Chapter 2617 — Here to Save You

"Isn't Tagan Long crippled?" the White Leader countered.

"I still have a hidden piece," Xuantian Ancestral Master said.

"So you kept one in reserve after all," the White Leader said flatly. "In that case, let it be. The plan proceeds as before. However, the wood-element inheritor is my disciple. I will not allow anything to happen between her and the medium. You should understand my meaning."

"That... I fear she will not cooperate with wholehearted devotion," Xuantian Ancestral Master said cautiously.

"I will speak to her," the White Leader said. "You have no choice—accept it or do not."

"Very well, I accept." Xuantian Ancestral Master gave his word, but in his heart he was sneering coldly. Once the inheritor arrives, it will no longer be up to you, you old relic. That will be the day you die too! And that disciple of yours, Wei Zhao—he dies as well!

The White Leader said nothing more, simply hung up and continued on his way toward the Xueshang Hotel.

Wei Zhao did not even bother to repair the lingering injuries within his body, nor to recover his physical strength and true qi. He ran straight to Sun Jingyan's room in the Xueshang Hotel!

The door was locked tight, but that was no obstacle to Wei Zhao. He casually drew out a silver needle and picked the lock, then pushed the door open—and a thick stench of blood rushed at his face. And when Wei Zhao saw Han Jingyi on the floor, his heart gave a violent shudder!

This... was this Han Jingyi? Or rather—was this even a person?

The girl on the floor was covered head to toe in blood. What had once been her face was a face no longer—the skin had peeled back entirely, a horrifying sight! Her hands and shoulders were a mangled mass of flesh and blood, utterly unrecognizable. Were it not for the clothes she wore, Wei Zhao would not even have recognized that the person before him was that familiar, lovely girl.

"Jingjing, how are you?" Wei Zhao cried out in alarm, his heart filled with self-reproach and guilt. Xiao Yi and Xiao Shiyi had come for him, yet Han Jingyi had borne the punishment in his stead, tortured beyond recognition!

Wei Zhao rushed over and gathered Han Jingyi up from the floor in one motion, his trembling hands checking the wounds on her body!

By heaven's mercy, Han Jingyi was not yet fully dead, and Wei Zhao's taut nerves eased slightly. But her injuries were truly too severe. When Wei Zhao discovered that her chest and lower body had been blasted apart by true qi, his heart gave a violent spasm, and his clenched fists began to shake uncontrollably!

What kind of cruelty was this? To be visited upon such a lovely girl! Xiao Yi, Xiao Shiyi—a debt of blood will be repaid in blood. One day, I will raze that place to the ground and return it upon you tenfold, a hundredfold, with cruelty to match!

"Brother Wei Zhao..." Han Jingyi's breath was faint as gossamer, and she opened her blood-mangled eyes with great effort. Those eyes that had once been bright and liquid and full of spirit were now a dull gray, suffused with the pallor of death. "Brother Wei Zhao... you came... Jingjing didn't tell them about Zhang Lifeng's alchemy notes... nor about our alchemy secrets..."

How desperately Han Jingyi wanted to say, before she died, that she liked him. But she could not bring herself to say it. To speak of love now would be too heavy a burden. Han Jingyi did not want to pressure Wei Zhao, did not want her death to leave him carrying too great a weight of guilt.

Han Jingyi knew perfectly well how grave her own injuries were. She was an alchemist; she knew that even a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill would be useless for wounds like these—and never mind a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, even a third-grade Greater Rejuvenation Pill would be of no use. Because Xiao Shiyi had said it herself: not even a divine physician could save her now!

And besides, Han Jingyi did not want to live. Even if she survived, she would be a cripple, unable even to be a proper woman—what meaning was there in that? Her hands and shoulder blades were shattered; she could never practice alchemy again. It was a life worse than death!

"Jingjing, don't speak—I'll save you right now!" Wei Zhao said, and hurriedly drew out his silver needles, swiftly inserting them into the acupoints across Han Jingyi's body! Her injuries were truly too severe; she could slip away at any moment. Wei Zhao did not dare use the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art to heal her immediately, for he feared she could not endure it mid-treatment. So he had to seal certain of her acupoints to prevent any further loss of true qi from her body—this way Han Jingyi could hold on longer, and it would also allow Wei Zhao to treat her injuries slowly!

Cruel as Xiao Shiyi's methods had been, and furious as Wei Zhao was—so furious he wished he could go wipe them out this very instant—there was one thing to be thankful for: others could not save Han Jingyi, but Wei Zhao could! In truth, Xiao Shiyi had been right—not even a divine physician could save Han Jingyi now. And by Wei Zhao's former medical skill, he too could never have healed her. But things were different now. He had the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. So long as the person was not dead, her injuries could be healed!

Even if all her internal organs were shattered, it would be no problem! And yet Wei Zhao was still furious. What if he had not possessed this ability? Would Han Jingyi then have been doomed to die?

"Brother Wei Zhao, Jingjing knows she's going to die..." Sensing that Wei Zhao had sealed her acupoints and that the flow of true qi from her body had slowed considerably, Han Jingyi felt a little more comfortable. But she did not believe for a moment that her injuries could still heal. "Promise me, Jingjing—don't go seeking revenge yet... wait until you've become a peak late-stage Heaven-rank expert, then go find them..."

"Don't worry about revenge. One day, I'll let you cut down Xiao Shiyi with your own hands! And you are not going to die!" After sealing Han Jingyi's acupoints, Wei Zhao pressed his fingers to the pulse gate at her blood-mangled wrist and swiftly began circulating the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art...

Just then, the White Leader, Sun Jingyan, and Wang Xinyan arrived at the hotel room. At one glance they saw Han Jingyi in Wei Zhao's arms, and they were frozen in shock at the wretched state she was in!

"Jingjing!" Wang Xinyan cried out, tears bursting from her eyes at once. She and Han Jingyi were classmates, and because of Wei Zhao they had grown very close, so the bond between them was deep. Seeing Han Jingyi reduced to this, Wang Xinyan was instantly frantic with distress.

Sun Jingyan, however, had weathered great storms before. Back in the Ulanhot Mountains, Wei Zhao had healed the fire lion clan, and he had healed the Heaven-rank monstrous man as well. So Sun Jingyan believed Wei Zhao could heal Han Jingyi too!

The White Leader's face turned ashen in an instant!