After confirming that Asers could heal Yao Lao, Xiao Yan's face lit up.
"Do I need to prepare anything?" Yao Lao asked.
"Prepare what?" Asers looked puzzled, not understanding what Yao Lao meant.
"Something like a Magic Core... or other treasures to assist with casting a spell?" Yao Lao asked after some thought.
Asers furrowed his brow.
"Are you kidding me?"
"I'm a Life Sanctuary, for heaven's sake. If I need items to help me heal a ninth-level warrior, won't everyone laugh at me?"
"You little brat, if you do that again, I'll—"
"Ahem—" Xiao Yan coughed.
"...I'll make sure you're healed!"
...A nameless hillside, twenty miles from Starfire City.
At the top of the hillside was a hot spring, steam rising from its surface.
In the middle of the spring, Yao Lao floated in midair, his upper body bare, held aloft by Asers's immense mental power.
Standing in front of Yao Lao, Asers wore a solemn expression. His lips moved continuously, as if chanting a spell.
Countless tiny green lights appeared across the hillside. Then, guided by Asers's mental power, they gathered around Yao Lao.
"Now! Circulate your Dou Qi!" Asers barked.
Yao Lao didn't dare take this lightly.
His fiery red Dou Qi flowed through his body, drawing in the Fire Element from the surrounding world. At the same time, as Yao Lao absorbed the Fire Element, the green lights Asers had guided entered his body.
The green lights traveled along the meridians in Yao Lao's body, and in no time, they reached his dantian.
At the very center of Yao Lao's dantian was a small, round hole. Its edges were wrapped in a thread of mysterious energy that carried a hint of holiness.
"Hmm... This aura—could it be the Church of Light's chief inquisitor?"
Asers, controlling the green lights, sensed the aura in Yao Lao's dantian and made a few guesses.
But this was a critical moment in the treatment, so Asers said nothing. He guided the green lights to drive the Saint Domain aura out of Yao Lao's dantian.
Under Asers's treatment, the hole inside Yao Lao soon shrank.
Nearby, Xiao Yan was guarding them. Leaning against a tree branch with a blade of grass between his teeth, he glanced at Yao Lao and Asers from time to time.
"Teacher's dantian has definitely recovered quite a bit... There's no other aura left in his body, either."
"Looks like Asers didn't try anything while treating him."
As dusk fell, Asers, exhausted from expending too much mental power, withdrew his palm from Yao Lao's dantian. He looked utterly drained.
"That's enough for today. The thread of Saint Domain aura has been in your body for too long, and your dantian has adapted to it. If we remove it all at once, it'll cause further damage to your dantian."
"We have to remove it gradually, in stages, to give your dantian enough time to adapt."
"But... after this initial treatment, your Dou Qi should be strong enough to return to the level of an ordinary ninth-level warrior. You can resume cultivating now."
"Thank you!" Yao Lao clasped his hands.
At this, Asers pursed his lips and glanced at Xiao Yan, who was leaning against a tree in the distance, apparently dozing.
"No need to thank me. I'm just a kind-hearted person!"
...More than half a year passed.
At the border between Rivas Province and Mobius Province, in the Zhongyuan Empire.
Qingli City was the stronghold of the Saint Domain family, the Rivas Family. It was also the largest city in Rivas Province.
On Qingli City's dozens-of-meters-high walls, Kasa, dressed in a mage's robe, watched the Church of Light's army camped more than ten miles away, his expression grave.
A middle-aged soldier operating a siege crossbow nervously swallowed.
"My lord, we'll be counting on you once the fighting starts. You must enchant our weapons!" Seeing Kasa's youthful face, several other soldiers operating the siege crossbows reminded him anxiously.
By now, Kasa had become an experienced fifth-level mage.
He had mastered Wind Element spells such as "Cutting" and "Sharpness."
Paired with the powerful siege crossbows, these spells could even threaten seventh- and eighth-level warriors, greatly strengthening Qingli City's defenses.
Thus, several other Wind Element mages like Kasa stood atop Qingli City's walls, scattered across them and ready to enchant the bolts as soon as the battle began.
"Stay on guard. I'll be right back." Kasa, who had grown considerably, showed no reaction to the soldiers' reminder. He calmly gave his order, then turned and walked toward a nearby platform.
There were already many people inside the platform, all Wind Element mages like Kasa. Quite a few of them belonged to the Rivas Family.
"Kasa, you're here!" a burly man in a black robe called out loudly.
"Cousin." Kasa hurried over.
Half a year of fighting had made the once-naive boy much more mature. Kasa had not smiled in a long time.
"Supplies have been getting scarcer lately. They say the Empire has already decided to abandon Rivas Province." The burly man in the black robe shoved some black bread into his mouth and spoke in a lowered voice as he chewed.
Kasa's fingers twitched slightly as he drank his hot water.
"Abandon it?"
"Maybe that's for the best..." Kasa touched the scar on his left cheek. It was a hideous mark that cut across half his face, from the corner of his eye all the way to his chin.
A turncoat soldier had left the scar on Kasa's face during a siege by the Church of Light three months ago. If the burly man in the black robe hadn't arrived in time, Kasa would have died then and there.
"The Church of Light has been laying siege to Rivas Province for a long time. Every city except Qingli City has fallen, and the people here have long since lost heart. It might be better to withdraw!" Kasa said calmly.
"I know that, of course. It's just a shame about Leizi and the others. If we abandon Rivas Province now, won't Leizi and the others have died defending the city for nothing?" the burly man in the black robe said angrily.
"The higher-ups have already made their decision. There's no point in us objecting." Kasa shook his head and looked out the window.
Suddenly, disaster struck.
Whoosh!!!
The sky was filled with a dense mass of arrows.
"Enemy attack!" a soldier shouted from the city wall.
"Everyone, return to your positions and prepare to counterattack!" A deep voice rang out from inside the platform.
Kasa and the burly man in the black robe leaped to their feet and hurried back to their posts.
"Draw your bows! Draw your bows!"
"We must not let the Church of Light set foot on the wall!"
Kasa roared orders as he chanted a spell. Arrows wrapped in green light shot out one after another.
Beneath the night sky, Kasa's face twisted into a grimace.
Below the wall, a sea of soldiers surged toward Qingli City.
At their head stood several men in black robes, their expressions indifferent and their eyes cold.
Before you continue