of the sect.
"Will this damage Senior Sister's own spiritual root?" he asked, as that was the only possibility he could think of.
"Don't worry, Junior Brother. I'm not using my own spiritual root for this. Talk it over with Yushu first. If he agrees to the plan, the cultivation methods are already ready. I will pass him a set of techniques suited for a chaotic spiritual root. As long as he cultivates diligently, he will definitely ascend to the Immortal Realm in the future."
"Alright. I trust Senior Sister can do it. I will discuss it with Yushu right away and make a decision as soon as possible."
"Then I won't disturb you. I also need to prepare in advance. This concerns Yushu's path to immortality."
Ancestor Jia knew that going this far already meant she was giving it her all for the sake of the youth. Naturally, he wouldn't hold her back from her preparations. After Jian Dan left with her two disciples, Ancestor Jia entered the inner chamber and explained this solution to Jia Yushu.