Li Yan used his spiritual power to envelop the pill, then extended a finger to quickly slice through the middle of it. As his finger moved toward the pill, Li Yan wasn't sure if it was a illusion or not, but he could feel the pill in his palm trembling.

But Li Yan still brought his finger down. The next moment, he seemed to hear a sudden, sharp whimper, and then the pill in his hand broke into two halves.

Li Yan's movements were extremely swift. One half of the pill flashed and flew towards the wound of Gong Chenying, who was lying on the ground. Under the influence of Li Yan's spiritual power, half of the pill flashed and disappeared, directly embedding itself deep within Gong Chenying's wound.

The other half of the pill simultaneously transformed into a purple streak and shot into Gong Chenying's red lips. Li Yan lightly pushed with his spiritual power, and the pill entered her abdomen.

After doing all this, Li Yan stared intently at the jade-like person before him. He did not immediately cover Gong Chenying's upper body. He wanted to observe the extent of her wound's healing, and he was also very curious about this eighth-rank mid-grade pill and its effects.

Gong Chenying was in a dream. The little girl, with bare feet, stood on tiptoe in front of the large urn. She then tightly closed her eyes, her hands somewhat stiffly and slowly reaching into the urn.

The dozen or so vibrantly colored poisonous insects in the urn, seeing a pair of tender fair arms reaching in, immediately scurried more quickly. They either waved their huge front limbs or opened their sinister white fangs, instantly pouncing on those tender and small arms.

As the little girl's hands entered the urn, she fiercely turned her head to the side, as if she could forget everything this way. But the next moment, her small body began to tremble violently.

An expression of extreme pain appeared on her delicate face, and her tiptoes trembled severely. But her face, turned to the side, only kept her eyes tightly shut, biting her lips fiercely without making a sound.

Outside the bamboo house, heavy rain poured ceaselessly from the gloomy sky, hitting the continuous clusters of bamboo houses and the thick banana leaves with a series of dense "puffs."

The mountains beyond the rain curtain were dark. The coldness in the mountains, drifting with the misty rain, made it even more frigid. The cold air constantly poured through the doors, windows, and bamboo gaps of the stilt house, making the little girl's body even colder.

At the entrance to the bamboo house stairs, a middle-aged man stared at the little girl, his face extremely grim. Only when he looked at the little girl would a trace of pity occasionally flash in his eyes.

Behind him were several black-robed old men with messy hair, some of which was still entangled with dry leaves and weeds from the mountains. They were all hunched over, their faces covered in wrinkles, and painted with colorful, ancient runes.

Each of them held a dark staff, from which hung large and small animal skulls. These stark white skull heads formed a sharp contrast with the glossy black staff handles that had been worn smooth with use.

These men only stared at the little girl inside the bamboo house, their eyes filled with cold indifference.

Gong Chenying only felt raindrops, wrapped in wind from outside the bamboo house, continuously blowing onto her body through the gaps. She felt colder and colder, and her arms became weaker and weaker.

Even with her eyes tightly closed, her head drooped lower and lower. She felt her body becoming light and airy, as if her entire being was about to be blown away by the pouring rain and wind.

"It's so cold, Papa! I'm so cold."

She turned her head, trying hard to open her eyes, as if she saw the big man at the door smiling at her. But the man's face became more and more blurry. She tried desperately to open her eyes wide, but she couldn't see clearly. The bone-chilling coldness on her body made her consciousness also begin to blur.

A rough voice came to her in a distant, hazy way in her mind.

"Papa… missed you!"

"Papa, Papa…" Gong Chenying desperately tried to lift her head, but only felt her head getting heavier. She could only mumble the words.

But at that moment, a sudden heat surged through her body, as if all the poisonous insects from the large urn had burrowed into her. The heat was unbearable, and it was accompanied by a soul-piercing pain.

The pain didn't just penetrate to her bones, it went straight to her soul. She couldn't help but let out a soft groan, waking up a little. She then bit her lips tightly again. A look of desolate sorrow appeared on the little girl's pale, tender face.

"Papa, I couldn't hold on after all, and I cried out in pain. I am going to fail, going to fail!"

"…Papa, I said I would be your brave little girl, but it really hurts!"

Li Yan had been watching Gong Chenying, who was lying on the ground. He saw her frowning sometimes, and other times a rare smile appeared on her face, a smile of relief.

The smile seemed a bit tragic and beautiful to Li Yan. On her face, there was a deep stubbornness. The smile made Li Yan feel a profound sadness - thick, inseparable, and lingering.

Gong Chenying felt her internal organs were about to be scorched by the heat. The poisonous insects rampaged wildly inside her body. At the peak of her agony, a wave of coolness, like the clear spring water from a mountain stream in her hometown, suddenly flowed from her throat into her body.

The scorching heat instantly vanished. What remained was a comforting coolness, just like when she was tired from running in the mountains as a child, cupping a handful of stream water to drink and then splashing another handful on her face.

At that time, the sky was very blue, the mountains were very quiet, and the world was very vast. But these things slowly, slowly, became ethereal and blurry again. The stilt house disappeared, the forest disappeared, the little girl disappeared, and Papa… also disappeared!

Then, Gong Chenying's eyes snapped open. Everything from before was gone. What came into view was a blurry cave ceiling, and then the scene slowly became clear.

From the corner of her eye, she also saw an ordinary, unremarkable face and a pair of eyes that held a hint of awkwardness and regret.

Gong Chenying was startled. She immediately sat up and swung her arm, but she only grabbed at empty air. The familiar long halberd in her hand was gone. A hint of sharp pain surged through her body again. What astonished her the most was that she also felt a rush of coolness across her chest.

But at this moment, besides her instinctive action upon waking up, she hadn't yet fully processed what was happening.

That ordinary face immediately backed up two steps. Then, a familiar voice drifted into her ears, as if from a distant place.

"Sixth Senior Sister, it's me, Li Yan. Please don't move for now. Although you seem much better, you still need to wait for the pill to completely melt."

As soon as Li Yan saw Gong Chenying's long eyelashes fluttering, he had already prepared to retreat. But in his heart, he was also marveling at how miraculous the medicinal properties of an eighth-rank pill were.

"As expected of an eighth-rank pill; it truly is a legendary existence. In just a moment, Senior Sister's abdominal wound has mostly healed. At this rate, it can be restored to its original state in a dozen more breaths.

Presumably, after the other half of the pill was ingested, Sixth Senior Sister's shattered organs must also have been repaired. Alas, this was an eighth-rank pill!"

Whenever Li Yan thought of the eighth-rank pill, he still felt a pang of heartache.

Upon hearing the voice, Gong Chenying was stunned. The next moment, she became a little clearer and slightly opened her lips.

"Is that you, Li Yan?"

In her memory, after she took that final strike from Wang Lang, she felt herself being thrown high backward and then lost consciousness.

"Cough, cough, cough, Sixth Senior Sister, I happened to arrive when you and Wang Lang were in the middle of your fight… But, Sixth Senior Sister, now… I just had to do what was necessary for your treatment. I… I'm sorry for any offense!"

When Li Yan saw Gong Chenying wake up, it wasn't just her waving gesture that made him take a step back. He was also subconsciously retreating as if he had been caught in the act, his face flushing red as he spoke, and he had already turned his head away.

Gong Chenying was still in a semi-conscious state, but a girl's natural sense of self-protection made her instinctively look down at herself. With just a glance, her pretty face instantly turned as red as a piece of vibrant cloth.

Filled with both shame and anger, she quickly waved her hand, and a blinding spiritual light enveloped her. In a flurry of haste, she took out a new set of dark green robes from her storage bag.

A moment later, the blinding spiritual light around Gong Chenying disappeared. She was once again clad in a new dark green robe, which still couldn't hide her stunning figure. Her pretty face was still flushed with a rosy glow. In a moment of anger and resentment, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

Li Yan still had not turned his head back. Although he had been staring intently before, even if it was just to watch the wound heal, how could he dare to now that Gong Chenying was awake?

Gong Chenying bit her lower lip, her jade-like face crimson. She looked at Li Yan, who was still turned away. Although she had been in a flurry just now, she was now beginning to calm down.

She had only glanced down, but she had a rough idea of which parts Li Yan had seen. There was no sign that her bra had been disturbed, and she felt no abnormality below.

But even so, she still gathered her divine sense and immediately began to probe her own body. Even probing her own private parts, Gong Chenying's heart pounded erratically.

Her face was flushed and hot. A moment later, she let out a sigh of relief. Her maiden body was completely intact.

But she was also stunned. She remembered that when she had just woken up and sat up, her wound was still painfully throbbing. Now, not only was there no discomfort at all, but the spiritual power in her body was also recovering at an incredible speed.

She couldn't help but sweep her divine sense through her body again. There was no longer a single trace of injury. After confirming that her body was fine, she swept her divine sense over her abdomen. The rosy blush that had just receded on her face instantly rose again.

Gong Chenying's eyes were filled with tears. She tried to calm herself down, but the next moment, her divine sense stopped at one place, and her whole being was a little dazed. The wound on her lower abdomen had essentially healed, and new flesh was visibly forming at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this rate, in a few breaths, there wouldn't be a single scar on her abdomen.

"What kind of pill is this? It has such a miraculous healing effect. Even a mid-grade pill from our sect wouldn't have this kind of effect!"

Gong Chenying was astonished inwardly, but at this moment, her mind couldn't fully focus on that.

She knew that Li Yan had removed her clothes to save her, but she secretly blamed Li Yan for not putting her clothes back on after treating her, leaving her body exposed.

If her clothes had been put back on, even if she found out about it later, it would have avoided this awkward situation.

But how could she have known that Li Yan was also naive about relations between men and women? Moreover, Li Yan had been single-mindedly focused on observing the healing effects of the eighth-rank pill. Otherwise, if he didn't even know the effects of the pill in the end, it would only make him even more heartbroken.

Even in this situation, he felt that Gong Chenying had woken up too early. Otherwise, he could have seen the final treatment result completely, which would have given him a clearer understanding of the pill.

So, when Gong Chenying woke up, the look in his eyes held a hint of regret. But this look had a different meaning in Gong Chenying's eyes. Therefore, although she was grateful that Li Yan had saved her, she was also extremely angry.

If Li Yan knew that Gong Chenying had misunderstood him and tried to explain his thoughts, he didn't know if Gong Chenying would instantly kill him with a single palm strike.

As an unmarried girl, being seen in such a way was an extremely difficult thing to talk about. However, given Gong Chenying's personality, as long as Li Yan hadn't done anything inappropriate, she would be able to distinguish between what was important and what wasn't.

But there was another matter that was currently vexing her, and it was extremely important, even to the point of causing her great shame and anger.

"Junior Brother, you saw."

A voice entered Li Yan's ears.

...