Zeng Shilin was caught somewhat off guard.
He stared fixedly at Master Xu.
Master Xu spread his hands innocently. "Don't celebrate too soon."
"Although I can help you reconstruct your physical body, your cultivation will be gone."
"And you will never again be able to cultivate the Confucian Path."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Zeng Shilin's heart was a jumble of emotions.
He had the urge to throw back his head and howl at the heavens.
He had already prepared himself to die.
And now, there was suddenly a turning point?
The impact this had on him was no small thing.
He stared at Master Xu for a while.
Then he said calmly,
"This old man does not need your excessive pity."
Master Xu smiled. "I never mistreat my own. When I told you that you would surely die, it was because I had not found this lotus root."
"But now that I have found it, if I say you will not die, then even if you wanted to die, you could not."
Zeng Shilin still wanted to say something.
Master Xu waved a hand. "This old man also does not wish for Zeng Anmin to ask me where you are, leaving me unable to account to him."
"What about Dean Qin?!"
Zeng Shilin abruptly turned and glared at him, a chill in his voice:
"For one sentence from me—serve the country and the people—Qin Shouchang cast aside his physical body, abandoned his wife and daughter, fought across three thousand li, and went to Myriad Demon Mountain as an undercover agent."
"What about him?! Will you let him cower forever inside that pitiful sheep demon body?!"
"Keep this lotus root for him. This old man does not want it!"
Master Xu's expression froze slightly.
He stood there, stunned.
"Without