Shu Tiantian walked faster and faster, faster and faster. She only felt that the place in her palm where the dragon’s horn had brushed against her was burning hot.

Could she really stand by and watch someone die without helping?

It was the most beautiful, ferocious creature she had ever seen. Such a brutal dragon, yet it had been so careful not to dirty her palm.

Emotionally, Shu Tiantian had to admit that she really did like the dragon. It had given her the first shelter she had in the Void Abyss. Even while enduring immense pain, it had not harmed her. Without this dragon, she might have died on the very first day from the extreme cold of her Heavenly Yin physique.

So, in truth, the moment she turned and left, she had already begun to regret it.

She was weak now, had no money, and the only thing she could offer—her medical skills—might not be of much use to that dragon. But Shu Tiantian knew very clearly that if she did nothing, she would regret it.

The sensation of the dragon’s horn in her palm seemed to linger. She stopped walking and let out a deep sigh.

In fact, perhaps she had long since had an answer in her heart.

Sure enough, she was still too weak. With Withered Wood Meets Spring in her hands, not to mention being as powerful as the cultivation method described, merely trying to circulate it once for the giant dragon was like mud flowing into the sea, leaving her with an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

Shu Tiantian flipped through the entire cultivation manual but could not find any way to rapidly level up Withered Wood Meets Spring. She could only use a clumsy method commonly used in the cultivation world—constantly grinding proficiency, using quantitative change to drive qualitative change.

That meant Shu Tiantian would have to constantly heal the sick and save lives, stimulate the growth of spiritual herbs, or refine pills, before there was any possibility of advancement.

In this life, Shu Tiantian was a pill-refining maniac. Back in the Qi Refining stage, she had already been able to refine Profound-grade pills, which was a miracle. Now that her cultivation had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, and she had mastered a new cultivation method, her pill-refining level would naturally improve.

Pills were divided into four grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Earth-grade pills could make sects fight fiercely over them; Heaven-grade pills could make several major sects destroy each other together. Though Profound-grade pills were not precious enough to make people fight to the death, they had already entered the ranks of luxury goods in the cultivation world—poor cultivators could not afford them.

However, if Shu Tiantian wanted to grind proficiency through pill refinement and strive to advance, she would need a steady supply of spiritual herbs.

Taking a step back, advancing Withered Wood Meets Spring would take time. But Shu Tiantian could not just watch that dragon suffer without doing anything. She knew very clearly that his condition was extremely bad—at the very least, she could help stop the bleeding and clean the wounds, so the situation would not continue to worsen.

Shu Tiantian paused where she stood, then once again headed toward Black Valley.

She was now utterly broke. Most of the medicine she carried had been used up. She did not even have gauze or hemostatic powder. She had to think of some way to get money.

Shu Tiantian thought of the baby-faced boy and his mother—and also remembered the payment she had not been given last time.

Although it had indeed been unscrupulous of the baby-faced boy to run off and abandon her, at least he had not immediately sold her for spirit stones. In the utterly conscience-less Void Abyss, that could already be considered a moral model.

After all, Shu Tiantian remembered that on the wanted notice, she was worth a full thirty thousand spirit stones.

When Shu Tiantian, wearing the same veiled hat as last time and carrying the Scarlet Flame Flower, appeared at Poison Lady’s doorstep and was just about to knock, she heard Poison Lady sigh—

“If I’d known that girl would end up getting killed anyway, I might as well have sold her for spirit stones first! That’s thirty thousand spirit stones! How many Qingxin pills could that buy?!”

Shu Tiantian: ……

She was wrong. There was no conscience in the Void Abyss.

Yesterday, Poison Lady had sought out Brother Song, whom she was acquainted with, and managed to consult the famous poison doctor of Black Valley. Who would have thought that after just one look, he concluded that the baby-faced boy only had two days left to live.

Everyone advised Poison Lady to simply give her son a quick end, but how could she bear to do it? Now, the disheveled mother and son had already fallen into complete despair.

The baby-faced boy lying on the bed now had a face full of black miasma. The poisonous fog had entered his body for too long; he was barely breathing. Where was the mischievous, grinning youth he once was? He did not echo Poison Lady’s words, but he had already begun to leave his last words. “Cough… cough… Mother, don’t wait for news of my father anymore. After I die… just marry Uncle Song…”

Outside the door, Shu Tiantian could not listen any longer. She knocked on the door.

Poison Lady wiped her tears and opened it, eyes wide. “Y-you—why aren’t you dead yet?”

Tian: …?

The baby-faced boy also looked as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes wide.

Of course, it was not only because Shu Tiantian was not dead, but because just a few days ago, Shu Tiantian had only been at the Qi Refining stage and now she was already at the late Foundation Establishment stage???

Even taking pills wouldn’t make someone advance this fast, right?

While standing outside the door, Shu Tiantian had already clearly heard about the baby-faced boy’s condition, so she spoke, “This time I came to deliver the payment. Although things didn’t go smoothly last time, thank you for bringing me to the Transfer Office.”

Shu Tiantian handed over a Qingxin pill.

Poison Lady should have been very happy, but her expression quickly dimmed. “It’s too late.”

“The miasma poison has entered his body too deeply. We sought out a great medical cultivator in the valley. My son has only three days left to live.”

One Qingxin pill could provide protection for a year. Once it expired, the miasma would enter the body. The baby-faced boy had delayed for too long—the miasma had already entered his internal organs. Now, even if someone could produce a Profound-grade Qingxin pill, it would be beyond saving.

But the baby-faced boy smiled. “Mother, I don’t need it anymore. Don’t you still need it?”

Poison Lady forced a smile, but it looked worse than crying.

Shu Tiantian thought for a moment. “If you don’t mind, I could take a look at your son.”

A faint glimmer of hope appeared on Poison Lady’s ashen face.

But the baby-faced boy knew that even a great medical cultivator at the Golden Core stage had said there was no cure. How old was Shu Tiantian? Yet seeing the hope on Poison Lady’s face, he could not bring himself to refuse, and only gave a bitter smile.

“You’ve only just come to the Void Abyss, so you naturally don’t know. The miasma has entered my body too deeply now. It has already corroded my internal organs. All I can do is wait for death.”

The Qingxin pill was like a barrier—only a barrier. It could help people in the Void Abyss block the miasma from entering their bodies. If the miasma still lingered on the surface, one Qingxin pill would have the baby-faced boy jumping around in perfect health. But now the miasma had already entered his internal organs—he could only wait to die.

Shu Tiantian listened quietly while taking the baby-faced boy’s pulse.

What he said was true. The miasma had entered his body too deeply. On the outside, he still looked fine, but in truth, his entire body was already shrouded in a layer of black qi.

This miasma was almost tyrannically devouring the vitality within the young man’s body. In just two or three more days, the baby-faced boy would be completely swallowed by the miasma, all his life force consumed.

If she did not have Withered Wood Meets Spring, even if Shu Tiantian were extraordinarily talented, she would have had a headache facing such a situation. But Shu Tiantian paused—why did the symptoms of this miasma invasion resemble the way the vitality of the Scarlet Flame Flower had been devoured?

Last night, when the Yin Sha energy attacked the giant dragon, Shu Tiantian had taken his pulse and discovered that the Yin Sha energy had torn open the dragon’s surface, allowing the miasma to invade frantically, multiplying the speed at which it devoured vitality countless times—this was what had left the dragon so weakened.

The Scarlet Flame Flower, the dragon, the people of the Void Abyss… Shu Tiantian wondered inwardly, how could this miasma be so powerful? It was practically like contagious cancer cells, endlessly dividing, devouring the vitality of all living things in the Void Abyss.

This association made Shu Tiantian frown slightly. The miasma was simply too insidious.

At first, Shu Tiantian had no way of dealing with the miasma.

Because of the six-month agreement, Shu Tiantian had been constantly studying the Scarlet Flame Flower. Previously, when she infused vitality into it, the Scarlet Flame Flower would only briefly perk up before quickly turning into ashes again. As long as the miasma remained, any vitality she replenished would be devoured almost immediately, like a bottomless pit.

She had truly felt that same bottomless sensation in the giant dragon as well. At the time, she had only thought it was because Withered Wood Meets Spring was at too low a level.

But the baby-faced boy’s words gave her a new line of thought. The Qingxin pill could form a barrier, blocking the miasma outside.

She only needed to use a powerful barrier to protect the vitality that the Scarlet Flame Flower originally possessed within it. Then, when she replenished and repaired it… her efforts would no longer be in vain.

By the same reasoning, the same method could be used on people and on the dragon.

Tiantian’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. She turned to the baby-faced boy and smiled. “I know what to do now.”

Thus, over the next two hours, the mother and son were thoroughly bewildered as Shu Tiantian busied them around nonstop. By the time they came back to their senses and wondered why they had been listening to her in the first place, Shu Tiantian had already begun refining pills.

Poison Lady herself was also a poison doctor, so there were naturally ready-made materials in her home.

At first, the mother and son had wondered—could this little medical cultivator really refine pills?

But they saw that Shu Tiantian did not use Poison Lady’s pill fire. Instead, she took out several Scarlet Flame Flowers and fed them in. Her technique was skillful, her movements as smooth and beautiful as flowing clouds. With complex hand seals performed without pause, she continuously cast techniques and dropped dazzling spiritual herbs into the medicinal cauldron one by one. Even the flames of the Scarlet Flame Flowers appeared gentle and obedient in Shu Tiantian’s hands.

Even the baby-faced boy could not help but be drawn in. Despite his frail body, he had Poison Lady support him so he could watch. The mother and son had gone from shock at the beginning to utter stupefaction now. Though they had been busied around nonstop earlier and felt uncomfortable all over, they now did not even dare breathe too loudly.

It was said that laymen watched the excitement, while experts saw the intricacies. The mother and son could also refine poison pills, but no one moved this fast!

As for Shu Tiantian’s pill refinement, whether it was heat control or precision, she had pushed everything to the extreme. Her hand seals flowed smoothly, without the slightest deviation. Such astonishing control felt as though she had practiced the same movements countless times.

Poison Lady held her breath, trying to see her movements clearly, but even staring until her eyes ached, she could not make sense of them. The baby-faced boy, however, was different. Besides surprise, he also felt confusion, and he could not help voicing his question.

“Since there are already ready-made Qingxin pills, why refine them again?”

The moment the baby-faced boy spoke, Poison Lady slapped him on the back of the head, nearly sending him to his grave ahead of time. After all, when medical cultivators refined pills, they had to focus completely, and the surroundings had to remain quiet. Disturbing them rashly could result in anything from a furnace explosion to backlash.

Yet Shu Tiantian was not affected at all. While attempting to circulate Withered Wood Meets Spring, she replied to him lightly, “Didn’t you just say that the Qingxin pill’s function is to establish a barrier? What I’m refining isn’t a Qingxin pill.”

The Qingxin pill’s function was only a barrier—naturally, it could not reverse fate. But Withered Wood Meets Spring could inject surging vitality into the pill. Combined together, it would roughly be—

At that time, when Shu Tiantian circulated the cultivation method again and used silver needles to draw out the miasma, even if the baby-faced boy had one foot already in the coffin, Shu Tiantian could still pull him back.

Her tone was light and tinged with a smile.

“What I’m refining is a Qingxin Xu Ming pill.”

She had already calculated it—how many pills per batch. One would be deducted for the baby-faced boy; the rest she would take home to feed the dragon.