Qing Tan: Brother Liu Yuan, if you can cure Father, I'll repay you handsomely!

At that moment, after hearing Qing Tan's embarrassed cry, Liu Yuan could not help but laugh.

As he leisurely picked up his outer robe from beside the bed, he said with amusement,

"Qing Tan, now you're being unreasonable."

"You were the one who entered my room without knocking. Why are you blaming me for not wearing clothes?"

Hearing this, Qing Tan, who still had her back to Liu Yuan, gave an awkward laugh, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

She realized it too. It seemed... she really had been too rash.

Seeing her adorable appearance, as though she wished she could bury her head in the ground, Liu Yuan felt like teasing her. As he slowly got dressed, he asked with a wicked grin,

"Well? You saw it, didn't you?"

"Am I built or what?"

Boom!

Such a simple sentence was like a clap of thunder exploding in Qing Tan's mind.

The image full of masculine vigor from moments ago uncontrollably surfaced before her eyes once more...

Brother Liu Yuan's explosive muscle lines, his bronzed skin, and the fine beads of sweat left over from his cultivation...

Qing Tan's little face instantly turned redder than a ripe apple. Heat rushed straight to the top of her head, and even her ears burned.

She covered her eyes tightly and shook her head again and again, though she herself had no idea what nonsense she was babbling.

Seeing this, Liu Yuan stopped while he was ahead and did not continue teasing the thin-skinned girl.

He quickly finished dressing, straightened his collar, then gave a light cough and resumed his normal tone.

"All right, Miss Qing Tan. You can turn around now."

"Now, can you tell me why you rushed in here in such a hurry?"

Hearing Liu Yuan's serious voice, Qing Tan cautiously lowered her hands and tentatively turned around.

Only after confirming that Liu Yuan was fully dressed did she let out a long breath. Her wildly pounding heart gradually calmed somewhat as well.

Only then did she come back to her senses and remember why she had come. She hurriedly took a herb from the little cloth pouch she carried with her. It was entirely fiery red, with strange patterns on its leaves.

"Here!"

"Brother Liu Yuan, isn't this the herb you asked me to help find before? I found it!"

As she spoke, Qing Tan raised the herb high overhead, her pretty little face full of the proud look of someone begging to be praised.

The instant Liu Yuan saw the herb, his eyes lit up!

"You found it! Crimson Flame Grass!"

During this period, Liu Yuan had devoted all his energy to cultivating the Thunder Spirit Art, leaving him with no time or energy to seek the medicinal ingredients needed for pill refinement.

Thus, the task naturally fell to Qing Tan.

Liu Yuan had merely casually asked her to keep an eye out whenever she went shopping or played outside, to see whether there were any herbs matching the traits in the illustration.

Yet he had not expected this little girl to truly take his words as an "imperial decree."

These past few days, whenever she had free time, she had run into the forests around the town with the illustration Liu Yuan had drawn, searching every place with care.

Her little face had been tanned by the sun, and her hands and legs had been scratched by shrubs, leaving many small cuts. Yet she had never uttered a single complaint.

Today, she had finally found the last main ingredient—Crimson Flame Grass—in an extremely concealed crevice on the Back Mountain!

Seeing Qing Tan's proud, praise-seeking expression, Liu Yuan smiled inwardly.

He reached out and gently rubbed her little head, his tone full of approval.

"Well done, Qing Tan."

"Excellent."

Praised by Liu Yuan and affectionately patted on the head, Qing Tan's face flushed again with a whoosh. The heat that had just subsided instantly rose once more.

She lowered her head and grinned foolishly. "Hehe... it was nothing, nothing."

Then, unable to suppress her curiosity, she raised her little face and blinked her clear, bright eyes as she asked,

"Brother Liu Yuan, why did you go through so much trouble to find these medicinal ingredients? What are you going to do with them?"

As Liu Yuan carefully accepted the Crimson Flame Grass, he casually replied,

"Refine pills."

"Refine pills?"

Qing Tan's eyes widened in shock.

In this world, pills were no secret, and powerful pill refiners were likewise highly respected.

However, unlike certain worlds where alchemists were the mainstream, Martial World's cultivation system placed greater emphasis on tempering oneself and cultivating Yuan Power.

Gaps in the inheritance of pill refinement had made pill refiners exceedingly rare, each one as scarce as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

In a small place like Qing Yang Town, let alone a pill refiner, even slightly higher-grade pills were seldom seen.

That was why Qing Tan was so shocked upon hearing Liu Yuan utter the words "refine pills."

She stared at Liu Yuan in disbelief, her voice filled with amazement.

"Brother Liu Yuan, you... you know how to refine pills too?"

"Why does it feel like you can do everything? You know such powerful Martial Arts, and now you can even refine pills!"

Seeing the little girl's worshipful gaze, Liu Yuan felt rather pleased with himself. He deliberately puffed out his chest and joked with a smile,

"Of course!"

"Your Brother Liu Yuan knows all sorts of things!"

Qing Tan was amused by his smug look and could not resist giving a light spit.

"Brother Liu Yuan, you really don't know the meaning of modesty."

After laughing, she leaned closer and asked curiously,

"But what pill are you going to refine? Is it for cultivation, or for healing injuries?"

At the mention of serious business, Liu Yuan's expression turned solemn.

He looked at Qing Tan and answered, word by word,

"This one is called the Great Returning Pill."

"It is for Uncle Xiao."

"For my Father?"

Qing Tan's heart suddenly trembled, and her breathing halted for an instant.

She stared intently at Liu Yuan, her voice trembling faintly as she could not help asking,

"For... for my Father... could it be..."

Meeting her hopeful gaze, Liu Yuan nodded heavily and gave her a definite answer.

"That's right."

"It is to treat Uncle Xiao's internal injuries."

"Didn't I hear you say before that Uncle Xiao's internal injuries have been there for years, but that you never found the right pills to cure them?"

"With this of mine, it will definitely work."

Qing Tan instantly began trembling all over with excitement.

"Really?"

Lin Xiao's internal injuries had been like a heavy mountain pressing upon the hearts of their entire family for far too long.

Over the years, they had tried countless ways to treat Lin Xiao's internal injuries, but all had failed.

They had not done so in hopes that Lin Xiao could recover his Heavenly Origin Realm cultivation and fight for those so-called positions within the family.

They only... simply wanted to see the spirited Lin Xiao from back then stand up again.

Back when Lin Xiao had still been hailed as the Lin Family's greatest genius in a hundred years, how dazzling had he been?

But ever since that clan gathering, when that damned Lin Lang Tian crippled him with a single move, Lin Xiao had completely collapsed.

He sighed every day. His once-sharp eyes had grown dim and lifeless, with none of their former edge remaining.

Qing Tan and Lin Dong both knew clearly just how much pain and unwillingness Father carried in his heart.

Yet they had always been powerless, able only to watch him sink deeper into despondency day after day.

That sense of helplessness was unbearably painful.

And now...

Now, Brother Liu Yuan was saying that he had a way!

He could refine pills and cure Father's internal injuries!

Her surging emotions rose like a tidal wave, instantly washing away all her restraint.

Qing Tan grabbed Liu Yuan's arm, her voice filled with unprecedented resolve.

"Brother Liu Yuan!"

"If you really can cure Father's internal injuries..."

"Then I... I will definitely repay you handsomely!"