Despair

"Mom, what happened?!"

"What was happening here?" Elder Yang finally catching up to Feng Xue. Snowy, Lin Ming, and Zi Ling were following behind him.

"Little Xue… Your father… he is…" She mumbled incoherent things through her hands and choked on her sobs.

Feng Xue took a deep breath and calmed down. Then, she helped her mother to stand up and wiped her tears.

"It's going to be okay, mom. Just tell me what happened to father," she said softly.

Madam Feng weakly nodded and started to reiterate what had happened after they left the mansion.

That afternoon, she was attending her garden as usual. Suddenly, the servant told her that some customers in their restaurant were complaining and making a scene.

She, accompanied by some guards, hastily go to the restaurant. When she arrived there, the customers, who happen to be young cultivators, were spoutting some non-sense like how the food was bad or how the service was poor. They kept arguing until an hour passed. Finally, a middle-aged man came and vouched for the young cultivators. They left with an apology and give some money as compensation.

The whole fiasco was not making any sense to Madam Feng. She kept feeling something fishy was going on.

If it was a normal situation, Feng Xuan would have come to the restaurant when she didn't come back home after 15 minutes. Otherwise, he was not coming even after an hour.

Sensing something terrible was happening to Feng Xuan, Madam Feng hurriedly coming back home. When she came back, she called the servants asking them about Feng Xuan whereabout. A young servant said the last time he saw Feng Xuan was in his study.

She went to the study with the young servant and saw the door was closed. She called Feng Xuan several times but there was no reply. She started to panic.

And then, what she found when she opened the door was Feng Xuan's body laying down on the floor.

She quickly checked his pulse and his breathing, relief that he was still alive. She ordered the servant to have the mansion alchemist checked his condition.

After a while, the young servant arrived with the alchemist. Their breath was heavy, seemingly running as fast as they could to the study room.

When the alchemist finished checking his condition, he frowned. Feng Xuan seems to be in deep sleep and his consciousness slowly weakened.

He remembered that he was once encountering this condition. It was a symptom of the soul being damaged.

The victim's family had done their best to search for medicine and treasure to cure her illness. They even contacted all the auction houses and alchemist societies all over Eastern Continent but they still failed.

In the end, the victim could not be saved.

Madam Feng shocked and almost passed out, she remembered very well who was the victim in the alchemist story. She was the daughter of the Murong Family, one of the Great Family in the Eastern Continent. From stature to resources, Murong Family was not any less powerful than Feng Family.

Feng Xue's complexion turned paler as the story goes on. She was speechless as if something was blocking her throat.

The Heaven Sword trio could only let out a bitter smile. They know very well how hard to cure a damaged soul. It was one of the cultivator's worst bane since only a few people had been successfully healed.

"Xue, let's visit your father so we can see his condition," Snowy broke the silence and patted her shoulder.

Feng Xue weakly nodded and help her mother walking to his father's room. Snowy and the other quickly followed.

When they got there, Feng Xue finally broke down. She was dashing to her father's bed left Madam Feng to Snowy.

"Father… Wake up… your little Xue is here…"

"Father…"

A flood of tears gushed down her ashen cheek. She wailing and screaming her father's name. She shook his body several times but she got no response.

She then looked at Elder Yang beside her and pleading, "Master… please… please save my father…"

"Sorry…" that was the only word that came out of his mouth.

Elder Yang's kept lowering his head. He had check Feng Xuan's condition and the alchemist's judgment was on the spot. His condition was similar to the Murong Family's late daughter.

He felt so useless. He was his brother who always willing to cross a sea of fire or climbing a mountain of swords to help him. But, here he stumped to help Feng Xuan.

His fist was clenched so hard that he bled.

Seeing Feng Xue's grief, Zi Ling's lips tremble. Her eyes moisten, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Lin Ming can only hug Zi Ling to bring her a little comfort.

Snowy was helpless too. With her current cultivation, she cannot probe that much about his condition. She checked his condition using < Identify > but only got confirmation: his soul was damaged and got poisoned.

She might know the poison by analyzing his blood, but she could not guarantee it will be successful because she has never done it before.

When she saw Feng Xue's awful condition, she felt her blood boiling. She had an urge to smash something if she wanted to calm herself down.

Even if the one in front of her was a demon, she will smash the demon; if it was a god, she will smash the god. That was the intensity of her feeling right now.

'What is this feeling? Is this 'anger'?'

'I'm angry when I see Xue sad?'

She realized that Feng Xue was more precious than she previously thought. She might be the key for her experiencing more and more emotions and completing her soul.

She wanted to comfort Feng Xue, but even her maximum point in intelligence could not provide her much help.

When Snowy looked at Feng Xue once again, their eyes met. There was a slight hope in Feng Xue's aqua eyes.

"Snowy… please… I know you might have a solution..."

"Please…"

"Please save my father…"

Feng Xue grabbed her hand and squeezed it so hard hurting Snowy.

However, instead of backing away, she stayed there and said softly, "I don't know if I can help you. But I can try."

"Really…? Snowy, please… I'll do anything…" a faint smile coming back to her messy face.

Snowy moving closer to Feng Xuan's body and grabbed one of his hands.

Elder Yang wanted to stop her and tell her that her effort is futile, but his body won't move. He was hesitating because he still has a small hope that Snowy can bring them a miracle, even though the chance is minuscule. Even if it was just an illusion - in a desperate situation - people will still choose to cling to their hope. It was just human nature.

Oblivious to Elder Yang's complicated feeling, Snowy bit Feng Xuan's finger and drunk a mouthful of his blood. Instantly, a notification appeared on her mind.

Ding!

[Life source detected]

[Processing time 7 days. Begin countdown]

[7d : 0h : 0m : 0s]

[6d : 23h : 59m : 59s]

Snowy looked at the notification and frowned. 'Seven days were too long,' she thought. She wasn't going to spend that much time.

Then, Snowy changed her perspective, "If I only want to analyze the blood, can I do that?"

'Please, my MAX intelligent! Don't let me down!'

Snowy clasping her hand tightly in front of her bosom.

Ding!

[Change procedure to an exclusive analysis of life source content]

[Processing time 30 seconds. Begin countdown.]

[30]

[29]

.

.

.

[1]

Ding!

[Success.]

[99.98% human blood, 0.02% foreign substance.]

[Analyse foreign substance. 3 substance was found.]

[Black Scorpion Poison – 98% match]

[Divine Rainbow Frog Poison – 71% match]

[Purple-gilled Puffers Poison – 54% match]

[Finding solution.]

[Success.]

Hearing a ding sound, the corner of Snowy's mouth was lifted up slightly.

Suddenly, Feng Xue's swollen eyes regain their clarity when she saw the change in Snowy's expression.

'She must have found something!!'