***

Seven nights passed, and Wu Yue was still doing the same thing. But there was something different about the situation now.

On the first day, her robe had still been clean. If anything, it had only picked up a little dust and dirt.

Now, after seven days, her clothes were completely worn and filthy, the white turned a dark shade of gray, the gray even darker than before.

Her dark-red hair was a mess, almost matted together with the dried blood on her forehead. She kept going without stopping, enduring the blazing heat of the day and the bone-deep cold of the night.

The other disciples began to feel for her. Many came to help, saddened by what they saw.

An Yue and the others took turns coming by to wipe Wu Yue’s clothes clean, but the woman still refused to leave until Lin Tian made the decision to forgive her.

"Senior Sister An Yue!"

"Please help me."

That afternoon, An Yue spun around and stared in shock toward the sect’s front gate. She saw Ya Fei coming in, carrying Luo Mei on her shoulder.

An Yue’s attention wasn’t on Ya Fei. It was on Luo Mei.

Her body was limp and her face had gone pale, dark circles filling her eyes, a sign she hadn’t slept in seven days.

Her sect robe was torn and damaged, caked with dirt and mud, her black hair tangled and filthy.

"Mei’er?"

An Yue rushed over to Luo Mei and helped her rest. She had found no leads at all today, even after seven straight days of searching, refusing food, refusing cultivation, refusing sleep.

"Just stop. You could die, Mei’er," An Yue said, starting to panic.

"I... won’t stop," Luo Mei said faintly. "Let me rest here for a moment. Then I’ll go look again."

"LUO MEI!" An Yue snapped, frustrated with the girl’s stubbornness.

"I know what I have to do. We need to take responsibility for what we’ve done."

An Yue clearly wanted to refuse, seeing that Luo Mei’s condition was far worse than she had imagined. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get through to her.

Luo Mei’s heart was unyielding, her principles unbreakable, and her sense of responsibility ran deeper than anything.

"If you were me, what would you do?" Luo Mei asked.

That question silenced An Yue completely. She had no answer. But if Luo Mei needed one, she knew she would do exactly the same thing.

"Then don’t stand in my way!" Luo Mei said firmly.

An Yue glanced over at Ya Fei. The blonde-haired girl responded with a nod. For her own heart to settle, Luo Mei had to do what she believed was right.

"Alright. But I’m coming with you now," An Yue replied.

"Thank you, Senior Sister An Yue."

So the roles shifted. An Yue was now accompanying Luo Mei in the search for the flame, while Ya Fei stayed in the front courtyard to help Wu Yue.

The woman’s voice had grown hoarse and ragged, trembling and faint. She kept repeating the same words over and over, crying through it, holding back the pain.

Other disciples tried to comfort her and coax her into resting. But Wu Yue refused every time. She would keep prostrating and begging for forgiveness without skipping a single moment.

Ya Fei let out a slow breath and looked straight ahead toward the sect’s main hall. The array was still sealing the place off, blocking anyone from entering, and they had no way of seeing what was happening inside with Lin Tian.

Even though Ya Fei knew that Lin Tian and Wu Yue had a long and deep history of hostility, lately things between them had seemed to settle.

Still, she didn’t think it was right to keep letting Wu Yue and Luo Mei suffer the way they were now.

What is Master Lin actually thinking? Ya Fei murmured to herself.

Without anyone realizing it, Lin Tian had already come out of his cultivation. Cao Ying was inside the main hall with him, keeping him company.

Both of them could see the situation outside clearly without stepping out, simply by using their qi aura vision.

"Are we really just going to keep letting them go through this? She didn’t even stop when Li Qingxue came to deliver the tribute. We had to push that meeting back because of it," Cao Ying said.

"No. It’s not enough yet."

"Listen to me, Lin Tian. If you keep pushing them like this, your sect’s disciples are going to think you’re cruel."

"You already have the Earth Flame back. Why are you still letting them suffer?" Cao Ying asked.

Lin Tian stayed silent, eyes still fixed ahead, watching Wu Yue prostrate herself and keeping a distant eye on Luo Mei.

"Not yet," Lin Tian replied.

Cao Ying clicked her tongue, turned to the side, and went back to watching them. Lin Tian’s word was final. There was nothing she could say against it.

But the longer she watched, the more her sense of empathy stirred. She could only hope Lin Tian would put an end to this soon.

The blinding afternoon light began to fade and disappear, giving way to the darkness of night. A cold wind swept through, leaves drifting and tumbling, some piling up on Wu Yue’s back.

The disciples had already gone to rest, leaving only Ya Fei still in the front courtyard keeping Wu Yue company. Elsewhere, An Yue was still out with Luo Mei searching for the flame in the forest on the hillside.

In the middle of the quiet, Lin Tian faintly caught the sound of an explosion coming from the direction of the forest surrounding the sect. He paused his cultivation and opened his eyes.

What was that? I can barely sense a spiritual qi aura.

In an instant, Lin Tian vanished and left the main hall.

Deeper in the forest, some distance from the sect, An Yue was thrown hard backward, her body slamming into a tree trunk. She dropped to the ground helpless, coughing and spitting up blood.

"Senior Sister An Yue!" Luo Mei cried out, her voice weak from somewhere far in the other direction.

The girl wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and lifted her head, staring straight ahead. There, in front of her, was a black bear with red eyes and sharp fangs, black wings spreading out from its back.

She had read about this kind of monster before. Its strength was on par with an Early Core Formation cultivator. With An Yue’s abilities, there was no way she could beat it.

"Let’s get out of here, Senior Sister An Yue!" Luo Mei pleaded.

"Your leg is broken. I can’t make you move in the condition you’re in right now."

"Once I’ve dealt with this monster, then we’ll go back to the sect," An Yue said.

But before An Yue could attack, the winged bear monster launched itself forward through the air, clearly moving in to pounce on her.

Her body froze in panic, her eyes wide and fixed ahead, no idea how to respond.

This is bad!

WOOSH!

A sword shot forward powerfully from behind An Yue. She turned and caught sight of it, radiating a qi aura far stronger than the bear monster.

Could it be...

The sword blazed forward and drove straight into the body of the winged bear monster. The creature was thrown back and crashed into the trees, snapping smaller ones as it hit, dying on the spot.

An Yue turned around and saw a figure in a white and gray robe approaching, coming to stand beside Luo Mei, who was sitting propped up against something, injured and barely holding on.

Both girls’ eyes went wide in shock when they saw who it was.

"Master Lin?!"