Shen Shixu brushed the dust off his backside and looked at the two of them. "I'm fine, but Uncle, what happened to Uncle Xi? Why did he pass out?"
Xiao Lie held the unconscious Bai Lixi tightly in his arms, his voice full of anguish. "A while ago, a friend of mine in the Martial World wrote to me, saying something serious had happened and lives were at stake. He asked me to hurry back and help.
"He made it sound so grave that Ah Xi and I left without even attending Yuanqi's wedding feast.
"When we arrived and heard what he had to say, it really was a matter of life and death.
"There's long been a cult in the Martial World called the Longevity Pavilion. They're a bunch of sick-minded lunatics, chasing some absurd dream of immortality.
"The ridiculous thing is, the master of the Longevity Pavilion really has lived quite a long time, and he looks far too young compared with other people his age.
"He's over seventy, yet he looks even younger than someone in their forties. Seeing their master like that, those people became obsessed and convinced themselves there really was a way to live forever.
"They followed that master of the Longevity Pavilion and committed all sorts of crimes. At first, they only stirred up trouble in the Martial World, taking people to steal other sects' treasured possessions—things like thousand-year-old snow lotuses, reishi mushrooms, and ginseng...
"Those medicinal herbs are extremely rare, but lately, they stopped stealing herbs and started targeting ordinary people instead.
"To be precise, they targeted children. They actually believed that drinking the blood of children who hadn't yet grown up could slow their aging and eventually make them immortal.
"How could the Martial Alliance stand by and do nothing? They