Chapter 403: Changshou Returns to the Mountain, Black Panther Visits a Friend
On Lesser Qiong Peak, the night was dark and the wind fierce; incense hung in the woods, carrying drifting shadows.
Having just received a message from her senior brother, Ling'e threw on a Daoist robe and hurried out of her thatched cottage. Holding the jade talisman for opening the formation, she rushed all the way toward the Alchemy Room.
But the moment she reached the front of the Alchemy Room, Ling'e heard a series of suppressed...
Sobs?
Her heart lurched. She leaped out from the darkness of the woods and landed before the brightly lit doors of the Alchemy Room, only to see... her senior brother lying back in the rocking chair, tears streaming down his face, snot and tears flowing together!
Crack!
It was as though a bolt of lightning had flashed behind Ling'e. She recoiled backward, eyes wide in shock.
Heavens, why had the sky suddenly fallen!
"Senior Brother, what's wrong?"
Ling'e's voice carried a sob as she dropped to her knees before the rocking chair, her little hands clutching Li Changshou's large hand as she cried out:
"Tell me whatever it is! No matter what happens, we'll carry it together!
Is it... is it Master? Is Master beyond saving?
Did something go wrong with your cultivation, Senior Brother?
If your Eternal Life Dao Fruit has been ruined, I'll accompany you to reincarnate too, Senior Brother!"
"Ling'e... it's nothing..."
Li Changshou answered in a trembling voice. His Adam's apple bobbed, radiating an overwhelming sense of sorrow.
Ling'e lowered her eyelids, tears rolling down like pearls from a broken string. She pressed the back of her senior brother's hand against her cheek and whimpered softly:
"Senior Brother, don't scare me. If you're gone already, what am I