Du Juan continued, her gaze fixed on the first stars pricking the twilight.
"As she grew... I noticed a problem during one of her breakthroughs."
Her fingers tightened, not in anger, but as if physically holding her sister's pain.
"When... I checked. I found a tiny leak in her dantian."
"And the doctor confirmed the worst." Her voice, though soft, carried the weight of irrevocable truth.
"Each step upward in cultivation… it would only widen the leakage. The gathering pressure..." She closed her eyes briefly, the image too cruel to voice fully.
"It will tear her apart. Slowly. Inevitably." The dread wasn't sharp, but a deep, sorrowful ache.
"To walk the path... is to walk toward her own ruin. She she has no clue and walks with a deep passion."
She finally met Fang Yuan's eyes again.
Unshed tears made them luminous, not weak, but reflecting a love fierce enough to challenge fate.
