Meanwhile, on Ye Ling'er's side.
The scenery around her gradually cleared, and she found herself back in the Ye Family of Falling Star City, Eastern Region.
She tried to sit up, but a wave of intense weakness and dizziness washed over her, and her entire body ached.
She lowered her head and looked at her outstretched hand—
It was slender and pale, with blue veins clearly visible beneath the skin. Her fingertips were icy cold, lacking the lustrous glow a Cultivator should possess.
The emptiness of having no Spiritual Power flowing within her body made her panic.
She stumbled off the bed and rushed to a hazy bronze mirror in the corner of the room.
The mirror reflected a beautiful but utterly bloodless face.
At fifteen or sixteen years old, she should have been full of vitality, but her features were shrouded in an oppressive gloom that couldn't be dispersed, and her lips were an unhealthy pale purple.
A young girl possessing the Nine Yin Absolute Meridian, destined not to live past thirty.
Ye Ling'er suddenly stumbled back, hitting the cold wall, her heart clenched tightly by an invisible hand!
No... it shouldn't be like this... She should have Spiritual Power constantly circulating, she should have the Ghost Moon Twin Blades, Peak Foundation Establishment Cultivation, and... and Master!
"Linger? You're awake?"
The door was pushed open, and a gentle-faced woman carrying a bowl of dark medicine walked in. It was her mother, Madam Wang.
"Quickly, drink your medicine."
Madam Wang handed over the bowl, her eyes filled with weariness and unconcealed worry.
"How do you feel today? Is anything bothering you?"
Ye Ling'er stared blankly at the bowl of medicine, which gave off a bitter smell, and did not take it.
"Mother..."
Her voice was dry and hoarse,
"Can... can I really not Cultivate?"
Madam Wang's hand trembled, and the medicine nearly spilled.
Looking at the faint but stubborn light in her daughter's eyes, her own eyes instantly reddened. She turned her face away, her voice choked:
"Silly child, what nonsense are you speaking..."
"If you can just be safe and sound, your mother will be content..."
Safe and sound?
Ye Ling'er tugged at the corner of her mouth, trying to smile, but it looked worse than crying.
Once, she could only live until thirty years old at most.
Every day, she suffered in weakness.
Every day, she could feel her life, like sand in an hourglass, irreversibly slipping away bit by bit.
Every day, watching the younger clan members Cultivating various Techniques, her eyes held only endless envy.
Is this... the life without meeting Master?
A massive panic, like a cold tide, instantly engulfed her!
She pushed away the medicine bowl her mother offered, staggered to the window, and forcefully pushed it open.
Outside the window was the dusty, gray sky of Falling Star City.
In the distance, faint Spiritual Qi Fluctuations could be felt; that was the sound of Family members Cultivating.
That world was close at hand, yet unattainable.
"It shouldn't be like this... it shouldn't be like this..."
She muttered to herself, her fingernails digging deep into the splinters of the old window frame.
If she hadn't had Master... she would struggle with illness for over a decade, and then die silently on some cold winter night.
Like a speck of dust, falling into the dirt, leaving no trace.
No one would remember that the Ye Family had a young girl named Ye Ling'er.
No one would know that she once felt unwillingness, longing, and yearning for Cultivation.
She would experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, just like countless Mortals without Spiritual Roots... If she hadn't met Master... this very hypothesis was like a poisoned dagger, brutally piercing her heart.
It was Master who forcibly dragged her out of the darkness and despair!
And granted her a brand new future, full of infinite possibilities!
The scene shifted again.
That night, she saw the silver-haired figure descending like a Mysterious Maiden of the Nine Heavens.
It was Master who told her she could Cultivate.
She wasn't trash; she possessed an incomparably powerful Physique.
Master helped her activate her Physique and bestowed the Supreme Yin Manual upon her, telling her:
"This Cultivation Technique and your Physique are a match made in heaven."
It was Master who personally took her to Tianfeng City, and with an unmatched demeanor, settled her Family Karma, telling her:
"From now on, you are simply Ye Ling'er, my Disciple, Gu Han's Disciple."
Empress Qingxuan, Empress Ling Shuang, jealousy, fear of gain and loss... at this moment, facing the ultimate fear of "losing Master," all of it seemed utterly insignificant!
So childish and ridiculous!
What she truly needed to care about was never whether Master would be taken away by someone, or who Master held in her heart.
But rather—
Did she, Ye Ling'er, have the qualification to continue standing by Master's side?
Did she have the ability to repay this Grace of Rebirth?
Did she have the Strength to make Master proud of her, instead of worried or disappointed!
Everything she had now was given by Master!
Without Master, she was nothing.
What she needed to do now was become strong enough.
Strong enough to become Master's aid, strong enough to truly walk into Master's heart relying on her own Strength.
"I must go back..."
"My Dao is in the Jade Pool Immortal Palace."
"Boom—!"
The world before her completely exploded!
Ye Ling'er stood on the plaza, her ice-blue long hair moving without wind, her Aura as if she had undergone a complete baptism.
The thin membrane of the Bottleneck leading to the Golden Core Stage also showed clear cracks under this extreme emotional surge and Dao Heart Enlightenment!
Only one Opportunity was needed for a single Breakthrough!
She opened her eyes. Her ice-blue pupils looked as if they had been washed by the purest Profound Ice, clear to the bottom, without a trace of gloom.
She solemnly and deeply bowed to Elder Die Wu, who was slightly nodding on the high platform.
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