Black Tortoise Divine Pill

Faced with Li Changqing's question, Jiang Nannan was stunned at first, then answered as if it were only natural, "Of course the doctor said so."

Ye Guyi also spoke up for her. "Nannan has no reason to lie about something like this, does she? After all, it concerns her innocence and her mother's life."

Jiang Nannan nodded, her gaze frank as she made it clear that she had not uttered a single lie.

Li Changqing, however, let out a soft sigh, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness. "I'm not saying Sister Nannan lied. I'm saying she was deceived."

The moment those words came out, both of them froze.

Jiang Nannan was the first to react. She hurriedly asked, "Deceived? By whom?"

"Yes, exactly!"

Equally confused, Ye Guyi asked, "Don't leave us hanging! Finish what you were saying!"

Rather than answering directly, Li Changqing asked, "As far as I know, the Black Tortoise Divine Pill is a top-grade pill of the Netherworld Sect. It is produced in extremely small quantities and has never been sold outside the sect. And given Sister Nannan's family circumstances, the doctor she could afford to hire couldn't have been some famous master physician, right?"

Jiang Nannan hesitated for a moment before nodding.

That was indeed the case.

She had neither money nor connections. The only doctor she could hire was an ordinary physician who ran a small clinic in the city.

He could barely even be considered a healing-type soul master.

Li Changqing continued, "Then here's the problem! Why would an ordinary doctor with no real background know about the Black Tortoise Divine Pill? And why would he swear that the Black Tortoise Divine Pill could cure your mother? Had he seen it with his own eyes, or tested it himself?"

He paused, his tone turning even sharper. "If he had seen it or used it himself, then he would not be some ordinary commoner doctor. So, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Jiang Nannan's face gradually turned pale.

She was not stupid. Li Changqing had made it this clear—how could she possibly not understand?

Her voice trembled faintly as she asked tentatively, "You mean... that doctor was working with the Netherworld Sect? And they did it all... to get my body?"

The courtyard fell silent.

Ye Guyi and Jiang Nannan both said nothing.

After quite a while, Ye Guyi seemed to think of something. She raised her head and pressed on, "Even if what you say is true, why would they use the Black Tortoise Divine Pill as bait? If they really wanted Nannan, they could have simply used force. She's a commoner—what could she possibly use to resist?"

Jiang Nannan also looked up at Li Changqing with confused eyes, waiting for his answer.

Li Changqing slowly spoke. His voice was calm, yet it carried the clarity of someone who saw through everything. "Because the martial souls of the Netherworld Sect's direct-line disciples require a specific ritual to activate their bloodline. This ritual needs a woman's primordial yin energy to complete, and there is one crucial condition: the woman must be willing."

He paused, his gaze falling upon Jiang Nannan. "Once they obtained your body and completed the martial soul awakening, their goal would be achieved. By then, even if you realized the truth and learned that the Black Tortoise Divine Pill was useless, what could you do? Who would care about a commoner girl like you? In the end, not only would you fail to save your mother, you would even have sold away your own innocence."

Upon hearing this, Ye Guyi's face instantly turned livid. Her hands clenched into fists as she gritted her teeth and said, "Those animals!"

Li Changqing merely gave a light laugh and added, "If I'm not mistaken, the people from the Netherworld Sect never actually told you that the Black Tortoise Divine Pill could cure your mother, did they?"

Jiang Nannan froze. She carefully recalled what had happened, then slowly nodded. "That's true... The doctor was the one who said all of that. The people from the Netherworld Sect only told me that if I wanted the Black Tortoise Divine Pill, I had to exchange it for that condition."

Li Changqing nodded, his tone calm but incisive. "Precisely because the Black Tortoise Divine Pill is so precious and no one sells it on the market, you could only follow their demands and trade your body for it. You may be a commoner, but both your looks and talent are exceptional. Naturally, they set their sights on you."

Jiang Nannan stood there, her face white as paper and her hands trembling faintly.

She had never imagined that her filial devotion would become the opening others used to scheme against her.

Helplessness and despair surged over her like a tide once more, completely swallowing Jiang Nannan.

Her legs gave out, and she crouched down, burying her head deeply between her knees. Her shoulders shook violently, and her choked voice came out broken. "Is there... really no other way...?"

The destruction of her last hope did not bring relief. It brought an even deeper despair.

At that moment, the pitiful girl seemed as though she had been abandoned by the entire world.

Li Changqing did not answer her question.

He merely silently walked around the two of them and headed into the house.

Seeing this, Ye Guyi hurriedly pulled the crouching Jiang Nannan to her feet.

As she wiped away Jiang Nannan's tears, she softly comforted her, "Don't cry. Come on, let's go inside and take a look."

The two followed behind Li Changqing and entered the room, which was filled with a strong medicinal smell.

The room was small and sparsely furnished, containing only a wooden bed, a table, and several chairs.

A woman lay on the bed. Her face was pale and gaunt, her eyes tightly shut.

Her breathing was so weak that it seemed as though it might stop at any moment, like a dying candle flickering in the wind.

Even so, judging from the delicate contours of her features and the lingering grace of her figure,

it was not hard to imagine that before she fell ill, she must have been a rare beauty.

No wonder she had given birth to someone as stunning as Jiang Nannan.

Sure enough, genes did not lie.

Li Changqing walked over to the bed, sat on its edge, and gently placed two fingers on the woman's wrist.

After examining her carefully for a moment, he could not help but frown slightly.

Her condition was even worse than he had imagined.

Many of Jiang Nannan's mother's meridians were blocked, and her internal organs had suffered varying degrees of erosion.

Her soul power was nearly exhausted. She was only clinging to life by her final breath.

The fact that she had lasted until today was already a miracle.

Li Changqing let out a soft sigh but said nothing more.

He spread open his right hand. Golden light slowly began to flicker in his palm, warm and gentle, carrying an indescribable aura of life.

The power of merit.

He gently pressed his palm against the woman's chest, and the golden light flowed slowly into her body like a gentle stream.

Wherever that light passed, the woman's tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed, while a faint hint of color returned to her paper-white face.

A moment later, her eyelids, which had been shut for so long, trembled slightly before slowly opening.

Her gaze was still somewhat unfocused.

But when she saw Jiang Nannan beside the bed, a faint clarity and maternal tenderness appeared in her eyes.

After finishing, Li Changqing withdrew his hand and rose to his feet. He said to Jiang Nannan, "Go talk to your mother for a little while longer."

Then he took an exquisite wooden box from his robes and held it out before Jiang Nannan.

Jiang Nannan froze for a moment, then asked in a choked voice, "What... is this?"

"The Black Tortoise Divine Pill," Li Changqing answered calmly.

The moment he said that, Jiang Nannan and Ye Guyi both froze.

Jiang Nannan received the wooden box in disbelief, her fingers trembling slightly as she opened it.