Who Told You the Black Tortoise Divine Pill Could Cure Your Mother's Illness?

Hearing the disappointment in Ye Guyi's voice, Jiang Nannan lowered her head and clenched the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She fell silent for a moment before softly saying, "Am I supposed to just stand by and watch my mother die?"

She raised her head, her eyes red-rimmed yet shining with stubborn resolve. "As a daughter, I should naturally do everything I can to save my mother. Isn't that right?"

Ye Guyi opened her mouth, wanting to say that even if Jiang Nannan traded her body for the Black Tortoise Divine Pill, her mother might not recover.

But the words reached her lips, and she forcibly swallowed them back down.

She did not know how to say it.

Because if it were her, she might have done the same as Jiang Nannan—used her own body to exchange for this sole hope.

Just as Jiang Nannan had said, when one's mother faced mortal danger, a child should naturally fight with everything they had.

Even if they still failed in the end, at least their conscience would be clear.

And besides, if they took a step back, what if...

What if that Black Tortoise Divine Pill really worked?

If she stopped Jiang Nannan and Jiang Nannan's mother ultimately died without treatment...

Then not only Jiang Nannan—even Ye Guyi herself would never forgive herself.

It was an unsolvable dilemma.

Ye Guyi was silent for a long time before finally letting out a soft sigh, her voice filled with deep helplessness. "Have you really thought this through? Even if this pill... might not work in the end."

Yet Jiang Nannan smiled, her smile carrying the resignation of someone who had accepted her fate. "I have to try. Even if it truly doesn't work in the end, at least I, as her daughter, did everything I could. Isn't that enough?"

Ye Guyi looked at her face. She was clearly smiling, yet it was more heartbreaking than tears. A nameless pain surged in Ye Guyi's chest, but she could no longer bring herself to say another word of persuasion.

Night fell, and a bright moon hung high in the sky.

A carriage slowly came to a stop on the streets of Heaven Dou City.

The curtain was lifted, and Li Changqing jumped down from the carriage.

He swept his gaze over the quiet streets around him without lingering for long.

Instead, he headed toward Jiang Nannan's home according to the address he had obtained from Bei Bei.

In fact, Bei Bei had gotten the address by asking the administration office.

After all, he and Jiang Nannan were neither family nor friends, so naturally he would not know her home address.

Li Changqing did not care about that. As long as he had the address, that was enough.

He walked along the dim street for about the time it took to drink a cup of tea when he suddenly saw an elderly man carrying a medicine box emerge from an alley ahead. The old man shuffled toward another direction.

Li Changqing slowed slightly, his gaze falling on the old man's back.

The old man appeared to be around sixty or seventy. He wore a long gray cloth robe and carried a weathered medicine box on his back, looking like an ordinary traveling physician.

But Li Changqing noticed one detail.

Though the old man's steps seemed slow, every footfall followed a particular rhythm.

His breathing was long and steady, something no ordinary elderly man could possess.

Li Changqing frowned slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he ultimately did not head straight to Jiang Nannan's home.

Instead, he changed direction and silently followed behind the old man.

The old man seemed unaware that anyone was following him. He passed through streets and alleys until finally stopping in front of a luxurious residence.

Above the residence's gates hung a gilded plaque bearing three large characters.

Netherworld Sect.

The old man knocked on the door. Someone poked their head out from inside, and the two exchanged a few quiet words. Then the old man was invited in, and the gates closed again.

Li Changqing stood in the distant shadows, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the plaque.

Netherworld Sect...

He was silent for a moment before turning and leaving.

The next morning, daylight had only begun to brighten, and the thin mist had yet to disperse.

In the shabby little courtyard, Ye Guyi was still crouched before the stove brewing medicine, while Jiang Nannan busied herself in the kitchen preparing a simple breakfast.

Neither of them spoke, and a suffocating silence filled the air.

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The two froze at the same time and exchanged glances, each seeing confusion in the other's eyes.

Ye Guyi set down the palm-leaf fan in her hand, stood up, and asked, "Nannan, is the doctor here?"

Jiang Nannan poked her head out of the kitchen and shook her head. "I don't know. I've never seen him come this early before."

Though confused, she wiped her hands and walked to the courtyard gate, reaching out to pull back the bolt.

The moment Jiang Nannan saw who stood outside, she froze completely.

The visitor was not the elderly doctor, but someone she could never have imagined appearing here.

Li Changqing.

He wore a simple azure robe and carried some fruit and supplements in his hands. He stood at the entrance with a faint smile on his face.

"Changqing? Why are you here?" Jiang Nannan asked in surprise, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief.

Li Changqing smiled and said casually, "I came to take a look."

Hearing this, Jiang Nannan could not help glancing back at Ye Guyi in the courtyard.

Then she turned back, her tone carrying a hint of teasing. "Don't tell me you're worried something might happen to Sister Guyi?"

As soon as she spoke, Ye Guyi's dissatisfied voice came from inside. "Nannan, what are you talking about? What could possibly happen to me?"

Li Changqing smiled faintly and did not answer the question directly. Instead, he passed Jiang Nannan and entered the courtyard.

Li Changqing smiled faintly without responding and stepped into the courtyard.

He looked around at the dilapidated surroundings. There was no disdain or contempt in his eyes, only a calm assessment.

"How is your mother's condition?" he asked.

At the mention of her mother, the smile on Jiang Nannan's face instantly vanished, and her mood sank at once.

She lowered her head, unconsciously twisting her hands together as her voice softened. "Not good... The doctor said... she may not have much time left."

Li Changqing frowned slightly, about to say something.

But Ye Guyi hurried over first and spilled out the entire story in a rush. "Changqing, you don't know. Yesterday, Nannan went to the Netherworld Sect. The people there said they could use the Black Tortoise Divine Pill to save her mother, but the condition was..."

She paused, glanced at Jiang Nannan, and still said it. "The condition was that Nannan had to trade her virginity for it."

Jiang Nannan's expression changed slightly. She instinctively avoided Li Changqing's gaze, clearly not wanting him to know about this.

She felt that saying such a thing aloud was far too humiliating.

Upon hearing this, Li Changqing's brow furrowed even more deeply.

He was silent for a moment, then raised his head and looked at Jiang Nannan, asking a question that left both women stunned:

"Who told you the Black Tortoise Divine Pill could cure your mother's illness?"