Cloud City was indeed bustling and prosperous.
The enormous flying ship cut through the clouds. After soaring over endless mountain ranges, anyone standing at the front of the deck could see a vast horizon ahead, with streets and buildings stretching all the way to its edge.
The broad streets crisscrossed like clearly defined lines on a chessboard, neatly dividing the city into blocks of buildings.
This was the first time Li Muyang had seen a city so grand in this world.
Jiuyuan City, his original body's hometown, was a small, rural town with low, shabby walls. Standing on the gate tower, you could take in the entire city at a glance.
This majestic city rising from the earth was already no less vast or magnificent than the great metropolises of his previous life.
In fact, from a certain perspective, an ancient city with no skyscrapers, a population of a million, and main roads a hundred or two hundred meters wide... looked even more impressive than the skyscrapers of his previous life.
From time to time, streaks of light flashed across the sky, their different colors especially striking against the sunset.
After the flying ship landed at the ferry, Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun headed straight into the city.
They knew exactly where they were going and made straight for a medicinal-herb shop.
With Guan Xiaoshun leading the way, Li Muyang compared two different shops before spending every last coin he had.
One century-old mountain ginseng, two eighty-year-old Vermilion Fruits, and two Jade Marrow Ganoderma... These were the spirit herbs Li Muyang bought, emptying his pockets.
He and Guan Xiaoshun hurried out of the city and made it back to the sect before the ferry closed.
After saying goodbye to Guan Xiaoshun at the crossroads, Li Muyang carried the spirit herbs toward the tiled-roof house halfway up the mountain.
When he got home, his younger sister, Li Yuechan, had already woken up.
Beneath the dim glow of an oil lamp, the girl lay weakly on the hard plank bed, chatting with Ning Wan'er.
When she saw Li Muyang return with a pile of large and small boxes of spirit herbs, the girl said awkwardly,
"Sorry, brother. I've been holding you back..."
The first thing the girl did when they met was apologize to Li Muyang.
After all, he had gone all the way to Cloud City to buy spirit herbs for her. It must have cost a fortune.
And all that money had come from Li Muyang's own pocket.
Li Muyang merely glanced at his younger sister. "As long as you're still alive, that's what matters."
As he spoke, he took out the medicine cauldron Doctor Lin had given him and began refining the herbs right there.
Under the impetus of his spiritual power, the small medicine cauldron radiated scorching heat.
The ginseng, Vermilion Fruits, and Jade Marrow Ganoderma... Li Muyang refined each of the three spirit herbs into the cauldron, eventually producing a bowl of medicinal liquid that gave off a strange, delicate fragrance.
That single bowl of medicine was worth twenty taels of gold.
Li Muyang handed the bowl to Li Yuechan. "This is all the money I have. Drink it and see how much it helps."
Li Muyang spoke bluntly.
There was a black line on the girl's wrist. Doctor Lin had said that if the demonic energy was removed, the line would disappear completely.
Li Yuechan obediently took the medicinal liquid her brother offered and drank it all in one go.
The air was filled with a strange, delicate fragrance from the refined herbs.
Just smelling it made one feel light all over.
However, after Li Yuechan drank every drop in the bowl, the black line on her wrist had shrunk by less than a quarter.
Clearly, spirit herbs worth twenty taels of gold were nowhere near enough to cure the girl.
Seeing this, Ning Wan'er looked disappointed.
"It's not enough..."
Li Muyang, however, remained calm. "It's fine. My family also sent over some spirit herbs. They should arrive in the next couple of days."
"When Yuechan came to the Demon Refining Sect, our family must have given her some money too. Tomorrow, I'll take it into the city and buy more spirit herbs. Maybe that'll help."
After Li Muyang finished speaking, he thanked Ning Wan'er.
"In any case, thank you for today, Miss Ning. I'm truly grateful."
Li Muyang thanked her sincerely, then saw Ning Wan'er out.
It was late, and Ning Wan'er needed to leave.
But after stepping out of the tiled-roof house and walking quite a distance, Ning Wan'er couldn't help looking back at the little house standing alone in the night.
Gazing at the small house halfway up the mountain, the girl blinked. "The young master of the Li Estate really has changed so much..."
Not only did he no longer look at her with feverish devotion, but his manners, speech, and bearing had all become much more mature and composed. He was practically a different person from the Li Muyang of before.
When ordinary people suffered a great upheaval, many would wail and lament, blaming heaven and everyone else.
But Li Muyang had been so calm all day that he had almost seemed indifferent.
From his sister's injury to the lack of improvement after she drank the medicine, Ning Wan'er had barely seen any change in Li Muyang's expression all day. He was practically like an outsider.
If he hadn't unhesitatingly spent all his savings on spirit herbs for his sister, Ning Wan'er might have begun to suspect that this young master of the Li Estate didn't care whether his sister lived or died.
But even though Li Muyang had spent all his money treating his sister, it still wasn't nearly enough.
If things continued like this, the Li Estate's Second Miss would probably be disfigured, or even lose an arm.
What a shame, with such a pretty face...
Walking along the mountain path beneath the night sky, Ning Wan'er felt a gust of wind blow past. A sudden chill ran down her spine, and she rubbed her arms.
The girl looked up toward the light atop the distant mountain peaks. That was the inner sect of the Demon Refining Sect, the true home of the Demon Refining Sect.
That was what people meant when they spoke of the Demon Refining Sect.
The scattered settlements of the outer sect were nothing more than places where servants and attendants lived, as far as the world was concerned.
She absolutely couldn't spend her whole life here. She had to enter the inner sect, or even rise higher!
At that moment, Ning Wan'er's gaze grew resolute.
Today, it was Li Yuechan who had been attacked. But what if she was next?
She would never let herself become another Li Yuechan, someone others could harm at will.
If she had to choose, she would rather become someone like Qin Haie, who harmed others!
Beneath the night sky, Ning Wan'er descended the mountain by the faint moonlight.
Inside the little tiled-roof house, its door closed, Li Yuechan lay on the hard plank bed and quietly curled up.
When Doctor Lin had treated her injuries that afternoon, she had pulled off all of Li Yuechan's clothes.
Now, beneath the covers, Li Yuechan was completely naked.
It had been all right while Ning Wan'er was there; she hadn't felt there was any problem. But now Miss Ning had left, and only she and her brother remained in the cramped little house...
Li Yuechan secretly clutched the quilt. It was so thin and flimsy that it clearly couldn't protect her.
She glanced nervously at Li Muyang beside her and said softly,
"Brother... you don't have anywhere to sleep tonight. I took your bed."
The small plank bed was filled with a faint smell of blood, along with Li Muyang's scent.
It was the first time the girl had ever lain in a man's bed. His scent surrounded her from every direction, as if he had wrapped himself tightly around her.
Curling up beneath the covers, Li Yuechan nervously clutched the quilt, afraid it would let in a draft at any moment.
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