Seeing the Grand Elder, the Second Elder, and Chen Yi enter in sequence through the palace gates, the Second Elder—who had already been waiting here—immediately raised his eyes.
The moment his gaze landed on the Grand Elder's face, the Second Elder recalled the news he'd heard from the Gao brothers, Gao Zhan and Gao Wen. He still couldn't suppress the look of shock on his face. Yet that astonishment quickly melted into a heartfelt smile.
He stood up, took a quick step forward, and his eyes roamed again and again over the Grand Elder's face and the straight line of his back.
He looked at least several decades younger.
The Second Elder took a deep breath and let out a booming sigh.
"Good! Good, good! I've heard about this for so long, but seeing it with my own eyes is truly wonderful!"
"Senior Brother, you… you're basically reborn. I never thought the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would actually let you seize a chance to defy the heavens this time. The gods truly bless our Body Sect. Our sect will surely flourish!"
The Second Elder's tone was filled with excitement and joy.
The Grand Elder's great increase in strength and extension of lifespan held enormous significance for the entire sect.
The Grand Elder smiled gently at his words, but his gaze unconsciously drifted to the slightly cramped figure of Chen Yi, sitting beside him. A faint warmth flashed in his eyes.
He waved his hand and spoke in a calm voice.
"Junior Brother, you're overpraising me. Speaking of which, this chance really was a coincidence. As for the twists and turns, we can talk about them later."
He didn't spell it out clearly, but the Second Elder immediately grasped the implication in his eyes.
This opportunity was most likely inseparable from this youth, Chen Yi—perhaps even triggered or greatly aided by the boy's dangerous actions.
Thinking to this point, the Second Elder's sharp gaze turned on Chen Yi like an eagle's. The smile on his face restrained itself a little, gaining a hint of solemnity. His voice dropped coldly.
"Hmph. Coincidence is indeed a blessing from the heavens, but certain brats' courage is getting fatter and fatter!"
"Chen Yi, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well are extraordinary. If you're not careful, you die. Even if there's a heaven-defying opportunity there, what does it have to do with you if you're dead? Did you ask your elders—us old men—how we're supposed to explain things to your parents?"
The Second Elder's words struck Chen Yi's heart like a heavy hammer.
Realizing he had indeed acted rashly, Chen Yi immediately lowered his head and answered respectfully.
"The Second Elder's teachings are right. This junior knows his mistake and will be cautious in word and deed from now on. I won't be so reckless again."
The Grand Elder sat to the side, only watching. He said nothing to defend Chen Yi.
He understood very well that the Second Elder wasn't just afraid of the trouble; he had been genuinely scared for Chen Yi's life. Someone needed to knock him down a notch so the lesson would sink in.
After a few more brief exchanges, the Second Elder gradually calmed his excitement at seeing the Grand Elder's transformation for the first time. Everyone took their respective seats.
Once they were all seated, the Third Elder finally spoke.
"Big Brother, you came back just in time."
"A few days ago, I spent a large sum of money to request that the master craftsman of Divine Craftsman Tower, Lou Gao, personally take action and forge an excellent alchemy cauldron for us. Now that the cauldron has safely arrived at the sect, all sorts of auxiliary medicinal ingredients have also been prepared. We can open the furnace for refining at any time."
Mentioning this, even the always-calm Third Elder couldn't completely hide the flash of enthusiasm in his eyes. That enthusiasm came from the thought of countless immortal herbs being used as the main materials.
If they could refine this successfully, the improvement to the Body Sect's overall strength would be incomparable.
Hearing this, the Grand Elder's eyes also lit up. His expression filled with expectation as he nodded lightly.
"With you two old brothers here this time, and with everything ready, we can begin as early as tomorrow."
The Second and Third Elders' faces flushed with excitement at those words.
As long as the Body Sect could properly digest the pill furnace and the elixirs it would produce, even the Spirit Hall would have reason to feel jealous.
Before long, the Grand Elder's expression shifted, becoming a bit more solemn.
"Actually, on the way back, Ye Xian and the Yang brothers and I didn't only discuss alchemy. There's another matter weighing on my mind."
Seeing the change in his expression, the Second and Third Elders both suppressed their smiles and listened intently.
The Grand Elder swept his gaze over the two of them and spoke slowly.
"It's about Xiao Qing."
"Xiao Qing?"
The Second and Third Elders were both stunned for a moment. Then a complex mix of regret, helplessness, and deep remorse slowly appeared on their faces.
Xie Xiao Qing.
This name might already be a little unfamiliar to the younger generation of the Body Sect today, but for the older generation that had watched her grow up, it was a wound that never quite healed.
Once, she had been a dazzling genius, her talent in no way inferior to today's Chen Zhen or Hong Yue. Her martial soul was an extremely rare and powerful Innate Martial Soul of the "Body" category—a Heart-type martial soul.
The heart is the source of qi and blood, the pump of life.
A soul master with a heart-type martial soul possessed exceptionally strong qi and blood, astounding self-recovery, and an extraordinarily precise control over their own power—far beyond ordinary people at the same rank.
Back then, Xie Xiao Qing's talent was outstanding. She was unquestionably one of the next-generation leaders of the sect. Everyone firmly believed that she also possessed the potential to undergo a second awakening at Silver Rank.
If she succeeded, then Chen Zhen, Hong Yue, and Xie Xiao Qing together would have secured the Body Sect's future.
But precisely because she was so talented, they'd become greedy for her potential.
At the critical moment that would affect her second awakening, the support and follow-up protection were lacking. Her martial soul's origin suffered a devastating blow. She not only failed the second awakening, but her very foundation was injured.
From then on, her martial soul dulled, her cultivation stagnated and even regressed.
The woman who had once been as proud as a phoenix lost her spirit with that single blow. She curled up in a small courtyard all day, refusing visitors, refusing supervision, indulging herself, spending all her time with wine jars, her former demeanor nowhere to be seen.
The fall from the clouds into the mud was a cruel torment for someone as proud as Xie Xiao Qing.
The Second Elder let out a long, heavy sigh. His fists clenched unconsciously, knuckles turning slightly white.
"That Xiao Qing… in the end, we were the ones who wronged her. We pitied her, admired her, and precisely because of that, we pushed her too far…"
His words were filled with helplessness.
She had been their proud protégé. They had watched her cultivate step by step, treating her almost like a daughter.
Yet she ended up like this.
The regret and powerlessness in their hearts were something no outsider could truly understand.
Chen Yi sat in silence, listening to the elders' sighs. His own chest felt tight, a bitter soreness climbing up the bridge of his nose.
At that time, it had been Xie Xiao Qing, with her unique martial soul and exquisite qi-blood control, who had saved his mother's life and safely brought him into this world.
It could be said that his very first cry in this life had echoed out beneath Xie Xiao Qing's protection.
He vaguely remembered, when he was very young, Sister Qing's warm palm ruffling his hair, that brilliant smile as she spoke to him about all kinds of strange and interesting things.
She had been so bright, so strong, so gentle. Yet now she could only curl up, shrouded in despair and decadence. Every time that image appeared in his mind, Chen Yi felt as if his chest would be torn apart.
Because of the name Xie Xiao Qing, the atmosphere in the hall grew heavy and somber.
The Grand Elder glanced at the Second and Third Elders' reactions, took a deep breath, resolve flashing through his eyes. He spoke in a low voice.
"There's no need to blame ourselves endlessly. What happened back then was also fate. It was not solely our sin."
"But this time, after seeing the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, my spiritual power has greatly increased. I've also gained new insights regarding the origin of life and the path of martial soul restoration."
He paused, then looked at the Second and Third Elders with burning eyes.
"If we use fairy herbs as the foundation, combine them with Ye Xian and the others' understanding of medical arts and what I've gained this time… perhaps we might be able to refine a targeted spirit medicine to treat the damage to Xiao Qing's martial soul origin."
"I can't say with certainty that she will fully recover, but at the very least, we might help her escape her current dead end—and see the light of the path again."
"What?!"
The moment those words fell, it was like a thunderclap in a clear sky.
The Second and Third Elders shot to their feet almost simultaneously, their faces filled with disbelief and overwhelming joy. They stared fixedly at the Grand Elder, their breathing quickening.
The Second Elder's voice quivered slightly.
"Big Brother, is that true?! Xiao Qing's martial soul injury… you can help her?!"
The Third Elder didn't speak, but his gaze locked onto the Grand Elder, filled with unprecedented anticipation and excitement, as if he'd just glimpsed a ray of light in endless darkness.
The Grand Elder met his two old brothers' feverish gazes, then nodded heavily.
His tone was firm.
"I can't be absolutely certain. But at the very least, there is more than a fifty percent chance."
"It is worth a try."
…
Bonus chapter at 100 PS