The Healer Demands Payment!

Chapter 129

Lin Yan tilted her head slightly and glanced at Meng Qi, reiterating her previous inquiry: “Meng Qi, would you rescue him if you were in my place?” She didn’t even wait for the response, speaking softly as if lost in her own thoughts: “I must save him, no matter what. I’ve spent thousands of years in the Starfallen Sea solely to save him. What does the life of others have to do with me? Back then, no one cared about his death either.”

Meng Qi remained frozen in place. She felt there was something off about Lin Yan’s words, but couldn’t figure out how to refute them. The accounts of Lin Yan in the books she had read only portrayed her most touching aspects and never had she come across a record that revealed how this ancient healer had sacrificed even the life of her own Dao companion to save countless of that of strangers. It was not wrong for Lin Yan to want to save her Dao companion. To put it bluntly, considering all that she had given for the Three Thousand Worlds, she could ask for even more.

If it’s her…

Meng Qi lowered her gaze slightly, contemplating. What if the same situation happened to… her? If she had the chance and the means to revive her beloved, would she defy even the heavens, even if it meant becoming enemies with the world?

Meng Qi’s hand, hanging by her side, began to tremble slightly. Luoxin Tree, Heavenly Purgatory Array, the puppet masters from tens of thousands of years ago… With these clues in place, Meng Qi could actually guess what Lin Yan was trying to do. A puppet master could turn living cultivators into puppets using the Luoxin Tree. And when combined with the Heavenly Purgatory Array, there was a chance to gather the remnants of the fallen individuals’ souls into this world, which then…

“Senior Lin Yan.” Meng Qi frowned, “Even with the Heavenly Purgatory Array, is it really your Dao companion whom you revived? Isn’t that just…”

“Just a puppet, isn’t it?” Lin Yan chuckled softly. “Meng Qi, you seem to have forgotten that I am still within the Starfallen Sea, gathering the aura of so many living cultivators and…” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Utilizing the Luoxin trees to refine the Soul Seizing Powder and collect their spiritual consciousness.” She giggled. “In this way, it goes beyond mere puppets. Those mediocre puppet masters did not understand these methods. I can truly and completely resurrect him, allowing him to return to this world.”

“Meng Qi,” Lin Yan extended her hand and gently tucked a strand of Meng Qi’s hair behind her ear. Her fingertips emitted a faint glow as she lightly pressed them against Meng Qi’s forehead. “You have the Five Spirit Cauldron and my medical notes, so you can be considered my successor.” Lin Yan’s eyes shimmered with a hint of a smile, and her voice becoming gentle, “I have never taken on any other disciples, nor have I passed down my medical skills to anyone else. You are the only one.”

“By passing the test, you have the potential to become my successor. This means that you possess exceptional talent in medicine.”

“So, Meng Qi, if it were you, would you save him?” Lin Yan asked once again. She seemed particularly fixated on this question, asking it repeatedly. Though her face wore a smiling expression, her gaze never wavered from Meng Qi’s face, continuously watching her eyes, unwilling to miss any subtle change in her expression.

“I…” Meng Qi parted her lips, her voice trembling. She gazed at Lin Yan in a daze. What would she do if she were in Lin Yan’s place?

Meng Qi had never imagined that one day she would be hesitant because of this question. She had also never thought that the ancient medical cultivators had the ability to manipulate life and death. This should be a part of the cycle of reincarnation as mandated by the heavenly dao, a part of the immortal path that almost all cultivators in the Three Realms pursued throughout their lives.