Fourth Frame

He knew better than anyone how badly he was hurt. But he also knew that if this woman harbored the slightest ill intent, he could kill her with ease.

Qiao Ranran had no idea how much was going through his head while he sat there in silence. As long as she avoided his eyes, he looked like a sweet, well-behaved boy without a care in the world.

Without Spiritual Power to support her, using the Acupuncture Technique to seal the poison in his body was still too much for Qiao Ranran.

Two hours later, Qiao Ranran forced herself to withdraw the needles. She looked as though she had been pulled from the water, drenched in cold sweat, pale-faced and unsteady on her feet. She staggered back two steps and collapsed into a chair.

After examining his internal organs, a flicker of astonishment passed through the boy's vacant eyes.

She actually did it.

His Meridians were already in ruins, yet she had confined the poison to a corner of his internal organs. His shattered Meridians still hurt, but without the poison eating away at him, he suddenly felt

much

lighter.

The poison had plagued him throughout his previous life. Even when he suppressed it with his cultivation, it flared up from time to time, bringing pain so severe he wished he were dead. It had stayed with him until the moment his Divine Soul was destroyed.

He vaguely remembered someone telling him there was a person in this world who could remove the poison. By the time he learned that, though, that person had long been dead. The poison had become a part of his body anyway, so he had never given it much thought.

Exhausted, Qiao Ranran ignored the boy's gaze and waved a hand. "Go on, get going. If you have a conscience, remember to pay me for the treatment when you earn some money. And if you want the rest of your injuries treated, you can come back to me. I'll be here for a while..."

As she spoke, her mind began to grow hazy.

She hadn't really expected the boy to pay her; she had only said it in passing. She had chosen to save him herself. Once she saw someone in need, she couldn't help it. Besides, his injuries were severe and his poison unusual. To her, he was the perfect practice subject for her Spell Arts and Acupuncture Technique.

Yes. A practice subject.

Qiao Ranran bared her teeth as she watched the boy leave.

What a wonderful practice subject. She had gained plenty of proficiency from working on him! Both the Pure Spirit Art and the Life-Saving Art had reached level three!

Chapter 4: Fourth Frame

Qiao Ranran's own injuries were serious too, but most were external. The damage to her internal organs would heal with time.

She was poor. She had no money.

Doctor Tao didn't mind her taking whatever medicine she needed from the clinic, but she felt bad accepting it, and the medicine wouldn't help her much anyway. There wasn't much of use in her bundle, either. The Clear Feather Sect really was poor; even the resources on the back mountain were scarce, leaving her little to find. She had used her only wound medicine on that boy, and he had walked off without paying her a single coin.

What a loss.

Early that morning, she got up as usual to help at the clinic. Instead, she found Doctor Tao, his face deathly pale, trying to rush out while two young apprentices could barely hold him back. The moment he saw her, he lunged toward her as if she were his last hope, pulling both apprentices off their feet.

"Immortal Qiao! Immortal Qiao, please, save Doudou! Save my daughter! Save her!"

Doctor Tao stopped in front of Qiao Ranran, but he was so frantic that he couldn't explain what had happened.

Qiao Ranran raised a hand and stuck a needle into him—if he couldn't explain, he could stop trying. His round body promptly crumpled, and the two apprentices barely managed to catch him and carry him to a small wooden bed nearby.

The apprentices were still calm enough to tell her what had happened. Doctor Tao's precious daughter had vanished that morning while eating breakfast at a stall just outside. Tao Doudou was only three, with a sweet, adorable face. She was Doctor Tao's only daughter, and he treasured her above all else. The little girl loved the food at that breakfast stall, and everyone nearby knew her. Doctor Tao had never imagined she could disappear only a few steps from home.

Worse, passing customers said children had also gone missing in nearby towns. Rumor had it that a Demonic Cultivator was responsible.

A Demonic Cultivator. What chance did the little girl have in such hands? Doctor Tao had lost his mind when he heard the news.

Qiao Ranran frowned as she searched her memory. Something like this had happened in her previous life. But when the Demonic Cultivator was stealing children, she had been confined to Reflection Cliff behind the Clear Feather Sect. Back then, her injuries had been so severe that she fainted in the main hall. By the time she woke, she was already at Reflection Cliff. She had no idea what those people had done in the hall. At least she had been lucky enough to draw spiritual energy into her body during her year there.

She remembered Tao Doudou, too.

A year later, when she came to Clear Spring Town to sell herbs she had gathered, she heard about what had happened. Tao Doudou had indeed been taken, but the clever child had escaped from the Demonic Cultivator. She hadn't made it back to town, though. Three days later, a group of cultivators came to Clear Spring Town to investigate and found her barely alive along the road. With her directions, they located the Demonic Cultivator's lair and rescued the other children.

Tao Doudou's quick thinking had even caught their attention. When they discovered she had a Spirit Root, they wanted to take her with them.

Qiao Ranran glanced thoughtfully at Doctor Tao, who was still unconscious on the wooden bed. Tao Doudou's opportunity had been heartbreaking for him. He wanted his daughter to have a bright future, so in the end, he had steeled himself and let her go.

Yet during all the years Qiao Ranran spent out in the world, she never seemed to hear any news of Tao Doudou again.

She gave Doctor Tao another needle to steady his breathing. He stirred awake and grew agitated at the sight of her, but he had calmed down enough to murmur, "Immortal Qiao..."

Qiao Ranran had long wanted to correct him. At her level, she hadn't even formally entered the sect and had no right to be called an "immortal." But Doctor Tao was stubborn and refused to change how he addressed her, so she had given up trying.