Li Daoran's nails dug into Zhou Xuan's wrist. Blood trickled from the corner of Li Daoran's mouth, staining the front of his robes black-red.
Zhou Xuan did not move.
Zhou Xuan helped the Sect Master up from the ground, holding the back of Li Daoran's neck with one hand while fishing a white jade bottle from his Storage Ring with the other.
He unscrewed the cap, and a pungent medicinal scent poured out.
"Open your mouth."
Li Daoran trembled and shook his head.
"I said, open your mouth."
Zhou Xuan gave Li Daoran no chance to refuse. He seized his jaw, forced it open, and poured the entire bottle of medicine down his throat.
It was healing medicine Zhou Xuan had exchanged for through the system, costing sixty thousand gold touch value.
The expense stung, but he had no time to mourn his gold touch value now.
The instant the medicine entered his throat, Li Daoran's body convulsed. Another large mouthful of black blood surged from his mouth, mixed with thumb-sized fragments.
Zhou Xuan recognized them as fragments of his nascent soul.
By consuming his Nascent Soul Origin Source earlier, Li Daoran had forcibly destroyed most of his own foundation.
Under ordinary circumstances, even an immortal could not have healed such injuries.
The medicine spread through Li Daoran's body, barely stabilizing his vitality. The skin on his face stopped shedding gray flakes, and his breathing grew a little steadier.
But Zhou Xuan knew this was only keeping his last breath from slipping away.
Restoring Li Daoran to his pre-battle condition was utterly impossible.
Zhou Xuan supported Li Daoran against his shoulder and headed upward along the path he had taken down.
The Formation Disk trembled behind him. The newly repaired nodes shone with interwoven blue and white light. The seal