The Marrow-Cleansing Pill...

Han Qiushui looked at Xiao Yu, who had already begun smoking his pipe, with a face full of delight.

She innocently believed that he truly intended to treat her illness.

It was easy enough to understand why he had shut the doors and windows—he surely did not want the Li Residence family to discover it.

After all, immortals always kept away from mortals.

At that moment, Han Qiushui happily stretched out her hand and called, "Daughter... help me up..."

Li Qingyun blushed as she helped her mother up. Her face remained red the entire time, and she did not dare open her mouth to say a word.

Xiao Yu had previously heard Li Qingyun mention that her mother had been well versed in the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood, and was a renowned gifted woman in Jiangliu City.

She possessed both talent and beauty!

Who knew how many talented men of Jiangliu City she had captivated, especially writers and storytellers.

Even the blind storytellers in teahouses often told stories about Han Qiushui.

Things like, Jiangliu City could do without spring, but it could not do without Han Qiushui...

Qiushui's talent rivaled that of sages; Qiushui's beauty was like plum blossoms and orchids!

There were too many poems and verses praising Han Qiushui to count.

Moreover, Han Qiushui placed great importance on the three obediences and four virtues, serving her husband and raising her children. Her character and virtue were enough to shame the vast majority of women.

Xiao Yu naturally knew that Han Qiushui would never do such a thing.

To cure her illness... they definitely had to...

Then Xiao Yu took out an entire bottle of pills.

Upon seeing that bottle, Li Qingyun lowered her head. With the guilty conscience of a thief, she did not dare meet her mother's eyes at all.

Han Qiushui, who had already sat up, had light in her eyes. She lowered her head and placed her hands at her sides as she softly said, "Thank you, Immortal Master Xiao. Qiushui will never forget your great kindness and virtue!"

"If you ever need anything in the future, Qiushui will certainly do everything in her power!"

She instinctively believed that the pills in Xiao Yu's hand were some miraculous divine medicine.

After all, he was her daughter's savior. Could he possibly harm her?

Just now, he had even played the hero saving the beauty and taken in that bastard Li Wancai.

Han Qiushui's heart stirred to life.

Li Qingyun's mind had already become incapable of thought.

The Marrow-Cleansing Pill... wasn't that a flawless-quality Hehuan Pill...

But as she looked at her mother's haggard complexion, Li Qingyun's heart instantly hardened.

It was still better than watching her mother die before her eyes...

With an incomparably solemn expression, Li Qingyun held those three pills out before Han Qiushui. "Mother... take... take the medicine!"

Han Qiushui's lips curled upward, and her eyes bent into crescents.

Pills given by an immortal...

Immortal pills!!?

"Ah! Thank you, Immortal Master Xiao! Thank you, Immortal Master, for saving my life!!!"

Xiao Yu smoked his pipe with the bearing of a sage. "This is the Marrow-Cleansing Pill! It can cleanse away your illness. In your condition, one pill will not be enough—you need to take at least two. But you are my wife's mother, which makes you my mother, Xiao Yu's mother!"

"Mother-in-law, quickly take it!"

Han Qiushui could not have been more gratified. Smiling, she accepted the tea.

Covering her face, she drank it down.

The next morning, a maid from the Li Residence carried a copper basin toward Han Qiushui's bedroom.

Inside, Li Qingyun was kneeling beside the bed.

The blades in Han Qiushui's eyes were practically about to materialize.

As she looked at her daughter kneeling on the floor, the shame and hatred on her face grew ever stronger.

Outside the door, the maid was still calling, "Madam~ it is time for you to wash up..."

Han Qiushui snorted coldly. "Wait!!!"

Her voice was icy cold, frightening the maid so badly that she nearly dropped the basin.

Li Qingyun remained there, kneeling and crying. "Mother... Mother... sob... don't blame my husband. It is all because your daughter was unfilial..."

"It was your daughter who begged my husband to do this... How could your daughter watch Mother remain afflicted by illness like this!"

"Please, just pity your daughter... sob... Father is dead. Could Mother truly bear to watch your daughter struggle alone in this world..."

"Your daughter cannot live without Mother... sob... Mother... say something... Mother..."

Xiao Yu was still thinking.

Last night, Han Qiushui had truly tried to kill herself.

There was even a strip of silk beside her, left behind after her failed hanging attempt.

Clearly, he had underestimated the chastity and integrity of ancient women.

Han Qiushui's character was countless times stronger than those women in his Judgment Room.

Bai Yue was the sort who would survive at any cost. She wanted to cultivate immortality and seek the Dao, and she still wanted to avenge her dead disciples.

Even if she were cut into a thousand pieces, Bai Yue would never kill herself.

Wang Mei would be even less likely to kill herself...

Yet Han Qiushui had tried to seek death the moment she came to her senses.

She was truly fierce.

He liked her far too much.

Just then, Han Qiushui slowly sat up.

She was somewhat shocked at once. She actually... could actually sit up?

Looking at her daughter kneeling below, Han Qiushui somewhat woodenly put on her red embroidered shoes.

She could actually stand...

Clearly, her illness had improved somewhat.

But it had not yet been completely cured.

She could still feel the pain coming from her heart and lungs.

Looking at her daughter crying until she was drenched in tears, Han Qiushui suddenly turned her face away. Unnamed tears rolled down her cheeks, drop by drop.

Who would have thought that after preserving her purity all her life, she would do something so bestial today merely to cling to life.

How could she possibly face her husband in the Yellow Springs below?

Though her husband had forcibly married her when he was young, he had cherished and loved her all these years.

He had even entrusted her with the keys to the family storehouse.

Her illness had worsened again after her daughter was tricked out of the city by Li Wancai and went missing.

Her husband had searched everywhere for famous physicians, and had even sought pills from cultivators of the Profound Spirit Sect.

Who could have known that the man would not return, but his corpse would be delivered back instead.

Because her husband had glanced twice at the female cultivators there, one of them had killed him.

Han Qiushui had kept vigil over her husband's corpse and wept for an entire day and night.

In the end, she vomited blood and collapsed to the floor, wanting to simply die and be done with it.

But if she died, who would go search for her daughter?

And what would become of her husband's family estate...

She had desperately wanted to cure her illness. She had wanted to save her daughter, but who would have thought that bastard Li Wancai would actually strike such a vicious blow against their family.

Everything that had happened these past days had left her utterly exhausted in body and mind.

Looking at her daughter before her, Han Qiushui slowly let out a long breath.

"You... you should leave..."

Li Qingyun knew her mother was speaking in anger. She hurriedly cried as she shuffled forward on her knees toward her.

With a wronged expression, she cried, "Mother... sob... Mother, don't be angry anymore. We promise not to let anyone know about this. A thousand wrongs, ten thousand wrongs, they are all your daughter's fault alone... My husband has nothing to do with it!"

"If your daughter had not mistakenly trusted Li Wancai, I would never have left the city that day to gather medicine for Mother. He said there was an immortal herb on Jiangliu Mountain that could cure Mother!"

"Your daughter slept in the wind and ate in the dew on the mountain, and nearly got eaten by wild beasts... After finally climbing up the mountain, I was captured!"

"If I had not met my husband, your daughter would have died long ago... sob... Mother, Mother, please do not be angry..."

"Your daughter only wants Mother to live well... Even if I am cut into a thousand pieces, even if Mother resents me for the rest of your life, your daughter is willing... sob..."

Xiao Yu merely lowered his head and hunched his neck.

It was better not to speak at a time like this.

Just then, an exceedingly arrogant woman's voice suddenly came from outside the door. "Li Wancai?! Li Wancai, you beast, get out here right now!!!"

The moment Li Qingyun heard it, her brows trembled. "This is bad. It is Second Uncle's wife, Zhang Yan!"

A trace of hostility appeared in Han Qiushui's eyes. Looking at Xiao Yu, who had risen and wanted to make a move, she said softly, "This has nothing to do with you. Go wait in the back!"

Xiao Yu smiled faintly, quickly helped Li Qingyun up, and hid behind the screen with her.

The next second, Zhang Yan kicked the door open and stormed in, shouting furiously, "Li Wancai!!! You son of a bitch, get out here for your auntie!"

"Shameless! Don't think I don't know you came here last night!"

"Han Qiushui, you slut!!! Where have you hidden Li Wancai?"