Zu An was horrified. He thought that it was just a minor problem, since it didn’t seem like a big deal to spurt blood in the world of cultivation. He himself had probably spurted several liters of blood by now, enough that he had already gotten perfectly used to it.

Yet, Chu Chuyan’s problem seemed to be so severe that even Mi Li considered it incurable.

“How could this be…” murmured Zu An.

A voice suddenly cut through the air. “Chuyan, what’s wrong?”

A beautiful figure rushed over and pushed Zu An aside, snatching Chu Chuyan from his arms. Upon noticing that she had fallen unconscious, her face paled in horror. She turned to Zu An and roared, “What did you do to my daughter?”

“She was still fine when I spoke to her earlier, but she suddenly spurted blood and fainted. It might be due to her ice cultivation technique progressing too quickly, resulting in her suffering a backlash from being unable to control the frost in her body…” replied Zu An.

Before he could finish, Qin Wanru had already cut him off angrily. “What do you know? My daughter is a prodigy! It’s only natural that her cultivation would progress swiftly! I know that you’ve done several things to make yourself stand out over the last few days, but you’re still nothing compared to Chuyan! You have no right to criticize her!”

Qin Wanru was already angry, and hearing such an evaluation from someone she had always looked down on further infuriated her.

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 502 Rage points!

She carried her daughter up and rushed off to look for her husband. Why did I even waste time arguing with this fellow! 

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 9… 9… 9… 

Staring at Qin Wanru’s departing silhouette, Zu An snorted in response. The only good thing about this woman is that she produces a lot of rage. 

“How about it? Do you want to reconsider my suggestion?” Mi Li’s gleeful voice rang in his ears.

Zu An was hardly amused.

“You know, there are times when I wonder if you’re not an empress, but a demoness.”

“I’m flattered by your compliment,” replied Mi Li gracefully. “Who in the world said that an empress has to be virtuous and compassionate?”

Surprisingly, Zu An found those words oddly convincing. There were plenty of ‘evil empresses’ in history, and Mi Li seemed to fit right into the stereotype.

However, he was too worried about Chu Chuyan to listen to Mi Li preach about what an empress should be like. He quickly followed Qin Wanru.

Chu Zhongtian also rushed over upon hearing the news. He waited impatiently for the clan physician to arrive, slowly infusing his ki into his daughter’s body to dissipate the frost.

Chu Huanzhao came over as well, and she clenched her fists anxiously. While she had often bickered with her older sister because her mother was extremely fond of comparing the two of them, she knew that her older sister doted on her a lot. They were actually very close, and it pained her to see her older sister in such a state.

Not too long later, a white-haired old man rushed over with a group of servants. Zu An recognized him as the clan physician, Bao Youlu.

In the entire Brightmoon City, his medical skill was only inferior to that of Ji Dengtu. Ordinarily, given his abilities, he would never have lowered himself to just serve a single ducal manor. However, he owed a debt to Brightmoon Duke stemming from an incident that occured in his earlier years. On top of that, he was also getting old, making it harder for him to travel around. As a result, he decided to stay at the Chu clan to return the favor.

A maidservant had already prepared a silk cloth and wrapped it around Chu Chuyan’s wrist. Bao Youlu read Chu Chuyan’s pulse through it, and soon, a tight frown creased his forehead and he sighed deeply. His reaction made Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru extremely worried.

After an agonizing amount of time, he finally retracted his fingers, and Qin Wanru immediately asked him anxiously, “Physician Bao, how is my daughter?”

Bao Youlu seemed a little hesitant to speak. Chu Zhongtian quickly dismissed all the servants from the room. Since Zu An was Chu Chuyan’s husband-in-name, he was allowed to stay.

Once the others had left the room, Bao Youlu sighed deeply and said, “Master, Madam, the frost has permeated the young miss’ ki meridians and internal organs. There’s no saving her anymore. It’ll be best if you could prepare yourself for the inevitable.”

Chu Zhongtian, Qin Wanru and Chu Huanzhao were all shocked by his assessment.

Zu An himself merely felt resigned.

While the three Chu clan members could tell that Chu Chuyan’s condition was more severe than before, they did not expect it to have deteriorated by such a large extent. When they heard this nightmarish diagnosis, all of them stiffened. 

Zu An let out a deep sigh. It was the same conclusion as the one Mi Li had come to.

“H-how can this be? My daughter was still completely fine earlier! Why would she suddenly…” Qin Wanru began sobbing halfway through her words.

Chu Zhongtian couldn’t hide his anxiety either. “Indeed, Physician Bao! Chuyan only just made an advancement in her cultivation. How could she suddenly fall so ill?”

A glint flashed across Bao Youlu’s eyes. “May I know how the young miss made a breakthrough in her cultivation?”

Since this concerned his daughter’s life, Chu Zhongtian didn’t dare to keep any of the details secret. He quickly told Bao Youlu about how they had found the Evanescent Lotus in the dungeon.

“I see.” Bao Youlu stroked his beard contemplatively. “I was wondering why the young miss’ condition would suddenly deteriorate despite being healthy all this while. Herein lies the root of the problem.

“It’s common knowledge that practicing ice cultivation techniques is harmful to one’s body, but this effect is usually negligible. However, the young miss had her ki meridians severed in the dungeon. Even though she managed to reconnect them afterwards, it still damaged her ki foundation. To consume the Evanescent Lotus in such a condition and forcefully raise her cultivation by an entire rank further magnified the instability, placing a huge burden on her body. This resulted in the current situation.”

It was the same as what Mi Li said earlier, which proved that her skill in this field was real.

Everyone was stunned. Bao Youlu’s analysis made perfect sense, and it finally sunk in that Chu Chuyan was indeed in danger.

Qin Wanru leaped up and roared at Zu An like a tigress, looking as though she would pounce on him at any moment. “It’s all your fault! If she hadn’t needed to save you, our Chuyan’s ki meridians would have never been severed! If you hadn’t fed the Evanescent Lotus to her, she would never have suffered such a terrible fate! You’re the one who caused all of these problems!” 

You have successfully trolled Qin Wanru for 1024 Rage points!

Zu An was in no mood to even bother with her at the moment. He was busy communicating with Mi Li telepathically. “Big sis empress, is there really no way to save her?”

“Didn’t I tell you that even a god wouldn’t be able to save her?”

“But you mentioned in the dungeon that you were skilled in runes and medicine. Even if a god is unable to save her, I believe that you, big sis empress, will be able to pull it off!” exclaimed Zu An.

Mi Li’s laughter sounded in his head. “You are indeed good at bootlicking. You’re right. If Ying Zheng was able to compete with even the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, how could I possibly lose to a mere god? I do have a way to save her.”

“Big sis empress, please enlighten me!” urged Zu An.

Mi Li snorted coldly. “After how that woman treated you, are you sure you want to save her daughter?”

“It’s my wife I’m saving; it has nothing to do with Qin Wanru at all. Don’t worry. If it were Qin Wanru lying there right now, I wouldn’t even bother raising a finger to help her,” replied Zu An.

“A man should at least know how to hold a grudge. If you repay enmity with kindness, how are you going to repay kindness, then? Enmity should always be repaid with enmity!” Mi Li’s tone finally softened a little. “Your wife is in a tough position because the frost has seeped into her organs and ki meridians. What we need to do right now is to expel the frost from her body, but the slightest carelessness could easily destroy her ki meridians and inflict heavy damage on her organs. That would only hasten her death.

“She’s the one who is the most familiar with her own body, be it her ki meridians or her organs. So, she should be the one dispeling the frost personally. Unfortunately, she’s in no state to channel her ki at the moment, and her ki attribute is ice as well. If she channels ice elemental ki into her body right now, it’ll only worsen the problem.

“Putting aside these technical problems, you do have the simplest way out to cure her, and that’s to undergo the amalgamation of yin and yang that the two of you did previously, and expel the frost via heat. While doing so, you can channel the primordial ki toward her damaged ki meridians and organs to protect them. Through this process, she should be able to recover fully in half a month to half a year’s time.”

“Why does it take that long?” Zu An asked in surprise.

There was a trace of mirth in Mi Li’s voice as she replied, “That’s a dumb question. Do you think that doing it seven times a night is the same as doing it once a night for a week?”

Zu An had no way to refute that argument.

“But this treatment method is a little too unconventional.”

“Stop putting on that act. I know that you’re already celebrating this unexpected bliss,” remarked Mi Li coldly, seeing right through his righteous facade.

Zu An’s face heated up as he said, “I mean, it’s indeed something to celebrate on my end, but I’m not sure if Chuyan would be willing to do it.”

“Is that something you should be concerned about right now?” snapped Mi Li in irritation.

To this, Zu An replied, “It’s easy to attain a person’s body, but winning a person’s heart is a different matter. I hope that she will accept me willingly in the future, instead of me having to take advantage of her at times like this.”

He scorned himself a little for saying that. Honestly, it was because he’d already had a taste of her body once that he wanted more.

“What do you want her heart for?” replied Mi Li disdainfully. “As long as her body is accustomed to yours, it’s just a matter of time before her heart becomes yours as well. Youngsters like you really don’t understand how the human mind works. Love is something that’s bred over time.”

Zu An was speechless for a moment.

Was that an innuendo?

“Big sis empress, you mentioned that that’s the simplest method, which means that there’s a not-so-simple method too. May I know what it is?” asked Zu An.

In the Tai’e Sword, Mi Li’s face turned livid as she said, “Hmph, I really don’t know whether you’re pretending to be dumb or not. You keep acting like a little pervert all the time, only to act righteously at times like this. Forget it! Listen well. The difficult method involves…”

… 

Back in the room, Chu Huanzhao stopped the agitated Qin Wanru and said, “Mother, you’re going overboard again. My big sister already said earlier that this has nothing to do with my brother-in-law!”

“Shut up! You only know how to side with outsiders! Who is he to you? Is he more important than your big sister? Is he more important than your mother?” bellowed Qin Wanru.

Chu Huanzhao pouted in displeasure. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Enough!” Chu Zhongtian finally lost his patience. He turned to Bao Youlu and asked, “Physician Bao, is there really no way out of this?”

Bao Youlu shook his head and replied, “Pardon my ignorance, but I really can’t figure out a way to treat her. Perhaps Divine Physician Ji might have an unconventional treatment for this, but I don’t think that the young miss’ condition looks too hopeful. On top of that, I heard that Divine Physician Ji left for the neighboring city a while ago.”

“I’ll find him and bring him back right now!” said Chu Zhongtian.

Qin Wanru quickly interjected, “I’ll go instead. You aren’t on good terms with him.”

“How can I let you do that?” exclaimed Chu Zhongtian. 

Wouldn’t that mean he’d be sending his beautiful wife straight into the mouth of a lecher? He still remembered clearly that Ji Dengtu was one of Qin Wanru’s suitors back then!

An unexpected voice spoke up. “I do have an idea in mind.”

Bao Youlu turned around, and was rather displeased when he saw that the one who had spoken was Zu An. He’d only just said that he had no way out of this, and now, Zu An suddenly said that he had an idea. This made things very uncomfortable for Bao Youlu.

Besides, he had never heard anything about the drafted son-in-law of the Chu clan being well-versed in medicine before.